Veggie-saurus

It's been a busy week. Last weekend Mike and I were in Palo Alto for a business school sporting competition. My good friend Anna flew into San Francisco and drove back to LA with us where we spent the week on the go. Here are a few food-related highlights from the week:

5. Homemade Chex Mix for the car ride: our secret family recipe, which they have published on the side of the Chex boxes (ha, just kidding. Find the recipe here). I add cayenne pepper to the spice mix. After a few handfuls you suddenly realize that your mouth is pleasantly on fire from the kick of the pepper. Delicious.
4. Garlic Fries: the Braves lost to the Dodgers. I cried a little on the inside. The only thing that consoled me were the french fries smothered in garlic paste. Because who doesn't love garlic?
3. Mile-high coffee cake from brunch in Palo Alto: I can't for the life of me remember the name of the place, but they had the lightest, fluffiest and tastiest coffee cake I've ever had. With a dollop of whipped butter on top, it was my favorite part of the meal.
2. Brioche Bread: Anna and I bought fresh brioche bread from the farmers market Monday and made french toast Tuesday and Wednesday. I didn't have any syrup, so we spread jam on top on Tuesday and I added orange juice and zest to the batter Wednesday. It was quite tasty. Mike and I then used the bread for an open-faced chicken meatball sandwich Friday night. Delicious.

Number one deserves its own paragraph. Anna is a vegetarian (total sidebar - I was watching Jurassic Park last night and the little boy tells his sister "veggie-saurus, Lex, veggie-saurus!" I love that line.) so her staying with us posed a small challenge for our meat-eating house that I was more than willing to take on. I had seen recipe for veggie enchiladas in a west coast magazine where each portion was cooked and served in individual  ramekins so I used this as the basis for my creation. I first sauteed diced onions, minced garlic, and minced jalapenoes in a skillet. Then I added some chopped chipotle peppers (from the can), half a can of red beans and black beans, and half a can of corn. I added some taco seasoning and a bunch of spinach, and let it all simmer together a bit and the spinach wilt down. Anna served as sous chef and helped assemble everything. We took some enchilada sauce (someday I will make my own, but I used store-bought for this) and spread on the bottom of each oven-safe serving vessel so that nothing sticks too bad. Cut up some tortillas into wedges and put a piece or two at the bottom, on top of the sauce. Then layer the veggies, some shredded cheese, more sauce, more tortillas over and over until you reach the top of the dish. Place the dishes on a cookie tray and bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or so until the cheese melts and everything heats through.

There are a million variations on this. The recipe called for refried beans, corn tortillas, and green onions, but you could also add roasted or fresh bell peppers, carrots, tomatoes, kale, rice, you name it, you can put it in there. If you would eat it in a Mexican restaurant, you can put it in your enchiladas. And that if you can't forgo the meat, add shredded chicken or pork, flank steak, or ground beef. This will definitely be a repeat recipe in my house.

Question of the day: Do you ever eat meat-free meals? And if so, what is your go-to dish?

Rough Day

Today was rough, one of those afternoons where nothing goes the right way. Maybe the stars weren't aligned. Maybe it was Karma. More likely it was an unfortunate series of decisions made by other people that affected me at the end of the day.

So I took out my aggression on a huge onion. It was sweet, yellow, and bigger than a softball. And then I tackled the garlic. Four cloves, minced. Then thyme. Then I opened a bottle of malbec. All the sudden I had a serious tomato sauce brewing. I hacked up four chicken breasts. It was a simple but satisfying butchery.

I'm taking the chicken, sauce, some Parmesan cheese, linguine, garlic bread, and salad to my soon-to-be aunt, uncle, and cousin's house tomorrow for a little homemade Italian TLC. They, too, are having a series of rough days, with one of the twins in the hospital for scheduled surgery. Thoughts and prayers are welcomed and appreciated for Gabe and his family.

At least my rough day will make someone else's tomorrow a little brighter.

Question of the Day: What do you do when you have a rough day?

Celebrity food sighting!!

Emeril at Pink's in LA. I got his "BAM" dog. Awesome!!!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Farmer's Market

Let's talk a bit about where I get my food. Most of it comes from the Ralph's Grocery Store 3 blocks from my apartment. Some select items come in large packages from Costco. But most of the produce in my house comes from the Sunday Farmer's Market in Brentwood. It is 1 mile away, just the perfect distance for an invigorating Sunday morning bike ride. I love the market. About half of the market is comprised of produce, prepared food (artisan olive oil and hot sauce) and floral vendors. A quarter are what I call lunch vendors, with everything from tamales (chili and cheese is my fave) to gyros to gourmet crepes and cupcakes. And the last quarter are clothes, hats (one of which is super cute and I have my eye on and will purchase one day when I have $150 to spare), jewelry and kiddy games.

After going to the market almost every Sunday since I've moved here, I've developed a strategy to get the most out of it. It is about two blocks long on a single street; I enter at one end and I don't buy anything as I walk to the other end. I just look. Nearly all the vendors sell the same thing, or a variation of the same thing because they only really sell what is in season. Right now, carrots and turnips are giving way to artichokes and asparagus. In the winter, squash and citrus dominated. Late fall I found and fell in love with figs, but that is a whole other post in and of itself. And then on the return trip I buy what I want from the places that have the best prices and the best looking produce. Here is what I bought today:

What a beautiful spread! There are lots of things that I love about shopping at the market. First, I'm not a farmer, and I have only a vague idea as to what is in season when. However, since all the vendors are local (I'm not sure how close "local" actually means. But compared to brining in food from Chile or Argentina in the exact opposite season you are supposed to get a food item, I'm thinking this is super local. As in from the same state in which I live) I know that the food is in season in my area. And, if you have ever had a tomato from your garden versus one in the middle of winter that was shipped in from the Southern Hemisphere, you know that "in season" = "super tasty and delicious". The second reason I love the market is that they give you free samples. Not sure if you want a bartlett or an asian pear? Give them a taste! Maybe you even like the bosc best! Not sure how a bacon avocado tastes? Eat it! And finally, there is just something hippy and awesome about carrying around your market bag outside on a beautiful morning, smelling the freshly cut flowers and the aromas of grilled meat all around. I love markets so much that when I travel I always try to make it to the outdoor markets. I have some epic stories from markets in Spain that includes large legs of pig and Austria that includes garlic stuffed olives.

Today the best part of the market may have been the ride home. I wish Mike had been around to take a picture (he was at softball practice) because I can only imagine how silly I looked on my bike, in my helmet, with a large backpack on with a baguette sticking out the top. Classic.

I'm introducing a new feature to the blog: the question of the day. Today's question: What is best purchase (food or otherwise) you've ever made at an outdoor market? Please discuss.