Last week we offered up a few ideas to satisfy the eaters on your list this holiday season. Here is our last-minute gift list for those who always politely decline the home-baked slice of pie but can’t go a day without a cup or three of organic coffee or a bottle of good red wine. [...]
Shopping local is easy in small towns where most folks probably know the only candy maker by first name. But with so many great food businesses in Los Angeles, finding a staring point is often the hardest part. Are you looking for a classic, like English toffee, or are your friends more likely to get [...]
Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a keg of ale to bottle and pass out to your friends this holiday season? Yeah, we wish we had taken up home brewing last year, too. It’s a bit late for fermenting this year, but if you join one of the many local home brew clubs now, [...]
Whether it’s making homemade gifts, stocking up on bargain wine or doing a little more cooking than catering, we’re all penny pinching this holiday season. Chefs may be producing high-dollar cocktail parties and holiday dinners at their restaurants this time of year, but when they finally get a night off, they’re looking for a tasty [...]
Regier Farms (Wednesday in Santa Monica, Saturday in Pasadena) is in the second week of its seedless, easy-to-peel Satsuma mandarin crop. Grower Troy Regier says it’s “looking like it’s going to be a good season.†Early fruit tends not to have a lot of sugar or bright color, but this fruit is already quite sweet, [...]
You may decide to ditch the heritage turkey for Tofurky this Thanksgiving, or trade the green bean casserole for sauteed Brussels sprouts. Fine. But tread carefully when it comes to pie. Showing up to the Thanksgiving table with a fancy dessert like crème brûlée — even a pumpkin version — is just asking for raised eyebrows [...]
Last week marked the return of Laura Ramirez (J.J.’s Lone Daughter Ranch in Riverside County) to the Santa Monica and Hollywood markets after her late-summer hiatus. She brings fully ripe Hachiya persimmons, the oblong type you can only consume when they’re utterly soft and jammy. Their spicy, deep-orange flesh is a perfect reminder of right [...]
It’s that time of year when apple-anything sounds good, but the fermented versions so often disappoint. Apple ciders tend to be sticky sugary, particularly those from the commercial giants that dominate the Los Angeles market (do Hornsby’s and Strongbow or the pear cider from Wyder’s ring a bell?). A good cider, like beer, shouldn’t be [...]
Most turkey burgers are generic things, coming out of the mass-produced, Foster Farms operation, making a person wonder if they really are a more responsible choice than beef burgers. But when they’re done right, a turkey burger is a beautiful thing — not just lower in fat and less environmentally bad than beef burgers, but [...]
L.A. is a home cook’s paradise, with farmers’ markets galore, fantastic cheese shops and butchers, and even quality kitchen-supply stores like Surfas that can satisfy your sudden need for cannoli molds. We’ve also got an impressive collection of local cookbooks on our library shelves. There are so many great ones to choose from — Nancy [...]
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