While making dinner tonight, I noticed something that struck me as both remarkable and bizarre. In my pantry and/or fridge, I have
6 types of vinegar
4 types of oil
4 types of rice
2 types of quinoa (and bulghar to round out the grains category)
9 varieties or shapes of pasta
7 types of beans
2 types of paprika
3 types of salt
5 types of mustard
3 types of syrup
6 types of cheese
4 types of onions (plus shallots and 2 types of garlic)
3 types of potatoes
Comments? Anyone?
Monday, April 4, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Pizza, I Miss You So
Los Angeles is a major metropolitan area and as such you can get practically anything here. Feeling like Ethiopian for dinner? No problem, there are twelve places to choose from. Craving the food of an obscure Chinese province? Got it. But what no one here seems able to produce is a quality, New York-style pizza. Already I can hear all the native Angelenos saying "but such and such place has great pizza". Nope, you're wrong. It's not your fault, you just don't know any better. And if you are from anywhere else and disagree with me, you have been in LA too long.
When pizza is done right, all you need is the cheese. Toppings get in the way. The pizza should be the size of a small table, and have a crust that is thin, but not too thin. It is still bread, not a cracker, but it is not bread-y or dry. It is a little tough, a little chewy, you must work to tear that bite. It should have slightly charred flour on the bottom from the peel that took it out of the oven. The sauce is spicy and provides much of the flavor, but not too spicy, not overwhelming and definitely not too much. The cheese is a thing of beauty, melted and just starting to brown and bubble. It stretches to incredible lengths as you pull that first slice out of the box, and then snaps, wrapping around your hand. You fold the slice in half and a river of orange grease runs down your arm and the flavor explodes in your mouth. This is alchemy, this simple combination of bread and tomato and cheese that is so sublime.
Ahh, pizza, I pine for you.
When pizza is done right, all you need is the cheese. Toppings get in the way. The pizza should be the size of a small table, and have a crust that is thin, but not too thin. It is still bread, not a cracker, but it is not bread-y or dry. It is a little tough, a little chewy, you must work to tear that bite. It should have slightly charred flour on the bottom from the peel that took it out of the oven. The sauce is spicy and provides much of the flavor, but not too spicy, not overwhelming and definitely not too much. The cheese is a thing of beauty, melted and just starting to brown and bubble. It stretches to incredible lengths as you pull that first slice out of the box, and then snaps, wrapping around your hand. You fold the slice in half and a river of orange grease runs down your arm and the flavor explodes in your mouth. This is alchemy, this simple combination of bread and tomato and cheese that is so sublime.
Ahh, pizza, I pine for you.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Who'd Have Guessed?
Since moving to California 12 years ago, I have learned to eat a lot of foods that I wouldn't have touched growing up in Pennsylvania. I don't know how much of it can be attributed to my just growing up, my being forced to rethink how I eat so I could lose those pounds a few years back, and how much is just because I wasn't exposed to the foods as a kid. Below is a selection of foods that I have not only started to incorporate in my diet, but have learned to love and would now consider life incomplete without.
Brussels Sprouts - the problem here was not a lack of exposure. We had these occasionally while growing up and I dreaded those days. Mom tried hard to make them palatable with cheese sauce made hastily in the microwave, but they were still awful. A few years ago, we were at a restaurant and the entree I wanted included Brussels sprouts. I ordered it thinking I could just ignore the vegetable. Besides, I have heard that if you are going to write off a food, make sure you try it prepared well, by a quality chef, before you are sure that you dislike the food. So I tried them. I won't lie, it wasn't love at first bite, but they weren't as bad as I remembered. And so a few years later when a friend passed on a recipe for what she claimed were delicious Brussels sprouts, I was willing to give it a try. And they were pretty good. And I felt virtuous for eating them. So I made them again. And now, I love them. I eat them all winter long, from Thanksgiving through Easter and I miss them over the summer.
Avocados - I blame this one on lack of exposure. In Pennsylvania, at least when I lived there, the only time you ever saw an avocado was on a "California burger". No one in my family ate avocados (why would they, they grew up in PA too) and there is still no good Mexican restaurant near Allentown so these were just a foreign food. Once in CA, the avocado was everywhere, and one could hardly avoid. Still it wasn't until I made a black bean soup with guacamole garnish that I embraced this fruit.
Olives - Quality olives were about as foreign to PA as the avocado in the 1990's. I know things are changing now, but then olives were of two types - black slices out of a can and green with pimento out of a jar. Neither is a good ambassador for what olives really are. The first bite of a marinated, whole olive was a revelation. Oh, the salty, salty, yumminess. I am a Whole Foods junkie thanks to the olive bar and I order olives at every restaurant and wine bar I visit.
Goat Cheese - Cheese that wasn't Monterrey Jack was a holiday treat at my house, but still we stuck to the Cheddars and Swisses and Goudas of the world. And then there was goat cheese. I took my first foray into the field with deliciously creamy chevre spread on toast but soon graduated to harder and more complex cheeses. Mmmm, Midnight Moon.
Kale - Did you know you can make chips out of kale? No, seriously, you can. And that it is most delicious with onions, bacon, potatoes and/or sausage? And it can go in soup? I wasn't even sure I was buying the right thing the first time I bought kale, but I needed it for a soup recipe, and it was incredible. Now I anxiously await spring for the appearance of the kale and the fresh fava beans.
Pickles - Much like olives, the reason I didn't like pickles was because I first tried the poorest examples. You can't tell me you hate pickles until you have tried cornichons, these tiny French pickles. So delicious. And of course, my love of pickles has expanded over the years to include those limp spears served next to your burger at family restaurants.
Lamb - I am starting to sense a theme. As far as I know, the only place lamb was commonly available in Allentown was in a gyro at the diner. And the greasy, speckled, gamey meat was not enticing at all. I swore I hated lamb. Said it over and over. Then we had a leg of lamb, grilled with herbs. I probably ate a pound of meat. Me, I love lamb, always have, don't know what you are talking about (but no schwarma, thanks).
Tomatoes - According to Vibbert family lore, I did like these as a kid, but I don't remember that. I remember liking spaghetti sauce and ketchup (though I liked mustard more), but never eating a tomato. I think I started eating these a few years after I started eating salsa. It went like this - cooked jarred salsa, fresh salsa, tomatoes diced on food, tomatoes in salad, tomatoes by themselves. It wasn't until I discovered heirloom tomatoes that I ever had the craving to sit down and eat slices of tomato.
Figs - Figs don't grow in PA (I think) and I don't think I ever saw one until I lived in CA. Even now, the season is so short that they are only at the farmers' market for about 6 weeks, and rarely make it to the grocery store. They aren't a massed produced fruit that is forced to produce throughout the year. Instead, they are a delicious treat to be gorged on when available and then longed for all year.
What should you take away from my ramblings?
1. You can learn to like a lot of things if you try them enough times and a few different ways.
2. Fruits and vegetables taste best when they are in season and the weak imitations available out of season give the real thing a bad reputation.
3. You can't be sure you hate something until you have tried it prepared by a chef at a good restaurant. That way you know you are getting the best incarnation of the food.
4. If you are trying new things at home, try them in soup or on the grill. That way you get a hint of the new taste while being comforted by more familiar tastes.
5. You are never too old to learn something new.
Brussels Sprouts - the problem here was not a lack of exposure. We had these occasionally while growing up and I dreaded those days. Mom tried hard to make them palatable with cheese sauce made hastily in the microwave, but they were still awful. A few years ago, we were at a restaurant and the entree I wanted included Brussels sprouts. I ordered it thinking I could just ignore the vegetable. Besides, I have heard that if you are going to write off a food, make sure you try it prepared well, by a quality chef, before you are sure that you dislike the food. So I tried them. I won't lie, it wasn't love at first bite, but they weren't as bad as I remembered. And so a few years later when a friend passed on a recipe for what she claimed were delicious Brussels sprouts, I was willing to give it a try. And they were pretty good. And I felt virtuous for eating them. So I made them again. And now, I love them. I eat them all winter long, from Thanksgiving through Easter and I miss them over the summer.
Avocados - I blame this one on lack of exposure. In Pennsylvania, at least when I lived there, the only time you ever saw an avocado was on a "California burger". No one in my family ate avocados (why would they, they grew up in PA too) and there is still no good Mexican restaurant near Allentown so these were just a foreign food. Once in CA, the avocado was everywhere, and one could hardly avoid. Still it wasn't until I made a black bean soup with guacamole garnish that I embraced this fruit.
Olives - Quality olives were about as foreign to PA as the avocado in the 1990's. I know things are changing now, but then olives were of two types - black slices out of a can and green with pimento out of a jar. Neither is a good ambassador for what olives really are. The first bite of a marinated, whole olive was a revelation. Oh, the salty, salty, yumminess. I am a Whole Foods junkie thanks to the olive bar and I order olives at every restaurant and wine bar I visit.
Goat Cheese - Cheese that wasn't Monterrey Jack was a holiday treat at my house, but still we stuck to the Cheddars and Swisses and Goudas of the world. And then there was goat cheese. I took my first foray into the field with deliciously creamy chevre spread on toast but soon graduated to harder and more complex cheeses. Mmmm, Midnight Moon.
Kale - Did you know you can make chips out of kale? No, seriously, you can. And that it is most delicious with onions, bacon, potatoes and/or sausage? And it can go in soup? I wasn't even sure I was buying the right thing the first time I bought kale, but I needed it for a soup recipe, and it was incredible. Now I anxiously await spring for the appearance of the kale and the fresh fava beans.
Pickles - Much like olives, the reason I didn't like pickles was because I first tried the poorest examples. You can't tell me you hate pickles until you have tried cornichons, these tiny French pickles. So delicious. And of course, my love of pickles has expanded over the years to include those limp spears served next to your burger at family restaurants.
Lamb - I am starting to sense a theme. As far as I know, the only place lamb was commonly available in Allentown was in a gyro at the diner. And the greasy, speckled, gamey meat was not enticing at all. I swore I hated lamb. Said it over and over. Then we had a leg of lamb, grilled with herbs. I probably ate a pound of meat. Me, I love lamb, always have, don't know what you are talking about (but no schwarma, thanks).
Tomatoes - According to Vibbert family lore, I did like these as a kid, but I don't remember that. I remember liking spaghetti sauce and ketchup (though I liked mustard more), but never eating a tomato. I think I started eating these a few years after I started eating salsa. It went like this - cooked jarred salsa, fresh salsa, tomatoes diced on food, tomatoes in salad, tomatoes by themselves. It wasn't until I discovered heirloom tomatoes that I ever had the craving to sit down and eat slices of tomato.
Figs - Figs don't grow in PA (I think) and I don't think I ever saw one until I lived in CA. Even now, the season is so short that they are only at the farmers' market for about 6 weeks, and rarely make it to the grocery store. They aren't a massed produced fruit that is forced to produce throughout the year. Instead, they are a delicious treat to be gorged on when available and then longed for all year.
What should you take away from my ramblings?
1. You can learn to like a lot of things if you try them enough times and a few different ways.
2. Fruits and vegetables taste best when they are in season and the weak imitations available out of season give the real thing a bad reputation.
3. You can't be sure you hate something until you have tried it prepared by a chef at a good restaurant. That way you know you are getting the best incarnation of the food.
4. If you are trying new things at home, try them in soup or on the grill. That way you get a hint of the new taste while being comforted by more familiar tastes.
5. You are never too old to learn something new.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
I am so tempted...
So, the holiday season is ended, and while I love Christmas whole-heartedly, I must admit to feeling some relief in the seeming austerity of a living room without a tree and garland. Now the pressure is off, and I get to sit back and enjoy the many wonderful kitchen and food related gifts I was lucky enough to receive. This years haul included a gorgeous pasta pot, an adorable bouchon baking pan, a potato ricer, an orange mini food processor (to match the orange stand mixer, hand mixer and toaster I already have), a set of cheese knives, appetizer plates, and cute red ramekins that are still awaiting inspiration for their initial use. I am grateful for all of it.As if that weren't enough, I find myself in possesion of gift cards to Williams-Sonoma, Sur la Table, Amazon and Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Obviously, I have spent many hours in the past two weeks browsing online and in stores pondering how best to spend my funds in the pursuit of culinary happiness. I must admit to being tempted by many, many things that I am sure I don't need and probably don't have room for, but they are just so cool. Since last summer I have been coveting one of those single cup coffee makers that use the K cups. Like the Keurig, but not that one. I have narrowed my choices to the Cuisinart or Breville models which take up a huge amount of counter space, need to heat up for 20 minutes before they "instantly" make coffee, and make a pretty watery brew. But they are so cute! Those K cups make me irrationally excited, especially when there is a variety in the little metal carousel. Just from the past couple of sentences, I am sure you can tell that the ongoing war in my head is unlikely to end any time soon.
So, setting that aside, my thoughts turn to the other sparkly, shiny appliances that could be bought. Maybe I need the orange ice cream maker. So what if our ice cream maker is only two years old and has been used maybe two dozen times? Okay, fine, maybe the ice cream maker isn't really necessary, so how about the orange colored Cuisinart juicer? Just because I have never juiced anything other than an orange, don't really like juice and have absolutely no use for the machine isn't a good reason not to get it, is it? I could go so last year and buy a sandwich press or a pressure cooker, but the legion of food magazines I subscribe to have already moved on to better, newer machines.
Even I am a little afraid to try sous-vide at home. It is strange and unnatural and I can't wrap my head around it, plus the machines are still a little "industrial" for my taste. Oooh, how about one of those soda making machines! They are everywhere lately, and Food and Wine had a recipe for ginger and lemongrass soda just this month. I know I don't drink soda, but maybe I would if I made it myself and I knew that it wasn't straight corn syrup. Yeah, a soda maker, that's totally useful! I am sure that as a food and technology junkie, I am the target market for this life-changing product.And so I find myself wandering store aisles, clutching a fistful of gift cards, wondering if I should make the purchase or wait for the next great thing, paralyzed by an overwhelming amount of choice. I will probably return to these stores many more times over the coming months, hoping this is the time I will be brave, I will make the buy, I will go home to gastronomic delights previously impossible to make. Until then, at least I enjoy the shopping.
Monday, August 30, 2010
In the beginning...
Those of you who know me know that I am the very definition of a foodie. Not only do I love eating out, trying that new restaurant, but also cooking, shopping for cooking equipment, reading about food and cooking and entertaining. I am completely willing to do my weekly grocery shopping at 4 (or more) stores to make sure that I get just what I want. My Sunday trips to the farmer's market are a religious experience for me. And so I thought that there may be one or two people out there who are interested in my many musings and opinions on everything food related in Los Angeles.
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