Monthly Archives: August 2006

08.30.06
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New Sausages

…or Dinner From Head-scratch to Table

Riding home from work at the San Francisco Film Society, I thought about what’s-for-dinner. The cour di bue, Ox-heart heirloom paste tomatoes I brought from the Saturday Market at the Mariquita Farms stall, were getting soft and needed to be used. I had already decided on Tomatoes Concassees, a fresh tomato sauce recipe from Andy at the Farm. It’s quick and easy and good and will use all the tomatoes, including the Early Girls I have. But what to go with?

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I remembered seeing sausages, new from Fra’Mani, at Cheese +. I have wanted to try those, what better time? I bought a pack of Classic Italian and a pack of Spicy Italian, three fat sausages to the pack. They looked scrumptious, even the packaging was seductive. Cheese + didn’t have any fresh pasta, not that I noticed, but I didn’t look very hard. I thought we had some Barilla Spaghetti at home.
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08.25.06
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Ohio Eats I

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Part 1 — The Heartland

This is the first installment of a three part odyssey surrounding my trip to the Columbus West High School Class of January 1956 Reunion. It’s all about the food, what I call Ohio food. It’s different than what you’ve been reading about in this space for two reasons: For one, I’m traveling, and for two, the choices in Ohio are different than those in Northern California, much different.

Since I made the long trip to Ohio for a weekend, I extended the trip on each end for some adventures in Cincinnati, and passed through Carol’s homestead in Lancaster in each direction, as well. This epistle is divided into three parts; The Heartland, Columbus and the Reunion, and finally Lancaster Redux and Cincinnati.

Wednesday August 16
BREAKFAST
My flight was scheduled at a reasonable time of 7:40 a.m. but current security regulations obliged me to arrive at the airport at 5:45 a.m. Not reasonable, but that’s the flying life nowadays. Curbside check-in was easy so I had plenty of time to get a coffee and an oatmeal raisin cookie at Just Desserts on the concourse. One would expect that a dessert maker would make a scrumptious cookie, but no. The cookie was large and looked right but turned out to be dry as dust. Half was all I could eat, so I saved the rest for later, but ended up tossing it.
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08.15.06
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West High School

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As toward the West the constant sun proceeds
Day after day across the sky
So will our hearts hold true to you
West High, West High, West High

I’m off to Columbus, Ohio for my High School Reunion, so keep your eyes open for the skinny on Ohio food and good eats.

08.11.06
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A Braise to Remember

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Braised Cabbage with Small Knockwurst

Very loosely adapted from a James Beard recipe for braised sauerkraut. And again, I had to use ingredients that were locally available.

Use quantities depending on how many are eating. I’ve done this for one and for up to 8 people. Generally, use 1/4 head of cabbage to 1 each of the vegetables. This can be warmed over once if you like. After that it gets mushy.
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08.11.06
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K.I.S.S.

Keep It Simple Stupid

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Simple = Seagram Building :: Not simple = SF Marriott

How does one plan a menu?

It’s late in the day and I start to think about what’s for dinner. Something simple, I have a piece of Black Cod and a recipe for Cod with Red Wine Sauce. Good. EZ. Those green beans in the crisper are over a week old, I’ll do those with tomatoes. And I can do sliced fried red potatoes with a cipollini onion from the market.

I did that. Everything was real good, but there were real problems; conflicting flavors for one. And there was no way to serve, except on separate dishes, or one of those plates with three parts like you get in a cafeteria or the paper kind you take on a picnic. (I hurriedly served everything on one plate, disastrously.)
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08.04.06
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Eat a Peach

A Grilled Peach

PEACH i.jpgI buy 2 peaches and 1 nectarine each Saturday, in season, at the Farmers Market. I usually pick semi-hard ones, but even then, they ripen quickly if left out on the counter. These are for my breakfasts, along with fresh curd cheese.

After eating the first on Monday, I had to put the remaining peach and the nectarine in the refrigerator to quell the ripening. All this leads to a cold peach, and a cold peach is not to my liking.

“I’ll bet I could grill that sucker.” (Yes, I do talk to myself when I’m alone in the kitchen.)
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