Gastronomy 101

MODEST MOUSE Modest Mouse is not my favorite band. It is one of those bands that everyone around me loves and I am overwhelmingly indifferent to. I can think of one song of theirs that I like. I saw them live one time and came away with the impression that I like the music, the vocals just leave a lot to be desired. That vocalist is Isaac Brock. Isaac Brock has never come off as a nice person to me, when reading his interviews about music. I'd basically written him off as a bad vocalist, and arrogant twat. Then, I read an interview with him in the Believer . The interview was not about music, it was about food, and cooking. And I was shocked. It was like I was reading about a whole different person. A person I liked and wanted to know. A person like me. I discovered that he was born a mere two days before me. If astrology has anything to say about it, then he probably IS a person like me. Not quite the same ... that two days mak...

In an attempt to overcompensate for my own lack of interestingness today, I bring you moundfuls of others who have something to say--but don't leave me for good! I promise tomorrow I will have stories to tell of greasy haired musicians who magically turn into chefs before your very eyes! In the meantime, feast your eyes as well on: Acme Instant Food . I found this blog via his comment on The Delicious Life , and this guy just seemed like a person I would like, so I went to his blog and discovered gobs and gobs of amazing recipes. And I do like him! He works at a non-profit! And makes Madonna-themed Disco French Toast ! And there are pictures of a dog with rye bread on its nose! How many billable hours does looking at blogs count for? Really? Not even .2? I'm sure what I have learned will help me with a case SOMEHOW.

I suddenly find myself this morning without a post. I haven't gotten to take pictures of the food I was going to post about ... and I haven't yet read the article I was going to post about. So instead, I'm going to give some link love to another food blog that I recently came across. Confessions of a Restaurant Whore is mostly restaurant reviews with some other San Francisco and food related posts. I love anything to do with food, and anything to do with restaurants, and anything to do with ... well, with whores it's not automatic love, but you'll definitely get me to pay attention. I loved perusing the archives of this blog, because not only has Ms. Whore eaten at some old favorites but she has reports on places where I dream of someday having the pleasure of dining. So while you may have to wait to understand the fabulousness of my new camera, which comes with its very own special "FOOD" setting (although so far, I have mostly taken pictures of myse...

A couple of new restaurants have opened up near my place that I am interested in trying sometime soon. Keep these in mind, friends, for next time we are going "ummmmmm ... where do you want to go?" "I don't know, where do you want to go?" Remind me to look at my blog and remember the following ideas: Cube at Divine Pasta Co.: Divine Pasta Co. on La Brea now also features "Cube," a casual cheese bar and cafe, open for lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday. The menu features a dazzling array of cheeses and charcuterie, as well as pasta dishes, pizzas, panini, and sides both small and more substantial. Cube is located on La Brea between Melrose and Clinton. There's also a newly remodeled gourmet shop that has over 800 products for your perusal. Don't be confused by the plethora of signs, just go in and eat. Hatfield's : Karen and Quinn Hatfield, formerly of Cortez in San Francisco, have headed down our way to try out the dining scene on B...

There's a new restaurant in Santa Monica, in what used to be the Rocca space. Three on Fourth is a tapas restaurant featuring dishes influenced by three regions of the world: America, Europe, and Japan, and three types of alcoholic beverages: beer, wine, and sake. The restaurant may need to be a little more evocative with this theme, because I didn't realize it until reading about the restaurant post-dining, and was a little confused about how the menu was arranged, as it looks like a secret code , with strange symbols designating the different pages of the menu. Apparently, each menu is supposed to compliment either wine, beer, or sake. It would have been nice to know that because it may have changed my order. I hope that my salad was meant to go with wine, because that's what I ordered! The decor is modern, with lots of dark wood and really low lighting . It wasn't crowded when we went, but it was dark enough that you would probably feel alone even if every table wer...

Would you eat meat that was grown in a lab and did not come from a live animal that was subsequently killed to produce it? Why or why not? This question comes with no judgment on my part. I am just curious and interested in the answer. I am not a vegetarian and I'm not sure how I feel about meat grown in a lab, or whether or not I would eat it. I would also have to wonder if lab grown meats might not be just as bad for the animals they replace? What would we do with all of these domesticated animals we have been producing in ever growing numbers, and how would we control potential overpopulation of those species, if they no longer served a food-providing function? It's a very curious subject. I feel like I'm going to have to read some more about this. I don't think it's merely a question of killing animals vs. not killing them. On the other hand, there are serious problems with the meat industry and maybe this is the only possible solution. ???????????? Tags: cultu...

Photo from US Dept. of Agriculture Avocados originated in Central America, where they were a staple as early as 3500 b.c.e. They originated in soutch central Mexico sometime between 7,000 - 5,000 B.C. Archaeologists in Peru have found avocado seeds buried with Incan mummies from 750 B.C. The avocado tree is a laurel and is related to bay and sassafras. Avocados are a fleshy fruit, not a vegetable. An avocado is a single-seeded berry. As well as eating the fruit, the leaves of an avocado tree can be used as flavoring. The name "avocado" comes form the Nahuatl word ahuacatl , which means "testacle." Spanish conquistadores changed it to aguacate . The English word avocado first appears in a mention by Sir Henry Sloane in 1696. Avocados have a naturally high metabolism and deteriorate faster other fruits, such as apples, pears, and kiwi. Avocados are native to warm regions and do not keep well at low temperatures. Keeping an avocado in the refrigerator, at temperatures...

My last post on my trip to the central coast is about one of my favorite restaurants in San Luis Obispo: Big Sky . Big Sky Cafe serves "modern food." There's a lot of southwestern influence, mixed with American classics and vegetarian dishes. It's food that is prepared and presented with great care, but is relatively inexpensive. This is for sure the best breakfast in town and is always packed on weekend mornings, but is just as good for lunch or dinner. One fact I did not know, is that Big Sky was opened by a former chef of Kokomo , at the Fairfax Farmer's Market, another favorite place of mine to eat. I am definitely a true Angeleno now, because when we went to brunch on Saturday morning at around 10:30, I was like "Oh, it's going to be packed." My mom assured me that it was "late" and the crowds would be gone by then. I was skeptical. Sure enough, she was right. I guess I'm now used to Los Angeles, where everyone in the whole freaki...

French Toast Originally uploaded by ktglick . For father's day brunch, I decided to actually cook. Normally I don't do anything at family meals except make the salad, or help with dishes. I get intimidated by trying to cook for a lot of people. But with the right sous chef, I decided french toast should be pretty easy. I purchased some Challah from Canter's on Friday night. That way, on Sunday it should be stale enough to become French toast. I really wanted brioche, but didn't know where to get some close to my apartment. Of course, while we were eating dinner at Canter's, my old neighbor pulls out a menu from Michel Richard that was crumpled in her purse, and of course they have brioche! Oh well. Canter's is walkable. And serves dinner. I decided that I needed to add my own touch to the French toast, but what should it be? I decided on making a cinnamon butter and drizzling the French toast with it just before serving. I figured then people could eat it with o...

For dinner on Saturday we stopped at McPhee's Grill in Templeton. Templeton still looks like an old west town. There's a main street that's lined with wooden buildings with wooden porches, and as you drive down it, you feel like you are on some movie set. It's like the Universal Studios old west stunt show set and so you kind of hope no dudes in ten gallon has come flying out of the saloon while you're in the vicinity. McPhee's is, like most of the good restaurants in this area, a steak house. But it offers far more than just various cuts of beef and appetizers. The menu is modern, eclectic and sophisticated and offers a wide variety of choices even for those who are not beef lovers. We were given plates of pickled things to start out with, along with a basket filled with several varieties of bread. I don't know what it is about this pickled plate ... it only seems to be served at steak restaurants on the Central Coast. This kind of a starter always makes...

My brother in expert whiffleball batting stance After wine tasting, we headed over to Dover Canyon to hang out for a while with my brother, his fiancee, and some of their friends. Dover Canyon is a ranch that my grandfather owns and has kept pretty much in its natural state for our family to use for camping, hiking, fishing, barbecues, parties, etc. The little area where we mostly congregate is perfect for an outdoor gathering. It's a flat meadow-like clearing surrounded by a hill leading up to a reservoir, a waterfall and a stream. Um ... in order to make this post somewhat about food, let's just say that so much barbecue has been consumed at Dover Canyon, that you could probably make a small family farm out of the meat. So, we went out to the ranch and met the campers. The tank top my brother is wearing is--I swear to god--20 years old. It's a shirt that was specially silkscreened for my dad's 40th birthday "Over the Hill Bowl" football game. I never thought...

The Wineries of Paso Robles (Click the picture for a few more winery photos) On Saturday, we went to a few different wineries in the Paso Robles area. As it happened, I liked each place more than the one that came before it. York Mountain/Martin Winery We began at York Mountain Winery, which is now called Martin Winery due to new ownership, although all the wines are still called York Mountain for the time being. This was, relatively speaking, my least favorite of the day. The tasting room was cramped, and while there were two counterwomen, one was helping only one group of people, while the other tried to help three groups of people, making it a longer wait to get served. The wines were hit and miss, to me. I started with a Viognier that was just kind of ... meh. It was very bland but also very acidic, so that I didn't taste much flavor but the acid kind of tickled my throat. I then tried a syrah clone (#877) that was my favorite of the bunch. It had a dark, rich berry flavor, but...

rainbow connection Originally uploaded by emdot . We are heading up north to San Luis Obispo for the weekend. No blog entry today because no time for foodie things, but planned future posts from the weekend: + Wineries on Saturday + Dinner in Atascadero/Paso Robles + French toast for Father's Day brunch I will try to steal a real camera from my parents for good photos. The photo above comes from Flickr user emdot , who has many beautiful pictures of San Luis Obispo, as well as other things.

Boy Fish Girl Fish We have a new mattress! Granted, we do not have a bed to put it on, but we have a mattress! It came all rolled up into this little tube which slowly expanded after you unroll it. They thoughtfully provided another bag in case we were moving. You know, like we are ever going to be able to get a queen size mattress rolled up into a little tube again. So for now, we are just sleeping on the mattress. On the floor. Hey, it's better than our old bed, believe me. The only thing is that it's bigger and to my surprise this is going to take some getting used to. It's weird because (1) I slept in a king-sized bed for probably five years before moving in with J. and (2) a bump up from full to queen is not that drastic of a change. But, I found that I kept waking up in the middle of the night wondering where my husband was and then realizing he was in bed with me, but just far away. I always knew that after I fall asleep, cuddle time is over and I kind of roll away, ...

Strawberries in Cardamom Syrup Originally uploaded by ktglick . Fortunately, my meringue disaster did not keep me down. By the way, I looked up what could have gone wrong and it basically could have been anything: it could have been the fact that I used liquid egg whites, there could have been soap residue in the bowl, it could have been the ratio of sugar to eggs. Basically, it's hard to make a meringue y'all. Next time, before I make one, I am going to go back and re-read the section on meringues that I read last night because the information it gave was key. In a nutshell: dried egg whites are key, as is cream of tartar (or lemon juice). Make sure bowl is thoroughly rinsed, that there is absolutely no yolk, that you use the right ratio of eggs to sugar (1.5 tablespoons per egg white), use superfine sugar, and use a copper bowl if you are able. I was going to regroup and put the berries on top of shortcakes, or poundcakes, instead of a meringue, but alas, one jacaranda tree ...

Dried Cardamom Cardamom is the world's third most expensive spice (after saffron and vanilla). Just as saffron must be pulled thread by thread, each pod of cardamom is hand-picked. However, it's not nearly as expensive as the top two spices. A pound of cardamom pods will cost you $25-30, while a pound of Madagascar vanilla beans will cost you $350 and a pound of spanish saffron would cost you $1500. Cardamom is native to the mountains of southwest India and could be found only in that region until 1900, when German immigrants brought it to Guatemala, which is now the largest exporter. India remains the largest producer, but due to large domestic demand, most Indian-produced cardamom stays in the country. According to Harold McGee, the word "cardamom" comes from an Arabic root that means "to warm." However, most other sources list the etymology as Greek: kardamomon, coming from a combination of "kard" (a type of cress) and amomon (an Indian spice)....

So I tried, last night, to make these dessert things that involved meringues. I should have known. I am totally not a baker. I can make cookies really well and that's about it. Oh, I am capable of making a dessert, but in order to do it successfully I must follow the recipe exactly and not deviate one iota. (And I love deviation). But the recipe for the meringues made six meringues and I didn't need six meringues! Moreover, they're not the kind of thing you can just keep around for later days. Like, cookies you can keep for long enough to eat them all, even if you make a jillion. Meringues ... not so much. You basically have a day to eat them. I tried, but with the reduction in the recipe, the egg was just not stabilizing enough. I may have been able to get it to work with some cream of tartar, but we did not have any. As a last resort I just threw the stuff into the oven to see what it would do. It looked promising at first ... it looked like it was making something approx...

Lord of the Flies Originally uploaded by ktglick . I have some friends that are lucky enough to be renting a house with a yuuuuuge backyard. One of their clever ideas for utilizing this outdoor space was an annual pig roast . A real pig roast. Roasting the whole pig. That's right, they roasted a whole pig. Last year was the prototype. A spit was built and the pig placed upon, with a crank for turning and a fire underneath. And the pig cooked. And cooked. And cooked. I believe it was around 10 p.m. before people began to consume the pig, and I was long gone, having already consumed enough snacks and beer to bring on my bedtime. This year they had learned from the previous year and things progressed on a much quicker schedule. A cinder block "oven" was built around the fire to hold in the heat, and an ingenius exercise bike/conveyer belt device was rigged to allow for easier cranking of the spit. This time I got a call at 3:00 letting me know that dinner would be served on...

Joan's on Third , originally uploaded by ktglick . I just realized that every time I write about a restaurant lately, it is because I had to go shopping. But ... I'm not kidding when I say I hate shopping, and the best way to get me to go shopping is to promise me food, and/or a cocktail. At the end of July, we are going to Italy. Cinque Terre to be exact. Which means it is time to start preparing for travel. So on Saturday, we took a walk down to Flight 001 so that J. could search for travel merchandise. In order to get me excited about this, I was promised a trip to The Cook's Library and, most importantly, to Joan's on Third . At the Cook's Library, I purchased Molecular Gastronomy , by Hervé This, which I found to my delight also happened to be signed by the author. Mr. This is the only person to have a degree in molecular gastronomy and write the first essays on the subject. The book covers the whys and wherefores of food. These are the books I read, rather...

Jar , originally uploaded by ktglick . Now that we have a bed, and I can be sore only from aerobicizing and not from our awful mattress, the next thing we need is sheets. Our new bed is bigger than the old bed, and should be here Monday (maybe) so we really need sheets, just in case it comes, so we can set it up ASAP and commence with our comfortable sleeping. The only way to entice me to go shopping for sheets is with cocktails. And of course, there was walking and these days I am all about any form of exercise that is also useful. So we walked over towards the Linen Outlet, and then realized that it would actually be better to go to Jar first, since after a few cocktails, shopping would be more fun. Also, we wouldn't have to lug all of our shopping bags into the restaurant. So we went in and sat at the bar. I love going to Jar because it has a very warm, cozy feeling to it. The decor is early '60s style, which is my favorite era for fashion and decor, besides the 1920s. Jar...

CAESAR SALAD Things these days--material possessions, meals, clothing, everything--are so easy to obtain pre-packaged, pre-made and everything done for you, that it no longer seems necessary to ever do anything for yourself. People don't make things anymore. I can never learn too much history, because when I read history books, my mind gets blown and I get hung up on the little things: the fact that owning one book would make you rich once upon a time; the fact that once, almost everyone had to make their own clothes and only had a few things to wear and those things had to be washed by hand every time; the fact that some women once had to spend the entire day in viewing range of the fire to make sure it never went out, because it was the source of drinking water and cooking water. And. The fact that once, most people made every single meal they ate themselves, from scratch. Now, even for cooking we have box mixes, "kits," everything's done for us. I will admit that ...

SB 144 , was recently passed, which entirely updates California's food safety code. This piece of legislation has been in the works for years and is based on the best available food safety science. California's old food safety codes were 20 years old, so an update was needed. It's impossible to summarize this bill, since it's a total revamp of the code, but in general, it's meant to promote uniform and consistent food safety enforcement; greater protection of school children and the elderly, basing food safety regulation on best available science, consolidating the law and providing training and education to facilitate better understanding of the laws. The only other thing I can say about it is that I looked and could really find no opposition to it. It's 144 pages long, and most of it's administrative blah, so I fall asleep before getting far through it, but one notable thing I saw was stringent requirements regarding (1) substances that may contaminate foo...

Ghotab , originally uploaded by ktglick . Ghotab (Ghotaab, ghottab, qottab) is a Persian pastry, which along with typical ingredients also contains yogurt, almonds and cardamom. It is basically a round piece of pastry dough folded over an almond paste/sugar/cardamom mixture and then lightly fried. Some versions of ghotab may contain other ingredients, since most of the best recipes are family secrets that are jealously guarded. Ghotab is one of three types of sweets ("shirini") that the Iranian city of Yazd is famous for producing. Yazd is an ancient city that was once a center for Zoroastrianism and is now famous for its architecture (along with the shirini!). The confectioners of Yazd keep their recipes very secret and many have been passed down through several generations. Other shirini famous in Yazd are baghlava and pashmak . Ghotab is relatively easy to make, although my ghotab was not homemade by me, but purchased from Mashti Malone's , which is also an excel...

My fledgling blog is honored to have been added to Food Porn Watch . It's a killer time waster for foodies, being basically a running list of food blog updates. You could literally sit by your computer all day and just read food blogs. Um ... not that I do that. I have work to do, people! Tags: food , blogs

This has nothing to do with food. But I have to say, I work at an interesting firm. I just came back to my office to find the door half-closed. This immediately set off my Buffy-vampire-slaying skills and I entered my office cautiously, unsure of what I might find, but ready to give a good knee to the groin, just in case. Nothing. Then I walk in further. Sort of standing against the wall, almost behind the door was my boss. I didn't freak out. Yet. "Um. Are you hiding?" I said. "Yes, actually. I am hiding. Literally," he said. He was hiding from the clients he had just met with (and subsequently kicked out). Okay, some moments are kind of worth it. Tags: law

Lunch , originally uploaded by ktglick . It was HOT on Sunday. The kind of hot where you wake up and you're already sweaty. The kind of hot where you meant to get up early so you could do your exercise before the heat wave hit, but when you get up early, it's already approximately the heat of the center of the sun. The kind of hot where every so often you need to go stick your head in the freezer and when you do, it's like you're waking up from a terrible dream. And you know, as you stand there with your head in the freezer, that you are then in your true home: a land where everything is cool and refreshing and frosty, and there is ice cream and vodka everywhere. And you know also, that in this land of frost and ice cream and vodka, you are a tall and slender ice princess, and not really a small, round and sweaty attorney. When it is this hot, what do you make for lunch? What do you eat on a day when your entire body is calling for you NOT to eat, but rather to jus...

Brunch at Clementine , originally uploaded by ktglick . For the past several months, I have been waking up sore. Now, I thought this was no big deal because for a while, I was exercising a lot and I thought it was just the effects of that. But then, recently, I took a break from the exercise as I transitioned from the old place to a new place and found that I was still waking up sore every day. What is this? I consulted with J. and learned that he too has been waking up sore and having a hard time sleeping. The culprit? Our 12 year old mattress. Looks like it's time to get a new one. So yesterday, we bit the bullet and went to look at beds. Thankfully, J. did lots of research and narrowed us down to two stores, because here is the thing. I know this sounds wrong and weird and I know this is very shocking, but ... I hate shopping. Now, don't get me wrong, I love buyimg things , I just hate the process of determining what type of thing I am going to buy. There is just so ve...

On June 15, we are getting a new wine bar and bistro in West Hollywood: BIN 8945 . BIN 8945 will serve a menu that includes an oyster bar, small plates, large plates and desserts of mostly European bistro-style food. Owner David Haskell was a wine director at Aubergine in Newport Beach and Aquavit in New York, and his partner and executive chef Matt Carpenter previously worked at Josie, in Santa Monica. The wine list will include over 450 labels, at least 100 of which will be under $50. According to the L.A. Times, they plan to have 57 wines by the glass. There is also a bar with some interesting cocktails. Example: P, B & J -- Rasberry Vodka, Frangelico, Grape Juice. They will also serve a variety of sakes. So all of my foodie friends, people who just got jobs, wine-loving friends, or just friends, I invite you to come try this place, because with that kind of a selection, I will be there, and probably not too long after it opens. Tags: reataurant , wine , ba...