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Eating L.A.: Cherrypicking in Leona Valley: Out of L.A. for the day

Cherry picking was great. No thorns. No bears. Big clumps of ripe berries just leaping into the hand. I came home with about 10 lbs. And two cherry pitters. The metal German one works best (of course). I made a Jen Kabat inspired crisp (or is it a crumble?) whatever it’s called, it was the one with an oaty buttery topping. Yum.

Yesterday I got some change from a machine, and it included 3 dollar coins: a Susan B. Anthony, a Sacajawea, and a new George Washington.

I have a few issues with US currency in general: that the paper bills aren’t different sizes, textures or colors, that the coins aren’t remotely intuitive, and of course, that it’s all butt-ugly.

But was there any reason to put George Washington on the dollar coin? I know he’s on the dollar, so there’s continuity there, but he’s also on the quarter (in profile, but it’s still the same guy). Very confusing. Plus, it was nice have some ladies on the money.

:: Come Out & Play 2008 ::

I’m not in New York, and LA is plenty busy this weekend, but this event makes me want to hop a plane. Sounds like it might rival Midnight Madness. I love games. I love public events. Public Games? Swoon.

According to Popbitch:

>> Stop! In the name of love <<
Bus routes get the Royal treatment

Several years ago the Sultanate of Oman spent
a great deal of money building hundreds of
bus stops across the country. They are all
beautifully built with crenellations on the
top, To date however, the country has no
public buses.

If someone has a spare mini bus in the middle east, I’d like to do a little tour of these bus stops. Or maybe we could enlist the Coq au Van guys, and outfit a minibus as a kitchen/dining room/stage/gallery, and go stop to stop, feeding, eating, and playing music.

Anyone game?

Let’s do it in the winter tho, summer in the middle east sounds Beastly.

Yesterday I participated in a home-grown Iron Chef, and my team won! I was actually kind of the booby team mate (added when a previous team mate dropped out–I volunteered thinking that I would be more of a chopper and cleaner rather than a chef), but then some of my ideas actually worked. Phu was the workhorse and main chef-mind of the team. His summer rolls and Vietnamese curried catfish (served on a bed of shredded green onions, and topped with fried shallots and carrots) with a side dish of vermicelli and fish sauce were totally gourmet and gorgeous. He and his wife/teammate Melanie also prepared the dough for our desert flatbread, and she and Abbe wrapped 30 rolls in record tasty time. My contribution was the drink–watermelon and carrot juice, with a squeeze of lime and a dollop of vanilla ice cream (Abbe insisted the ice cream would come in handy, and it surely did); and the desert. Ahhh, the desert. The secret ingredient was carrot, so I started by boiling up carrots, with a beet (for color). Then the boiled veggies were pureed, and sweetened and spiced (with cinnamon). Then I cooked up some dark chocolate (a handy gift from my sister Zoe), mixed with Tahini and a bit of butter. Cherries from the farmer’s market were wrapped in foil and thrown on the grill. Marscapone was mixed with ricotta, sweetened a bit, and dosed with vanilla. The flatbread dough was rolled and thrown on the grill. Then smeared with the carrot puree (a beautiful deep red), and striped with marscapone and chocolate sauce. Cherries were strewn on the top, and the dish was garnished with mint leaves. Divine.

We totally deserved to win.

The other teams also delivered up tasty treats, and a great (tho soooo hot) time was had by all.

Thanks to Mandrake for hosting the event! And to Vin (last name?) for organizing it.