17 Jan 2011, Posted by admin in EAT, 2 Comments

Fridge Envy: Maybe Not A 19th Century Icebox, But A Philco V Handle Would Be Nice

Refrigerators share similar pricing fates to mattresses. For something you rely on daily, they tend to be either incredibly expensive or astoundingly cheap. And by correlation, either built with impressive quality in mind, be those bells and whistles in the form of extra padding or climate control cheese drawers, or completely the opposite (not exactly what your farmers’ market lettuce had in mind for its week-long vacation). Let’s just say my early 1990s fridge — a.k.a. the landlord special — leaves much on that spoiled milk wish list.

13 Jan 2011, Posted by admin in MEET, 0 Comments

Meet Greg La Follette: How A Bagpiper Becomes A Pinot Noir Maker

That we are influenced by those whom we choose to spend time with has got to be one of the oldest conversations around the family kitchen table. Still, it’s hard to imagine my grandparents envisioning that I would spend so much time around the table with folks who make wine, beer and spirits. Not that they’d disapprove. Greg La Follette was one such recent Pinot Noir hangout. He’s the sort of guy you talk to, pause for a moment, then consider making changes in your life. Little tweaks, really. Like remembering why you learned to play the piano (or in Greg’s case, the bagpipes) or took up painting so many years ago. How those perhaps forgotten endeavors have morphed into something else (winemaking for Greg, cooking for me) — and that’s pretty great. Turn the page for more on life and Pinot lessons in a recent LA Weekly profile….

08 Jan 2011, Posted by admin in EAT, 0 Comments

Cookbook Review: The Essential New York Times Cookbook By Amanda Hesser

Last year, rather than crowning a single cookbook the “Best Of” title in LA Weekly, I simply settled on an entire category that was consistently great — baking. This year, the most prominent publishing category of the year, media cookbooks, also by coincidence is home to several interesting cookbooks. But no cookbook, media or otherwise, is as engaging and practical for the home cook as Amanda Hesser’s The Essential New York Times Cookbook. Turn the page for more about my Best Cookbook of 2010 gold crown winner for the newspaper.

07 Jan 2011, Posted by admin in MEET, 0 Comments

Meet Armand Sahakian: Your Turkish Delight Dream Guy

Once upon a time in a powdered-sugar dusted San Fernando Valley storefront, an Armenian candy maker spent his days patiently tending to the sugar syrup bubbling in his giant copper caldron. He delicately flavored each batch with citrusy drops of bergamot oil, the scent of roses or various fruits, then poured the candy into wooden trays to cool into gelée-like locum (Turkish delight).

03 Jan 2011, Posted by admin in EAT, 0 Comments

New Year’s Resolutions: Eat (And Bake) More, Obsess Less — The Hamburger Bun Edition

It seems as good a year as any to make a resolution to make (and eat) more hamburger buns. Why? Because people used to do that sort of thing at home, back before Pepperidge Farm and Sara Lee and friends got together for a factory-induced, fluffy white, mediocrity mouth feel moment. And because homemade hamburger buns really do make whatever you pile onto them — medium rare, oops-overdone, even meatless mystery items — taste so much better. Plus, they’re fun to make. Or at least once you get over that Platonian hangup that a circle must be perfect. This is a hamburger bun recipe, not a Geometry pop quiz question. Turn the page for more, including a recipe.

23 Dec 2010, Posted by admin in EAT, 0 Comments

EatHistory: Closed Until 2011 As We’re Currently Eating History (Or Something Like That)

One of the many benefits of a food history blog is that at any moment, one could claim to be in the process of making history. Or so I like to think. And so I’m shuttering EatHistory until the new year, hopefully engaging in all sorts of fun that doesn’t involve an Internet connection. More on Ventura Limoncello (photo) after the holiday. In the meantime, a Happy, Laptop-Free New Year to all!

23 Dec 2010, Posted by admin in MEET, 0 Comments

Best Cookbooks of 2010 That Double As Cultural History Studies

For those who complain there is simply no time to do it all, that these days you must choose between cooking and reading (in that precious weeknight window of time between your last Tweet and lights out), this has been your lucky cookbook year.

So many cookbooks — good ones — were published this year that could double as reading material and menu fodder that I dubbed the Best Cookbooks of 2010 That Double As Cultural Studies a separate category in my continuing LA Weekly Best Cookbooks of 2010 series. Cook and learn. Now that sounds like a 2011 education reform slogan with sit-down dinner power. Turn the page for my favorite picks.

21 Dec 2010, Posted by admin in MEET, 1 Comments

David Hrobowski’s Christmas Tree, 18,000 Popsicle Sticks and Counting…

David Hrobowski is the sort of guy you meet only once, as I did for an L.A. Times profile of the prolific artist, but really, really wish you’d run into more often. At the coffee shop when you’re having one of those really bad days. At the grocery store when everyone is so self-absorbed you could probably roll over that woman’s foot in aisle four and she wouldn’t notice. Hrobowski is always smiling, always engaging — even after spending months in virtual solitary confinement, gluing 18,000 Popsicle sticks together to make this amazing Christmas tree (yup, with good old Elmer’s glue). Turn the page for more from today’s LA Weekly update on his latest project….

17 Dec 2010, Posted by admin in EAT, 0 Comments

A Recipe From The Chef: The Royal Family’s Victorian Era Chocolate Cake Recipe

When I talked with Darren McGrady, the Royal Family’s former private chef (and later Princess Diana’s chef — yes, he considers those two very different titles), he told me about cooking for the Queen of the kitchen, as well as his thoughts on the upcoming William and Kate nuptials. And that chocolate cake recipe passed down from Victorian era Royal Family chefs that’s used for birthdays (make the following recipes as a straight layer cake) and special occasions (shape it into a Yule Log). Sure makes that recipe box from grandma lose a bit of its campy charm. Could this be the groom’s cake for William and Kate’s wedding?

16 Dec 2010, Posted by admin in MEET, 0 Comments

Meet Darren McGrady: An Interview With Princess Diana’s Former Chef + His Cookbook For Charity

Darren McGrady’s résumé reads pretty much like your average private chef’s story. He earned a culinary arts degree and trained in a top restaurant kitchen (Savoy Hotel, London) before hitting the private sector — and then you get to that Buckingham Palace line. The Nottinghamshire native worked as a private chef for the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh and their guests from 1982 until 1993, when he became Princess Diana’s private chef (until her death in 1997). It was, of course, the sort of job that involved giving everyone the royal treatment, regardless of whether that pheasant with pearl barley risotto was destined for President Clinton’s plate or the Queen’s twelve Welsh corgis.