I don't know, could be like kicking sand into a sink hole, this whole Blog idea. What the hell, I figure I'd give it a shot and see where it landed. At the worst I'd have a petty diary of the time spent in the moment - a captured breath of my history as it were. At the best I'll meet a few like-minds and learn a few new tricks along the way. It's also an exercise in stick-to-it-ness, can my short attention span go the long haul of a blog? As long as alcohol remains in the house and the spell check continues to correct my dyslexic 'all thumbs' typing, I don't see why not. Thus it begins...
These notes flow from just a little left of the center of Los Angeles, a tiny spot somewhere between "I wish I lived in that beautiful house' and 'lock your doors, we're coming to a stop light'. It's rented, which suits me fine (for now) as I'm not the do-it-yourself kinda guy. I once owned and for the last few years I had a broken oven that I never got around to fixing. Mice moved in through the bottom and it soon became a big metal container that held one small cheap wooden mouse trap. I sucked as my own landlord. Now I rent. And I once again enjoy the comforts of crisp food from an oven.
They say Los Angeles is a state of mind, and if true, then I have lost mine. This is a land without a central nerve system - like a jellyfish in a vat of aloe, it seems to aimlessly exist. Now I don't mean that in a purely negative way, I just mean it feels so displaced and spread out that central social centers and 'main streets' are nothing more than urban legends brought here from other time zones. For the majority of us, gas stations are still required to get groceries and the GPS system is the new Thomas Guide for finding the grocery store. "Down Home" will never apply here....
I have a history of smaller cities - I was born and raised in South Florida, moved to San Francisco (to attend Art School) and later moved to New Orleans and they all had one important thing in common, world class food on every level. I have been spoiled by this past, and I now struggle with high expectations for culinary excellence every time I walk into a restaurant. I know from the thousands of places I've eaten from Florida to San Fran, from taco bars to crab shacks, It doesn't take much to make a flavorful and enjoyable meal. Unfortunately, when I first moved here, I found most of Los Angeles to be a huge disappointment in this area. Like a truck stop serving year-old frozen 'boil bag' meals, the overall experience of L.A. restaurants was bleak. But things started changing....
You've gleamed by now that this is all leading up to a (rambling) food blog. I am indeed a 'food hound' in search of a food high. And L.A. is quickly becoming a Food Hounds' heaven. I've been in L.A. 20 years and it is only recently that I've seen a trend of food moving away from the can & cardboard ready-mades to 'fresh and local'. Maybe it's the internet with intensely informed readers wanting more, maybe it's the constant influx of young travelers who have developed refined taste buds and expect more from a major city, maybe it's the cable 'Food' shows that have opened home kitchens to the forbidden secrets of the Food Gods... or maybe it's that people just want to get back to simple pleasures like a well crafted plate of comfort food. Things are changing quickly and it's a good time to be a food hound.
I've decided to write this blog as I live my life, an utter mess - cluttered and (seemingly) without direction, but with an underlying thread connecting it all - Food. No grammar checks, no cares. I have stubborn ideas about food and what is good and why, and like all cultural anthropologists, I come with hidden personal biases & influences. But the passion is sincere and the focus true. I hope to dump notes and thoughts here when I get the urge, using this Blog as an excuse to experience new restaurants, unusual ingredients, or at the least, drop a fork and drop my pants in public. Call it Culinary Adventurism. And feedback is welcome, as long as you wash your own plate, thank you.
Let me start this blog with one of my favorite recipes:
Head out to a REAL roadside Farmers market - the kind found on the edge of an apple farm and buy yourself a BIG-ASS glass jug of raw apple cider - this is the unprocessed, unpasteurized stuff. That's important. Now pour some out so that there's at least a 6" to 8" gap between the screw top and the contents. Now seal it back up good and tight (Hey, just for kicks let's add a few tablespoons of sugar first). Now stick it in your car trunk and forget about it for two months. Drive around with it. Park the car in the sun.... Yea, You know where I'm going with this...
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