This sign went up recently in a Wells Fargo parking lot in my neighborhood.  It brought back so many memories.  When I was little before my father left, and even after he left, Sunday was pancake day.  The day my father made breakfast.  It was always pancakes.  They were nothing fancy.  He used Bisquick pancake mix.  They were thin and he made big stacks of them.  It seemed like I ate five or six at a sitting but that could be my memory exaggerating.  I loved putting loads of butter between each one and dousing them with syrup.  Again, it was Log Cabin syrup, nothing fancy.  When I cut into them with a fork all the butter and syrup would squish up, the pancakes acting like a saturated sponge.  It was starchy, buttery, syrupy pancake heaven.  I looked forward to Sunday all week.  I ate until I was sick (literally once!).

After my parents divorce my father would still come around on the occasional Sunday to make us pancakes but as time went on, and he remarried that ceased.  That’s when we started going to pancake breakfasts put on by the Lions Club, or the Kiwanis, or some other men’s social group.  Just like the one in the picture, they took place outdoors if the weather was nice, or in a church hall if it wasn’t.  There were long tables with chairs to sit at and eat.  The men’s club members made the pancakes, and I believe some of them were all-you-can-eat.  They were also inexpensive so for my mother raising two children on her own it was the perfect outing.  Food her children loved, away from home, we might have gone with neighbors or friends so it was social as well.  I grew up in a small California town so these pancake breakfasts had a real community feel to them.

Living in large cities all my adult life I’d forgotten about them until I saw this sign.  I just might have to go this one.  The area of Los Angeles I live in, Atwater Village, has a small town vibe to it so a Lions Club pancake breakfast fits right in.  I’ve lived here for five years, this has been going on for sixty-seven, I’m not sure why I never noticed it before.  I’m glad I did.  It’s brought back some very nice memories.  If I do end up going, I’ll report back, and post some pictures.

Are there pancake breakfasts in your community?  Do you go to them?

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. – Casa Vega, Hang With The Stars on Cinco de Mayo.” 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 arrival of spring in So Cal and the new spring produce: artichokes, asparagus, peas, spring garlic.  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.

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.

My great-grandmother, Ora Chandler Goodman, and my mother's dog, Tuffy.

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 5…

Tuffy, My Mother’s Dog

Tuffy was my mother’s dog when she was a little girl.  He lived at her grandparents’ house, my great-grandparents, Ora and Rolla Goodman.  Tuffy was by all intents and purposes a member of the family.  Every family has its share of stories, lore if you will.  Of course our family has a whopper about Tuffy that is apparently true.  My great-grandmother was what is now known as a “housewife.”  She never held down a job of any sort.  Her “job” was to care for her family.  Her full-time duties included cooking, gardening, cleaning, washing, and sewing, and whatever else needed to be done to keep the family going.  All of these duties were much more labor-intensive in her day than they are now.  I have faint memories of her washing the family’s clothes outside on a back patio using a now old-fashioned electric wringer washer — an early version of our washing machines.  Then, of course, the clothes were hung outside on a clothesline to dry.  Gramma Ora also made most of the family’s clothes, as well as quilts using scraps of old clothing.  She canned garden vegetables and fruits to be eaten later in the year.  Her daily life was full, and never ending.

Tuffy with a package from Vic, the butcher, in his mouth.

“Go See Vic”

So the story about Tuffy goes that my great-grandmother somehow trained him to go by himself to the butcher a block or so away.  She’d write her order down on a piece of paper, slip it into Tuffy’s mouth and say: ‘Go see Vic.”  He’d trot through the dirt field across from the house, over to the main street of town to Vic, the butcher, knowing that a reward awaited him.  Vic would fill the order, wrap it up with string and Tuffy would head for home, the packaged meat in his mouth.  Once back home he’d set the package down on the kitchen floor.  Gramma Ora would then tell him to go get a newspaper.  He then sat until the package was opened, and his treat was put on the newspaper.  Once Gramma Ora said “okay” he’d eat his reward.  He was a true help to my great-grandmother while he was off getting the family’s meat she could continue with her household chores.

On the left, my great-grandparents' house in Orcutt, California.

Small Town Life

Orcutt, California is a small town on the Central Coast of California.  It was even smaller back when this story took place.  The house my great-grandparents lived in is the house my mother lives in now.  When she was a child everyone in town knew each other.  They all knew my great-grandparents.  My great-grandfather was the town barber for a number of years.  Vic’s butcher shop was part of a grocery store next door to my great-grandfather’s barber shop.  If everyone knew the Goodmans, they surely also knew Tuffy.  So as surprising as it may sound that a dog roamed freely between its house and the butcher shop, it’s also believable given when and where this story took place.  My mother has very fond memories of Tuffy even now decades later.  He made an indelible impression on her.  Having him as a pet was an important part of her childhood.  I never met Tuffy, and I’m sad I didn’t.  He sounds like an extraordinary animal.  Happily his legacy continues, and the story of the little dog that obediently fetched meat from the butcher lives on as well.

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

#1 – Monday, March 14, 2011 – Blood, Bones and Butter ~ A Dinner in Honor of the Publication of Prune Chef, Gabrielle Hamilton’s First Book ~ Lucques Restaurant, 8474 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA  323-655-6277 ~ http://www.lucques.com/

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 coming soon. Cookbook Reviews: Grilled Cheese, Please! by Laura Werlin, and Southern My Way by Gena Fox.

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.

“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.

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.

My great-great grandparents, Lamerlis Caldonia Doak, and Christopher Columbus Chandler. These are my great-grandmother's parents.

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 2…

Heritage, A Very Rich One

My maternal great-great grandparents, Christopher Columbus Chandler (1852-1925) and his wife, Lamerlis Caledonia Doak (1861-1934), had eleven children.  Two of the eleven children were truly great women in my life:  my great-grandmother, Ora Esther Goodman (1884-1978) and her sister, my great-aunt, Ona Dana (1893-1991).  Both women had a true pioneer spirit, and were a big influence on me growing up on the Central California coast.

Gramma Ora married Rolla Charles Goodman in 1907 in Modoc, California, a small town on the Oregon-California border.  After my great-great grandfather Chandler moved his large brood to the Central Coast town of Nipomo, my great-grandparents followed with their two boys, Donald, my grandfather, and Herman, my great-uncle.  The family eventually settled in Orcutt, California, another Central Coast town.  At that point the entire extended family was settled in the Central Coast area and would remain there through present day.

My grandfather tells the following story about his arrival in the area in 1918 and his first sight of Grandpa Chandler’s farm:

Grandpa had established quite a one-man operation on his little farm.  He raised pigs for their bacon, headcheese, smoked ham, and fresh meat.  I remember how good the pork chops were with gravy, mashed potatoes and fresh peas and Grandma’s freshly baked bread.  He raised bees for their honey and honey sugar.  He raised all kinds of vegetables, which he stored in the root cellar along with fruit and berry jams and jellies.  He had apricot and peach trees whose fruit he dried over sulphur fires.  He made apple cider and applesauce.  He had his own chickens for their eggs and meat.  And a few cows and steers for milk and meat.  He even raised a turkey or two for the holidays.

From this story about my great-grandmother’s father I can see very clearly the origins of her do-it-yourself ways as well as of her talents in the garden and the kitchen.

My great-grandparents, Rolla and Ora Goodman, barbecuing in a local park.

The Nipomo Rancho, the Dana Family, and the Dana Adobe

My great-aunt Ona Chandler married Goodwin Dana – the Danas were a Spanish Land Grant family in the Nipomo area — thus bringing the Spanish-Mexican influence into the family.  The Danas had quite an influence on the development of the area over the years.  They originally settled on the 37,000 Nipomo Rancho when Captain William Dana, a Boston sea captain married Maria Josefa Carillo, the daughter of a Mexican provincial governor and a Spanish Land Grant owner.

The rancho was given to Captain Dana in 1828 when the couple married, and the adobe ranch house that Captain Dana built for his new bride still stands, and is now a registered California State Historical Landmark.  The Captain and his wife went on to have twenty-one children.  Their adobe was the hub of a very active rancho; not only did it support the Captain and his large family but it also employed many workers and ranch hands including Mexicans, local Indians and a Chinese cook.

The rancho served as a social and business center for the local area, and at various times offered ad hoc assistance to the developing state.  It became the first mail stop between San Francisco and Los Angeles when mail services first started in California.  And when the railroad was put in, the Captain allowed tracks to be laid across the rancho.

The self-sufficient, hardworking ethos of the early Danas continued with the later Dana generations; Aunt “Onie” and her husband Goodwin Dana, a great-grandson to Captain Dana, continued the family legacy of living and working off the land.  Aunt Onie, my favorite great-aunt, was also a good cook; whenever we went to visit, she always had freshly baked cookies in which she put walnuts from her backyard tree.  It was the Danas who held the frequent family reunions where we ate Santa Maria-style barbecue, a local delicacy.

This style of barbecue is unique to the Central California Coast, the beef having been raised in the Santa Maria area.  The dish hearkens back to the rancho days when the rancheros gathered in the spring to help each other brand their calves.  In thanks, the host prepared a Spanish-style barbecue for his vaqueros, family and friends.

Tri-tip roast, the cut of beef used in Santa Maria-style barbecue, is a boneless cut from the bottom sirloin; it’s also called a “triangle” roast because of its shape.  Red oak, a local tree to the area, is the preferred wood for the fire as it gives the meat the unique, smoky flavor now associated with this dish.

Print Recipe

My Status: a few warm, 80 degree days last weekend made it feel summery again.  That didn’t last.  My mind has been on winter dishes; fun, interesting things like fondue bourguignonne, pieces of raw beef cooked in a fondue pot of hot oil.  Or a cheese fondue, those are always fun.  Then there’s the Swiss dish of raclette, set a whole half of a raclette cheese next to a fireplace, as it slowly melts, scrape it off onto your plate, then eat it with boiled new potatoes, and cornichons.  Or a choucroute garnie, or a cassoulet. Dishes I learned to make in France.

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: a write up on Jennifer Piette and Erik Stenberg’s local, sustainable grocery delivery service Out of the Box Collective.  More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  Cookbook Reviews: The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders, and Biscotti by Mona Talbott and Mirella Misenti.

Mary Mac’s Tea Room: 65 Years of Recipes from Atlanta’s Favorite Dining Room.  John Ferrell.  Andrews McMeel Publishing.  $27.99  (208p)  ISBN: 978-0-7407-9338-7

Recipes that don’t call for fancy seasoned salts, or Madagascar peppercorns?  Is there something wrong here?  No, of course not.  I was reminded when reading and cooking from Mary Mac’s Tea Room that a recipe can just be a recipe without all the frills that modern gastronomy seems to insist upon — recipes like they used to be.   I am generally so caught up in local, seasonal, fresh, top quality ingredients that I forget that food, and recipes at one point in time used only the basic larder ingredients: things like white flour, table salt, white sugar, and ground black pepper in a tin.  Very little had a foreign provenance, or the words sel de mer, or Tellicherry on the labels.

This book by John Ferrell, the current owner of Mary Mac’s Tea Room, is an homage to an Atlanta institution.  The restaurant has been existence since 1945; Ferrell purchased it in 1994 after being hand-picked by long-time owner Margaret Lupo.  The book is chock-full of 125 recipes, employee biographies, old menus, postcards, and artwork from the restaurant’s history.  Serving as many as 1,000 customers a day many of those are, and  have been politicians, sports figures and well-known celebrities from Cher to Richard Gere and the Dalai Lama.  Sprinkled throughout are photographs of the many local, regular patrons as well as those of Hillary Clinton, President Carter and First Lady Rosalyn Carter, the Dalai Lama, and Richard Gere.

I’m a sucker for food history and I loved this snippet from the front cover flap: “In the 1940’s, there were sixteen tea rooms in Atlanta.  They were opened by ladies as a way to make extra money, but the name was a misnomer; a tea room wasn’t a place to have tea, but a nicer version of a “meat and three.”  These meals appealed to folks who had moved to Atlanta from small towns in Georgia because they reminded them of their moms’ cooking.”  Mary Mac’s serves old-fashioned comfort food, Southern cooking.

Of the recipes I tried there were more than a few stand outs including ‘Daddy’s Oyster Stew,’ ‘Fried Chicken,’ ‘Black-Eyed Peas,’ and ‘Blackberry Jam Cake.’  I chose the fried chicken recipe because I thought fried chicken would be a true test of the restaurant’s talents with Southern cooking.  It passed the test, perfectly cooked, with a crunchy buttermilk crust.  A recipe I’d make again.  Shellfish and the south go hand in hand to me, and oysters cooked in milk has always been a favorite dish so ‘Daddy’s Oyster Stew’ was another choice.  Here’s the fun part about this recipe that goes back to my earlier conversation about ingredients.  It calls for “1 pint of fresh raw oysters, juices reserved.”  I read that and thought but there’s very little juice in fresh, raw oysters?  At the fish counter while shopping I stood before the fresh, raw oysters in their shells unsure until I noticed a shelf of seafood products in jars and cans: a 10 oz. jar of ‘fresh oysters’ in their juices!  A very simple yet comforting dish, warm oysters in milk with garlic and onion.   Black-Eyed Peas, salt pork, fatback, onion and the peas – ’nuff said.  The most popular dish I tried was the Blackberry Jam Cake with Caramel Frosting.  It consists of cocoa powder, blackberry jam, and apple sauce making it one of the moistest cakes I’ve ever eaten.  The addition of the caramel frosting made it a  full-on sugar coma inducing experience.  There are only two of us in the house so a big ole wedge went to a neighbor.  She liked it so much she asked for the recipe.

One other aspect of Mary Mac’s Tea Room I liked was how Ferrell incorporated the restaurant’s long-time employees into it.  There are photographs, histories and personal stories throughout the book.  There’s even a whole section devoted to “Our Staff.”  Many have been with Mary Mac’s for over thirty-five years.  That’s remarkable in a restaurant these days.  It speaks to the type of place it is.  A place some might consider a second home, a welcoming down-to-earth establishment very comfortable in its own skin.  In other words, a true Southern restaurant.  This book evokes all that and more.  It may be a book of restaurant recipes but it easily becomes a book of recipes one can cook and enjoy at home.

My Status:  Fall weather has arrived to So Cal.  Finally cold at night.  Pulled out the winter blankets.  As always more cooking, eating and blogging on the horizon.

Shout Outs!

‘Foodoodles,’ a new book from food historian and cartoonist, L. John Harris.  An amusing look at the history of the American food revolution that started in the 1970’s in Berkeley, California.  Alice Waters, Jeremiah Tower, James Beard, and Julia Child and more are discussed via text and cartoons, or ‘foodoodles.”  The foreword is written by friend, Chef Jeremiah Tower.  You’ll enjoy the history in this book, and giggle at the cartoons.  For more information, and to buy the book: http://www.foodoodles.com/

(Los Angeles)

Eat My Blog ~ the next Eat My Blog benefit bake sale is coming up soon.  Saturday, December 4, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Tender Greens in West Hollywood.  Come out and buy baked goods made by L.A.-area food bloggers.  All proceeds go to the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank.  I’ll be there buying goodies and cheering on Phil and Katrina of My Life as a Foodie.  Phil is donating ‘Cranberry Coconut Chews’ ~ sounds delicious, right?

Bistro LQ’s Tuesday night Cassoulet ‘Toulousain” Dinner.  I went once and hope to go again.  Being from Toulouse Chef Laurent Quenioux knows his way around a cassoulet.  Go!  You won’t be disappointed.  Every Tuesday night until December 28th.  Prix fixe at $35 per person.  www.bistrolq.com

News! 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,’ published on October 19, 2010.  You may pre-order it here.  I am thrilled.

Upcoming Posts: 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 Bon Appétit Desserts by Barbara Fairchild.

This post was also published on One for the Table.

Growing up my mother had the usual cookbooks a housewife in the ‘60s owned like the ring-bound Betty Crocker, and Better Homes and Gardens.  Books that were useful but hardly high cuisine.  My first cookbook was Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1 by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, and Simone Beck.   I bought the book at age eighteen after returning from living in rural France for a year.  I was an au pair, also known as a ‘mother’s helper, and worked for a French family in the Alsace region of France.  My duties included caring for four children, light cleaning, and shopping and cooking.  Madame Zundel , an American married to a Swiss Frenchman, owned Mastering the Art of French Cooking, as well as all the needed American measures to cook from it.

I can say with absolute certainty that Mastering the Art taught me to cook.  Madame Zundel and I used it together.  She also taught me a lot about French cooking.  It was the highlight of my time in France – creating a menu, shopping for the ingredients, and cooking the family meal using Mastering the Art. When I returned to the States I immediately bought my own copy and have been cooking from it ever since.  It holds a special place amongst my cookbook collection.  I recently added Volume II by Julia Child and Simone Beck.   Those two books are my food bibles.  I use them often, and with reverence.  My experience of learning to cook in France using Mastering the Art started me on a food career both personal and professional that has lasted to this day.  One of my favorite recipes to cook from the book is Ratatouille.

For a link to a recipe for Ratatouille from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, click here ~ http://www.100miles.com/recipe-ratatouille/

Visit ~ One for the Table

Follow ~ Twitter.com/oneforthetable

Bon appétit!

My Status:  Fall weather has arrived to So Cal.  Cool, wet even rainy except for the past two days: summer has returned, in the 80s and 90s.  More cooking, eating and blogging on the horizon as always.

Shout Outs! (Los Angeles) I went to Bistro LQ’s Tuesday night Cassoulet ‘Toulousain” Dinner this week, and it was just like being in southwest France.  Being from Toulouse Chef Laurent Quenioux knows his way around a cassoulet.  Go!  You won’t be disappointed.  Every Tuesday night until December 28th.  Prix fixe at $35 per person.  www.bistrolq.com

News! 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,’ published on October 19, 2010.  You may pre-order it here.  I am thrilled.

Upcoming Posts: a write up on Jennifer Piette and Erik Stenberg’s local, sustainable grocery delivery service Out of the Box Collective.  Cookbook Reviews:  Mary Mac’s Tea Room: 65 Years of Recipes from Atlanta’s Favorite Dining Room by John Ferrell; The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders, and Bon Appétit Desserts by Barbara Fairchild.

Steak with Friends: At Home, with Rick Tramonto.  Rick Tramonto with Mary Goodbody.  Andrews McMeel Publishing.  $35.00.  (304p)  ISBN: 978-0-7407-9257-1

First off:  this is a really BIG book, and I mean that in the nicest possible way.  Secondly, I learned a new trick from it that I wish I’d known years ago (to bake bacon rather than fry it).  Thirdly, in recipe testing for it I happily got to use my friend, Phil’s incredible bacon: All Natural Berkshire Pork Belly, Cured 10 Days, Applewood Smoked.  Phil is My Life as a Foodie, a great cook, a great curer of meats, and a very cool guy.  My experience with this book was a good one from start to finish.

Chef Rick Tramonto has been in the restaurant business for 30 years, and owns three Chicago area restaurants: Tru, Tramonto’s Steak and Seafood, RT Sushi Bar & Lounge.  A James Beard Award winner, a competitor on Top Chef Masters, Top Chef and Iron Chef; he was also named a Top Ten Best New Chefs by Food & Wine magazine in 1994.  He has published six cookbooks before ‘Steak with Friends.’  He’s already tested and proven his cooking mettle.  This book is meant to bring all he knows, and his experiences as a professional chef, to the home cook.  He succeeds quite well at doing so.

“The title of this book says it all:  This is about eating steak dinners with good friends and enjoying all that implies,” states Tramonto.  Except it doesn’t stop at steaks.  It also includes hot and cold appetizers, salads, soups and sandwiches, fish and seafood, sauces, stocks, dressings, marinades, and syrups, other meat and poultry, side dishes, and desserts.  Shew!  The book does devote a number of pages to steak, in fact, there are three chapters alone on the subject.  There are enough recipes in this book (150) to cook complete meals from starters to desserts for at least a year.  (I didn’t do the math so maybe it’s only six months.)

In addition to the recipes Chef Tramonto throws in many ‘how-tos,’ and ‘abouts’ such as ‘About Oysters,’ followed by ‘How To Shuck an Oyster,’ or ‘Notes on the Steak Recipes,’ with ‘How to Choose a Great Steak.’  Helpful color photographs and diagrams are also sprinkled throughout.  Cocktail recipes usually thematically tied to the recipe on the same page also pop up.  Music and cooking play an important part of Tramonto’s cooking process; something I understand as most professional kitchens I’ve worked in usually played very loud, heart-thumping music during the many hours of prep.  He is a proponent of cooking to music and periodically makes recommendations of specific artists.  His taste seems to be fairly run of the mill pop and rock.  For example his recommendations for cooking cold appetizers are:  Billy Joel, Elton John, The Doors, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, The Goo Goo Dolls, and The Allman Brothers.  Hmmm, not exactly cutting-edge choices!  Still an interesting, and unique, addition to the recipes.

I was only able to try a handful of recipes, and since steak is the star of the book I tried those first: Filet Mignon with Béarnaise Sauce, Bone-In Rib Eye with Bordelaise Sauce, and Steak au Poivre.  The first two were cooked on an outdoor grill, and turned out beautifully; the old-fashioned French sauces included (separate recipes).  The Steak au Poivre was prepared on the stove top.   All three preparations are familiar steak standards.  Tramonto’s cooking instructions including how long to cook for medium rare, medium and well done were spot on.  It had been awhile since I’d make a Béarnaise, or Bordelaise, or even an au poivre sauce and it was fun.  There’s a reason eating beef this way is so popular — it’s really, really good.

Other recipes I tested were Twice-Baked Potatoes with Irish Cheddar, Grilled Broccoli Rabe, Cucumber Salad, Lemon Aïoli, Rick’s BLTs — the reason I chose this one was because it required bacon, and I had my friend Phil’s bacon to use.  Knowing I was using bacon that Phil had lovingly cured added to the pleasure of testing, and eating, the recipe.  On the same page as the BLT recipe was a break out box ‘Cook Bacon Like a Chef’ — a genius thing.  Turn the oven to 350°, put the bacon on a parchment lined baking sheet, and let it bake until done, no turning, no smoke, no popping of hot oil.  I love to learn new kitchen tricks (or re-learn forgotten ones) and this is a great one!  Tramonto and Goodbody know how to create dishes and write recipes.  All the dishes I tried worked very well, and tasted even better.

The food and recipes in this book are fairly traditional, straight forward meat and potato preparations.  There’s no breaking of new ground here — nothing molecular, no foams or CO2 canisters.  It’s simple and honest food which I think was Chef Tramonto’s goal.  If so, he succeeded and this is definitely a go-to book for a family dinner on the weekend, or a casual yet nice dinner with friends.

My Status: Enjoying the coolest summer we’ve seen in Los Angeles in years (apologies to all readers living east of the Rockies).  Eating, cooking, restaurant-ing, blogging and writing.  A food-filled trip to San Francisco to join my friend, Chef Jeremiah Tower, coming up next week.  The IFBC at the end of August (see below), and a trip to Sonoma County in September: returning to Zazu & Bovolo…

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 ~ Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly by Joan E. Aller; Mary Mac’s Tea Room: 65 Years of Recipes from Atlanta’s Favorite Dining Room by John Ferrell.