These figs are for my sister, who’s several thousand miles away in London. Read on for how she might get them.
Talking with my sister on the phone last week, the idea came up (as it has done in the past) that she might come and visit me in December, bringing her toddler son. Maybe […] Click to continue reading this post
My contribution to the food at a party (to celebrate Rosh Hashanah) last night. Took […] Click to continue reading this post
I’ve got to cross town later on to Pacific Palisades to a party, and while I’m keen on the party, I’m not keen on the journey – It is super hot outside, and I have to go via Santa Monica to pick up some tarts to take along1. Temperatures are sure to go over 100oF again today, and so everyone and their dog will be heading West to the beach.
I was about to begin my morning mission to get supplies for the party, and I heard that Michael Jackson died last week. Not that Michael Jackson, the other one (see below). It’s quite a coincidence, since I was particularly on the prowl for two of my favourite Belgians, Duvel and Hoegaarden, and maybe one of the excellent Sam Smith’s stouts (from England). I was successful. (The excellent Bev’ Mo’ was well-stocked, and I was the first in the door when they opened.)
(If I may be so bold, you don’t really understand what beer can be if you have not tried Belgian beers. They’re the finest makers on the planet, without a doubt (others may disagree). Even if you think you don’t like beer, there’s probably one they produce that you’d like. The two on the right are among the easier to get favourites from there. Drop what you’re doing and rush out and get some. Go! Now!)
Still don’t know who I’m talking about? There’s a Washington Post article by Adam […] Click to continue reading this post
Here’s something to shake up the cooking doldrums. Rather than bring you a report on one of my own efforts in the kitchen (and rest assured there’ll be more to come), I’ll step back and let you look at 101 ideas from a master. Mark Bittman, the food writer behind (among other things) the column “The Minimalist” for the New York Times, is extremely good at finding ways of producing more (in terms of taste) with less (in terms of substituting less costly ingredients).
He’s recently tackled another cost factor: time. The claim (I have not tried any yet) is that these are ten minute preparation time recipes. This might be perfect for that busy schedule you have going there, or just a welcome shortening of hot kitchen time during the remaining long Summer days.
Don’t turn your nose up at the substitutions (sometimes discussed in his column) and […] Click to continue reading this post
One of my tomato plants has been working hard since the late Spring to produce this single (and I hope tasty) pleasantly coloured tomato (Jubilee variety, I think):
I’ve no idea why just the one (is the unbelievable dryness a factor?), but I’m grateful. I’m trying to not compute the average price per vegetable for this year’s crop so far, […] Click to continue reading this post
Since, once again, the temperature is knocking on the door of insane outside, I’ll sit here on the sofa indoors for a while and tell you about the really fun thing I was doing earlier today. Back when it was much less hot.
The mission: First show up at Mama’s Hot Tamales Cafe. (So since at the very least, ridiculously tasty tamales are involved, clearly anything beyond this is just a bonus.) This is located across 7th Street from the South side of MacArthur Park, just West of Alvarado (map link).
Next, after saying hello to the friendly people
who are happy to see that you showed up for the event (a friend of mine and I were the first to show up), you sit at a table for a little while and read six plays. Don’t worry, since the average length of one of the plays is less than a page, so it won’t take long -and they’re all rather good!
Next, you go outside, cross the road, and spend some time in MacArthur Park. Why? Well, it is park with a bit of a bad reputation that is seriously underused and under-appreciated by many, so that’s a good reason right there…
…but the main reason for this visit at this point in the mission is to wander the park and see if you can spot some of the performances or, as one woman put it, […] Click to continue reading this post
… for this year, anyway. The evening out ended with a trip to my primary hideout of this year’s visit, the nature of which you can deduce from the photo. The barkeep at The Little Nell, Michelle, really knows how to make a decent gin gimlet. I asked for it […] Click to continue reading this post
I have to go on a trip tomorrow, and so somehow I have to eat all of these tasty beauties before I go. I do not know if it is possible! It is great news that the tomato […] Click to continue reading this post
While on the way to see a film celebrating good food (among other things) it makes sense to have some. This is LoterÃa’s taco sampler (click for larger):
I’ve told you about this excellent restaurant before, I think, but feel compelled to show […] Click to continue reading this post
The other day in the Hollywood Farmer’s Market I was having my regular moment of pure bliss (spinach and corn tamale from that amazing tamale stand) for lunch after a nice bit of shopping when I found myself sitting at a big outdoor table with a number of other people. Two of them were headed to the convention center for the afternoon and were wondering whether they might be able to find anything good to eat down that way. Of course, as a public-spirited person I had to tell them a bit about the options that popped into my head at that point (starting with La Taquiza of course), and ended up patiently explaining how to squint your eyes to look past all the fast food places to the culinary bliss that lurks just below the surface of the city. We had a delightful conversation and then they moved on, leaving me soaking up the sun for a while longer.
A woman who’d been sitting on her own (also enjoying a tamale) spoke up and said that she’d been interested to hear that I thought there was a lot of good food in LA since she could not really find much of it (and she’d been here for four years). Happily I’d finished my tamale and so did not choke or splutter at this revelation, in equal parts horrifying and deeply sad, and spent a few more moments listing some recommendations at her request. Unfortunately, the conversation turned (as it so often does) to one where I find myself defending LA against someone’s expectations of it based upon their own city, and their own requirements (instead of them learning how to navigate and understand the place they’ve chosen to live). Usually it is New Yorkers I have this sort of conversation with, but this time it was someone from Chicago. Her thesis was that good food is hard to find in LA and you’re just falling over it in Chicago. Two other diners arrived […] Click to continue reading this post
Not exactly a bumper crop in volume today, but definitely in flavour:
Eight o’clock on Saturday morning. I’ve been up since before six (I don’t know why) and somehow I’m still late. The car wakes up easily, eager to go for a run. It seems to have extra enthusiasm, as though it knows that somehow I’m going to tear all the way across the city and back as quickly as I can, an adventure it is always willing to participate in. I’ve got a guest coming over for lunch at eleven and I think I’ll assemble a nice meal from scratch. I’ve made my mind up to go for ingredients to the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market instead of the more local, smaller one in Silver Lake. Although I’m more of a fan of shopping locally, my usual market run is on Sunday, in Hollywood, and the Silver Lake one does not have most of the vendors that I know well from the other two markets, and I want to take no chances with my menu today. So, the highway for me this time.
The plan is to wander the market in head chef mode, looking for which items look good, choosing some of them and planning something simple and tasty around them. At the back of my mind is a salad, and maybe asparagus or artichoke as a central feature. I’m open to ideas, however, but the watchwords are fresh and simple. But I’ve got to get there, find the ingredients, and get back and make it all before eleven.
I break some kind of record for getting over to Santa Monica. Road was pretty open, and while I’m not saying whether I violated any speed limits, you can be pretty sure I hurt their feelings a bit. The market is still pretty empty and I can wander through at a good pace with my basket and check out the whole scene, retracing my steps on a second pass in reverse, this time buying things as I go. Three different kinds of tiny potatoes to form the base of a salad (after roasting them) along with two colours of carrot from the same people. For dessert I pick up three types of delicious berries -blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries- making a mental note to get some whipping cream (for hand-whipping later) as a topping.
I eye up some […] Click to continue reading this post
Tasty yellow pear tomatoes (click for larger):
They have been showing up all of a sudden (it seems) on this plant from last year. I’d read that this is quite a hardy plant and it certainly is, lasting through from last season, through the cold snap, and now coming back more strong than last year. Apparently, it is quite an old variety, going back to at least the 1750s. […] Click to continue reading this post
