Michael McCarty, chef/owner of Michael's restaurant, at the Santa Monica Farmers' Market.

A shopping and eating adventure with a world-renowned chef and restaurateur: Michael’s Market Meet-Ups — where friends, food and flavor come together.

Chef Michael McCarty is hailed as a pioneer of the California Cuisine movement that began in the early 1980s.  He and a group of California chefs started sourcing and cooking local ingredients only; those solely grown or raised in California.  And a movement was born.  Chef McCarty is the owner of Michael’s Santa Monica, a restaurant that has been at the same location on 3rd Street for thirty-two years.  Chef McCarty prides himself in only serving the best seasonal ingredients and is known for his personal connections to local growers.

Michael’s is two city blocks away from the world-famous Santa Monica Farmers’ Market.  He and his chefs make weekly visits to the market to see what is in season, to decide on menus, and to buy produce for the restaurant.  Considering his knowledge of ingredients and his familiarity with the purveyors it comes as no surprise that he can easily lead a tour of the market, and that he knows virtually every vendor.

Alex Weiser of Weiser Family Farms.

Michael’s Market Meet-Ups are monthly tours of the market led by Chef McCarty followed by a lunch prepared from items purchased at the market.  On the most recent meet-up seven of us met Chef McCarty at Michael’s at 8:30 in the morning for coffee and house-made cinnamon buns.  Shortly thereafter we set out for the market where he introduced us to his favorite vendors while also grabbing items for that day’s lunch.  Since it’s spring in California it was all about spring ingredients: English peas, fava beans, ramps and morel mushrooms.  As we toured the market Chef McCarty offered lessons on produce of the season, as well as tips for navigating the market and selecting the best ingredients.  We met Alex Weiser of Weiser Family Farms, a McCarty favorite.  We stopped by Pudwill Berry Farms, another McCarty recommendation, where his executive chef bought berries for the restaurant.

Buying berries at the Pudwill Berry Farms stand.

When we returned to Michael’s for lunch we were served Morel Mushroom Wonton Soup (English peas, fava bean wontons, ramps, tempura morel in a morel mushroom broth), followed by Warm Spring Salad (ramps, pickled English peas, morel lardons, and a poached egg in a mustard and fava bean dressing).

Morel Mushroom Wonton Soup

Warm Spring Salad

The final hurrah was receiving a copy of McCarty’s cookbook Welcome to Michael’s and having him personally autograph it.  A fun, educational culinary outing with one of California’s best-loved chefs and food personalities.  Not a bad way to spend a Wednesday morning.

For more information on Michael’s Market Meet-Ups, and to find out when the next one is scheduled, check the Michael’s Santa Monica website ~ http://www.michaelssantamonica.com/

*A version of this post was previously posted on Honest Cooking.

Image from iStockphoto.com

No, not Honest Cooking, the new food news website I’m writing for but as in do I suck as a cook?  I think so all the time!  I really shouldn’t because I have both professional training and experience in restaurant kitchens.  I’ve also been cooking since I was in my late teens (37 years).  As my regular readers know I recently decided to (re)embrace my inner chef so I started this “food” blog.  This means I’ve been cooking more than I had been.  Cooking nicer meals, using exceptional ingredients, focusing on getting it right.  So when it goes wrong — and it goes wrong a lot — it really stings.  When I cooked in restaurants I never attained the title of “chef” but I can I say I was a “cook.” Meaning I know my way around a professional kitchen and certainly a home kitchen.

Things I Have Trouble With

Over-salting.  I guess I have a heavy hand.  I’m always surprised when I taste the dish and it’s too salty.  Happens too often.  Overdoing it may be part of my nature in general.  Guess I need to keep it in check.  Meat temperature.  I used to be able to determine meat temperature by touch.  Poking at a piece of cooking meat with my index finger to test for rare, medium rare, well-done.  I get it right two out of three times.  Recipes and cookbooks.  I tend to be too reliant.  There’s nothing wrong with using cookbooks and recipes but I’m not good at pulling away from them.  I could stand to be more spontaneous.  More willing to make substitutions.  I do cook a lot of meals not using cookbooks or recipes.  I have my own dishes I’ve made up but I still default to cookbooks and recipes more often than not.  Robert, the man I share most of my meals with, likes when I cook without using cookbooks or recipes.  Other recent mishaps: overcooked meat, or poultry; burned food either on the stove top, or in the oven.  I’d like to blame it on the stove and oven but I doubt they’re the culprits.  Since we’re passing blame: a lot of recipes don’t work.  Be careful when using recipes off the Internet.  I’ve found a number of those I’ve tried patently don’t work (and led to many of my cooking mishaps).  I’ve even found cookbook recipes with missing ingredients.

A Non-Perfect Cook?

The issue here, the reason I’m so hard on myself, is that I’m a perfectionist (for you astrologers out there I’m a Virgo, the sign of the nitpicky-perfectionist).  I’m afraid of my cooking not being perfect.  In fact it’s so bad that I don’t have people over because I’m afraid I’ll screw it up (it’s happened).  It’s a cook’s version of stage fright.  I’m supposed to be this skilled, knowledgeable cook, but what if I’m not?  How could I ever live that down?  Throw into the mix eating out, having professionals cook for me, which only makes doing it myself even more challenging.  I  then think that I can’t cook that well, or how can I ever rise to their heights?  I make comparisons.  I’m being a bit over-dramatic here but you get the point.  The bottom line is cooking well is a skilled craft, and it takes a lot to perfect the craft.  Home cooking regularly absolutely helps; no doubt.  It is truly about practice, practice, practice — and more practice.

A Rusty Period

My reasons for writing this are to fess up; to admit my own cooking shortcomings.  I also suspect that there are others out there like me so I wanted to share my fears, mishaps, and concerns.  You’re not alone.  I do know that making mistakes is a big part of cooking, and that it happens often even to the best cooks.  I also know that I have to learn to stop expecting perfection so I can learn from my mistakes, move on and try, try again.  I keep telling myself I’m just going through a rusty period.  But a two year rusty period?  When will it be over?  The answer to that is: never.

Spaghetti, Please!

I recently made a very spontaneous red sauce for pasta because I wanted to replicate a dish we often ate when I was growing up: Spaghetti.  To us the word “spaghetti” was about the whole dish not just the noodle.  My mother made it with hamburger, canned tomato sauce, dried herbs, and we always ate with spaghetti (I never knew there were other pasta shapes until I left home).  The one I made was very different but still satisfied that yen for childhood flavors.

Print Recipe

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

#1 – Honest Cooking ~ I’m now a Contributing Writer to the new online food magazine Honest Cooking.  My most recent story is “L.A. – Grilled Cheese Invitational 2011.”  I’ll be writing several pieces a month about the L.A. food scene.

#2 – Los Angeles ~ Sunday, May 15, 1 pm – 5 pm, ~ Taste of the Eastside 2011, an all-star regional tasting event with a diverse array of Eastside restaurants at Barnsdall Art Park.

My Status:  Enjoying the gradual arrival of spring in So Cal and the new spring produce: artichokes, asparagus, and the tail end of winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, collard greens.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. More The Local Reports. Cookbook Reviews: Heartland: The Cookbook by Judith Fertig, and Goat: Meat, Milk, Cheese by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough.

Small-Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers: Recipes for Cookies, Cakes, Pie, Tarts, Muffins and Scones.  Debby Maugans.  Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press.  $21.99.  (340p)  ISBN: 978-0-312-61224-5

The best things come in small packages.  In the case of “Small-Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers,” the best chocolate things come in small packages.  Author Debby Maugans perfected the art of baking for one or two people in her first book, “Small Batch Baking.”  Realizing that the average recipe produced a larger quantity of the end product than a single person, or couple may want to eat, or be able to finish she revised recipes so that the serving sizes were more appropriate for one or two people.  A pretty smart idea in and of itself.

Being the professed chocoholic she is, Maugans saw a need for a small-batch cookbook for chocolate lovers.  And thank goodness she did!  In the introduction to the book she explains that her go-to dessert choice is always something with chocolate.  I couldn’t agree more.  Out at a restaurant I always go for chocolate desserts over any others.  Often I won’t have a dessert if there is nothing with chocolate in it.  I, too, love chocolate and I know that I’m not alone.  This is a book I’ll use often.

Smartly so, Maugans begins the book with a chapter called “Small-Batch Chocolate Baking Know-How” which explains everything you need to know to start small-batch baking.  From the equipment needed, to ingredients and measuring techniques, to storage of ingredients, it’s all spelled out.  Then the fun really begins.  The chapters unfold from cakes and cupcakes; to pies, tarts, and cheesecakes; to puddings and soufflés; to muffins, scones, shortcakes, and loaves; to desserts that are “better with chocolate”; to holiday desserts, and finally liquid pleasures.  I’d say the gamut of possibilities is well-covered.  I knew Maugans was a serious chocolate lover in the chapter titled “Better with Chocolate” in which she takes desserts that are normally not made with chocolate and adds it.  Cinnamon rolls with chocolate rolled up with the nuts and cinnamon sugar.  Baklava with chocolate in the nut filling.

A good chocolate chip cookie recipe is worth its weight in gold — I mean, chocolate.  Maugans’ recipe for “Simply the Best Small-Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies” is so good it might be the best small or large batch recipe around.  Soft, gooey, super-chocolatey deliciousness, (yield 8 cookies).   And I learned not to dip the measuring cup into the flour canister but to spoon the flour into the measuring cup and then level it off.  I’ve been doing it wrong all these years.  Other recipes I tried and loved were Classic Chocolate Cake, (yield 2 cakes, or 4 cupcakes); Chocolate Decadence Cheesecakes (yield 2 cheesecakes); Ultimate Brownies (yield 3 brownies), and Whole Wheat Chocolate Banana Bread (Maugans is right, chocolate added to banana bread is a revelation) (yield 1 loaf, 4 or 5 slices).  There are plenty more I want to try including several recipes for ice cream cakes.  One comment re the yields, Maugans uses recycled tin cans such as 8 oz., 14.5 oz., and 15 oz. tomato sauce, or bean cans in the cakes recipes hence the yield of 2 small, single-serving sized cakes.  She has a few other tricks like this to make small-batch baking work.

If you live alone, or are a couple, and don’t want to make desserts that yield enough for a family of six — and you love chocolate — then “Small-Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers” is for you.  Actually, I’d say it’s for anyone who wants to reduce the size of their desserts, or dessert intake.  With only eight chocolate chip cookies there will be none leftover to tempt a middle-of-the-night craving.

Happy small-batch baking!

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

#1 – Honest Cooking ~ I’m now a Contributing Writer to the new online food magazine Honest Cooking.  My most recent story is “L.A. – Return of the Neighborhood Butcher.” I’ll be writing several pieces a month about the L.A. food scene.

#2 – Los Angeles ~ Sunday, May 15, 1 pm – 5 pm, ~ Taste of the Eastside 2011, an all-star regional tasting event with a diverse array of Eastside restaurants at Barnsdall Art Park.

My Status:  Enjoying the gradual arrival of spring in So Cal and the new spring produce: artichokes, asparagus, and the tail end of winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, collard greens.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. More The Local Reports. Cookbook Reviews: Heartland: The Cookbook by Judith Fertig, and Goat: Meat, Milk, Cheese by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough.

Southern My Way: Simple Recipes, Fresh Flavors.  Gena Knox.  Gena Knox Media.  $34.95.  (252p)  ISBN: 978-0-615-37440-6

Modern Southern is a bit of an oxymoron.  Anything “Southern” tends to have old-fashioned built into it.  Gena Knox, however, embodies “modern Southern,” and her new cookbook “Southern My Way” echoes that.  I mean look at that cover photo.  Well-dressed, coiffed and poised.  Modern Southern!  Modernity aside her cookbook covers all the Southern classics albeit often updated.  Which I think is nice.  Too many Southern cookbooks tend to stick to the tried-and-true, the old standbys that everyone is used to.

Knox is a native of a small town in South Georgia.  She started helping her mother in the kitchen at a young age.  She grew up cooking with fruits and vegetables out of the family’s garden, or from local farms and farmers.  Home cooking was the norm for the area.  “Southern My Way” is her answer to her upbringing: a compilation of traditional Southern dishes updated with a lighter, healthier approach with a focus on using local ingredients.  In fact, cleverly interspersed throughout the book are one to two page breakaways that highlight a local artisan, farmer, or purveyor like for instance the pages on Ted Dennard’s Savannah Bee Company, a small artisan honey company.  As I read through the book I liked more and more that Knox was hitting all the 100 miles touchstones.

Both the cookbook’s design and layout are unpretentious yet friendly, easy to use, interesting to read with lots of full-page color photographs throughout.  The recipes are easy to follow; one feature that I appreciated is how she breaks up the recipe instructions into sections: first. next. and last.  First do this, next do that, and lastly do this.  I’d like to see more cookbooks use this formula.  I’m a big fan of deviled eggs so one of the first recipes I tried was Deviled Eggs, Bloody Mary-Style.  These have sun-dried tomatoes in them.  Brilliant idea.  I love onions.  The Vidalia Onion Soup was so easy to make and so good.  Meatloaf can either be really bad or really amazing.  Knox’s Classic Meatloaf was the latter.  To keep things on the healthier side the recipe calls for lean ground beef or sirloin.  Another main course I made was Balsamic Roasted Chicken and Vegetables; a one dish meal using a cast iron skillet.  It worked very well and was a big success at the dinner table.  The book has recipes for many of the Southern standards we all expect: collard greens, grits, cornbread, baked beans, okra — but in most cases Knox reworks the recipe to make it lighter and healthier.

If you’re a fan of Southern cooking, enjoy a little Southern food history mixed up with information on local, Southern purveyors and artisans, this is your book.  A true gem of a Southern cookbook.

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

#1 – A Menu of Parisian Bistro Classics at Le Saint Amour, Culver City, CA.  Consulting chef Walter Manzke offers a different Parisian bistro dish every night of the week (Sunday is Poulet Frit for example) at Le Saint Amour.  If you like classic French food like I do then get thee to Le Saint Amour for a plat du jour, or for something delicious off their full menu.  Bon appétit!

#2 – Saturday, April 16 & Sunday, April 17, 2011, 11 am – 8 pm (Sat.), 11 am – 7 pm (Sun.) ~ Artisanal L.A. where nearly 100 local, artisanal and handmade vendors showcase their wares.  Support your local crafts persons, vendors and businesses.

#3 – Saturday, April 23, 2011, 11:00 am to 6 pm, Tillamook Cheese sponsors the 2nd 8th Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational. Go to http://grilledcheeseinvitational.com/ for more details, and to learn how you can win a trip for two to the invitational by submitting a video showing how you make the perfect grilled cheese sandwich.  Happy Grilled Cheese Month!

My Status:  Enjoying the gradual arrival of spring in So Cal and the last of the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens, fennel.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

I’m published!! My recipe “Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya” was selected to be in the cookbook: “Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.”  You may order it here.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  *A post on New York food blogger Sean Sullivan of Spectacularly Delicious.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. More The Local Reports. Cookbook Reviews: Small-Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers by Debby Maugans.

Grilled Cheese, Please! 50 Scrumptiously Cheesy Recipes.  Laura Werlin.  Andrews McMeel Publishing.  $16.99  (184p)  ISBN: 978-1-4494-0165-8

April is National Grilled Cheese Month so highly appropriate for Laura Werlin’s newest book “Grilled Cheese, Please!”  Werlin has quite the cheese expert pedigree having written four previous books on the subject which have won James Beard, IACP and the World Gourmand Awards.  Who doesn’t like grilled cheese?  It has to be one of the most comforting of all comfort foods.  A basic grilled sandwich, like those from many of our childhoods, is comforting enough but up the ante the way Werlin has and it’s food nirvana.

“Grilled Cheese, Please!” has fifty different grilled cheese recipes and covers eight chapters: Just Cheese, Meat and Cheese, Anything Goes, Veggies and Cheese, Global Grilled Cheese, Grilled Cheese on the Go, Regional American Grilled Cheese, and Old Favorites and Modern Sides.  The chapter Grilled Cheese on the Go features recipes from popular grilled cheese restaurants and food trucks.  One of my favorite parts of the book appears in the Introduction: Werlin’s rules for making the “best” grilled cheese.  Grate the cheese, don’t slice it; spread the bread not the pan [with butter]; go low and slow are a few.  They work.  I followed them, and the end products were the best grilled cheese I’ve ever made.  Some of my favorite recipes include Double Cheddar and Tomato Jam (hearkens back to that childhood staple!); Camembert and Comté with Mushrooms; Burrata with Roasted Peppers and Arugula.  The book ends with recipes for sides to eat with, or things to put on your grilled cheese sandwich (part of the Old Favorites and Modern Sides chapter).  Pickled Cucumbers, the Italian candied fruit Mostarda di Medditerranea, chutney, and Tomato Jam.

When I first received the book I was unaware of who Laura Werlin was.  After learning more about her in this book, and seeing what she knows about cheese, I know I am in very good hands.  Her inventive riffs on grilled cheese are fun, taste really good and satisfy immensely.  I’ll be grabbing this book regularly for lunchtime inspiration, and for the joy of eating grilled cheese.  With fifty recipes to make the possibilities are endless.

Happy National Grilled Cheese Month!

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

#1 – A Menu of Parisian Bistro Classics at Le Saint Amour, Culver City, CA.  Consulting chef Walter Manzke offers a different Parisian bistro dish every night of the week (Sunday is Poulet Frit for example) at Le Saint Amour.  If you like classic French food like I do then get thee to Le Saint Amour for a plat du jour, or for something delicious off their full menu.  Bon appétit!

#2 – Thursday, March 31, 2011, 6 pm – 10 pm ~ Mo Chica’s 18th Tasting Dinner – 6 Courses for Japan Relief at Mo-Chica, Los Angeles, CA. Help raise money for Japan disaster relief.  Special tasting menu by chef Ricardo Zarate.  Details here.

My Status:  Enjoying the gradual arrival of spring in So Cal and the last of the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens, fennel.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

I’m published!! My recipe “Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya” was selected to be in the cookbook: “Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.”  You may order it here.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. More The Local Reports. Cookbook Reviews: Southern My Way by Gena Fox; Heartland: The Cookbook by Judith Fertig; Small-Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers by Debby Maugans; Maida Heatter’s Cakes, and Maida Heatter’s Cookies by Maida Heatter.

Italy Dish by Dish: A Comprehensive Guide to Eating in Italy.  Monica Sartoni Cesari.  Translated from the Italian by Susan Simon.  The Little Bookroom.  $24.95.  (378p)  ISBN: 978-1-892145-90-1

Having lived and traveled in France repeatedly over the years I know pretty well the regional differences when it comes to food.  Like what the specialty of a region is, or where a specific dish hails from.  Italy is another matter completely.  I have a general sense of the regional differences, north versus south, Tuscan, Roman and Sicilian.   Those differences also vary widely from village to village and province to province.  The longest stretch of continuous time I’ve spent in Italia was two and half months.  I spent that time in the region of Umbria — smack, dab in the middle of the country.  Food there was unfamiliar, and I could easily have used the wonderful book “Italy Dish by Dish” to guide me and answer unending questions I had about the region’s food.

“Italy Dish by Dish” is here to answer travelers’ (both armchair and mobile) questions about what is what when it comes to food, eating, cooking and dining in Italy.  The book describes more than 3,000 dishes found throughout every region of Italy.  Broken down by region each chapter is organized alphabetically by course then by ingredient and ends with an iconic recipe that represents that area; for example the chapter on Umbria ends with a recipe for Pizza di Pasqua al formaggio – a dish I remember fondly.  There are also listings for the region’s cheeses and wines as well as food and wine pairing suggestions.  A detailed glossary describes the bounty of the land and sea that makes up la cucina italiana while an index easily puts menu items close at hand.

The book is small enough to fit into a day bag.  Using it will allow the traveler a deeper, more connected experience to the foods of Italy by knowing exactly what is on a menu, what ingredients a dish contains and how it’s cooked.  Not only is this book handy for the tourist on a short visit but also for anyone staying longer: renting a summer house, studying, or living for an extended period, or even moving to la Repubblica Italiana permanently.  If the book had been available when I lived in Umbria I would have taken it to the local grocery store, referred to it for recipes to cook at home, and used it when eating in restaurants.  It will definitely be in my pocket the next time I travel to Italy.

Buon viaggio e buon appetito!

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

#1 – Monday, February 28, 2011 ~ 5:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. ~ Street Food Mondays with ‘Antojitos de Mi Abuelita’ Food Truck ~ hosted by Bill Esparza and Evan Kleiman at Angeli Caffe, 7274 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, 323-936-9086

My Status:  Still enjoying winter in So Cal and the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens, beets and fennel.  Trying to bone up my citrus knowledge so bought a pomelo and some Sumo mandarins (aka the Dekopan in Japan), a new crossbreed of citrus recently introduced to the U.S.  Loved the Sumo, haven’t tried the pomelo yet.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

I’m published!! My recipe “Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya” was selected to be in the cookbook: “Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.”  You may order it here.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. More The Local Reports coming soon. Cookbook Reviews: “The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook” by Rachel Saunders, “Grilled Cheese, Please! by Laura Werlin.

What ever happened to Graham Kerr, The Galloping Gourmet?  I know!  Pick me!!  Pick me!!  Apparently he’s quietly living in Seattle, Washington.  I found myself wondering about him recently.   He and Julia Child were probably the first people I saw cook professionally.  I diligently watched him on his T.V. show, The Galloping Gourmet when I was ten to thirteen years old.  The show ran from 1969 to 1971; I watched it most everyday when I came home from school especially when I was a bit older.  I learned two things from Mr. Kerr: what a gourmet was, and that gourmets liked to drink.  I have fuzzy memories of him in his T.V. studio, glass of wine in hand as he tipsily stirred a pot, or made a cake.  I didn’t know until later that his fun, silly mood was due in part to the wine.

A Gourmand is Born

From him I somehow knew I wanted to grow up and be a gourmet myself.  I tried to be one as a child (minus the wine).  My mother can attest to the fact that I always ordered, or attempted to, the most expensive, exotic dish on the menu on the rare occasions we went out to a “nice” restaurant.  I’m not sure when the tradition began but each of my birthday celebrations from age twelve on involved going out to eat at a fancy restaurant.  A “gourmet place.”   I remember the first time I ordered and ate lobster.  My mother was a bit appalled at both the dish and the price but she let me order it anyway.  I now trace this all back to Kerr, his glass of wine, and his T.V. show.  I mean he even had a foreign, sophisticated accent.  What was a young gourmand to do?

*Picture below: Kerr began each episode of The Galloping Gourmet by running onto the stage and jumping over a chair on the dining room set.  It became his signature move.

Galloping On

As I mentioned, I’d been wondering what happened to him.  Unlike Julia Child, it seemed he’d disappeared.  I knew he was British so I thought he might be living back in the U.K..  The answer came in a Seattle Times article published on February 19, 2011, “Chef Graham Kerr Gallops into Edible Gardening.”  He’s now 76 years old.  He and his wife Treena live in Seattle, and he recently planted his first-ever garden.  The idea to plant the garden was born from a local church group that Kerr is involved with.  The group became interested in the farm-to-table movement as a way to help heal a few societal ills.  Their goals are to “eat wisely (more plants); move more (to gain stamina); and know your neighbors (their needs and their wisdom).”  Kerr saw that a kitchen garden would both keep him in shape, and offer extra produce to pass along to food banks and those in need.

The Missing Pieces

The Galloping Gourmet originated in Ottawa, Canada and was produced by Treena, Kerr’s wife.  The “galloping gourmet” persona came from a wine book Kerr co-authored with wine expert Len Evans, The Galloping Gourmets. The nickname came from a 35-day worldwide trip the duo made to the best restaurants around the globe.  As The Galloping Gourmet Kerr was known for “lighthearted humor, and tomfoolery” and for using copious amounts of butter, cream and fat as well as liberal amounts of wine both in the food and in his glass.  The show was a huge success but everything ended in 1971 when Kerr was temporarily paralyzed in a car accident.  A show he did in 1974 called Take Kerr only lasted one season.  When Treena became seriously ill in the mid-80s the Kerrs started to lead a much healthier lifestyle.  Kerr has written numerous cookbooks dating to 1963; those in later years reflect his healthier food outlook.  As The Galloping Gourmet he not only influenced this young gourmand but a nation of T.V. viewers both those interested in cooking, and those who liked watching his bigger-than-life persona.  He made the idea of cooking fun, and entertaining.

The Galloping Gourmet can now be found on The Cooking Channel.

Sources for this article: The Seattle Times, and Wikipedia.

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

#1 – Monday, February 28, 2011 ~ 5:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. ~ Street Food Mondays with ‘Antojitos de Mi Abuelita’ Food Truck ~ hosted by Bill Esparza and Evan Kleiman at Angeli Caffe, 7274 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, 323-936-9086

My Status:  Still enjoying winter in So Cal and the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens, beets and fennel.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

I’m published!! My recipe “Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya” was selected to be in the cookbook: “Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.”  You may order it here.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. More The Local Reports coming soon. Cookbook Reviews: “The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook” by Rachel Saunders, “Grilled Cheese, Please! by Laura Werlin, and “Italy Dish by Dish: A Comprehensive Guide to Eating in Italy” by Monica Sartoni Cesari.

Quick-Fix Southern: Homemade Hospitality in 30 Minutes or Less.  Rebecca Lang.  Andrews McMeel Publishing.  $16.99  (192p)  ISBN: 978-1-4494-0110-8

This review comes with instructions: #1. Buy the book.  #2. Turn to page 112.  #3. Make the recipe “Slow Cooker Pot Roast.”  Now, to be as un-journalistic as I can be: OMG!  If you like pot roast you’ll love this recipe.  It is so easy to make (as long as you own a slow cooker), and the end result is a truly magnificent braised meal.  Perfect for the winter months.  The recipe worked to a ‘T.’  The beauty of this dish for me? All I had to to do was buy the boneless chuck roast ($13.47 at Whole Foods).  Happily, I already had the onions, carrots and potatoes from my C.S.A.  More beauty?  I managed to get three meals from one roast.  All the recipes I tried from Quick-Fix Southern worked very well.  Author Rebecca Lang knows how to cook and this book reflects her talents.

Lang groups the book’s 115 recipes into ten themes including Tailgates and Gatherings, Busy Weeknight Suppers, and Girls’ Night In making it easy to locate a recipe that fits the mood.  As the title implies the recipes are geared toward meals that take thirty minutes or less to prepare (cooking times may be longer).  “Quick-Fix Southern” is fun, light and breezy, and full of food that one wants to eat.  Chapter three, Sipping on the Screened Porch is all about drinks to be made for imbibing on hot summer nights on the screened porch, or off.  Lang, being a Southerner by birth, throws in stories of her family, and food traditions as well as the history and lore of the South.

To make her format of 30 minutes or less work Lang adds in quick cooking tips, and shortens cooking times and techniques where possible.  On page four of the book there’s a heading Keys to Quick Cooking.  Below it are subheadings, Keep a Running Grocery List, Grocery Shop Once, A Well-Stocked Pantry, Fridge and Freezer with further subheadings all to help you quick-fix the meals in the book.  I particularly appreciate the number of slow cooker recipes as I am a recent owner of one.  In a busy, busy life the slow cooker has become indispensable to cooking at home (and not going out to restaurants).  I’m always looking for more slow cooker recipes.  Recipes I’d like to try: Slow-Cooking Stone-Ground Grits, and Slow Cooker Boiled Peanuts (a Southern delicacy).  A southern cookbook would not  be a southern cookbook without a few classics like Fried Green Tomatoes, Classic Sweet Tea, Lime Mint Julep, biscuits, Quick Icebox Pickles, Blackened Catfish, barbecue, Mama’s Baked Beans, and cobblers; all are included in “Quick-Fix Southern.”

I’ve been using this book often since receiving it.  It’s winter so my C.S.A. deliveries have included many winter vegetables like kale, collard greens, carrots, potatoes, beets, and squash.  This book is full of recipes using these ingredients, and I’ve happily been making them.  Two favorites have been the Spicy Mustard Greens and the Little Beet Salad.  There are many more recipes to try, and try them I will.  Don’t forget!  Page 112, “Slow Cooker Pot Roast.”  You won’t be sorry!

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

#1  -The Good Neighbor Cookbook – consider submitting your, or somebody else’s, good-neighbor story to the Meet This Grateful Recipient or Meet This Good Neighbor Cook features on The Good Neighbor Cookbook blog by e-mailing authors Sara Quessenbery and Suzanne Schlosberg at: cooks@thegoodneighborcookbook.com. Let us know if you do by leaving a comment below!

My Status:  Still enjoying winter in So Cal and the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens, beets and fennel.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

I’m published!! My recipe “Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya” was selected to be in the cookbook: “Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.”  You may order it here.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. Cookbook Reviews: “The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook” by Rachel Saunders, “Grilled Cheese, Please! by Laura Werlin, and “Italy Dish by Dish: A Comprehensive Guide to Eating in Italy” by Monica Sartoni Cesari.

The Good Neighbor Cookbook: 125 Easy and Delicious Recipes to Surprise and Satisfy the New Moms, New Neighbors, Recuperation Friends, Community-Meeting Members, Book Club cohorts, and Block Party Pals in Your Life!  Sara Quessenberry and Suzanne Schlosberg.  Andrews McMeel Publishing.  $16.99.  (208p)  ISBN: 978-0-7407-9355-4

Neighborliness is seemingly a lot art to most of us.   A cookbook to help those acts of kindness along is most welcome.  “The Good Neighbor Cookbook” is just that.  (The title really explains exactly what the book is about!)  This is a more updated version of what our mothers may have referred to on good-neighbor occasions; books like Betty Crocker and Good Housekeeping.  This cookbook is chock full of modern recipe suggestions specifically geared to the need at hand: the birth of a child; an illness; a new neighbor; block parties and barbecues; community, religious and business gatherings; book clubs; condolences.  Each section offers recipes for that specific act of neighborliness.  Additionally, there are tips for preparing food ahead, and how to package and transport it, all geared toward making it as easy as possible on the recipients.  To welcome a new neighbor, the authors suggest including a list of neighborhood ‘best local picks’; a personal list of favorite neighborhood businesses like dry cleaners, dog groomers, farmers’ markets, restaurants, doctors offices, and so on.

The modern quotient of this cookbook is the way the authors invoke the use of high-quality, fresh ingredients whenever possible.  The ingredients lists include  such as items as fresh thyme, arugula, kosher salt, extra-virgin olive oil, fresh fruits and vegetables (versus frozen or canned), fresh-squeezed juices, among others.  Care has been taken to make dishes both tasteful and healthful.  There are recipes and suggestions for preparing something at the last minute, for large groups, and a great idea called the ‘meal train.’  A ‘meal train’ involves using a free online invitation service like Evite.com to reach out to a group of friends or neighbors to make daily, twice a week, or weekly meal deliveries to a family welcoming a newborn, experiencing a long-term illness, or a suffering a recent death.  Contributors sign up for specific dates, and post comments indicating the dish they’ll prepare thereby spreading the good neighborliness around, and offering ongoing assistance.

To spread the good-neighbor word further, authors Quessenberry and Schlosberg have created a blog, The Good Neighbor Cookbook where readers can find recipes organized by occasion, and fun weekly features like ‘Meet This Grateful Neighbor,’ and ‘Meet This Good Neighbor Cook’ in which readers share their personal, good-neighbor stories, recipes, tips, cooking occasions and more.

“The Good Neighbor Cookbook” will come in handy for anyone wanting to make that neighborly gesture of kindness.  Whether looking for inspiration, or for last-minute ideas, this cookbook has it all.

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

#1  – The Good Neighbor Cookbook – consider submitting your, or somebody else’s, good-neighbor story to the Meet This Grateful Recipient or Meet This Good Neighbor Cook features on The Good Neighbor Cookbook blog by e-mailing authors Sara Quessenbery and Suzanne Schlosberg at: cooks@thegoodneighborcookbook.com. Let us know if you do by leaving a comment below!

#2 – Mini-Review: A shout out to a recent cookbook I received ~ “Everday Grilling: 50 Recipes from Appetizers to Desserst” by Sur La Table.  Grilling tips and recipes for first courses to desserts all (or part of the recipe) cooked on the grill.  Grilled Quesadillas.  Endless ways to grill vegetables.  Grilled Pizza (!)  Grilled Pound Cake (!?)

My Status:  Still enjoying winter in So Cal (wonderful warm weather the past few days) and the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

I’m published!! My recipe “Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya” was selected to be in the cookbook: “Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.”  You may order it here.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. Cookbook Reviews: “The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook” by Rachel Saunders, and “Italy Dish by Dish: A Comprehensive Guide to Eating in Italy” by Monica Sartoni Cesari.

Biscotti: Recipes from the Kitchen of the American Academy in Rome, Rome Sustainable Food Project.  Mona Talbott and Mirella Misenti.  The Little Bookroom.  $18.95  (136p)  ISBN: 978-1-892145-89-5

Biscotti comes from the Latin word biscoctus meaning ‘twice cooked, or baked.’  Baking them twice makes them dry, so they’re easy to store for long periods of time.  This was highly advantageous at one point in time.   Twice-baked breads were useful during long journeys and wars, and were a staple food of the Roman legion.  Now, it’s simply a lovely left-over result of the original recipe that we’re still enjoying today.  From the kitchens of the American Academy in Rome, ‘Biscotti’ is a very special cookbook, a small love letter to one of Italy’s most famous sweets.

The book is the first in a series of small hardcover cookbooks on single subjects to be published by the American Academy in Rome in conjunction with the Rome Sustainable Food Project, a program devoted to providing organic, local and sustainable meals for the community of artists who work and study at the AAR.  Author, Mona Talbott is the American born, Chez Panisse-trained Executive Chef who oversees the kitchens of the Academy.  Alice Waters is also part of the collaborative dining program advising on menus, and food choices.  The program was first implemented in 2007 when the Academy remodeled and revamped the AAR kitchens.  The Rome Sustainable Food Project facilitates the AAR’s move towards sustainable, and local cooking and eating.

The book is comprised of fifty recipes for bite-sized cookies, or biscotti, and includes five categories: Milk and Wine; Nuts; Honey, Citrus, and Spice; Meringue; and Chocolate.  There are recipes for cookies to be eaten throughout the day – for dipping into caffe latte in the morning, for after lunch (or dinner) dips into vino dolce, or dessert wine, or to eat with a mid-afternoon espresso.  While the original biscotti di Prato recipe used only almonds, modern recipes now include other types of seeds and nuts like pine nuts, sesame seeds, walnuts, and almonds; dried fruit; herbs and spices are added too; flavorings like extracts and liqueurs are also used.

The recipes in ‘Biscotti’ use these and more.  There are even recipes for ladyfingers, macaroons, and snickerdoodles.  To appease homesick American students the kitchen created peanut butter cookies – not a cookie an Italian would normally eat.  This is an interesting cookbook from a unique organization.  It could easily be too esoteric but it’s not; it’s the opposite – down-to-earth and accessible.  The recipes are easy to follow, and they work.  The end result is the best proof of the book’s success: it’s almost impossible to stop popping these bite-sized cookies into one’s mouth.  It will be interesting to see what the Academy and the Rome Sustainable Food Project come up with next.

Buon appetito!

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the Food World:

#1 – Wednesday, January 26, 2011 ~ Farm Dinner at Fig Restaurant in Santa Monica, California.  A menu based on produce from Garcia Organic Farm.  Garcia Organic Farm grows 40 – 50 varieties of citrus, avocados, and deciduous fruit.  Chef Ray Garcia created a menu using produce from the farm.

#2 – Mini-Reviews: There are two other cookbooks I’ve received recently that I want to give shout outs to ~ ‘Simple Comforts: 50 Heartwarming Recipes’ by Sur La Table.  Easy-breezy, comfort food recipes for everyday cooking.  Herb Corn Bread.  Grilled Cheese Sandwich.  Chicken Pot Pie.  Classic Extra Macaroni and Cheese ~ and more!  ‘I Love Bacon’ by Jayne Rockmill.  Who doesn’t?  This book contains 50 recipes from chefs across the country.  Recipes to make your own bacon, followed by recipes for brunch to dessert ~ all using bacon.  A portion of the proceeds from book sales will be donated to Share Our Strength and Food Bank for New York City.

My Status: Summer has temporarily returned to So Cal ~ temperatures in the 80s.  Time to run through the sprinklers again, with more blogging, more cooking, and more eating always on the horizon.

I’m (still) published!! My recipe ‘Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya’ was selected to be in the cookbook: ‘Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.’  You may order it here.  I am thrilled (still).

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  Cookbook Reviews: The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders.