View from the Kitchen

Summer Delicacy

2009-08-09T17:36:00.000-07:00

This might be the best thing I've ever eaten, or made. Blackberry
Cobbler, drop crust... Sound a little boring? How about cardamom sugar
and vanilla, steeped in the blackberries as they simmer? It's awesome,
if I do say so myself. (Last week I had the pleasure of ruining not
one but two batches of Madeleines, so I was ready for something to go
well.)

Summer Salad

2009-07-24T17:29:00.001-07:00

Little Bites for Wednesday Reading

2009-07-22T13:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple of tasty articles on topics that are fun and far fetched...

The World of Sandwiches, great recommendations from the LA Times, Food Section here.

What do you eat when you eat alone? There's a whole about that.

The New York Times has 101 Simple Salads for the Season. I can't wait to make this one...

A nice cucumber salad: Slice cucumbers thin (if they’re fat and old, peel and seed them first), toss with red onions and salt, then let sit for 20 to 60 minutes. Rinse, dry, dress with cider vinegar mixed with Dijon mustard; no oil necessary.

How about Fresh Ranch Dressing? Yum!

Save the Ta-ta's!

2009-07-21T14:40:00.000-07:00

I got word of this cute fundraiser today... Paint your appliances pink, take a photo or blog about it. Every entry helps raise awareness and $10,000 for their cause, and you could win a Pink KitchenAid® Stand Mixer, Pink Stand Mixer cover, Pink Silicone Mixer Spatula, Pink Silicone Heart Pan, Pink Measuring Cups and Spoons Set, and Cook for the Cure® Apron.The sweepstake runs from July 1, 2009 – September 30, 2009.

Here's the link to enter... Have fun!

Adventures in Downtown LA

2009-07-18T21:13:00.000-07:00

We had an awesome Saturday. It began with a great little tour of some of the Broadway theaters, hosted by the LA Conservancy. What an amazing way to see LA, explore LA and get to know the history intimately. We started here at the Million Dollar Theater, one of the first movie palaces in LA. It's a single screen theater, which was used for vaudeville and silent films when it was built in 1918. (Mary Pickford was there on opening night!) In the forties it hosted live acts like Billy Holiday and Cab Calloway. We've done the tour before, but love exploring it when we can. Our guide was OK, she kept referring to herself and stating the obvious, several times... My favorite line was, "... people like myself who saw the raw potential in downtown." Blech.

Anyway, we ducked out of the tour early and walked over to the Nickel Diner for lunch. Somehow I have never been to this amazing little gem. Their tagline is, "I've been in more laps than a napkin." It's hip and cool, but absolutely warm and friendly. The wait staff were such pros, removing and replacing iced coffee with such ease that I didn't see it going or coming. As you sit down they serve these cute little donut holes. They are known for their maple bacon donuts. Now, I have a confession to make. I HATE donuts. I will cross the street and walk three blocks out of the way to avoid the smell and suggestion of a Winchells. I have never had a Dunkin' Donut or anything vaguely similar. But I tried the maple, bacon donut hole and it was good... except that it was a donut. I'm sure if YOU like donuts, you'll love it. I didn't see that they make homemade poptarts until I was completely stuffed with a BLTA, Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato and Arugula sandwich on sourdough with a spicy aioli. It rocked. I can't wait to go back.

THEN... we hit the Modernica Warehouse sale. We didn't buy a thing, but ate awesome ice cream sandwiches outside courtesy of the CoolHaus ice cream truck. If you are anywhere near these girls, you should run and get in line, to pony up and buy yourself an ice cream sandwich. You might have read about them here or here.Enjoy!

Couple of Random Bites...

2009-07-16T12:59:00.000-07:00

I was hooked on the sample chapter of this book... can't wait to get my hands on the whole thing.

I received a free case of POM Wonderful juices and while I don't always write about the freebies that come my way, I do love this juice. This cake recipe, made with pomegrantate juice looks good too.

Interesting article from Frank Bruni, the Food Critic for the New York Times on eating and his own eating disorder.

Family Abounds, The World Food Tour 2009

2009-07-09T11:07:00.000-07:00

My awesome cousin is visiting with her wonderful family and we have embarked on the World Food Tour 2009. So far each stop has been amazing, including Bulgarini Gelato, where we dug into Yogurt and Olive Oil (my new fav!), Milk with Lime, Blood Orange and Chocolate combo. We had lunch at La Estrella, dinner at Din Tai Fung Dumpling House, dessert at Beard Papa's and brunch at Europane. I need a five mile run to burn off some of the calories, but it's all worth it. So far we've covered, Shanghai, Italy and France. We are moving on to Korea tonight and will eventually make our way to Japan. Stay tuned.

Book Review: Food of a Younger Land

2009-07-05T22:13:00.000-07:00

I love this book. I didn't understand until it came to me that Mark Kurlansky is not the 'author' of this book. He's a wonderful writer, but this book is different than Salt or Cod.He's the editor of a wonderful selection of food writing, from recipes to essays to cultural reports from the lost WPA files. The sales blurb doesn't really do it justice, because it describes "A portrait of American food–before the national highway system, before chain restaurants, and before frozen food, when the nation’s food was seasonal, regional, and traditional–from the lost WPA files." I'm a nerd even that sounds like a big SNORE to me. It makes the book sound as though you're going to be knee deep in the process of food and highways, but instead it is a free-for-all. Imagine going into the archives of the WPA and coming out with gobs of food writing-- recipes, oral histories, lists and off the wall accounts that detail both culture and context for everything from chowders to cakes. If you have any interest in history or food or both... dive in. It's such a crazy, diverse collection, but wonderful and revealing and ... even familiar. You'll find yourself or your family at some point. I found my family, unexpectedly... My grandmother used to make my mom run down and find a neighbor to come to dinner when she counted and figured out they had an unlucky 13.

And by the way... where's the WPA now? Can you imagine what would happen if we put all the out of work writers to work on something now? How about teaching poetry, or short-story writing, or the art of the spoken word to third graders? I'm in...

Choices...

2009-07-02T14:25:00.001-07:00

Asada. Lengua. Cabeza. Al pastor. Carnitas. Pollo. Oh my. La Estrella
rocks. And they are open 24 hours.

Leftovers

2009-07-01T21:28:00.001-07:00

...from the first day of summer school.

Wisconsin...

2009-06-29T10:33:00.001-07:00

Haiku #2

2009-06-22T11:08:00.000-07:00

Sussina on 6th

Tiny chicken molds
waiting for hot chocolate,
while I wait for joe.

Haiku #1

2009-06-21T22:56:00.000-07:00

She is cake batter
sticky in bowl. And I am
pepper in chai tea.

...and the cake.

2009-06-21T13:32:00.001-07:00

Icing the cake is meditative. Yellow cake with chocolate buttercream
frosting. Not for Father's Day, but for a friend who just lost his
Father.

The business of cake-making...

2009-06-21T13:26:00.000-07:00

Must Read; Last Night at the Lobster, Stewart O'Nan

2009-05-26T11:27:00.000-07:00

This is an amazing book and I don't think I'm biased since I actually wore a Red Lobster name tag at one point in my life. It is great writing. If you've ever worked in a restaurant you'll relate and if you haven't, you're offered a window into the world backstage, the prepping of lunch/ dinner, how much they think of you before and after you sit in their booth. Stewart O'Nan does an incredible job of describing the bleak and the hopeful that are rolled into one when you work in a restaurant. He articulates the small things you do to connect to customers and the tiny acts of kindness and precision that define who we are in that moment, while we work.

Noe

2009-05-25T22:57:00.001-07:00

Amazing tomatoes and gelee, one of the nine course we indulged,
explored and inhaled at Noe for my birthday. It was wonderful in every
sense.

The Smell of Defeat...

2009-05-25T22:53:00.000-07:00

Just when I'm feeling sort of proud of myself in the kitchen, I go and
blow something so badly that I'm sure the neighbors are wondering what
the hell happened. Tonight I burned black eyed peas. I bet a dead
horse would smell better than my kitchen right now. Julia Childs says
don't apologize, but I wouldn't be surprsed if someone from the city
showed up on a hazmat suit. It stinks.

Wonder what I can make tomorrow that will restore my confidence and
mask the stench?

Sent from the moon

Licking the beater...

2009-05-24T15:51:00.001-07:00

Angel food cake with strawberries soaked in a little balsamic
vinegar... Who 's in?

And it looks like it's climbing right up to the sky...

2009-05-23T13:16:00.000-07:00

First corn of the season! Little lime, little olive oil and salt... It
all starts now.

Fresh eggs...

2009-05-20T18:26:00.000-07:00

From our neighbor's chickens. Nothing's better. (Except maybe their
duck eggs.)

Spring Soup Interlude

2009-05-10T10:40:00.001-07:00

More leeks than potatoes, fresh basil... Perfect weeknight soup.

Eating Our Way Through Austin

2009-05-08T09:21:00.000-07:00

I'm way behind on blogging, although the eating and cooking have been going fabulously. I had the amazing opportunity to go to camp for grownups, grownups who write poetry... It was just lovely. I flew to Austin with two of my friends, we flew the airline that offers TV's and SNACKS! FREE SNACKS! That part alone was work the trip. We arrived to a slightly muggy city that was spitting rain. It has changed so much since I lived there, but the heart and soul of the city is eccentric and easy going. We stopped at Mellow Johnny's Bike Store where we picked up bikes and grilled the guys who worked there about what to eat and where to go. They directed us here... but on our way, the traffic picked up and we started to feel the fact that we had only had FREE SNACKS all day, and it was almost 6pm. So as we stopped and started along Congress in the traffic, I saw Magnolia Cafe and we did a u-turn and were in front of a bowl of queso and chips in a matter of seconds. In minutes we had huge orders of pasta, quesadillas and gingerbread pancakes and life was great again. When we wander back out, fat and happy, we saw that there was a line of cool airstream trailers parked across the street, each offering a specialty food. We landed on the cupcakes of course, and they were above and beyond. I had a vegan mint choc chip, Mark had a vegan orange cupcake with almond frosting and Augusto had a yellow cake with choc frosting. They offer this cool option of whip cream jammed into your cupcake, to make it more airy and wonderful and because we needed to confuse the vegan option, we did it. Can't wait to do that at a kid birthday party.

We headed out to the festival which was out of town, in Round Top Texas about an hour and a half away from Austin. It was drab and rainy and eventually dark when we arrived. I egged Mark along a two lane road, in the pitch black, not knowing that we were very close to being stuck in the water and mud if we veered off the pavement, and eventually we landed at Festival Hill. Mark said landing there in the middle of the night was like a fever dream and it was.

Stay tuned for more about the next day... and Royer's Round Top Cafe.

Homegirl Cafe

2009-04-16T16:54:00.002-07:00

In the midst of the thin sheen of sweat that tax day inspired yesterday, I had the chance to pause and stop for lunch with G at Homegirl. It was a nice respite in a storm of stress which included driving six different freeways to pick up, sign off on and deliver taxes for signatures for all our various accounts. I'm so OVER filing more than one return. Anyway, we made a quick left near Phillipe's and opted for Homegirl Cafe which was crowded and warm and just great. The staff are rough around the edges and after a brief yelling exchange over whose table was who's... we were treated to lovely service. The staff knows their stuff and the menu is yummy. We started with guacamole with roasted pineapple that was not overly sweet and pineapple aqua fresca, great sandwiches, and fish tacos and finished with their fabulous coffee, which is roasted with orange peel and cinnamon. I asked about the various salad dressings and our waitress brought me two cute carafes so I could try both. You can sit near a window and watch the trains cruise in and out of the China Town station, kinda perfect to entertain train loving kids. The bakery is formidable too and worth a look, especially the Mexican chocolate cookies. And the art and decor are modern and elegant, without being stuffy. It's a great place for lunch and I'm excited to go back with my little homegirl.

Good Girl Dinette Opening...

2009-04-08T15:39:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a PR release for this fabulous new restaurant... Click on the release to see it in all it's glory. What a total blast... I wrote the release, created a list of contacts and sent individual notes to folks like Daily Candy, LAist, EatLA... The responses were fast and fun and nearly overwhelming.