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.

My great-grandmother, Ora Goodman, and her garden, were the impetus for me to start writing this blog.  She was a major influence all through my childhood.  She lived a ‘local’ life without realizing she was doing so.  She simply lived her life.  This series is part of a longer piece I am working on about her, and her life.  Herewith, Part 6…

Spring, Summer is Coming

The advent of spring always thrilled me because it meant that my favorite season — Summer! – was just around the corner.  The spring garden was magnificent – and it was then that the blackberries, raspberries and strawberries began to appear.  If we were lucky and spring was on time, we would have fruit as early as mid-May or early June.

But spring was really about the very tall and brilliant vermilion poppies that invaded my great-grandmother’s garden.  It was as if they had bloomed over night.  I would wake-up one morning, and there would be a sea of red floating in the breeze.  I was absolutely sure the poppies had not been there the day before.  They had, without a doubt, magically bloomed in the night.

My great-grandmother, Ora Chandler Goodman (left) standing in her flower garden with a family friend.

I would run outside and plunge into them, disappearing from sight for hours on end as the flowers towered over me.  Down on my knees in the fine sand they grew in, I would crawl around exploring, catching bugs, squinting up through the flower petals to the sunlight and sky above.  When the day grew too hot, I would lie down and rest amongst the cool, red blooms.  It was my magical kingdom away from adults, away from all those things that frightened a small child.  Symbols of my great-grandmother, those amazing flowers sprouted up from the earth – iridescent, strong – year after year.

Summer!  It’s Berry Season

My favorite time of year in the garden was summer, when the flowers were in full bloom, and the fruits and vegetables were at their most flavorful.  My sister and I would always visit the strawberry patch first, kneeling in the sandy soil and plucking fruit directly from the vine — warmed by the sun and the most flavorful I’ve ever tasted.  Next we would go to the raspberry and blackberry bushes and eat as many of those as we could.  By the time we were finished, our fingers, teeth and tongues were stained bright purple, as were the clothes we wore.  We were the happiest two kids for miles around.  Cooking and eating outside became summertime priorities.  Gathering fruits and vegetables ripe and right off the vine was another.

To be continued…

Here’s a simple recipe for garden-ripe tomatoes:

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.

The key to this dish is that the rest of the meal must already be on the table before it is prepared.

Ingredients

Fresh, ripe, garden Beefsteak tomatoes, or farmers market, organic tomatoes

Olive oil

Fresh ground pepper & salt

Method

The tomatoes should be warm and fragrant from the sun, just picked if possible.  As everyone begins eating, slice and serve the still warm tomatoes. They may be drizzled with olive oil if desired.  Add fresh ground salt and pepper to taste.  If using organic farmers market tomatoes try leaving them outside to ‘sun warm’ them.

Read Original Post

2.3 miles, about 7 minutes from my home in Atwater Village.

Hungry!  Need.  Food.  Now.  There are times when eating becomes the thing I have to do before anything else.  Knowing of close-to-home restaurants is of paramount importance to me.  Luckily, there’s a plethora of places in my Atwater Village-Silver Lake neighborhood to choose from.  Gingergrass is one.  I know that I can drive over and if it’s early enough, get a table and have food in front of me within forty minutes.  If it’s later and the place is full, I can call an order in and pick it up.  There’s value in both of these.

The sign in front of Gingergrass, and the menu itself, has these words: “Fresh Vietnamese Cuisine,” and in my experience this is absolutely true.  I’ve been eating at Gingergrass for years now and have never had a bad meal.  The food always tastes fresh and clean.  The dishes are full of interesting, bright flavors.  The menu is varied enough to never get boring.  Executive Chef Mikel Mark Kim knows his way around a Vietnamese menu while also using local, sustainable, organic, and free-range ingredients: very good things that up the quality and flavor of his food.

Some favorite dishes include: Bò Saté, Pork Chops, “Gingergrass” Fresh Rolls, Shaking Beef, Coconut Curry Cod, and the Basil-Lime Elixir.  I also check the huge chalkboard that lists daily specials, as well as wine and beer, and desserts.  I’m not a big phó eater but I see a lot of people eating it whenever I go.  The crowds that are always there are a testament to the very affordable prices.  Gingergrass keeps amazing hours too: they’re open seven days a week for lunch and dinner, and Thursdays through Saturdays they stay open until 11 p.m. (that’s late for most any Los Angeles neighborhood).

Gingergrass is a true neighborhood gem, a place I can happily rely on to feed me quick — or slow — depending on my needs.

Gingergrass we love you!

Love, 100 Miles

P.S. ~ I just noticed that Jonathan Gold of the L.A. Weekly named Gingergrass as one of “99 Essential Restaurants” which I was unaware of.  Very nice!  I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for him next time I go in.

Gingergrass, 2369 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, 90039, 323-644-1600, http://www.gingergrass.com

*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

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.  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.

Photo: My sister, Traci and me, with our great-grandparents, Rolla and Ora Goodman in 1962. Traci was 10 months old and I was 3 years old.

My great-grandmother, Ora Goodman, and her garden, were the impetus for me to start writing this blog.  She was a major influence all through my childhood.  She lived a ‘local’ life without realizing she was doing so.  She simply lived her life.  This series is part of a longer piece I am working on about her, and her life.  Herewith, Part 4…

A Garden, Bigger Than Life

As long as I knew my great-grandmother, she had a garden full of beautiful flowers and incredible tasting fruits and vegetables.  Her garden was bigger than life, and provided me with experiences never to be forgotten.  For me, life began in my great-grandmother’s garden.

Photo: My great-grandparent's house in Orcutt, California which my great-grandfather built. My mother lives in it now.

The plot of land my great-grandparents owned was small — one to two acres at most.  The garden sat in front of a moderate sized house that my “Grandpa Rollie” built, and took up almost as much room as the piece of land the house was built on.  There was a dusty dirt path that split the garden down the middle and while Grandpa Rollie raised vegetables and fruits on one side, “Grandma Ora” grew all types of beautiful flowers on the other.  She was famous throughout the small town of Orcutt for her vermilion poppies, tall and prolific everyone in town enjoyed watching them grow.

Photo: Left to right, my great-grandparents, Ora and Rolla Goodman with family friend Becky Twyford, in their garden.

Of course, the seasons were always reflected in both the garden and the table – this, to me, was one of the many joys of their way of life.

Seasons, Reflected in Garden Bounty

Under normal circumstances, fall comes late to most of California due to a phenomenon called ‘Indian summer.’  Usually beginning in September and lasting until the end of October, it’s an extension of the hot summer months with a distinct feeling of fall in the air – summer’s almost behind us, but happily not quite gone, as fall lurks just around the corner.  It was a unique time of year and the garden usually proved that to be true.  Many summer vegetables continued to grow while fall crops started to appear.  As always the table reflected the season.

Photo: My great-grandparent's vegetable garden.

Fall was also traditionally the time of year to prepare for winter and Gramma spent most of the fall canning, pickling and freezing late summer fruits and vegetables.  Whenever I was at her house during this period, which was often, I was witness to the canning process.  There was usually a huge blue canning pot up on the stove bubbling and rattling and steaming away.  And when I pulled a chair over to peer inside I saw 4-6 Mason jars full of the crop she was currently conserving.  The various fruits and vegetables she “put up” were a myriad of colors and textures to be eaten during the winter months.  “So we can have a little taste of summer in the winter” she would say.

California winters are mild by comparison to many other parts of the country but a wet and cold season does exist, and it does affect what can be prepared for the table.  While much of the garden was dormant during the winter months Grampa always planted a winter crop, and Gramma always tended her ‘winter flowers’ many of which returned year after year.  Winter crops usually consisted of root vegetables, cauliflower, broccoli, and all types of squash.

Photo: My great-granparents, Rolla and Ora Goodman in their garden amongst my great-grandmother's famous vermilion poppies.

Spring, Bees and Honey!

In the spring when Gramma’s flowers were approaching their fullest bloom the bees arrived in force.  My sister and I would go down into the garden amongst the flowers just to marvel at the loud buzzing the bees made.  We knew that as the bees were pollinating the flowers, honey was being made in a neighbor’s hives — honey that my sister and I would get to eat every morning when we were staying at my great-grandparents’ house.

I’ve no idea when the tradition began but it did — each morning at sun up Grampa sat at the kitchen table with his cup of coffee, my sister and I seated on either side of him as he fed us, one at a time, pieces of toast dripping with honey straight from a neighbor’s hives.  The process was simple:  he’d tear off a piece of toast, put a dab of butter on it, a spoonful of honey and pop it into our eagerly awaiting mouths — first my sister’s then mine, back and forth between us.  We were his little birds and he was the daddy bird feeding his young hatchlings.  It was a tradition we relished and one that survived for many years.  Following is a recipe for this simple yet satisfying treat.

Print Recipe

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 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.

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.

“Eat The Love”.   The very apt slogan for the new food delivery company Out of the Box Collective.  The OBC promotional flier also includes:  “Local”.  “Sustainable”. “Home Delivered”.   All good words in my world.  Out of the Box Collective is exactly those things.  They gather food staples that are local and sustainable, put them into boxes and deliver them to your door.  Unlike a C.S.A. they provide everything you need, or want to feed your family for a week.  Fruits, vegetables, dairy, meat, fish, poultry, bread, pasta and dry goods.  A meal plan and suggested recipes are also included.  The only thing you have to do is cook, and then ‘eat the love.’

Founded by Jennifer Piette along with farm-to-table Chef Erik Stenberg, the goal of the company is to source “local, seasonal, sustainably produced groceries from [a] collective of farmers and artisans: [that include] ‘beyond organic’ produce; pastured meats, poultry and eggs; locally caught fish; dairy, including raw milk from Organic Pastures; regional specialties, such as local olive oil, honey, cheeses, Fair Trade products, and the list goes on.”  Jennifer and Erik have spent a good deal of time tracking down the best quality, organic, and sustainable products available in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.

Jennifer Piette and Erik Stenberg as they begin shopping the Santa Barbara Farmers' Market.

A Morning at the Farmers’ Market

Given that the collective will only use what is fresh and seasonal, the box contents change from week to week.  Additionally, new artisans, growers and vendors are being added all the time.  Piette and Stenberg meet each Saturday at the Santa Barbara Farmers’ Market to assemble the following week’s boxes.  Last Saturday I was lucky enough to spend the day with them as they gathered a week’s worth of food at the market.  Later in the day I watched as they assembled the boxes.  It was an educational and joyful experience — so much amazing food.  Santa Barbarans take food, eating, and their farmers’ market seriously.

The Los Olivos Roots Organic Farm stand from Los Olivos, California.

I trailed along with Jennifer as she made her rounds at the market before it opened.  Many of her orders had already been placed so she was picking up, and adding to where needed.  We stopped at the Windrose Farm booth for beautiful radicchio di Castelfranco, said ‘hello’ to the folks at the famous Los Olivos Roots Organic Farm stand, grabbed poultry from Healthy Family Farms, apple juice at Fair Hills Farms, fresh-squeezed orange juice from Ojai’s Friend’s Ranch, ground beef from Rancho San Julian, pork from Jiminez Family Farm, and blistered almonds from Fat Uncle Farms.   Jennifer also augments her farmers’ market purchases with produce from the Farmer Direct Produce Network, a wholesale produce distributor that features local and sustainably grown produce only.  Wesley Sleight from Farmer Direct met us at the market with a large produce delivery.

Jennifer buying eggs and poultry from Healthy Family Farms.

Buying pork chops from Jimenez Family Farm.

Buying 100% certified organic apple juice from Fair Hills Farms.

Buying blistered almonds from Fat Uncle Farms.

Two More Stops: A Fishmongress, and the Pie Shop

After we finished rounds at the market, I joined Erik as he made two more stops: for fresh fish, and homemade pies.  Cadena Yules of Cadena’s Fresh Fish is a Santa Barbara-based female fishmonger.  On a side street of downtown Santa Barbara she rents space along with several other male Latino fishmongers in a large industrial building that also sells meat (on one door is a sign for fish; a second door says “meat.”)  It was fascinating to watch Cadena at work.   She specializes in locally caught seafood.  Erik picked up line-caught halibut.  Our next stop was Simply Pies, a wonderful small pie shop that does a booming business.  We grabbed uncooked gluten-free pie shells, and freshly made apple pies.

Fishmonger, Cadena Yules of Cadena's Fresh Fish, Santa Barbara, CA.

Assembling the Boxes

The next step in the process was assembling the boxes.  Out of the Box Collective currently works out of a kitchen in Goleta.  I enjoyed watching this unfold as it was a bit like being a kid in a candy shop.  What amazing fruits or vegetables would go into each box?  What locally-sourced proteins?  What other local delicacies?  It was a flurry of activity as Jennifer worked on one side of the kitchen assembling the grocery boxes; while on the other side Erik worked on the produce boxes.  Both were assisted by Chris Schertzer, recently hired as packager, driver and deliveryman.

Jennifer, Erik and Chris as box assembly begins.

Erik assembling the produce boxes.

Finished produce boxes.

A finished grocery box.

The refrigerated delivery van ready to go.

Change Equals Growth

As with most new businesses there are moments of transition; Erik (aka The Surfin’ Chef) has decided to take a hiatus from OBC to catch a few waves.  In his place Jennifer has brought in Shaheda Gosla, a private chef and farmers’ market maven, to work on the meal plans and the weekly suggested recipes.  Until the business grows more deliveries are currently only made in northwest Los Angeles county.  Piette hopes to expand beyond that area soon.  When she does get to my area of Los Angeles, I’ll be her first customer.  I wholeheartedly applaud what she is doing.  OBC is of much value to anyone who enjoys fresh, local, sustainable food.

For more information ~ Out of the Box Collective.

To see more photos from my OBC outing, click here ~ http://tinyurl.com/6jknp92

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

#1  – 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: Enjoying winter in So Cal 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. 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.

.2 miles, about 59 seconds by car, or 5 minutes on foot from my home in Atwater Village.

In many places in the world a bakery is often the nexus of a neighborhood.  A place where the locals meet to buy baked goods and bread.  Bread, the so-called ’staff of life,’ is inexpensive nourishment to many people.  Slowly but surely The Village Bakery and Cafe has become the nexus of our Atwater Village neighborhood.  Much like their sisters in Europe, it has a walk up counter with a shelf of various types of bread behind.  When I go in and see the stacks of freshly baked baguettes it feels a bit like it did when I bought the daily loaf while living in France.  The difference here is you can also order coffee, a house-made pastry, breakfast or lunch, then sit and WiFi it up for as long as you want.   Since it’s located very close to the horse stables and riding schools along the Los Angeles River, I’ve seen more than a patron or two wearing English riding boots and jodphurs as well as the occasional cowboy boots.  A bit of local neighborhood color.

Owner Barbara Monderine had a successful career in the music business before becoming a baker and founding co-owner of Auntie Em’s Kitchen in Eagle Rock.  From there she left to buy the Villa Rosa Italian Bakery, a wholesale bakery located in Arcadia, California.  At Villa Rosa she perfected a line of Italian cookies and pastries including an old Sicilian cannoli shell recipe that she inherited from the previous Villa Rosa owners.  She now sells the cannoli shells wholesale along with other baked goods from The Village Bakery and Cafe.

The Village Bakery and Cafe prides itself on selling artisanal breads baked daily, as well as pastries, pies and other desserts made from all natural ingredients.  The menu items are made using fresh, farmers’ market fruits and vegetables.  One of my favorite dishes is the individual chicken pot pies.  When I see them in the case I buy several to take home and freeze.  Voila, a simple meal after thirty minutes in the oven.  I often go to grab coffee and a sweet, for brunch or a quick lunch, or to buy a loaf of the amazing bread.

It seems I am not the only person to favor The Village Bakery and Cafe; while reading up to write this post I noticed on the bakery’s Facebook page this comment:  ‘The Grey’s Anatomy writing staff LOVES The Village!’  I’m going to have to take a closer look at all those people staring at computer screens next time I go in.  I didn’t know the place had gone Hollywood.

The Village Bakery and Cafe, 3119 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, 90039, 323-662-8600 & http://www.thevillagebakeryandcafe.com/

*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

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

#1 – Thursday, February 3, 2011, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. ~ A Tasting Dinner at Mo-Chica with Live Music by Chachaca Nova – acclaimed Los Angeles Peruvian restaurant holds its 17th tasting dinner with music by the bossa nova group Chachaca Nova featuring our very own food blogger Bill Esparza of Street Gourmet LA on saxophone!  Cost $40.  Make reservations at Mo-Chica ~ http://mo-chica.com/

#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: Enjoying winter in So Cal 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 write up on Jennifer Piette and Erik Stenberg’s local, sustainable grocery delivery service Out of the Box Collective. 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.

Community-supported agriculture, or CSA.  It has such a nice ring to it.  I just started back to one.  So far I’ve received one delivery from Farm Fresh To You.  The last time I tried a CSA it was too much food.  [Read about it here.]  But then without one I just don’t cook (and eat) enough fruits and vegetables.  Period.  Our local farmers’ market — the one I can walk to — is on Sundays.  Right now our Sundays are taken up with a big, weekly, walking project led by my other half, Robert [read about it here].  We’re up early and back after the market is finished.  Normally Sunday is my farmers’ market day.  I needed to fill in the gap.  So another try at a CSA.

First, a quick CSA explanation for anyone who may not know what they are.  As a means to support small, local, independent farmers the consumer buys shares of the farmer’s future crops then picks up the produce at regular intervals at the farm, or at a designated location in a city.  With a subscription-CSA the farmer comes to you, and the cost per delivery is fixed.  With both types of CSAs the produce changes depending on what the farmer is growing, and the time of year.  Farm Fresh To You is a subscription-CSA.  What I like about it are the varied plan selections, and the option to receive deliveries every other week versus weekly.  I am currently signed up for a ‘regular mixed’ box which this week contained nine different fruits and vegetables from Minneola tangelos to kale to Klamath Pear potatoes.  (Cost is a reasonable $31.50. )  Half the fun is not know what is coming, and having to figure out how to use it all.  It’s also forcing me to eat seasonally, and to remember that not all fruits and vegetables are available year round if one is buying locally.  The current box contained winter produce: citrus, hearty greens, potatoes.  It is just the right amount for myself, or for two of us if I am cooking for Robert and me.

To find a CSA in your area check out Local Harvest ~ http://www.localharvest.org/

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: Enjoying winter in So Cal and the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens (see this post!).  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 write up on Jennifer Piette and Erik Stenberg’s local, sustainable grocery delivery service Out of the Box Collective. 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.

My great-grandparents, Ora and Rolla Goodman.

My great-grandmother, Ora Goodman, and her garden, were the impetus for me to start writing this blog.  She was a major influence all through my childhood.  She lived a ‘local’ life without realizing she was doing so.  She simply lived her life.  This series is part of a longer piece I am working on about her, and her life.  Herewith, Part 3…

Home, Where the Hearth Is

I am six or seven-years old, down in the sandy soil of my great-grandparents’ garden picking carrots for Sunday lunch.  My Grampa Rollie is next to me watering a row of beets.  The loamy smell of the dirt fills my nostrils.  My hands turn brown as I shake the earth off each carrot.  The hot sun burns the back of my neck.  I run a just-picked carrot under the hose my Grampa Rollie holds and bite into it.  A loud crunch.  A burst of carroty vegetable-ness fills my mouth.  It tastes of the earth like only a fresh-picked vegetable can.  Its freshness astounds.  I love every minute of helping my Grampa in his garden.  An hour later my great-grandmother, Gramma Ora, serves the family the carrots cooked in sweet butter, and they’re the most delicious carrots I’ve ever eaten because I picked them myself.

If life began in the garden then it certainly continued in my great-grandmother’s kitchen.  While Gramma Ora lived simply, the flavors she produced were extraordinary.  It might not have been the fashionable thing at the time, but the vegetables and fruits she served were picked fresh from the garden the day they were consumed.  When she was ready to start a meal Gramma Ora went down to the garden to see what was ready to pick often minutes before she cooked it.  It couldn’t get much fresher than that.  In addition, eggs came from hens she raised out back of the house, honey from beehives Grampa Rollie kept, milk from the cows in the field across the way, chickens from the coop in the backyard where my great-grandfather chopped off their heads.

I grew up eating farm-fresh fruits and vegetables right out of my great-grandparents’ garden.  Anything my great-grandparents didn’t grow, or raise themselves, was procured within five to ten-miles of their home usually from other farmers and ranchers.  This is how they lived their lives.  They didn’t know any other way.  It’s also the way I was lucky enough to grow up, and I am deeply indebted to them for showing me their way of life:  local, sustainable, and regional.

A Favorite Family Treat, Home-Cured Deer Jerky

With winter came deer hunting season, and one of my favorite things to eat.  My great-uncle Herman, a true hunting man, usually returned from a week in the wilds of the Colorado mountains with a couple of deer that he would skin and butcher himself.  One of the family’s favorite winter treats was the melt-in-your-mouth home-cured deer jerky that Uncle Herman made.  We helped ourselves to what seemed like an endless supply from a string of it dangling beside the fireplace.

Print Recipe

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: Enjoying winter in So Cal and the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

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.