I’m in New York as a newly anointed ‘Green Girl’ from Cali.  For the past week, its been like living ‘Opposite Day’.  Ethan has special days every so often at school when kids get to be silly and wear their clothes backwards...a day when something you’ve done so many times that it becomes routine and automatic; is turned upside down and on its head...

 
photo via Bastian Labelle

By nature, I am learning that I am very adept at adapting.  Perhaps its been my training as a producer--I can make anything work.  Professionally and personally.  Except for a cheating husband (sorry, I couldn’t resist).  

Its the ‘it is what it is’ mentality.  Why strive for this idea of perfection and drive yourself batty when you can make the most of what’s right in front of you.  Now and again, though, it takes a little digging to find what’s right under your nose.  Like food for example.  I had my farmer’s market routine down in LA; along with the ease of foraging through my garden for simple greens and citrus; but now I am amongst skyscrapers and left to fend for myself in a concrete jungle.  Tragic, I know.

On my first night back in New York, I quickly found my neighborhood joint--a place I could make my own; that would always have something delicious waiting for me.  I didn’t have to go far, because right around the corner from where I am staying is a restaurant called, ‘Artisanal Fromagerie Bistro’.  It is a wine and cheese bar.  The food gods were smiling upon me--two of my favorite things.  

A few years ago on my last long-ish term stay in New York, I had the pleasure of frequenting another wine and cheese bar in New York called ‘inoteca on the Lower East Side.  ‘inoteca is definitely more my speed; dark, bustling, rustic and very Italian.  The Formaggi selection included Latte (cow’s cheese), Latte di capra (goat’s cheese) or Latte di Pecora (sheep’s cheese)--all made in the Italian tradition.  There were small appetizer size dishes--Italian tapas; and the wine selection consisted of over 600 Italian wines.  Amazing artsy, creative looking New Yorkers--you just felt the next great Independent film or indie rock tune being conceived over some obscure (but delicious) Rosso wine and cured meats.  Which by the way is all sourced from local, pasture-fed, sustainable farmers and meat purveyors such as Heritage Foods and Vermont Quality Meats.  I believe there is a correlation here; that creativity is a by product of sustainable and delicious food.

The vibe at the uptown, and upscale Artisanal was decidedly more French Grande Cafe than country side Southern Italian.  They are known for fondue at Artisanal, which is kind of funny, since fondue is not so French, and usually made with Swiss cheeses.  But nonetheless, I do love a good fondue--a symbiotic pairing of wine + cheese molten together in a pot of gooey goodness.  At Artisanal, the cheeses know no cultural boundaries (with almost all cheese from America and Europe), but divided by animal of origin (cow, goat, or sheep) on one menu; and on another menu paired alongside flights of wine.  Instead of trying to find all my favorite cheeses, I opted for the ‘Champagne Flight’ selection of three cheeses.  The recommended wine pairing was a Prosecco, but as much as I love a Prosecco (and especially a bellini); my past association with champagnes never ended before 4am.  So I chose an Albarino, which turned out to be a fantastic complement to my cheeses.

Humboldt Fog (a goat’s cheese from Northern California); Manchego (a Spanish sheep’s cheese) and Beaufort (a French cow’s milk cheese) were my choices.  I was familiar with the Humboldt Fog and Manchego never disappoints.  The Humboldt Fog was like a piece of savory cake--buttery and creamy, with the trademark line of ash running through it.  A basket of bread accompanied the plate of cheeses, but I am not a fan of bread.  I ordered sides to accompany my cheese and they were perfect.  I’ve always been a fan of quince paste with Manchego, and found that it went well with the Beaufort as well.  The Beaufort was a solid cheese--its the kind of cheese you can eat pieces of and call it a meal.  Ethan’s favorite snack is pieces of solid cheeses--Gruyere, Emmenthal and now, the very similar Beaufort.  I guess the French do know a little something about Swiss cheeses.  The other side that replaced the bread and brought out the delicious flavor of the cheeses were walnuts in a honeycomb.  Perfection with the crisp and fruity Albarino.

While the cheeses and their accoutrement were a great meal; I still went home to a corporate apartment with nothing in the refrigerator.  For the next few days, I kept trying to block out a few hours to walk over to the closest thing I could find to my farmer’s market--the Whole Foods near my office. But something always came up.  It rained and I was miserable.  And here’s a NYC observation--no one walks around with groceries.  How do NY’ers eat?  Then I discovered the secret--delivery!  A new world had opened up to me and it was called Fresh Direct.  Local and organic produce delivered the next day!  Fresh Direct even delivers wine and cheese pairings, recipes, lists local in season produce, links to the seafood watch list AND my favorite--the 4 minute ready meal, prepared fresh by New York restaurants! Now I could have my own wine and cheese bar and restaurant meals from Tabla and Rosa Mexicano, waiting for me at home after a long day of production.  So I ordered the essentials--several 4-minute Ready Meals, coffee, arugula, grapes, avocados, lemons, almonds, cranberries, pears, olive oil and an assortment of cheeses; including a brie, manchego and parmesan.  

I had stumbled upon Fresh Direct as a result of walking from my apartment to my office and seeing these trucks all over the city.  This was one of the more obvious and convenient New York adjustments I made in order to still eat consciously. When I get back to California, I am afraid I will go through the withdrawal of not having food, neatly packaged in a cardboard box waiting for me in my kitchen.

The other adjustment I had to make was not so obvious and I had to do a little more digging to find the answer.  It seems strange, but once you get in the habit of separating all of your garbage, it becomes automatic.  You can’t ever mix paper and plastic in a trash bin; much less even toss them into a container without a recycle symbol on it.  Same with the coffee grinds and vegetable peels I covet so much in my own compost.  I couldn’t just throw them in the trash; with all the coffee I drink when I work, I was sitting on a gardening gold mine!  It occurred to me that most people living in high rise buildings in Manhattan would have no use for compost, so all this amazing organic material was just being dumped along with other crap in a landfill somewhere, unable to reach its full organic and sustainable potential.  It’s a crime against nature.  What is also ironic about this is that we are programmed to recycle paper, plastic, aluminum.  But not food; although when you think about it, composting is the original recycling.  But of course, resourceful New Yorkers have figured this out too and made it as convenient as it can be to compost in the city.  Through the New York Compost Project you can drop off your coffee grinds, egg shells, and vegetable scraps at a participating Farmer’s Market or at the Lower East Side Ecology Center on 7th St.  And if you’re really adventurous, upgrade your apartment with a worm condo and compost on your own balcony, if you have one.  You’ll have fabulous potting soil to grow herbs and lettuce by summer time.

In Thai, Kin Khao translated means ‘Eat Rice’.  It was also a trendy Thai restaurant in Soho, I frequented in my Manhattan days.  Thai food has come a long way since my parents’ restaurant in Chicago.  Yes, my parents were pioneers of the Thai restaurant trend when I was in high school.  Back then there was one Thai restaurant--it was called, ‘Thai Restaurant’.  Then my parents opened ‘Thai Room Restaurant’, with the goal of having as many Farang (American) customers as Thai.

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Thai Green Curry Paste:

2 Tablespoons Coriander seeds 1 Tablespoon Cumin seeds 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns Toast spices in a skillet for 2 minutes until fragrant.  I use the OG mortar and pestle to ground my spices, but you can use a grinder if you don’t have a mortar and pestle. 8 fresh Thai green chillis (I split in half and remove the seeds so the paste is not too spicy) 2 shallots 4 garlic cloves 1 Tablespoon cilantro stem + root 2-inch piece galangal, peeled 4 kaffir lime leaves 1 Tablespoon shrimp paste (from Asian store) If you have the mortar/pestle; combine all the ingredients or blend all in a food processor with about a 1/2 cup of water.  This will yield about 1 cup of green curry paste.

Thai ‘Green’ Curry

• 1 medium onion, cut in about 8 cubes
• 2 small eggplants  cut in 1" circular rings and cut in half (about 2 cups), or use 1 thinly sliced chicken breast
• 8 Asparagus spears chopped in 2 inch pieces
• 1 pepper (green or red), chopped in 2-inch squares
• 3 Tablespoons of Thai green curry paste (recipe above)
• 1 stalk lemongrass, cut in 3 inch pieces, smashed with tenderizer
• 1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• 8 oz of Coconut milk (from a can or fresh frozen)
• 1 Tablespoon liquid palm sugar or agave
   

Add 2 Tablespoons of grape seed or olive oil to a pan and saute the lemon grass, onion, eggplant, and pepper for about 3 minutes.

Add curry paste to the skillet and stir fry together for 5 minutes. Pour in the coconut milk add fish sauce.  Let simmer for 15 minutes. Remove lemon grass and add lime juice and palm sugar.

Sweet Rice w/ Mango (or Sweet Summer Peaches)

• 1 cup of Thai sweet rice (short grain ‘sticky rice’)
• Soak rice in about 2 cups of water over night.

Place cheesecloth at the bottom of a steamer, drain the rice and steam for 1 hour, turning every 20 minutes.

• 4 oz of Coconut milk (canned or fresh frozen)
• 1 Tablespoons of liquid palm sugar (or agave)
• 1 Teaspoon salt

Heat in saucepan until the mixture comes to a boil.  Mix with cooked rice.

• 2 oz coconut milk
• 1 Teaspoon salt

Heat in saucepan until the mixture comes to a boil.
Peel and cut a fresh, ripe mango or 2 ripe, but still firm peaches.
Plate the rice + fruit.  Drizzle coconut milk/salt mixture over the rice.

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My parents still worked their day jobs, which were professional occupations and utilized the advanced degrees they earned when they immigrated to the States.  But this was the pursuit of the American dream—to own a home and for their children to ‘have everything they did not’.  So a former Century 21 real estate office was converted into a dining establishment with the hours of operation of 6pm – 10pm, Monday – Friday and Noon – 11pm on the weekends.  My parents were the managers, cooks, and dishwashers; I was the waitress, dishwasher and accountant and my younger brother and sister the busboy and entertainment.

It didn’t occur to me that cooking was a skill unto itself.  That there was a lot of experimentation and talent involved in creating foods that would be appealing in presentation as well as to the palate.  Growing up in the 70’s; there were few Asians in my neighborhood; I was one of 3 in my class for the first 4 years of elementary school.  My parents were oblivious to the task they had before them of introducing this new cuisine to Chicago.  Up to this point, Sushi in Chicago was still unheard of.  Oriental food choices consisted of Chinatown restaurants and the Cantonese noodle and egg roll take-out/delivery storefronts.  So my dad, being an unwittingly savvy marketer, learned how to cook Chinese cuisine.  But not the Chinese take-out most people were accustomed to (though egg rolls and fried rice were on the menu that boasted over 64 dishes), but Hunan and Szechuan Chinese; with spices that served as a bridge between the Cantonese and the Thai.  People were familiar with ‘Chinese’ food, but the Chinese at Thai Room would be the gateway to the spicy dishes of Thai cuisine.

I had taken for granted that my mom was a fantastic chef.  Her training was that of a dentist in Thailand and a nurse in America.  I doubt she ever cooked a meal growing up in a privileged upper class family with Khon Chai (people who work for us) to do everything from driving to cleaning and cooking.  I am not sure how she discovered that she had such a talent for re-creating the amazing dishes she enjoyed as a child in her country.

For months, the restaurant would have a manageable flow of customers; about 8-10 tables each evening.  I was able to get my homework done, sitting at a table in the corner with my Trigonometry book (so Asian) and fulfilling my duty as the editor of my high school newspaper; describing the details of football games I was unable to attend but which were based on conversations I had with friends at school.  My brother and sister would earn extra tip money by playing the guitar and singing John Denver tunes and songs from ‘Annie’. 

It all changed one Friday evening after Christmas, when at 6pm promptly, all at once, every one of the restaurant’s 16 tables were filled and a line had formed out the door on a frigid Chicago evening.  Nearly every table ordered a combination of same dishes: Satay (grilled skewers of pork, chicken or beef) with peanut sauce, my dad’s spareribs, fried Red Snapper w/ Chili Sauce, Tom Yum (hot and sour soup) and green curry.  Could this all be a coincidence, because if it wasn’t, we did not get the memo.

Some customers wound up waiting over an hour for their food and had to forego the Phil and Anna entertainment experience, but no one left disappointed.  Whether we realized it or not, that evening, was the tipping point of the realization of my family’s American dream.  The Chicago Tribune had named their Top 10 Restaurants of the Year.  Thai Room was #10, alongside gastronomic landmarks such as Charlie Trotter and Le Francais.  It was also the only restaurant listed where the average price of a dish was under $15.

After a few months of managing this new booming business, my dad (once again the savvy marketer) sold the restaurant at a premium to another Thai family hoping to live the dream.  Today, my parents still own the house that our family’s collective blood, sweat and tears of Thai Room paid for.  

By way of an incredibly circuitous route (which includes a Division 1 college athletic scholarship in tennis and a stint at the William Morris Agency), my sister is re-inventing the magic of Thai Room with her healthful cooking.  She sells ready made Asian-inspired cuisine at the Chicago Farmer’s Market.  One of the rules of selling at the market is that a majority percentage of ingredients must be locally sourced from the farmer’s market.   That seems almost as Herculean a feat as introducing Thai food to Chicago in the 80’s.  But Anna’s Rock n’ Roll Noodle Company is bringing Thai cuisine with a healthy attitude to a new generation of Chicagoans. 

I’ve tried to re-create some of her most popular dishes, but a note about the ‘Green Curry’:  There are substantially more ingredients and time involved in making the curry paste from scratch.  You can find curry paste in Asian markets, but by making it yourself, you can insure that there are no preservatives, and freeze the paste for later use. 

Learn more about Eda at http://edamame2003.blogspot.com/
 

The first food-oir I ever read was ‘Under the Tuscan Sun’ by Frances Mayes.  I loved the book because I could live vicariously through the author.  I was transported to a land of olive scented breezes, the shade of Cypress trees and the warmth of the sun peeking over the hillside, while still in my tiny 700 sq ft apartment on the Upper West Side.  Today I am reminded of her adventures and especially the contentment she felt just living everyday full of appreciation as I prepare to leave sunny southern California for New York.  Though I lived in New York and grew up in Chicago; I have managed to avoid extended amounts of time in any wintry climate.  This has been a year of unprecedented snow storms on the east coast; the last one dumping 14” of snow on the city just a week ago.

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Basil Lemon Grilled Chicken

Ingredients 10  Fresh Basil Leaves 2    Tablespoons Olive Oil 3    Cloves of Garlic Juice of 2 lemons Salt and Pepper Method: I blended the ingredients in my Magic Bullet to make a marinade for the chicken. Pound 2 organic free range chicken breasts with a tenderizer until they are flat as pancakes (less than a 1/4” thick) and pour the marinade over the chicken.  The basil makes the marinade super fragrant--yum!

Orzo Salad

• 1 cup of uncooked orzo
• 7  cherry tomatoes (sliced in half)
• 2   green onion (chopped)
• 1/4 cup arugula (chopped)

Method:

• Grill the chicken for 4 minutes on each side.
• Add the asparagus to the grill when flipping the chicken.
• Prepare the orzo as instructed (just boil for 4 minutes and then drain)
• Toss with the tomatoes, green onion and arugula and sprinkle parmesan cheese on top, if desired.

Grilled Asparagus was as simple as wrapping the asparagus (after breaking off the tough ends) placing them in a sheet of foil, drizzling lightly with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Wrap them up, ready for the grill.

Slow Food in 15 minutes.

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But what a difference a week makes, as I am being twittered by friends of the sunny, 50 degree weather out east.  I guess Spring is blooming in New York.  Something to look forward to.  But on my last weekend in LA, I wanted to celebrate everything that makes my day to day life here special, so today Ethan and I went for a hike in the Santa Monica mountains.

The weather was sunny, but not hot--perfect for hiking.  We had quite a bit of rainfall this winter, so the rushing water of creeks and the waterfall added to the soundtrack of the hike.  Chirping birds, frogs, and cricket sounds blended together like background instruments to the running water, with an eagle soaring overhead conducting this symphony of nature.  We managed several highlights along the trails--ocean views, climbing rocks along the waterfall and hidden caves.  Because of the rains, there was a lot of new plant growth, so when we actually stopped to take time to smell the flowers, literally, it put so much in perspective.  Ethan ran through the woods with his ‘sword’ (a stick) ahead of me, making sure to protect me against dragons in the woods.  It was the Disney version of Lord of the Flies.  

When we got home, we saw that the lettuce we planted nearly 3 weeks ago from the nursery were ready to be picked and washed.  In honor of my last weekend in California for a while, we decided to make a meal, using as many ingredients from the garden as we could.  We tried to gather all the ingredients and wanted everything to be fresh--nothing processed; nothing from a box, following the principles of The Slow Food Movement, which began in Italy in 1986 in an effort to combat fast food; specifically  the first McDonald’s in Rome.  It advocates to preserve the local cultural cuisine, food, plants and seeds.  It educates consumers about the risks of fast food, lobbies against the government funding of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and also seeks to preserve culinary traditions of local regions.  What started in Italy is now a movement in over 132 countries, counting over 100,000 members.

I believe slow food is a way of life in many communities throughout the world; but it frightens me that it is threatened by agri-business and corporations.  It angers me that people now have to fight to preserve this way of life that is so natural and makes sense.  I like this idea of slow food because simply stated--it is the definition of conscious eating.  You know where everything comes from because it is local, without chemicals and it is what people are meant to eat.  I remembered a recipe Frances wrote about in ‘Under the Tuscan Sun’ that involved basil, lemon, olive oil and a roasted chicken.  Simple.  While the principles of slow food are opposite to what we know as fast food; the ‘slow’ portion of the moniker doesn’t necessarily describe the amount of time to prepare.

Our Under the Santa Monica Sun meal consisted of grilled chicken, asparagus, and an Orzo salad.  Full disclosure:  the orzo did come from a box; but it was made of 100% organic durum wheat semolina from Italy.  Everything but the orzo, chicken, olive oil, parmesan cheese, cherry tomatoes, garlic and asparagus (all produce from the farmers market) were from the backyard.

 

Learn more about Eda at http://edamame2003.blogspot.com/

Every day I am pleasantly surprised by how many people are as concerned, interested and active in the search for better food and healthier eating as I am.  And its always in the form of a surprising advocate.  All those stories about hormone-injected meat and poultry has become part of our collective consciousness.  I don’t recall food recalls as a child; but over the past few years; some of our most basic foods have been tainted--peanut butter, salads, cantaloupe, beef, and poultry.  Is that just about every food group?  That is frightening!



I have no delusions of being able to grow everything I eat.  But I do believe in making the effort in order to understand the process.  Ethan and I eat and use the food we grow.  We think it makes our meals more delicious--probably because it was grown with our sweat equity.  Composting, planting, watering and harvesting.  Its been a year of saving vegetable peels, seeds and coffee grinds.  Finally after a year, our bin filled to the top has yielded enough beautiful dark rich organic soil to plant our spring plants--cucumbers, peas, tomatoes, cilantro, a few lettuce varieties, and a lime and lemon tree.    Ethan has a chance to see where our food comes from and to appreciate his work of nurturing his plants from seedlings to dinner.  After watching a 60 Minutes profile of Alice Waters, I learned more about school gardens and what a great experience it is for kids.  Learning about Alice Waters’ flagship edible garden made me want to start one at Ethan’s school.

I’ve been trying to eat locally grown food in season and available at my farmer’s market.  Living in Santa Monica makes it easier for me to eat and cook more sustainably.  The farmers whose booths I frequent talk (with pride) about sustainability.  From these conversations, I’ve learned that sustainable farming is a way of raising food that is healthy for consumers and animals (no synthetic hormones or pesticides), does not harm the environment, is humane for workers and animals animals, and provides a fair wage to the farmer, and supports these farm communities.  What’s not to like?  And I doubt there will be a recall of your beets and broccoli.

I interviewed Alicia Silverstone for her movie, ‘Excess Baggage’ before she became the poster child for PETA and Macrobiotics.  I saw her recently at an event for her bestseller, ‘The Kind Diet’ (The Kind Diet Book)  While I’m not ready to give up meats (including some seafood) and dairy (I love my cheese); we do make an effort to eliminate white and wheat flour, sugar and processed foods from our diet.  Macrobiotic eaters believe that eating locally grown in season produce maximizes the nutritional value of the food and that cooking in a microwave reduces the nutritional value of foods.  That makes sense to me and we follow that theory for the most part.  Alicia makes it easy for those of us dabbling in macrobiotics, providing carnivores (referred to as Flirts in her book) with some plant-based substitutes.  But you don’t have to become a vegan to become a more conscious consumer, and still be as chic as Alicia.  She provides tips for a more conscious lifestyle on her blog:  The Kind Life

But to take all of this sustainability from macro to a micro level.  My friend and co-executive producer of a TV show I am working on surprised me the other day by bringing me a dozen eggs.  Hatched by his chickens.  That live in his backyard.  I mention this because it just goes to show that this idea of a conscious lifestyle is the zeitgeist of modern living today.  He keeps 4 chickens as household pets.  One of them is an Auraucana hen that lays green eggs.  It is unbelievably beautiful--the bird and her eggs.  In addition, these eggs have the thickest and most orange-yellow yolks you’ve ever seen--they stand up like 3 inches high!  

And talk about free range--they certainly live the life; eating chicken feed, vegetable scraps, bugs and grass in his backyard.  Clearly they are the happiest hens, producing an average of 6 eggs a week each!  My friend Tony says he bought the hens as baby chicks from a local feed store.  They started producing eggs after about 6 months--no word on the house training.  Though I personally think he reads bedtime stories to them and lets them watch TV (only educational programming of course).  

While I plan to make many dishes (including a breakfast of eggs over easy); I used one of these green eggs as a special treat in Ethan’s all time favorite comfort food.  On a wintry day, Americans cuddle up to a warm bowl of oatmeal.  For Asian families, the rice porridge is a hearty breakfast staple:

Brown Rice Porridge (Khao Tom in Thai)

• 1 cup of cooked Jasmine brown rice
• 2 oz ground organic turkey
• 2 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
• 1 Egg

Method:

• Boil 2 cups of water on the stove top and add crumbled ground turkey for 7 minutes or until turkey is cooked.
  Add rice and fish sauce.
  
• When the rice boils, crack the egg into the porridge and boil the egg to the desired softness/hardness
  If desired, top with chopped green onion, cilantro and black pepper.

So simple...So satisfying.

Learn more about Eda at http://edamame2003.blogspot.com/