Vive Le Fooding

I just read this Gopnik No Rules! in the New Yorker. This exciting push by the new guard of French cooking speaks to my Earth Mother slow food heart.

Le Fooding
www.lefooding.com

Morning on Main Street

There's a Main Street that is smaller than one can imagine in Southern California's great expanse. Sandwiched between the bustling ports of Long Beach and the surfers of Huntington Beach is a small seaside community called Seal Beach. The short Main Street leads into a quiet Pacific Ocean pier, now bereft of seals except for the bronze sculpture town mascot, Slick the Seal, greeting pier walkers at its entrance. Daily surf and weather reports are handwritten in chalk and an old single-screen movie theatre, The Bay Theatre, on the opposite end plays classics, foreign films and indies making this beach city live up to its old town 'quaint' reputation.

In between Slick and The Bay is a great little cafe called Crema Cafe. I don't eat French toast that often, but when I do, I like it to be worth it. Crema Cafe bakes their bread in-house daily which makes their organic multi-grain thick-sliced French toast memorable: soft inside and perfectly browned on the outside and not too eggy. It is served with whipped cream, orange zest syrup and fruit. A foamy Illy cappuccino to sip in between bites makes me wish for more mornings on Main Street, when times are/were slower.

Crema Cafe
322 Main Street
Seal Beach, CA 90740
(562) 493-2501

"Local" Returns to It's Roots

My friend AM recommended this newly opened East Village restaurant specializing in locally grown meals. As many restaurants are riding the 'locavore', farm-to-table, know-your-butcher, wave, harvesting peak seasonal ingredients from nearby farms and buying specialty food items from the people who love their craft, they also seem to be conflating this philosophy with haute cuisine. Before agribusiness, local was all there was. Even if one was hungry, that scraped up meal was still from around the corner and not doused in herbicides ore pesticides. So why should going back to the way things were have to cost so much? Something to think on...

In the meantime, there's a little place in the East Village called Northern Spy Food Co. that is offering the same quality meals, albeit in a homier setting, for the responsible eater who doesn't necessarily have a gourmet budget. It isn't pennies, but definitely worth every penny for beautifully prepared nourishing meals that are not only sustainable, but satisfying.

Kale salad with clothbound cheddar, butternut squash, almonds and lemon dressing; wonderful roasted Bobo chicken; red quinoa with radish and sherry dressing; wild hive polenta with mustard greens, mushrooms and creme fraiche; Farmer's salad with artichoke hearts, turnips and arugula; homemade concord grape and quince seltzers.

Northern Spy Food Co.
511 East 12th Street (btwn Ave. A and Ave B.)
New York, NY 10009
(212) 228-5100

Sunsets and Seafood in Santa Barbara

Driving fast on the 101, as the highway stretches and curves with the coastline while the sun conducts its orchestra of colors playing in the sky until it slips behind the horizon's edge- it's as if the world is expanding. Even if it's just for the day, Santa Barbara is a nice respite from LA. At the very end of Santa Barbara's pier is a spot that offers fresh, straightforward seafood in a laidback atmosphere that the East Coast just doesn't have. J and I sat at the counter next to an gray-haired surfer wearing his dinner sweatshirt, shorts and flip flops talking about the day's waves while having a bottle of Anchor Steam with his meal. No loafers or madras plaid at Santa Barbara Shellfish Company. California...

Santa Barbara Shellfish Company

Santa Barbara Shellfish Co.
230 Stearns Wharf
Santa Barbara, CA 93101-3571
(805) 966-6676

Food and Beauty

JD and I received a wonderful gift for Christmas from friends who love food maybe as much as we do. JF and MS gave us a subscription to a gorgeous paperback culinary journal / cook book that is at once visually stunning and intimate. Canal House Cooking is the creation of two women who know their food. Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton, together, have spanned all facets of the food industry, from food magazine publishing, editing, photography, chef, recipe developer, and restaurant owner, to name of a few. But despite being industry veterans, Hirsheimer and Hamilton have taken a homespun approach to their seasonal cook book, by not only self-publishing, but by keeping their inspired recipes in simple form so the rest of us can make delicious and pretty meals at home too. Their 'home kitchen' where the recipes are created, executed and eaten is in the Delaware River Valley, a place that I've been fortunate enough to escape to several times over the past few years. I have enjoyed so many meals prepared with locally grown ingredients at my cousin's Bucks County country home of big meals and marathon eating. I can't wait to try one of their recipes for the next feast. Here's a peek at V.2

New AmsterDAMN!

Intrepid vendors stood at the South Street Seaport just after the blizzard, hawking their goods, and ringing their bells at the hour of the last outdoor market of the season. The New Amsterdam Market is a convergence of the most passionate and skilled purveyors, bakers, mongers and artisans that offer up the best stuff from the region. Samples abound from chocolate to cheese...and if you are still hungry after the freebies, there are food stalls where fresh oysters are shucked on the spot and herby, fatty, yummy Porchetta sandwiches from the East Village are carved from the source to fatten you up for the winter. It's heavenly for a food lover and if it wasn't so frosty out, I would have stuck around for a serious degustation.
'Til the Spring...

Crop to Cup Family Farmed Coffee

Escot Valley Farm cheese

Porchetta sandwiches

Chicks and Babies

This is for JD, a Chick-Fil-A fiend. Atlanta, Georgia, the birthplace of Chick-Fil-A (over 40 years ago!) This was taken on Peach Tree Road while rushing my friend to the hospital for the surprise month-early delivery of her beautiful baby boy. Though the thought did cross my mind, drive-thru was not an option.