Spring Farmer's Markets and Celebrity Chef Spotting

Today was a good day at the Santa Monica Wednesday farmer's market. Lots of new vibrant spring vegetables including snap peas, fava beans, and the beginnings of summer squash. Lots of local chefs visit this particular farmer's market; I'm bad at identifying chefs, I just recognize them with their chefs jackets and handtrucks piled with crates of vegetables. I love to see how the head chefs actually do the shopping as opposed to delegating to their minions. I see CJ, from Top Chef and The Yard, almost every week, as he's so recognizably tall. Today I saw Mark Peel of Campanile, The Tar Pit and Top Chef Masters as well as Marcel Vigneron of Top Chef and my last visit to Test Kitchen.

I prefer snap peas to favas as they are easier to prepare

Cool yellow raspberries

Mark Peel of Campanile. I feel guilty taking photos of chefs doing their business, like a paparazzi stalker, but I'm a big fan of his.

Calypso St. Barth for Target Preview

5/1/11 Note: Updated here with review of new purchases and photos.
Although I wasn't completely enamored with the Target Go International re-release last month (caveat: I did pick up a few pieces when they went on sale this week), I am loving the just released images of the Calypso St. Barth collection. I hope everything looks as good in person as they do in pictures. I think I'm ready for summer lounging by the pool; I love the colors, patterns, use of crochet and tie dyes, and overall breezy effortless feel of this collection. Dresses are $30-$50 and they have shoes, bags and home goods too! Collection launches May 1st. My favorite pieces (images from Target):

I love the idea of a caftan / maxi dress with sleeves and fits the 70's vibe of S/S 2011. Perfect for the variety of Santa Monica summer weather. Apparently this dress is silk.

Good as a coverup or a casual around town dress

I love the versatility of separates, plus I liked another image with a similar style skirt worn as a dress

I've adored off the shoulder looks since I was a kid, but the length of the dress might be challenging for my height

Gratuitous St. Barths sunset photo from April 2007. Sigh, I want to go back right now...

My Deserted Island Wine

Saturday night, we had a couple friends over and I opened up a bottle 2008 Rivers-Marie Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir and had an epiphany: this could be my deserted island bottle of wine. I could be happy drinking this and only this wine for the rest of life if I were stranded on a deserted island. It has a big heady perfume of a nose which I could sit around inhaling forever, not even drinking the wine; that silky light pinot noir mouthfeel with lively bright fruit flavors with a touch of vanilla warmth and a long lingering finish. It doesn't have any tartness or tightness nor is it too hot and jammy like some pinot noirs. It's perfect. It has just enough structure and finesse but is so incredibly drinkable; you just want to have more and more. At $25, it's a total steal for such a wonderful pinot noir; I prefer it to bottles that cost over 2x. I would buy cases and cases every year if I could; unfortunately they only produce about 200 cases per year and therefore limit the allocation to 3-4 bottles a year. Sadly, I only have one more bottle of the 2008 left. Thanks to M&M for the introduction those many years ago!

Roasted Trout with Herbs and Lemon

I've been wanting to cook more fish at home; my usual go-to is sake salmon which we make a lot and still quite enjoy, but I haven't made anything else in awhile. We eat whole fish at home a lot, but it's always cooked by my parents, either steamed or lightly pan-fried with Asian condiments and garnishes. Fish is actually one of the easiest proteins to prep and cook; you don't have to marinate it for a long time and it cooks really fast. It's great for a quick, healthy, weekday meal. Last night, I made roasted trout, based on the advice of M. Half hour before roasting, I washed two whole trout, about 2/3 lb each, put them in a pyrex baking dish, drizzled a little olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic salt on both sides, stuffed with some sprigs of thyme, lemon slices and chopped white onion and let it marinate for awhile. Then, roast at 400 degrees for 16-18 minutes, and the fish was perfectly done. Trout is a very nice fish, mild and very moist. For those unaccustomed to eating whole fish, the bones are relatively easy to navigate, so even K. was able to eat it all himself. Plus it's also sustainable, low in mercury, and relatively cheap ($2.99 per lb from Costco). I'll definitely be making trout again. In the future, I would also salt and pepper the inside of the fish as well, and probably use coarse sea salt on the outside as it was a touch underseasoned. We served it with leftover mango salsa from the weekend so it had plenty of flavor, but it should also be able to stand up on its own with just a squeeze of lemon juice. With a spinach salad and a cup of organic roasted pepper and tomato soup from Trader Joe's, it's a light and healthy spring meal.

Revolution Fitness Review

I finished up my Revolution Fitness series with a spin class with Jeff yesterday. I purchased the Groupon for the spin barre classes as I thought the combination of high cardio spin and muscle toning barre work would be perfect. Unfortunately they canceled the classes before I got the chance to try it. I went to two core barre classes, which I didn't like. The barre studio is tiny, with room for maybe 8 students with an incredibly tight fit. In the first class, we didn't even use the barre because there wasn't enough room, which is ridiculous. I prefer Bar Method, Pop Physique as well as the bar classes at Equinox. Since I was so unimpressed by the barre classes, I tried a spin class for my last class. Spinning is still not my forte and I feel like I'm never going to make it through the class halfway through the class and feel like throwing up during the hills, but I made it. It's a sweaty workout with good music and the teacher was very energetic and a little crazy. The spin classes are very popular; classes are often fully booked days in advanced, so clearly plenty of people love it, but the studio is not for me. Those 12 blocks uphill to home on a bike after a spin class were brutal. It's been a well balanced week of working out with 2 yoga classes, 1 spin class, bike rides to and from classes and a run today.

Taco Fridays: Tacomiendo for lunch and Fish Tacos for dinner

As I was on my way to Top Valu Supermarket to pick up some ingredients for dinner, I passed by another location of Tacomiendo on Inglewood Blvd. After picking up freshly made corn tortillas, onions, limes, jalapenos and tomatilla salsa, I stopped by Tacomiendo. I ordered the lengua, cabeza and adobada tacos, and they were some of the best of tacos I've ever had. They are definitely better than Tacos Por Favor, which I go to often, and also better than the West LA location of Tacomiendo. The meat was well seasoned and very tender and juicy. The lengua was a little leaner than at Tacos Por Favor and the adobada had wonderful charred smoky flavor, without being too dry, which is the problem with a lot of the meat tacos at Tacos Por Favor. It's a bit of a hike for me and parking is tight, but it's worth it. There was a line out the door when I left.

For dinner, I made tilapia fish tacos with a mango salsa. I used to make this mango salsa a lot, particularly as my dad is fond of bringing home cases of mangoes that we can't possibly finish. It's really well balanced with bright flavors; the tomatoes and acid from the cider vinegar and lime juice and bite from the onions complement the sweet juicy mangoes so that it isn't overly cloying or sweet. It goes perfectly with the soft and moist tilapia, seasoned with a combination of smoky spices like cumin and chili powder, grilled on a grill pan. It's one of our favorite summer dishes; even though it was quite cold yesterday, everyone enjoyed it. I also made a side of quinoa with spinach, sunflower seeds and pecorino romano. I've made this dish a couple of times over the last few weeks; it's hearty, nutty and relatively healthy. We paired dinner with a simple Sonoma Coast Chardonnay.

Mango Salsa (serves 4-6)
Combine in a large bowl. Try to make all the dices approximately the same size. Let it sit for at least half an hour to let all the flavors meld together

• 8 diced roma tomatoes, seeds removed
• 3 diced mangoes
• 1/2 of a white (or red) onion, diced
• 3 cloves of minced garlic
• 1 small diced jalapeno (seeds removed for less spice)
• 1 diced avocado (optional)
• 2 TB of cider vinegar
• Handful of chopped cilantro
• Juice from 1 lime
• 1/2 tsp of cumin
• Salt and pepper to taste

Tilapia Fish Taco

• Marinate 2 1/3 lbs of tilapia filets in a gallon size baggie for about half hour
• Marinade: 1/3 cup of grapeseed oil, 2 TB of chili powder, 2 tsp of cumin, 2 tsp of coriander, 1 tsp of paprika, 1/2 tsp of cayenne, 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1/2 tsp of salt and freshly ground pepper
• Cook the fish on a large grill pan until done, ~ 4-5 minutes on each side depending on the thickness of the filets

Quinoa with Spinach and Cheese (from this recipe although I've translated it because who wants to measure 8 TB of sunflower seeds?)

• To prep: mince 8 cloves of garlic, measure out 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds, wash and dry 4 cups of spinach, grate 2/3-1 cup of pecorino romano (or parmigiano reggiano, gouda, or cheddar)
• Bring 2 cups of water, 1 cup of quinoa and 1/4 tsp of salt up to a boil. When it boils, reduce to low, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the water is fully absorbed. Drain the quinoa in a strainer and rinse with cold water and set aside
• Over medium heat, heat up 2-3 TB of olive oil, and toast the sunflower seeds for about 2 minutes, then add the garlic for another 1-2 minutes. Then add the cooled quinoa and spinach and mix it together until the spinach just begins to wilt. Add the cheese and juice of half a lemon with a little zest and mix it all together. Serve warm.

Huckleberry Poached Eggs and Veggies

Huckleberry's beautifully colorful poached eggs over farm fresh vegetables with pesto and toasted breadcrumbs is one of my current favorite breakfast dishes. I love the runny poached eggs over sweet and crunchy sugar snap peas and soft juicy tomatoes, generous doses of olive oil and the addictive savory pesto and breadcrumb topping. My only gripe (besides being expensive at $12.25) is that I wish they would use more seasonal local vegetables (I know I'm being nitpicky); this dish is almost identical to the one I had two months ago, and only now am I starting to see some tomatoes and sugar snap peas at the farmer's market as it is still really early in their respective seasons. I'll definitely be recreating this dish at home in the summer. I usually avoid Huckleberry on the weekends as it must be impossible to find a seat but it was still really crowded on a slightly chilly Wednesday for an early lunch. Meanwhile, it's been freezing here again the last few days. I'm back to my down jackets and the heat is on in the house.