22 Jul 2011
by scolgin
in Cooking Tips, Observations, Pork, Recipes
Tags: barbecue, brisket, Carmageddon, North Carolina, Pork, pork shoulder, Stubbs, Texas, vinegar, Watermans
My neighbor Chris, a man of noble appetite and impeccable palate, invited us over for a Sunday barbecue. It was the much-hyped, much-feared “Carmageddon” weekend, in which the busiest freeway in the country would be shut down for two days. No one was going anywhere. So the commute 50 or so feet to the Watermans’ house sounded perfect. And I took it as a good omen when I saw Chris out in his pajamas at 8 a.m. that morning, tending to his smoker.
The Man & his smoker, "R2D2"
Chris hails from Florida, close enough to the smoking belt of the Deep South to count. More
19 Jul 2011
by scolgin
in Observations
Tags: Austria, Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Niko Alm, pasta, pastafarian, Vienna
I always enjoy good food-related humor. So when my mother forwarded me a link with the subject line, “Austrian Man Wins Right To Wear Pasta Strainer In License Photo,” I couldn’t resist taking a moment from my busy day and clicking through.
Niko Alm's driver's license photo
According to the story featured on the NPR website, a Viennese man named Niko Alm had been petitioning the Austrian government for three years for the right to wear a pasta strainer on his head in his driver’s license photo. More
15 Jul 2011
by scolgin
in Observations
I’m always curious how people get to my blog. So I often check my website metrics, which tells me which pages people visit, and in the event they were referred by Google or other search engines, what they were searching for that led them here.
Unhappy guests of the pasar ikan
And I’m often amazed, mystified and dumbfounded. Here’s a look at some of the recent search terms that brought people to my humble blog: More
08 Jul 2011
by scolgin
in Cookbooks, Observations
Tags: Adam Perry Lang, Alaska, bachelor, Everyday Mexican, gravlax, Jacques Pépin, Julia Child, Madame Wu, Mario Batali, Nobu Matsuhisa, Rick Bayless, salmon, Santa Monica, Serious Barbecue, single guys
A dear friend of mine emailed me recently and asked me what were my top 5 cookbook recommendations for his nephew, who had just moved out into his first apartment and was hungry.
My "bachelor" 7-year-old son Flynn's favorite cookbook.
Guys who move away from mom for the first time often don’t realize that food doesn’t just appear on the table. I had the fortune of already having worked in restaurants and being a good cook the first time I moved out. More
31 May 2011
by scolgin
in Markets & Stores, Observations
Tags: Giant Robot, japanese, Little Osaka, Marukai, Nijiya, Safe & Save, Sawtelle, uni
It’s always sad for me to write about the ghosts of places I loved, in decline or disappearing. (Favorite restaurants of the past, Dar Maghreb and Anisette, for example.) Such is today’s ghost story, my fingers tapping glumly at the keyboard…
Last days at the Safe & Save
I stopped awhile back by one of my favorite markets, the Safe & Save on Sawtelle. On a stretch of “Little Osaka” that’s becoming somewhat trendy with izakayas and Giant Robots, it was — along with Satsuma Imports and Hashimoto bonsai nursery — one of the last vestiges of the Old Sawtelle. More
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