19 Apr 2013
by scolgin
in Food, Humor, Pork, Recipes
Tags: Alsace cooking, choucroute, Dar Maghreb, French food, Pierre Dupar, Pork, saffron, sauerkraut, spices, star anise
A few weeks ago, I was making choucroute, a German-influenced French specialty of the Alsace region, when I realized I didn’t have any juniper berries. (After all, who has juniper berries?) I emailed pal Ernie, who would be joining us for dinner that night to see if he might have some, in addition to caraway seeds and whole clove.
“I have caraway seeds,” he replied, “But I have no idea how old they are. They’ve been in here a long time.”
Old spices from my spice drawer (l to r): Chinese powdered ginger, herbes de Provence, something so old I don’t even know what it is, some Jamaican curry a friend brought me back from Jamaica when we were in our 20s, and ancient saffron from my dad’s friend Pierre
I then queried neighbors Chris and Glennis to see if they had any juniper berries, and was pleased when Chris responded that they did. More
16 Apr 2013
by scolgin
in Food, Humor
Tags: Celtic symbols, Cheetos, divine appearances, Jesus, Richard Nixon, Texas, tortillas, Virgin Mary, watermelon, Weekly World News
One of my favorite grocery store tabloid headlines ever, many years ago on the cover of the late, great Florida rag Weekly World News, said: “Lovestruck Farmer Weds Head of Lettuce.” Featured beneath the headline was a photo of the amorous agriculturalist with the object of his affection.
I must say I was a bit head-over-heels myself a couple days ago when I cut into a mini-watermelon to find an ancient Celtic symbol — the spiral, representing life, death and rebirth.
People always seem to be finding images of significant things in their food. The most popular subjects are usually religious — Jesus for example, or the Virgin Mary. More
12 Apr 2013
by scolgin
in Food, Humor, Observations
Tags: bomba, Candida diet, chagas, Dr. Nathaniel Parker, Dr. Roy, gluten free, hippies, John Lennon, quinoa, Topanga
“Nobody told me there’d be days like these,
Strange days indeed — most peculiar, mama.”
-John Lennon
* * *
Some days just dawn stranger than others. Tuesday was a day like that.
My wife has been fighting a strange rash on her torso for the better part of two months. Nothing major — just red, itchy and annoying. She had changed soaps and detergents, switched clothes, and rubbed herself with various creams, ointments and salves. All to no avail.
Quinoa, Andean “superfood,” on the plant
So it was that Tuesday I got two email links to a list of “good foods” and a list of “foods to avoid.” Exasperated, she was attempting to see if the rash was diet-related. More
09 Apr 2013
by scolgin
in Cooking Tips, Food, Humor
Tags: dashi, Japanese food, Kikunae Ikeda, msg, Nijiya Market, Pacific Mercantile Company, secret ingredients, umami
The Japanese were the first to describe and isolate “umami,” the fifth taste (“savory”). When professor Kikunae Ikeda of Tokyo Imperial University identified umami in 1908, he did so working from the ingredients in Japanese “dashi” soup stock, made from bonito fish and kombu seaweed. The key components, it turned out, were ribonucleotides and glutamates.
From there, the Japanese got industrious and distilled those ingredients into their purest form — monosodium glutamate. MSG. Which, if you’re like most people, you avoid like the plague. But which winds up in nearly anything processed you eat in less conspicuous forms (most often as “natural ingredients”). More
05 Apr 2013
by scolgin
in Food, Recipes
Tags: bisque, Carlsbad Aquafarm, frisee aux lardons, fruits de mer, La Grande Motte, Marseille, oysters, pastis, Santa Monica farmer's market, shrimp
Like I’ve said before — when it comes to dinner, we’re a theme family. And often a theme evolves around random happenings on my shopping route.
Reading all the various comments to my recent post on oyster bars got me in the mood, of course, for oysters. So at my Wednesday farmer’s market, I picked up a dozen oysters from the (somewhat) local aquaculture guys as well as, among other things, a head of frisee lettuce, two duck eggs and a fennel bulb. I remembered that I had a nice chunk of stinky cheese in the fridge, and thought perhaps I had the makings of a French night, some night soon.
Frisee
I eyed some beautiful fresh sardines at the Japanese market later in the day. But there was rain in the forecast, and sardines are a food best eaten fresh off the grill. So I passed. More
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