View from the Kitchen

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.

Ow... ow... ow... Jitlada Hurts So Good

2009-04-04T21:55:00.000-07:00

Sometimes LA seems like a small city and it's hard know it, really know it unless, you study hard, have a gaggle of adventurous friends, and/or are willing to try anything. And by anything I mean a southern style Thai restaurant in a mini-mall in Thai town. Low ceiling, family feel, warm but busy servers and a menu so long and crazy it's impossible to do it justice unless you studied it for hours. You just have to go with it. I tried Jitlada's food at the Jonathan Gold, Gold Standard event this year. Handed a plate of the hot, hot rice salad and Khrua Gling, dry beef curry, I dug in and Mark said I squealed. I don't remember squealing... I just remember this burst of flame in my mouth and then an explosion of flavor. It was fantastic and one of the best things we tried out of all the restaurants Gold hosted (another post on that...).

Anyway, we headed to the restaurant with our friend, Katie who is a fan of hot, hot, hot and ordered a bevy of drinks, Singha's and Thai Iced Tea and water, water, water... before we ordered the Khrua Gling again, catfish salad (featured here in Gourmet Magazine, and every bit as good as described by the article), rice salad (salty, sweet, crunchy and hot all at the same time), kaeng khew-wan khài "Mang-kon", green curry with egg-yolk-stuffed fish balls (we ordered it a 4 on a scale of 1-10 in hotness and it was mind blowing) and mounds and mounds of white rice. It was soooo wonderful. I loved every bite. We headed to Scoops for ice cream to cool our tongues after it was over. This place has been open since 2006, but I'd never tried it. But I'm a believer now, especially in the brown bread flavor, which tasted like sweet brown bread, a malted, crunchy bite with vanilla and brown sugar. Yum.

The only thing I regret was eating there the night before a killer workout at Catz on Saturday morning. Next time, I want to do lunch after the workout and with loads and loads of Thai-iced coffee. I can't wait.

New Toy! Cookie Press

2009-04-03T15:43:00.000-07:00

I was looking for a way to make dozens and dozens and dozens of cookies easily. There's a big Spring Fest at A's school in a couple of weeks and I wanted to make hundreds of cute cookies as a fund raiser. I have always wondered about making cookies with a cookie press but never knew how. On a whim today I bought a cheapie cookie press and came home and made sugar cookie dough. Basic recipe, tons of butter, almond and vanilla for flavor. Don't chill the dough. It took a little practice and coercion, but it was fun and relatively easy. Even the cookies that came out lumpy and imperfect will be great with a thin layer of royal icing and sprinkles. The bonus is that this is not my favorite cookie. I'm not a fan of plain sugar cookies, butter cookies or sprinkles. I can make thousands of these without being tempted to eat my weight in them. I'm going to make them, freeze them, ice them, package them in cute little bags with ribbon and sell them for the fundraiser... Anybody have any interesting recipes that would work in the press?

Ummmmm... never mind

2009-04-03T15:25:00.000-07:00

On April 1st, Snopes published this information... which does say that most of the claims about the bill are false, including The Senator's husband working for Monsanto. He has worked for them in the past, but not currently. I'm still uncomfortable with that, but not as uncomfortable. Snopes concludes that there is legitimate debate as to whether or not the bill will be effective at insuring and improving food safety, but most of the concerns are not as big an issue as I thought.

Please Act on This... Death of Farmers Markets, CSA's and Local Food

2009-03-31T13:11:00.000-07:00

I'm cutting and pasting a copy of the blog from The Nourished Kitchen on the pending bill HR 875, backed by Monsanto. It's called the Food Safety Act and of course, who doesn't want that... right? But in fact, it does nothing on the front of food safety and instead forces small farms, local farms and even house gardeners who deliver excess fruit to local markets to spray pesticides, produced by... you guessed it, MONSANTO.

Here's the full article. Please, please, please act on this... Contact info is at the bottom of the article.

HR 875, also known as the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, was introduced by Rosa Delauro - a democratic party member of the United States House of Representatives from Connecticut - in February of 2009. The title of HR 875, The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, sounds innocuous enough - even comforting, but its implications yield a much, much different story.

HR 875 as it is written today, could very well mean the end of the vibrant and growing local foods movement. Yes - if it passes - it could herald the death of farmers markets, most CSAs, farmstands and even small family-run farms altogether.

Ostensibly, HR 875 or the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 would bring greater accountability to our imperiled food system. Indeed, with salmonella-infected peanuts and spinach laced with e-coli, who isn’t crying out for improvements in food safety?

However, HR 875 fails miserably in promoting food safety. Rather, than promoting true accountability and proper farming techniques that minimize the risk of introducing pathogens into the food supply, it simply will create greater barriers for our already struggling small farms and farmers markets.

HR 875 mandates that anyone who produces food of any kind - meat, milk, fruit, vegetables et cetera - and transports that food for sale be subject to warrantless government inspections of their farms and food production records. These random inspections can be conducted at the whim of federal agents without regard to farmers rights or property rights. Further, the law would allow federal agents to confiscate records, product as they see fit as part of the inspection process.

Agents could also implement draconian restrictions regarding how farm animals can be fed, how fields can be managed and the end result of these restrictions could mean the end of organic, biodynamic and sustainable agriculture practices if these practices are deemed “unsafe.” Farmers refusing to comply would be subject to penalties.

The penalty for denying federal agents unlimited, random access to a farm’s fields, properties, products and records is $1,000,000. The penalty for not registering is $1,000,000.

Remember, this law would affect every farmer or food producer who must transport his goods to sell them - in effect, every single farmer. That means that an orchard that sells fresh fruit at a roadside stand would be affected; a farmer who delivers CSA boxes would be affected, even a home gardener who brings excess harvest to a farmers market’s community booth would have to register or be subject to $1,000,000 fines and that garden plot would be subject to inspection by federal agents. Ridiculous, isn’t it? But it’s true.

HR 875 is such a massive bill, with such massive requirements and restrictions that, in effect, only huge agribusinesses would be able to effectively meet all its requirements. The small family farm would be history and, along with it, farmstands, farmers markets, most food cooperatives and CSAs.

Now, let’s get back to Rosa Delauro who introduced HR 875 in February. Ms. Delaura is married to Stanley Greenberg. Stanley Greenberg is a political consultant whose clients include Monsanto–Monsanto, the same corporation, who blessed us with RBGH and genetically engineered seeds. Should we really trust Ms. Delauro or her husband to make these kinds of decisions for the American people?

My husband and I run a farmers market - a vibrant and growing farmers market in the heart of ski country. Now, it’s taken our blood, sweat and tears (and I do mean real blood, real sweat and real tears) to make our market succeed. Were this bill to pass, it would mean the end of our market as our farmers - some of whom grow on as little as a single acre - would be forced to close their gates. It would also mean the end of our local CSAs - all of which are delivered from the farm after a winding trip through the mountains.

The bill has not passed yet, so you still have time to act. Remember, eating is now a political act so exercise your rights.

Act now:

Read the full bill here: HR 875 - Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009.
Contact your representative and inform them you oppose HR 875.
Tweet this post and spread the word about HR 875.
Stumble this post and spread the word about HR 875.
Blog about your opposition to HR 875.
Contact your representative AGAIN and make sure the message gets through.

Roll up your sleeves...

2009-03-20T09:34:00.000-07:00

Michelle Obama is set to announce that there will finally be a garden at the White House again. I'm so excited about this. Talk about hope for the future, for our food, for clean work and well earned meals. It also speaks to how important farming is to our nation and not just for corn for corn syrup!

Root Beer Cookies

2009-03-19T23:16:00.000-07:00

How did I NOT know about these? Did you know about these?

They were here, here, and HERE.

We're leaving town tomorrow, but as soon as I have more than five minutes, I can't wait to bake these. I can think of five different occasions when these would have been perfect, including my the dinner fest for bookclub when we read Confederacy of Dunces.