A Beautiful Restaurant

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5_Xn26qHW2N1o1LkXaP_kaQcwiwhi4EONDgh5p3ANfi7Hj7HMbsLD9DEYNWf2NXHU7rG5XVrRLrkgFE1nl_yNkKFblwM7ya5rswLGJRfs7eX3r6_IoYWA4OXnAIPCmIh7cgdDd0CpO_oC/s1600/fleastreetcafe+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5_Xn26qHW2N1o1LkXaP_kaQcwiwhi4EONDgh5p3ANfi7Hj7HMbsLD9DEYNWf2NXHU7rG5XVrRLrkgFE1nl_yNkKFblwM7ya5rswLGJRfs7eX3r6_IoYWA4OXnAIPCmIh7cgdDd0CpO_oC/s320/fleastreetcafe+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Our friend Roberta took us to Flea Street, a beautiful restaurant in Menlo Park while we were spending the weekend there with her (also visiting relatives). Flea Street was on the cutting edge a couple of decades ago, when a few pioneers invented the idea of restaurants and local producers partnering to develop local cuisines. It's still a lovely place, especially the patio where we ate. Roberta's dish (above) was the Summer Organic Vegetarian Tasting. We shared a bottle of white wine.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijwDFHyT0V_VyILuTq4b9fxAUPGJq-MasAwq1Ss55ViAZDRC1KEsBDKeauxqfrT_oCVzYbfXsILgTwB4pLgslY6Xnc3tMyKsjZfa_zEH1dtFFtJxGjWROQeIh3m2PGzQziVd5pZgZXQJQi/s1600/fleastreetcafe+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijwDFHyT0V_VyILuTq4b9fxAUPGJq-MasAwq1Ss55ViAZDRC1KEsBDKeauxqfrT_oCVzYbfXsILgTwB4pLgslY6Xnc3tMyKsjZfa_zEH1dtFFtJxGjWROQeIh3m2PGzQziVd5pZgZXQJQi/s320/fleastreetcafe+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Len had Ricotta and Chive Gnocchi with mushrooms, fava beans, and pancetta.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRvLNTmsl3ialvk8oEPaUo26AabkadEnm8CgplbZJzYT3pZq_U9PGa5cLq1ihMVf573k4mR-j9cn2s3OAy-WJUGR0j2cQc6Fv744iPjkKfaGCTc7wHqGHK8Z9A9OJAqkJrw5LMYLLZd0QD/s1600/fleastreetcafe+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRvLNTmsl3ialvk8oEPaUo26AabkadEnm8CgplbZJzYT3pZq_U9PGa5cLq1ihMVf573k4mR-j9cn2s3OAy-WJUGR0j2cQc6Fv744iPjkKfaGCTc7wHqGHK8Z9A9OJAqkJrw5LMYLLZd0QD/s320/fleastreetcafe+3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />I had the salad titled Little Gem Lettuces with Half Moon Bay Crispy Sardine, which was totally delicious. Fresh sardines are a rare treat! And for an appetizer, we shared a dozen oysters from Tomales Bay/Point Reyes. The restaurant makes its own buttermilk biscuits, which are also wonderful. <span style="background-color: white;">All the vegetables are from local farms, which are listed on the menu, along with other suppliers of cheese, fruit, meat, eggs, bakery goods, and so on.</span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh74dwK3O5Vwzs0TkovZ47E1utF5q_lXWxmMpvWsG7mbURfzzBtQPriC2vo1nZ9FR2Rd0UK9Prj89XOHfFLqpxlNM895gQ0OELCseidg39rwQtQr5PHSpFQXG5NyilOmeMa7D4svrArsi4g/s1600/fleastreetcafe+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh74dwK3O5Vwzs0TkovZ47E1utF5q_lXWxmMpvWsG7mbURfzzBtQPriC2vo1nZ9FR2Rd0UK9Prj89XOHfFLqpxlNM895gQ0OELCseidg39rwQtQr5PHSpFQXG5NyilOmeMa7D4svrArsi4g/s320/fleastreetcafe+4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />We shared a fruit tart -- blueberries and small cubes of nectarine with ricotta under the fruit and a semi-sour cream on top. Also a slice of crisped nectarine. Very original. And of course coffee:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEjpy7CjuwJBw1nNFYRGrhRX_kBsaV8R3JmnFEPqsH7EZ2KEovm8U65Y69trwpR8jYRQ4mA_UjT9YLp0jWGdQvqjw7fYPGSZP-jE4hQDJ33izqXbljDsGxO3pONfp-mX5VgY8f26tZ4rMe/s1600/fleastreetcafe+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEjpy7CjuwJBw1nNFYRGrhRX_kBsaV8R3JmnFEPqsH7EZ2KEovm8U65Y69trwpR8jYRQ4mA_UjT9YLp0jWGdQvqjw7fYPGSZP-jE4hQDJ33izqXbljDsGxO3pONfp-mX5VgY8f26tZ4rMe/s320/fleastreetcafe+5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />

A Beautiful Restaurant

Our friend Roberta took us to Flea Street, a beautiful restaurant in Menlo Park while we were spending the weekend there with her (also visi...

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Another visit to the Farmers' Market

I'm a very faithful customer of the Santa Barbara Farmers' Market, which meets at different places on different days. The biggest market is on Saturday morning in a commuter parking lot downtown. The Tuesday market is set up on State Street, the main commercial downtown street (just a few blocks from the Saturday market). Other days, the market meets in a shopping-center parking lot in Goleta, in Montecito, in Carpinteria, and in Solvang, all smaller towns in the county. I've been to Goleta and Carpinteria, which don't have as many vendors as the downtown markets.<br /><br />The organizing body is made up of the farmers and others who sell at these markets, so you see the same faces rotating through all the different markets. <span style="background-color: white;">The range of produce is amazing, because these growers come from so many different climate zones. Farms within Santa Barbara and quite nearby grow strawberries, avocados, and a few other crops. There are pistachio, walnut, and almond growers inland in locations like Ojai. Dates are brought in from the desert. Olive oil comes from olives growing not far from here. Yesterday I saw the first ripe figs from the Central Valley, which also produces conventional produce like raspberries, broccoli, onions, radishes, leeks, herbs, corn, garlic, tomatoes, and so on. Elsewhere, orchards produce apricots, peaches, plums, and more exotic fruits. Vendors come as far as several hours to these markets each week.</span><br /><br />A few photos from yesterday in downtown Santa Barbara:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7458607766/" title="market 7 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="market 7" height="375" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8141/7458607766_24e449d2a4.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7458607674/" title="market 6 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="market 6" height="500" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8018/7458607674_2545a7da9b.jpg" width="375" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7458607444/" title="market 4 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="market 4" height="375" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7264/7458607444_4b3d2cb6c2.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7458607272/" title="market 2 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="market 2" height="375" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8153/7458607272_7732047df2.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7458607550/" title="market 5 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="market 5" height="375" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8157/7458607550_04e1567ec4.jpg" width="500" /></a>

Another visit to the Farmers' Market

I'm a very faithful customer of the Santa Barbara Farmers' Market, which meets at different places on different days. The biggest ma...

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Henry James Refinement

I have been reading two complementary books:<br /><i><br /></i><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The Ambassadors </i>by Henry James </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1pYzjeXj1OZzLxWLzIrGv84BFNuEhmRZvpIex_NcrYonlvVRxDcha101k3UTA5lOKig4z2eiajaBM9w7k-6Wf5IEYHqIILu4nHUx-as4DwTrOFzHRd6GsEFuUtIWl493oY9WTkShXFgtX/s1600/ambassadors.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1pYzjeXj1OZzLxWLzIrGv84BFNuEhmRZvpIex_NcrYonlvVRxDcha101k3UTA5lOKig4z2eiajaBM9w7k-6Wf5IEYHqIILu4nHUx-as4DwTrOFzHRd6GsEFuUtIWl493oY9WTkShXFgtX/s320/ambassadors.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Foreign Bodies</i> by Cynthia Ozick </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmgMt5vw681ITsjxkD-SAcf3eW7YqpKd00S_g-Y4RUA9rOuOJJkf5MdU6_xAZTnXW2mpiwbWqiuVOBhTPEop8Cn5RWquZ1Ykr1OqPSVmAGeqKgfHCymFvnP7EZhkd8sBZWLyw96zxNfdkw/s1600/Foreign-Bodies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmgMt5vw681ITsjxkD-SAcf3eW7YqpKd00S_g-Y4RUA9rOuOJJkf5MdU6_xAZTnXW2mpiwbWqiuVOBhTPEop8Cn5RWquZ1Ykr1OqPSVmAGeqKgfHCymFvnP7EZhkd8sBZWLyw96zxNfdkw/s320/Foreign-Bodies.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br />I'm kind of a fan of Ozick, and when I learned that this recent work of hers was in some way based on <i>The Ambassadors,</i> I decided to read both. Indeed, thematically they have much in common, and there's a lot I could say about them, but for the moment, I'm just going to talk about the way that the two authors use food in their narratives. I think it helps to pinpoint why I like Ozick but I'm infuriated by James. <br /><br />Unsympathetic, self-absorbed, idly rich, status-conscious, easily impressed (by European pretensions), egocentric characters abound in <i>The Ambassadors. </i>I'm really not sure if James saw them that way, or if he just admired people who were <span style="background-color: white;">self-absorbed, idly rich, egocentric, and gullible about European pretensions. I'm sure he didn't view them as shallow, but that's how they seem to me when all is said and done. Mostly James's characters talk and talk and talk, though occasionally they go out into the countryside or stop for a meal, continuing to be self-absorbed etc. all the time.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><br />At one meal, a character named Madame de Vionnet -- whose own background is unclear, but who is married into a vaguely identified titled family -- sits opposite Strether, the novel's central character (who is the most extremely self-absorbed, idle, status-conscious, and easily impressed of them all). She looks at him "over their intensely white table-linen, their omelette aux tomates, their bottle of straw-colored Chablis."</span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><br />A few paragraphs later we hear </span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="background-color: white;">"If all the accidents were to fight on her side ... he could only give himself up. This was what he had done in privately deciding then and there to propose she should breakfast with him. What did the success of his proposal in fact resemble but the smash in which a regular runaway properly ends? The smash was their walk, their dejeuner, their omelette, the Chablis, the place, the view, their present talk and his present pleasure in it -- to say nothing, wonder of wonders, of her own." (Kindle location 4188, Cambridge Edition)</span></blockquote><span style="background-color: white;">As the novel winds up, Strether goes to see a young man named Chad, another self-absorbed and easily manipulated character. Upon entering Chad's rooms, he finds a table where Chad has recently eaten. It contained </span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"a supper of light cold clever French things, which one could see the remains of there in the circle of the lamp, pretty and ultra-Parisian, he had come into the air again for a smoke, was occupied at the moment of Strether's approach in what might have been called taking up his life afresh. His life, his life!..." (Kindle location 8061)</blockquote>The last sections of <i>The Ambassadors</i> consist of Strether's endless final interactions with various women who have influence over either Chad or Strether himself. At a critical one, Strether meets with Maria Gostrey, a character who seems to provide him with some sort of link to reality (perhaps):<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"He came back to his breakfast; he partook presently of the charming melon, which she liberally cut for him; and it was only after this that he met her question.... She waited, she watched, she served him and amused him ... " <span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">(Kindle location 8258)</span></blockquote>This little detail leads up to a critical interchange between them, where he tells her he will leave her instead of making a commitment to her that she had been angling for.<br /><br />Excuse me if these quotes seem long-winded. Henry James IS long-winded. As I see it, highly refined bits of food sustain the characters in long bouts of navel-gazing and constantly worrying about commitment that in fact are sort of maddening. Strether is 55 years old, for crying out loud!<br /><br />The level of detail that's allusive but very unspecific is characteristic of the novel as a whole. It's why I can't believe I ever read anything by Henry James.<br /><br /><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><u>AND IN CONTRAST... </u></b></span><br />Cynthia Ozick's characters are more human and sympathetic than those of James (not one of whom I like at all!) The thematic similarity of the novels is not in my view based on a similarity of characters' temperament or personality or values, but on the way that one character becomes an "ambassador" between others. In a way, Ozick's commentary makes James's exploration of the topic of ambassadorship have a wider meaning, borrowing the most interesting of his ideas.<br /><br />Ozick does not go for the extreme subtlety that James gives this thought -- especially as he makes all the events and conversations take place in Paris, and never directly describes or quotes the woman behind all the machinations. Her depiction of all the characters (the sender of "messages," the "ambassador," and the recipients of the "messages") in my opinion gives her book more depth, but I'm sure lots of critics and James-lovers would disagree.<br /><br />Food also isn't seen the same etherial way. It's pretty down-to-earth. One big reason is that many of the characters in Ozick's novel live in middle class America or in not-even-genteel poverty as exiles or displaced persons in Europe. (The events take place in 1952: one character is literally a D.P. whose former life and family were destroyed by time in concentration camps.) So right at the beginning, when the central character, Bea Nightingale, searches Paris for her renegade nephew, she finds a cafe with "odors of eggs and coffee all around." (p. 6)<br /><br />Many more flashback memories occur in Ozick's novel than in James's. This is another way I think the novel is more rooted in real life, not just some sort of rich person's imaginary world.<br /><br />Bea remembers a wedding of her best friend where she had been with her future (now ex) husband:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"They were standing side by side near an ice sculpture -- twin mermaids embracing -- at the base of which lay wide oval platters of sliced melon, layer upon layer of pink, orange, green, studded with swollen strawberries still attached to their leafy stems. The strawberries resembled surgically removed organs freshly lifted from the gash in an anaesthetized belly." (p. 27)</blockquote>Maybe Ozick's characters are portrayed as a bit vulgar, in contrast to the excessively refined James characters. But she knows what they are. She doesn't admire them for everything, though she communicates a level of sympathy that I as a reader can share.<br /><br />Ozick says the young man who is to be "rescued" by the ambassador from home is "a luftmentch" which she defines as "an inconsequential person, an impracticality made of air." (p. 96) This would be a good epithet for the young man in the James book, too -- in fact for several of them.

Henry James Refinement

I have been reading two complementary books: The Ambassadors by Henry James  Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick  I'm kind of a fan of Ozic...

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Winetasting

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7437869692/" title="wine0317 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="wine0317" height="375" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5325/7437869692_8a67885911.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br />It's still early in the growing season for the 2012 vintage, but we saw vines spreading their tendrils and also very green bunches of tiny grapes in the vineyards we visited today. I believe the vines pictured here will produce the grapes for several types of white wine.<br /><br />  <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7437832824/" title="wine0316 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="wine0316" height="375" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7119/7437832824_9e4d3f3ded.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br />We returned to the Santa Barbara wine country to try the wines from some new wineries. We wanted to buy a few bottles for the remainder of our stay here. Two wineries that we liked: Firestone and Gainey. The tasting rooms at Gainey are especially picturesque, as they are also the storage rooms for large and small casks of wine and huge shelves of bottles.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7437833020/" style="background-color: white;" title="wine0319 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="wine0319" height="375" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5452/7437833020_fdcdba7342.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7437833168/" style="background-color: white;" title="wine0323 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="wine0323" height="375" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8147/7437833168_dd6247d64a.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br /> At the end of the day, just as the sun was dropping behind the cliffs, we spent a moment at Arroyo Burro beach as we often do. It's only a few minutes from our apartment.<br /><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7437832516/" style="background-color: white;" title="arroyo-burro 2 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="arroyo-burro 2" height="375" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7136/7437832516_0b8aeef68a.jpg" width="500" /></a>

Winetasting

It's still early in the growing season for the 2012 vintage, but we saw vines spreading their tendrils and also very green bunches of ti...

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Artichokes for Louise's Picnic Game

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSURf30CkOr2ROM0jGKEFku8w8y-w4_eQ-Ah_oMaynZa3mkwxMjXumwbX1MjmTXDZXeSniRGW-jyvFaTHz9W8p5sVY8A-O7iM_gCYkaQaPIbefWaGk9ss0988yqZWvq3EfRCX-LzwSnOoR/s1600/+artichoke-xray.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSURf30CkOr2ROM0jGKEFku8w8y-w4_eQ-Ah_oMaynZa3mkwxMjXumwbX1MjmTXDZXeSniRGW-jyvFaTHz9W8p5sVY8A-O7iM_gCYkaQaPIbefWaGk9ss0988yqZWvq3EfRCX-LzwSnOoR/s320/+artichoke-xray.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />Louise at <a href="http://monthsofediblecelebrations.blogspot.com/2012/06/time-to-stage-picnic-game-its.html">Months of Edible Celebrations</a> is organizing a big virtual picnic among all her blogger contacts. I'm participating in this picnic; my contribution, <b>representing the letter A</b>, will be steamed artichokes with mayonnaise. While I'm at it, I'll also put in some asparagus, and avocados from the fabulous Santa Barbara Farmers' Market.<br /><br />Last Saturday I wrote about cooking artichokes -- see this post:<br /><h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0.75em 0px 0px; position: relative;"> <a href="http://regional-food.blogspot.com/2012/06/artichokes-for-louises-picnic-game.html">Artichokes</a></h3><div><br /></div><div>I described how I begin by trimming the sharply-pointed leaves, then I steam the artichokes and cool them off. If you picnic with me, don't forget -- whole steamed fresh artichokes must be eaten with care by scraping the soft part from each leaf with one's teeth. Artichokes are the only food I know of where instructions for eating them are as important as instructions for cooking them! If you are fearful, you can buy jars with just the soft interior leaves, marinated and ready to put in a salad, but it's nowhere near as fun as working with the big, tough thistle just off the stalk:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtBRrYpoTq3zNXINPDp9WBrOjz7_q13sRgErA8dnq-o3i6KqoCv-m8ncUXsND_CKOda3R0UfUIb_2T7fJ-jXdzAGyFpZV5HFY-0KYBim87W3M-640KurgURsIj1d9ibXQn38Dgue4xLNnU/s1600/artichoke2-+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtBRrYpoTq3zNXINPDp9WBrOjz7_q13sRgErA8dnq-o3i6KqoCv-m8ncUXsND_CKOda3R0UfUIb_2T7fJ-jXdzAGyFpZV5HFY-0KYBim87W3M-640KurgURsIj1d9ibXQn38Dgue4xLNnU/s320/artichoke2-+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br />I just love seeing all the different kinds of artichokes in the market, and I'm equally excited about avocados and asparagus. I also steam the asparagus, and serve it chilled with vinaigrette for a picnic (or fresh from the steamer with butter.) Here's what you can see at the market here:<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpZsPRVX2i45ogHdqQGJt79569wWG-wxDGqxvM2XLVFZbovc7OQtWZ2Rl-Q7vgn53XPhID7cqHJV9F79t9TjL2dmEVTScteRHXj5oaNBiC9TAzFm9i7oFf8NkiDLb4qMuc8ZEadELJTM0c/s1600/artichoke1-+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpZsPRVX2i45ogHdqQGJt79569wWG-wxDGqxvM2XLVFZbovc7OQtWZ2Rl-Q7vgn53XPhID7cqHJV9F79t9TjL2dmEVTScteRHXj5oaNBiC9TAzFm9i7oFf8NkiDLb4qMuc8ZEadELJTM0c/s320/artichoke1-+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The avocado vendor:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgThOVk26eAcW57g4YqMQUEjGcwuw3BJEoIak_ujdBHc3HkaAUaplXN6v3cx0WK3kJL_CRH0AuBwLKYCJqeXF4s3aOiPXwfntnMkSv1oyxp76O1KSBpa4MRInRwv2AqTj61zhHxCQynCZoL/s1600/a-fruits9911.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgThOVk26eAcW57g4YqMQUEjGcwuw3BJEoIak_ujdBHc3HkaAUaplXN6v3cx0WK3kJL_CRH0AuBwLKYCJqeXF4s3aOiPXwfntnMkSv1oyxp76O1KSBpa4MRInRwv2AqTj61zhHxCQynCZoL/s320/a-fruits9911.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I guess being away from home, where artichokes and avocados don't grow, makes me appreciate this all the more. I eat ripe avocados with lemon juice and salt, but of course they too can be made fancy or added to salads. And of course there's always guacamole, but it doesn't start with my letter A.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgBLQYiyg7O8fKmRySWfwV0dIOMp-grKGR90Txa6uwCqRqlKS-7RzGv-4TYTZnafNSOgr02xdeOFGlzhZtlldAIClsi0p-4-W6RupJiWI3AlSkdYY8c-rMEeQN82b6i_DlPCD2Doz-SBMf/s1600/Picnic.Logo.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgBLQYiyg7O8fKmRySWfwV0dIOMp-grKGR90Txa6uwCqRqlKS-7RzGv-4TYTZnafNSOgr02xdeOFGlzhZtlldAIClsi0p-4-W6RupJiWI3AlSkdYY8c-rMEeQN82b6i_DlPCD2Doz-SBMf/s320/Picnic.Logo.jpeg" width="248" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /></div><div><br /></div>

Artichokes for Louise's Picnic Game

Louise at Months of Edible Celebrations is organizing a big virtual picnic among all her blogger contacts. I'm participating in this pi...

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The Witch of Endor Ate Here

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7382896594/" title="ojai0038 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="ojai0038" height="375" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5331/7382896594_f3860492be.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br />I've heard that the Witch of Endor has moved to Ojai, California, and lives or at least hangs out in an antique shop there. Or so says Michael Scott the author of <i>The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel. </i>Earlier today, we were in Ojai for lunch in the sun at a nice little Mexican restaurant. We had standard, tasty Cal-Mex food starting with the usual chips and salsa, and continuing with platters of tamales and pupusas with a side of beans and rice. Nothing out of the ordinary, but we enjoyed ourselves.<br /><br />We also walked down Main Street near Libby Park, location of the witch's shop. We poked around in the shopping arcades across the street, looked in some galleries, and a went to a large bookstore, but didn't see any witches. However, I suspect that a modern witch would rather eat Mexican food than hummus, olives, eggplant salad, and pita, which is what she'd get nowadays in a sunny outdoor restaurant in Endor in the Jezreel Valley where she came from. In Biblical days she might have had bread, dates, and some kind of soft white cheese, I guess. I don't know what Biblical witches ate.<br /><br />We didn't hear about Sott's witch until we got home, anyway, or we would have checked a few more antique shops. We found out that Evelyn and Tom were watching us on "Find my friends." When they saw that we were in Ojai they were quite surprised as they weren't sure whether Scott had invented Ojai itself, as well as the witch's antique shop.

The Witch of Endor Ate Here

I've heard that the Witch of Endor has moved to Ojai, California, and lives or at least hangs out in an antique shop there. Or so says M...

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Artichokes

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFtnnwTBxg4GHtzSgk0_f7DESmk7idMvo_0GxOHNHGxqSCF3kPqLLeV7LT7RgRzCgvvtXQswPyFXlrFcEiQ5uV6tUhLVUwc-mptoPu4L_1XidQW074Yw8MOgSNyzwktA9F-DUQLFEPbCAb/s1600/artichoke-collage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFtnnwTBxg4GHtzSgk0_f7DESmk7idMvo_0GxOHNHGxqSCF3kPqLLeV7LT7RgRzCgvvtXQswPyFXlrFcEiQ5uV6tUhLVUwc-mptoPu4L_1XidQW074Yw8MOgSNyzwktA9F-DUQLFEPbCAb/s400/artichoke-collage.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><br />The Santa Barbara Farmers' Market offers a splendid selection of produce, including many vegetables and fruits that simply don't grow back home in Michigan. The artichokes are especially fascinating -- it's really quite a pleasure to choose from several sizes and varieties.<br /><br />Cooking artichokes isn't all that difficult if you have a steamer, and my small kitchen here fortunately does have one. After trimming the tips of the leaves with a scissors and peeling the stems, I steamed my artichokes until they were quite soft.<br /><br /> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrrynUqQ0eiKz9xlLh21Ns1aaLeoQImgvPH8L-sGpre8hyj0Gmjd3o6wOzTyfrJbn5TSQ-g3KJZIUpEhJ_MdYju59omwUuvN0rZ5kId7kp24VdtvZREI0R0wDzxjpVR5UoispUz5KxODob/s1600/artichoke2-+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrrynUqQ0eiKz9xlLh21Ns1aaLeoQImgvPH8L-sGpre8hyj0Gmjd3o6wOzTyfrJbn5TSQ-g3KJZIUpEhJ_MdYju59omwUuvN0rZ5kId7kp24VdtvZREI0R0wDzxjpVR5UoispUz5KxODob/s400/artichoke2-+1.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><br /> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj41lHw4mvMqd0avzDLS2aP8VElvuXyLCSvmBz1jUM9A73XcHKrHtNNJz5vvO3vi1dbwy6enAC20QUh_75x1HVsYfIvjhHat1JcF_gciY8uvuH2rJpXLgeBtJr6gdImj12fCqDtsTx-IckB/s1600/artichoke2-+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj41lHw4mvMqd0avzDLS2aP8VElvuXyLCSvmBz1jUM9A73XcHKrHtNNJz5vvO3vi1dbwy6enAC20QUh_75x1HVsYfIvjhHat1JcF_gciY8uvuH2rJpXLgeBtJr6gdImj12fCqDtsTx-IckB/s400/artichoke2-+3.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><br />Above: trimmed artichokes in the steamer basket. Below: cooked artichokes ready for us to remove one leaf at a time and dip each leaf into mayonnaise or vinaigrette.<br /><br /> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgELeY_Y5t0dvY3wQ3hD7ecrSRU399t2TcHZyMZIGUVuPKOUG9jVV8Id_rD988jdH-cQB8eMawipQo4zMAEyGjdfy0qg1goMF1989vd1qZFYKymFvuof_Ei2M5V2MnBTHl7gXNNqFwtCusr/s1600/artichoke2-+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgELeY_Y5t0dvY3wQ3hD7ecrSRU399t2TcHZyMZIGUVuPKOUG9jVV8Id_rD988jdH-cQB8eMawipQo4zMAEyGjdfy0qg1goMF1989vd1qZFYKymFvuof_Ei2M5V2MnBTHl7gXNNqFwtCusr/s400/artichoke2-+5.jpg" width="400" /></a> <br /><br />The first time I ever tried to eat an artichoke was with my parents and siblings. None of us had ever tasted or seen one. We tried to eat the whole thing, and after chewing away at the fibrous outer leaves for a while, concluded that they weren't much good. I think that happened to lots of midwesterners who had no background in these Mediterranean exotica. What surprises me is that my parents were even willing to try something that unusual. We normally stuck to our old favorite vegetables, many frozen or even from cans.<br /><br />On my first visit to France, someone gave me a lesson in how to take each leaf from the whole artichoke, dip it in sauce, and scrape the soft part with my teeth until I reached the entirely-edible inner leaves. I've been an artichoke fan ever since. I like the way they make other food taste sweet.

Artichokes

The Santa Barbara Farmers' Market offers a splendid selection of produce, including many vegetables and fruits that simply don't gro...

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