27 Nov 2014 15 Comments
in Food, Humor Tags: confit, Evangelical Christians, Ferry Building, humor, Mexico, percebes, Southern cooking, Thanksgiving, Turkey, Vic Zaud
I’m a bit of a non-traditionalist, particularly when it comes to Thanksgiving. I think turkey pretty much sucks, stuffing does nothing for me, I don’t like pumpkin pie and cranberries are weird.
Kind conquerors feeding the savage Indians at the first Thanksgiving
So I faced a dilemma when my in-laws asked me to bring a turkey. I joked with my mother-in-law that I was going to solve the dry-turkey problem by serving mine medium rare. She laughed uneasily. More
21 Nov 2014 20 Comments
in Recipes, Starlets Tags: cod, Daniel Nevins, Donegal, Gaelic, Guinness, Ireland, Irish fish soup, Kerrygold Irish butter, soup
‘Twas a cold and drizzly Southern California autumn day. As the mercury plunged into the mid-60s and I watched the fog crawling around in the canyon, my mind turned to soup.
I descended into the even more frigid depths of my freezer, looking for inspiration. Then, like an ice fisherman lifting a catch from a hole in a frozen lake, I pulled up a rock-hard filet of Atlantic cod. And the soup was on! More
15 Nov 2014 5 Comments
in Humor, Observations Tags: Americana, Andrew Bird, Durango, Gram Parsons, humor, indie, music, Neil Young, Sean Colgin, Wilco
I recently released an album of my original songs.
“You should promote your album on your blog,” a friend said.
“But my blog is a food blog!” I protested.
I wish I could say it was nine songs about food. But it’s not. It’s nine songs about all those things that relate loosely to food — love and sex, the pursuit of happiness, pondering our own bellybuttons, etc. More
14 Nov 2014 9 Comments
in Uncategorized
I was trolling the aisles of Trader Joe’s, looking for inspiration for dinner, when I noticed the Sample Girl handing out samples.
“How’s your day going?” she asked — which is what the Sample Girl always asks.
“Good,” says I. “Whatcha got?”
“Chicken pie,” she said, handing me a tiny paper cup filled with a single bite of chicken pie, flaky puff pastry crust on top. And I had my inspiration. But rather than going for the pre-made stuff, I grabbed a chicken and some pie crust, and I was in business.
“Find everything you were looking for?” said the Check Out Guy — which is what the Check Out Guy always says.
“Found things I didn’t even know I was looking for,” I said. My usual reply. More
09 Nov 2014 7 Comments
in Pork, Starlets, Video Tags: beer, chiles, chili cook off, food, Negro Modelo, Pork, Savraw, Southwestern cooking, Topanga
Out on my morning run, I saw a couple deer mating. And I knew it was going to be a good day.
For it was the Saturday of the Topanga Chili Cook-Off and Swap Meet, which my friend Nonie — who is on the board of the Community Club — had coerced me into entering.
Tom and his chili paddle
Last year, I was a judge alongside my pal Ernie. There were two chilis entered, neither of which were very good. “I think the best chili was the one they were selling at the concession,” I said to the gal running the event.
“But that came from a can!” she protested. More
skinny girls & mayonnaise 