Andrew

Nice try. But with a crumble you would have spied an empty dish!

my latest creation. Anyone want to take a guess at what it is?

Happy Independence Day to those of you who celebrate the holiday.

Killing time before an appointment for which I was early, I stopped in a bakery. I asked for one cookie and the proprietor gave it to me for free. That little gesture made my day. The cookie was pretty darn good too.

The bakery was: Star Bakery, 11628 Santa Monica Blvd., LA, CA 90025

(It’s right next to Nook.)

Today is the day that New York city’s ban on tran-fat oils takes effect. After a lot of moaning and crying most of the fast food restaurants reversed their opposition and changed the oil they use well ahead of the ban.

Some may call this political correctness, I call it one tiny step.

Sunday’s are for cooking!

A good friend and a great chef made a large batch of chicken wings for a potluck yesterday. When they were done, she put them on the kitchen counter and jumped in the shower. When she came out a short time later most of the wings were gone. While she was in the shower somebody smelled the wings, came into her house and helped themselves. Nothing else was missing.

FYI — I have an alibi. I was on the other side of town!

I had lunch the other day with an old buddy who started a new business. After intensive studies at UCLA he has started an organic garden design company. The best part is that his focus is on growing produce for chefs. All I know is that he gave me some of his summer squash, blackberries, fresh eggs, and broccoli and I was blown away. I am no stranger to great produce from the farmer’s market but this stuff rocked! I’m now saving my pennies so that I can have John set up my backyard garden!

Check out his website: The Woven Garden

Apparently he makes growing your own organic easy and elegant.

Here I am making pizza with my youngest.

I work much faster without the help but it’s half the fun!

Happy father’s day to all the dad’s out there. I plan on celebrating mine with a Bloody Mary prepared by me and a brunch prepared by my two wonderful little rascals.

I made the mistake of buying an orange liqueur that was not Cointreau. Whoops! Big mistake. The Sidecar wasn’t up to par, and the Simple margarita — forget about it. I thought I was saving a few bob, but I ended up losing.

David Embury was right. You need quality ingredients to make a quality drink.

Anybody want to buy an opened bottle of orange liqueur. I’m selling — cheap.

I ran into my neighbor Tess in the supermarket. A few minutes later I ran into her husband who happened to come at the same time. When he heard she was there he went running to great her with great excitement. I hope that after a busy day I always have that kind of love for my wife!

I added purple carrots from the farmer’s market to my chicken soup the stock turned purple. Tasted pretty darn good though. I need to add that recipe — sans the purple.

I got a bag full of beautiful heirloom tomatoes today at the farmer’s market. I asked if they had any bruised tomatoes and got some real beautiees at a $1 a pound. It’s Tomato Soup tonight!

Last week one of my favorite writers, David Kamp, wrote a terrific piece in the New York Times about the horrors of children’s menu’s and their impact on children’s diet. Go to the NYTimes to read it.

This is a subject that is dear to my heart. It’s important for parents to set the tone. If you enjoy eating vegetables then your kids will too — unless you feed them crap instead. But as bad as kids menu’s can be, Kamp’s article raises a question that he leaves un-addressed. Why are we eating out so much?

Don’t get me wrong. I love to eat in restaurants and I love to take my family — even when my kids are destroying my clothes with their grimy hands and horrifying other diners with their abysmal table manners. But eating out is a treat. When we do eat out, my kids eat off our plates. We savor it together.

But eating out most every night is bad for me as it is for my kids. Making the time cook with my family has made all the difference in the world. It the process that counts.

Read my article They eat what we eat to see what I am talking about.

I made pizza with my three nephews and two daughters last night. They each got to dress their own pie and we all pigged out. And it was darn good too.

We made the Summer heirloom pizza and the Radicchio pancetta pizza. We also made a huge mess. My sister got to clean that up — somethings never change.

Thanks for the offer for the water David, but I am in NY right which has some of the best tasting tap around. No need for the bottled stuff.