despite our rice cooker’s claim that it can’t make sticky rice, we attempt it anyway. tonight was attempt #2 resulting in excellent rice (i have no idea how sweet rice is supposed to be made or how it is supposed to look/taste so our result seems perfect). the formula so far: 3 hours of soaking (don’t forget to rinse it first!) and then 2.25 “cups” of water. maybe i’ll try 2.125 next time because it was still a little gooey when the cooker stopped. after it warmed for almost 5 hours in the rice cooker, it became less globby as the rice kernels separated from each other and it dehydrated a bit. like i said, i have no idea if this 9 hour rice is the proper consistency, but sure is tasty. we topped it with honey and cinnamon. (sorry, no pictures. i just finished it.)

in other news, we just finished our last true bottle of chinese longan honey. this new bottle is “honey flavored syrup” and tastes more sweet with less longan. sadness. i miss the bees already.

page 92 of my edition of animal, vegetable, miracle explains how the slow food organization attempts to save delicious foods in danger of extinction by, ironically, consuming them. kingsolver’s description of their 2003 campaign to save heritage turkeys makes me want to buy a fresh heritage turkey for our next dinner party. slow food ran a membership drive by allowing the public to join for whatever donation s/he wanted to make. m and i became members of the slow food la chapter today for $37.50 (because we are cheap, but $36.50 more thoughtful than really cheap).

this time m bought cockles from costco and we used a weird uncured bacon from whole foods (never again). this version was tasty but not as tasty as the first. sometimes the first is always the best. i also thought the potato chunks were too large this time, but that’s just my opinion – it doesn’t really change the flavor of the chowder. the bacon and the cockles definitely affect the flavor. i liked the cockles. they were cute and small and easy to clean and shuck. we just bought too many of them. this second chowder was definitely…how can i put this?…richer? seafoodier? clammier? i’d buy cockles again, but probably not 7 lbs of them. below is my first stab at incorporating video. i love the gurgling sounds the cockles make…i just can’t think about throwing them into boiling hot water. makes me want to become a vegetarian.

(ok, so embedding the video is gonna need some work…here’s the link instead):
gurgling cockles

disclaimer: i am not a movie maker. i most certainly won’t become rich and famous shooting video on my little canon p+s.

L-R: al pastor, chorizo+cheese, mahi-mahi

yes, please. mas tacos. the westside isn’t really known for its taco trucks. m heard that tacos por favor is an excellent taqueria so i indulged myself today since i just happened to be in that neighborhood. i ordered a mahi-mahi, al pastor, and the chorizo + cheese that is recommended on chowhound here, here and here.

the mahi mahi was pretty good – had diced green chiles on it. the al pastor was dry and tasted vinegar-y to me. not my favorite tender, spicy al pastor. i saved the chorizo + cheese for last because it was the least delicate in flavor but i’m not sure that was a good idea. now i have this big cheesy rock sitting in my stomach. but it was good, and i’ve never had a chorizo + cheese taco before. i would order it again. and i’m sure it’s best when it’s eaten right away. i only live a few blocks away but by the time i got home and ate the other two, the cheese had definitely solidified.

i finished eugenia kim’s the calligrapher’s daughter yesterday and started barbara kingsolver’s food memoir today. i am plowing through books like i just discovered the written word (having time to read on the bus helps). i’m only 20 pages into this new book and i’m hooked. granted, i’m a willing audience: i shop and adore my farmers’ market, i try to use as few bags/sacks/plastic as possible, i recycle, i believe in reusable everything (travel mugs, silverware, tupperware, fixing the appliance rather than buying new), and i grow my own herbs and produce in my small urban planters as often as i can. so ms. kingsolver and her family have already convinced me of their message and the way she writes is just the topping on the cake. if i didn’t already care so much about locally grown food, she could convince me with little resistance.

www.animalvegetablemiracle.com

RGG+SGG helped us with our #2/99 restaurants: terroni. south italian cuisine. sadly, no pictures this time so how can i best convey the fresh tomato and basil of SGG’s dish, the perfect crust on RGG’s ‘za con funghi, my earthy porcinis with handmade/homemade tagliatelle noodles, and, well, m’s capunti w/ lamb (that should’ve been a linguine w/ clam dish, but she just couldn’t decide). according to jgold, we really should’ve ordered espresso but we had to jet to the bowl for pink martini (!).

terroni was good, i’d go back. a bit too loud, eclectic interior design, an extensive menu, reasonable italian food (which i find peculiarly hard to find in lalaland). but the real highlight of the evening was pink martini. O.M.G. they are soooooo great in concert. the bowl performance was even better than their new years’ eve performance at the disney concert hall. china forbes has a fabulous voice – so deep and clear; thomas lauderdale is so dopey and cute and geeky and talented. my favorite pieces were u plavu zoru with pansy chang on cello, their live version of amado mio, cante e dance (my new favorite PM song) and the first encore featuring a pianist and her violinist husband. wow. they have a new album releasing in october and i can’t get my hands on it fast enough.

terroni | 7605 Beverly Blvd 90036 | 323.954.0300

for the past 5 years, i’ve pooh-poohed the santa monica wednesday farmers’ market as being expensive and overly crowded and having poor quality produce. which is crazy, because many top chefs shop here and there’s a cookbook featuring many of the farmers who sell their goods here. i attribute my skepticism to my obsessive devotion to the hollywood farmers market. change is hard for me. today, i changed my mind about the SMFM. no, it’s not cheap (although i did get some persian cukes for $2/lb which is rare), but i found some of my favorite vendors and discovered some new ones to which i will return.

for example, burkhart (s side of arizona btwn 3rd and 2nd – most of the good vendors are here) had jujubes today and will have them again for 5-6 weeks. they also had grapes, but i found a new grape vendor – not my hollywood guy – he is scott farms from dinuba, ca. he had 4-5 different varieties and i sampled 1 green and 1 red: the sweet scarlet grapes were firm and not too sweet. i nabbed a few bunches and i also got those tiny green grapes that i love so much – also firm and not too sweet. i tried some red grapes at another vendor, but waaaaayyy too sweet. can’t remember where he was located exactly…but the guy behind the table also works for burkhart.

north of arizona on 2nd is coleman farms. we bought shishito peppers and juliet tomatoes from them last week. i purchased the peppers again today. their smell is so strong they fill my grocery bag with peppery goodness. i can smell them now. too bad the internet isn’t scratch and sniff.

peacock farms, also from dinuba, ca, had early girl tomatoes. i asked if they were dry-farmed but she didn’t know what i was talking about. i bought them anyway. i explained that dry farming is when the roots find their own water source. i failed to mention that this kind of farming makes them way sweeter, but maybe i piqued her interest. if i develop a relationship with this farmer, maybe i can get them to dry farm a crop. :) peacock farms also has lots of great produce – many different kinds in all different colors. i think i will return.

lastly, i found yali pears for $2/lb. that’s significantly cheaper than $4/lb at the ferry plaza in sf. we’ll see just how good/authentic they are.

so, all in all, a successful venture. i only spent $26 and can pretty much guarantee that everything in the picture/on the table will both look beautiful and taste amazing.

and then i spent $80 at sm seafood for my gumbo experiment tonight. which will also, hopefully, be beautiful and amazing.