26 Aug 2014
by scolgin
in Eating Out, Recipes
Tags: barbecue, Camping, ceviche, Mexican cooking, Santa Maria grilling, Sea of Cortez, tacos, Topanga, Topanga Community Club
I was a bit skeptical when I first got the email. Our local community club, which is always having some event or other, had dreamed up a new one: the Fiddle & Griddle family campout.
Albacore & shrimp ceviche
It was to take place on the baseball field on a Saturday in August, there would be a Santa Maria-style grill to cook on, games for the kids, campfire singalongs and so forth. It sounded interesting, but probably wasn’t our style of thing — I’m a reluctant camper, I find the packing up, unloading, setting up camp, breaking down, packing back up and unloading again a laborious process, especially for a single night a couple miles from home. More
22 Aug 2014
by scolgin
in Beverages, Recipes
Tags: cinchona, cocktails, Colgin, Culver City, Daniel Nevins, gin & tonic, Hendrick's gin, Oldfield's Liquor Room, Saveur
I’m a sucker for a great classic cocktail — and by great, I mean a drink made with few ingredients, where you can taste the high-quality spirit the beverage is built around. A perfect margarita, for example — lime, agave syrup, good tequila.
A lady gets her close up
I used to think the rechristening of bartenders as “mixologists” was a bit silly. (What would be next — busboys would now be “dishware reutilization engineers”!??) But then on one of our rare evening adventures into civilization without the kids, our pal Alex took us to an establishment in Culver City called Oldfield’s Liquor Room that he liked to frequent with his mistress. The bartender, who was also apparently the proprietor, was a buxom woman in pointy glasses and an old timey baby doll dress. The mercifully manageable bar menu contained a dozen or so “house drinks” based on classics and made with house-infused syrups and bitters. Those we tried were delicious, and I thought, “Okay, she’s more like a chef — and maybe they do deserve something more elevated than ‘bartender'”. More
14 Aug 2014
by scolgin
in Recipes
Tags: calamari, food, Greece, Greek food, humor, kolokithokeftedes, octopus, ouzo, recipes, squid
We missed our Tuesday sushi night. But the Schneiders were hungry and still wanted to eat. So we switched over to Wednesday, and at Monica’s suggestion, changed the menu to Greek.
I was pleased, as I’d been craving Greek food and had even purchased stuff to make a Greek dinner. Earlier that week Don had even accidentally smashed a plate at our house — all signs were pointing toward Greece. More
08 Aug 2014
by scolgin
in Recipes
Tags: beet pickle, chicken liver, crostini, Irish humor, Italian food, Italy, Mario Batali, offal, recipes
I often get feeling like I should be eating more offal. I’ve gotten okay with pig ears and cracklings, and will plow my way through a plate of sweetbreads. But I’m still a bit skittish when it comes to brains, stomachs, kidneys and so forth.
Crostini with beet pickles
I love the idea of eating the whole animal. And when I purchase a duck, for example, I’ll be mindful to get five or six separate dishes out of the bird — breasts, leg confit, liver pate, bone stock and demi glaze, skin cracklings, and rendered fat. More
22 Jul 2014
by scolgin
in Recipes
Tags: Bastille Day, Bordelaise sauce, France, french cooking, soft shell crab, steak frites, The French Laundry, Thomas Keller, World Cup, Yabba Dabba Do
“I need to eat more French food,” my wife, who has lived in both the Alps and Paris, announced the other day.
As it so happened, the day after she made this proclamation was Bastille Day. And always good for an occasion to build a theme meal around, I pulled out what is and will always be the best French cookbook of all — Thomas Keller’s “The French Laundry.”
The master at work
I don’t use cookbooks so much for recipes as for inspiration. I had picked up three plump soft shell crabs a few days before, and wanted to see if any of Keller’s preparations caught my eye. Sure enough, there was a Chesapeake Bay Soft Shell Crab “Sandwich” — the quotation marks being Keller’s and indicating that the recipe was a playful riff on something you might be familiar with. More
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