Farmer's Market

Going to the farmer's market is an eye-opening and spiritual experience for me.  I discover wonderful new vegetables, fruits, fragrant, texture everytime.  I love farmer's markets because there are so many kinds of fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables, at the peak of ripeness and beauty, which  i never saw at the super market.   Before discovering the farmer's markets i get bored going the the supermarket because all year-round i kept seeing the same kind of vegetables like broccoli, cabbage, carrot, potato, tomato apple, banana ... over and over, with no varieties.   The farmer's markets show me what each season has to offer.  Every kind of fruits and vegetables comes with so many varieties which could be a feast for the eyes and taste bud.  I also get to meet the farmers,  ask them questions directly which they would be happy to share information about what they grow, from which i could feel the passion and love they have for their products which transforms into a deep apprieciation for these stewards of the land and the nourishing bounty from mother earth.

Have you ever seen these lovely bunches of fragrant lavender in the supermarket?


the delicate squash blossoms


or this huge beautiful organic head of lettuce :-)


and these gorgeous heads of lettuce, radicchio


So many kinds of peppers,


tomatoes


eggplants


How about these vegetables?




I first saw fresh fava bean at the farmer's market and it is one of the best discoveries



I used to disdain the sour, scent-lacking strawberries in the supermarket until i encounter the sweet, juicy, fragrant, melt-in-your-mouth strawberries from Harry's Berries.  They are not cheap but totally worth my hard earned money.  Btw, i don't get anything from them for this advertisement :-).  They ran out fast so make sure you come early. 



How about some fresh sunflower seed


These cute lemon cucumbers are really juicy!


Giant sweet onions from one of my favorite stands owned by a young couple in the Santa Monica market


During the summer the best stones fruit like apricots, peaches, nectarines could only be found at the farmer's market, imho, because the best tasting fruits are quite delicate, they bruise easily and not suitable to sit for long the supermarket shelves.   These are the mouth-watering fruits from the Ferry Building market in San Francisco




and you get to taste them too :-)



You could also get grass-fed meat



Here in Southern California, there are many very good farmer's markets. The best known ones are Santa Monica (Wednesday, Saturday), Beverly Hills (Sunday), Hollywood (Sunday). Santa Monica is probably the best, imho. The Wednesday market is huge, it's almost twice as big as the one on Saturday. Many farms only sell at the Wednesday market and many chefs show up to get the best offerings.  

Do you go to farmer's market?  i hope there's one near to where you live, you check it out, and let me know what you find :-)

And please stay away from GMO food!

Since i am an organic-food freak, these are some of my favorite Farmer's Markets in Southern California

Santa Monica Wed/Sat
Hollywood
Beverly Hills
Long Beach

Sunset

Yesterday i went to Huntington Beach to walk by the water and at the end of the walk i stopped near the pier to watch the sunset. The sun was going down, quickly. I started seeing that the people around me all looked in that same direction. Everybody seemed so still and mesmerized by what was going on even when they were trying to take pictures. As the sun slowly disappeared in the horizon bringing with it the last shine of the day, a sense of tranquility seemed to take over. About 5 minutes after the sun completely left the day, the cloudy sky started to take on a bright reddish glow and this went on for another ten minutes before the color faded. Suddenly i felt a peaceful togetherness in the air, i felt connected with all the people around me because we were all seeing the same thing. We were all in the 'being' with the sunset, experiencing that magical moment together. I felt love all around me. Can't help thinking about one of my favorite quotes 'Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.' --- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I wonder if more of us took time to watch the sunset, wherever we might be, would this world become a more harmonious, loving place?

Please share your feeling in watching the sun goes down. or up :-)

In every winter there is a trembling spring,
Behind the veil of each night, there is a smilling dawn.
Kahlil Gibran

Julia Child

I used to watch Julia Child's cooking shows on television and always enjoyed the way she performed.  She seemed so comfortable, having lots of fun, even sloppy sometimes, and her love for cooking was contagious.

So last year when a friend told me about Julia Child's book 'My Life in France'.  I read and loved it.  Her adventures with food in France, her love for the land and people made me want to go back for a culinary tour.  "Oh, how I adored sweet and natural France, with its human warmth, wonderful smells, graciousness, coziness and freedom of spirit."

Besides the food, the other fascinating thing about 'My Life in France'  to me was the friendship between Julia and Avis De Voto which resulted from a letter that she wrote to Avis's husband, the historian and journalist Bernard De Voto in responding to his Harper's article about the sorry state of stainless steel knife in the American kitchen.  Avis De Voto answered her husband's mail to Julia and this sparked a 35 years friendship. Avis also played an important role in having Julia's revolutionary 'Master the Art of French Cooking' published. 

This friendship led me to the next book 'As Always, Julia' which is a collection of letters between Julia and Avis from 1953 to 1988.  In reading this book i found myself continuously underlying/checking/noting, just like when i was in college.  This book is not only about food but about culture, people that make great food possible, the unyielding effort to make excellent dishes but also a peek into American history after WWII such as the hipocrisy of the McCarthy's era and the changes that were taking place in the American kitchen.  

A great meal could change one's life, according to Julia Child in 'My Life in France', and I cannot agree more.  A great meal to me is more than satisfying the taste bud.  Taste is only one part of it.  A great meal gives me a sense of gratitude toward the chef for expressing his/her love for the ingredients and respect where they came from.  The ingredients, sourced from farms tended with labor of love from the stewards of the land really connect me with mother earth, the one that nourishes us.  I could not help appreciating and consider eating as a sacred act and reading Julia Child's books re-enforced this thought in me.

"The pleasures of the table, and of life, are infinite — toujours bon appétit!" --- Julia Child

Additional Readings:

"The Paring Knife at the Crossroad' - Bernard Augustine De Voto

Prop 37 - YES!

Los Angeles City Council unanimously supports Proposition 37 - 10/24 (National Food Day).  Hooray!!!! (more pictures here)

Do you know what Monsanto means?
If yes YES 37!
If no  YES 37!
May you be healthy and stay away from GMO food!

This proposition will be the most important thing on the November 6 ballot that i will vote on. It might even be the most important thing that i ever vote on. GMO labeling is long overdue in this country, imho. After several months gathering signature to put the proposition on the ballot, with only a few weeks left to go, and with so many news about how the genetically engineered food coorporations like Monsanto, Dupont, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Kelloggs, Nestle USA, Grocery Manufacturers Association ... are pouring money into ads to mystify, confuse the public, i could not help to wonder what social, political system we are having here. The people who cares about food like me could not rely on the government they voted for (Democrat or Republican) to make sure that the food system is protected from the exploitation of big for profit companies that they have to take the initiation to force the issue of food labeling.  Prior to this consumer groups like the Just Label It campaign has collected 1.2 million signatures on a petition to force the FDA to label GM foods to no avail.  I am not surprised because there are so many connections between the government and Monsanto.

In reading this article by Michael Pollan for the New York Times this morning i totally agree when he stated

"Americans have been eating genetically engineered food for 18 years, and as supporters of the technology are quick to point out, we don’t seem to be dropping like flies. But they miss the point. The fight over labeling G.M. food is not foremost about food safety or environmental harm, legitimate though these questions are. The fight is about the power of Big Food. Monsanto has become the symbol of everything people dislike about industrial agriculture: corporate control of the regulatory process; lack of transparency (for consumers) and lack of choice (for farmers); an intensifying rain of pesticides on ever-expanding monocultures; and the monopolization of seeds, which is to say, of the genetic resources on which all of humanity depends."

This is an interview with farmer Howard Vlieger who noticed that his cows avoided the genetically modified Bt corn while  totally consuming the natural corn.

I urge you to do your own reseach on GMO (Genetically Modified Organism).  It might well be one of the most important discoveries you ever made. It sure was for me.

For those who live in California, please vote YES and for those who live in other states please keep this in mind and i sure hope that similar proposition will appear in the very near future.

May you be healthy and stay away from GMO food.


Additional information:

Genetic Roulette (watch for free until November 6)
The Future of Foods (watch for free)
California Right to Know
Unmasking the No on Prop 37 lies and dirty tricks
Opponents of Prop 37 misled voters 1
Opponents of Prop 37 misled voters 2
Seed Companies Control GM research in the US
Study in France linking GM maize to cancer
A Farmer's Concerns
What will you do for the food movement
GMO-Free campaign in India

Gil Shaham

This morning on the way to work, listening to KUSC, as always, i heard Gil Shaham's playing Haydn's 4th violin concerto. The sound was so charming, didn't remember hearing this piece before, have to check it out. Too bad i arrived at work before the piece ended.

Gil Shaham is one of my favorite violinists. I first heard him play at least 15 years ago and was immediately drawn to the lyrical quality of the sound. For the untrained ears of mine i could only tell that Shaham's sound was very nice and there was an elegant clarity to it. The flow of the sound was smooth and easy. His playing somehow reminded me of that from Yehudi Menuhin, my favorite violinist. I could not help but looking for more information about him.

He was born in the US in 1971, while his Israeli parents, both scientists, were spending time at the University of Illinois on an academic fellowship. At the age of 4, after hearing recordings by Itzhak Perlman, he asked his parents to buy him a violin. A 4 years old? in relating to my modest Buddhist studying, i could only say that it must be karma, the seed surely had been sewn in his previous incarnation(s) :-). At age 10 he performed with the Israel Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta. At 11 he was admitted to Juilliard, studying under Dorothy DeLay who also taught other amazing violinists like Midori, Sarah Chang. He attended Columbia University after turning down Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Impressive!

His talent was put to a test in 1989 when he filled in for Itzhak Perlman in London because Perlman was having ear infection.

My first Gil Shaham's recording was Vivaldi: The Four Seasons/Fritz Kreisler: Concerto for Violin The second one was Wieniawski: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
but i take anything he plays :-) and love to attend his concerts. when he comes to town.

Gil Shaham currently plays with his Stradivarius violin, the "Comtesse de Polignac" of 1699, originally lent to him by the Stradivari Society in Chicago ( i better check out other recipients from this list :-) )

Sidetracking, i found this interesting article about lending Stradivarius instruments. So impressed with this quote by Mary Galvin, one of the lenders "I realised though that many artists could not afford the tools of their trade; we try to give them a leg up. The instruments inspire the musicians to search for a new, more profound voice. Then they go out and make recordings and for a few dollars everyone can enjoy these incredible instruments and the music these talented youngsters express."

Bread Lounge Bakery

Three weeks ago i went to Wally's to get my favorite baguette from Bread Lounge. The moment i walked in their Cheese Box boutique, Jenny the manager, told me "we are out of baguette and we even ordered more this time", i wanted to cry, but she continued "they have a store now, i will give you the address" :-) Looking at the address near downtown, it was almost 6pm, and i had another event at the Craft In America Center so i had to suppress my excitement.

I went home, checked on the internet and there was a blogpost from LA Weekly about the store opening in late May. When the next Saturday came i had to check it out. After a few phone calls to Ran Zimon the owner asking him about the direction to the store my two friends and i finally pulled into their parking lot and we walked in through the back door. The place didn't even have a store sign in the front if i could remember.

The inside was was simple with a big glass window looking into the work area with some people kneading/forming pastry dough. Facing that window was the counter with display area for the baguette and pastries, maned by two young and friendly staff members. Ran Zimon, from Israel, is passionate about his craft and this showed in the beautiful looking pastries. The croissants turned out to be as delicious as it looked. The outside was crusty





the inside was soft and flaky,



but still not to the same level with my favorite, made by Noubar Yessayan, from Maison Giraud which i still consider the best in town.


Maison Giraud Croissants

However, considering the distance from Orange County i am quite happy with the croissant from Bread Lounge :-)

I also got the ricota cheese with white chocolate creme patissiere and cranberry danish (didn't have a chance to taste it because it's was my mom's favorite), chocolate swirl which had thick and rich layer of chocolate paste (great with coffee), the huge nice tasting spinach feta pie which coud have been half the size and more filling



The mint lemonade had a nice green color, refreshing and not two sweet. It was a hot day so i was so into it that i forgot to take a picture :-)

Based on the selection and quality, this is probably the hottest bakery in town at the moment, imho.

Until next time.

Bread Lounge
700 S. Santa Fe Ave., Los Angeles, CA
(213) 327-0782
Close Monday.

Good Baguette in Los Angeles

I discovered this bread when i went to dinner at Test Kitchen, on the night that Walter Manzke helmed the kitchen. The moment i walked into the door i noticed big brown market bags full of baguettes on the counter. The look of the baguettes, with pointed ends, rugged brown crust covered with flour, immediately told me that those bread should not be ignored and my eyes kept gravitating toward them.



A good baguette is dear to me, it's my favorite kind of bread and i like the kind that has a nice aroma, thick brown crust, crispy but not crumbly, on the outside, and non-white, chewy (again not crumbly) with large irregular holes inside. This kind of texture is due to the living wild yeast which creates a long rise during the fermentation. I also prefer the ratio between the outside and inside to be around 60/40 since i love the crust :-).

The baguette was served with butter (excellent from Vermont) before the food arrived and it pleased me a great deal!



I had to find out where this bread came from. Up to this point i had been buying baguette from Bread Bar, and before that by La Brea Bakery. Talking about La Brea Bakery baguette i meant the one bought from their flagship store on La Brea in Los Angeles, not those by the same brand sold in other market like Trader Joe's, Costco, etc, because i notice a big difference in the crust texture.

It's difficult to get a good baguette in Los Angeles that is made in the traditional, artisanal French method. By the way, even in France, the art of making baguette was declining. In Paris, the baguette capital of the world, the number of 'bad' baguettes (where the dough was pre-made by machine, frozen, and later baked, shipped to the shop where the bread was sold) was on the rise. Enough to
make bakers recognized that they must return their focus to quality to protect the important meaning of bread in the French culture and diet. The government also made bakery to label 'baguette' (pre-made with commercial yeast) and 'baguette de tradition' (handmade with natural yeast on premise). Now 'good bread is back', kinda, according to this book by Steven Kaplan, highly regarded as one of the authorative figures on French bread. This article by David Lebovitz contains some general criterias on how to recognize a good baguette.

After the dinner i asked Stephane, one of the owners and manager, where the bread came from and he told me it was from Bread Lounge. I'd never heard of Bread Lounge before so i asked him where i could buy the bread and he said the baker only sold the bread to a few restaurants in town. On the way out i told Stephane if i could order the bread to go and he was so nice to give me the whole loaf :-)





One day i came to Wally's to buy cheese and chocolate i noticed some baguettes against the wall and they looked very good. One of the staff told me that they started to get the baguette from a new place and the customers are welcome to a free loaf to see how they like it. I jumped to the chance and i liked the baguette right away :-). A few weeks later, i stopped by Wally's again and noticed the same baguette and this time it was also complimentary so i help myself to another loaf :-). The next time t stopped by Wally's the bread was for sale. However, this time the look of the baguette suddenly reminded me of the bread that i had at Test Kitchen so i asked Jenny, the manager where the bread was from because it looked like the one i had at Test Kitchen by Bread Lounge. She nodded and said 'it's the same bread'. Bingo :-)

This past Saturday i went to Wally's and had the baguette with the wonderful Appalachian cheese from Meadow Creek Dairy and the amazing Acorn-Edition Spallacia from La Quercia.



This gourmet lunch probably cost me less than a full meal from McDonald's, depending on what you order :-)

Bread Lounge
700 S. Santa Fe Ave., Los Angeles, CA
(213) 327-0782

Related reading

Best Baguette in Paris