pantry permitting

La Mar Chebiceria, San Francisco

I don't eat out often so I try not to squander the opportunity. Here are pictures that I snapped today at La Mar on the Embarcadero where I met a friend for lunch. Lovely, don't you think? 

Cakewrecks

There was a period of time when I was a little girl that my sister and I had a cake decorating kit. I don't remember the details, maybe we had a pan shaped like a bunny, some tips and colored frosting. Being creative kids, we enjoyed making and decorating the silly cakes. (Of course, at the time they weren't silly.) Since then, I've always been amused by silly cakes. (The Last Cake Standing on Food Network is really great for cake watching.)

So, when I came across this site today, I bookmarked it instantly. From this resignation cake, to a nose cake, to a vasectomy cake, and standard decorating gone awry, it's all there. 

What's cooking tonight: Pot au Feu

This recipe is cooking away for me today in my slow cooker. I'll let you know how it works out!

12/11/2008 UPDATE: I liked this recipe, but ended up adding additional broth as the proportion of broth seemed rather low. I can definitely recommend it a cold weather alternative to beef stew.

How I spent my Saturday night in New York...

My friends David and David took me to DiFara's Pizza in Brooklyn Saturday. Two and a half hours to get our pie, but I understand that's just an average wait. It's considered to be one of the best places to get pizza in New York, and worth it. Each pie is lovingly made by hand by the proprietor, Domenico DiMarco since sometime in the 1960s. It was definitely a very good pie, with the thinnest crust I have ever had, but, unless they start serving beer and have places to sit, I'm not sure if I'm about spending another two hours waiting for a couple slices. But, if you're there and have a couple of hours to kill, definitely give it a try. It's an experience like no other. Here's a clip of the place that I found on YouTube:

Hungry Planet

A friend emailed me these images today. With a little research I discovered that the images came from from the book "Hungry Planet", a photographic study of the diets of families from around the world. Time Magazine also featured selections in a recent photo essay. See more photos here. Anyone who enjoys cooking a thinks about diet will find these photos fascinating.

The photos also made me think about one week's diet in our household. Ugh, right now I feel that too much of our diet is taken up by snack foods and leftover Christmas candy(!) But how good does that diet in Egypt look? All those leafy greens...yummy! I was also taken aback at how little people get by on in some countries. Food for thought, all of it.

Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily
Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11

United States : The Revis family of North Carolina
Food expenditure for one week $341.98

Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca
Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09

Poland: The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna
Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27

Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo
Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53

Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo
Food expenditure for one week: $31.55

Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp
Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23

........................................................................................................................

Hungry Planet: What the World Eats     by Peter Menzel $24.95

 

Persimmons on my doorstep

From my neighbor Nowie.

Vive La Farine!

Hard to believe that we bought our first home almost 7 years ago in on the outer edge of the Dimond district in Oakland. At that time, it was pre dot com bust, and in the midst of one of the many real estate booms that came over the next few years. We chose this house mostly because of (the price of course- a 3 bedroom Rockridge home was already out of reach for us) but also for the friendly walkable neighborhood...we were charmed by neighbors visiting with each other on their porches and children playing together on the sidewalks. The house (and perhaps the neighborhood) were in need of a bit of repair, but we dove in head first and hoped that both would improve over time.

Back in less busy times when not fixing plaster or pulling out crabgrass, I became involved with neighborhood associations with the hope of bringing some quality businesses to the commercial district. At that time the commercial district had roughly 5 run down Chinese restaurants, 3 pizza parlors, and too many nail salons to count.

While I left the neighborhood organization, I am delighted to see that through the continued effort of the neighborhood volunteers, the Dimond is finally on an upswing. I am so glad that the neighborhood managed to pull together to make things happen. Last year a locally owned natural foods chain called Farmer Joe's moved in, and this year Bay Area favorite Peet's Coffee, and now finally *finally* we have a first rate bakery in La Farine. I can now realize my dream of running out on  mornings for fresh croissants, or in the afternoon to pick up a fresh tart for a special dinner. And that's just it...run out...I can literally run or walk there. This is city living at it's best.

Pics are here and here from neighborhood blogs. It is a lovely bakery. Tres chic!

Good Eats

I love family snapshots, especially ones from decades past, so I thought I would share this with you. This is me, as a toddler at my parents house in Sausalito, CA, with my favorite Beatrix Potter bowl circa 1972. (I still have that bowl today. You see I really am a bit of a freak about tabletop!)

My son, now 7 months old, just started solid foods about one month ago. With his introduction to the solid stuff, I've been thinking a lot about his nutrition and forming his attitudes about food. As GenX parent, I realize how different it is to raise children today in so many ways. The prevalence of processed foods, childhood obesity and disappearing phenonmenons known as "dinner with the family" and the "home cooked meal" make for a different environment from how I grew up. Granted,  with a working single mom, my upbringing wasn't Brady Bunch perfect, but somehow 6 out of the 7 nights we sat down to a meal together that, while not gourmet, was simple and healthy. Probably a bi-product of growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1970s, but for me comfort food has always been fresh fruit juice, smoothies and copious amounts of vegetables.

For my son, my hope to raise him in an environment where home cooked meals are the norm. I'm not expecting to do it every day, but I don't want to be one of those Hamburger Helper moms. There is something that grounds me every time I eat nice home cooked meal at my very own table. For me, I guess it's a bit of therapy.

Figs on my Doorstep

figs on my doorstep, originally uploaded by tikolish.

Among the things I love about my street in Oakland are neighbors who share their homegrown produce. This time of year, we will open our door to find lemons, tomatoes, and plums. Last week, it was these beautiful figs. I still don't know who left them there. Certainly whoever abandoned them on our doorstep knew they would find a loving home here ;-)

Juicy

Okay, so I'm going to go all California on you today and talk about juicing...

When I saw Donna Karan on the Martha Stewart show a while back, I knew it had gone mainstream. Truth be told, when I saw Ms. Karan talking about juicing on TV, it made me remember that I already had a vegetable juicer and decided to get it out of the closet.

A few years ago I was really run down and low energy, and could not seem to get back up to speed. At that time I started investigating alternative therapies, and I discovered that juicing seemed to help a lot of people. I did my research and purchased the l'Equip Mini Juicer for about $99. Benefits were cost, quality of materials and a stainless bowl. (Which translates to long product life.) Okay, it is ugly, but it's a work horse and I've been very happy with it ever since.

What's the difference between juicing your own carrot and buying a bottle of Odwalla? Apparently, it's the enzymes. According to juicing theory the enzymes obtained from "just squeezed" veggies are extremely beneficial to the body and immune system. To reap the full benefits of juicing, one must drink the beverage within one half hour of extraction. Juicing fall under of the umbrella of the raw food movement, which apparently started up here in SF, but seems to be all the rage in LA.

So yes, I've started juicing again. I'm a new mom, frazzled and sleep deprived and I really need a daily healthy boost these days. Since I've nixed caffeine recently and have found that a tall glass of carrot juice is a much healthier alternative, and it really does give me an energy boost!

My product recommendation for the day: the l'Equip Mini Juicer.

Images: l'Equip and M. Brugos