russ parsons

we had that story too, but i don't remember seeing those specific words. our story said cattle grazing in fields nearby, which conjures up a different impression. sometimes, bad stuff just happens. i'm afraid that every once in a while something like that is going to happen. ← Russ, you didn't get much of the story. From The Toronto Star, Oct. 13, 2006: The strain of E.coli behind a recent outbreak has been linked to a cattle ranch next to the spinach fields in California's Salinas Valley, state and federal investigarors said yesterday. The strain of pathogenic E. coli 0157:H7 was found in three cattle manure samples collected at one of four ranches under investigation, the officials said. The ranch is within 1.5 kilometres of the produce fields. ← nope. didn't miss a thing. let's see, we've got three infected cow turds within 1 mile of the spinach fields. i still don't see how that equates to a "large operation." my argument was not with the bare facts, but with the loaded language.

my point exactly. it all depends on how you asssess the risks. and you have to remember that eliminating risk (or trying to eliminate risk) almost always entails a trade-off.

we had that story too, but i don't remember seeing those specific words. our story said cattle grazing in fields nearby, which conjures up a different impression. i'm not trying to be argumentative here. it's natural when a disaster like this happens to try to find something where we can say "oh, that's what they did wrong." but sometimes, bad stuff just happens. again, these are crops that are grown out of doors in poorly controlled environments. unless you want to move everything indoors under greenhouses (or irradiate), i'm afraid that every once in a while something like that is going to happen. i covered the odwalla outbreak years ago and when all was said and done, the culprit was a farmer tossing in some apples that had been picked up off the ground--and unpasteurized fruit juices, which are now almost totally unavailable. and how do you feel now about raw milk cheeses?

it's a little more complex than that. there were also a lot of piedmontese and toscani here, as well as a lot of Istrians, a group that i don't believe was even considered part of italy then. And there is also a fairly substantial southern population among the fishermen in southern california, where swordfish, sardines, squid and tuna are popular.

without arguing in favor of contamination, let's try to remember that these are living plants that are grown outdoors amongst the birds and wild beasts and then are harvested and packed by minimum wage workers. all it takes is one guy forgetting to wash his hands after a potty break and you're in trouble. to my mind, the real issue is the scale at which these things are done, which amplifies the risks of even a minor slip-up into a national concern. as for irradiation, i'm not sure how i feel about it, but i do know that it has been extensively tested and that to my knowledge there has never been a risk demonstrated from produce that has been treated in this manner. if i'm wrong, i hope someone will point out a responsible peer-reviewed study so that i can learn from it.

i just did a piece that included some stuff on cioppino. there is also a very good discussion in john thorne's "pot on the fire". basically, i think the idea that there is one official version of the dish is false (perhaps even banal). it is a dish of necessity and so it is adaptable. also, the ligurians were far from the only fishermen on the california coast and even before the invention of fusion, there has always been sharing of culinary ideas in this country. in the old recipes for cioppino, i find red wine and green bell pepper, which sounds to me like there is a strong portuguese influence. but then, this whole discussion does probably belong more on the california board than the italian.

as i recall michael's story, there were no structural impediments to blacks becoming chefs; it was more a matter of personal choice. perhaps everyone does not find the profession as glamorous as we do.

our fellow gulleteer michael ruhlman recently did a very nice story on the topic in the "other" times. the problem is: after samuelson, who? for whatever reason, there don't seem to be many black chefs cooking these days. (though as for the food network, cooking ability obviously wouldn't count for much.)

i was expecting very little because of the title and because he's not a "member of the tribe", but boy, he really reported the heck out of that book and it's well-written, too. in the end, i think he comes up short when he stretches for the "zeitgeist" tie-it-all-together chapter, but there are some nice profiles and deeply sourced gossip.

i don't know of any. the ethiopian restaurant row is on fairfax, just north of the 10.

tammy, i do believe they are open on sunday--they advertise sunday brunch--but you might want to check to make sure. la huasteca website remember, it's the lynwood location. rich: i have to confess, i am not a big marsicos fan, though i do eat ceviche. this may not be fair, but i lack confidence in the sourcing for most of the little mariscos stands. if you like oysters, in that area, i'd recommend king's fish house in long beach, which usually has 3 or 4 varieties, and very well-handled. most of their cooked stuff is just ok, but the oysters are usually very good. i have been to el mercado, but not for years. it is a real only in la place. i have vivid memories of sitting in the upstairs dining room, eating tacos with two competing mariachi bands on either side of me. it was practically hallucinatory.

i have solved the problem. if you want mexican, that is. right off the 105 freeway, just before you get to the 710, directly between lax and norwalk. go to la huasteca in the plaza mexicana. ate there again this weekend (probably 4th or 5th time) and it is very, very good. i had a quesadilla with rajas (charred poblano peppers), queso fundido with mushrooms (basically melted cheese with sauteed mushrooms and homemade tortillas) and probably the best chile en nogada i've ever had (poblana stuffed with a beef/raisin mixture, fried, served with a pounded walnut sauce dotted with pomegranates). dinner for 3 was about $70. as you can tell by the price, it's not at all a taco stand kind of place ... and there are great mariachi bands playing. in the same complex there is another mexican restaurant that is much dressier and more experimenetal called malverde (think of them as frontera grill and topolobampo ... in fact, the malverde chef cooked there). i've had good food there, but it's a little more hit and miss than huasteca.

hmmm, it never occurred to me that long beach would be a midway point between lax and norwalk. it always seems to me that i end up having to drive north to get there (whereas the 91 is a direct shot ... once you've gotten on it). but welcome to the gullet knoxy, good to have another long beacher in the crowd (there are a couple of us).

sunday at 5:30, you're probably looking at no more than 30 minutes. traffic is ridiculous, of course, but i'd quibble with the distance of 18 miles. sure seems longer than that. of course, maybe that's just the traffic.

i know the area fairly well. a couple of points: 1) if your flight is arriving at 5:30, forget about the 18 miles. you're going to be at least an hour and a half getting to Norwalk. my advice, then, would be to take the 91 freeway east and get off at pioneer blvd south (that will take about 45-60 minutes by itself). almost at the corner of the 91 and pioneer is a big "mini-mall" anchored by a stater brothers grocery. in hte corner of the mall parking lot you'll see woodlands. great vegetarian indian food for not much money. eat there and let the traffic die down. from there, at 7, it'll be only another 10 to 15 minutes to norwalk.

you'll probably burn $10 worth of gas to spend a $20 coupon at an OK steak place. you decide.

if you're on the 5, it's about the only place to eat. in fact, it's pretty danged welcome. if you're not on the 5, the appeal fades.

just for the record: nope. it was eventually found to be standard spinach, not organic. but e coli comes from many sources other than fertilizer (in fact, it's not found in properly cured manure, either)

vialone nano has a slightly different starch composition than the other risotto rices and it cooks up a little "soupier", which is what beloved paula was referring to. the venetians like their risotto "all'onda", so it can swirl in the bowl.

that's funny, a belgian chef i used to work with used the same idea for stuffing pork schnitzels (thinly sliced and pounded pork butt, wrapped around bechamel/ham filling, breaded and fried ... old school but oh my god).

uh, dear hearts, "spoonful" is not about food. how about that old country song "if i don't love you, grits ain't groceries". my kitchen music tends to stuff that gets me sailing: songs by friends mostly ... lyle lovett's "this old house" album (not lovett, the songwriters), jimmie dale gilmore, joe ely, lucinda williams, etc. dinner parties are a little tougher. sometimes i'll program two sets of shuffles. when folks arrive, i like stuff like sarah vaughn, miles (oooh, sketches of spain makes me hungry), dusty springfield. if the night reaches a certain ... pitch, then i'll switch to stuff that's a little more jumping ... professor longhair, los lobos, etc. then when it's time for everyone to settle down and go home, there's nothing like al green.

a couple things you might want to think about. first, go to the best local wine store and find out if they do general tasting classes. these can be invaluable for giving you a guided tour through the basics. it's one thing to read that a cabernet has mint, but maybe when you smell it, it's more like eucalyptus. a good teacher can help you make sense of all this much better than a book can. second, don't move too fast. take your time. as you learn about wine, your tastes will change. know that at least a third of the things you firmly believe after your first couple of years will turn out to be wrong. or maybe not wrong, but just no longer for you. This will probably be true at every five-year-interval (from wishing i hadn't invested so heavily in late 70s, early 80s bordeaux, now i'm kinda glad i did). most important, beware false sophistication. measure everything by whether you honestly like it, rather than whether you think you should.

i'm as fond of italian artisans as anyone, but the prosciutto di parma consorzio is extremely big, with a LOT of industrial-style producers (and a lot that aren't). in general, i think they do a good job of maintaining an overal high level of quality. but there are some that aren't so good ... and some that are a lot better than that. the italians try to argue that in the consorzio, all are equal, but in my experience, in italy everyone knows the factory codes of their favorite producers and goes to the store that sells them. i know that here in los angeles, i recently had a prosciutto from the "pio tosini" factory that was probably the best i've had in the us.

try ladleing about 2-3 cups into a skillet and cooking it over high heat, just until it sets. these small-batch jams are really easy to do and they usually come together in less than 5 minutes.

hey kent, have you tried the cacciatore with truffles? pretty amazing. black truffles are the third ingredient listed. not overpowering still, but a really intriguing lingering perfume of them. i can't believe it's a supermarket salami (albeit, nice supermarkets).