Gastronomy 101

In this week's Food Section: Russ Parsons details some fresh spring soups to make with all the new vegetables coming into season. Soup is what I get excited about in winter, but Russ Parsons can get me enthusiastic about anything, and he's getting me with the spring soups. He gives you some basic templates for creating your own soups, in the category of broths, chowders, and bisques. If you want to get started on making some soup, perhaps you could take inspiration from the market vegetables coming into season , although it's kind of a shame to disguise these particular choices, as they are visually stunning vegetables that deserve their own showcase. Cauliflower is peaking right now, so you should be able to find many colorful and pictureque varieties. Also peaking are watermelon radishes. Watermelon radishes are a dramatic choice since they are a radish in negative - white on the outside and bright pink in the middle. You could make such a hot looking appetizer plate wit...

This Sunday only, because of the L.A. Marathon, the Hollywood Farmer's Market will operate from 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM. This will allow everyone easier access to the market after the race passes through. Normal hours (8 AM - 1 PM) will resume next weekend. You can find the route of the Marathon HERE so you can check where it's going to be before going out in the vicinity that morning.

For those of you interested in blogs by actual chefs and restaurateurs, one of the most recent is a blog by Michael Laiskonis , pastry chef for Le Bernardin . Le Bernardin is one of the most esteemed restaurants in the United States, and its chef, Eric Ripert, one of the most respected chefs in the country. Chef Laiskonis initially trained for a career in visual arts, but sidetracked by bread and pastry. He worked his way up through several pastry chef positions until finally coming to New York, and Le Bernardin, where he has had honors galore heaped upon him. His blog is meant to discuss his craft and his recipe ideas and techniques. His latest post is about going to the Grand Cayman Island's to help open Ripert's latest venture, Blue. During his trip there he had to create six to eight new desserts for the restaurant in three days. In his post he discusses the process of creating one of these desserts, using "seasoning" peppers local to the area to make a spicy hot ...

Making cocktails is kind of like alchemy. You may start out with practical miracles. For an alchemist, this involves making inks, paints, and extracts and working metal and glass. For a mixologist this means perfecting the basics, like the Martini, the Manhattan, the Sidecar and the Gimlet. But after working your craft for a time, you begin to get restless, and that is where the goals begin to run together. The alchemist seeks to leave behind his mundane tasks and reach for the sublime - to turn the ordinary into precious metal, or to mix together the elixir of life itself. And the mixologist -- the same -- she is ready to branch out beyond the steadfast classics and discover alcholic gold, or even better, the elixir of life. In order to create miracles, however, one needs the proper ingredients. Adding the following potions to your cabinet of wonders, aka, the liquor cabinet, will allow you create drinks that may not cure all ills and extend life indefinitely, but will certainly cure ...

This week's food section has an article on "premium" Russian vodkas . The article discusses premium Russian vodkas ranging from the $25-$35 range up to $1,200. I say, leave them all. I am sure there are vodka enthusiasts out there that will naysay me, but vodka is boring. Vodka is a drink that is engineered to be as "smooth" as possible. In other words, the very best vodkas are made to be all but undetectable. What's the fun in that? Why spend lots of money on an invisible drink. Allow me to present my choice for vodka (if I must): Vodka Monopolowa . You can get it from Trader Joe's for about $10 and it does everything a vodka is supposed to do. Originally a Polish state-created vodka, it is now produced in Austria. It's the best bargain out there. It is award-winning and its austere label conjures up images of everything vodka has ever been. A people's drink, that gets you through the day and night when life is hard. This is all the vodka you wi...

Seasonal eating is all the rage these days, but it's a good trend. Eating what is seasonal is not just cool, it's also responsible. Eating food that's in season means you can also eat local, so you are not encouraging the pollution and use of resources that transporting out of season produce from far away entails. In addition, if you buy your seasonal produce from the farmers or their agents at the farmer's market, then you are supporting those local farmers, and also the local economy by putting money in their pockets. It's easy enough to buy seasonal produce - just go to the farmers' market and see what the local farmers are selling. However, sometimes it's easier if you know in advance what you are looking for so you can plan a meal ahead. Below is a guide to some fruits and vegetables that are in season now. LEEKS: The leek is a Mediterranean vegetable, and as such, it is perfectly suited to our Southern California climate. A leek looks like a giant sca...

This post is inspired by Jessica, whose blog, No Accounting for Taste , is a treasure trove of home design ideas for those of us who are forced to live a thrifty lifestyle. If it is cool, and on eBay, she will find it for you. In the recent issue of Bon Appetit-- the aforementioned "green issue" --they have some examples of environmentally friendly products to purchase for your home or kitchen. The problem? They may be friendly to the earth, but they are not friendly to your wallet. I took it upon myself to see if I couldn't find some equally earth-friendly products for the common man. 1. Recycled Purse: This first one was a doozy. The recommended product was a purse made of recycled burlap coffee bags . It is very cute, but it comes with a $444 price tag. Way out of my budget for a purse. If you want a recycled purse, I've got two other options for you. One, you could always make one yourself - old coffee bags are $3-4 on eBay. If you're not crafty, UnCommon Good...

In its February "green" issue, Bon Appetit dedicates its "Hot 10" restaurant list to ten eco-friendly restaurants where according to them, you can eat with a clean conscience. Making the list for Los Angeles is Blue Velvet , a lounge/bar on the outskirts of downtown. The magazine says: When Kris Morningstar wants top-quality ingredients, all he does is head up to the rooftop garden for fruits and vegetables. As part of The Flat, a 'green' apartment complex downtown, Blue Velvet's 4000-square-foot garden utilizes planter's boxes, galvanized metal, and lightweight soil. You will pay for the privilege of all this eco-friendliness. If you opt for drinks and snacks at the bar, one cocktail and one appetizer will set you back at least $20, and possibly as much as $30. If you want to eat a real meal, entrees are $24-$32, or you can get a tasting menu for $85. The atmosphere is very urban-cool. Sitting at the poolside tables with flames gently flickering aro...

I love to make condiments and snacks when I do my cooking projects. A meal is so ephemeral - it's here and then it's gone, that I prefer to make simple dishes for my meals and save my big projects for something longer lasting. So, cereals, dessert treats, snacks , preserves, and condiments are projects I love to sink my teeth into. I found a simple recipe for crackers and decided to try it out. They looked more hearty than the sunflower seed crackers I prepared before. With those, the taste was just not worth the effort of working with the phyllo dough. These crackers were fairly easy. At least, the dough was very simple to make and the topping. The only part that was difficult for me was the rolling out and cutting, as I didn't really have an adequate work space to pull it off. I ended up making a mess of my dining room table rolling out the dough to the appropriate size and flatness. I never could quite get it to go in a real rectangle, so the edge crackers were a sli...

It's Restaurant Week here in L.A., which means that certain restaurants are offering set menus at low prices so you can try them out. Overall reception has been mixed, due to some menu mix-ups, switched menu offerings, and less than exciting restaurants/food offerings. However, there are some good deals in there, and Grace is one of them. Restaurant week was the perfect opportunity for us to try it, and try we did. Read my review of Grace's Restaurant Week menu on la.foodblogging . Restaurant week continues throughout the next week. Check the DineLA website for participating restaurants and menus.