05 Oct 2012 6 Comments
in Food, Humor, On the Road Tags: Bodeguito del Medio, camarones, Casa Tres Coronitas, cooking, food, huevos ranchers, margaritas, Mexico, Puerto Vallarta, tequila
The first thing you must let go of at the Casa Tres Coronitas is your need for walls. Because there are few of them, and when Euphracio appears in the morning, many of those fold away into the vistas of the Bay of Banderas.
Sunset on the Bay of Banderas
Because we are in the jungle, the collapsing away of walls means you become integrated with the surrounding nature. More
28 Sep 2012 5 Comments
in Humor, Observations, Starlets, Yoga Students & Quinoa (stories) Tags: bacon, clarified butter, food, ghee, humor, license plates, tofu, turkey bacon, yoga
A friend of mine at a design firm where I do contract work a couple days a week makes herself some turkey bacon every morning. You can smell it when you walk into the break room.
I began referring to it as “fakecon” (as in fake bacon), which she objected to. “It’s not fake, it’s turkey.”
Mmmmm.
As far as my knowledge goes, turkeys do not have a bacon cut. (If they did, Thanksgiving might’ve been a more memorable meal.) More
25 Sep 2012 7 Comments
in Food, Humor, Starlets, Yoga Students & Quinoa (stories) Tags: Barley Forge Brewing, beer, brewery, Culver City, Ernie Demontreux, Greg Nylen, hops, pale ale, Topanga
Sunday morning, as my wife gathered up the children to go to church, I went to a different sort of place of worship, to a service more in keeping with my vision of the divine… I went to make beer.
Cascade hops on the vine outside
It all began last spring, at the fundraiser silent auction for the school my children attend. As I was walking around bidding on various items, I discovered the beer-making session offered by my friend — litigator, Cubmaster, Irish fiddle player, Topanga brewmaster and all around good and generous guy, Greg Nylen. More
20 Sep 2012 2 Comments
in Food, Humor, Recipes Tags: chipotle, cooking, food, kettle corn, Miyazaki, popcorn, Popcornopolis, recipes, Tim Burton, umami
I’m currently addicted to Trader Joe’s “Herbs & Spices” popcorn — the perfect snack when I get a potato chip craving and don’t want the fat. But a rather surprising development given my historical indifference to popcorn.
A bowl of wickedly addictive chipotle Mexikettle corn
I’ve never considered myself much of a popcorn guy. It’s fine at the movies, but otherwise something I just never thought about. But every Christmas, my brother Mark, a man of fine taste, gets our family a large tub of three flavors — cheese, kettle and zebra chocolate — from Popcornopolis. And who winds up eating most of it?? More
17 Sep 2012 15 Comments
in Food, Humor, Observations, Video Tags: car chase, chiles rellenos, food, humor, Le Creuset, los angeles, Mexican food, O.J. Simpson, police
I was in kitchen, making dinner, when my 8-year-old son yelled from the family room. “Dad, car chase!”
Here in Los Angeles, we have our share of high-speed car chases — if you’re old enough to remember the O.J. Simpson murders, you’ll recall we even have slow-speed car chases. We’ve got a lot of cars, a lot of freeways, and a fair percentage of people doing things they shouldn’t be. I typically don’t pay much attention — it seems prurient, like staring at a car wreck or a topless woman on a European beach. But once in awhile, I get sucked in. Which is what happened the other night, as I cooked chiles rellenos. More
skinny girls & mayonnaise 