17 Jul 2012 5 Comments
in Pork, Recipes, Video Tags: barbecue, Bastille Day, french cooking, grilling, salade Nicoise, Sonoma, steak au poivre, wine, Wine Guerrilla
If you’re going to spend an afternoon with a guerrilla, what better occasion than Bastille Day — a holiday celebrating the storming of a symbol of monarchal oppression by the common man.
The “guerrilla” we would spend Bastille Day with would not be a camouflaged, gun-toting, beret-crowned rebel, but rather our family wine, Wine Guerrilla — and my mother’s long-time partner, Bruce, producer of the wine and himself often referred to as, “The Wine Guerrilla.” More
06 Jul 2012 8 Comments
in Observations, Pork, Recipes Tags: happy hour, Inn of the Seventh Ray, Pebbles, pork shoulder, salmon, Skinny Girls, summer, Topanga
A few nights ago, we had our first Skinny Girls & Mayonnaise live event. A happy hour party co-hosted at the children’s clothing store called “Pebbles” owned by our pals, Annie and Vince.
Come On, Be Happy! Hour co-host with polenta, sausage & salsa pomodoro
Now, you may reasonably point out that a children’s clothing store is not the most appropriate place for an alcohol-fueled feast. But actually, it fit in quite nicely with our philosophy about food and lifestyle. More
03 Jul 2012 13 Comments
in Pork, Recipes, World's Best Sandwiches Tags: bacon, barbecue, BBQ, burgers, cooking, grill, marmalade, recipes, summer, Tabasco
There is a condiment unlike any other — a glistening concoction that will transform your burgers from fine to sublime, and that will have your summertime guests kneeling at your feet in reverence, O’ God of the Barbecue. And I will share it with you, here, now, just in time for the 4th!
Bacon onion marmalade
This is not a condiment for vegetarians or the tentative. I call it bacon onion marmalade. And it is the anecdote to mediocre summer burgers. You may even want to bring a little stash with you when someone invites you to their barbecue. More
19 Jun 2012 14 Comments
in Recipes Tags: food, Mexican cooking, Mexico, recipes, sopa, sopa de flor de calabaza, soup, squash blossoms, summer
I like to think of myself as an honorary Mexican. After all, where I was born was once part of Mexico, and we in California now have a population that is more Mexican than non-Mexican.
An edible summer bouquet
My two oldest brothers — twins, 20 years my elders — both married Mexican women. My earliest childhood memories are filled with large, spirited fiestas. Our live-in housekeeper, Angelita, and the brick mason Sisco who worked at our house were both like family. By the time I was six, I could eat the hottest salsa you could throw at me. More
08 Jun 2012 13 Comments
in Recipes, Video Tags: 27, Forever 27 Club, Gram Parsons, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Liguria, Saveur, Topanga, torta
It’s always been a symbolic number in my life — 27.
I remember sitting with my best friend, Dan, at his house in Topanga close to my 28th birthday. Dan was a few years older than I. “27 has been a really hard year,” I said — tired and disillusioned. “Oh man,” he replied, “I’m just getting over 27.”
Chris Hillman and Gram Parsons in Topanga, 1969
27 is, of course, the year that so many talented young artists perish. Browse the obits, and it truly is astonishing — Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Gram Parsons, Brian Jones, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Heath Ledger, Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse. It’s often morbidly referred to as the “Forever 27 Club.” More
skinny girls & mayonnaise 