Harvest

There will be several more tomatoes and a few more onions. Maybe garlic, maybe not. Maybe lettuce, maybe not. This is the extent of the potato harvest, and let me tell you, it was a joy to dig this stuff out of the dirt.

I've found out this summer that deep down in my soil soul, I'm not a gardener. I had hoped I was. I love the idea of free food, and to just walk out to the back yard and grab a salad is all the excitement I need. But the weeding, the watering, and the planning ahead all defeated me this time around.

In case you're not from southern California, it's hot and dry here. For your own safety, and to make your water go as far as possible, you need to avoid the day's heat. Some people get out and pull weeds before going to work. They water the garden when they get home. People are dedicated to their gardens. I admire that, and I love the sharing when people plant more than they can eat.

(Hint to my neighbors: I've been watering the clementine tree. Remember that when you're wondering what to do with that extra tomato!)

Kickin' It in the Kitchen with Michelle Calva-Despard

There's something weird about my friend Michelle. She loves to cook. She makes up recipes. She whips up dishes without a cookbook, and the food actually tastes good. Then she writes down her recipes and shares them. Who needs a cookbook when you can do that?

I go into the kitchen and make something because if I don't eat I'll die. Michelle goes into the kitchen and makes something because she's having a blast.

Michelle's new blog and business is/are called Kickin' It in the Kitchen. She offers workshops so we can all learn to enjoy making meals (even me). My favorite thing Michelle does is called "Scrounge" (#5 on the workshops list). When you think your cupboards are bare, give her a call. She'll come to your house and show you how to whip up a fabulous meal with the bits you've got hanging around in the pantry. And she's all about fresh foods.

This? This is some sort of fabulous Greek yogurt dip (traditional, Michelle says). See the note pad? She's making this up as she goes along, and jotting it down. I'd expect this ambrosial concoction will be a recipe on the website soon.

Michelle is the featured foodie this week on Hometown Pasadena's Mangiamo. You can bet I was over at her place when she was putting together the recipe she shares there for Greek Avgolemeno Soup. I like to help when I can.

Obviously she's not having any fun.

Smitten

I'm lying on the dirt in the back yard, looking up at our clementine tree. The branches hang low to the ground, heavy with fruit.

This year we had a lot of rain, plus I fertilized. There will be more fruit than ever.

The "cuties" at the store have been genetically altered so they don't have seeds. They taste like cardboard compared to our clementines. I know. I've eaten cardboard.

I'm getting cocky about this tree. I hope nobody smites me for it. I suppose if that happens I'll end up lying on the ground under a tree. I hope it's this one.

Oranges

Our orange tree is full of ripe oranges, with new little green ones coming in and needing space. Being the kind of person who has trouble growing weeds, I don't question this. I just thank the universe and pick the oranges. These oranges are juicy and goo-ood. Two-syllable good.

Some people can take 'em or leave 'em.

Other people only leave 'em when they're interrupted by predato--uh, larger people. But it's okay. We have enough.

The Spice of Life

Just how many different kinds of mustard does a person need? (The answer is six.)

Perhaps you'd prefer Pomegranate Cabernet jam. And if that doesn't suit you, Mark and Stephens has seven other flavors of jam and marmalade, so it's likely there'll be one to please your palate. You could order them online, but if you're not sure which one to try, head for the Saturday Farmers' Market at Victory Park where Mark himself will give you a sample.

We bought the Sundried Tomato Pistachio Pesto. Don't taste it if you don't want to buy it because once you sample it there's no going back.

Abundancia

photo inspired by John Sandel

There's always something to photograph at the Saturday Farmers' Market at Victory Park. Yesterday everyone was exclaiming over the purple peppers (near the top of the photo) at the Jaime Farms booth.

We shopped all around the market: peppers, zucchini, eggplant, broccoli, arugula, freshly baked bread, peaches, granola and fresh swordfish. You can also buy oils, plants, beef jerky, cheese, olives, and a lot of other things I'm forgetting. The only way to get fresher produce is to grow it yourself (or to have a generous neighbor who gardens).

We ate our peaches for lunch and had the fish and broccoli last night. We're going to make a ratatouille this week; I was inspired by the Altadena Hiker. I probably won't take pictures of mine. I'm not the Julia Child disciple she is.

There's a new Farmers' Market in town called the South Lake Avenue Summer Farmers' Market. It happens every Wednesday from 3:30-7:30 pm until September 29th in Shopper's Lane at Del Mar Blvd. And don't forget the Tuesday market at Villa Parke and the Thursday market at Robinson Park (also 'til September; check out the Pasadena Farmers' Markets here).

Pasadena has so many Farmers' Markets we could buy fresh produce almost every day if we needed to. But we don't. I didn't have to buy tomatoes for the ratatouille yesterday because we have a generous neighbor who gardens.

French Filling

Some people make it a point to get to Paris every year. In the absence of that possibility, I make it a point to get to Nicole's Gourmet Market & Cafe in South Pasadena whenever I want a taste of France.

Now, before anyone outs me, I'll admit I practically starved in Paris. I didn't know how to order what I wanted. It's scandalous to say so, but I'm not crazy about a lot of French foods. (I once told this to a foodie friend and it made her cry.)

But I can handle French bread—lots of it. I love macarons, too. In fact, just about any French pastry will be fine, merci beaucoup. And you won't hear me complain about French chocolate.

Nicole's has all these things, plus sandwiches and coffee, and a little French grocery, too. Though it's a bit too far from the Louvre to be perfect, I've never left there hungry.

Pie 'N Burger

I was strolling down South Lake Avenue the other day when woops! That umbrella I'd left in the car was looking like a brilliant idea I'd forgotten to write down: shoulda coulda woulda.

You could say rain is just water. Or you could say it's a good excuse to go to Pie 'N Burger.

I think most people go there for the pies and the burgers. (Makes sense.) Me, I go for the GAC 'n BAC. That's what we used to call a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich when I waited tables a hundred some-odd years ago.

Tasty. I'd even go there when the sun's shining.

Bonus pic: an accidental shot of the very clean counter at Pie 'N Burger on a rainy day.

A Taste of France in the Dena

We in "the Dena" are one, I like to think. I'm free to travel from Alta to Pasa to South Pas, and thank goodness for that because South Pas has Nicole's Gourmet Foods. Laurie will forgive me for posting about it. She herself has posted twice about this slice of paradis in southern California. Who could resist a visit to, and a post about, a cafe whose website slips in a cheese guide with the usual menu, about page and directions?

Plus there were the chocolate cups. Which I resisted. I was there for coffee and coffee only.

It was this dumb idea I had, I don't know, don't ask me why. What was I thinking? My friends said, "Let's meet at Nicole's" and I thought, great, I'll have a latte and a visit and be on my way.

Then there were the chocolate cups. And the mango mousse macarons. Mango mousse. I kid you not.

Not the best photo, but I know my audience. It's not the photo that counts in this case. It's the macarons (not to be confused with macaroons).

I didn't taste them, or the chocolate. What a fool I am.

Tostilocos

I drive by this place a lot and it cheers me up even when I'm already ecstatic. I finally got a chance to take a photo when there was actually a parking spot in front of it the other day. It's on Fair Oaks, just south of the corner of Esther Street.

I was in a hurry so I snapped my shot and didn't go in, but now that I've surfed the web and figured out what Tostilocos are, I have to go back.

Check out a new blog in town with a positive attitude, Pasadena Updates With Brigham Yen. It seems this here town has its share of boosters.

Sweet

Before I moved to southern California I had never seen a pomelo.

Walker Farms sells pomelos and other fresh produce from their booth at the Pasadena Farmer's Market. (I especially like their Pink Lady apples.) When I tried photographing the pomelos today, John suggested I get something else in the shot to provide scale. Otherwise, if you're like I once was and have never seen a pomelo, how would you know it's not a grapefruit?

Fortunately, a most charming model happened to be available. Her daddy works at the Walker Farms booth. Her camera-shy dog, J.D., guarded nearby.

In case you're wondering, pomelo tastes milder than grapefruit. And sweet.

Please note the scale. That pomelo is bigger than her head!

In n Out

If you like to have your hamburger at mealtime - the lunch hour, for example, or I don't know, maybe at dinnertime - then you're going to have to wait. Even when it's not the 60th anniversary of southern California's own In-n-Out Burger, there's always a line at Pasadena's Foothill Blvd. location.

The exact anniversary was Wednesday. I forgot. I only knew I craved an In-n-Out burger that day, so I drove on over with the taste on my mind's tongue. Alas, the line was a block long and I had to be at rehearsal by 6:30. It was my loss.

Ben, however, was prepared on Wednesday. Look what I missed.

I encourage you to peruse the In-n-Out website. Several things make In-n-Out unique: the way they run their business and the way they care about their employees are just a couple. But the taste of those burgers is what keeps the countless loyal customers lining up for more.

Pie Night

You don't know a sugar high until you know Pie Night.

John and I first lived together in a rented home in Altadena, where we got married in the back yard. We lived there, across the street from our friends the Schwartz family, for a year and a half before we bought our Van Nuys house and moved away. By the time we moved back to the Pasadena area two years later, Pie Night at the Schwartz home had become an annual fall event. It's casual. Just come--and bring a pie.

Last night it was cold and blustery outside. It's full-on autumn here. Just right for our third Pie Night.

The Schwartzes have been around here for about ten years. Michael's a frisbee artist and JPL scientist (oh I know, isn't everybody?) and Susan's the Executive Director of P.E.N, the Pasadena Education Network. Natalie Rose is a budding ballerina/actress and Molly's not sure about future plans yet, but she can swing from a tree on her rope swing about nineteen different ways.

The guy in the picture is named Dave. He was gonna get him some pie. I got me some, too, let me tell you. Several varieties. And homemade cre-->me brulee.

Took a while to come down.

Fresh

It's Saturday, time to head out to the Farmer's Market at Victory Park, more specifically in the parking lot at Pasadena High School.

You know the bread guy? He's got some black netting around his booth to keep the hot sun off the freshly-baked breads. He's a joker. I hear him while I wait in line for fresh fish. He tells the little kids there's magic in the cookies. He tells the ladies that, too, but I don't think he means the same thing.

Market Day

We're off to the Farmers' Market this morning. In the Los Angeles area we have them year 'round, and they're hugely popular. There are three Certified Farmers' Markets in the Pasadena area alone: Saturday at Pasadena High School, Tuesday at Villa Park, and Thursday evenings in South Pasadena.

There are other farmers' markets, not certified. I wondered what the difference was, so I did a little research and found out that a certified farmers' market is part of a statewide program approved by the County Agricultural Commissioner and the Health Department. Farmers selling there must have a Certified Producers Certificate from their local Agricultural Commissioner verifying they grow the items they sell. This means when I buy a basket of strawberries from a booth at the market, the person I pay probably picked them. Or her brother did. Or her dad.

I have my favorites, people I buy from regularly: the middle-aged gent with the elderly hands who sells potatoes, onions, garlic and carrots; the handsomely weathered Frenchman who makes the most delicious organic cookies, granola and scones you ever tasted; the always-smiling, dark-haired lady who sells the freshest fish ever, wielding a knife like the pro that she is. And there's always something new to try, someone new to meet.

Yes, fish and granola at a farmers market. Cheese, too, and bread, and amazing guacamole, and...Oh yeah, vegetables and fruit! It's peach season! I gotta go!

Safe

The farmers and sellers who work our local farmers markets are a big family. They watch over each other. While this girl's mother sells vegetables, the girl has about 40 babysitters keeping an eye on her.

They even watch over their customers. I once forgot my change and my tomatoes, and the booth operator tracked me down to deliver it to me. It's a big market! Other such stories abound.

The Pasadena area has three certified Farmers Markets: Tuesday mornings at Villa Parke, Thursday evenings in South Pasadena and Saturday mornings at Victory Park.

I know some of the sellers by name because I buy from them regularly. We catch up each week on families and the news. When you become a regular at the farmers market, you begin to feel like you're part of that big family.

Mmm...Cupcakes

It was cold and rainy again today. The mountains looked like big, brown cupcakes, frosted with puffy clouds.

Mmm....cupcakes.

The other day, I passed right by Mrs. Beasley's on Fair Oaks Avenue and didn't go in. I resisted temptation. I was nowhere near Fair Oaks Avenue today, and I wistfully regretted that decision.