Trattoria Scorpacciata

Bon Iver + the Roots

2012-02-10T18:03:00.000-08:00

good

Etta James

2012-02-10T17:57:00.000-08:00

This story played right before we went to Baja. Sorry she's gone but the music is great.

Bon Joviver

2012-02-03T15:12:00.000-08:00

epic

UCSB stuff

2012-02-03T14:52:00.000-08:00

Cool little blurb about installing bike repair stands, I dig it.

Grandma Grace

2012-01-18T08:56:00.000-08:00

My grandma died a couple of days ago. She was a neat person and had a big influence on me. She was a good cook, and when I was little I really looked forward to the box of homemade cookies, banana and/or zucchini breads, and fruitcake that she would send us. We would drive across the country from NY to Oregon/Washington every other summer and then we'd stock up on her jams and canned fruit & veggies. I especially liked the canned apricots and the canned cherries. Both of my grandmas did everything in their power to feed their grandkids well, I think it's the law for Lutheran grandmas to do so. In some ways when people visit my place I feel like a Lutheran grandmother doting on the house guests...

Love this, my cousin Jamie scanned it

Really love this, my cousin Breanna up in Kodiak took it

Kodachrome Away, Enter the D700

2012-01-18T08:40:00.000-08:00

So kodachrome is done, as of a year ago. Many people miss it, including this guy, who got written up on CNN. He's buying old slides at garage sales and the like, scanning them, and putting them up. I like this one cause I always take thru-the-car-window shots on vacations.
Anyway. After shooting with little tiny digital cameras for a year I decided to upgrade to the Nikon D700. It's their cheaper digital body that can mount all of my old Nikkor lenses. Stoked. We're off to Baja in a couple of days, this trip is going to be pretty well photographed...

Modernist Cuisine at Home / NYT

2012-01-18T08:24:00.000-08:00

Cool article about a dinner party using the Modernist Cuisine book from the microsoft dude.

Francis Ford Coppola / Onion AV Primer

2012-01-18T07:54:00.000-08:00

good article

Organic, not local / NYT

2012-01-05T15:43:00.000-08:00

Good article about the tomato farms in southern Baja.

Honey Lemon Curd

2011-12-22T08:22:00.000-08:00

There is essentially one lemon curd made with honey instead of sugar recipe on the web, which seems to be copied over and over. Based on the date, I think this is the original. Sara made a bunch of macaroons, so we're drowning in egg yolks right now, and we're trying to reduce processed sugar, so gave it a go. 8 yolks, 2/3 c juice, zest from the 3 lemons used plus 1 extra, salt, 1/3 c honey plus 2T cause it wasn't sweet enough, ~4T coconut oil at the end. Pretty good!

Lattkes

2011-12-22T08:20:00.000-08:00

chicken, cranberry sauce, some brussels sprouts from under the bird, and Sara's lattkes
I ate alot of them... not a big fan of sour cream, but good otherwise.

Kale in the Limelight

2011-12-09T16:22:00.001-08:00

Nice story from npr, prompted by the Eat More Kale/Chic-fil-A thing.

West Camino Cielo. Chilly.

2011-12-09T08:44:00.000-08:00

depth of field

Lichen!

Homemade Cheese Preserved in Oil

2011-12-09T08:27:00.000-08:00

The hope was to produce feta cheese preserved in olive oil. I ran into some hitches, though. First problem was my candy thermometer starts measuring temperature at 100 degrees, but the recipe wanted me to heat the milk to 86. Doh! I generally followed this recipe. It ended up as a soft white cheese, cream cheese-like. I drained it using a weight to reduce the moisture content, but it was still a heck of alot closer to cream cheese than feta. I packed it all into a 1/2 gallon jar and put some oil on top. Taste was really not too exciting. A couple of months later, including some more microbial activity cause it bubbled over some in the fridge, I decided to use it to saute veggies. Basically heating the 'cheese' caused it to separate into tasty butter-like stuff and some milk solids. Made for some pretty tasty cheese+peppers tacos, though I think I might just stick to ricotta from now on....

empty jar

Cheater Fish Tacos

2011-12-09T08:24:00.000-08:00

Sara came up with this and it's genius. There's a company called la tortilla factory that makes a corn tortilla with wheat gluten. She made a tuna salad and it it in said tortillas. A proper baja fish taco is a white fish fried with a batter, served with mayo in a corn tortilla. Tuna with mayo and celery, etc on a corn + wheat tortilla REALLY reminded me of a fish taco. Epic!

Anthony Bourdain / OnionAV

2011-11-21T08:42:00.000-08:00

good article

Landsat 5 is done, too

2011-11-18T15:27:00.000-08:00

This might be too much of a coincidence. On the same day that Regis Philbin retired the USGS released a press release that the Landsat 5 satellite is being put out to pasture. AND, the press release was released during that final Live with Regis & Kelly show! hmmm......

Regis

2011-11-15T08:33:00.000-08:00

I haven't watched the show in years, but there have been times in my life when I watched him daily. Fresh Air did a nice interview with him.

JTree Halloween 2011

2011-11-04T08:36:00.000-07:00

We went out to the desert to avoid Halloween in IV. An excellent idea in theory, but people came there to party. Doh! Images are from my two olympus cameras. Full albums here, here.

White Tanks Campground

looks like a turtle poking out of its shell or something

sunset, 1st night

Queen Valley Mine area

sunset 2nd night

Sara carving a pumpkin

JTrees and boulder field

sausages and 'taters, pumpkin, cukes pickled in escabeche liquid

Hall of Horrors area

Key's View, wind farms in distance

Barker Dam area

White Tanks, last morning

Caviar Limes

2011-11-03T14:50:00.000-07:00

Caviar limes are 25 cents a pop at the co-op. Looks nice on orange crème fraîche sherbet, no?

Bittman, the Santa Barbara Syndrome

2011-11-03T13:17:00.000-07:00

"This kind of approach — grow what you can close to where you live and eat what you can grow — is obviously nothing new. (Even in my lifetime, I can remember seeing asparagus only in late spring, Macintosh apples in the fall and Empire apples — long keepers — through the winter.) What’s new is the lack of farmland, because much has been lost to sprawl or commodity crops, and farmers who can make it happen, farmers working on a scale between sustenance and industrial."

the whole article

One NUGGET in his article was a link to this article about the Santa Barbara syndrome. In our country we export 99% of what is grown here. AND IMPORT 95% OF FRUIT & VEGGIES THAT ARE EATEN!!! Holy Cow! David Cleveland, UCSB professor and garden friend is quoted thusly: "Picture two produce-laden tractor-trailers passing on the highway, one bringing food into the county; the other hauling it out."

Here's the UCSB press release on the Cleveland study

Santa Ynez Valley

2011-10-24T14:50:00.000-07:00

Sara wanted to go wine tasting, I biked around the town of Santa Ynez. The bicycling backroads of central California book I had (from 1982) highlighted some roads that have a little more traffic on them now than they did back then, but it was fun none-the-less.

Mis-labeled Seafood

2011-10-24T14:17:00.000-07:00

There's the normal BS of giving a nice name to an ugly fish -- the chilean sea bass / patagonian toothfish chintz, for example. The captain posted a link to this article on facebook, about fish being intentionally mislabeled as a more expensive fish in restaurants around Boston. I'm sure it happens everywhere. Interesting. Update: NPR interviewed the reporters.

Bittman on Friendly's

2011-10-20T17:12:00.000-07:00

Apparently Friendly's is going out of business. I have fond memories of going to Friendly's to get sherbet, usually lime, after soccer games on Long Island. Good times. Mark Bittman at NYT has some memories, too. He also threw in some thoughts on fast food in America that were nice:

I remember the food as being real. And it probably was, because 50 (! I’m writing that?) years ago the industrialization of food had not been perfected. Now, “good” fast food is best defined by places like In-and-Out Burger, which is undeniably a teeny tiny level better than utter junk. But that doesn’t make it good.

Bombay Chile Pickle

2011-10-20T08:20:00.000-07:00

so good. The recipe is apparently from My Bombay Kitchen by Niloufer Ichaporia King... the book is in the mail. Tigress put the recipe on her blog. I did a 2/3 version of the recipe (had 2lbs of peppers, and 1/2c ginger) and it filled 2 pint jars and most of a 1 c jar. Used a mix of sweet and not very hot chiles, and thus added chile powder. Used palm sugar.

random Tomato Sauce making pics

2011-10-13T08:59:00.000-07:00

tomatoes, 5 gallon pot, smaller pot for reduction (though usually I go wider/shorter than this one)

10 lbs tomatoes --> 1Q sauce....

what I've been calling tomato molasses, the juice reduced down all the way till it's sticky

more fun with Tomatoes, Ricotta

2011-10-13T08:58:00.000-07:00

cute

with envy

cilantro pesto, fried ricotta

basil, fried ricotta

different cilantro pesto

Chiles en Escabeche

2011-10-13T08:44:00.000-07:00

I made up an alternate escabeche recipe from the first one I tried. From that first batch I really really liked the carrots, and this one upped the carrot ratio quite a bit. The recipe looks pretty different from that first one, but the ratio of veggies by weight to vinegar is the same, so you can tell they are based in food safety.

Chiles en Escabeche
from the Art of Mexican Cooking by Diana Kennedy

1lb chilies (I used a mix of alot of types)
1.5 lbs carrots
1 lb onion
3T salt
1/3 c water
5 cloves garlic
10 peppercorns
1t cumin seed
4 cloves
16 bay leaves
thyme
1.5 t oregano
1/2 c oil
4c white wine vinegar
10 cloves garlic
1/2 t sugar

I didn't follow this exactly right. I was supposed to make a paste from the 5 garlic cloves and some of the bay leaves and spices. Didn't.

Slice peppers lengthwise, lose seeds if you want. Slice carrots. Toss with salt, let sit for a few hours.
Heat oil, add spices, bay leaves, onion, fry for 10 min
Add strained peppers, carrots, cook 10 more min
Add salty liquid, vinegar, rest of ingredients, bring to boil, cook 8 min
cool before putting in jars

I am loving the first batch, haven't tapped this one yet.
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Fig-Lemon Jam/Marmalade

2011-10-13T08:37:00.000-07:00

On the heels of fig-orange a week or so ago. I actually think I like this one more. Made in the same way, kind of marmalade with figs rather than fig jam that happens to have lemons. I don't remember where I got the proportions from.

Fig Lemon Marmalade

28 oz figs
16 oz sugar
juice, rind from 2 lemons
water

cut up figs, soak with a little water, lemon juice, cut up lemon peels overnight
add sugar, stir, overnight again
cook up. I didn't can any, we are eating it right away...

On yogurt. The other marmalades I eat with oatmeal, this one I can use on yogurt in place of my beloved apricot preserves which I don't have this year cause it was an off year for apricots...

Tipsy Tangerines

2011-10-13T08:36:00.000-07:00

Bizarre. The recipe really stood out for me last winter/spring. Used the peels in marmalade, fruit here. I don't understand the logic of it now, though. Putting up fruit so you can eat it later, i.e. the summer/fall, when everything else is in season?? Whatever. If you have a ton of fruit maybe it's worth a try.

Tipsy Tangerines
from Clearly Delicious by Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz

1.5 lbs peeled satsumas
1 2/3 c sugar
1c booze
1c rum

pack fruit in jar, layering with sugar
pour over boozes
shake often to dissolve sugar.
keep in a cool dark place for 2 months before you eat it.

On orange creme fraiche sherbet

Brinjal Kasaundi - Eggplant Pickle

2011-10-13T08:21:00.000-07:00

Another great one from Claudia Roden. Though this borders on too sweet. Heck, it probably crosses the border. But you just have a little bit to accent an indian meal.

Brinjal Kasaundi
from the Book of Jewish Food by Claudia Roden

2lbs eggplant cut into 1/2" slices
salt
2" ginger
8 cloves garlic
1T ground cumin
1c white wine vinegar
1c sesame oil (though I used extra virgin olive oil)
1T mustard seeds
1T fenugreek seeds
6 curry leaves
1t turmeric
1/2 c sugar

soak eggplant in salted water for an hour. i'd probably just do the standard salt in a bowl (no water) next time.
chili/garlic/ginger/cumin in food processor. moisten with vinegar if need be
heat oil, add seeds, cover till they are done popping
add curry and chili paste
fry "till oil separates out" -- till it looks happy
add turmeric, vinegar, sugar, eggplant
bring to boil, simmer 30 min
cool before putting in jar, top with oil

Cilantro Chutney

2011-10-13T08:12:00.000-07:00

Yum. Smells so good, too. AND the recipe is delightfully imprecise...

Green Corriander Chutney
from the Book of Jewish Food by Claudia Roden

1 bunch cilantro ~4oz
3-4 sprigs mint (I didn't do)
1-5 fresh hot green chilies, to taste
1" of fresh ginger
2-6 cloves garlic
3T unsweetened dried coconut
4-6T white wine vinegar (the larger amount if the blender won't spin)
1/2 t salt
1t sugar

chilies/ginger/garlic/coconut in food processor
add greens, vinegar, salt, sugar
keeps 1 month fridge, months in freezer

Marinated Raw Eggplant, Da Gemma Style

2011-10-13T07:54:00.000-07:00

Made this a while ago, but it slipped through the cracks. The recipe is from Verdura by Viana La Place. It's a nice book, and has a couple of other antipasti recipes. There's a charming story about the origin of the recipe in the book, something about 'Gemma' being an old italian grandma. The whole bottom shelf of the fridge is pretty much given over to various pickled veggies by now. It's pretty fun.

Marinated Raw Eggplant
from Verdura by Viana La Place

6-8 Japanese eggplants (I used 2 globe eggplants)
salt
4T red wine vinegar
8 leaves basil
3 cloves garlic
1t crushed red pepper
extra virgin olive oil

cut eggplant into 1/4" slices. you are supposed to peel but I didn't. but slices into 1" strips.
toss with salt in a bowl and let drain for 24 hours. press out moisture.
add vinegar, toss, let rest 1 hour
layer in a Mason jar with basil, garlic, pepper
press down as you go
pour in olive oil to cover generously, check in a few hours, it may need more
refrigerate
let rest for a couple of days before eating. "keeps for months"

the raw ingredients, so to speak

Joel Salatin / On Point

2011-10-11T16:38:00.000-07:00

Really good listen. Salatin figures prominently in Omnivore's Dilemma; it's pretty clear that he both is the real deal, and old-fashioned traditional animal rearing practices make so much more sense than feedlots. Hearing him speak in his own voice was wonderful.

Susanna Hoffs / Bangles / OnionAV

2011-10-11T16:11:00.000-07:00

Seriously, this is an awesome interview. For some reason I associate their song 'Eternal Flame' with surfing Outer Kom in Kommetjie, South Africa. I listened to top-40 radio when we lived there, but I don't know why Outer Kom is the mental image....

Baker Creek Seeds / NPR

2011-10-07T11:56:00.000-07:00

good story, might have to get the book

Feist streaming

2011-09-30T16:25:00.001-07:00

it's so good.

Feist / NPR

2011-09-30T14:17:00.000-07:00

love

Organic Food jpeg

2011-09-30T12:40:00.001-07:00

Plastic, via the Surfrider Foundation

2011-09-29T12:25:00.001-07:00

Peck of Pickled Peppers

2011-09-24T13:52:00.000-07:00

I straight up used this recipe. I used yellow bell peppers, serranos, gypsy, poblano, although this awful picture is of a jar with just yellow bell and serrano.

Melon Jam

2011-09-24T13:44:00.000-07:00

This one I don't remember where I got the recipe from. The ratio is 4:3 trimmed melon:sugar, by weight. As per usual, I made it over quite a few days, which does positive things to the flavor, but makes the sugar more caramelized so it is more brown than orange -- kind of a boring color. I used a cantaloupe from Sara's garden, half of a leftover green honeydew from the co-op, and half of a cantaloupe from Givens.

Melon Jam
65 oz melon flesh (trimmed of outside skin and inside seeds)
36 oz sugar
a vanilla bean
1t citric acid

cook, cool, repeat

Spiced Fig Orange Jam

2011-09-24T13:31:00.000-07:00

Love this. Going to make more for sure. Kind of combined 2 recipes I, II. Threw in a vanilla bean. Honestly the directions are pretty imprecise/inaccurate. I actually took about a week to make this, kept cooking it up a little bit each day. You shouldn't do that. But the fruit/sugar ratio is right.

Fig Orange Jam:

17 oz figs
1/2 t citric acid
10 oz sugar
a vanilla bean
water from rinsing out a jar of orange marmalade
juice/pulp from 2 oranges
diced rind from oranges
ground cinnamon
ground cloves

combine everything but sugar and spice and let sit overnight
add sugar and spices, cook it up, and let sit overnight again
cook it up and put in jars

Homemade Hot Sauce

2011-09-24T13:14:00.000-07:00

#2, #3, #1

I've made some before, with a different Emeril recipe, this Emeril one is magic. I've made it 3 times, once straight up following the recipe, the other 2 times I used more chilies by weight, but they were fleshier peppers so I think I'm good. So, first batch was with 10 oz of green serranos, 2nd was 22oz of a green bell pepper looking chile that was surprisingly hot, grown by Sara's friend Erin, 3rd was 28 oz of yellow bell peppers, 2 red serranos, and 1 cherry bomb for heat.

Homemade Red Hot Sauce via Emeril

20 tabasco or serrano chiles (about 10 oz), stemmed and sliced
1.5 T minced garlic
3/4 c sliced onions
3/4 t salt
extra virgin olive oil
2 c water
1 cup white wine vinegar

saute the veggies for a couple of minutes
add salt and water, simmer till it is almost gone
cool, add vinegar, let steep overnight
stickblender
heat to a simmer again, put in jars, let cool before putting on the lid
will last in the fridge for 6 months

Jalapeños en Escabeche

2011-09-24T08:46:00.000-07:00

Made this in August, had some last night. Really good, though I really like the carrots and wish I had distributed them equally in the jars. Amy gave us a jar of it that Jacob from Roots made that was amazing, this is in the ballpark, but I might have to contact him.

Jalapeños en Escabeche:
from Recipe of Memory by Victor and Marry Valle

3 lbs jalapeños
1 head garlic
1.5 c extra virgin olive oil
2c sliced carrots
1 onion
2c cauliflower (skipped, used more carrots)
4.5 T salt
3T oregano
1T black peppercorns
5 bay leaves
6c white wine vinegar

sterilize jars
wash chilies and cut slits in them
heat oil in a stainless steel pot, add garlic and chilies, cook 3-5 min
take off heat, add veggies and spices, add vinegar when it has cooled a little
heat another 2 min
put in jars, allow to cool before putting on lids

supposedly this will keep 2 months not refrigerated, longer if refrigerated. I go fridge all the way.

Cool Iceland Video

2011-09-09T17:24:00.000-07:00

Where I Was on 9/11 Map: NYT

2011-09-09T11:32:00.000-07:00

this is a pretty cool project

Mel Brooks / Onion AV

2011-09-09T11:06:00.000-07:00

nice interview

Coulda Soulda Woulda

2011-09-08T17:57:00.000-07:00

Last year I made a little bit of loquat jelly, and then a ton of apricot preserves (20 quarts). The trees were nuts. This year I got lazy and skipped the loquats, and then the apricot trees only yielded up a little over 1Q. I'm bumming. Plus I'm finally eating last year's loquat jelly and the stuff is great. Kinda like pomegranate molasses.

Something Missing Curry

2011-09-08T17:52:00.000-07:00

There's a great recipe in the Tassajara Bread Book for Something Missing Muffins. Basically Ed Brown breaks down a muffin recipe, taking one ingredient out at a time, to make recipes that aren't quite right, but do work. This one is me messing around with a thai curry. The "curry paste" was turmeric and a chili powder. Eggplant, red okra, garlic and some peppers from the garden. Coconut Milk. With sacred basil. Tasty.

Vietnamese Sockeye

2011-09-08T17:47:00.000-07:00

Nice wild sockeye, fried skin side down in a little safflower oil to crisp the skin, then flipped for a minute or so. With nuoc cham and a salad platter. We overcooked the rice noodles, but still a good meal.

Bon Iver / NPR World Cafe

2011-09-02T16:07:00.000-07:00

Pretty sweet, 30 min interview + songs. Holocene is with the full band, maybe only soso, I love the album version. Beach Baby sounded amazing. The live version of Beth/Rest he does is cool, solo piano, and he starts it out not singing in falsetto.

Fresh Air Food Week

2011-09-02T15:22:00.000-07:00

A couple of re-run/compilation episodes of Fresh Air, the links are to the original full length interviews. The Harold McGee one is interesting. I actually thought I'd linked to it when it was on, as it occurred during the early days of the blog, but no dice. He's a food scientist. Well, he explores the science of cooking, he isn't a fuddy-duddy in some USDA lab... I listened to a Michael Pollan one today that wasn't in the re-runs, but it's great. It was from the Omnivore's Dilemma press tour. I knew 'free range' was sketchy, but his explanation of it made that clear: Free range means after 5 weeks of life in a factory farm hen house, a door is opened at each end of the house and the chickens could go outside. But they don't. They are then killed at 7 weeks. He signed off with this nugget: I don't think you can call yourself an environmentalist if you're thoughtless about what you are eating.

An old interview with Julia Child was great. The Bittman one is good but short. I quite liked the other food science-y one -- the bit on onions/sweet onions was interesting. The banana one is super interesting. They played segments from a couple of Ruth Reichel interviews, only 1 of which is available in entirety online, I did mention it on the blog way back in 2009.

Slick WIlly on Wait Wait

2011-08-29T14:57:00.000-07:00

The whole episode (a reader's choice best of) is great, but the full length Bill Clinton bit is awesome.

2011-08-23T12:28:00.001-07:00

(Sergey Ponomarev)

Frozen Whipped Cream

2011-08-23T08:30:00.000-07:00

In making crème fraîche sherbet there was a little too much whipped cream for the container I was freezing it in. So just saved the extra in a yogurt container. Crème fraîche, sugar, vanilla extract. Really really really good.

with stewed rhubarb

with under-ripe white peaches. the dude at the farmer's market let me down

Orange Crème Fraîche Sherbet #2

2011-08-23T08:21:00.000-07:00

sherbet with cocoa sauce

Minor tweaking of the recipe. 1Q crème fraîche, 8 oz vanilla sugar, salt, 2c OJ from Nicole. Whipped the crème fraîche till peaks, added sugar, whipped till stronger peaks. Folded in OJ. Added some booze. Actually made 2 batches, one got vanilla rum, the other tangerine vodka. Not sure I'll do this anymore, I liked the elegance of whipping cream to get soft fluffy ice cream but damn if it isn't fattening and un-nutritious, especially when we have access to goat milk. I think there gonna be alot of goat milk frozen yogurt... The umbrella sorbet post.
showing off a little, this book is interesting...

Recent Dinners #4

2011-08-23T08:06:00.000-07:00

pozole. tasty as heck. this one was nixtamal, black beans, kidney beans, usual veggies, and the groovy red color is from homemade red pepper paste. with cabbage, cilantro, and crème fraîche. this is a better pic than the one in the recipe link...

the usual summertime fried ricotta...

orach salad. i've been stoked on orach, should have grown more, will next year for sure
new potatoes and squash from Sara's friend, tomato from co-op, sausage from Deydey's in Lompoc

pretty, but actually it didn't work. peppers didn't quite cut it

fresh ricotta, bulghur cooked in some of the whey leftover from making the ricotta, a little basil. I ate all of the tomatoes off of my plant before dinner so went with a slightly boring looking plate...

Organic Meat Too Expensive? Eat Less

2011-08-20T12:03:00.000-07:00

I loved this article.

Once upon a time, eating meat was too expensive for mass consumption. Thus most people used it for flavoring or ate it on special occasions.

This is the way it should be!

Bon Iver / Holocene Video / Iceland

2011-08-18T10:49:00.000-07:00

I'm kind of obsessed with the kid's sweater... real wool, a zipper, and a hood...

Lebowski Cast Reunion

2011-08-17T10:50:00.000-07:00

Watched this live last night, so damn funny. Here's a link which is supposedly temporary. On youtube you can see it in 4 parts: I, II, III, IV.

Muppets: the Green Album / NPR

2011-08-16T11:54:00.001-07:00

I love this pic, but the song this band did kinda stunk. Pretty stoked on the rest of it thus far. Streaming on NPR right now.

Bon Iver Concert on NPR

2011-08-15T13:49:00.000-07:00

It's not magnificent, but it's pretty darn listenable.

Jon Polito / OnionAV

2011-08-11T15:02:00.000-07:00

a pretty good random roles, lots of Coen Brothers stories, the Highlander bit was cool, too

Sabas in the Hall of Fame Today

2011-08-11T11:52:00.001-07:00

this is a pretty good topic for my 1000th post. sweet videos from the 80s. vids that Blazersedge put up, also great.

Santa Cruz Island July/August 2011

2011-08-05T17:32:00.000-07:00

boat ride out, lots of dolphins, hard to get a good pic with shutter lag...

island fox at Christy ranch house

fennel, wet first morning

lady

black swallowtail caterpillar

bumble bee

view down Pozo canyon

details of topography with the 350mm on the 750UZ

Christy ranch yard

Christy beach

foggy Bishop pines on the way back

huge spiderweb

"red attack" tree?? I thought the mortality event was over.

view towards Rosa from Upem parking spot

healthy, red attack, dead

fun from the moving train

quite a few more pics on Picasa, 1030SW camera, 750UZ camera.

2 dinners

2011-08-05T17:30:00.000-07:00

Erin's stuffed squash and our kale/bean saute

"i think i like the idea of gazpacho more than the real thing" -- the Bee. ok with humboldt fog cheese, though

some from the garden

2011-08-05T17:28:00.000-07:00

Sara's plot, Lizzy the cat

Frank hauling crap during the workday

this goes well with the post below...

RIP

2011-07-27T17:28:00.000-07:00

bummer

even more Recent Dinners

2011-07-23T16:16:00.000-07:00

ricotta; good tomato; serata basil; zuke, kale, and broccoli shoot saute; with pumpernickel bread (not ideal)

my plate, same night
corn, too. summer is good

tasty salad

I just love ricotta and tomatoes during the summer. Ricotta is tasty plus milk is always 1/2 price during the summer at the co-op...

NBA Lockout / Bon Iver

2011-07-22T13:07:00.000-07:00

I saw this on the Basketball Jones blog. Pretty Epic!

Goleta Representing

2011-07-19T12:46:00.000-07:00

I found the black Goleta hat in the pic in the free bin a while ago and sent it to my friend James, who lives on the Big Island. Modeling it is another friend from the UCSB dorms. Goleta in the islands...

Emmylou Harris / OnionAV

2011-07-19T12:21:00.000-07:00

Love her

Dolly Parton / OnionAV

2011-07-19T12:20:00.001-07:00

Great

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution -- LA

2011-07-09T12:01:00.000-07:00

I just watched the two LA episodes that have aired. The first one ('Maybe L.A. was a big mistake') is a little dry and depressing -- the LA school board doesn't want him in a school, and the fast food restaurant that he'd like to make healthier isn't very receptive. The second one ('I think I found a loophole') is a little more hopeful. The problem is no one is watching it, so ABC has the show on hiatus for a month. I really like the idea of the show, childhood obesity is a terrible problem, heck obesity in general, and getting kids to change their relationship with food at a young age seems like a no-brainer.
He's talking about using beef from cows where you know the provenance of the cow and you know what cut of meat is used to make ground beef. None of that 99 cents a pound crap...
He drives an 80s Toyota Landcruiser Wagon in the show. Bit of a gas guzzler, but you can't tackle obesity and climate change all at once :) This is from the second episode where he got the fast food restaurant to augment their menu with healthier/tastier menu items.

Update:
I forgot to write about episodes 3&4 when I watched them, and it's never fun to review from memory... basically he got the fast food restaurant styled up, and helped a single father and his kids to start to cook. They were good.

Episode 5 was classic. Support from UCLA and the American Heart Association. The visit to Carpinteria High was very inspiring. More shutdowns from the LA school district. Seems like I cry watching every episode... the food situations he is documenting are so messed up...

Episode 6 was uplifting. Too bad the show was cancelled, he was having some success, I'd be curious to learn what changes will occur. Here's the page to access all 6 episodes.

Ingredients Movie

2011-07-08T17:08:00.000-07:00

I heard about Ingredients a little while ago because the Wild Garden Seed guy is in it. It's a documentary about local foods, mostly in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, and a couple of farms in NY. It's a nice overview of some facets of organic food -- lots of interviews with farmers, farmer's markets, school gardens, organic wine, free range meat, CSAs. It streams for free on Netflix, so check it out!

Santa Cruz Island June/July 2011

2011-07-06T12:44:00.000-07:00

Spent 8 days on the island with Sara. We went to her Sauces and Upem Bishop Pine sites, camping some and staying at the field station some. Used a bunch of different vehicles, a 4x4 toyota pickup, a jeep, a Landcruiser, and a Kubota - basically a 4x4 golf cart. 'Twas my 2nd time there; she has spent over a year on the island all told. Lots and lots of photos, full album here. The highlights are a little disjointed because it was such a long trip, c'est la vie:

Scorpion, the NPS landing

Sauces, calzone and Black Butte Porter, fog coming over the saddle

predawn XPP measurement set up

lichen on old fence post from the ranching days

Bishop Pine

Sauces weather station

other side of the valley

the saddle, fog-free late afternoon

solar panel, anemometer, wind vane

later in the afternoon the fog came in...
...though the opposite ridge was still clear, Sara watercoloring

dinner 2nd nite

we had Tassajara gingerbread and yogurt for breakfasts, so good

toyota 4x4 pickup, parked at the field station to recharge the nitrogen tanks and recharge us, too...

Upem weather station, fog collectors lower left of image
chamise, it grows prostrate on the island
chamise with lichen

lots more sunset pics on picasa... I love sunsets into a fog layer

Upem site overview

from the pier at Prisoner's, while picking up Doug and Jasper

Doug and Sara, road out of Sauces, jeep

from Ridge Road, fog offshore but most of island hot and sunny

next day, looking down the valley at fog, but middle of island was sunny

Cruiser at Upem

Upem, fog in the channel, Santa Rosa in background

Bark beetle trails

Cruiser

Toys

What's up, Tiger Lily?

Kubota at Upem

SCI buckwheat

dirty, at pier at Prisoner's

Food

2011-07-06T11:57:00.000-07:00

Leftover noodles from the last Julie and Guillame dinner, with greens and smoked oysters (which weren't actually all that interesting).

baking for the island trip: calzone, breads, plus fish sticks for dinner :)

4th of July dinner, after a long long day

Blazersedge - Blazers Personal History

2011-07-06T11:12:00.000-07:00

Dave at Blazersedge is doing a personal history of the Blazers, really interesting, the comments are great, too. '76-'77, when they won the championship. '77-'78 when Walton went down.

A Visit from Julie and Guillaume

2011-06-23T15:16:00.000-07:00

Sara's friend from college Julie and her partner Guillaume stayed with us for a few days just now. Amazing. They built a bike frame, using carbon fiber that can be disassembled and taken on airplanes. They rode from central France to Barcelona, flew to LA, and are biking up to Oregon. They have a neat website for their trip. Julie commented that she felt like Sara and I were her grandparents trying to fatten her up... We had meatballs and steamed potatoes and a cabbage salad the first night, masa quesadillas and beans the second, and vietnamese (beef, rice noodles, salad from the garden) the third. Photos from my camera:

action shot, shutter lag as Guillaume rode by

their trusty steed

our trusty steeds

closer-up of the front wheel drive front end

Artwork of their bike that Julie made, for a lampshade for Sara. I have northwest coast art all over my walls, so she added some design elements to her painting. Really clever and lovely...

the blue salad bowl has korean mint, 'santo' cilantro, and some spearmint

Massaged kale salad, a lovely food discovery. this one was red kale + salt/fish sauce/olive oil that marinated together for a while, and then more spearmint and a cuke at the end.

the plate

Julie and Sara made the lemon bars from the Tartine pastry cookbook the last night

more Recent Dinners

2011-06-20T12:43:00.001-07:00

Mac and cheese w/ a bechemel made with goat milk. the first and last time I'll buy goat milk, cause now I have a hook-up. SWEET.
Spaghetti and meatballs w/ chevre from the lady who has goats.
Leftovers. Poor us. Erin's ice cream, strawberries, stewed rhubarb.

Salmon

2011-06-17T12:56:00.000-07:00

Farmed salmon has reached a new low for me. It drove down the prices that fisherman get for the real fish, putting families in financial trouble. It pollutes the ocean near fish farms. It isn't as healthy -- they have to add food coloring to get the nice orange/red color that wild salmon get from eating crustaceans. When it was introduced it sold for ~3$/lb, a little less than half the cost of wild salmon. This week Albertsons has wild sockeye for 10$/lb, Vons has farmed atlantic for 8$/lb. Disgusting.

new Bon Iver

2011-06-16T16:23:00.000-07:00

pretty damn good. Streaming on NPR music.

Recent Dinners

2011-06-14T15:02:00.001-07:00

Haven't posted in a while as I was busy finishing up the dissertation and Sara was busy with her orals and other stuff. Lots of stress in the household.... We're all clear now, though.

cutie w/ some of the finer things

sauteed rutabaga with broccoli shoots steaming on top

The final dish, rutabaga, grassfed beef bratwurst, broc, this was really really good. I'm loving rutabaga.

This was interesting. Potatoes simmered in goat milk + crushed green corriander seeds. Served with cilantro and kale and some pickled veggies that the Lerner gave us.

deep dish quiche from last night

Erin made earl grey ice cream. So good, and really good with stewed rhubarb

Accordions / NPR

2011-06-03T17:00:00.000-07:00

Cool story, the intro is solid gold.

E Coli in Germany

2011-06-01T08:19:00.000-07:00

These stories piss me off. It seems like the initial blame is always placed on something organic. It's happened before with spinach, for instance. So when the story broke the initial culprit was said to be organic cucumbers from Spain. But no one in Spain got sick, it was only people in Hamburg or who had produce distributed from the Hamburg produce distribution hub. Hmmm, sounds like the problem is in Germany... and not with organics.

Yogurt 2011

2011-05-27T08:22:00.000-07:00

I've gone much more low-tech when making yogurt. I used to use a le Creuset or Descoware pot and a silicone whisk -- I thought I needed a pot that would carry over the heat better when the yogurt bacteria were doing their thing in the pilot-light-warmed oven. Turns out it doesn't matter. Lately I've been using a stainless steel pot with a clad bottom, Farberware or Revereware, that kind of thing -- so not total trash, but something you can easily get at a thriftstore or whatever. For stirring I like the wooden spoons with a hole cut out. It let's you scrape the bottom but with the hole you don't get a whirlpool going when heating the milk. The old technique still applies (heat to 190, cool to 121), I'm just using different hardware. Three notable pluses of the new method: milk doesn't scorch as bad on the bottom of stainless pots, the milk heats and cools faster when using stainless steel, and you get to save your expensive pots for dishes that take advantage of them.

Yogurt Cheese

2011-05-27T08:20:00.000-07:00

Saw a tip a little while ago, put a coffee filter over the top of a yogurt container, semi-invert it on to it's side in a bowl, drain for a day or so. Drink whey. Have thick dairy. Works a treat, plus I still have a ton of coffee filters from the stash Sharon gave me when they moved away...

More Panzanellas

2011-05-27T08:13:00.000-07:00

On the heels of the rutabaga one, 2 more. Basically I had some bread that was going a little moldy so cooked it up with garden and fridge stuff... One was rutabaga stems, split peas, sacred basil, dino kale, chili paste, topped with fresh ricotta. The other was red kale, chili paste, fried ricotta. Both were good.

Sacred Basil + fresh ricotta = yum

fried ricotta also = yum

sacred basil 'n' dino kale

frying up some homemade chili paste from last fall. i think it was chilis and a little salt cooked down, stickblended, in a jar with olive oil on top. pretty classic.

Brassica Shoots

2011-05-23T08:13:00.000-07:00

It's getting a bit late in the spring for cool season veggies, but they are still doing ok. One thing I've really been enjoying are the shoots - the flower stalks - of the Ho-Mi Z mustard. They are sweet and crisp/tender, sometimes with a hot aftertaste - they are a mustard after all. The purple peacock broccoli is about done, and truth be told it did better in pots at home than it did in the garden, but the little side shoots that came in after the main head was harvested have been tasty. Note that I don't have a relationship with the farm I'm linking to, I just like their stuff, their philosophy, and the fact that they are from my hometown.

Ho-Mi Z

Purple Peacock Broc

Loquat Upside-down Tassajara Gingerbread Cake

2011-05-21T14:17:00.000-07:00

EPIC. Andrew turned 30 recently, and my advisor had a BBQ to welcome a student who will start in the fall, so brought a birthday cake to the BBQ. There are a ton of ripe loquats in the garden, so went looking for a recipe. This lady made a loquat upside down cake that looked amazing so I wanted to do that, but used the gingerbread cake from the Tassajara Bread Book instead of her cake, doubling the recipe to make a birthday-sized cake. The only thing I'd change is I only had 27 loquats on hand when I was baking it, it needed more, maybe double that. But otherwise it was great. Amazing with some freshly whipped Straus cream.

Loquat upside-down Tassajara gingerbread cake:
more than 27 ripe loquats, halved and pits removed
1 stick butter
6 oz sugar

~1 lb (4 1/2 C) sifted whole wheat flour
1 T baking powder
1 t sea salt
1 t soda
1 t ground cloves
2 t powdered mustard
2 t ginger
2 t cinnamon
1 c oil
2 c molasses
2 eggs
2 c hot water

350 oven. butter and sugar in a 13x9 pyrex pan throw it in the oven for 5-10 min till butter and sugar are happy. Lay loquats cut side down on the mixture.
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt.
Mix soda, and spices into oil. Put into a bowl, add beaten egg, then mix in molasses.
Add flour mixture and hot water to wet ingredients, alternating as you go. Beat well.
Pour over loquats.
350 45 min.

Rutabaga, Two Ways

2011-05-21T14:05:00.000-07:00

I'm really liking the rutabagas. I had a huge one and cut it up two ways, most of it I made 1/2" or so cubes. I ended up with a trimmed square, so cut sticks from that part. The small sticks sauteed up nicely with a little garlic and rosemary and then I cooked up some German Bratwurst in that pan so they got flavored. Lovely. The larger ones I sauteed/steamed in a large cast iron pan with more rosemary. In my new bowl, with some mustard and pickled veg from Amy.

cubes. with sticky bits from the bottom

sticks. yum

Rutabaga Panzanella

2011-05-21T14:02:00.000-07:00

Good. Leftover sauteed Rutabaga, bread, pickled veggies from Amy, cilantro, some Humboldt Fog cheese.

Garden Workday #1

2011-05-21T13:57:00.000-07:00

The first one with us as Garden Managers. The goal was to have a presence in the garden all day as there was an event nearby and we didn't want people from that messing with the garden. We were there from 8-2 with some people, and then more people came later. We made a poster of potential tasks to give some ideas for when we weren't there. Worked ok, but I think the next one we'll target a narrower time range...

Free food

weeding the cracks

baby carrot, from one of the cracks

greenhouse nice and tiny
Lizzie
airing out Lizzie's bed

Fava Beans, Ricotta, Toast

2011-05-15T17:45:00.000-07:00

These pictures are kind of weird, but it was awfully tasty. Sauteed the fresh beans in Straus cream-top milk 'butter.' Note that you don't have to peel the individual beans, though some people do. Ate it with a little ricotta on toast. Mmmmmm. Definitely going to grow these next winter, luckily one of the gardeners grew a few too many this year.

Rutabaga Greens Pasta

2011-05-15T17:33:00.000-07:00

Rutabagas have been a very pleasant gardening surprise. I just love the greens. Still scared of the tuber, maybe tonight. The other night I made a pasta dish with steamed rutabaga greens and buckwheat noodles, topped with fried garlic/fresh artichoke hearts and ricotta. A veryverygood dish. As a side note, this meal also featured the first use of my brand new plate/shallow bowl that Sara made me. Awesome.

Sara's dinner. She added pesto. She made her bowl, too.

Mine. The thin-sliced artichokes on ricotta were nice, too, but damn were those rutabaga greens tasty! Colors of the bowl and it's shape are perfect.

Vietnamese Again

2011-05-06T08:33:00.000-07:00

Such a good meal. Salad-y things. Rice noodles. A ground beef stir fry. Nuoc cham sauce. We had this Sunday night, when Obama announced the Bin Laden thing. We happened to work the farmer's market earlier that day, selling citrus with Sara's friend. I'm a little curious as to what world event is going to happen the next time we work the market...

Brother Claude Ely / Ain't No Grave / NPR

2011-05-05T16:40:00.000-07:00

highest highest highest recommendation

D.A. Pennebaker / OnionAV

2011-05-05T08:36:00.000-07:00

great interview.

2011-05-02T17:20:00.000-07:00

amazing.