i8tonite: Chinese Roast Pork (Char Sui) (adapted from Kitchen Sense by Mitchell Davis)
I inherited the love of Chinese food from my mother. One of my earliest memories was eating at a Cantonese American restaurant in Monrovia, a suburb of Los Angeles. This was 1970 and try as they might, decorating correctness hadn’t been seen in Chinese restaurants. The dining room was lacquered red, dotted with Chinese lanterns […]
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I8tonite: Food from “Kitchen Sense” by Mitchell Davis
I stopped writing on “i8tonite”. It wasn’t going anywhere and truthfully, I wasn’t sure where I wanted to take it. It started because I love cooking. We know that. Truthfully, the sheer act of it (and craft) saved my life. I’m forever indebted to the stove, the fridge, farmer’s markets, and washing dishes. It will […]
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Dining Out: Pastrami, LA Style
It’s been awhile. So much for creating a fan base for this blog. So, let’s look at this as an exercise in writing…for enjoyment’s sake. I need to generate the blog without any expectation, on my part, because clearly I can’t even keep to my own desired timetable. February was a very busy month with […]
Read MoreMâche, Lamb’s Lettuce or Corn Salad: It’s Delicious Whatever You Call It
Have you ever eaten something that was so divinely simple and loved it? No cooking, no baking? I mean almost completely unadorned that you thought your tastebuds were flawed because it was just two ingredients? Essentially, that’s how I discovered mâche (corn salad, lamb’s lettuce) while in Provence. (I know. How much more pretentious can […]
Read MoreA New Cookbook Icon: “Twelve Recipes” by Cal Peternell
As I was reading “Twelve Recipes” by Cal Peternell, chef at Alice Waters’ famed Chez Panisse, lacking a father figure became an even more perceptible limp in my upbringing. Here was a father who was packing up kitchen gear for his son before he went away to college, useful items such as a knife, cutting […]
Read MorePenny’s Broiled Swordfish and Cilantro Pesto
I was a very naïve eater before I moved to New York. (Actually, I was just naïve but that’s a different matter…and I still can be.) As I’ve said before, my mother with whom I spent most of my upbringing, just wasn’t a cook. From her, it was “here’s the Kraft Macaroni” or being handed […]
Read MoreMy Favorite Tortilla Chip (With or Without the Salsa)
Recently, I was at LA’s Farmers Market at The Grove buying some vegetables from Farm Fresh Produce. It’s one of the vegetable stands that’s been in the market for more than 50 years. It’s my go-to veggie hook-up when I missed my normal Sunday farmers market or need something additional throughout the week. (It’s either […]
Read MoreFood, Media & Food Media: My Opinion
If you read my posts through my social media, I love food. Not just eating it but all of it. The business of it. The cooking of it. The exploitation of it. If there is one thing that we can all agree on concerning food ….it’s not a want but a need. Yes, there are […]
Read MoreA Grown-Up Pizza Party
I’m a little late to my first post of 2015. I actually caught up a couple of weeks ago but now I’m slagging behind. Two posts per week was way too demanding so I brought it down to one per week. That’s 52 entries per year. Geez….it’s a damn publishing house. My friends keep saying […]
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2014: My Year in Food
With another year ending, I get a little reflective over 2014 and of my eating. Mulling it over in my head, I chronicled my year with food, cooking and eating as spurring me forward. I still marvel at my ever changing tastebuds. Now that I’m firmly planted in middle age with no way of going back, […]
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