30 Aug 2013
by scolgin
in Eating Out, Food, Starlets, Yoga Students & Quinoa (stories)
Tags: Chris Burden, food, humor, pop-up restaurant, pumpernickel, Sean Colgin, Topanga Elementary
Who would’ve guessed finding a good loaf of pumpernickel could be such a challenge!
I do a number of fundraising dinners, usually for my kids’ schools. It’s something I’m good at that I can contribute, the dinners bring in a lot of money for the schools, and they make a lot of people happy. But I had never done one quite this large before.
Heirloom tomatoes for gazpacho and green zebra risotto
Let me establish one thing: I am not a caterer. I don’t have all that caterer stuff, I dislike buffets, I don’t like not having creative control over every single dish. I typically do fancy dinners for anywhere from four to 16 or 18 people. More
27 Aug 2013
by scolgin
in Markets & Stores, Recipes
Tags: Anarhichas minor, cous cous, food, humor, Norway, Norwegian wolf fish, recipes, Trader Joe's, yoga
Here’s what happened:
I was strolling through the aisles at Trader Joe’s, thinking about a meal I was making for some clients of ours. Being that they were vaguely yogic people and I didn’t want to send them into a premature savasana pose by serving them something that had once been living — other than fish, that is, which somehow doesn’t count as having lived in those circles — I decided to do an all seafood dinner.
Norwegian wolf fish
So as I browsed the frozen fish aisle look for something inspiring, dark spots caught my eye — Norwegian wolf fish, a species I had never seen nor even heard of before. And I’m a sucker for new stuff. More
22 Aug 2013
by scolgin
in American Series, Humor, Recipes, Sensational Salads
Tags: crab louie, Daniel Shore, Dungeness crab, food, humor, salad, San Francisco
A couple years back, my pal Dan (most recently of rattlesnake culinary ambitions infamy) invited us over for dinner. He was making Crab Louie.
Crab Louie, I thought, now there’s a classic dish that doesn’t get much ink in the foodie lexicon. So I decided I would feature Dan’s dinner on my blog. On the appointed night, we arrived wine in hand.
Dan’s Crab Louie
“Tell me what you’re doing there, Dan,” I said, iPhone video camera in hand. And Dan, who is a natural on camera, walked me through the process of making this delicious salad while I asked insightful questions and captured it all on the phone. Unfortunately, it was Dan’s phone I was using. More
20 Aug 2013
by scolgin
in Humor, Observations, Recipes
Tags: Greek food, humor, Jack London, kolokithokeftedes, New Zealand, Sea Wolf, Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Day, The Marrow, Wolf Larsen, zucchini
There was a knock at the door.
Standing there was Jerry, disheveled assistant to my sister Laura’s boyfriend, Ron, holding the largest zucchini I’ve ever seen.
“This is from Ron,” he said, handing it to me. It weighed more than a ham.
I thanked him and closed the door.
My 7-year-old daughter regarded the squash suspiciously.
“What is that?” she asked. More
16 Aug 2013
by scolgin
in Observations, On the Road, Starlets, Yoga Students & Quinoa (stories)
Tags: Alaska, Celestino Drago, cloudberries, food, humor, Ketchikan, raspberries, salmon, Santa Monica farmer's market, smoked salmon
When I sail to Alaska, as I have done five or six times now, I always look forward to waking up early the first morning we have arrived in the Great Land. I’ll spring out onto the balcony at dawn — which, in Alaska, is 4:30 or 5 in the morning. You know immediately by the towering snow-capped peaks, forested isles and placid waters of the Inside Passage that you have arrived — the bald eagles carving the sky and spouting humpback whales confirming the fact.
Willa and Immy in the woods near Dewey Lake, Skagway, Alaska
As evidenced by its sheer mass, Alaska is a land of big things. The mountains are big, the glaciers are big, the animals are big and the sky is big. Also big is the abundance of food — if you’ve not seen a salmon run on an Alaskan stream, you have no idea why there is so much of the fish in the supermarket at this time of year. The bears become so sated and picky that they will eat only the skin and discard the rest of the fish. The long hours of sunlight enable Alaskan farmers to grow those giant cabbages and pumpkins you’ve seen in pictures. More
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