Gastronomy 101

Via Daily Candy From the "Better Living Through Chemistry" files, comes the ultimate product for me. Fuwarinka Functional Candy and Gum is both (supposedly) delicious and useful. About an hour after one chews the gum or consumes the candy the consumer will begin to exude a delightful fragrance of either rose or vanilla. Or, if you need a more manly scent, "rose menthol." This is so exciting for me. I am obsessed with smelling good and having my environment smell good. Imagine if I got to combine the chore of making myself smell nice with the pleasant activity of eating candy! And vanilla is my fragrance of choice, anyway. If this works, then I could make this available freely to people who come into my general vicinity and encourage an entirely vanilla scented day for me. That would be nice ... I mean compared to some of the smells I get instead. So I have ordered some of this stuff and when it gets here, I will try it out and report back as to whether it actually...

I have posted before about the fact that I am maybe ... not so good at the fine art of baking. I can make several different kinds of cookies. That's about as far as I can get. I tried meringues , they collapsed. I tried foccacia , the result being a freakish hybrid bread-cracker-thing. The baking thing just seriously eludes me. But I am not a quitter. And though I won't be making any souffles or layer cakes or eclairs or what-have-you in the near future. I do continue to strive for certain more rustic baking accomplishments, because I figure if a peasant with no money and no stuff can manage to make a loaf of bread, then I with my modern kitchen accoutrements should be able to figure out at least this basic skill. So for my latest attempt, I picked something rustic and hearty and not in the least bit fancy. I also watched an episode of America's Test Kitchen and studied closely as Bridget made some buns so I could learn how to knead and otherwise handle bread dough without...

Erin of Erin's Kitchen at one point got a little sick of the L.A. Times feature "My Favorite Weekend," in which minor celebrities talk about how much they love Urth Caffe and shopping at the Grove, etc. Although not this week! It's "ohmygodhowcanshebesoskinnyandsosexyatthesametime" Tricia Helfer , aka Caprica Six from Battlestar Galactica and although the Grove and Sushi Roku do make an appearance, she also goes to Cheebo! And Joan's! Maybe I'll see her sometime. I think I would be scared . Okay, now I have to interrupt my post with an "I'm not normally a geek" disclaimer, in which I promise that I don't go around saying "frack," and also that I watch that show because my husband made me. This is a total lie, though, because although those things are technically true, it doesn't change the fact that I am the BIGGEST NERD that ever lived. And I also think that Battlestar Galactica is the best show ever ever invented ...

I have another restaurant review up at la.foodblogging . For my latest outing, I went to Cedar House Cafe in Valley Village to try out some Lebanese food.

This weekend I went to see Marie Antoinette , and now I find that I can't quite get out of the mood inspired by the film. The film is not for everyone, and has inspired both standing ovations and boos. It is a very stylized and understated portrait of a historical figure put into terms that a young woman of modern times can understand. To me, the film says that no matter who you are, whether you are a college student, or a single mom, or a retail salesperson, or a lawyer, or the Queen of France, or the privileged daughter of a famous filmmaker, the moments of your life that truly define you are those that take place when you throw off your official identity and just do the things you like to do, with your friends and your family and your lovers and your pets. But to be less English-major about it, and more practical, let me give you a list of things to be found in abundance in this film that happen to also be things that I enjoy. If you enjoy them too, then this just MIGHT be the f...

Yesterday, there was an article in the LA Times food section by Regina Schrambling about supersized restaurants in New York . Before I talk about the content of the article, I feel compelled to ask a question: what happened to the copyeditors at the LA Times? Did they all get fired? Because it's been so bad lately, that it appears that the articles are being thrown in without any sort of review whatsoever. Spelling errors abound and we have to contend with sentences like this one: "Think small and you wind up in Brooklyn anymore, where daring restaurateurs can open idiosyncratic places for less than the $35,000-a-month lease burdening a small space even in the alleged culinary wasteland of the Upper West Side." WTF? First of all--"you wind up in Brooklyn anymore"? What does that MEAN? I mean, I get it, from context, and ... I looked it up and this seems to be a regional usage of the word "anymore" in some parts of the U.S., meaning "nowadays,...

Okay, I started to write a post about dates that was going to be very educational and blah, blah, blah ... but I got bored just thinking about writing it. So screw it. I'm still going to do a post later about something delicious you can do with dates, since this is L.A. and dates are in plentiful abundance just now. But today I am feeling both entrepreneurial and generous. So I'm going to talk business for a minute. I've noticed that we here in Los Angeles all seem to gravitate toward the same foods at the same time, resulting in very distinct and particular food trends, with everyone raving about the same food at the same time. Usually some kind of dessert item. I don't know why we get so excited about particular food items and spend so much time and energy trying to obtain and consume these particular foods. Perhaps because it's a good way to kill time and is cheaper than: a movie, a cocktail, a club, or dinner. Who knows? The most recent wave began with cupcakes ...

So, before I talk about food, I'm going to talk about me. I know some people don't want to hear it and instead want to hear about food, so for those people I will kindly tell you that if you only want to read about food, you can skip this whole post and read the next one instead. But since most of you are my friends or family then I know you will allow me to indulge my ego for a minute. Because last week was a very hard week for me, workwise, and now that it has a happy ending, I feel like I need to say something about it, because I am very proud of myself. See, I am an attorney. I know! I'm not sure how that happened either. But I am not the TV kind of lawyer that sues people, or defends people, or prosecutes people. Nor am I a high-powered corporate attorney doing major deals. Nor am I a hard-working civil rights attorney who crusades for justice. Here are the things I do: (1) create estate plans for people, (2) help people plan for life as an elderly person, including th...

As I post more and more, I find I am also getting more and more people coming here on internet searches for various things. A lot of the time, I can tell they found exactly what they were looking for: a review of BLD , say, or how to dry tomatoes . But sometimes I can tell that they did not find what they were actually looking for, and that makes me sad. So I have decided that every now and then, when I see a keyword search on my stats that is something I can answer, I will go ahead and answer it, so that the next time someone comes looking, they will find what they are looking for. This post's question is regarding how to infuse vodka with chocolate. I consulted the book "Infused," by Susan Elia MacNeal and Leigh Beisch. The answer turns out to be very simple: cocoa. One cup of cocoa powder infused in a 750 ml bottle of vodka for 2 weeks to a month will get you a nice chocolate vodka. Once it's done infusing, strain twice, discarding any solids and then add simple ...

Bourbon & Branch Originally uploaded by ktglick . So I just finished going through all of my pictures of San Francisco so that I could post them on Flickr and then blog about my trip (click on the pic above to see the whole set). In reviewing, it appears that I spent almost the entire trip in bars. But that's not true! We did all kinds of things ... but it was a fairly low-key vacation and the times we weren't eating or drinking we were either shopping, watching a movie, watching football, or just plain relaxing. Another contributing factor is the fact that I have become fascinated with the low-light settings on my camera that allow me to take pictures without using my flash and being an obnoxious jerk, so I took a LOT of pictures whenever we were in dark places. So here's a whirlwind tour of some of the places we went: Absinthe Brasserie Originally uploaded by ktglick . Absinthe Brasserie: Upon our arrival on Friday night, we needed somewhere delicious to go. Somewh...

So there is a title to this blog, which is "Gastronomy 101." I chose to title it that because thatis what it is for me. I have never been a person who cooks. I have always been a person who eats. Although I have gradually turned from a cheese pizza and hamburger-mayonnaise-only kid to a far more international palate. And as I've expanded my list of favorite foods I've expanded my interest in knowing how to make said foods. And so in addition to eating delicious things, and learning about the different plants and animals that become my food, and experimenting with interesting looking recipes, I am also trying to teach myself some basic, simple cooking techniques so that I can spice up daily meals. One such is the fire-roasted red pepper. This process transforms a regular red pepper into a soft, meaty treat. And it's oh-so easy. This method from Gourmet magazine is the easiest and best I have seen. If for some reason the broiler doesn't work for you, you can a...

Dear "Best Of" List, I just finished skimming you in the L.A. Weekly. I have gone through this several times before with others of your ilk, both in the Weekly, and in other publications and even in other cities. Can we just drop the pretense and admit that you are NOT a "best of" list anymore? When I see the words "best of," I expect to find an article that lets me know the publication's opinion of the best example of something in a category where there are many options to choose from in the city, not the best example of a category in which that example is the only thing in that category. For example, there are roughly 29, 483,233 Thai restaurants in the greater L.A. area. So a "best of " list could help me by telling me which one of those places the staff of the publication has decided is their collective favorite. There is only one life-sized statue of Captain Morgan in the greater L.A. area. Therefore, I do NOT need the L.A. Weekly to te...

So I finally tried this famous (infamous?) yogurt shop that has begun the conquest of Los Angeles. The yogurt that is called "crackberry" by many. What the L.A. Times calls "the yogurt that launched a thousand parking tickets" due to the notoriously bad parking situation in its original location and its customers tendency to wait in lines for hours. It's the newest thing, taking the place of cupcakes, it seems. It's a rebirth of the frozen yogurt fad of the late '80s, but this time it's different. This yogurt is different. So, my lazy ass might be persuaded to go there, even though it's outside my 2 mile radius of things around my apartment. If it's really that good, I would go the extra .1 mile. But I would not go the extra .1 mile, AND have to go crazy trying to find parking AND then have to wait in life until my hairs turn grey. Nothing is that good. But now there's one I can walk to, and the line is not that long, so we decided to try...

Here is the "AFTER" version of the pictures from my last post: The other picture looks the same. Whew! Of course, all this proves is that I am really good at cleaning up at the end of the day. But still ... I think the overall effect is pretty impressive. Which is really what counts. Style over substance if you will.

If you're wondering why I have not been posting faithfully every day lately, I think the only way I can get across what I am dealing with in my "real life" is to just show you by posting pictures of my office. Each file folder is a case I am working on. Each piece of paper belongs in some file folder, somewhere, that may or may not already be in my office: I am hanging on by my last fingernail right now ... blog posts will pick up in pace when I get a better grip.

It's that time once again ... please check out my review of Xiomara at la.foodblogging. Thanks!

I'm back ... did you miss me? No? Didn't know I was gone? That's okay ... I was away for the weekend, drinking my way through San Francisco. I'll show pictures later in the week! But first .... Black cherry jam with sheep's cheese is a Basque tradition that deserves to be honored. And after reading about it in the L.A. Times, I fully intended to honor it buy purchasing a nice frenchy ewe's cheese from Monsieur Marcel after snatching a tiny jar of black cherry confit ($9) from the deli counter. But then I laid eyes on the Cowgirl Creamery MT TAM Triple-Cream cheese ($15) and, well ... screw you tradition, because in the face of an extraordinary cheese, you lose. And guess what? When I was eating my black-cherry confit and triple-cream cheese on a sliced up La Brea bakery baguette, do you think I even noticed that I was not eating sheep's cheese? Do you think I for even one second paused to think "Well, this triple-cream is good, but the nuttiness of a...