Google the Ingredients?

I liked this article in today's NYT Food Section:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" ><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/18/dining/can-recipe-search-engines-make-you-a-better-cook.html?ref=dining">Can Recipe Search Engines Make You a Better Cook?</a> by Julia Moskin.<br /></span><br />Like most internet addicts who cook, I often find recipes by web searching. I have been worried because Google's techno-preference for big high-tech food sites became an issue when they released a specialized recipe search a few months ago. So I can't rely on googling as I used to.<br /><br />Moskin's article suggests somewhat indirectly that cookbooks of known quality are probably a better bet than web searches. Probably true, though what's the fun in that? When Epicurious was new (was that 10 years ago?) it always seemed to be easier and more entertaining to see what those cooking mags had been publishing than to start pulling books off the shelf.<br /><br />The article points out "Google and Bing searches give preference to big sites because the algorithms are designed by programmers who are not cooks" -- though I seriously wonder if artificial intelligence could be developed that would identify good recipes. The comments in blogged recipes or on Epicurious seem a more likely source of useful info to me. And of course I'm unhappy that the competition for eyeballs is so corrupting -- but I knew that anyway.<br /><br />So here I am in California and I'm not making anything from a recipe!

Google the Ingredients?

I liked this article in today's NYT Food Section: Can Recipe Search Engines Make You a Better Cook? by Julia Moskin. Like most internet...

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Renaud's Patisserie

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5719799748/" title="renaud6215 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="renaud6215" height="375" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3409/5719799748_5de96ee77e.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br />Renaud's of Santa Barbara seems to be known for croissants and macarons (that's one-o macarons, the kind that are crunchy, not the Passover kind). There was a line out the door!<br /><br />The owner seems to be a real French baker, and the look is amazingly French. We ate a pain-au-chocolate for second breakfast, and have some macarons and pâtes de fruits to take to dinner. Here's what I hope to try the next time I go there:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5719239137/" title="renaud6214 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="renaud6214" height="481" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2767/5719239137_751c8f1849_z.jpg" width="640" /></a>

Renaud's Patisserie

Renaud's of Santa Barbara seems to be known for croissants and macarons (that's one-o macarons, the kind that are crunchy, not the P...

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Santa Barbara Farmers' Market

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5710436774/" title="sb-farmersmkt 5 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="sb-farmersmkt 5" height="375" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2142/5710436774_66887c197e.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br />The market is full of wonderful local and often exotic produce -- artichokes, chirimoyas, dates, citrus, greens of all sorts, avocados, strawberries grown just up the road, and early cherries from the Central Valley. There are Japanese, English and conventional cucumbers and many other interesting varieties of vegetables that usually aren't differentiated.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5709874353/" title="sb-farmersmkt 6 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="sb-farmersmkt 6" height="374" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2453/5709874353_b1d37e03a1.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5710436928/" title="sb-farmersmkt 8 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="sb-farmersmkt 8" height="375" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3339/5710436928_3a5d01ec00.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5710436368/" title="sb-farmersmkt 1 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="sb-farmersmkt 1" height="500" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3479/5710436368_42ff3b1c3c.jpg" width="375" /></a><br /><br />The prices at this market seem very fair: less expensive than comparable quality in a grocery store -- in the rare cases that you could find comparable quality. Example: two large very fresh heads of lettuce for $1.50, a lower price than not-quite-as-fresh local lettuce at Lazy Acres, not even more than mass-produced lettuce at Albertsons. Fruit was somewhat less expensive per pound than the grocery store items.<br /><br />Today I read an <a href="http://politicsoftheplate.com/?p=864">encouraging article</a> about a comparison of prices at farmers' markets and grocery stores (admittedly in Vermont). The study suggests that the common view that farmers' markets are expensive and elitist is false. It "found that prices at farmers’ markets were lower for many conventionally produced grocery items than they were at supermarkets. For organic items, farmers’ markets beat grocery stores every time hands down."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5709874755/" title="sb-farmersmkt 10 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="sb-farmersmkt 10" height="375" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2755/5709874755_4ab530be66.jpg" width="500"></a>

Santa Barbara Farmers' Market

The market is full of wonderful local and often exotic produce -- artichokes, chirimoyas, dates, citrus, greens of all sorts, avocados, stra...

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Is expensive sea salt worth its salt?

I've often wondered about the eye-popping prices for things like Himalayan sea salt (for one thing, there's no sea in those mountains) and hand-gathered fleur de sel from France. I've never been energetic enough to buy some and taste-test it -- besides, I'm too cheap. Finally, <a href="http://www.curiouscook.com/site/2011/04/in-salts-a-pinch-of-bali-or-a-dash-of-spain.html#more">an article by Harold McGee</a> a couple of weeks ago reported on this topic offering to sort out the "whirlwind of obfuscatory hype" that surrounds the labeling and use of fancy salts.<br /><br />Here is the bottom line: "different salts do indeed have different tastes, even when the solutions had the same concentration of sodium." That said, "the differences themselves were generally small. ... Tasters significantly preferred chicken broth and bratwurst made with an inexpensive white sea salt over the ones made with kosher salt. Batches of those two foods made with gray sea salt, or sel gris, and fleur de sel fell in between."<br /><br />Although altogether the reported studies showed that the result of using various types of salt isn't highly significant, McGee still suggests that adventurous or curious cooks might enjoy experimenting. I appreciate his point of view, though I might still be too cheap to pay the eye-popping prices for the most hyped salts.

Is expensive sea salt worth its salt?

I've often wondered about the eye-popping prices for things like Himalayan sea salt (for one thing, there's no sea in those mountain...

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Wineries

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5697424865/" title="fess-parker6127 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="fess-parker6127" height="640" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5185/5697424865_cfbc4e8052_z.jpg" width="480" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5697425023/" title="fess-parker6145 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="fess-parker6145" height="640" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5025/5697425023_69611fb2df_z.jpg" width="480" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5697424735/" title="fess-parker6140 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="fess-parker6140" height="480" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2314/5697424735_0df251c5f6_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5697425189/" title="zaca6146 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="zaca6146" height="480" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5106/5697425189_552461807c_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5697999334/" title="zaca6151 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="zaca6151" height="640" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5141/5697999334_d586d84010_z.jpg" width="477" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5697425129/" title="foxen6154 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="foxen6154" height="640" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3541/5697425129_7c6d68675c_z.jpg" width="480" /></a>

Wineries

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Sweet Prawns of Santa Barbara

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5697999438/" title="opal6123 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="opal6123" height="480" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2523/5697999438_3eb217a74f_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br />Fresh local prawns here are very sweet and delicious. We remember buying them from the fish market on the docks years ago. Last night at Opal Restaurant, where I ate this salad with Santa Barbara prawns, the host said that he did not think they had found any for the menu in the ten years he had been working there. So apparently, they are now quite rare, like many desirable foods from the sea, alas. The rest of our meal was also extremely well prepared -- basil-flavored pasta, grilled opah from Hawaii, and chocolate creme brulee.<br /><br />On a previous visit to Santa Barbara, we also ate at <a href="http://regional-food.blogspot.com/2009/02/opal.html">Opal.<br /></a>

Sweet Prawns of Santa Barbara

Fresh local prawns here are very sweet and delicious. We remember buying them from the fish market on the docks years ago. Last night at Opa...

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Temporary Kitchen in Santa Barbara

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizNjr4jAMF-ijACsJsmCEoYnSojZWl_z1JLRQJABg0hABcuRyOKYA_OEIztKbG99HosB0BPceh8oc9RpHsUWbAezOOMFVdzA3DmXNwi-9VhkN-B50elRHC_NR9FnaM6ACt7FRfFkz2igs/s1600/house6113.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5603709865404049778" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizNjr4jAMF-ijACsJsmCEoYnSojZWl_z1JLRQJABg0hABcuRyOKYA_OEIztKbG99HosB0BPceh8oc9RpHsUWbAezOOMFVdzA3DmXNwi-9VhkN-B50elRHC_NR9FnaM6ACt7FRfFkz2igs/s400/house6113.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a>Our temporary house has a functional though not luxurious kitchen. The owner is opposed to using microwaves because she says microwaves destroy nutrients and Kirilian photos show that vegetables cooked in a microwave oven are "dead." About this I checked Wikipedia which a few minutes ago stated:<br /><blockquote><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);">"An experiment in evidence of energy fields generated by living entities involves taking Kirlian contact photographs of a picked leaf at set periods, its gradual withering corresponding with a decline in the strength of the </span><i style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);">aura</i><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);">. In some experiments, if a section of a leaf was torn away after the first photograph, a faint image of the missing section would remain when a second photograph was taken. ...</span><sup class="noprint Inline-Template" title="The text preceeding this tag needs specification from October 2008" style="white-space: nowrap; color: rgb(51, 204, 0);"></sup><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);"> James Randi has suggested that this effect was due to contamination of the glass plates, which were reused for both the 'before' and 'after' photographs."</span><br /></blockquote>I may retrieve the microwave oven from the studio that is part of this house, but at the moment I'm experimenting with no-microwave cooking. I actually have read that the shorter microwave cooking times for steamed vegetables preserve the vitamins better than conventional steaming. So far we've been eating salads anyway.

Temporary Kitchen in Santa Barbara

Our temporary house has a functional though not luxurious kitchen. The owner is opposed to using microwaves because she says microwaves dest...

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