Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Honey

An homage.

If I could be a beekeeper I would be. I love bees, always have. Not sure why exactly. I’ve been stung numerous times. I’m not afraid. I have two books on beekeeping, ‘The Shamanic Way of the Bee’ by Simon Buxton and “Beekeeping – A Practical Guide’ by Richard E. Bonney. One day I hSCAN0043ope to have a few hives of my own.

I also like what bees produce: Honey. My love affair with honey dates back to my childhood. My great-grandparents lived on a 17-acre parcel of land in Arroyo Grande, California that everyone called ‘The Ranch.’ Grampa Rollie raised sheep, chickens and Angus beef; they grew vegetables and had a few fruit trees; and Gramma Ora had a beautiful flower garden. They lived quite comfortably off this piece of land. The next door neighbors, the Van den Meters, had beehives and sold honey to my great-grandparents.

Traditions with Honey

Somewhere along the line, when I was probably four or five years old, a tradition began with my great-grandfather, myself and my younger sister, Traci. Traci and I would sit at the kitchen table with Grampa Rollie. He’d have a stack of toast on a plate, butter, and a jar of the neighbor’SCAN0003s amazing clover honey. He’d break off a piece of toast, put a dab of butter on it, spoon on some honey, then pop it into one of our mouths. Then he’d do it all over again for the other mouth. Back and forth, one in my mouth, one in my sister’s, until all the toast was gone. It was as if we were his baby birds and he was feeding us. Each visit required this ‘feeding’, and he always obliged. It’s a memory that I cherish to this day. I also remember the flavor of that clover honey. Fresh, unadulterated, like the clover fields the bees collected pollen in.

Mexican Honey

A year ago almost to the day, Robert and I were on a 10-day tour of the Yucatán Peninsula. While in Mérida we stopped in to see my friend, Chef Jeremiah Tower, who now makes Mérida his home base. One afternoon he took Robert and me to the local public market as he wanted us to try the Yucatán delicacy cochinita pibil – citrus marinated pork slow-roasted in banana leaves. The market was a wonder to behold. An assault of smells, sounds, and colors. Every type of food item from the area available. After a tour of the market, Jeremiah led us to a small stand that specializes in cochinta – his favorite purveyor of the pork dish. He ordered us a round of tacos and we sat at a little ceramic table in the middle of the market to eat. By the time we left I had eaten three cochinita tacos – each one topped with a sprinkling of crunchy chicharrón, or pork rind. They were amazing. He was right. I’ve had cochinta before but this was a notch above.

The reason I tell this story is that as we left the market Jeremiah stopped at another vendor, grabbed a plastic bottle of honey and told me I had to try it. So I did. I bought the bottle, a small plastic water bottle repurposed as a container for the amber honey. I managed to get it home to Los Angeles without getting caught at customs and have been eating it for the last year. And now, sadly, it’s gone. By the time we finished it off, it was all sugary and crystallized but still edible. And it was wonderful.

The flavor and color of honey is affected by the flowers that the bees collect pollen from. I was used to the more common clover and orange blossom honeys that are available in California. The kind I grew up eating at my great-grandfather’s knee. The Yucatán honey was a different experience completely; amber in color with a nice herbal bite to it. It’s flavor was sharper, more complex than what I was used to but I learned to love it. And I am very sad it is gone. A return trip to the Yucatán may be in the offing.

Local Honey

So to replace the Yucatán honey Robert and I went to the Atwater Village Farmers Market a couple weekends ago, and I bought some new honey from Aunt Willie at her litHoney 004tle stand. I opted for avocado this time to see what that tasted like and it’s delicious. The flavor is less sweet with molasses and butterscotch overtones. It’s a nice replacement to my plastic-water-bottle-Mexican-honey.

Aunt Willie has beehives where she collects her honey around the Los Angeles region: in La Habra, Fallbrook, Moorpark and San Bernardino. All roughly within 1o0 miles of Los Angeles. She explained to Robert and me that the bees, the farmers and she have a symbiotic relationship. They need her bees to pollinate their crops, and she needs their land to house her hives. Without bees to pollinate crops we wouldn’t have produce. They are a necessary component of our food cycle. Aunt Willie told us that bees via pollination can double a farmers yield. Even backyard beehives, like the ones I may eventually get if Robert will allow it, contribute to the food cycle.

French Honey

One final note: another honey that I learned to love, and have already blogged about, was the miel de sapin that I ate when I lived in France. The pollen is collected from the pine trees in the Vosges Mountains of Alsace – it has a distinctive, sharp, and piney taste to it.

I love bees, and I love honey.

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Friday, April 24, 2009

The Local Report - Canelé

3-26-09 002

.7 miles, about 3 minutes, from my home in Atwater Village.

A canalé is a specialty of the Bordeaux region of France. A small pastry with a soft custard center and a dark caramelized crust. They are eaten for breakfast, as a snack, and for dessert. Canalé is also a favorite neighborhood restaurant. Just a few walkable blocks from home. Robert and I were there on a recent Friday night. We have often wondered how the recession is affecting restaurants. It didn’t seem to be having much of an affect on Canalé this particular night. The restaurant was full and people were still waiting for tables when we left around 9:15 or so.

It’s great to see this place doing so well. The food has been called French-California-Mediterranean. And it is, but some of the menu items are classic French. Those are the ones I like the most. Like the bouef Bourguignon with buttered noodles I had on my first visit, and the pissaladiere with herb salad. They also have sides like pommes Anna, a very old-fashioned potato dish of layered potatoes and butter; starters like leeks vinaigrette, and brandade, a salt cod dish originating in the Languedoc and Provence regions of France. On our most recent visit we both had the bistro steak with sauce bordelaise, pommes Anna, and creamed spinach. Prepared perfectly. We were quite content at the end of the meal. They also offer a starter of Spanish ham, an Italian pasta dish in honor of the restaurant that was in the space for many years: Osteria Nonni, and a simple roast chicken. All less than classic French but equally good. Both the chef-owner, Corina Weibel, and general manager-owner, Jane Choi, come from other celebrated American restaurants: Campanile, and Lucques for Corina, and Pastis and Balthazar in New York for Jane.

The place has the feel of a Parisian bistro. Once inside it’s easy to pretend you are at a back250px-Caneles_stemilion street bistro in Paris. One Parisians living in the outer arrondissements might go to. The kitchen is open and practically in the narrow dining room which is part of the fun. There are a few seats at a counter looking into the kitchen, and a communal table in the front window. The staff is welcoming, attentive and congenial. We were seated near the front door so we watched as people arrived. It was obvious that a lot of the clientele comes from the neighborhood, and that many are regulars. The hostess knew a lot of the people coming through the door. That is what, after several visits now, I like most about the place. It’s unstuffy neighborhood vibe. It’s honest cooking. It’s not fancy nor does it need to be. And to top the meal off they offer you a warm canalé as you are going out the door.

http://www.canele-la.com/
  • Canelé
  • 3291 Glendale Blvd.
  • Los Angeles, CA 90039
  • 323-666-7133
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Wednesday, April 22, 2009

A Menu for Earth Day

Earth Day is today, Wednesday, April 22, 2009. In celebration of the day Martine Marcus and Judy Mancini of Burden Free Foods created a special menu using ingredients that come from within 100 miles of their home-base, Morristown, New Jersey.

Earth Day Menu

  • Local, Organic Squash & Apple Potage
  • New Jersey Free-Range, Organic Chicken Soup with Local Potato Dumplings
  • Local Herbed Polenta Toast with Sautéed Pennsylvania Mushrooms and New Jersey Aged Gouda Cheese
  • Salad of Local Greens Drizzled with Local Honey Vinaigrette
  • Apple, Blueberry, Maple Compote Over Local Cornmeal Pound Cake

These dishes are available today and tomorrow at Drip Coffee, 5 Hilltop Rd., Mendham, New Jersey, 973-543-3747. For those of you who don’t live in the Mendham area see the recipe below for Herbed Polenta Toast.

Local Livingshot5mush

‘Living Life Locally’ is a motto that more and more of us seem to be embracing. Since I decided to start this blog I have noticed an explosion of activity having to do with local, sustainable, organic living. There seems to be a real movement afoot. It’s not only due to the current economic malaise; it’s also about our changing climate, and our diminishing natural resources. The numbers of individuals, groups, farmers, foodies, restaurateurs, bloggers, writers and entrepreneurs embracing the local life are increasing daily. It’s our version of the 60s ideal of ‘living off the land.’

Earth Day

Earth Day actually dates back to April 22, 1969 – the date of the first Earth Day celebration. It was inspired by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson who announced that in the spring of 1970 there would be a nationwide grassroots demonstration on the environment. April 22, 1970 marked the beginning of the modern environmental movement with the goal of a healthy, sustainable environment. Thirty-nine years later the movement is still going strong, and is needed now more than ever.

100-Mile Radius

As mentioned in a previous post, the idea for 100 Miles came about because of my friend, Martine Marcus. To the very best of her ability she lives her life locally only buying food produced within a 100-mile radius of her Morristown, shot3 mushNew Jersey home. Her company, Burden Free Foods, cooks with organic ingredients and specializes in food that is locally sourced. They also have a dedicated gluten-free kitchen and make many gluten-free items. Martine and her business partner, Judy Mancini, create weekly menus for local residents too busy to cook. Their dishes are available at a small, local chain of coffee houses, Drip Coffee. They supply two of the chain’s stores with sandwiches, soups, salads, meals-to-go and baked goods. They also serve their community from early summer to late fall at the Morristown Farmer’s Market by creating original dishes using the market’s bounty. Dishes that can be taken home to eat later, or eaten on the spot. They also conduct on-site cooking demos using market ingredients.

Recipe - Herbed Polenta Toast with Sautéed Mushrooms

By Martine Marcus

In keeping with the living locally credo, try to source the below ingredients to within 1oo miles of your home base. It will be an educational and fun experiment.

Serves 4 to 6

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Polenta

  • ½ cup coarse ground polenta
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • Pinch of black pepper
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
  • 3 oz. grated hard cheese (aged gouda, Reggiano, etc.)
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh herbs (parsley, chives, etc.)

Boil water with bay leaf, salt, pepper and olive oil. Gently stir in cornmeal, reduce to simmer. Cook 15 minutes stirring occasionally. Stir in cheese and herbs. Pour into a small, oiled loaf pan. Pack tightly. Chill for a minimum of one hour (overnight is ok!) Turn out of pan, slice polenta into ½ inch thick slices. Toast slices in oven for 7 minutes on each side.

Mushroom Mélange

  • 4 cups assorted rough chopped mushrooms – we use oyster, white and Portobellos. If they need to be cleaned, just use a dry towel and lightly brush them
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic, chopped
  • ½ cup shredded hard cheese (aged gouda, Reggiano, etc.)
  • 1/8 cup lemon juice
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Chives, finely chopped

Put olive oil in hot heavy pan (I swear by my ‘Lodge’ cast iron skillet). Add garlic and chopped dry mushrooms. Add salt and pepper, shake pan while lightly browning mushrooms, cook until medium soft. Spoon mushrooms onto toasted polenta. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Spread a small handful of cheese over the mushrooms and sprinkle lightly with chives.

Bon appétit!

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Monday, April 20, 2009

The Local Report – Sweets for the Soul

0.8 miles, about 3 minutes, from my home in Atwater Village.

I have been wanting to give a shout out to Sweets for the Soul for sometime now. Primarily because it’s one of those small, local businesses that you want to see succeed. And also because they sell brownies! Yummy, rich, gooey, chocolate brownies. By using Valrhona chocolate exclusively they up the delicious factor Local 020 by 10.

The small company with an even smaller storefront on Glendale Blvd. in Los Angeles’ Atwater Village was started by Lilly LaBonge who gave up a demanding career in TV commercials and music videos to make brownies full-time. On offer are such items as Brownie Points, unctuous bite-sized rounds made with Valrhona cocoa and chocolate chips, Brownie Bliss, squares of chewy chocolate brownies made with unsweetened Valrhona chocolate and toasted pecans, Cocoa Bliss, heart-shaped brownies made with Valrhona cocoa and Valrhona chocolate, and last but not least, the Obama Brownie, made with Valrhona dark and white chocolate.

I have tried them all and they are all delicious. I like an intense chocolate flavor so my favorite is the Cocoa Bliss – double chocolate. For those readers who don’t live locally, Sweets for the Soul will send orders via Federal Express.

Purposely keeping the selection small while they start out, they will be adding new products over time. One of the upcoming items is Brownie Shards, the bits leftover in the pan after baking Brownie Points, to sprinkle on ice cream, freeze, or eat as sweet snack.

www.sweetsforthesoul.com

  • Sweets for the Soul
  • 3169 Glendale Blvd.
  • Los Angeles, CA 90039
  • 323-668-9338
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Friday, April 17, 2009

A Recipe for Quiche Lorraine

When I first returned from France in 1978 I was 18 years old and cooking up a storm for friends and family. Intricate five and six couNew Years 2008 015rse French meals. Amuse-bouches, appetizers, main course, salad course, cheese course, and dessert course. One of my favorite things to make was a dish I discovered while living in Alsace – la tarte a l’oignon, or onion tart. It was simple, delicious and very satisfying.

The recipe in French that I used to make the dish listed pâte brisée for the crust. A pâte brisée is translated as ‘short paste,’ ‘pastry dough, or ‘pie crust’ in ‘Mastering The Art of French Cooking.’ All good except for some unknown reason I found a whole wheat pie crust in the vegetarian cookbook ‘Laurel’s Kitchen’ that I started using. It’s not because I am vegetarian. My reasons for this decision are now lost to time. It is simply an amazing piecrust. One I have made often.

When Robert and I decided to stay in this past New Year’s Eve and make a quiche I knew I’d be making that whole wheat piecrust. It had been a long time since I’d made a quiche, or even an onion tart, and I was excited to do so. We had even purchased a beNew Years 2008 018autiful ceramic quiche pan from Sur La Table just for the occasion. I hauled ‘Mastering The Art’ out so Julia could give me guidance, and in reading the recipe I was reminded of what a quiche really is.

Her translation of quiche is ‘open-faced tart.’ Her translation of quiche Lorraine is ‘Cream and Bacon Quiche’. Heavy cream, eggs and bacon. That simple. A lot of French cooking is fairly uncomplicated with a minimum of ingredients and for good reason. By keeping the ingredient list to the few the flavors of those included stand out. I think we tend to want to add a lot of ingredients to a dish like quiche and that often takes away from the simplicity of flavors that could be there. Julia does go on to allow for other types of quiches in the book; cheese, Roquefort, tomato, and so on. The only alteration to her recipe we made was to add a little gruyere cheese.

Final note (before recipes): a friend recently pointed out that The B-52’s recorded a song called ‘Quiche Lorraine.’ If you are so inclined to play it while cooking, please feel free. Forthwith my version of Quiche Lorraine. Add a green salad and you have a meal.

Quiche Lorraine

Adapted from ‘Mastering The Art of French Cooking’ by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, Simone Beck

Serves 4 to 6

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

3-4 ounces lean bacon (6-8 slices, medium thickness)

1 quart water

An 8-inch partially cooked pastry shell placed on a baking sheet; see below for a whole wheat piecrust recipe

3 eggs

1 ½ - 2 cups whipping cream, or half and half

½ cup grated gruyere cheese

½ tsp salt

Pinch of pepper

Pinch of nutmeg

1-2 Tb butter cut into pea-sized dots

Cut bacon into pieces about an inch long and ¼ inch wide. Simmer for 5 minutes in the water. Rinse in cold water. Dry on paper towels. Brown lightly in a skillet. Press bacon pieces into bottom of unbaked pastry shell.

Beat the eggs, cream or half and half, and seasonings in a mixing bowl until blended. Stir in cheese. Pour into pastry shell and distribute the butter pieces on top.

Set in upper third of preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until quiche has puffed and browned. Slide quiche onto a hot platter and serve.

Piecrust

Adapted from ‘Laurel’s Kitchen’ by Laurel Robertson, Carol Flinders, and Bronwen Godfrey

My one change to this recipe is to replace margarine with butter. And I always opt for the combination of whole wheat flour and whole wheat pastry flour. I have included the recipe pretty much as the book lays it out so it can be used for other purposes. For the above quiche recipe do not make a lattice.

New Years 2008 005

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, or combination of whole wheat and whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup wheat germ

10 tablespoons of butter

1 tsp salt

4-6 tablespoons cold water

Stir together the flour, wheat germ, and salt. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients with two knives or a pastry cutter. When dough is the consistency of rolled oats, sprinkle with the water, using just enough to hold the dough together. Using cupped fingers, work the dough together quickly and gently. As soon as it will hold together, form into a ball. For best results, refrigerate for at least a half-hour, or even overnight, but be sure to remove from the refrigerator and hour before rolling it out.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Press the dough out into a thick disc. Roll to size on a lightly floured surface, or between sheets of waxed paper, or on a pastry cloth. Gently roll the dough over the rolling pin and onto a pie plate, easing it loosely into the plate. If it should stick to the table, slide a long sharp knife underneath, and if it should tear, patch with extra dough once it is in place. Gently press the dough into the plate so there are no air pockets. Cut off the excess with a sharp knife, but be sure to make the rim extra thick so it won’t burn. If you are going to fill the pie before baking, you may use the extra dough for lattice.

Form a rim, and prick pie shell all over with a fork.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, cool, and fill. Bake for just 7 minutes if your recipe calls for a partially baked crust.

Makes one 10-inch crust, or crust and lattice for one 8-inch pie.

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Monday, April 13, 2009

Cookbooks: Guides To Good Cooking

Friends occasionally ask me if I have any cooking tips. I always say ‘use salt.’ And then I tell them if they don’t have two cookbooks, Julia Child’s ‘Mastering The Art of French Cooking’ and the ‘Joy of Cooking,’ to buy both.

‘Mastering The Art’ because it’s truly that. The methods used in French cooking are the basis for all good cooking. Anyone wCookbooks 006ho has a desire to cook well should become familiar with French cooking. Julia and her two French girlfriends will walk you through it. ‘Joy’ because it has everything in it. If there’s something you want to make and you need to know how, look in ‘Joy of Cooking.’ You might not necessarily use the recipe but it will tell you how the dish is made. You can go from there. Or you can use the recipe.

Since my last post was about the closing of The Cook’s Library, a bookstore specializing in cookbooks, I thought it would be a good idea to write about them. I have added a list to the blog of my cookbook collection. Not that I am a collector by any means. The books I own I have picked up along the way for various reasons; I knew the author personally, the book intrigued me for some reason, or the author was a person of some stature in the food world.

People have mistakenly referred to me as a ‘chef’. A title I have never used nor would. Calling myself a chef would denigrate those chefs I have known. I am a home cook now, and I once was a ‘professional cook’. I cooked on restaurant kitchen lines as: head line cook at my first restaurant job in Santa Rosa, California, breakfast cook in a San Francisco cafe, and for a short-lived time on the line of Jeremiah Tower’s Santa Fe Bar & Grill in Berkeley, California. But none of those experiences ever came close to those of the men and women I have known who really were chefs, who toiled away from early morning to late night six sometimes seven days a week.

The reason I mention this is that I still use cookbooks. Even though I’ve had training, and have worked in restaurant kitchens. Not every time I cook but often. Sometimes just for inspiration, other times I follow the recipe to a ‘T’. ‘Mastering The Art’ is now well-worn, stained. My favorite pastry crust is out of the vegetarian cookbook ‘Laurel’s Kitchen.’ Whole wheat and amazing. I use Judy Rodger’s, and Jeremiah Tower’s books often. I make a tarte a l’oignon recipe out of a French cookbook I brought back from France: ‘Gastronmie Alsacienne.’

And yet there are holes in my collection. I still don’t have any books by Marcella Hazan. I have long wanted ‘The Classic Italian Cookbook’ and I fear it may be out print. I also don’t have any Richard Olney. Every cook’s library should have ‘Simple French Food’ at the very least. I’d like more Elizabeth David; need at least one James Beard. I have Diana Kennedy’s ‘The Art of Mexican Cooking’ but still need a few Paula Wolferts – the doyenne of Mediterranean cooking. Every cook should also have ‘The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook’ for both the historical aspect, and for the sheer folly of the writing and recipes; as well as for an infamous recipe on page 259 for ‘Haschich Fudge’ more commonly known as marijuana brownies.

Finally, my very first exposure to food writing was that of M.F.K. Fisher. Titles like “The Art of Eating,’ ‘How To Cook A Wolf,’ ‘Serve It Forth,’ and “The Gastronomical Me’ opened my eyes to the art of living as well as inspired a passion in me for the way that food is gathered, prepared and eaten; the dining experience as social effect. She captures the essence of what it means to be human in her writing.

In looking back over this entry I realize that my cookbooks and influences are probably a bit passé now. The people I write about here are from the early part of the food revolution in this country. But they are important forebears. Maybe I’m just a bit old-fashioned. There are now hundreds of new, young, brilliant chefs, amazing new restaurants, cookbooks and Food Network TV shows. The food revolution has grown up. Guess I need to play catch up. I will endeavor to try.

Watch for my next blog: a recipe for Quiche Lorraine adapted from ‘Mastering The Art of French Cooking,’ and ‘Laurel’s Kitchen.’

Bon appétit.

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Friday, April 3, 2009

The Cook’s Library

An appreciation.

Sadly, The Cook’s Library is closing. After twenty years in business owner Ellen Rose has decided to close. Citing the poor economy, the abundance of chain bookstores, as well as readers ongoing defection to the Internet, as reasons for her decision.

I wish I could say I was a regular visitor. I’ve been to the small sho3-26-09 006p on Los Angeles’s Third Street a handful of times during the various periods I’ve lived in Los Angeles -- and each time was a treat. A whole store devoted solely to cookbooks, and books related to food and cooking! For anyone interested in food it was a very special place. And even though I didn’t make it in as often as I’d have liked, just knowing it was there was a comfort. Ellen, and her helpful and knowledgeable staff, only added to the experience. They all have such a passion for cooking and cookbooks, and would help locate the most obscure titles. Or discuss a dish, a chef, a restaurant or anything else food-related. If they didn’t have whatever it was you wanted, they’d order it for you. But more than likely they’d have it in stock.

It was a place in which one could spend hours: browsing, reading, drooling, and I usually left with at least one new cookbook for my collection. Many a well-known chef – and the lesser-known too – have frequented the shop. Author book signings took place at the store often. A number of world renowned chefs and foodies have been by to sign their most recent books and cookbooks. Signings also happened at the Hollywood Farmer’s Market on Sunday mornings. Several years ago I attended one with my friend Jeremiah Tower when his cookbook ‘Jeremiah Tower Cooks’ came out. It was an inspired place to hold a book signing. Right there amongst all the amazing fruit and vegetable stands, and those of us there to shop. This speaks to how the store was run and why it was so popular.

Another memory of an afternoon spent in the store was the day that my friend, Jill Foulston*, a book editor from London, and I hung out there for several hours. Jill is an inveterate foodie, we met at an amazing dinner in an Italian hill town, and we love to talk food. Earlier the same day we had spent a couple of hours lingering in the cookbook stacks of the Central branch of the Los Angeles Public Library in downtown Los Angeles (yes, the library has cookbook stacks!) After lunch at the fun and very hip, ‘The Restaurant’ at the downtown Standard Hotel we headed up to the Cook’s Library. By the time we left the store a few hours later she had a handful of books and I had one of my now favorite books - ‘Dinner at Miss Lady’s – Memories and Recipes from a Southern Childhood’ by Luann Landon. The book is about meals that the author’s grandmother, Miss Lady, prepared. I bought it as research for my own project about my great-grandmother, her home garden, and the meals that came out of it.

The shop is closing April 30 and is currently selling off it’s inventory. Robert and I went in last weekend. He’d never been and I wanted him to see it before it closed. All books were 20 % off. I bought a book that I didn’t have but that holds special memories for me: The Silver Palate Cookbook. When I first lived in New York City in 1982, the Silver Palate, a little food shop on the Upper West Side, was among the more popular gourmet food shops. I’d come from San Francisco’s Oakville Grocery to work in Dino de Laurentiis’ food emporium, DDL FoodShow, as a cheese buyer. The gourmet food industry was still fairly young, the community relatively small, the stand out stores at the time were Balducci’s, Zabar’s and Dean & Deluca but Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins’ tiny shop was different. They had well-prepared food, nicely displayed, in even nicer packaging. Geared towards take-out and catering, it was easy to stop by after work to grab dinner, or on the weekend to pick up food for a picnic. Their book, published in 1982, was full of all of the dishes everyone grew to love. I now have the 25th Anniversary Edition on my shelf thanks to the Cook’s Library.

If you love food, and cookbooks, and have yet to visit the Cook’s Library hurry over to see what they have left before the doors are locked for good on April 30th.

*Jill has edited: ‘The Joy of Eating: The Virago Book of Food,’ and ‘The Virago Book of the Joy of Shopping.’

www.cookslibrary.com

The Cook’s Library
8373 W. Third Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
323-655-3141

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