Spice Dish

Creativity Sparks

Dali Themed Street Art. Creative.

I went to a book club a little while ago. It was full of strangers. I’ve never, in my life, done that before. We had an amazing conversation and I left completely creatively energized. It wasn’t just that I was using my critical thinking skills for the first time in months, but that I was trying something new. I realized that I needed to do lots more of this sort of thing--  not in the interest of 'self improvement' but simply for the sake of experience. For fostering creativity. For enjoying life. So I came up with a list of “Creativity Sparks” (i.e. stuff I’ve never done before but am going to try in  order to keep  my brain excited and to experience new things) Hey if Stephen Fry can get pierced, I can find things I've never done!

I’m not calling it a ‘bucket list’ because I don’t care if I do or don’t do these before I die. Dying is not the point. Some are little things, some are big life altering things. Some are free and some make me thankful I have no kids in need of a college education. 

I think I know which one I’ll start with, but I’m not sure. I don’t even know how closely I’ll be keeping track, hell I don’t even know how many items are on this list! (Just counted... 64) Here I go. Here’s to creativity!

Ride in a hot air balloon
See the northern lights
Take a sailing lesson
Write a book
Have a conversation in a language other than english
Send a message in a bottle.
Ride a camel (or elephant) etc
Take a ballroom dance class
Learn to play a musical instrument
Take a singing lesson
Make a complete fool of myself
Eat at the French Laundry
Learn to juggle
Learn to drive a stick shift
Spend three months getting my body into athletic shape
Go fishing and eat my catch
Ride a motorcycle
Work on a farm for a day
Learn a new skill (no idea what yet)
Make soup dumplings
Run a 5k (not walk)
Find a food I've never eaten and eat it
Go to a jazz show
Play a game of ice hockey
Go horseback riding along the beach
Learn to ski
Take a fencing lesson
Go on a helicopter ride
Sleep overnight on a train
Collect fresh chicken eggs from a nest
Go to the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
Try a new restaurant in San Francisco
See the Parthenon in Greece
Go to Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain
Read Moby dick
Visit the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy
Spend an afternoon in El Prado in Madrid, Spain
See "Guernica" by Pablo Picasso at the Museo Reina Sofia
Spend a week in Bora Bora
Attend a Japanese tea ceremony
Learn to sculpt
Learn how to perform a magic trick
Learn to knit one thing
Make cheese
Watch lawrence of Arabia
Face a fear (not sure which one)
Become financially literate
Go to an auction at Christie's or Sotheby's
Sleep in a castle
Create a well-stocked pantry
Go to a yoga class by myself
Become an 'expert' at something
Write an article and have it published
Register for NaNoWriMo and write a novel in one month
Do NaBloPoMo for one month
Write a cookbook
Audition for something
Travel to another city to go to a concert/show (performer TBD)
Try fugu
Get a tarot card reading
Get hypnotized (for what I have no idea)
Eat something I've grown
Travel solo (even a day trip)
Get rid of 100 of my possessions

 

So what about you? You have a list? 

EB

Resolutions 2012!

Happy New Year's!

Again, I'm not a New Years resolution kind of gal, just never have been. But lovely Marisa, of Food In Jars inspired me this morning. Just because I don't do personal resolutions doesn't mean I can't make some bloggy ones! So here goes, my Blog Resolutions for 2012:

1- To post more vintage cookbooks (you guys seem to like those)

2- Maybe a little re-design (change is good right?)

3- In general, just be more consistent with my posting (I can do it!)

Sound good? Ok then. Happy 2012!

EB

Man on a Mission

This man wants to change the world. Jonathan Lewis is on a mission, one he fell into by accident but that he’s adopted with the vigor of a religious pilgrim. He is willing to educate one person at a time to fulfill his dream of people knowing, truly knowing, where their food comes from.

He says “good food does not come cheap.” Simply put, yet his point highlights the disparity between the have and have-nots in this country, the sick and the healthy, those with access to ‘good food’ and those without. As one of the growing number who understands that this nation must change its food ways, he advocates that it can—if consumers take action with our wallets. If only a fraction of us banded together we could hold food chains accountable for how animals are raised, slaughtered and packaged.

His equation is simple: consumer demand + thriving family farms = good food for all. His meat CSA, Pastoral Plate, is a tiny operation, and most definitely not a big money venture. He is working for 'social capital'-- making sure truly organic farmers stay in business and that the community is made better by those businesses. He doesn’t just talk the talk, he puts his money where his mouth is. He has invested in a chicken farm and expects to be paid not in fat dividends, but in fat chickens. Yes. He expects to be paid in fowl.

Jonathan wants to understand why, for a culture that claims to understand the need for local, organic, sustainable foods there is a disconnect between that and our real life actions (he uses the bestseller status of The Omnivores Dilemma as an example). He wants people to understand how our food becomes our food. He wants everyone to visit the farms where there food is from. In his opinion, if you can’t visit the farm, you shouldn't be eating it.

Now that's free range!

The Pastoral Plate website contains not just cute pictures of chickens, but a full blown manifesto that states: “The goal of Pastoral Plate is to bring people together so that we can act collectively to influence the quality of our food, and work to improve the functioning of our local food economy.” He believes that “consumers are the most potent force in the food supply chain – but only if we want to be.” Unfortunately however, most Americans have become lazy and ignorant when it comes to their food sources. We put the power in someone else’s hands, trusting that we would be given back good product. But that has led to giant agribusiness with one concern: profit.

Since the health of consumers and communities is not a concern in the big American food production chain, Lewis suggests we go around that system and straight to the source. The farms he works with are all family owned and operated. He acknowledges that these farms are in “a tough and exacting business; and they need our support.” Pastoral Plate supports these farms and strengthens the community by having created “a simple and transparent distribution method” that ensures your food has not been “polluted, poisoned, diluted, mislabeled, or obscured while traveling through the industrialized distribution chain” of standard food production.

He is charming, affable and adamant. Adamant that: we need to know, we need to take responsibility for knowing and we need to speak up. Above all he is a proponent of asking questions. Where does the food come from, why is it raised in the way it is, who butchers it and how? Because ultimately he believes you should be “connected, involved and informed.”

Get in on Jonathan’s mission here.

Eat Good Food

Do you own a copy of Eat Good Food yet? NO? Buy one here! For every copy sold they are donating a dollar to The Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) and Nextcourse a group that offers food education to San Francisco youth. And that’s the point. Beyond being a book that highlights the bounty found at BiRite Market the authors advocate for the connection between food and community. The first chapter is aptly titled “Creating Community Through Food” and begins with how the market came to be what it is today and the neighborhood and city that formed it. 

Sam Mogannam’s book is a non-insider’s guide on how to shop consciously in order to foster your community all while eating better (for you and your neighbors).  The book is filled with history, credos, cooking and shopping tips, not to mention gorgeous photos and great recipes.

I used to live around the corner from BiRite (long before ‘food culture’ was on my radar) and I was a regular shopper. I didn’t know why then, but the food always tasted better and dinner companions always perked up when they saw a BiRite bag come through the door. The products were always simply superior.  The market is truly more than just a grocery store. It has become a hub of information and community outreach with the addition of 18 Reasons.

Mogannam’s idea is that ‘good food’ isn’t just for “rich” foodies, but everyone. He features this poster by the U.S. Food Administration from 1914 to make his point. These are not new-fangled ideas, but a plea to return to what made American food and communities great.

 

Go... now.... get a copy... I'll wait....

 

EB

Cheap Eats in the Summer of Love

Looove the logo!

Hardworking immigrants who operate small establishments, serving heartfelt food at living wage prices? That’s our favorite thing these days in San Francisco right? Really, there is some truth to the saying that there is nothing new under the sun. We've always been a food city.

In 1969 R. B. Bread was a writer for the Examiner-Chronicle and a little book called “The San Francisco Underground Gourmet: An Irreverant Guide to Dining in the Bay Area.” His specialty was finding “different and excellent eateries” that were “small and modest.” He championed the mom n' pop joints that were overlooked by most publications. At the time, “ethnic” foods were all over the city but not nearly in the numbers we think of as normal today. While now you see Bernal Hill three year olds chowing down on octopus at any given sushi joint, in 1969 Read had to spend half his time explaining what things were before he could tell you where you should eat them!

So why on earth did I pick up an ethnic food restaurant guide from 1969? There were two things that made me plunk down my four dollars for the book: one, Read proclaims that “San Franciscans need a restaurant guide” due to the fact that for all of San Franciscans “heady interest in the subject” there was very little exploring outside of certain comfort zones. Can you imagine? Us needing a restaurant guide? Two, Read includes “Gay” as an ethnic food category, right between Frisco and German! He acknowledges that most gays are not “glamorous theatrical personages” but “wage earners in humdrum and humble occupations” who needed a place to go be themselves, where they could be free from discrimination. In a sign of the times, while he only finds three Korean restaurants worth mention he lists almost three pages of “Gay” restaurants. Can you imagine his joy cruising the Richmond today? 

Very few of his haunts remain, but some like Lois the Pie Queen hold fast and have changed little. Others like Tadich Grill remain but are clearly out of the budget conscious realm that got them in the book.

While apparently Read was a “well-known San Francisco epicure and bon vivant,” a “world traveler, journalist and resource economist,” I haven’t been able to find much about him. But I think it’s pretty clear, with his ‘get out there and find good food in small places’ mentality he would undoubtedly be a food blogger if he were on the scene today.

EB

The Girl in the Pink Unicorn

She rode in on a pink unicorn!

You know Jessie right? If you don't I have one question... just what is wrong with you? Dear, darling, tiny Jessie is the force of sweet nature behind CakeSpy, a land of all things wonderful, sugary, pink and unicorn filled. Her book is out and you really should buy it. I mean really... you should. Her recipes are fun. Pure 6 year old, let loose in a sugary factory, fun.

Yay cupcakes!

She hit up San Francisco while on her book tour and I was lucky enough to finally meet Jessie after years of following her. I have to say, she was sweeter than any Halloween candy I could have crammed in my face. Omnivore Books was filled with lovers of her drawings, her recipes and her humor. She gave away sox, tote bags and wisdom of the ages i.e. "frosting makes everything better." And really... the girl is not wrong.

So go now... buy your copy. Pass out from a sugar coma. It's ok... you'll dream of unicorns.

 

EB

Of Anniversaries and Things

My first picture posted

I started SpiceDish four years ago. FOUR. It’s strange where life takes you in four years. I’ve never been a diary keeper (too embarrassing) but I realize now that SpiceDish is a diary of sorts. Looking back on past posts I can see when I was happy at my work (fewer posts), when I needed escape (more posts), when I was engaged with the blogosphere (lots of comments), and when I was playing recluse (no comments).

I can see when larger life issues, very personal ones, took precedence over posting or when I was compelled to post by those same issues.

I have met some truly amazing people because of SpiceDish. People like Bethany, Victoria, Sarah and Jessie.  I have been let into many other worlds in the past years and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.

Like a lot of you, I’m at yet another crossroads in life. The ‘what’s next’ type. The ‘can I really make that happen’ type.  I have no idea where I will be come next October’s blogiversary, and that’s a bit scary. I do know that I’ll be able to look over the year’s posts and see where I’ve been. And that is comforting.

Here’s to another year.

Enjoy-

EB

 

The Naughty 90's

No... not those 90s. The other ones. Before those...

I have in my collection strange little book, "Rector's Naughty '90s Cookbook". This fascinating book was published in 1949, yet the recipes are from the 1890s. They are recipes from father and son team Charles and George Rector. in 1899 Rector's Restaurant on Broadway in NYC was one of the finest, most opulent restaurants anywhere in the U.S. This article from 1908 notes that the building bought to 'upgrade' the restaurant cost upwards of $700,000! It was where anyone, who was anyone went. It was known for “loose” women, not so above-board gentlemen and all around hijinks. It's name was put to songs, plays and slang.

  
                 Rector's in full swing!

On the elder Rector's death, hundreds of recipes were found in his files. Those recipes are what make up this interesting little book, filled with long forgotten ingredients, headshots and biographies of leading women of the day and period (for the 1890s) advertisements.

The recipes themselves are a great collection of the 'novel' and 'elegant' from turn of the century America. There one I chose was for:

Stuffed Avocado a la Maxine Elliot

 

It's an old take on the shellfish stuffed avocado with “Russian” dressing. One of those, at one time was considered elegnt, now is considered cliché dishes. The recipe for the dressing included a few ingredients I had never heard of, “India Relish”? But it really was tasty. There's a reason recipes like this one stick around.

As for the recipe's namesake? This Maxine Elliot was one dapper woman. She was smart, beautiful and strong. She was an actress, lover of kings, robber barons and anyone else she fancied. Married several times, it was said she had better business sense than most men. I assume this dish was served at one of her sought after lavish and "fabulous dinner parties."

Russian Dressing

1 cup mayonnaise

2 tbs chili sauce

2 tsp finely chopped green pepper

2 tsp India relish

2 tsp finely chopped pimento

Combine all ingredients and blend well.

 

After prohibition made running the restaurant difficult, George Rector (the son) and his wife toured the US and wrote food articles for the Saturday Evening Post. They issued a well received cookbook in 1928 and were considered culinary experts who appeared in national newspapers, on the radio and in newsreels offering culinary advice until 1947.

The book is a snapshot of what Americans were looking back at in the 40s. What were they nostalgic for? Apparently the freedom to be "loose," carefree and opulent. Sounds good to me!

Enjoy-

EB

Glasses Up, Diets Down!

www.cameronbooks.com

Do you want to know one of the reasons I love San Francisco? We produce guys like Robert Cameron. A helicopter riding, photo taking, meat eating, drinkin' man of the 1960's who wrote the “Drinking Man's Diet” diet book.

 You want brandy and a hollandaise sauce smothered steak, followed by some pate and champagne (all imbibed while snuggling up to a giggly little thing in a wiggle dress?) Then this is your diet! Years before Dr. Atkins, Robert Cameron was touting the health benies of bacon for breakfast and vodka for happy hour.

Don't get me wrong, even in 1965 Time Magazine had issues with the “diet,” but I just love the whole bon vivant-ness of it. It IS very San Francisco to be concerned with cocktails as the cornerstone of your diet. It really, really is. I mean... just check out the sample dinner menu, there are no less than 5 glasses of booze involved! Mmmmmm dinner on the rocks.

Dinner:

Martinis or highballs, if you desire (trace)
Hors d'oeuvres of 2 stalks of celery stuffed with pâté (5)
Shrimp cocktail (4)
Beef, pork, lamb, veal chicken or turkey (0)
Green beans, 1 cup, brussels sprouts, 1/2 cup, or cauliflower, 1 cup (6)
2 glasses dry wine (trace)
1/2 avocado with French dressing (8)
Cheese: Roquefort, Camembert, Swiss or cheddar (trace)
Coffee or tea (0)
Brandy (trace)

Total grams of carbohydrate: 33

While there were certainly detractors, his idea has lived on in the likes of French Women Don't Get Fat and the Fat Fallacy. Making the closing note in Cameron's book still relevant to all of us lushes... um I mean 'dieters'...

"So, drinkers of the world, throw away your defatted cottage cheese and your cabbage juice; and sit down with us to roast duck and Burgundy. You have nothing to lose but your waistlines."

Glasses up!

EB

Resolutions Away!

It's that resolutiony time of year it seems. I've never been much of one for the "quit smoking," "lose 10 lbs," "call my mother more often" type of resolutions, or any type really. But this year, as I looked back on last, I realized that my crazy little life got in the way of well... my life. The things I love most kind of fell to the wayside while I dealt with other things. So, for the first year in many (or maybe ever) I'm making a few resolutions. Declaritive statement time. My New Year's Resoultions for 2011 are to:

Eat: Elsewhere. There are literally thousands of restaurants in this city, and I go to a lot of them. But every once in a while I realize I have a few places that have become go-to's more often than they should be. Places like George's have been on my list of to-get-to's for ages. I walk by it weekly. Yet I've never made it inside. 2011 is your year George!

 

Listen: Music. There is some amazing live music in this city on a nightly basis. I've started taking that for granted and getting lazy about going to shows. Hey... I've got a work schedule that's a little less than stellar... but I need to kick it into gear and get out there and discover the next great group to sell out.

 

Do: "Stuff". Another thing this city is full of? Odd, hidden little places. Like the Seward St Slides. These kinds of things are always in my mind, but rarely on my calendar. It's time to fix that.

 

See: Movies! Specifically at the Red Vic, the Castro & the 101 year old Roxie. I love films. Hell, I teach film! But I rarely get to the theater to see them, much less the awesome indie theaters we have. Way beyond the blockbusters, these theaters show gems like everyone's fave "The Room."

Make: Food. This last year was one of many changes and unfortunately what took a hit was my cooking. I simply don't really cook anymore. New year, new(ish) kitchen. Let's do this thing! I'll finally tackle the stack of recipes and books in my kitchen that unfortunately became dust collectors last year.

So that's it. A fairly doable list I think. Oh well, those and to actually friggin' blog this year. Sheesh.

 

EB