Summer Salad

Little Bites for Wednesday Reading

Here's a couple of tasty articles on topics that are fun and far fetched...

The World of Sandwiches, great recommendations from the LA Times, Food Section here.

What do you eat when you eat alone? There's a whole about that.

The New York Times has 101 Simple Salads for the Season. I can't wait to make this one...

A nice cucumber salad: Slice cucumbers thin (if they’re fat and old, peel and seed them first), toss with red onions and salt, then let sit for 20 to 60 minutes. Rinse, dry, dress with cider vinegar mixed with Dijon mustard; no oil necessary.

How about Fresh Ranch Dressing? Yum!

Save the Ta-ta's!

I got word of this cute fundraiser today... Paint your appliances pink, take a photo or blog about it. Every entry helps raise awareness and $10,000 for their cause, and you could win a Pink KitchenAid® Stand Mixer, Pink Stand Mixer cover, Pink Silicone Mixer Spatula, Pink Silicone Heart Pan, Pink Measuring Cups and Spoons Set, and Cook for the Cure® Apron.The sweepstake runs from July 1, 2009 – September 30, 2009.

Here's the link to enter... Have fun!

Adventures in Downtown LA

We had an awesome Saturday. It began with a great little tour of some of the Broadway theaters, hosted by the LA Conservancy. What an amazing way to see LA, explore LA and get to know the history intimately. We started here at the Million Dollar Theater, one of the first movie palaces in LA. It's a single screen theater, which was used for vaudeville and silent films when it was built in 1918. (Mary Pickford was there on opening night!) In the forties it hosted live acts like Billy Holiday and Cab Calloway. We've done the tour before, but love exploring it when we can. Our guide was OK, she kept referring to herself and stating the obvious, several times... My favorite line was, "... people like myself who saw the raw potential in downtown." Blech.

Anyway, we ducked out of the tour early and walked over to the Nickel Diner for lunch. Somehow I have never been to this amazing little gem. Their tagline is, "I've been in more laps than a napkin." It's hip and cool, but absolutely warm and friendly. The wait staff were such pros, removing and replacing iced coffee with such ease that I didn't see it going or coming. As you sit down they serve these cute little donut holes. They are known for their maple bacon donuts. Now, I have a confession to make. I HATE donuts. I will cross the street and walk three blocks out of the way to avoid the smell and suggestion of a Winchells. I have never had a Dunkin' Donut or anything vaguely similar. But I tried the maple, bacon donut hole and it was good... except that it was a donut. I'm sure if YOU like donuts, you'll love it. I didn't see that they make homemade poptarts until I was completely stuffed with a BLTA, Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato and Arugula sandwich on sourdough with a spicy aioli. It rocked. I can't wait to go back.

THEN... we hit the Modernica Warehouse sale. We didn't buy a thing, but ate awesome ice cream sandwiches outside courtesy of the CoolHaus ice cream truck. If you are anywhere near these girls, you should run and get in line, to pony up and buy yourself an ice cream sandwich. You might have read about them here or here.Enjoy!

Couple of Random Bites...

I was hooked on the sample chapter of this book... can't wait to get my hands on the whole thing.

I received a free case of POM Wonderful juices and while I don't always write about the freebies that come my way, I do love this juice. This cake recipe, made with pomegrantate juice looks good too.

Interesting article from Frank Bruni, the Food Critic for the New York Times on eating and his own eating disorder.

Family Abounds, The World Food Tour 2009

My awesome cousin is visiting with her wonderful family and we have embarked on the World Food Tour 2009. So far each stop has been amazing, including Bulgarini Gelato, where we dug into Yogurt and Olive Oil (my new fav!), Milk with Lime, Blood Orange and Chocolate combo. We had lunch at La Estrella, dinner at Din Tai Fung Dumpling House, dessert at Beard Papa's and brunch at Europane. I need a five mile run to burn off some of the calories, but it's all worth it. So far we've covered, Shanghai, Italy and France. We are moving on to Korea tonight and will eventually make our way to Japan. Stay tuned.

Book Review: Food of a Younger Land

I love this book. I didn't understand until it came to me that Mark Kurlansky is not the 'author' of this book. He's a wonderful writer, but this book is different than Salt or Cod.He's the editor of a wonderful selection of food writing, from recipes to essays to cultural reports from the lost WPA files. The sales blurb doesn't really do it justice, because it describes "A portrait of American food–before the national highway system, before chain restaurants, and before frozen food, when the nation’s food was seasonal, regional, and traditional–from the lost WPA files." I'm a nerd even that sounds like a big SNORE to me. It makes the book sound as though you're going to be knee deep in the process of food and highways, but instead it is a free-for-all. Imagine going into the archives of the WPA and coming out with gobs of food writing-- recipes, oral histories, lists and off the wall accounts that detail both culture and context for everything from chowders to cakes. If you have any interest in history or food or both... dive in. It's such a crazy, diverse collection, but wonderful and revealing and ... even familiar. You'll find yourself or your family at some point. I found my family, unexpectedly... My grandmother used to make my mom run down and find a neighbor to come to dinner when she counted and figured out they had an unlucky 13.

And by the way... where's the WPA now? Can you imagine what would happen if we put all the out of work writers to work on something now? How about teaching poetry, or short-story writing, or the art of the spoken word to third graders? I'm in...

Choices...

Asada. Lengua. Cabeza. Al pastor. Carnitas. Pollo. Oh my. La Estrella
rocks. And they are open 24 hours.

Leftovers

...from the first day of summer school.