Monthly Archives: March 2012

03.28.12
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Texas Two-Step

Texas Two-Step
THE IDEA

June 2006, Carol and I were in San Antonio for one of Carol’s education for young children conferences.

San Antonio is pretty interesting, and the Riverwalk is swell, but while Carol was at her meetings, I wanted to go somewhere in Texas.

I had heard and read about Donald Judd and the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas, so I looked it up on the map and internet. Hmmmm, not just a day trip. So I dropped that and went to Bandera in the hill country for breakfast (look for “Thursday Breakfast near the end).

Sometime later, I mentioned Donald Judd and Marfa to Alison, our artist daughter-in-law. Oh, yes. She would love to go there sometime. After many mentions and dreams and then serious planning, mid-March of 2012 became the time

As it turned out, son Brian and Natasza would be vacationing in Texas around that time, as well. Hey, a family gathering!

OK then, we would fly from San Francisco to Midland TX, Eric and Alison would fly from Maine to Midland TX and Brian and Natasza would be able to meet us in Big Bend National Park. As it turned out both the Maine and SF flights would arrive in Midland about 9:30pm. We would spend the night in Midland and drive to Big Bend — in separate cars — and meet Brian there. Spend a couple days in Big Bend and drive to Marfa to visit Chinati, while Brian goes home through San Antonio. Sounds like a plan.

NOTE: Normally eats is about food. On this trip, I found the food, art, architecture and the trip itself intertwined to the point of being inseparable. I’m still cooking and eating, so there will be more recipes.

Texas Two-Step:
MARFA and CHINATI

Sweeping in on US-90 from the northwest, we found Marfa and met Eric and Alison in the lobby of the El Paisano Hotel. Eric handed me my much missed bag (see the plight of my bag in “getting there”) and I checked into the hotel.

We went with them to see El Cosmico, an “alt lifestyle kind of place” where they are staying in a robins-egg-blue knock-off Airstream trailer. The next night they would stay in a tent. TeePees and Yurts are on the grounds, as well.

Eric and Alison's home for the night

here are some tee pees where they won't stay

here are some tents where they will stay tomorrow

El Paisano is the class historic hotel in Marfa. Built in 1930 it operated for many years as a Cattleman’s hotel.

The hotel was also the prime location for social events within a 100 mile radius of Marfa. In 1955 Warner Brothers chose Marfa as the location for the filming of the epic movie Giant. In June of that year the cast and crew including James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson made the hotel their headquarters.

The lobby is large and comfortable, with clay tile in rustic tones enhancing the floors and fireplace. Jett’s Grill at the El Paisano, the dining room, is to the rear left, sharing courtyard frontage with the lobby.

Carol and I are not campers, this is where we'll stay

Continue reading →

03.16.12
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eats… on the road again

Texas in March

We’re off to Texas, and meeting the fam there.

Where?

Marfa.

Where’s that?

Well, you want to know more, Google Marfa or the Chinati Foundation, or just watch this site daily.

Oh yeah, I got an app for my iPhone so I can send pictures and words — not that many — straight to WordPress and eats.

Later,
Marcus

03.16.12
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Eat Good Food

Bi Rite Market Cookbook

BI-RITE MARKET’S EAT GOOD FOOD
A Grocer’s Guide to Shopping, Cooking, and Creating Community through Food
by Sam Mogannam and Dabney Gough
A Review

That’s a mouthful of title and the book has the heft to match. The printed hardcover with no dust jacket adds to the no nonsense, brawny presentation.

The authors start with an essay on “Creating Community Through Food.” Here, they explain their philosophy and family:

FOOD
buy it with thought
cook it with care
use less wheat & meat
buy local foods
serve just enough
use what is left
Don’t waste it.

That was written in 1914, and as is noted on a store sign, it’s still a go-by.

Bi-Rite has been celebrated lustily for most of the 20 years we’ve lived in San Francisco. I’ve been there a few times, due to its reputation, but Bi-Rite is deep in the Mission District of SF and we live on Russian Hill, about as far from Bi-Rite as possible in the same city. Not convenient; so we’re not part of their community. They describe an exuberant community that one would want to share, perhaps we should have made more of an effort. On the other hand, we’re very much involved with the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and the CUESA community.

They go on to feature the products of each of their departments.

Grocery
Deli
Produce
Butcher
Dairy
Cheese
Bakery
Wine and Beer

For each product — such as Beans, in the Grocery Department, or Spring Onions in Produce — they feature a paragraph or two on:

How to Buy
How to Store
How to Use

They further group by seasons for seasonal products.

At the end of each section, they provide some recipes. For example: Orecchiette with White Beans and Chard, the first meal I cooked from this book. Yum.

Basically, you make olive oil, pancetta. onions and garlic into a flavor base for white beans. Once you stir that stuff together and mash about half the beans you add chard, orecchiette and some pasta water to make a fine pasta dish with greens and a bean sauce. Finish with your favorite olive oil and parmesan. From reading the recipe, I couldn’t imagine quite what it was. But after eating it, I can tell you it was Goooooooood.

The wonderfulness of the Bi-Rite book is that you can be a raw beginner and learn to cook and manage your food and meals with this book. An experienced home cook, on the other hand, will find ideas and methods that they might not have experienced — like that orecchiette deal — and learn new things about cooking.

I love it. Buy it. Make that Orecchiette deal; you won’t be sorry.