09 Mar 2012
by scolgin
in Observations, Starlets, Yoga Students & Quinoa (stories)
Tags: goose barnacles, local food, locovore, Malibu, Oxnard, percebes, San Joaquin Valley, sea lettuce, spiny lobster, Steve McQueen
I like the locavore movement — I think in general it is a good thing to eat food grown as near you as possible. I’ve had some spirited debates about whether locavore was an elitist, bourgeois movement and how was it going to help feed huge numbers of starving people in the third world. I don’t have answers to that — and it opens an endless pandora’s box of food production and distribution issues. I just believe we could all benefit from choosing produce in season that comes from a little closer than Chile or New Zealand (unless you live in Chile or New Zealand, that is…). Even if for no other reason than, the food tastes so much better if it hasn’t traveled the globe and ripened in transit.
Extreme locavorism
But it does beg the question, how local can you get? For we Southern Californians, is it still local to eat food grown in the huge agricultural Central Valley, an hour or more away? Or should I be eating food grown even closer? There’s not much to eat in Malibu but sea lettuce. More
06 Mar 2012
by scolgin
in Observations, Starlets, Yoga Students & Quinoa (stories)
Tags: cicchetti, dinner party, food, hosting, marrow bones, Moveable feast, stomach virus, Venetian food
I live in perpetual fear of having to cancel a dinner party. I hate to disappoint anyone. And I hate to reschedule. Also, I’ve often been pre-prepping food over the course of several days, and am loathe to throw anything away — especially a gourmet meal I’ve worked hard to prepare.
So was it with an improbable Tuesday night dinner party recently. A savage 24-hour stomach bug was tearing through our canyon. Tuesday afternoon arrived, our daughter had been sick the night before, and my wife was not feeling well. “You’re canceling tonight, right?” she asked. “Well, not exactly…” I replied sheepishly. More
02 Mar 2012
by scolgin
in Recipes
Tags: beef, gastropub, Greg Berman, Laurel Tavern, marrow, marrow bones, osso bucco, recipe
When I was a younger man, one of my favorite dishes was osso bucco. It seemed tantalizingly exotic and exclusive, especially the most carnal part — the scooping of the marrow from the center bone. It was only later that I realized you could have that experience without the meat, tomato sauce and risotto.
Recently while browsing the meat section of one of our local upscale markets, I stumbled upon a package of marrow bones. More
28 Feb 2012
by scolgin
in Observations, Starlets, Yoga Students & Quinoa (stories)
Tags: Ernie Demontreux, Fanny Bay oysters, mussels, New Jersey, Oscars, Ringling Brothers, Topanga Lumber, Weehawken
We live in a colorful neighborhood. The day before a dinner at our friend Ernie’s house, I was out talking a walk and met Ant Patty (who is not a true aunt so she drops the “u”). “Ernie’s been working on his dinner for days,” she said. “but he’s not doing it for us, he’s doing it for you.”
Ernie at his stove
I don’t think he’s doing it for me. I think he’s doing it because he loves to do it. And he loves to share it with people — fortunately including me. More
24 Feb 2012
by scolgin
in Observations
Tags: Big Bear, cooking, food, France, skiing, Sur la Table, utensils, wooden spoon
I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a creature of habit. I find a shirt I like, and I wear it a lot, for a really long time. I’m like that with kitchen utensils, too. So it was with great alarm that I recently realized I couldn’t find my favorite wooden spoon.
After my knife, the wooden spoon is the most important tool in the kitchen. If a man’s home is his castle, and the kitchen my throne room, then the wooden spoon is my scepter. Sometimes I hold it when I’m not even cooking, like a security blanket. More
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