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Review: Spice Dreams

Spice Dreams: Flavored Ice Creams and Other Frozen Treats.  Sara Engram and Katie Luber with Nancy Meadows and Kimberly Toqe.  Andrews McMeel Publishing.  $16.99  (86p)  ISBN: 978-0-7407-8016-5

Spices and herbs as flavor agents came to me late in life.  Growing up in a typical American household where the occasional Taco Night, or a meal out at the local Chinese restaurant was about as close as I got to anything resembling an exotic spice or herb.  Even then the word ’spice’ often referred to the La Victoria hot sauce we put on our tacos.  The idea that there was a whole world of flavors out there, and even other cultures that cooked with them was a surprise to my palette.

Like cardamom for example.  I first tasted the flowery, layered loveliness of this spice in Indian food on a trip to London at age 17.  I have loved Indian food — and cardamom — ever since.  Years later I ate a whole lot of Indian food when I was a film student at New York University.  On East 6th Street in New York’s East Village there is a block of cheap Indian restaurants where I could get multi-course meals for a few dollars.  It was splendid.  Living in New York, and traveling occasionally, I ate more and more non-European and non-American cuisines.  I loved them all.  The incredible flavors that emerged from these exotic dishes.

Authors Sara Engram and Katie Luber own an organic spice company, The Seasoned Palate.  They know their spices and herbs.  They recently wrote a book, ‘The Spice Kitchen,’ which I love and also reviewed.  Now they have published a companion book of sorts: ‘Spice Dreams: Flavored Ice Creams and Other Frozen Desserts’ — all about herb and spice-infused ice creams and frozen desserts.  Their methods combine all-natural ingredients with herbs and spices both fresh and dried to great success.  Now back to that cardamom.  The first ice cream I made from the book was Cardamom-Mint Ice Cream and, wow, was it amazing.  That flowery, layered loveliness I referred to earlier in combination with the peppermint extract called for in the recipe: did I say ‘wow’ yet?  Add to the experience the creamy coldness of the ice cream — full-on bliss.  We had friends over and we devoured the entire 1 1/2 quarts.

The book is divided into four sections: Ice Creams; Sorbets and Frozen Yogurts; Sandwiches, Sundaes, and Such; Syrups, Sauces, Toppings, and Other Goodies.  I tried several recipes and all worked extremely well.  The book is easy to follow and well structured.  Household favorites are Dark Chocolate-Anise Ice Cream, Mango Sorbet with Cumin and Cinnamon, and the highly unusual Basil Ice Cream (eat this one with fresh berries!).  We also liked the Pink Grapefruit-Tarragon Sorbet.  Of the syrups and sauces I made a favorite was the Ancho-Lime Syrup that we poured over the Mango Sorbet with Cumin and Cinnamon.  These frozen desserts couldn’t be more fun to make and eat.  What makes them so unusual is the savory-sweet flavor combinations: mango and cumin; grapefruit and tarragon; ancho chile and mango (a popular Latin American flavor combination  — sweet fruit and hot chile).

Friendly and playful (they refer to their ice cream as ’spice cream’) Engram and Luber not only add to the trend of combining herbs and spices with sweets, they take it to another level.  They also encourage the reader to experiment and come up with their own combinations; to use the recipes in the book as templates.  I am fairly new to making ice cream at home and I wish I hadn’t waited so long.  The experience of making and eating homemade ice cream is far superior to buying it commercially.  Go get an ice cream maker if you don’t have one.  Buy this book and let the magic unfold.  You won’t be sorry.

KCET Top 10 List: I wrote this piece for LA-based PBS station, KCET ~ ‘Walking and Eating in Atwater Village: A Top 10′

Coming Up: International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC), August 27 – 29, 2010, Seattle Washington.  So much fun last year that I’ll be attending again this year.  Are you?

Upcoming Posts: Cookbook Reviews: Steak and Friends: At Home with Rick Tramonto by Rick Tramonto; Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly by Joan E. Aller.

Prom Date: The French Laundry

I took my prom date to dinner at the French Laundry.  No, really, I did.  In 1977.  Granted back then it wasn’t the French Laundry it would grow up to be.  The French Laundry now owned by uber-chef Thomas Keller.  The world renowned French Laundry; a place where everyone who knows good food wants to eat at least once in their culinary lifetimes.  This past spring I was in the Napa Valley (where the French Laundry restaurant is located in the town of Yountville) and I went to the restaurant.  It was closed as I was there between the lunch and dinner services.  I didn’t have plans to eat at the restaurant.  I wanted to see the building.  I wanted to see if it was true; that I actually did take my prom date, the beautiful and very French, Gabrielle Perdrizet (see photo) to dinner at the restaurant before we went to our Senior Prom at Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa, California, thirty-three years ago.  It was.  I did.

Keller Buys the French Laundry

In 1994 Thomas Keller purchased the building that the current French Laundry is in.  The beautiful stone building dates back to the 1880s when it first served as a saloon.  When alcohol was outlawed within two miles of Yountville it became a brothel.  In the late 1920s it became a French steam laundry.  In 1974 the Mayor of Yountville, Don Schmitt, and his wife purchased the building and opened a restaurant naming it the French Laundry.  The name stuck and when Keller came along he kept it.

I went to high school in neighboring Santa Rosa in 1976 and 1977 during the time that Mayor Schmitt owned the restaurant.  I have no idea how I even knew it existed.  I may have read something about it in the newspaper, or maybe I saw it on a family outing to the Napa Valley.  What I do know is that once Gabrielle, a French foreign exchange student, accepted my invitation to attend the prom it only seemed fitting that we go there.  Yountville is almost twenty-eight miles from Santa Rosa; it’s over hill and dale, it takes close to an hour to drive to.  I think we arrived at the restaurant at five-thirty.

My mother let me borrow her fading powder blue V.W. Hatchback.  The car didn’t have a lot of power, we sputtered along as there were problems with the muffler.  We made it there and back.  I don’t remember what we ate.  To my young developing palate it was the most amazing meal I’d ever eaten — at least in my current memory.  I do remember that we sat at a table next to a window looking out on to flower boxes, or possibly flower beds.  I know we had a good time.  It was Senior Prom after all.  And I don’t have any pictures; we didn’t take a camera, it was before the days of photographing everything.

All Things French

My introduction to all things French happened in 1976, the year before the infamous prom date, when at the age of sixteen I went with my French class on a week long trip to Paris.  It was my first time out of the country, my first time to Paris, and I fell in love hard.  I loved Paris, and everything about it, I still do.  It was an eye-opening experience that led to a lifelong connection to the country and its people.

There were twelve foreign exchange students during my senior year of high school, two of them were French.  My interest in all things French grew further as I came to better know Gabrielle and Amélie, the two French exchange students.  Gabrielle became my girlfriend and prom date.  So being the budding Francophile and wanting to impress Garbrielle, I chose a place that seemed to be French for our prom dinner.  At least it had the word French in the name.  I probably thought it served French food although now I can’t say if it did or did not.  No matter what type of cuisine, nor how good or bad it may have been, I have the memory of the experience.  That’s enough for me.

Now to the Gap

Through my friendships with Gabrielle and Amélie I was introduced to the idea of working in France as an au pair, or mother’s helper.  I did it.  After I graduated from high school I went and lived in France for a year where I took care of four French children.  I returned home knowing how to cook French food, and speaking French.  The experience cemented my relationship with France.  It’s now like a second home.  It also started me on a path of cooking both professionally and personally that I remain on today.

So after my year in France I returned to Northern California and began my professional career in the restaurant and retail food businesses; it was San Francisco in the early 80s.  All was going very well.  I was working in top restaurants with top chefs.  Then I decided I wanted to work in the film industry which I started to do after graduating from the New York University Film & Television program in 1988.  I slowly moved into film and away from food.  I missed the advent and rise of a chef named Thomas Keller.  It was the late 90s and Keller’s star was truly ascending, and I kept hearing things about a restaurant called the French Laundry that Keller owned.

I often wondered: is this the French Laundry I took Gabrielle to for our prom?  It sort of gnawed at me.  Could it really be the same place?  It was so famous now.  In the early 80s when I was working in San Francisco restaurants I went to the Napa Valley often but this was before the arrival of Keller, and his ownership of the French Laundry.  Until this past spring when I went to the area to attend the Cochon 555 event I wasn’t sure if it was the same place or not.  One thing I did know: while I was there I would be stopping by the French Laundry to see for myself.  I did, and it is, or was, the same place I’d been to all those many years ago with my prom date, the lovely, the beautiful, the very French, Gabrielle Perdrizet.

So it’s true.  I took my prom date to dinner at the French Laundry.  I recently told this story to a friend and he told me he took his prom date to White Castle for dinner.  (He went to high school in New Jersey.)  Where did you take your prom date to dinner, or where did you have dinner before the prom?

Bon appétit!

KCET Top 10 List: I wrote this piece for LA-based PBS station, KCET ~ ‘Walking and Eating in Atwater Village: A Top 10′

Coming Up: International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC), August 27 – 29, 2010, Seattle Washington.  So much fun last year that I’ll be attending again this year.  Are you?

Upcoming Posts: Cookbook Reviews: Steak and Friends: At Home with Rick Tramonto by Rick Tramonto, Spice Dreams by Sara Engram and Katie Luber, Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly by Joan E. Aller.

*The Local Report – Pazzo Gelato

5.9 miles, about 9 minutes, from my home in Atwater Village.

Pazzo means ‘crazy’ in Italian.  In the case of Pazzo Gelato it means ‘crazy good’ Italian gelato and sorebetto.  Pazzo Gelato has been at its Silver Lake location on the corner of Sunset Blvd. and Hyperion Ave. since 2006.  Forage is a couple of doors down, and Casbah Café sits catty-corner across the street.  This intersection is the real nexus of Silver Lake in my opinion.  Sunset Junction is officially one block north on Sunset Blvd. at Santa Monica Blvd. but these four corners are where it all happens, the true heart of Silver Lake.

Now that summer has finally arrived to Los Angeles, ice cream is back on my mind.  Although it’s never really not on my mind.  A favorite summer evening is to go to Silver Lake when it has cooled off a bit, and walk around, window shop, maybe get a bite to eat, then grab a gelato at Pazzo Gelato.  If I’m lucky enough to snag a sidewalk table, I’ll sit and savor my gelato, and watch the world go by — and go by it does.  People are out, enjoying the evening, shopping, eating, or just strolling.

Pazzo Gelato’s gelato and sorbetto is made using fresh, local and organic fruit, dairy products, and herbs and spices.  Their flavors change daily depending on what is available.  According to their website gelato contains 1/2 the fat than most gourmet ice cream (they use whole milk instead of cream) and less air.  The end result is a more concentrated flavor while also being a tad healthier.  By adding herbs and spices with both savory and sweet flavor associations they kick it up a notch.  One of my favorites is Avocado with Cayenne Pepper.  Another I haven’t tried yet but will on my next visit is Chevre/goat cheese to which you can add fig, raspberry, sour cherry or hazelnut swirl.  Others I have tried and loved: Dulce de Leche, Midnight Espresso with Chocolate Chip, and Chocolate Hazelnut.  I love chocolate above all and their chocolate flavor combinations go on forever.

The sorbettos they offer are based on availability of seasonal fruits but can include Fleur de Cactus (prickly pear), Mango, Meyer Lemon, Lychee, Watermelon, Grapefruit, and on and on.  They only use Valrohna chocolate and Intelligentsia coffee in their gelato and sorbetto, and they use no high fructose corn syrup in any of their products.  They also offer dairy free/vegan sorbetto and they sell gelato cakes.  Pazzo Gelato is a true neighborhood business:  they support local farmers markets, and local distribution, are committed to using biodegradable and compost friendly packaging; and they support the local economy as much as possible.  They partner with such local businesses as Intelligentsia Coffee, Susina Bakery, and Strauss Dairy among others.

Pazzo Gelato rocks!

Pazzo Gelato, 3827 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, 90026, 323-662-1410, http://www.pazzogelato.net/

*The Local Report(s): are occasional blog posts on restaurants, and/or businesses that either support the idea of one-hundred miles, and ‘living life locally’; or are small, localized businesses in my neighborhood, and/or within one-hundred miles of my residence, that I prefer to support over the larger, national, corporate chains. For other The Local Report(s) please go the Archives section of this blog. Also, I’d love to hear from my readers about businesses that they support in their neighborhoods: write to me at charlesgthompson@100miles.com, or leave a comment here.

Follow The Local Report on Twitter: @TheLocalReport

Coming Up: International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC), August 27 – 29, 2010, Seattle Washington.  So much fun last year that I’ll be attending again this year.  Are you?

Upcoming Posts: Cookbook Reviews: Steak and Friends: At Home with Rick Tramonto by Rick Tramonto, Spice Dreams by Sara Engram and Katie Luber, Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly by Joan E. Aller.

Cochon 555 – 5 Chefs, 5 Pigs, 5 Winemakers

Chefs and winemakers can be a rough and tumble crowd.  Throw butchers into the mix and watch out.  Then there are chefs who also butcher.  Time to run the other way.  This spring my friend, Jo Stougaard (of My Last Bite), and I attended ‘Cochon 555 – 5 Chefs, 5 Pigs, 5 Winemakers’ in the Napa Valley.  The name pretty much says it all.  Both of us were curious to learn more about butchering, what goes into the process, and how it’s done.  This event sounded both fun and educational — and it took place in the Napa Valley.  The added incentive for me was that two of my favorite chefs were competing: John Stewart and Duskie Estes of Zazu Restaurant & Farm, and Bovolo in Sonoma County.  So one chilly Friday morning in February we set off on what ended up being a three day food filled adventure which I’ve been meaning to write about ever since.  Hate to use a worn out phrase but where does the time go?  So much went on during our trip, and we took so many pictures, that it would take hours of writing and editing to recount every detail.  This will be a somewhat condensed recap, then I’m going to let the photos that Jo and I took tell the rest of the story.  (For more photos look for the ‘Flickr Stream’ links below.)

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Lunch at Chez Panisse, Berkeley, California

Our first stop was on the drive up to Napa from Oakland International Airport:  lunch at Chez Panisse, the café not the dining room.  I had eaten in the restaurant (both the dining room and the café) a handful of times when I worked in the restaurant business in the Bay Area in the 80s and 90s but Jo had never been.  It felt a bit like a pilgrimage.  The restaurant and Alice Waters have become so much more famous since the 80s and 90s.  The fact that Jo, a serious restaurant diner, had not been before made it even more fun.   We ordered a number of dishes so we could really get a sense of the menu and the food.  Everything, the food, the service, the ambiance, was wonderful; we had a primo seat (we also had one of the first reservations); it was the perfect start to the weekend.

Flickr Stream for Chez Panisse

Dinner at Ad Hoc, Yountville, California

Dinner that night was at another hallowed chef’s restaurant:  Ad Hoc. The chef being Thomas Keller.  Ad Hoc being one of many restaurants he owns on both coasts of the U.S., three of which are in the small Napa Valley town of Yountville.  I had heard so much about Thomas Keller’s restaurants but had never been to any.  Finally, I was in one.   It was wonderful.  I don’t think it’s the pinnacle of T.K. hallowed-ness which would have be The French Laundry (down the street from Ad Hoc) but it was a fine runner-up; and it represented perfectly the idea of ‘ad hoc.’  I liked the casual yet professional  atmosphere and service.  The food was hearty and straightforward, no gimmicks, and was prepared with obvious skill and attention to detail.  A garden behind the restaurant provides some of the restaurant’s produce.

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Breakfast at Bouchon Bakery, Yountville, California

Yountville is jokingly referred to as ‘Thomas Kellerville.’  He has three restaurants and a bakery in a town that has one main street and a population of 2,916 (based on 2000 U.S. Census figures).  Chef Keller owns Ad Hoc, Bouchon, and the world-famous The French Laundry.  Opposite Bouchon is Bouchon Bakery where we had breakfast the two mornings we were in town.  Beautiful breads,  pastries, sandwiches, chocolates and other confectionery including foie gras doggy biscuits were among the baked goods that people stood in line for.  I wish there was a Bouchon Bakery in my neighborhood.  I’d ‘take’ my coffee there everyday all the while pretending to be in Paris.  It is that good.

Stop at The French Laundry, Yountville, California

After breakfast I took Jo on a tour of the Napa Valley, well, a mini-tour actually.  After walking around Yountville where we saw Ad Hoc in the daylight, Bouchon Restaurant, Bottega, Michael Chiarello’s place, and the retail food shop Napa Style, we made another pilgrimage, this time to The French Laundry.  Not that it was open, or that we were eating there, we simply stopped to be food tourists, to take pictures, to peer through windows, and be in the presence of culinary greatness.  We weren’t alone, there were Japanese tourists that asked us to take pictures of them to which Jo naturally obliged.  A side note here: when I was in high school in neighboring Santa Rosa in the late ’70s I took my prom date, Gabrielle, a French foreign exchange student, to The French Laundry in Yountville for a pre-prom dinner.  At the time the building that houses the current The French Laundry was a restaurant also named The French Laundry.  Years later when Keller took it over he kept the name.  The pre-Keller The French Laundry was quite good (at least to my 17 year old palate).  I’ve always wondered if it was one and the same as the place Keller now owns, and has made so famous.  Now I know.  I made my triumphant return.  Now to snag one of those oh-so-hard-to-get reservations!

Snack at the Oakville Grocery, Oakville, Caklifornia

Next we headed further up the Napa Valley to the little town of Oakville where the original Oakville Grocery is located.  I have a personal history with the renowned retail food store in that I worked as a cheese buyer at what was supposed to be the flagship Oakville Grocery in San Francisco back in the early ’80s.  I started just after the store opened and stayed for about a year before moving on to help film producer, Dino de Laurentiis open his gourmet food emporium, DDL Foodshow in New York City.  Those were heady days in the gourmet retail food-iverse.  Oakville Grocery was my introduction to the world of high end, fancy food. My days as a cheese buyer at Oakville are some of my fondest food memories.  It was fun to see the original store again after so many years.

(See below at bottom of post for Flickr Stream for Napa Valley Restaurants & Shops)

Afternoon at Cochon 555, Silverado Resort, Napa, California

The main event, the reason we made the trip, took place on Sunday afternoon.  Cochon 555’s goal is to celebrate and raise awareness of heritage breed pigs like Gloucester Old Spots, Yorkshire, Duroc, and Berkshire Cross.  Cochon 555 events take place all across the country.  5 local chefs are matched to 5 local heritage breed pig farmers and must come up with dishes using their specific heritage pig.  The dishes are then judged by professional judges and the public who is in attendance.  5 local wineries supply the wine.  The chefs competing at the Napa event were Chris Kostow, The Restaurant at Meadowood; Peter Pahk, Silverado Resort, John Stewart & Duskie Estes, Zazu Restaurant & Farm, Devin Knell, The French Laundry and Dennis Lee, Namu.  Each chef created and served several pork-based dishes.  Butcher, Ryan Farr of 4505 Meats held a butchering demonstration where he broke down a whole pig.  Jo and I mistakenly thought the event would be five chefs breaking down whole pigs before an audience of judges and public — so not the case.  It was a tasting event with very good food from all the chefs.  The winner of the Napa event was Devin Knell of The French Laundry.

Flickr Stream for Cochon 555 Napa Event

Late Dinner at Bottega Ristorante, Yountville, California

After the Cochon event ended we still had room to have a late dinner at Chef Michael Chiarello’s restaurant, Bottega.  We both liked the food, the atmosphere and the impeccable service.  Chef Chiarello maintains the high quality that chefs and restaurants in the Napa Valley are known for.   During our three day eating extravaganza I didn’t eat one bad bite.  It was all, every morsel, stellar including the food at Bottega.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Breakfast at Bouchon Bakery, Yountville, California

Again!  Of course!  Where else?!

Stop at Napa Valley Olive Oil Mfg., Saint Helena, California

This was our last day.  We had a mid-afternoon flight out of Oakland International Airport.  I, of course, had a few more things to show Jo.  I’m forever reading articles in magazines and on the Internet, and tearing them out, or printing them.  I’d seen something about the Napa Valley Olive Oil Mfg. somewhere, had never been and wanted to go.  It’s further north in the Valley, up in Saint Helena, and worth the trip.  A tiny place chock full of dried sausages, salame, mushrooms, canned items, and bulk olive oil that is dispensed from a huge metal tank.  A foodie’s treasure trove.  As we were poking around, finding a few things to buy, Jo whispers to me: ‘Isn’t that Cindy Pawlcyn?”  I’d met Cindy years ago, eaten in her Napa Valley restaurant, Mustards, many times but I hadn’t seen her in years.  Sure enough, Jo was right.  We saw her in the parking lot and Jo spoke to her.  It was indeed Chef Pawlcyn.  Oddly enough our last stop before leaving the Valley was her restaurant Mustards.  But first a quick nip into Dean & Deluca – a new addition to the Valley since my regular visits in the ‘8os and 90’s.

Dean & Deluca, Saint Helena, California

I actually remember when Dean & Deluca was one store on Prince Street in SoHo in New York City.  Now it’s a global company with stores around the world including, apparently, one in the Napa Valley.  After we left the Napa Valley Olive Oil Mfg. we quickly stopped in as I wanted to see what this D & D looked like.  All the usual high end food products and produce in a gleaming metal and glass building.  If I lived in the area I’d certainly shop there – in fact as we were leaving Chef Pawlcyn was pulling in and waved to us – but I miss the old store on Prince Street with its uneven wooden floors and overflowing barrels of all sorts of good things to eats.

Lunch at Mustards Grill, Yountville, California

When I worked in the retail food and restaurant business in San Francisco during the ’80s and ’90s I made frequent weekend trips to the Napa Valley.  The weekend always ended with a late lunch at Mustards before heading back to the City.  When I first went to Mustards it was Chef Cindy Pawlcyn’s only restaurant.  She went on to open Fog City Diner in San Franciso, the Rio Grill in Carmel, and now has Go Fish and Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen in Saint Helena.  I always thought Mustards felt like an old-fashioned road house both in design and menu.  The food, ‘American Grill food,’ was always good; trustworthy and dependable.  At the end of a weekend it was the perfect antidote for too much Napa Valley wine and the fuel we needed to get us home.  Not much has changed.  A plate of oven-roasted garlic, a perfect cheeseburger with stellar French fries and we were ready for the return trip home.  Our food-filled weekend coming to a perfect end.  Jo and I have been on two food oriented trips together and have had the best time.  She’s a fantastic traveling companion, and I look forward to our next foodie adventure.

Flickr Stream for Napa Valley Restaurants & Shops

Recommendation: Savor Los Angeles, Friday, July 30th, 7pm to 10pm ~ a sweets tasting event of one-of-a-kind bites from an exclusive set of L.A.’s best purveyors of sweet treats.

Coming Up: International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC), August 27 – 29, 2010, Seattle Washington.  So much fun last year that I’ll be attending again this year.  Are you?

Upcoming Posts: Cookbook Reviews: Steak and Friends: At Home with Rick Tramonto by Rick Tramonto, Spice Dreams by Sara Engram and Katie Luber, Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly by Joan E. Aller.

I HEART Blue Sea

I have always loved the ocean.  It has always been a part of my life.  Growing up along the Central Coast of California it was a big part of my childhood.  I spent most of my childhood in San Luis Obispo, a medium-sized California city half way between Los Angeles and San Francisco.  From a very young age I swam in the ocean.  My parents tell me they couldn’t keep me out of the water.  San Luis Obispo lies inland from the coast by a half hour driving.  The closest beach is Avila Beach — a place where I spent many a summer day swimming in the waves, body surfing, and playing in the sand.  For my single mother it was an inexpensive way to spend a weekend day; she got to relax in the sun while my sister and I wore ourselves out.  We usually went home sunburned and covered in sand.

I have also enjoyed eating the food that comes from the sea.  Being that we lived so close to the coast seafood was a big part of our diet growing up.  Both my great-grandfather and great-uncle fished the Central Coast waters.  My mother often took us to Morro Bay, a coastal town north of San Luis, for fish and chips dinner.  The lingcod used in the meal was caught a few miles out to sea.  In those days no one gave a second thought to overfishing, pollution, and questions of sustainability.  Now we must.  We have no choice.  We are quickly depleting our seafood sources.  I find it horribly sad.

I recently met Martin Reed who started a sustainable fish company called i love blue sea.  It’s a genius idea.  I know for myself that when I’m in a store at the fish counter my eyes cross, I hyperventilate, I can’t remember which fish is the ‘right’ fish, wild, or farmed; all that confusion overwhelms me and I often don’t buy anything.  Martin’s company takes the guess work out of the process.  He sells nothing but sustainable fish, and he ships it anywhere in the U.S, overnight.  Here’s a quick rundown from i love blue sea’s website:  “Wondering where to buy seafood online?  No more guesswork!  Only the highest quality sustainable seafood.  Every dollar spent supports fisheries driving our ocean’s recovery.  It’s a simple, nutritious and delicious way for you to make a positive change!”  Martin recently sent me some Arctic char and asked me to come up with a recipe which I did.  Here’s to the health of our oceans and all the creatures that live in them.

Print Recipe

Recommendation: Savor Los Angeles, Friday, July 30th, 7pm to 10pm ~ a sweets tasting event of one-of-a-kind bites from an exclusive set of L.A.’s best purveyors of sweet treats.

Coming Up: International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC), August 27 – 29, 2010, Seattle Washington.  So much fun last year that I’ll be attending again this year.  Are you?

Upcoming Posts: Cochon 555 Napa, a write up of the amazing pork festival that I attended this spring. Cookbook Reviews: Steak and Friends: At Home with Rick Tramonto by Rick Tramonto, Spice Dreams by Sara Engram and Katie Luber, Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly by Joan E. Aller.

 

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