Recently in Local-vore Category

every summer, my family gathers in Nantucket and eats a ridiculous amount of seafood. this side of the family is Chinese, so eating in general is pretty much the activity of choice, and when it comes to seafood, they can hoover up enormous quantities. with the exception of the traditional Lobster Of Enormousness, we catch all our own. now, i had no idea that Nantucket was somewhat of a high-flutin' sort of vacation spot until i was in college, because it was simply the name of the place that my uncle & aunt had since before i was born. we're not typical Nantucket vacationers anyway; we don't come from old money East and we're not exactly white people. besides, i'm told that only "locals" go through the trouble of obtaining licenses to catch their own food out there.
the adults have passed on to the kids the skills: how to catch blue crabs, how to pry open the hundred clams you just harvested for Clams Casino, how to make a floaty crustacean/bivalve basket out of an innertube you found in the trash and some plastic twine (thanks, Aunt Dorene). i'm thankful that i am part of a family that doesn't separate food and love and shared time into separate categories; all three are interconnected, and you can't have one without the others. that's what having happy tastebuds are all about.

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.

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.

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.