June 30. Frittata. Bar-B-Que with Butterscotch Brownies. Early Fireworks.

Busy Saturday.  Went to beach yoga for the first time in years.  The group has grown exponentially (or maybe this is summer).  I used to much more accepting of dealing with the sand and the sun--but it is certainly a treat in its own particular way--especially the moment of looking out at the breaking waves upside down at water's edge (you don't need a class for this, but I for one, much prefer doing peculiar poses in a large crowd rather than by myself).

Came home and made butterscotch brownies, an old stand-by, to bring to the bar-B-Que at Lois and Laurie's.  Is it possible this is the first time I've made them in months?  The Santa Monica fireworks at Santa Monica College are always terrific.  After years of Fourth of July Fireworks at the pier with civic worries about gang violence (this was some time ago), and bizarre attempts to contribute to civic piece with fireworks at dawn (there were a few years when we roller-skated and skate boarded at 4 (or was it 5am) along with hundreds of other sleep deprived patriots only to marvel at vague shimmers of light through the thick morning fog.  At some point the city father and mothers came up with the idea of celebrating the Saturday night before the Fourth with a grand display at Santa Monica college. Oh--perhaps, according to this, a quite thorough historical explanation, it is not the city--but the college which puts on this show.  As an prelude to the College fireworks,  Lois and Laurie instituted their party, followed by a stroll to the college, and the event, despite its convoluted and peculiar history is always a treat.  This year, I biked there and back--my first longish night-time ride on quiet Santa Monica Streets--and that was pretty fabulous as well.

June 29th. Farmer's Market. Salmon Salad. Frittata. Krump Dancing, Levitating Mass Mandarette

Gorgeous California day.
Woke up to a flurry of cooking, with no plans for when anything might be eaten.  Trimmed and Steamed two giant artichokes and made yet another frittata with most of the left-over stir fry with a few roasted tomatoes thrown in for a little color.

Although, I'd wanted to cook, I didn't feel like eating any of my efforts and instead just had
toast and coffee before biking to Farmer's Market where I bought only parsley, cilantro, irises and a ten pound bag of oranges for juice.
Had a little left-over salmon salad for lunch and then returned a call from Robin.  She and Tim were going to LACMA to see Jessica's student  Robin called to say her bike was fixed and she was ready for bike rides in her retirement.  I called her, thinking we might go for a ride, but instead joined her and Tim for a screening of Jessica's movie--The 818 Session that she'd made this year at school.  It documents Krump dancing in a North Hollywood Mall andwas screening at the Dance Camera West Film Festival at LACMA.  Not only did we see many dance movies of assorted quality, we also got an early peak at the Levitating Mass--the celebrated enormous rock that was the darling of Los Angeles in March as it was hauled across the city from its quarry roots to its destiny as celebrated art object.  It doesn't exactly look like it's floating (maybe I didn't get the right angle)--but it was clear that everyone visiting was happy to see such a famous item and to join in the clamor of mutterings over the true nature of art.

June 28th. Leftovers. Dolphins. Dinner Out!

Another yoga packed Thursday followed by a late lunch of salmon Salad--smoked salmon (from an ancient Trader Joe's can with  celery, red-onions, capers, mayonnaise with hard boiled egg and green salad for lunch.   Walk/Sit on Beach. Dolphins again!   Dinner at Sauce on Hampton, which neither of us had been to in over a year.  It jumped into my head--and was completely delicious--an excellent break from my many meals of left-overs.

June 27. "Love the Locals" at Ozumo. Salted Caramel sauce

I had been planning to go to the 99¢ Store post yoga, so had my backpack and money with me--most unusual.   Biking past the promenade, I remembered that I'd seen a sign outside one of the restaurants on the third floor dining deck advertising a special for local residents, with a select $3 menu.

i looked a bit too much like a local--yoga clothes, bike helmet, but--boldly, oh so boldly, I made my way to the restaurant, Ozuma.  Turns out to be a branch of an upscale San Francisco restaurant--the locals special is offered on the terrace and at the bar, not in the very large (and very empty) restaurant that stretched out beyond it.  I ordered three three dollar dishes--a spicy tuna roll, fried calamari and tempura.  Portions (especially of the calamari) were ample.  I was satisfied at the time--but biking home I did have some profound cravings for sweets, which I addressed by cooking up a very quick and easy salted caramel sauce which I poured over apple slices (and a tiny bit of coffee ice cream as well).

The caramel sauce was ridiculously easy.   I don't remember ever making it before, but I poked around on the internet and although I have future plans for variations--this is what I did today:
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into relatively small pieces
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon coarse grain salt

Put the sugar and water in a heavy bottomed 2 quart saucepan and cook over medium high heat.  Keep stirring with a wooden spoon until mixture comes to a boil--stop stirring and watch carefully until it becomes a beautiful golden brown.  As soon as it looks similar to the sauce in the picture, quickly add the butter.  It will foam up.  Don't worry.  When the butter is melted, remove from the heat--wait a few seconds--then mix in the heavy cream.  Add the salt and stir until its all mixed properly.
It will thicken as it cools.  You can then pour it into a glass jar, drizzle some on ice-cream or fruit or whatever and store the rest in the refrigerator when it cools a bit.  It will get very thick when cold, which means you can either just eat it with a spoon or warm it up before serving.

June 26. Lunch salad. Leftover again..

Excellent lunch salad--mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumber, celery red onion, bacon.

Dinner--another round of left-over stir-fry.  One pound of fresh shitake mushrooms lasts a very long time.

June 25. Ever-expanding left-over stir fry.

Yogurt with strawberries

for lunch with cheese 

and crackers.  

Dinner--oh that stir fry 

might go on forever. 

 Here it is again.  And, it's not over yet.  

June 24th. BLT. Wedding Party for Dov and Jess

Yoga workshop at noon--sparkling California day.  Made a mid-day BLT with the bacon and tomatoes from Lisa and Gar.

Biked in party finery to the Rose for Dov and Jess's wedding party.  A grand Venice event merging the Rudnick/Lithgow and Koslow/Rogers families.   Grand meal,  many generations dancing together.  Biked home with succulent wedding favor in basket and lights flashing in the dark, quiet, post-drum circle  Venice night.

Getting Ready to Bike Home (Courtney Vine,2012)

June 23rd.. Kanine Connection Baseball Game. Tacos. Trade Joe's. Biking all the way.

Plans to make a tart with nectarines, plums and cherries were downscaled to a fruit compote.  I quartered the fruit, pitted most of the cherries (it was just for me, so standards were  pretty lax).  I put the fruit in a heavy sauce pan with a spoonful or two of sugar, some lemon juice and a little water--and cooked  put them in a saucepan added a drop of water, a tiny amount of sugar I biked  to Cheviot Hills Parks for a fund-raiser for K-9 connection.  I am becoming peculiarly .  Venice to Motor.  Eight miles.    Benefit for Kanine Connection--tacos.  Then to Trader Joe's. Tried to not buy too much--but very easy to fill the bike---too easy--had to do more juggling than expected on ride home.  The plastic box of organic strawberries flipped its lid--and the exposed strawberries knocked against my leg (through jStrawberries and yogurt.  another round of shitake stir fry--I keep sauteeing up more onion and garlic, adding thai basil and eating it with the also-leftover rice.  

Ever-livelier Thai Basil

June 22nd. Scrambled eggs with shallots, garlic and chees. Calbi Tacos. Left over stir-fry with rice

Amanda arrived early--I hadn't even made coffee--so I seized the opportunity to make a good breakfast for two--scrambled eggs with shallots, garlic and cheese, with toast, juice and coffee.  We're also making inroads into the many cherries I bought in Westminster.
With yoga class at Fred Segal, I'm perfectly positioned for the annual (or is it bi-annual?) Fred Segal sale.  Bypassing many half-priced very soft t-shirts and gorgeous boots (half price is no-where near reasonable), I was actually looking for a card for Dov and Jessica.  Needless to say, the few cards available were now what I was looking for, but stopped at Katya's for a quick coffee.  I'd been thinking she might have some excellent painted scraps, but discovered that she actually has a new line of cards-including this perfect rose.

A Katya Card

Biking home, I'd planned to stop for a ceviche taco on Rose, but was too hungry to pass up a Korean Taco truck on the promenade.  I'm way behind in food truck knowledge.  I'd known that one of the first food trucks sold Korean tacos--and I thought this was the original.  But--turns out that Calbi is not the original.  The Kogi Korean BBQ Taco truck came first.  This is all very old news--I can't even pretend to catch up--but there is a whole universe of debate on the relative merits of these trucks and all related subjects flying about cyberspace, and of course the trucks are now everywhere, in this city and throughout the land.  

My tacos--one spicy pork, one beef were a bit soggy by the time I got them home--but quite tasty none-the-less.

For dinner, I re-cycled the mushroom and bok choy stir fry--sauteeing more garlic, onions and carrots, a bit more chili sauce.    Salad too.  

Stir-fry with rice this time.

June 21st. Quesadillas with rajas. Home repair errands. bok choy and shitake mushrooms

Biked home after an especially long round of yoga (a workshop as well as the regular ashtanga), and made quesadillas with cheese and rajas for lunch.
I then boldly biked to B&B Hardware in my quest to fix Eddie's broken bathroom doorknob..   My limited internet research led me to believe that I needed a new spindle.  This would be fairly easy to replace.  My diagnosis wasn't quite right.  I soon learned that my spindle was fine--the problem was the screws which I could replace for about 30¢ apiece.  An alternative would be to  buy a brand new (not very attractive)  doorknob for ten dollars.  It's not as if the old door knob was a gem, but I had gotten myself fairly invested (emotionally, not financially) in  this bit of repair work. I was zipping right along.  Dave, the salesman showed me how to install the new screws (American, not Chinese, like my old failing screws, he pointed out).  Unfortunately, they didn't have  the 3mm Allen Wrenches I needed to complete the job--they sent me to TruValu on Venice and Centinela--Oh I was feeling righteous and ridiculously efficient and competent.  Uh-oh.  Reaching for my little pink money pouch (which I'd stuffed with many more dollars than usual as I was stopping at Pete the Chairman's jumbly shop to leave a deposit for the repair work on the dining room chairs), no pink purse to be found.  I knew instantly I'd left it on the cashier's counter at B&B where I forked over my $1.30 for screws.  All bargains instantly erased.  But no.  I asked if anyone at TruValu knew the number of B&B and a random voice from the aisles recited it from memory.  I called--and indeed--once I adequately described the purse--a pink cloth rectangle with  "a lot of cash," I was told it was waiting for me.  So back to B&B.  Cash retrieved, on to the Chairman where I realized in all the excitement I'd left the Allen Wrench at TruValu.  Not a problem--Lincoln Hardware, right across the street was open for another four minutes (they close at 5:15).  I zoomed across, bought the wrench (could I have made all my purchases there?  there are some questions I prefer not to ask), returned home, and successfully installed the doorknob--carrying out all landlady responsibilities--not exactly with ease, but with a certain amount of grace (I like to think).

Time for dinner.   The shitake mushrooms and baby bok choy I bought in Westminster have been waiting in the fridge for five days.  The  mushrooms are maintaining their vigor, but the bok choy was beginning to age a bit  in the vegetable crisper.  I made a quick stir-fry, beginning with quickly sauteeing ginger and garlic, then added the sliced mushrooms, cooking for a while to crisp the edges.   I usually braise the bok choy, but this time I shredded them, stirred them around a bit, threw in some of my frozen cubes of chicken broth, soy sauce, chili garlic paste.  I cooked it for a while, then added some thai basil and a splash or two of sesame oil.
While the veggies cooked, I made white rice, and had quite a respectable meal  at the end of a long day of yoga, biking and home repairs.

june 20th. Chores. Left-overs.

A day of house-hold chores.  After yoga, brought second broken dining room chair to the Chair man on Lincoln Boulevard.  Tried unsuccessfully to address the problem of Eddie's broken door knob.

Minimal eating of left-overs and old stand-bys.  Scrambled eggs with rajas.  Guacamole.  Quesadilla.  Salad.

June 19th. Pasta Salad again. San Pedro car storage. In 'n' Out

Re-cycled penne pasta salad once again.  A return trip to chair store before meeting Lisa to drive (in two cars) to San Pedro, where she is storing her car for ten weeks.
After these many weeks of eschewing the car in favor of my bike, a reminder of the travails of traffic.  Heading south at 3pm, the 405 is crawling.  Truth is, I don't mind it.  In addition to being car adverse these days, I'm also a bit news adverse, so not the worst thing to catch up on some news reports.  But all that driving gave me plenty of time to think of quick meals we might get.  Sea food in San Pedro, Japanese food in Torrance.  Many possibilities.  By the time Lisa had parked her car on the roof of the parking structure and joined me in the Camry, it was after 5--appropriate enough for a late afternoon snack, or even an early dinner.  Alas, Lisa informed me, she had Gar had been invited to dine  at a friend's--so no time for a dinner outing for us.  But always interested in a food outing, she agreed to stop with me at one of the many In'n'Outs I'd spotted on the drive down.   I got to explain the intricacies of the secret menu at the In 'n' Out near the airport.  Got my usual #!--Animal style (but now I know I can ask for medium rare), and well done fries.

Odds and ends from Lisa and Gar's fridge adjusting to their new home

Lisa and Gar had a dinner invitation, but no means of transport.  How could I not continue as emergency chauffeur?   As a reward for all this driving, I became the recipient of the contents of their emptied out refrigerator--bits of cheeses, jicama, apples,sweet cherry peppers, pickles, jams, bacon--a grab bag of surprise goodies.

June 18th. Artichokes. Mayonnaise. Pasta Salad.

After all that birthday dining, the departure breakfast for Elena and Christian was minimal--yogurt with cherries,  mango, kiwi and pecans.
For post-yoga lunch there were plenty of left-overs from last week--artichokes with mayonnaise as well as the left-over pasta which I turned into a salad.

Lisa and Gar, invited me for dinner to finish up the Thai-style baby back ribs Lisa had prepared for her brother's  birthday dinner on Saturday night from a recipe in last week's New York Times.  I brought over rajas con crema which I'd made with a batch of particularly spicy pasilla chiles.

INGREDIENTS
4 pasilla chiles, roasted, peeled, and cut into 1/4 inch strips
1 good sized onion, thinly sliced
a few tablespoons sour cream
queso fresco (White Mexican cheese).

Saute the onion in olive oil until soft--it's fine if you cook it longer to slightly caramelize.  Add the strips of pepper along with the cream and cheese.  Heat through and serve.   
The rajas were a perfect match for the ribs.  And Lisa had made  a salad of lettuce and jicama as well.

Elena just sent me this article about Venice from tomorrow's times.  My tour had been so thorough, it was old news to her (the bit about google vs. bodybuilders is a bit of a false hook--but so be it).

June 17th. Plum Tart. Gjelina, again.

Yesterday was so packed full, very content to have a long quiet (though phone-filled) birthday morning. I did make myself a proper breakfast--eggs, toast, fruit and yogurt.  Mid-afternoon, just before Elena and Christian were scheduled to arrive, Jamil called.  He was biking in the neighborhood (didn't know it was my b-day).  Of course, I invited him to stop by.   
He got a proper serving of the rapidly disappearing plum tart.  None for Christian and Elena (or me) as we had a 5:30 reservation at Gjelina's.  In an unusual moment of advanced planning (necessary as in addition to my birthday, Sunday was also Father's Day--maybe not traditionally an eating out night--but traditions are infinitely flexible these days--and reservations on Abbott Kinney are difficult, special days or not.  When I called--on Monday--the only seatings available on the patio (it's so noisy inside, the patio is really the only place that's pleasant to dine) were at 5:30 and 9:30.  But 5:30 was fine for us.
We headed out into the splendid California day, admired the blossoming duranta flowers falling over my garden gate, walked a few blocks of the crazed visitor-packed Ocean Front Walk, and

made our way to Abbott Kinney, where we were soon seated at a coveted patio table.  We had one splendid dish after another--many many little plates, vegetable dishes and one pizza:  maitake mushroom toast (a long time favorite, very delicious with cream and truffle oil), grilled peaches with burrata, la quercia prosciutto and arugula, lamb sausage pizza, grilled kale with hazelnuts and a mint yogurt sauce, braised sweet corn with feta, chile and cilantro and  wild boar sausage with flageolets.  After we cleaned our plates, the brought us a dessert menu.  I'd thought we'd had enough, but bless their hearts, Elena, Christian weren't quite finished.  I agreed that I could manage a bit more myself--so we had another small round of sliced grilled king mushrooms with tarragon oil and lemon and salt and grilled fennel with blood orange.  Then on  to dessert.  The only dessert I ever get is the butterscotch pot de creme with salted caramel and creme fraiche---which we ordered to share. It never disappoints. Just as we were carefully dividing the last tiny spoonfuls, our waiter appeared with a scoop of chocolate ice cream with a candle(they'd forgotten the candle in the pot de creme--so, as if we needed it--one more dessert).  Praise Be!!
We had thought we'd take a sunset walk after dinner--but we'd dined for so many hours, the sun had already set on the almost longest day of the year by the time we emerged.  Though vision was a bit impaired, we did have a night-time walking tour of the walk streets, the Canals and the quieting boardwalk.  A fine day indeed.  

June 16. Gjelina Take-away breakfast sandwich. Lattes. Moonrise Kingdom. Little Saigon. The Rockin' Crawfish.. Plum Tart.

Birthday celebrations begin.  I meet Lisa at Gjelina Take-Away  for breakfast on blue plastic milk cartons on the street.  It didn't occur to me at the time, but these cartons are close cousins to the little plastic chairs we sat on in front of noodle and spring roll shops in Hanoi not that long ago.  I had the breakfast sandwich--fried egg, bacon, kale on a muffin and a latte.  Lisa had a ham and cheese panini. We were quite happy sitting on our blue plastic cartons--before returning to their house where Gar made us more lattes yet. And as a bonus, I took myself to both Rite-Aid and the 99¢ Store--two long over-due errands.   An excellent start to the day.

Randi and Linda G. picked me up at noon for the next stage of celebrations.  First stop--Moonrise Kingdom at the El Segundo multi-multiplex.   We knew it was the latest Wes Anderson but little more--it was a hit for all of us.  From there, as planned, we made the long drive to Westminster's Little Saigon.  Months before, in pursuit of a visa to Vietnam,  I'd spotted a restaurant -- Rockin' Crawfish. a Vietnamese run, New Orleans crawfish emporium--one of many such places, it turned out, in Westminster and Garden Grove.  I made up a story that Vietnamese, displaced from the Gulf Coast by Katrina, joined their countrymen in Orange County, bringing the foods of New Orleans.   We decided on Rockin' Crawfish, probably because we liked the name.  We arrived at Happy Hour--which meant oysters (from the Gulf) were $1 each and the crawfish were reduced as well.  We got six oysters, a crab spring roll (that the was the Vietnamese touch), and two pounds of crawfish.  The crawfish are served in big plastic bags with a few pieces of corn on the cob and sausage links and lots of sauce.   It's plunked down on the paper covered table--no plates, no utensils.  You just dig in, cracking the shells and excavating the edible morsels.   It's fabulously messy and lots of work.    Plastic bibs and huge piles of napkins are supplied.

Crawfish Debris 

Crawfish Debris (Detail) 

At the end our meal, as we headed off to wash our hands,   we noted that the three Vietnamese women next to us had donned plastic surgical gloves as well.  We were bare handed.  Of course, with all the excitement, forgot to take pictures before we ate--but did remember to capture our shell and napkin strewn table.  On returning home, I found this article, which offers what I have to assume is the correct history of these restaurants (though it calls them crayfish, not crawfish).  It turns out (at least according to this text, that the first Cajun style crawfish restaurant --the Boiling Crab--was opened in 2004 (before Katrina) by a Vietnamese couple who had moved from Arlington, Texas.  Oh--the intersections of wars, migrations and culinary adventures.
We did a little food sight-seeing--a stop in a neighboring bakery and in the enormous Vietnamese super-market with incredible prices on seafood and  produce and a full array of exotic ingredients.
Then, 40 miles north on the 405 for a dessert of plum tart and ice cream (chocolate, coffee and vanilla) here at home.  My Thai Basil has been sprouting fine roots, little hostess plants for my birthday hostess guests.

June 15. More Biking to Social Security. Tsujita

Oh I was pleased as punch to have all my forms--the marriage certificate had an excellent raised seal, but the certified divorce papers that I'd acquired with such effort--I wasn't sure they were quite correct.  My man at Social Security (let's call him S)  had provided an addressed standard sized envelope to send him the documents--but I was the proud possessor of over twenty official papers.  "Mmm', he murmured when I reached him  on the phone.  "Would you like an appointment?"  "When?", I asked.  Turns out he was available at 1:00 today.  So--off to 10am yoga and from there biked down Broadway to the appointment, all forms stashed in my excellent saddle bag.  

This time, I sat facing Patty Duke and George Takei, in full Star Trek garb, urging their contemporaries (that would be me) to use the internet to enroll in Social Security.
Remembering Patty Duke in the Miracle Worker on Broadway with Anne Bancroft (is it possible that Hilda and I snuck into see the second act--no--we often did that, but I think for this one, we'd bought the cheapest seats and snuck into the front row of the orchestra for the second act.  We've all moved on.
Who knows where this will end?  My papers were dutifully copied.  I still need R's birth certificate.  One of these days all things will be in order.

The Waiting List--just made it!!

In the meantime I was starving.  It was close to two pm--I needed a meal before biking home.  S, a very serious food person (this had been established on my last visit) told me the place to go was Tsujita, the latest rage in Japanese noodles on Sawtelle.  Off I went.  I got there at 1:59, put my name on the waiting list--read a sign that said no orders taken after 2:00.  My heart sank.  But the waitress assured me there was  no cause for alarm, as she emphatically closed the list with yellow highlighter.

I had been planning to get the Ramen, but my waitress told me that for my first Tsujita experience I had to go with the tsukamen, thicker, chewier noodles in a pork broth so dense and delicious that it obviated the need for dinner, despite my many miles of biking.

June 14. Steamed Artichokes with Garlic Aioli. Guacamole. Penne with zucchini, garlic and roasted tomatoes. Plum Tart.

Last week in my grand spree at the 99¢ store, I'd bought a two pound bag of plums.  They were not particularly juicy or aromatic, but I thought they'd probably cook up perfectly.  I'm not much of a baker, but I do know that baked fruit desserts with toppings of sugar, butter, flour, etc. are almost fool-proof.  I'd found several recipes, and decided to start with  Ina Garten's.  It is straightforward and simple, and I had all the ingredients.  I also wanted to steam the two giant artichokes I'd bought and was thinking about utilizing my new mayonnaise skills for a garlic aioli.
These were all good food meditations, but I didn't have any other eaters lined up.  It did seem a lot to tackle by myself.  But perhaps I am making progress in the cook-it-and-they-will-come department.  Well, not even cook-it--in this case, these dishes were just thoughts.  Nonetheless, waiting in my in-box was a note from Sarah telling me that her friend Sammy, with her husband Justin, and baby Si were in the process of moving in to a house in my Venice neighborhood and might be happy to come by for a snack or a meal.  Hooray!  I dashed off a note--turns out they were hoping for just such an invite--and dinner was on.
I had a clear idea of appetizers (artichokes with aioli and guacamole) and dessert (the aforementioned plum tart).  I had enough vegetables and pasta to come up with something for the middle--so no need to shop.
The artichokes--just did a little trimming--put them in a steamer basket (is that what it's called--that little folding aluminum item?), and they were ready to go before I knew it.

This time I made a garlic mayonnaise aioli--now that I'd read through the times article, I improved upon my previous version.

GARLIC AIOLI

1 large egg yolk at room temperature 

Two teaspoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon cold water

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup canola oil

2 plump garlic cloves 

Steamed artichokes with their aioli

Mash or finely chop the garlic cloves with the salt in a medium bowl.  Whisk in the egg yolk, lemon juice, mustard, and water until frothy (very bubbly).  Then, very slowly, initially drop by drop, and a bit quicker as the mixture thickens, dribble in the oil until you have a thick emulsion of mayonnaise. 

I then made guacamole--quick and simple--quantities infinitely flexible::

GUACAMOLE

Avocados

Lime Juice

Garlic

Cilantro

Chipotle Peppers in adobe sauce

Salt

Pepper

On to the plum tart.  The plums were harder than I'd expected to pit.   I was a bit confused about the ultimate look of the tart--so was more concerned than need be about the perfection of the slices (as it turns out, the plums are completely covered with the topping--it's like a plum sandwich on sugar/walnut/butter bread.  Here's the recipe, more or less as I made it:

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
3/4 cup light brown sugar
12 tablespoons diced cold unsalted butter (I diced the butter--then returned it to the fridge so it was firm to begin with)
1 egg yolk
2 pounds plums, pitted and sliced (most plum tart recipes call for Italian prune plums.  The ordinary red plums I used were fine).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Combine flour, walnuts (I'd chopped them in the blender) and sugar in large bowl.  Add butter and egg yolk.  Mix by hand (or electric mixer) until crumbly.

plum tart after some incursions

Press 1/2 of the crumb mixture in an even layer into the bottom of a 9 1/2 inch tart pan.  (If you put more of the crumbs on the bottom--say 1 1/2 cups, you will have less to sprinkle on top--and will have less of a "sandwich" and more of tartie looking item.  Arrange the plums to form a flower pattern, beginning at the outside and working your way in.  Sprinkle the remaining crumb mixture evenly over the plums. Bake the tart for 40-50 minutes, until it's lightly browned and the juices are bubbling. Cook a bit and for best effect, serve with vanilla ice-cream.

Sammy, Justin and Si arrived 6-ish.  The tart (in complete form) was on display, the artichokes, mayo and guacamole happily consumed.  The entree was scarcely necessary.  Nevertheless, I made penne with a quick sauce of Zucchini, roasted tomatoes, parsley, basil and garlic.  The penne was a big hit with baby Si--it was, I have to admit, a bit on the dull side for me, but we livened it up with a few dabs of aioli and it was a good enough prelude to the plum tart.

June 13. Leftovers

All that biking and yoga yesterday caught up with me.  Biked to yoga and back--had a big salad and one of the left-over hamburgers on the remaining half a pretzel roll from last week (note:  the hamburger meat from trader joe is tastier than the classier harris ranch variety).


Very simple late dinner--ancient college snack--sardines on toast with cream cheese and mustard.   And that was that.

June 12. Another bike ride downtown. Hamburgers at home.

Lunch after yoga was a reprise of last night's dinner--potato-spinach patties, sardines, roasted tomatoes and portobello mushrooms.  Excellent fortification for the bike ride downtown  to get properly certified divorce documents for Social Security.   More on that eventually.  While you're waiting here are pictures of the final stages of that busy day.  You can make up a story to go with:

Passed many fine places for a quick snack on the long bus ride home, but passed them all up in favor of the hamburger meat defrosting in the fridge, which quickly converted into four perfect hamburgers for dinner with the remaining potatoes, spinach and portobello mushrooms.

June 11. Sardines with celery salad. Mashed potato spinach pancakes. roasted tomatoes. Portobello mushrooms in japanese sauce. Vegetarian sausage!!

I'd been thinking tuna salad and chopped a few stalks of celery towards that end, but after chopping up two  persian cucumbers and a handful of cherry tomatoes as well, there was too much salad for a little can of tuna.  I discovered a mysterious can of wild sardines, origins unknown (I do know they were "sustainably caught along the california coast," but don't know how they got into my cabinet, nor am I sure what it means to be sustainably caught but it sounds righteous enough).  Made a neat little salade compose of these various parts, topped it all with lime juice and that was lunch.
And, soon thereafter it was dinner time.  Still lots of left-overs and aging vegetables to utilize.  I boiled a fine assortment of potatoes (after removing their little sprouts) from the farmer's market,  and was about to mash them to eat with the left-over slightly creamed spinach, but instead mixed the spinach and potatoes together shaped a few tablespoons into neat little patties and sauteed them along with another mysterious discovery in my freezer--vegetarian sausage patties.  With a few slices of   left-over portobellos on salad greens and roasted tomatoes, felt like a very well-rounded left-over dinner.

clockwise: vegetarian sausage patty, roasted tomatoes, portobellos on greens, potato, spinach patty

June 10th. Roasted Tomatoes. Brunch Salad f Trader Joe's on bike. Portobello mushrooms. Slightly creamed spinach. Scrambled eggs.

Salad reprised for  birthday/bookswap/brunch at Lois's.  Pretty amazing (to me, at least) that all ingredients for the salad--organic greens-black beans, corn, red peppers, tomatoes, queso fresco, lime juice, etc. came from yesterday's run through the 99¢ store.  While making salad, I roasted cherry and grape tomatoes--I'd bought three boxes.  I wrote these simple instructions long ago,  but here's how I made them this morning

Most recent batch of happily shriveled roasted tomatoes and garlic

Pre-heat oven to 425.  Rinse tomatos, and place them in a baking pan, ideally in a single layer.  Add a few peeled garlic cloves-- and a few tablespoons oil-stirring the tomatoes to both coat them and the bottom of the pan. I added black pepper, smoked paprika, and coriander--all optional.  Just as the aromas of roasting tomatoes and garlic suffused the house, the dish was done--maybe it took a half hour.  

Biked to the brunch, where I happily shared my salad, then biked on to Trader Joe's where I replenished a few staples before returning home.  More surprising to me than all this biking is the realization that I am scarcely driving my car these days.  Perhaps this is my inverse way of gearing up for my next drive across country.  Hard to know.

Sunday night supper--scrambled eggs with spinach, portobello mushrooms and tomatoes

Continued to work my way through the 99¢ store purchases for dinner.   The tomatoes I roasted this morning were ready to go.  In addition I made
Portobello Mushrooms in a Japanese style Sauce:
2 portobello mushrooms, cut in half inch slices
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
1 clover crushed or minced garlic

Wash mushrooms.  Arrange slices in a baking pan.  Whisk the soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger and garlic.  Brush or pour  the mixture over the mushrooms.

Place mushroom in pre-heated broiler.  Cook for five-ten minutes, until soft.  If there is extra sauce, you can spoon it over mushrooms while serving.  As a variation, you can leave the mushroom caps whole, brush them with the sauce--and cook until soft (that will take longer).

I'm always thinking I want to make creamed spinach, but rarely do.  Here's my  version  almost creamed spinach I made:

ALMOST CREAMED SPINACH
1 pound baby spinach
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/3 cup finely chopped shallots
2-4 garlic cloves, minced or crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
heavy cream (up to 1/3 cup)

Rinse the spinach.   The clinging water should be enough to cook it in--put in large pan--cover cook for a minute or two until soft. Drain in a fine mesh strainer, pressing out as much moisture as possible, then chop finely and set aside.
Melt butter in frying pan.  Add shallots and garlic and cook for about two minutes, until soft--garlic shouldn't brown.  Add spinach and cook a bit longer.  Then add salt, pepper, nutmeg and cream--and cook for another few minutes.  If you're using the full complement of cream, it should reduce significantly.  Serve hot.

I pushed the spinach to the side and scrambled two eggs in the pan, hence the spinachy scrambled eggs pictured above.

June 9th. Quesadillas. 99¢ Store Blowout. Leaping Dollphins.

Continuing to forge  new routines, I biked to a 9am yoga class, and then biked--prepared this time with backpack as well as assorted carrying bags to the 99¢ store.  What was I thinking? I shopped as if I had a wheel barrow or a crew of basket bearing servants waiting in the parking lot.  But it was just me and my bike.  Two giant artichokes.  Huge box of mixed greens.  Brussels sprouts.  Peppers. Celery.  Carrots. Portobello mushrooms.  And more.  Much more.   I filled the basket, stuffed the backpack and still had the red bag bursting with produce as I rode home a bit less balanced, but still bearing some resemblance to the  bike-riding Vietnamese braving the motor-bike stuffed streets of Hanoi.
Made it home without incident, another feather in my bike-helmet.
Met Linda on the beach--as I walked to meet her, for the first time in a year, I scanned the horizon for dolphins.  I hadn't   seen any since my return.  As we sat and visited on the sand, in the glowing late afternoon sun, I caught the flash of dolphin.  There they were---leaping, riding waves, and once even swirling upward like a breaching whale, a beach thrill.

Big salad with shadows

We returned to my house just before sunset where in record time, I put together a slightly Meixcan salad using some of my grand 99¢ haul---romaine lettuce, corn, black beans, cucumber, mango, red pepper, cherry tomatoes, pepper jack cheese and lime taco chips.   A sampling of coffee and chocolate ice cream for dessert before driving Linda home.

June 8. Fish taco. Ceviche Tostada. La Isla Bonita.

Very little action on the cooking front.  Returning from yoga stopped at La Isla Bonita, the excellent food truck on Rose Avenue for a ceviche tostada.  They were also having a special on fish tacos--how could I resist?  Got one of each which I happily ate, sitting on the sun-baked sidewalk.

For dinner, finished up every left-over.  Artichokes,beets, brussels sprouts and even a bit of hamburger with the remaining mayonnaise, and re-heated the farfalle with the last squares of golden tofu.  The sink was filled with empty tupperware and the refrigerator remarkably empty after a week of many many meals with visitors.

June 7. Long Sunset Walk. Mayonnaise. Noodles with Peanut Sauce. Artichokes. Rajas. Eggplant. Arugula

A refrigerator full of leftovers and produce.  A perfect set-up for an impromptu meal.  And, wonder of wonders, all the pieces fell into place.  Both Lisa and Patty showed up around 6pm.  Although there were no clear dinner plans, I was confident that my refrigerator would provide.  And not just my refrigerator.   Lisa arrived  bearing a steamed artichoke and the left-over rajas from earlier in the week.  No fear we might end up hungry.
Buoyed by this knowledge, we walked for hours along the beach.  A ridiculously perfect late afternoon.  Surf was high, surfers were abundant, but so were families with tiny children running back and forth into the waves, digging in the sand, tossing balls, and the ever-marveling tourists who had made it past the boardwalk insanity to the miracles at the waters edge.  The sun had set by the time we returned home.  We were three hungry women.   Dishes emerged from refrigerated tupperware like clowns out of a circus car.  Roast Beets.  Artichokes.  noodles with tofu and carrots in peanut sauce.  Rajas con Crema. Eggplant with pomegranate Sauce.  Arugula.  Uh-oh to the arugula said Lisa and Patty, noting that some of the leaves had a slight yellow tinge.  If this has not yet been made clear, let me take the opportunity to state that I tend to use my own personal standards (paying little heed to expiration dates for example) in determining whether a food item is usable or not.  The arugula might not have been spectacular in a salad--but it's expiration date (not that I may much attention to such things) was five days in the future.  I assured my guests it would be fine sauteed with a little garlic and lemon (and of course there were enough other dishes that it wouldn't matter if it didn't work), and they didn't try to stop me.  In addition to the arugula, the only other item I thought we should make was home-made mayonnaise.  Melissa Clarke had recently written a paean on the subject --and our many artichokes provided the perfect occasion to try it out.
Due to our hunger and the speed at which we were preparing things, I didn't read the recipe through to the end--but will record it here in both it's actual and ideal form.

MAYONNAISE
1 large egg yolk at room temperature (uh-oh said I--but Lisa popped an egg into warm water--and there we had it)
Two teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon cold water
3/4 cup canola oil
1 plump clove garlic

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolk, lemon juice, mustard, salt and water until frothy (very bubbly).  Then--and here, it certainly helped to have a well-staffed kitchen--much easier for one person to slowly dribble in the oil, while another keeps whisking vigorously--slowly add the oil--and within minutes you'll have a thick emulsion of mayonnaise.
It looked great--but we were all a bit disappointed with the taste.  Problem solved with the addition of a crushed garlic clove--made it fabulous.  Reading through the recipe after the fact, I discovered that one of the variations is an aioli, made with substituting olive oil for some of the canola oil and smashing the garlic with the salt at the start.  We'll do that next time.  This time, we happily ate the mayonnaise with each of the many courses--and were as happy as can be.

Homemade Garlic Mayonnaise (Lisa Fischer, 2012)

We even had room for a bit of chocolate and coffee ice cream for dessert.

June 6. Biking to Social Security. Golden Tofu and Carrots with Peanut Sauce .

As part of my effort of combining longer than usual (for me) bicycle trips with activities linked to my ever-advancing years,  I biked 5 miles to the Social Security Office in West Los Angeles to begin the process of figuring out "retirement benefits."  I thought I'd done due diligence by ferreting out some documents pertaining to my divorce, but those xeroxed sheets were scarcely sufficient.  I need  certified copies of both marriage and divorce certificates (with serious raised seals).  .  I was assured by our government's friendly representative that this will not be a problem.  We shall see.
Biked from social security to yoga (that's almost ten miles of serious biking).  After yoga,  stopped at the Bike Center where Emily gave my bike a quick tune-up to prepare me for a possible bike-ride downtown to get a certified divorce certificate--and even better offered to make the trek with me next Tuesday.  Since my bumper was smashed in at Fred Segal over two months ago, I have gradually (and much to my surprise) I have become seriously car adverse and bike almost everywhere--the thought of driving downtown, dealing with traffic, parking, etc. is more daunting than the thought of biking 30 miles round trip.  This might mean I'm losing my mind. Evidence not quite in.
Lena called just as I was heading home.  She was planning to walk over with baby Phoebe (now four months old!).  As we were both starving, it was a perfect opportunity to speed home and see what I could lure out of my refrigerator.
I made Golden Tofu with Peanut Sauce in record breaking time.

Noodles with Golden Tofu, Orange Carrots, Green Cilantro and Peanut Sauce

using that excellent recipe  from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.  I didn't caramelize it--so much hunger, so little time, but the time limitations and hovering guaranteed   I didn't overcook the tofu--it was golden and crispy on the outside while soft in the interior.  Happily meshed with the quick peanut sauce, and pasta.  I sauteed a few carrots that I'd peeled and forgotten about last week using the fthe tofu's abandoned  oil --and voila--an almost instantaneous late lunch!!  Coffee and chocolate ice cream for dessert.

June 5. Voting. Transit of Venus. Hamburger. Pomegranate eggplant for Carol. Rajas Quesadilla for me.

Stopped to vote at extraordinarily quiet polling place after yoga--got home ravenous-satisfied all hunger with an excellent meal of left-over hamburger with wilted arugula, caramelized onions and cauliflower on half a pretzel roll and a big glass of iced coffee (with a few smidgens of ice cream).

Perhaps just as predictable, but more exciting than the election was the imminent Transit of Venus.  Venus, slightly smaller than the Earth would be passing between the earth and the sun from 3:30 until sunset.  This will not occur again for over a century, so it's our last chance to catch a glimpse. Not visible to the naked eye (given the brightness of the sun and all),   can only be seen through a telescope with filter or very dark welder's glass.  Unlike last month's solar eclipse, this transit has no effect on the amount of sun beaming down, there is no discernible shift in the atmosphere, i.e. you have to know it's happening to know to look for it.   The astronomers were going to be out in force at Griffith Observatory and UCLA, but Carol was coming over after school, and I was fairly certain she wouldn't want to head out.  Would I miss it?  Waiting for Carol, I walked to Ocean Front Walk, assuring myself that in that mass of pulsing humanity, I was bound to find at least one telescope or darkened piece of welder's glass.  And praise be!  At the very end of the block, my imagined telescope stood pointed towards the sun with its transiting Venus.  Steve, a regular at the drum circle for

Steve and Sequois with telescope pointed towards sun

past decade, explained that he had brought his telescope from his  Palisades home to view the transit from one of his favorite spots.  When I told him this was my street, he was a bit concerned that I might have been miffed by the years of drumming.  Perhaps his well-filtered telescope was a conciliatory gesture. In any case, either due to my softness for large crowds of dancing fools or my ever-increasing deafness, the drum circle on my block has been more a source of marvel than distress.  With a telescope on the corner, I brought down any neighbor who might have stepped out-doors--Sid and Judy with two grandsons, Lloyd and Lola, Andrew and later Carol and Joanie (who'd called for some last minute voter consultations.  Here's a reflection on paper that approximates (without the sharp contrast of yellow sun and black Venus shadow what we saw.

Venus beginning its transit (tiny spots are dust on telescope)

Back at the house, once the sun had set, we pretty much by-passed dinner.  Carol had the eggplant in pomegranate molasses sauce with a cup of tea, while I made myself another quesadilla with rajas con crema.  We didn't listen to one word of election coverage. despite our dutiful attendance at the polls.  

June 4. Hamburgers on Pretzel Rolls with Caramelized Onions, Brussels Sprouts with bacon and dates, Roasted Cauliflower.

No Yoga at noon--but late lunch none-the-less with Kate whom I haven't seen in months.

Pretzel Rolls waiting for their Burgers

A perfect opportunity to make burgers with the chopped meat I'd bought at The Harris Ranch.  Not much to prepare, but I did bike to 3 Square Bakery  and bought two pretzel rolls--to play the part of Hamburger rolls as they do in the pretzel burgers.  Also caramelized two onions to a rich dark brown and cooked up bacon.
There was about a fourth of a cauliflower which I sliced and roasted, and also made a round of brussels sprouts with bacon and dates--using up the last of the sprouts and bacon.  I had avocados,  roast  beets and  artichokes,but restrained myself and served Kate a lunch of an open faced  hamburger on half a pretzel rolls with caramelized onions, bacon and arugula.  Cauliflower and brussels sprouts on the side.  A very proper lunch followed by a walk on the beach where the sun had just successfully burned off the last of the fog.
Lisa called to suggest we join forces for dinner, so although I was still sated from that late lunch, I biked over with greens and roasted beets for salad, as well as the pasilla chiles I'd roasted and peeled yesterday.  Lisa, remembering our excellent chile rellenos, had roasted and peeled three chiles herself, but in a nod to speed and simplicity, we decided to go the rajas con crema route.  We didn't have any Mexican crema, but did quite well with a mixture of sour cream, cream cheese and yogurt (doing the good work of emptying Lisa and Gar's refrigerator as well).   The rajas were an excellent accompaniment to bar-b-qued pulled pork from TJ's with rice and an arugula and beet salad.  After a dessert of halvah and tiny chick pea cookies, with many lights   a-flashing, I biked home along ever-bustling Abbot Kinney.

June 3. Crispy fried eggs with arugula, roasted tomatoes and bacon bits, farfalle with roasted tomaoes, arugula and parm

Last night's dinner was so minimal, I awoke starving which led to the creation of a proper Sunday Breakfast For One--two crispy fried eggs on a bed of arugula with roasted tomatoes and a teeny side of bacon ends.

Quite Substantial Sunday Breakfast for One

Walked to the Ocean Park Farmer's Market with Robin before biking on to yoga--came home--thought I could slide through lunch with a half a grapefruit, a banana, and iced-coffee (I did pump up the coffee with a few spoonfuls of coffee and chocolate ice-cream), but two hours later made a quick little tuna salad--with only celery, mayo and tomatoes to tide me over.
With my refrigerator well-stocked with those 99¢ greens, to say nothing of two packages of extra firm tofu, half a dozen roasted and peeled pasilla chiles,a pound and a half of hamburger meat and an assortment of vegetable odds and ends, Based on past weekend, I'd half-assumed some-one would show up for Sunday dinner, but...although Andrew knocked on the door to return the drill I'd lent him and borrow two eggs, there were no guests.
I could have snacked my way through the evening, but since I am  keeping this record to encourage a certain mindfulness, as well as to show how I'm able to whip up an excellent meal on short notice, I decided to treat myself as a surprise guest and see what I could spin out of my refrigerator:
Farfalle with Roasted Tomatoes and Garlic in white wine,  Arugula, Two kinds of Basil and Parmesan:
Cherry Tomatoes-
Whole Garlic Cloves
White Wine
Farfalle
Arugula
Sweet Italian Basil
Thai Basil
Fresh Grated Parmesan Cheese

Roasted tomatoes with garlic and chopped greens just before their union

I had some left over roasted tomatoes as well as some fresh ones.  I roasted the un-cooked tomatoes with a few fat cloves of garlic and a bit of olive oil.  While they were roasting, I put up water to boil for the pasta and chopped up a couple of cups of arugula and a good sampling of the two basils.

At some point, I poured some white wine in with the tomatoes and garlic and let it boil down a bit.  When the pasta was just about done, I tossed the chopped greens and a half a cup of parmesan in with the tomatoes--stirred until wilted--and tossed in the drained pasta with a half a cup or so of the pasta water.

The resulting dinner was an excellent outcome for  solitary round of "What's in Naomi's Refrigerator?"

June 2. Onion and Zucchini Fritatta Eggplant with Pomegranate Sauce. Roast Tomatoes. Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan, Garlid and Lemon, Mixed Greens with multi-colored Beets and Avocadoes.

As I drank my coffee with a piece of toast, I began preparing brunch.  Russell and Heather were arriving at 12:30, so plenty of time to get all things in order.  The eggplant, after marinating all night in its pomegranate sauce, had plenty of time to reach room temperature, as did the roasted tomatoes which I'd made the night before.  All I had to make this morning was a frittata with onions and zucchini.  The recipe calls for basil, which I usually use (if I don't have basil, I'll use parsley).  But today I used Thai basil which I'd bought at the Farmer's Market, which provided a lively touch.   

Roasted Tomatoes (the only dish that passed the relatively low photo bar)

Also served roasted asparagus with garlic, parmesan and lemon and a salad of mixed greens with the multi-colored roasted beets and avocado.  

June 1st. Venice Farmer's Market. Ceviche Taco. Last of the Steak Salad.

Biked  to the Venice Farmer's Market for the first time in months.  Bought beets, potatoes, zucchini, flowers, lemons, zucchini, and a box of spicy tempeh.  Dropped off the produce and biked on to yoga.  After class,  stopping for water at the Fred Segal's Cafe stumbled upon Gail and Chuck at lunch.  I hadn't seen them for decades!  We had a fine catch-up before I biked off to the 99¢ store to continue my pre-weekend foraging.   Knowing everything had to be carried home on my bike, and well aware of all over-buying tendencies, I stopped at the taco stand--Mariscos Guillen La Playita  Lincoln for a ceviche tostada.  Just what I needed before plunging into my shopping.  There was an abundance of organic produce--always a source of great shopper excitement when that shipment comes in.  I couldn't resist huge containers of baby spinach and arugula--and would have bought a big box of spring lettuce if they'd had it--but had to settle for the smaller size.  Along with all the other items I couldn't resist--

Organic Arugula and Spinach, 99¢ Each

coarse Sicilian sea salt (whatever that might be), coconut milk, mangos, pasilla chiles, giant artichokes,   red and yellow peppers, etc., it was quite a task balancing my way home.
It was late afternoon, no need for lunch, but I was happy to begin preparations for Saturday's brunch with Heather and Russell.  Sliced eggplants to roast before setting them to marinate overnight in pomegranate sauce.  And while the oven was on, I also roasted tomatoes, and wrapped  the beets of many colors I'd bought at the farmer's market in foil, popping them into the oven to roast as well.   As tomorrow's brunch cooked, I made another salad with the last two slices of extraordinary steak.  And for dessert--that irresistible coffee and chocolate ice cream with roasted almonds and caramel sauce.  Up until this very writing I thought I'd just pulled those roasted almonds out of a Trader Joe's bag, but now I remember that my favorite childhood treat was Schrafft's hot fudge sundae with coffee ice cream and roasted almonds, served in an elegant silver dish. Those Schrafft's lunches with my mother were something.