July 2008 Archives

What we have here is 31 days of food blogging or photo-blogging. Some of it good, some of it decent, and some of it just plain lame. C'est la vie.

Well, to finish off NaBloPoMo's July Food Blogging Challenge, I shall talk about the last 36 hours worth of gluten filled hell.

So, I have been blogging here about having Celiac's Disease and having to eat gluten-free. But what I have not blogged about is how one can't always eat at home in a perfectly controlled situation to keep from getting sick from cross-contamination or gluten hiding in food it has no business being in.

Since I was first diagnosed in the early-1990s as being wheat & gluten intolerant, I have tried to make sure that the bulk of my eating out involves "Riceatarian" food - Asian, Middle Eastern, and Mexican. Each of these cuisines' builds their starch repertoire on rice or other non-gluten grains (like corn/maize). C'est la top.

I test out as moderate in the range of my inability to deal with gluten on the official celiac's tests, but I also always test out as allergic to wheat as well. A double whammy. If I eat something with wheat or rye or spelt or barley, even if a bit of it (ie: thickened soup, such as clam chowder), my neck, intestines, head, and hives let me know all about it. They say, "WTF!!!! What were you thinking!?!?!??!"

Generally, if I by accident get a bit of wheat or gluten in my food when eating out, I will immediately flush, my neck and shoulder muscles will lock up, and my intestines will make an announcement that they are not pleased. The next day, I will feel like I have the flu, with fatigue, sore throat, a headache, aching muscles, intestinal bloating, cramping and either constipation or diarrhea. Sometimes the intestinal bit can go on for a couple of days. All over less than a teaspoon of wheat in a soup or sauce or... or ... or...

I am not a severe reactor, like some who can't have food that is prepared on a cutting board that once had wheat on it or eat something that was processed in the same facility as a gluten-full item. Generally, I can eat gluten-free foods that were prepared in the same space as gluten-full foods as along as the prep area was washed in between.

In the US items with wheat starch as an ingredient are not considered gluten-free, but in Europe under EU regulation, wheat starch can be used in gluten-free items as it is 'technically' gluten-free (or free of the gluten protein). When I lived in Ireland, I quickly found that I could not eat any of the items that contained wheat starch due to my wheat allergy that I have on top of my celiac's.

Since the mid-1990s, going to a dim sum lunch at a Chinese restaurant has been a fairly safe experience for me, as I have researched what I can and can't eat. The problem comes when an Asian restaurant cuts a corner by using wheat flour rather than rice flour or uses wheat flour to thicken a sauce rather than corn or rice or tapioca starch.

Yesterday, one of my fave LA area dim sum places, the Empress Pavilion, in Chinatown struck out for the 3rd time in the course of the last year. Most of my dim sum experiences at the Empress Pavilion have been positive, but three times in the last year, the food has been mediocre to not very good at all. And all three times, I have felt sick later.

Why do I keep going back? Well, most the time the food is spot on and I have no reactions. Yesterday's lunch was not one of those times. Hadashi and I arrived a bit late for lunch, there were only 4 carts in circulation with a fairly poor selection. We ended up in the confusion of piled up carts and needing food getting the beef dumplings.

Now beef dumplings are almost always suspect. Bizarre at best, just plain yucky at worst. But there was no har gow (shrimp dumplings) to be had and the only shrimp dumplings available were with shark fin, which I won't eat. So, I filled up on turnip cakes and steamed rice wrapped in banana leaf.

At the end of the meal, I broke down and had a 2nd beef dumpling. I opened it up and looked at it before eating it, it was stewed beef, celery, water chestnut and some other vegetables with suspicious white paste all over them. Ding ding ding. Dang.

The misery started about 2 hours after leaving the Empress Pavilion and lasted until late this afternoon with me camping out near the restroom most of the day today (TMI, sorry, but that is the truth).

During today's reaction, I used my time to re-research dim sum recipes, and it was confirmed that the dumplings I order should use tapoica starch or rice flour or on occasion wheat starch, but all the recipes state that wheat flour should never be used (too heavy for light dumplings).

As I can reconstruct the meal, either the Empress Pavilion's kitchen used wheat flour to thicken the beef dumpling's stuffing or used wheat flour rather than rice flour & tapioca in the turnip cake.

Regardless, third strike and the Empress is out.

Tues 07.29.08 - It took nearly a year, but I finally found dairy-free, corn free, and canola free margarine!

Thanks Willow Run Soybean Margarine.

This evening I made a mess in the kitchen assembling a moderately elaborate dinner and am now afraid to go back in there and start the cleaning up process. Where is the dish washing fairy when you need him or her?

The real issue is all the olive oil I used for cooking and now it is on multiple pans and dishes. Hmmm...

I supposed I should go back to steaming food as a main method of preparation. Or maybe only eating air. Less dishes to wash later.

Oops. Wrong cultural reference. The above title is a quote from the movie Spinal Tap.

No, I am not in Cleveland, nor have I ever been to Cleveland, but I do have friends who live there if that counts for anything.

Today is a wash in food-blogging-land. A wash. I had a bad night's sleep (it was too hot in my apartment) and then a very busy day. I did accomplish quite a lot in terms of work and I did go to the fabulous Mother's Market for my rice bread and other gluten-free, dairy-free, and egg-free staples.

Best of all, I *finally* found a vegan margarine / butter substitute that did not have any casein, nor canola oil, nor corn of any form in the ingredients. Just plain ole soy. Yay for soy!

This may not sound exciting for you, but since I am allergic to dairy, corn, and canola, trying to find any vegan or substitute dairy products is very hard as most non-diary products trying to imitate butter that do not contain casein, or corn (gives a buttery taste), or canola oil. It has been nearly a year since I have been off all three and today is the first day that I found a butter / margarine that does not contain any of the three allergens. Yay!

Tomorrow morning I shall have soy buttered toast with watermelon for breakfast. I am already excited.

Now if only I could find a good vegan cheese that was canola and corn free...

Reading Jessica's review of Pintxo People in Brighton got me thinking about Pork Bellies, which led to searching for recipes on making your own pancetta, which led me to where to order pork bellies from Niman Ranch.

Except I don't need to order a pork belly, as I have one coming from Reno. I do need to go to order some pink curing salts.

Later, when I decide to make my own sausages, I will need to get these two attachments for my mixer rather than purchasing a separate meat grinder and sausage stuffer. Then I just need to locate my mixer in my storage room...

Fri 07.25.08 - Last weekend my Mom bought a pig at the Bishop Livestock Fair. This week the pig is off to Reno for butchering. Next week is Charcuterie Experiments!

Photo taken with Ms. Jen's Nokia N95.

Tues 07.22.08 - My front door neighbors, Tammy & Ryan, have taken a strip of flower bed and turned it into a mini vegetable garden. One of the vegetables that they plated was brussel sprouts.

We have been peering at this set of plants wondering when it will send up a stalk with the sprouts on it, like we have seen at the market. It has not, instead the plant keeps sending up only one cabbage like puff per stalk.

Have you grown brussel sprouts before? How long until harvest? How do you know when they are done?

I used to be the sort who read a recipe and followed it to the hilt. Now I don't.

Now I read recipes like a good story. In fact, I like to read a good cookbook, like it is a good novel and then riff off of it. I only use the recipes as a guide to how it could be done (with substitutions, of course) and for possible proportions.

Now that I am writing about food and cooking here at the Happy Tastebud, I have good intentions of writing down my recipes for dishes about once a week, except I don't.

What stops me? I don't measure. I don't know exactly how much I did of such and such other than the vaguest terms - a handful, a few shakes, you know as much as you want to eat of this... Well, my approach may work great for me, as an experienced cook with over 20 years in the kitchen under her belt, but not for recipes.

Today, I was going to take the two huge bunches of basil in my fridge and turn them into basil pesto to be divided into small batches and then frozen for later use. What a great way to preserve a summer bumper crop of basil, right?

Well, first off, I got distracted by my Mom arriving from North/Central California and taking a walk with the dogs. Then we found ourselves at Walt's for wine & artichokes. Then it was too late.

But even if I were to write down the recipes that I make for my "country style" basil pesto that I make about twice a month, I don't have exact proportions. But here is my approximate...

1) Take a bunch of basil (handful), wash it, and separate the leaves from the stems. Discard or compost stems. Save leaves.

2) Chop the basil leaves with a good chef's knife until minced. All of it. Will take a bit of time. Put in a bowl with room after minced.

3) Take a handful of fresh, non-roasted pine nuts (about 1/2 cup) and chop them with your knife until smallish or minced (your preference). Put in bowl with basil.

4) Take 1-4 cloves of garlic (depending on how much raw garlic you like), mince into small bits. Put in bowl with basil and pine nuts.

5) Take your salt grinder and grind in about 1/4 teaspoon of salt into the bowl. If no salt grinder, then put in 1/4 teaspoon of good salt into to the bowl with other ingredients.

6) Take a spoon and start to stir ingredients in bowl as you slowly pour in good virgin olive oil, only add enough to make a paste (not a green liquid).

7) If you so choose, add a 1/4 cup of Pecorino Romano grated cheese (Italian sheep's cheese) or good grated Parmesan.

Then use this fresh made hand chopped "country style" basil for pasta or dip or put in the freezer for later use.

When I use it for pasta (rice pasta), I reserve out about a 1/3 cup of the pasta boiling water (towards the very end before draining), to pour over the drained pasta and pesto paste to help make it a sauce.

Have fun with my inexact recipe. It is fun to make, doesn't take more than 15 mins. and is good and fresh.

Fri 07.18.08 - A bowl of frozen grapes at that...

What to do?

I know this has happened to you, it happens to me, you buy a bottle of wine for a decent sum of money (not Two Buck Chuck), you get home, open it and it is... bad. Or off. Or a bit sour.

Do you solider through and drink it even though your forebrain screams that a headache is in your future? Do you feel embarrassed about your wine choice and store it in the kitchen to turn to vinegar? Do you pour it down the drain?

Or...

Do you take it back to the store and ask for your money back?

I have the hardest time with the last option. Today I bought a $10 bottle of wine from the local Ralphs, got it home, opened it, poured a glass, and...

Taste. YUCK!

It tasted sour, it was bubbling (non-sparkling wine should not bubble), and the wine was just off. Sigh.

Too late to return the bottle to Ralphs and then the embarrassment set in. Well, maybe I shouldn't have bought this wine... Maybe I should just pour it down the drain and recycle the bottle.

No, tomorrow it goes back to Ralphs so I can get my $10 back.

There, that is what I should do about bad wine.

Forgive me, for I have sinned...

I forgot to take a photo of dinner's vegetable gratin for your visual pleasure. I ate a big dent in it, and then remembered the camera. Ooops.

This week's CSA box included summer squash, tomatoes. I still have last week's potatoes and zucchini from the supermarket. And then there is the bumper crop of herbs from my container garden.

Thus, I made a fun combo of a Provencal style zucchini dish and a potato gratin:

Thinly slice the following with their skins on, washed, of course:
4 potatoes
4 summer crooked neck squash
1 zucchini (more if you have it)

Put them in a baking dish to fit plus some.

Take 2 ripe garden tomatoes, washed, and grate on the grater over the other veggies
Take 2 cloves of garlic, mince, sprinkle on everyone
Take a combo of minced, fresh herbs (up to 2 teaspoons each) of Rosemary, Thyme, Basil.
Salt & Pepper
1/4 c. Olive Oil or more as needed to coat veggies

Toss everything together, put in 375F oven, back until cooked through & crispy brown (45min to 1 hour).

Eat.

It was tasty.

I have been gluten-free for 14 years now and diary-free & egg-free off and on for years, but officially off for the last year, much to my intestinal track's delight.

Most baking relies on flour with gluten, eggs, and some sort of liquid or fat that is usually diary based to create the chemical reactions that are necessary for a delicious, light, nicely risen baked good. In most recipes that are gluten-free, egg-free, and diary-free there are two substitute ingredients that just don't work for me.

1) Egg Replacer. Hello Tapioca. You are fine as boba balls in boba tea. You are fine as pudding. You are extra fine as an ingredient in dim sum wrappers. You suck as an egg replacer.

No matter what I do, be it follow the package directions or recipes or what, everything that I use Egg Replacer in comes out rubbery or hard or both. I have taken to leaving it out when I use a gluten-free baking mix, as the mix usually already includes tapioca, taro root, or arrowroot to help hold everything together.

In normal baking the proteins in the egg mix with the gluten protein in the wheat flour to bind the ingredients together and to help the batter to rise and be light. Egg replacer succeeds at binding the ingredients together but fails at the goal of lightening the batter. Thus rubbery and hard.

2) Agave Syrup. Agave Syrup is very popular in vegan baking recipes as a substitute for both sugar (are animals harmed in the making of sugar?) and the liquid that diary provides. Agave Syrup is 3x sweeter than sugar, is a liquid, and dang it all it gives me the same headache as tequila without the happy margarita part.

I can live without Agave Syrup, as I am not allergic to cane or beet sugars and I have no problems ethically with using either, but the lack of eggs is cramping my baking style, as evidenced by the world's ugliest and most unappetizing pancakes ever.

Finally, yes, I could buy gluten-free baked products at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's or Mother's Markets, but the only problem is that most of these goods contain either butter (allergy), egg (allergy), or canola oil (really bad allergy).

Back to the baking drawing board I go. I am going to try to make blueberry pancakes tomorrow.

After reading several really good food blog posts today in my Sage feed reader, I decided I would give some link love to the following:

Chocolate & Zucchini celebrates Bastille Day with Bleu Blanc Rogue:

Today is the French national holiday, known in the English-speaking world as Bastille Day, but simply referred to as le 14 juillet in France.

I wish I could offer some sort of culinary tradition tied to this holiday, but as I explained in this past post, there is none: the celebrations revolve mainly around fireworks, military parades (I had to interrupt the typing of this post to watch the planes cross the sky above us, on their way to the Champs-Elysées), and dances. There may be grilled merguez vendors on the sidewalk here and there, but that's about it...>>

Fatfree Vegan Kitchen has a great recipe for http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2008/07/blueberry-oat-bars.html. When I am given the green light to reintroduce gluten-free oats back into my diet, I will definitely make these bars.

Indian Food Rocks on Rat-a-what no longer:

Thanks to Remy, the medley of vegetables that is ratatouille that had been indelibly imprinted on my taste buds almost a decade ago, was no longer just another unpronounceable French dish. I empathized completely with Ego as he ate every spoonful of ratatouille, even though I prefer the chunky version to the layered confit byaldi that was served to him in the movie. Mmmmmm! ...>>

Kalofagas on Greek Appetizers: The roasted eggplant dip, melitzanosalata, is my favorite, too. Yum.

The last dip and one of my favourites is Melitzanosalata. It's a dip of roasted eggplant, garlic, olive oil and balanced with some chopped fresh parsley. To truly make this dip a head turner, the eggplants have to be roasted over open coals or at the very least, on a gas grill...>>

Mahanandi's Chocolate Cherry Cake for the 4th of July could be easily made gluten-free (rice flour instead of flour) and diary-free (safe oil instead of ghee). Must try it!

Warm and juicy cherries from farmers market. Unsweetened Chocovic baking chocolate from Trader Joe's. Hazelnuts from last winter. Combined with all-purpose flour and baked together. This cherry chocolate cake has strong bitter taste. Almost like medicine, and I love that kind of choco-potency. A rare extravagance that puts in a mood for an equally decadent holiday weekend.

A chocolate cake shouldn't be cloyingly sweet. That is the manthram I applied when I put together the following ingredients. It's an easy recipe and the results are very bakery like...>>

And last but not least, the World Foodie Guide on Cantonese Home Cooking. Her Mom's Steamed Fish is much like our own hadashi's Bobo's steamed fish (although Bobo uses sherry in her recipe).

Hello Happy Tastebud.

Today is Monday. I worked all day and ate odd meals from the bits and pieces in my fridge. I drank one diet coke. And several glasses of water.

This afternoon, I made of pitcher of iced tea with 2 PG Tips tea bags, 1 Celestial Seasonings Lemon Zinger tea bag, and one CS Green Tea bag. After brewing the tea, I added 1/4 cup of honey and 1/2 a small lemon, then added it to the big pitcher with ice. Stir. Drink 3 big glasses of the Ms. Jen Special Tea with lots of ice.

Became very caffeinated. Now eating a few chocolate chips to make sure the caffeine high stays strong into the 10pm hour.

Sun 07.13.08 - This weekend my Dad was in town visiting from Arizona, actually more like escaping the 110+ degree temperatures in Parker. On Sunday he wanted to go to Casa Vino on Pine Street in Downtown Long Beach for a light supper and wine.

I have known that this wine bar has been in existence for over two years, but have been very reluctant to go there, as the menu on the website was/is very unfriendly to gluten-free folk.

We did go and I was able to find a few of the tapas that were free of at least overt gluten. In the above shrimp dish, my dad ate the bread and I ate the spinach & shrimp.

The wine was good, not as pricey as the reviewers on Yelp would lead one to believe. The staff was friendly and down home. The only thing that bummed me out was the menu and the fact that everything was pre-prepped, pulled out of a ziplock baggie, and then heated up by the staff fellow doing the duties in the kitchen.

If Casa Vino's emphasis is wine, fine. But it would be lovely if they had a menu that was cooked fresh, was seasonal, and had more true Spanish tapas offerings.

The space was lovely and comfy even though with thoroughly modern interior. Another fine addition would be free wireless internet (wifi) for the happy hour crowd.

I am always stunned when some tells me that they "Forgot to eat." Are they serious? Did they really forget to eat and their blood sugar did not remind them? Or were they just to busy or otherwise engaged to eat even though their body was saying "Hello! hello. hellooo..."?

I never forget to eat. My blood sugar, when it drops, always informs every other part of my body that it is TIME TO EAT in a way that is very hard to ignore or forget to listen to. I sometimes am too busy to eat, but due to my blood sugar dipping, I have to listen before too much time passes.

Tonight, I put some chicken and potatoes in the oven to cook about 6:30pm, thinking it should be done by 7:15pm, giving me a few minutes to eat before departing for the Salon. But I timed it wrong, as when it was time to leave, the food still needed another 15 minutes in the oven.

I turned off the oven, left the chicken and potatoes in the oven, and walked over to the salon. The first thirty minutes at the Salon was fine, as I normally eat dinner around 8pm, so my body was used to the time. I ate a few grapes which buoyed up my blood sugar. By 9pm, I was feeling the lack of food. By the time my turn to present had come and gone, my tummy and head were announcing to me it was time to eat. No room for forgetting.

I left at 10:20pm to walk back home, fish the chicken and potatoes out of the still warm oven, ate a drumstick and potato, and felt human again within 10 minutes. Human enough to return to the Salon and hear the end of Summer Darling's acoustic set.

I don't know about you, but I do like leftovers. Only for one more meal beyond the original meal.

When I shop for food or go out, I only like to get enough for whoever is eating (usually just me) and then maybe one other meal, though maybe not. I am not the sort who likes to make a big pot of _____ (fill in blank) and then have it to eat all week or box it up and freeze it in little portions for later. I am the sort who like to shop every day or two for the fresh food I will cook now. Whatever is leftover, I prefer to eat within 24 hours of the original preparation.

Part of this I-only-like-leftovers-for-one-extra-meal-thing is a variety issue, I get sick of eating the same thing, but the other part of it is my yeast / mold food allergy. I can make something that is perfectly allergy free, but if it is older than 24 - 36 hours then the yeastie beasties have had time to colonize and I will react to a previously safe food that is now a day or two older leftover.

Mostly it is a variety thing. As I mentioned the other day in this blog, I like leftovers for breakfast. If I have the leftover for breakfast or lunch, then bye bye after that.

All that being said, for dinner tonight, I ate the root roast and half an artichoke leftovers from last night. It was tasty.

Photo taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N95 at Dog Beach in Huntington Beach on May 29, 2008.

Sometimes ice plant or other succulents look good enough to eat, this particular patch of native Californian spring flowering beach / sand succulent looks like it is made of spun sugar and is bursting with berry flavors. If photos had flavor, this one would be delicious.

Wed 07.09.08 - Som Thom - Green Papaya Salad - one of my all time favorite foods.

Photo of today's lunch taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia n95

Tues 07.08.08 - Ever since Julie Wanda introduced me to India Sweets and Spices in the Fall of 2000, I have been in love. I love the hot food counter at this great little Indian grocery store in Tustin.

My first love at India Sweets and Spices was the Spring Dosa, a dosa (large rice / lentil crepe) with fresh vegetables folded into a nice triangle. Then the guy who made the Spring Dosas left for parts unknown. I lamented but moved onto ordering the Masala Dosa every time I went for lunch at India Sweets and Spices. Then a year or two later, all Dosas were cut from the menu. Shock, horror, leaving me to the regular lunch special.

Then I started driving to Udupi Palace in Artesia for my South Indian dosa fix (although I really don't like the Spring Dosa at UP), but for every day lunches, I kept returning to India Sweets and Spices for their lovely, cheap, veggie hot lunches. Each day they offer a rotating selection of 6 veg and pulses choice from the hot buffet.

India Sweets and Spices is the main place for my Pea-a-Palooza festivals as they regularly serve peas & cheese (Mattar Paneer), as well as Potatoes and Peas. Most of all I like the surprise of showing up and looking at the six lunch hot choices, choosing two for my $4.99 plate which will also include rice, raita, fresh crunchy veg plus a lime pickle or two.

Due to my gluten-free life, I usually get a rice/lentil papad or two instead of the wheat-ful chapati or poori. The nice folks who run the lunch counter at India Sweets and Spices in Tustin are very accommodating about substitutions.

The best part is the six picnic tables of which one eats at in the middle of the grocery store. When it is busy, the proprietors sometimes will ask you to share a table. I met Scruffy's vet, Dr. Kali of North Tustin Veterinary Clinic, here about 4 years ago at lunch while sharing a table.

India Sweet and Spices has good hot food, great prices, and it can be sociable as well.

India Sweet and Spices, Tustin
14441 Newport Avenue
Tustin, Ca 92780
(714) 731-2910

Mon 07.07.08 - The hardest part of a gluten-free, diary-free, egg-free, yeast free allergy diet is breakfast.

Think about it. No eggs. No regular bread. No regular cereal. No bagels. Etc.

Ever tried to make a pancake with rice flower, rice milk, and egg replacer? It can be a disaster.

I am one of those folks who needs to start every day with a good protein breakfast, to not do so is to court hypoglycemic disaster just before lunch. When I was first taken off of wheat and yeast in the late 80s / early 90s, I became a morning egg eater, as well as learned to eat dinner leftovers for breakfast.

Now that I am off eggs and diary on top of the no gluten and no yeast, breakfast can be challenging. I am very happy to report that Ener-G's Gluten-free Yeast-free Brown Rice Loaf is my morning savior, along with a few other gluten-free items. But I am supposed to not eat the same thing everyday, to rotate my food choices so that I do not develop new food sensitivities. Thus, the challenge.

This morning, I had two slices of bacon, two apricots, two slices of the Ener-G break with apricot jam, and some tea with honey and rice milk in it. It was delightful.

Someone close to me has a very strong prejudice against all things vegetarian, both in terms of vegetarian food and people who choose to be vegetarian. It is the kind of prejudice that in an otherwise intelligent, education, and liberal-minded person that is rather odd.

I have watched this person tease vegetarians without awareness that their behavior is making others uncomfortable. This person also is very resistant to going to any vegetarian restaurants and eating a vegetarian meal at someone else's house, to the point where it makes said dining decisions difficult and fraught with interpersonal missteps and bafflement to other folks who don't know about the prejudice.

I live in Southern California, vegetarianism has been going strong in these parts for over 30 years. This person has been shopping at health food stores for at least 30 years and is not afraid of a whole grain or tofu or ...

As I watch this person being willing to eat any number of ethnic foods that are very challenging to the "typical" (whatever that is) American diet, such as lengua tacos, menudo, catfish larb, as well as vegetables & legumes of all sorts, all the while turning down any and all opportunities to go to a vegetarian restaurant, I remain surprised at the strength of the prejudice.

Last week, by dint of who knows what, I was able to convince the said individual to go to lunch with me at Udupi Palace in Artesia, which is a great South Indian pure-veg restaurant. For the first 15 minutes, the person tried to convince us to decamp and walk across the street to Ashoka the Great a non-veg Indian restaurant with a meat-ful buffet.

After a delightful shared lunch of idli, sada dosa, and an eggplant curry, the person declared that they did like the coconut chutney that came with the idlis and dosa. And declared later that they thought I was taking them to Ashoka the Great and felt a little deceived, even though I had thoroughly explained beforehand what the Udupi Palace entailed.

Later I was frustrated as I thought about the whole thing, not just this incident but a series of them over years. I wondered how a person who I otherwise respect can have such an odd, out of place prejudice to the point of disruption about a food type / style, esp. when the person is so willing to try other new foods.

As I wrapped my head around it, I realized that prejudices, be they mild and odd or strong and hurtful are many times without explanation even to the person whose prejudice it is. Some folks say prejudice is based out of the unknown or out of fear.

As the food allergy / gluten-free girl, I completely understand when a person can't eat something due to making one ill. I kind of understand pickiness. If you don't like a food, then you don't like it.

But I guess I am having a harder time with an irrational food prejudice that transcends "I don't like it" into something else entirely. The part that is hard is that the prejudice is so at odds with every other stated preference of the person. Most of all, it is hard to watch a person descend repeatedly into an irrational prejudice and be unwilling to examine it.

Last week's trip to the Udupi Palace was a ray of hope. A hope that maybe the prejudice can be held up and examined, and maybe one day put away.

Sat. 07.05.08 - As seen on a walk past by a beach house party. Pink!

A few years ago, my aunt Anne gave me 3 mesh food domes of which to protect any picnic or BBQ food from the terrors of the local bug / fly / wasp society(ies). When I lived in Orange with a real backyard for outdoor entertaining, the mesh food domes were very handy. At the end of the summer, I would pack them away in their drawer.

Until the day I opened the drawer and found mouse droppings all over the unopened food domes. Now out here in the West, we have a wee problem with hantavirus. Most rodents don't carry it, but a few do and those few spread it through their droppings. Thus, the lovely little white food domes found themselves in the trash, along with the mouse droppings. I did not tell my roommate and I washed out the drawers with a bleach solution.

Fast forward to yesterday's Fourth of July BBQ party in the breezeway of my apartment building, I had no lovely little food domes to put over the meat, fish, and salads while we ate all the while keeping the option for seconds open.

Today, while on a walk, I spied these fabulous pink & flowered food domes on a picnic table, which reminded me that I need to get some more food domes and store them in the upper tall cupboards where the mice can't tread.

Fri 07.04.08 - Happy Fourth of July!

All Photos taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N95 camera with permission from the nice folk at the Beef Palace

Thurs 07.03.08 - My Mom's cousin, Lynn, has been raving about the Beef Palace in the old school 1960s shopping center (with cantilever roof!) on the NW corner of Warner Ave and Springdale in Huntington Beach. Lynn started raving about the Beef Palace about a decade or so ago when she lived out in the high desert about 3 hours from the Beef Palace.

While Whole Foods Markets' butchers may get good reviews for being the last of the real butchers actually cutting the meat in the same supermarket in which it is sold, the Beef Palace is the last of the *great* old school independent butchers in SoCal cutting and processing the meat they sell. There are a few others, esp. your local Carniceria, but the Beef Palace is multiple cuts above the fray.

Many of the meat scares and recalls have come from meat that has been butchered and packaged up at a large factory in __insert_name_of_industrial_town_space before it is shipped, sometimes thousands of miles, to your local market. I have been consistently making a choice against listeria and e. coli for years by buying my meat at the last of the remaining local butchers who process all of their meat in house (be it the Beef Palace or Whole Foods or the great little butcher in La Mirada whose name I have forgotten) rather than purchase meat packaged in plastic & foam at the supermarket that was most likely butchered very far away and many days ago.

I love the quality of the meat at the Beef Palace and the price. Both today and in mid-June, I was able to purchase an 8" long, 4-5" in diameter, good old fashioned style boneless pork roast with lots of marbling, of which I can't find that at the supermarket or Trader Joe's, for under $15! Hello! Happy Days. The pork roasts from the Beef Palace come with a good 1/4 - 1/2" of fat on one side, making the roast very moist even when cooked to the recommended incineration for pork.

What I appreciate most about the Beef Palace, beyond the amazing selection of meat cuts that can't even be found at the big Whole Foods, beyond the crowded meat related kitsch decor, is the friendliness and helpfulness of all the staff. And then there are the free potatoes at the check out stand...

Go Beef Palace Go!

The Beef Palace
5895 Warner Ave
Huntington Beach, CA 92649
(714) 846-0044

Wed 07.02.08 - Every Wednesday, my front door neighbor, Tammy Callis, goes to Long Beach to pick up our weekly CSA farm box from the Tierra Miguel Farm in northern San Diego county.

The community supported agricultural movement (CSA) is a way for folks to participate in supporting local, organic farms and to get good to great local produce that is in season and very fresh.

My food shopping habits are more European than American, in that I like to shop every day or two for the food needed for that day or the next. I like my produce and meat to be fresh and not sitting in the fridge in plastic for the last two weeks, so I do not do a big weekly shop like many Americans do. As a freelancer, I also like a good excuse to get out of the house every day to go forage at the local Whole Foods or Trader Joe's for what is fresh and looks tasty enough to inspire dinner preparations.

I am usually jealous when I read the blog posts of San Franciscans who "rent" or support a cow or a fruit tree and get the produce thereof in season. When Tammy asked me if I wanted to join her and Ryan in sharing a weekly box from the Tierra Miguel farm, I said yes.

It has been an adventure. We get a lot of greens, mostly of the chard and tatsoi variety. I have been getting creative with both and now really enjoy making stirfries with tatsoi.

The pint or two of blueberries that have come in the box the last few weeks are the best I have ever eaten. Plump, no wrinkles, sweet, only slightly tart, and very blueberry-y. Yum.

Every Wednesday it is an adventure to open the box and see what we will get. While we don't get stone fruits (San Diego country does not really have enough chill hours, unless the farm is in Julien), I do look forward to citrus season and what the box will contain in the winter.

The CSA box has been stretching my creative abilities in the kitchen in a very good way and I am having fun.

Recipes to follow.

Due to my gluten-free vegan carnivore ways, shopping for food is always interesting. For the last four years, ever since the grocery store strike of 2004, I have foraged for my food mainly at the nearest Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, with an occasional trip to the nice Ralph's for the few odd items that can't be purchased at WF or TJs.

For years I have had friends ask how I can afford to purchase the bulk of my groceries at Whole Paycheck, my response is a short to drawn out speech on the difficulties of purchasing healthy food when one is gluten-free, diary-free, plus other allergy free (like no canola oil!) at a regular supermarket. For years I assumed that I was spending tons more $$ at Whole Foods so that I didn't puke or break out in hives (a good expenditure in my book).

Recently, I decided to test assumption by going to the the nice Ralph's in Huntington Beach near my brother's house to see how much of my food I could purchase there and at what price. Well, the nice Ralph's had about 35-50% of my preferred brands of gluten-free and diary-free items at about $.10 - $.50 cheaper with a Ralph's Club Card. But, the big but, is without a Ralph's Card, it was more expensive than Whole Foods. Also, the Ralph's is about 5-6 miles away, where as Whole Foods is just under a mile away.

Pavilions, the upscale version of Vons Supermarkets, re-opened a brand new store in their old location on Pacific Coast Highway at Main Street in Seal Beach. My next door neighbor gushed about how amazing it was... The Deli! The fresh fruit & veg! The meats! etc. The same neighbor said I should go over there as I would not go back to the local Whole Foods or Trader Joe's.

Today I went to both Whole Foods and Pavilions today with the specific intent of comparing prices on 10 of my weekly food expenditures. Pavilions was a big surprise, as they had many of the weekly items I buy at $.20 - $1.00 more per item with a Club Card and much more without ($12.99 for a bottle of Gnarly Head Zinfandel wine with the Club Card! Yikes! $8.99 at MoBev and similiar at WF.). Only one item was equal in price and one was below with a Club Card, but without both were more. And while the new Pavilions was two times the size of the local Whole Foods (a former Wild Oats), one had to really hunt and peck for the organic and gluten-free items. Overall, my neighbor was very off on his opinion of the new Pavilions.

While Trader Joe's is usually cheaper than Whole Foods, with the exception of their rice pasta, almost every other GF good on sale contains canola oil and eggs, which makes it a no go for me. I do like TJ's for their frozen fish and a few other items, but only enough to visit once a month or so.

All of this is to say that my local Whole Foods has come out the winner for the best purveyor of organic and gluten-free items at the best price. I guess I can't call them Whole Paycheck anymore...