Growing up, summer time meant spending time on Balboa Island. Some summers, we would rent a house. Sometimes with another family, yet most summer’s we just rented our own home. We participated in many daily activities; fishing in the bay, riding around the island in a small motor boat, and riding our bikes until the moon was our only light source.
The most important daily activity was eating a “bal bar”. A bal bar is basically a brick of ice cream with a stick in it. Then it is dipped in the most amazing chocolate sauce and covered in either nuts or jimmies. I always went for the nuts (see original ice cream here).
This dessert reminds me of my childhood. For me, it’s all about the nuts. The original bal bar didn’t have cake in it. However, topping this dessert off with roasted, salted peanuts brought back some darn good memories!
I am an A+ eater and a B- cook. Sad, but true – I’d be so much better off if it were the other way around. I have a couple of A+ dishes in my repertoire, but by and large, I haven’t had the time to hone my kitchen skills. Having to bring home the bacon and cook it too is hard work! So I’ve eaten out as much as I’ve eaten in for the last 20 years. Nowadays, I’m trying to reverse the trend.
I subscribe to a lot of magazines, probably at least fifty. I love reading publications about cooking, wine and design. I am never without a large pile of them on the coffee table.
Even though spring is officially here, I'm still craving comfort foods,
like stews and braised meats. Since cold weather isn't a prerequisite
for braising, this past weekend I braised short ribs. After a low, slow
braise, the meat turns buttery, soft and absolutely tender enough to cut
into with a fork. With Passover and Easter just around the corner, a
braised meal is just right for a holiday dinner with family. Instead of
the more typical brisket for Passover, why not bring braised short ribs
to the Seder table?
As football fans gear up for Super Bowl Sunday, they'll buy more than 50 million pounds of avocados, almost all of which will be transformed into guacamole. How will all this guacamole get eaten? With chips, of course. 15, 000 tons of chips.
