05 Feb 2013 19 Comments
in American Series, Food, Humor Tags: Champagne, Grand Central Station, Mark Helprin, oyster bar, oysters, Peter Lake, Walrus & Carpenter, Winter's Tale
“He was a bold man that first eat an oyster.” —Jonathan Swift
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I found an article online, “The 10 Best Classic American Dishes and Where to Find Them.” Number 3 was New England clam chowder, and the place to get it was the Oyster Bar at Grand Central Station in New York. Which got me thinking about oyster bars.
The Walrus & the Carpenter
If I had unlimited disposable income and could eat anywhere I wanted, at least one night a week would be spent at an oyster bar. More
01 Feb 2013 3 Comments
in Beverages, Food, Humor, Observations Tags: Barley Forge, beer, Green Jug, IPA, Pliny the Elder, Russian River Brewing Company, Sierra Nevada, The Delicious
After my woeful post about my growing preoccupation with Pliny the Elder beer and my utter inability to get ahold of any, I was overwhelmed by an outpouring of support and allegiance from family, friends and assorted wellwishers.
“Sometimes Haven has Pliny on tap,” commented friend Joe.
“Have you checked the Green Jug?” friend Tina emailed. “I called and they said they get it usually once a week. But it goes fast.”
“I’m on a mission to find some Pliny for you,” emailed another friend, Nadine, who is president of a company and likes to make things happen.
My mom, in characteristic told-you-so fashion, offered up these words of encouragement:
“I found 3 on the door of the fridge when I was on a cleaning binge today. I would have happily sent you off with a couple of them but you still seem to be in a rebellious stage where you think you know more than I do. Nobody made a fuss when I insisted you try it here. We have had people in N. Carolina beg us to send them some but I got the ‘sure, sure’ look from you when I tried to make a case for it.” More
22 Jan 2013 3 Comments
in Beverages, Food, Humor, On the Road, Pork Tags: Fisker, food, Iberico bellota pork, La Quercia, Lindsay Buckingham, Malibu, Nobu Matsuhisa, salmon, sashimi, Steve McQueen
Hot on the heels of the coldest weekend of the Southern California winter (see Jimmy Kimmel’s segment on just how cold it got), came the warmest weekend of the Southern California winter. So we were pleased and more than ready when we got the invitation to go stay with our friends, Nadine and Andrew, at their family’s beach house in Malibu.
Immy digging in the sand, Malibu
I like writing blog posts about our weekends at the Steve McQueen beach house, not so much because I’m enamored with Steve McQueen — he was undeniably cool, but so were lots of other guys. It’s because we usually eat lots of good food and imbibe good drinks. More
18 Jan 2013 24 Comments
in Food, Humor, Observations Tags: Calbee, Lay's, Maui Kitch'n Cook'd, potato chips, Rusty's Island Chips, Saveur 100, snacks, Target, Tim's Cascade, Walker's chips
My name is Sean, and I’m a snackoholic.
There, I got it off my chest. And I feel much better.
My wife and kids would say, “Oh yeah… like that’s news.”
I notice I most often snack when I am either bored or procrastinating, which is how I know I have a problem. Also, I eat small meal portions, so I wind up hungry between meals. Fortunately I’m not one of those people who eats a gallon of ice cream or family-size bag of chips when I’m depressed. I don’t eat anything when I’m depressed. Which might counterbalance my snacking habit, were it not that I’m hardly ever depressed. More
13 Jan 2013 8 Comments
in Food, Humor, Recipes, Starlets, Yoga Students & Quinoa (stories), Video Tags: citrus, fish, hamachi, Hass avocado, Japanese cuisine, Ponzu, sashimi, sushi, yuzu
About seven or eight years ago, I was making Japanese food at our previous home in West Los Angeles. I had a rare delicacy — a yuzu fruit, a small Japanese citrus that, on the odd occasion you can find it, sells for about $3-$4 a fruit. Yellow and wrinkly, about the size of a lime, it is filled with seeds, and you’re lucky if you get a few drops of the pungent, floral juice from within. More useful is the aromatic zest, which the Japanese will shave over tempura, use to brighten sauces and fold into dishes both savory and sweet.
Koi pond, bamboo, afternoon sun & yuzu tree
I have no recollection what I did with the yuzu that evening. But what I do remember is planting several of the seeds in a pot outside in the garden the next morning. A couple weeks later, I had a few bright green seedlings which somehow over time became reduced to one gawky, spindly little yuzu tree. More
skinny girls & mayonnaise 