LA in september

aaaaaaand we are back. in the southland that is. sylla has opened a new store, my book is about to come out, school started again so we are both slightly busy.

i drove down from oregon with my mother and ate a lot of peanut butter & jelly sandwiches (the optimal road trip food if you ask me - we should write something on this topic), and also had surprisingly decent sushi in redding, calif. REDDING. it was our stop-over for the night, and while i did not have time to discover any other charms of that city, i did have a very nice dinner there. this, unlike PB&J, is a rare occurrence on a road trip.

LA greeted us with heat and humidity, ornery people on campus, and wonderful food. we had dinner at the bar at mozza, where we sampled 5 pasta dishes. i will be working that one off for days. we had breakfast on the terrace of the pain quotidien and saw some actor or another sipping coffee at urth café. we had sushi at my local favorite place (ajisai) and felt almost at home.

today the city was split in two because the triathlon course stretched from the beach to downtown, and tomorrow my neighborhood will become a mad-house because Barack Obama will be at a fundraiser at a restaurant down my street.

LA baby, LA.

welcome to the middle of summer

here we are, in the dog days of summer. summer weather has finally reached oregon and i am in mexico city, where we await summer rains in the afternoon. in oregon and mexico all is green and opulent, and there as here i look forward to languid meals with friends and family.
simple pleasures for complicated times (hello debt rating downgrades, sudan, syria, looting in london and tea-party advances towards 2012) - as the world seems to be spinning off its axis, need a little break from the madness and will focus on tacos al pastor, cold beers and tequila. provided i don't indulge too much in the latter, there will be more posts this week.

welcome to the beginning of Spring

Another season, another quarter. I am teaching a class on the history of food in Latin America. The title of the class? FEED ME! It's about time I taught to my mundane interests, rather than the interest posted on my department profile. And what better way to teach student that economics really does matter than to trace the history of the potato, or measure the effect of the fall in the price of coffee on social transformation in Brazil. Of course, there will be presentations on the regional variations in pupusa fillings, and the centrality of the cacao bean to everything from pre-columbian trade to Upper-East Side hostess gifts.

On the issue of potatoes, above a picture of yours truly, enjoying the Belgian miracle of frites on the Place Jourdan in Brussels last week. These are, by far, the best frites in Brussels. The Best.

And now, for an entirely new year.

It's 2011. I am already exhausted. Am back in LA, have about a zillion students in one class, a new dog, and 8 deadlines that I need to meet by the end of the month. I also have veggies in the fridge, coconut milk and red curry paste, and if I find keffir leaves on my way back tonite, there might be home made vegetable curry for dinner...
I get very lazy in the kitchen when I am in LA. For one, the markets just are not what I have become used to in Oregon - I'm sorry Hollywood Farmer's Market, I am just not that into you. The second issue is that I mainly cook for myself here - the flat is hardly set up for dinner parties, and in LA, people eat out, a lot. And there's good reason to - amazing Ethiopian, Mexican, Japanese - sushi, robata, you name it, the list is long, and so many of these places are within walking distance.
All this to say, it's most likely that there'll be restaurant reviews of sorts and reports on scrumptious foods eaten for a while and few, if any, cooking experiences.
But, in case you missed this from the first paragraph, and without further ado - let me introduce you to my favorite hot-dog!

seasonal shifts

Above is what I saw as I was driving home from this year's almost last Thursday Farmer's Market. And below is what I did directly upon getting home. Early fall tomatoes roasting with sweet red peppers and loads of garlic. The house smells delicious, and the soup will keep us warm during what will probably be a rainy evening.


Thank you McMinnville Farmer's market and see you next year.

Early fall tomato soup:
loads of roma/plum/san marzano tomatoes
a head of garlic - crush the cloves
sweet peppers/ purple peppers - or none if you don't like peppers
salt
olive oil
vegetable broth or water
-------

halve the tomatoes
cut the peppers in manageable sizes
spread it all out on a roasting pan, throw the garlic in, salt generously
adda pprox 1/2 cup of olive oil and make sure everything is well covered
roast at 400degrees for 30-45 minutes

when the tomatoes are disintegrating, the peppers are soft and the garlic is getting blond, take out of the oven and let cool
combine with 3-4 cups of broth or water (or more depending on how liquid you like your soups)
blend it all using an immersion blender

serve with a nice glass of wine and crusty french bread. maybe watch the rain and definitely cuddle up.

wearing thin

It's been rather thin on the posting here, hasn't it? A million apologies. We've had very good reasons to be lazy here, largely because we have not been lazy elsewhere. For my part, I sent a book off to press, submitted a paper, commented on another one and am fulfilling a series of other obligations too tedious to share. S, for her part, expanded her bookstore and got her nails done. So there.
The pictorial essay of things I did (and ate) this summer is sprinkled all over this post because I still don't know how to control the placement of pics in posts.

i promise, i deliver, sort of

The pot in the front = the most luscious black bean soup I ever had. Served with fried tortilla strips, fried pasilla chile, avocado cubes and queso fresco. It defies descrition - unctuous, savory, a little sweet, a bit smoky and spicy, tremendously soothing.
Left pot = chiles rellenos - these poblanos were stuffed with picadillo - an Spanish inheritance, itself redolent of Moorish influence: ground meat cooked with sliced almonds, raisin, peas and carrots, spiced with cumin and maybe a touch of cinnamon. The chiles were spicy, the stuffing was sweet and the tomato sauce was tart - it all balanced out perfectly.
In the back = white rice. But white rice a la mexicana - the raw rice is fried in oil with onions and a jalapeño, then cooked slowly with chicken stock. Divine.

The are no pictures of the lovely birthay table with the white cotton Puebla tablecloth, because we were too busy eating. But above (bc I still don't know how to control the placing of pictures in blogger!) is a picture of the gorgeous talavera dishes the soup was eventually poured into.

This morning I had spicy green tomato chilaquiles - day old tortillas cut into pieces and cooked in tomatillo and chili sauce, then covered in manchego and roasted in the oven until the cheese melted. Spciy, tart and nutritious (right?). Breakfast of champions!

-J.

Leaving/eating elsewhere for one week

This is where I am headed to tomorrow morning. Amazing, right? Those volcanoes - I love them. Maybe that's what I like so much about Portland - the nearby volcanoes make me feel at home.

Unlike Portland though, pollution is really bad in this city, and there's a fair chance I won't see them at all.

Special prize for whoever can tell me where I'll be. One more tiny clue: there WILL be food, and lots of it.

Orgasm in a spoon

That is the only way I can describe this dish. Unctuous uni, creamy (but not too creamy) risotto, sweet and crunchy corn, a frothy parmesan foam to add just a touch of acidity. I died three times while eating it. Don't ask me who else I was with, I do not remember.
Thank you Sunny Jin (the chef at Jory) - you rocked my world last night.
-J

imitation is the highest form of flattery, right?

is it any wonder i was hoping it would say "you write like MB".

it was not to be - apparently i write like DFW. R.I.P. mad genius.

http://iwl.me/s/d7939cdb

click above and find who you write like!

-J

When in Rome...

I was in NYC last week for a book thing. The weather was perfect, I actually saw the sun! I got lots of walking in and we ate out a fair amount. A few things I discovered:
1. I am OVER pork belly. I mean, I like it and all, but please. Surely there is some other under appreciated part of the pig that can make a renaissance now?
2. Good coffee in New York is hard to find. In fact, I noticed I was drinking significantly less coffee while we were there because it all SUCKED so much. I am sorry about the language, but it was truly disappointing. The last afternoon we were there, we went to the Momofuku Milk Bar after lunch at the Ssam Bar next door. At the Milk Bar they serve Stumptown Coffee. So to get a decent cup of joe, we had to find a place that served Portland coffee. I know, Stumptown roasts in NYC now, but still. I should point out that we never went to Starbucks. Being from the northwest, we are sort of trained not to go there.
3. Cabs are good. I like the subway a lot too, but a quick little cab ride a few miles does wonders for the feet.
4. The hazelnut spread (not Nutella) from Le Pain Quotidien is to die for. I had a waffle with this luscious spread on it. No chocolate in it. I will admit that it was a teeny bit too sweet, but that didn't stop me from inhaling it.

Now I am back in Oregon, waiting for the sun to shine so I can get some fresh vegetables besides lettuce, kale, spring onions and other various greens (i.e. weeds).

-S

Apps (as in iPhone, not appetizers)

Oh Mark, we have forsaken you! But our true love still runs deep, even if the time we have to devote to is has been slim with a side of competely absent.

But lo! Today marks an landmark day, because I just downloaded the Mark-Bittman-is-my-boyfriend iPhone app, also known as the 'How to cook everything on the go' app. That and your videos on the NYT have become funny again. Yay to the psychadelic ninja opening theme!

And I am sorry you don't pick up the phone when I call, but thankfully Matt (from mattbites.com) got through to you and shared the conversation (follow the link to it below).

But anytime you want to talk Mark, you know, just HOLLA!

http://mattbites.com/2010/04/19/mark-bittman-interview-how-to-cook-everything-to-go/

This one actually has something to do with Mark Bittman

I almost keeled over last week when MB posted something on his blog about Mexico City open air markets.
Apparently MB was in the DF recently (it might have been as recently as last week when I was there!!! - omg I cannot believe we did not bump into each other!). He went to a traditional open air market, the kind of mercado sobre ruedas )literally: market on wheels) that sets up once a week in every Mexico City neighborhood. Sunday is "día de mercado" in small towns, but Mexico City was never a small town, so every day is market day somewhere in that monster of a city.
This is not something MB knew when he wrote the post, and clearly his DF guides are guilty of not explaining to him that open air markets are as democratic and popular as tacos - everyone can afford them, everyone likes them and everybody relies on them. Unlike the US trend, where open air market = farmer's market = expensive/organic/local whatever, shopping in the street and buying from if not a farmer, at least someone who is a few steps closer to the vegetable you are buying than the supermarket around the corner is a perfectly normal every day activity.
And very often, the plastic bags your pound of tomatoes will come in are brightly hued, as are the tarps that cover the stands in the market. In fact, if you fly into Mexico City during the day, you can tell which neighborhood has a mercado that day by the bright yellow, bright pink and bright orange tarps that cover an entire block or two. It looks amazing from above.
And it smells even better when you are in it. Apart from vegetables and fruit (including MB's favorite, the mamey, which he unfortunately insist on calling a mamay), there's always a huge flower stand or two, infusing the square footage around them in the smell of marigold and azuzenas, roses and carnations. These stands are always brightest and biggest. And then there is the juice stand, and the taco stand and the medicinal herb stand. Plus whatever other needs must be met that week (piñatas, flower pots, baskets, light fixtures).
Mexican markets are a microcosm of Mexico - everything is available and everything is possible, you just need to be flexible and know the local jargon, and you shall get it all, eventually.
For MB's post, click here.

5 days later

It's been a very busy 5 days and Matsuhisa may have been the culinary highlight. Other things kept me from posting - 4 of my students who gave a presentation on Peruvian cuisine for their history project, yum. Then another 60 needed guidance before the final next week. And my dad visited - we ate, we went to the opera, we bought books and boots, we had a fabulous time. When he landed home, he emailed me "All is well. Miss Matsuhisa ... and you."
Notice he missed Matsuhisa first.

I have no pictures of food, mostly because something rather common at this place. Once the food arrives on your table, you are so consumed by desire to eat it that all other priorities fall to the wayside. The thin slivers of snapper cooked by the lime juice and sea salt only melt on your tongue. The hamachi and jalapeño slices, just raw enough, just spicy enough. I won't even mention the miso braised cod, which melts like butter in your mouth. The show stopper were the King Crab tempura - ever so slightly battered, in a deep dish sprinkled with a vinegary broth and slivers of red onion. SO good, we had to get a second portion.

Since my dad left I haven't had proper meal. I have been surviving on grape nuts, kefir and Wasa crackers. Today I dug deep in the cupboards for a surprisingly satisfying dinner.
Chopped onions and garlic cooked till translucent, add baby peas and cook down with a cup of chicken stock (I had some if the Trader Joe's low sodium stuff), add salt and pepper and basil (I had some frozen basil in the freezer). Cook pasta until almost done, drain and toss with peas. Add grated parmesan from dessicated old chunk from back of fridge and eat watching Office reruns.

Now if only I could figure out how to get the picture to go where I want to, this evening would end perfectly!

Day the 30th - Nablopomo no more.

To be fair, I got WAY more than a lousy sense of satisfaction from posting every day for 30 days. It did push me to be more creative, push me to focus on something else than what was right in front of me (even if that usually meant whatever I was eating), and it pushed me to commit to something else than what I get paid for, or whatever I do when I procrastinate un-creatively not to do what I get paid to do. And I am very happy that I did stick with it. That a cold, a trip to the Bay Area, various professional melt-downs and canine emergencies did not detract. The challenge fulfilled its promise of keeping me anchored.

What lies ahead?

Well December of course. I am going to Matsuhisa with my father tomorrow night (the birthplace of the Nobu empire). You didn't think I'll let that go by un-blogged?

And December will also bring a return to Oregon and my co-blogger, so maybe we'll do something extra special with MB's holiday suggestions. Like what I don't know. But stay with us. There's more to come.

Too much.

After a weekend of excess, (actually, I wasn't that bad, all things considered), I am starting the week with a simple and almost austere breakfast. No pie for me today. Black coffee and grapefruit. One of my favorite things about December is that this is when I can get good citrus. As a child in California, we had an orange and a lemon tree in the back yard. We also had parents who worked full time and raised three children, so doing things like properly fertilizing said citrus trees was not a priority. The oranges that the tree produced with were gross. Dry in the middle, sometimes no juice at all. Once they had clearly been frozen on the tree during some freak frost and it ruined the oranges. The lemons had a pith that was half an inch thick. My father always insisted that for breakfast we each have a quarter of whatever orange was available, regardless of texture or taste. The result is that I have not been a huge citrus fan as an adult. However, a few winters ago, I rediscovered the grapefruit. Having a bit of sunshine for breakfast in this occasionally bleak Pacific Northwest weather is a wonderful antidote to the blahs.

-S

day 29 - my wish list, part 1

All I want for Christmas is this deep fryer. And a pound of beef tallow. And some Belgian bintje potatoes.

If I had all that, I could make you the real belgian fries, the kind of fries that defy all expectations, and taste better than any deep fried potato you can get this side of the Atlantic.

The secret is in the double frying, and of course the potato (and the bintje's very unique ratio of size to starch - similar to, but not quite as good as a Yukon Gold), the sprinkling of salt and the mayonnaise. The double frying, which so many people ignore elsewhere, is what makes a Belgian fry perfect. It also should be beef tallow, not duck fat. I know its become the gourmet bistro trick of the last year, but duck fat just does not do the trick. Also - did you know that McDonald's used to use beef tallow to make their fries? It's one of the reasons Julia Child declared them to be so good. There are many rumors as to why McDonald's switched to vegetable oils in the 90's, none of which we need to go into now. But if you;ve had a McD's fry lately, you'll know they taste as sallow and weak as any other fast food fry. Beef tallow my friends, beef tallow!

And the yolky mayo to take it over the top.

day 28

If MB and I had to drive down from the Bay Area to LA on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I would certainly hope we'd drive down in a stretch something driven by someone else than MB or I. That way we wouldn't notice the rest of California driving down the 5 today. Nor would we mind getting stuck in traffic for EVER on the last 50-mile stretch into LA.

The lovely driver of said stretchmobile would also be the one to stand in line at the Kettleman City In n' Out Burger and bring it back to us, so we wouldn't have to share space with that half of humanity that was not across the street getting Sundaes at McDonald's.

MB and I would probably have a lengthy debate as to whether the In n'Out burger is better than the Burgerville burger, and we'd be busy discussing it for the next forever hours as we inched our way back to SoCal after 2 very short but lovely days in the Berkeley hills.


PS: the weird non-food picture was taken while driving very slowly through the Cajón pass.

day 27 - the day after

Not to skimp on the 27th post of the month, but : "what she said".

My co-blogger and I had a similar morning, except I did my guilty eating at Café Fanny in Berkeley. But it felt a lot like what was going down in McMinnville.

The Morning After

We had a lovely day. Roasted bird, red cabbage, brussels sprouts and bacon, roasted root vegetables, sweat potatoes, stuffing, gravy (that my brother saved from separating). Then pecan pie, pumpkin pie and apple pandowdy. Now, for my favorite part of this holiday: a morning run then hot coffee and leftover pie for breakfast. I am truly thankful for that!

-S