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Next stop, San Francisco and a lunch with people from the book and old friends served at One Market, a Brad Ogden restaurant. The luncheon was hosted by Michael Dellar, Brad's partner and was luxurious and totally fun. Some culinary celebrities in attendance were Charles Phan from the Slanted Door, John Sharffenberger from Sharffen Berger Chocolate and Gary Danko from Gary Danko. The food was great and Chef Mark Dommen based the menu on the late Jean Louis Palladin to whom New American Cooking is dedicated. There is something about having a long lunch on a Friday afternoon. It lasted until about 4:00, when I crashed at my hotel until 8:00.
Saturday morning, bright and early, I went to the farmer's market on the wharf next to the Ferry Building with cookbook author Carol Fields. As she did her weekly shopping—San Francisco takes its food seriously—I tagged along, meeting her favorite merchants. First was Farmer Al who grows perfect peaches, one of which I had tasted earlier this year at Alice Water's Chez Panisse. There was a man growing fingered bitter lemons (etrogim), and dine bread. Throughout the market, people were meeting, eating, buying cheeses, coffee, fruit, vegetables. One stand, the Boulettes Larder, is a carry out with a large table that becomes a restaurant at night. The food looked unusual and appealing, the spices impeccably sourced, and the owner Amaryll Schwertner was very interesting. Outside I bumped into Jan Buhrman, a caterer from the Vineyard with Clarissa Allen of Allen's farm. We all got excited about the idea of transforming Amaryll's concept to the Vineyard.
Later, after a day of reading and signing books, Jim Dodge, another cookbook writer, picked me up and we went to the annual harvest party at McEvoy Ranch in Petaluma, to celebrate new olive oil afterthe first crush. We missed the lunch but tasted the dessert, a chocolate almond cake made with olive oil! Nan Mcevoy, who is in the book, brought Italian olive trees to California. It seems that many wine growers are doing the same, now replacing their trees with olives.
When I had my hair done before an interview in Minneapolis, the Lebanese coiffeur told me to go to Emily's Lebanese Restaurant for dinner. Because we had to rush to a book signing at Barnes and Noble, I thought I would drive by and pick up carry out. Emily, who passed away, was the woman who started the restaurant. Her children run it now with a sister making the very traditional food. The taboulleh was tops as were the stuffed vegetables. I realized that the light green zucchini they used was the Middle Eastern style, now grown by the Hmong in Minneapolis.
On Thursday, I visited the Mill House Museum, on the site of one of the first flour mills which got its energy from the Mississippi River below. Yankee mill makers ran the mills in the mid 1900s and employed the German and Scandinavian immigrants who came to the Midwest during that period. In fact, General Mills came out of those first mills. I was able to have a quick tour of the museum before I braided my bread for a presentation and then met with the Dames d'Escoffier group for a talk about how I went about writing the book. At 7:00 I moved upstairs and talked to another nice crowd and showed the audience how to six-braid challah. We all held onto two large challahs at the end and said the blessings, in Hebrew and English over bread, the food that comes from the earth.
Since I had barely eaten that day we shot over to Restaurant Alma, a new small restaurant with young chefs who know their ingredients, care about them, and cook simply. I tasted one of my favorite dishes: Ravioli stuffed with pumpkin and served with sage as well as a spatzle with anchovies. The young chef had gone to the French Culinary Institute in New York, worked in New York at David Bouley and other restaurants, traveled abroad, and came home to Minneapolis to cook and raise a family. Judging by the ravioli and spatzle, he made a very good decision.
In Ann Arbor, after a whirlwind day of media in Detroit, I went to talk to the Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor, one of the most active food groups in the country. From there, I went to Zingerman's Roadhouse for a dinner filled with dishes from New American Cooking. Alex Young, the totally charming chef, tackled an ambitious menu for 75 guests. He prepared six passed hors d'oeuvres from the book: California Pizza with duck rillette (p. 56), Mahammar and pulled-chicken canapés (p. 95), Cambodian lettuce wraps (p.111), Chilean Empanadas, (p.114) Caramelized Cherry Tomato Tarts, (p.116) and Stuffed Grapeleaves (p. 119). The salad was the Israeli couscous and pine nuts (p. 199) over greens and the entrée stuffed red snapper, Chicken Marbella (p.300), Malian lamb stew (p.346) and the stuffed peppers with Jasper Hill Blue Cheese, Polenta and Pesto (p.245). The sides were Rice Stuffed Onions (p.217) and Spinach Stew with peanuts and pumpkin seeds (P.252.). As we all agreed, the food just kept getting better and better with the crowning dish, the dessert from Gary Danko: Gingerbread and Roasted Caramel Pears with whipped cream (p.383).
What makes Zingerman's so special is the hands on of Ari Weinzweig who adores this place. He is smart, caring about his workers, and, has a great palate. I don't know any other place in America quite like the Roadhouse where you could do such a relaxed dinner like this in a space within the restaurant. They do these types of dinners about once a month, and the hostess always seats you with people you might not know so that you can make new friends. Lucky me, I sat with the chef and general manager from Zingerman's.
I was scheduled to sign books at the Cooks library, which, a cookbook store that moves to the Hollywood Farmer's Market whenever cookbook authors come to town. Now, this farmer's market is the best I have visited in America. There is gorgeous produce, amazing ethnic food, and even finger painting for kids. I tasted El Salvadorean vegetarian pupusas, a pineapple guava, and the Mexican corn tamales. All were top notch. Ever since I read about the Agora in Greece, I always thought that a market should be as much a place of social gathering as a place to sell food, and this market delivered on all fronts. The food was great, people were friendly, and it didnt't hurt that I sold a ton of books.
Next up: Michigan and Minnesota.
For lunch I met up with Ed La Dou, the founder of California Pizza. We went to Sham Shiri, an upscale Persian Restaurant filled with young Iranian-Americans and had wonderful sour cherry stews, kebabs, and my favorite, fesenjan, this stew of walnuts and pomegranates over chicken perfectly silken and tangy. The recipe in my book is equally as delicious but a bit rougher in texture. (page 316).
On Friday, we visited the Spring Street Smoke House. This bare bones restaurant was started by a man who has a unique catering service. He feeds the prison inmates at the adjacent INS prison, one that was beefed up after 9/11 by Homeland Security. When we arrived a server was mixing peanut butter and jelly together (the mixture was bright pink!), and they explained that they do this to make spreading easy. On this day, they were making sandwiches for 300 prisoners' lunch.
But we had come to taste the smoked meat, and taste we did. The ribs, brisket and bologna had been smoked for the last year, and was served with vinegary barbecue sauce on a sandwich. Delicious!
As if this "appetizer" wasn't enough, we then headed over to Langer’s Delicatessen. According to many, including Nora Ephron in this 2002 New Yorker article Langer’s has the best pastrami in America. Now, I agree. Cured with a slightly sweet combination of spices and cut a little thicker than most, and steamed a while, it was heaven—and the crusty rye bread was a perfect accompaniment. Later I learned that Langer’s has a pick up service, not a delivery service, so if you drive down and call in your order, you can just drive by because parking is so difficult.
Since it was Friday LA's Korea Town farmer's market was open for business. I then had to stop by to gawk at the mounds of taro root, bok choy and other unusual vegetables.
To finish off the day I visited Nashara, a monthly Friday night service at a Congregational Church. The rabbi, Naomi Levy, is teaches a class at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and for this service, she translated all the prayers into something meaningful, sang through the service in Hebrew with an accompanying band including a drummer and a guitarist. Her positive energy just filled the room and reached all of us. I left thinking about LA as an amazing rambling city for people who love to discover culture, ethnic foods and restaurants—like me.
All I wanted when we set off for Huntington Beach in California was a cup of coffee. My escort was Ann Binney and together, we spotted a shack called Java Jungle across the beach. It was decorated with tikis from Bali and advertised coffee and surf boards. We walked in and asked the owner, Scotty Cochrainwhose pony tail looked as if it had been with him all his life, for a cup 'o joe. He said he couldn’t make us any. When we protested that we had come all this way for a good cup of coffee, he gave in and made one of the best cappuccino's I’ve ever tasted. Good beans, hot and frothy. He told us that he loved to surf, had never been to college, but took a cooking lesson or two at the culinary academy nearby.
"All coffee is is beans and water," he said to explain why he was drawn to the simple art of making it. "Plus, it doesn’t hurt that coffee comes from areas where there is good surfing." His coffee comes from surfing capitals like Costa Rica and Kuai.
"My coffee is surf style," he said. When asked when he has time for surfing while running the shop, his reply was swift: "Whenever I want."
Flew to New York and then drove to the stately Blue Hill at Stone Barns, on the 80 acre Rockefeller Estate in Pocantico Hills in Tarrytown, New York. It was the day before Halloween and the place was filled with witches and goblins in this town of Sleepy Hollow. I had been there earlier to interview Dan Barber, the talented and energetic chef who had me taste his roasted cherry tomatoes on a skewer with a basil leaf tucked in between. (p. 193).
Then we drove to Mount Kisco to the home of Nancy and Jerry Kohlberg where we took a walk around their amazing farm. The Kohlbergs grow Devon cows, and rare breeds like large black pigs and Shetland sheep. They are emblematic of a growing number of hobbyist farmers concerned with the environment. The water and nitrogen from their indoor trout and tilapia pounds feeds micro greens and other vegetables that they use at home, sell to restaurants and individuals, and serve in their local organic restaurant, The Flying Pig which is inside the Mount Kisco railroad station.
That night, the Kohlbergs held a small fund-raising dinner for the Edible Education Project that they sponsor at the Mount Kisco Day Care Center’s Intergenerational program. They served food featured in the book including outrageous oysters from the state of Washington broiled with micro greens from their garden on top (p. 106), Alice Water’s Autumn Harvest Soup, (p;. 136), Nancy Kohlberg’s mother’s sweet and sour stuffed cabbage (p. 357) with the beef from her own Devon cows, and delicious Vermont apple pie (page 415).
What I love most about Nancy's mother's recipe for stuffed cabbage is that I found it on an old small index card written—maybe 50 years ago—by my mother who was a long-time friend of Nancy's mom. Nancy hadn’t even tasted the dish in years! I made a small change in the book. Freezing the cabbage first and then defrosting it makes it effortless. You don't have to boil the cabbage. The leaves are soft. They just separate, making stuffing a breeze.
Now that my book is out, it's time for parties and that means food! The first was given by my daughter Daniela at my childhood friend's house in Brooklyn, a wonderful loft-type space with a stunning view of New York's skyscrapers. The e-vite read "Brooklyn welcomes Joan!"
Daniela and a friend baked crisp yummy ginger cookies from New American Cooking (p. 393) and ordered the rummy rum cake (p. 384) made by a Jamaican woman at the nearby Mo-Bay Restaurant. They also ordered delicious pies, similar to the Memilitas (p. 122) made from masa harina from Puebla, Mexico. It was great fun, with appearances and funny stories from my interns through the years.
The next day a group of us helped Katja Goldman prep appetizers from the book for a party on Thursday at her home. Katja and her friend Margie, who had once been in the catering business together, reinterpreted one of my recipes; they created tiny pastry shells lined with crushed olives, topped with baked cherry tomatoes, and then topped with brown sugar (p. 116). We wrapped sauteed onions, rice, currants and herbs in grape leaves (p. 119-20), stuffed mushrooms with herbs and mozzarella cheese (p. 105), wrapped Asian vegetables, noodles and tofu in rice paper wraps (p. 111-12), and enveloped tiny diced vegetables in wonton wrappers to be steamed and then dipped in a hot sauce (p. 117-18). I love this kind of day where we can just use our hands and talk with old friends, too rare in my hectic life.
The party the next night was held in a beautiful Manhattan apartment overlooking Central Park with skyscrapers in the distance. More fabulous hors d'oeuvres were served in a very homey, comfortable atmosphere. Guests included people in the book like John Phillips (p. 210, 363), Ann Luzzatto (p. 366, 407) and Jimmy Andruzzi, a New York fireman (p. 355), as well as people who had worked on the book from Knopf, my editors from The New York Times, and good friends. Thanks to everyone for coming by to celebrate.
A final party took place after my book signing at Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C. Food from the book included empanadas (page 114-15), brisket with barbecue sauce (page 335-36), bread pudding (page 410-11), tiramisu (page 411-12), apple crostada (366, 407), and Ann Amernick's chocolate chip cookies (p 390-91). Everything was gobbled up.
A high for me was when barbecue buff Jim Tabb (page 332, 334-35), and farmer John Jamison (p. 352-54) went into the kitchen and started cooking grass-fed lamb for the guests! The hosts, Cathy Sulzberger and Joe Perpich, roasted and toasted me on the publication of the book, regaling the guests with tales of racing after recipes.
Now I am on the plane to Los Angeles.
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