Setting Goals or “Kick the Can”
My cute hubby and I spend each New Year’s Day at the Four Seasons, accompanied by some good Champagne and an old black journal we’ve been sharing for about ten years now.
Each year, we look back at our previous goals and have a good laugh and toast to resolutions – it’s the making and sharing of them that matters more than the fulfillment at times. In the food, wine and healthy living categories, we’ve got a few noble goals that I think are worth sharing:
1) Kick the Can. My love affair with Diet Coke is a tawdry one that began when I was just a teenager scooping ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s on the Jersey Shore. It seemed smarter to drink some soda than indulge in Cherry Garcia and I developed a love for DC that’s stayed with me throw through all my romantic travails. No more!
Read more at OurSouthBay [South Bay Magazine]…
Move Over Cosmo!
The cosmo is so very over, as the SATC 2 sequel aptly illustrated for us. Ouch.
Move over pink and sweet, the new news in cocktails is green and herbal.
By “green,” I mean both in liquor and in mixers; bartenders (as I still insist on calling them, apologies to all those “bar chefs” and “mixologists” out there) increasingly are using herbal ingredients in addition to sustainably made spirits, or at least those that try to mix inebriation with social justice.
Products like TRU vodka and VEEV Açai liquer claim to be better both for the environment and for your bloodstream. The green theme continues with savory elements like basil and rosemary increasingly nudging out citrus and other fruits in cocktail menus all over LA.
Read more at OurSouthBay.
Produce Markets Getting More Esoteric?
Is it just me or has the produce at the markets been getting more and more esoteric? I am all for cooking up whatever is in season, provided I can figure out a way to cook it up.
I confess that I am really not too sure what to do with crosnes or with purslane for that matter. Fortunately, a friend gifted me with the excellent Santa Monica Farmers’ Market Cookbok by Amelia Saltsman, a book which has subsequently become a staple in my kitchen.
Her simple approach to seasonal cooking allows the flavors of unique produce to shine without overpowering the skills of a home chef.
Read more at OurSouthBay [South Bay Magazine].
Palate Los Angeles
Welcome to Palate: Los Angeles – your local source for all the things that make life in the City of Angels, well, palatable.
As the Food & Wine Editor for Westside, Southbay, Ventura Blvd and West Hollywood magazines, I get paid to scout, sniff, snack and swirl my way around greater Los Angeles and it’s my pleasure to share some insiders’ intel with you along the way.
From the fishing boat captain I just met who tells me he’ll be selling dockside at the Farmers Market on the Malibu Pier this spring to a tour of Terranea’s impressive and prodigious resort gardens down in Palos Verdes, we hope to offer you some glimpses into what makes local life so wonderful here.
(Hint: you don’t need a Star Map or a golden statue to enjoy it.)
Read more at OurSouthBay [South Bay Magazine].
Examiner: Sommeliers Face Off over Two Buck Chuck
Excellent blow by blow in the Sommelier Challenge by Roberta Rinaldi:
For those of us obsessed by wine, Saturday was an exciting day at The Taste of Beverly Hills. Eight sommeliers competed (click here for bios) in the “Boys vs Girls Sommelier Blind Tasting”. Moderated by event sommelier, Bonnie Graves, teams of four girl and four boy sommeliers were playfully pitted against each other, one pair for each of the four wines tasted.
The group featured some of California’s brightest, most cutting edge sommeliers. On the feminine side were Rebecca Chapa (Culinary Institute of America), Diane De Luca (Providence), Dana Farner (CUT–wearing the best sundress ever!) and Carolyn Styne (AOC, Luques, Tavern). Representin’ for the boys were Chris Lavin (XIV), Mark Mendoza (Comme Ca and Sona), Jonathan Mitchell (Palm Restaurant) and David Rosoff (Pizzeria Mozza).
[...] And so it went, with the best round being round three. Rebecca Chapa and David Rosoff were completely stumped by a bottle of Two Buck Chuck Merlot, which she guessed to be a Chinon Cabernet Franc, and he thought to be a Dolcetto! Since the teams were allowed to reach conclusions by consensus; this was a great example of how group think leads wine tasters to cede their opinions to others, when they’d be better served to follow their gut instincts. Jonathan Mitchell had a thigh-slapping moment upon the reveal, when he exclaimed that his first impression was of a cheap Merlot, then went along with David.
