Big Sweet Tooth

J.R. Organics CSA - I Can Finally Join...

I just don't wanna go anywhere for a good, long spell...

Bottom line is - I'm home.  I can join a CSA.  Which means that every Sunday, I can roll into the Mar Vista Farmers Market and pick up my full share of organic food.  A big huge box full of all kinds of fruit and veggies for about $28 bucks.  $10 extra bones gets me a huge bushel of flowers (of my choice).  It's just heaven. When have I been able to commit to something like this in the past 3 years?  

And, when I've sorted my CSA, I can just mosey about the market and flush out the bounty from JR's and bring it all home to the soon-to-be remodeled FLOBO kitchen and go nuts.  Toss on some tunes, wash everything down.  Make soup.  I killed some Greek green beans today.  Chomp on blueberries.  Suck down a juicy strawberry.  Chat up the neighbors and plot and plan a billon recipes with fava beans.  Never cooked them before, but something big is gonna shake down this week.

What a brilliant way to spend a day.  Then, oh joy, then...I discovered an app called: Still Tasty.  It's a website, too, but for real - the app is insane.  Tells you how to store EVERYTHING proper and if you enter your goods, it sends you alerts like TIMES UP!  Meaning ditch those apples, sorry!  Best thing I've stumbled across in years.  Like, I knew the best way to keep basil fresh is snip bottoms, put in about an inch of water, cover with plastic bag and keep on counter (never put basil in fridge, it turns black and fross so fast).  Same steps go for mint - but who knew it should reside in the fridge not on the counter?  God, I just love it all.

Cannot wait for my new kitchen.  Guess what I really want is a restaurant)

Cooking Up a Truly Homemade Feast - Fatcake Style

God bless kitchens - it's like every day's a cookbook!

Cooking food with me and my gals is like going to war and back - with a full belly onhand.  There is no solid plan.  Just loose...and very vague ideas, that usually come together at the very last minute on a rare day off. 

What's in the fridge, what can I throw together, while half sauced.  Cause you know the sauce is on the make come high noon.  That's usually the first craving.  A good, goes-down-easy cocktail of some sort.   Or perhaps some very hyper-chilled sparkling something or other.  Maybe half frozen sake.  Lately it's been mega mixology drinks with made up names (stand by for "A Goat Named Minka" - a drink so damn good, that has me slinging back hard whiskey - and I'm not, I repeat not into the browns).

Usually a pop into someones room - rounding up a few folks who might be spending the day not slugging it to the city.  A competitive game or two is usually involved and whoever has hands and wants to help can jump in the kitchen.  Nobody really knows what's happening - it's like a tornado blazing through.  A white squall of activity around the kitchen island.  I love to cook this way.

Drinks being mixed, pans being dirtied with all the sauces and mix-ups, funky homemade dips being dunked into, laughs being had, half convos attempted.  It's easy to get distracted by the need to dump more white wine into the risotto.  Holy crap, hand-slapped, wine bottle rolled noodles to go with the beef dish - why not whip some up with a ton of butter?   The rich just-made pesto, caramelized roasted tomatoes with garlic and mixed goat cheeses skulking on top of little toasts goes really fast. 

I'm usually braising some kind of vegetable in the oven for hours and hours during the workday, so I have a fridge full of them on the wait - just chillin' out, waiting to be the inspiration for something downright delicious.  They're easy to sling onto a cracker, into the wok risotto, or eat just straight off a knife.   Wine and olive oil turn anything into something creamy and slatherable.

And, when it's over, it's beyond over.  Dishes cleaned, games tucked away, leftovers dolled out, dessert shoved down.  Everyone quickly disappearing into their own little private domain that is their corporate housing apartment.  Little waves goodbye and hasta mananas all the way around.

 

 

San Miguel de Allende - Will I Ever Be Back?

Vintage trailer makes its way across the USA border!

Who knew life would take such a drastic spin when I left my little solar trailer in SMA a few years ago.  I was simply jamming back to LA to do a quickie job on the TV show Last Comic Standing....just to make a bit of cash...and then...

Somehow, 2 1/2 years later I am still working and haven't had a real break to get back to get my trailer (which was stored safely in the middle of town at the San Miguel Tennis Courts Trailer lot -- who by the way I love).  My gal was just waiting on me to get back God kows when, and, then came along super-sonic Caty.  She was a Toothie reader and had emailed me inquiring about where I'd found my trailer.  She was doing loads of her own research on vintage trailers and couldn't find one like mine, bud wanted one badly (I had the same prob til I found mine).  The minute I got her email, and purely on a MST whim,  I said - "Why not buy mine?"  She was elated, the cashola was transfered and now she owned my trailer.   She's so much like me, jsut trusting whatever way the wind blows.

Thing is, we had to get it from Mexico to the USA since she was nervous to travel all thru Mexico with a trailer titled in my name on her own.  Cut to - months of dead chaos and drama trying to get it to the border or somewhere in TX for her to grab it from.  First I enlisted the help of Carlos, my surfing bud in Baja but something came up and he couldn't do it.  Next up, my pal Deb down in SMA (who was in the middle of an international move herself) stepped in to help out and after weeks and weeks of insanity, she finally managed to get it delivered to Caty in San Antonio!  Now the only thing left is for Caty to unpack my world from her new trailer, ship me my goods and to head out on her own wily adventures.  Freaking nuts. 

This is why I love this blog, travelling, adventure and all the mishaps that come along with living a funky ass life.  You just never know what the heck is coming down the way.  You don't know what path people are out there desperately hunting for.  You just really don't even know your own road and where it will take you.   If you remember, 2.5 years ago, I was in San Miguel de Allende, studying Spanish in dark bars, eating my way thru the town and slowly making my way to the Darien Gap in Panama, volunteering the whole way down Central America. 

Now I'm working on two TV shows in Jersey and wondering if I will ever return to SMA.  But, at the same time, I'm conspiring on how to flip my beast of a floating home in LA, revamping my sailboat for what I know will be an upcoming Southern Pacific crossing, wondering if I should just ditch my condo in Chicago, regrouping about buying an Airstream (with a toilet on this one!), and eating my way through a ton of good food in NYC.   Among other things of course...but it's good to know that adventures keep getting lived and sojurns keep getting traipsed.

This is to Caty - I hope you love that little trailer as much as I did and it takes you as far RTW as you want to go...enjoy el camino, and I bet I see you some day out there, just when we both least expect it!  (PS - That's Caty with the trailer...sure, she's dusty, but give her one good cleaning...and she's OUT!).

Just Damn Good Bites - And the End of Resolutions.

There go the resolutions.

Resolutions are a funny thing.  I make about 300 of them every single day.  Eat better, excercise more, have more patience, stop procrastinating, stop half-assin', drink less.   All the same jazz every time I let one slip a little.  Which happens all the time. 

This year, I'm calling a truce to all my resolutions.  I resolute to not resolute. 

Instead, I'm just gonna be real smart about my actions. If it makes sense to go into my bod, well, toss it in.  If it's bad for me, skip it.  If I feel like waking up at 5 am and going on a jog, do it.  If my muscles needs rest, skip the gym.  If I can knock it off the to do list, just crank it out and be done forever.  If I have to take a breather before I lose my patience, well...just close my eyes and reset my composure.   Try new foods - don't just eat the familiar.  Splurge on things that might make my life a little easier - like the new mega-tiny 11" Air MAC I just bought.  Cook more at home, and skip the sick feeling I get close to every time I eat out - not cause of the food, but because I get so excited I way, way overeat.  Travel new places - even if it's just a weekend flight somewhere cheapo (out of the country, of course).  Go camping and look at the stars.  STOP using the iphone in mid-convo, mid-dinner, mid-driving.  Engage more with every little thing around me.  See more.  Watch more.  Amp up the awareness level.  Finish a book - not have eight going.  Let my mind drift more.  Streamline all my belongings.  Structure my existence for how I live, not how others impact my world.

Basically, just keep on keepin' on.  Try flyin' in a small plane.  Give the bar method a go.  Practice different ways to get my sailboat into the slip.  Lay on the floor and stare at the ceiling (without feeling slightly weird).  Give peeps the benefit of the doubt.  Handwrite more stuff.  Give my eyes a break.  Walk and walk with no set destination in mind. 

And, mainly when it comes to food...realize and accept that it is my favorite thing in the entire world.  Massage it, let it flourish and use it for the good of mankind.  Yup, food.  Learn about it, don't fear it.  And, lastly - EAT IT ALL.

Just The Summer Highlights From The East Coast

This summer - it was like a beautiful hell.

#1 was by far the US OPEN.  Womens championships.  Quiet as a church, delicious lobster rolls, lots and lots of champagne.  Such a sophisticated sporting event - I went straight out and bought myself a custom racket.  Then, there was all the fish I ate - from Portugese fish houses to blissful riverside  haunts, I downed so much seafood - especially loved branzino.  I learned all about funky apps on my new iphone that takes the pics up just a notch (see madman on the church stairs).   Oh yah!  We were filming on a boat cruising around the Statue of Liberty and Capt'n Tony let me helm the whole beast back up the Hudson River.  That was a doozie.  Pretty nice sunsets from the corp. housing we were living in, too. 

Much as I lost my life this summer, I kinda lived well).  Back home so soon, cant wait to sail and hike and read and eat Sugarfish.  mmmmm.....

 

 

 

Gone - But Not.

Where do I even begin after so long away from The Tooth?  How could I have ever let this happen?  Guess that's what the reality is when you work on a TV show.  You leave your home, you set up camp in a temp housing situation, you hurl yourself into work, and seriously, you just continually grasp for some sort of solid piece of LIFE in all the mayhem.  I'll tell ya this, it ain't easy - and it def. ain't glamorous.

I will say though - I find the good in it all.  Play tennis with my buds.  Research Airstreams as much as I can.  Learn to throw darts with my cousin.  Eat crab cakes my the river.  Go to the shore and drink champagne with strawberries in it.  Laugh til my side hurts.  Plot and plan my escape per usual.  I just don't toss down ideas on the Tooth.  Only thing lacking.  There simply just isn't time.  And, for real - I like to share all kinds of things I find on the road.  And, NJ isn't really the road, you know?

Oh yah - I also don't have any concept of reality any longer.  Not a single lick of it.  Everything I love is away - I make improvements on my sailboat from afar.  I barely have time to chat with my mom and dad, my 2 fave peeps on earth.  I drift in and out of this bizarre realism of life and non-life. 

However - all that said.  I'm back.  In a way.  Here, but gone.  Away, but so very close.  Always, always, always scheming about escape.  New Tooth series on the way.  I'm here til OCTOBER, for the love - gotta do something to make these days passsss........

Vegan'ism - Is it Possible for the MST?

I've never really been one to preach that much, but the pages I'm turning every single night have caused a great, dramatic pause in my soul.  One that I have to share.  It's a incredibly informative book by Jonathan Safran Foer called "Eating Animals," and I can guaran-damn-tee you that once you plow thru Chapter 1, you won't ever touch meat again.

The sight of a KFC sign will truly repulse you and when you see animals - be it a duck, a bird, a cow, goat, a pig, a chicken - you will smile and think that you are just plain happy that creature is alive.  You'll be horrified when you hear the word slaughterhouse and you will leave those pages on your nightstand with so much knowledge trippin' out of your mouth, it'll hurt.

Now all that said - I'm not quite done with the book yet, but once I am - it looks like I'm gonna have to give up eggs and cheese for good (I haven't hit that chapter just yet).   Eggs and cheese are pretty much my last remaining bastions in the animal world.  I've found insanely tasty renditions of both - especially this vegan/tofu quiche I grab at the Mar Vista farmers market (above photo).  But, nothing really compares to real eggs.   Sure, I buy organic, free-range, grass-fed, sustainable...all that jazz.  But, still...it's still an animal - and it's popping out of a bird that ain't treated that great.  A bird that lives a short, dank, miserable life even.  Which makes my lovely creation of the below omelette disgustingly bittersweet. 

Just read the book - you'll instantaneously see/hear/feel what I mean.

Corner Bistro NYC, No Cell, and Nothing But Communication Surrounding Me.

When I very, very first moved to LA at the tender age of 20, I had no cell phone.  Did they even exist then?  I somehow made my way to Hollywood and moved straight into a youth hostel til I found a little place up in the hills.  Livin' on a dream and a 3k limit credit card.  God - I wish I could be that naive again...or maybe I am.  I just somehow knew I'd "make it" - whatever that meant then, and whatever that means now. 

How did I even get around?  How did anyone ever contact me - I had no phone!  How did I get jobs, how did I communicate with the world?  I think I got a beeper minute one.  Could you imagine toting around a chunky pager these days? 

Everywhere you step - and I mean from the dang volcanoes of Indonesia to the outlaw desert lands of Baja to the yummy smelling kitchens NYC, every single person has a cell phone.  Some even sport the dreaded blue tooth.  You can skype from the iphone - ring back home to anywhere in the world for pennies.  You can work the floor, or the kitchen, or the trails, or the dusty backroads - all while making shit happen on your cell.

Chores get done, errands get run, fun is had, work is completed no matter where you are in the universe.  I met a pal at Corner Bistro in NYC a bit back and while I sat there sipping martinis awaiting his arrival, I tucked away my cell and made buds with the regulars and the Mexican employees - hopping behind the bar to snap photos of anything that caught my eye.  I let them do the communicating for once - all things happening while watching the tele, sizzling up incred burgers, frying up crispy fries, texting on their phones, taking incomings on the blue tooth and watching me ignore my phone and focus all attention on them.

Back to the basics - it felt real good to disconnect, open up my eyes, and really watch dark bar moments unfold.

And, I guess I never had the opportunity (until that day) to show someone how to pound on the raised 57 on a bottle of Ketchup to make it pour out.  No more shaking til a migraine sprouts up!

 

And Then There Are Days Like Yesterday...

So funny - I can throw down a post about the confusion of happiness and where does it even sprout from - and then outta nowhere, 12 hours later...I can almost drown from unbridled elation.  Just literally a perfect day can happen out of nowhere and bring me back to my senses. 

Started with a killer workout with the best trainer in the world - my pal Willis.  Rolled into an impromptu sail with my bud Lisa - surrounded by seals the whole way out the marina channel.  Realized almost instantaneously I could sneak away to Mexico and points further at any given moment and not feel an ounce of regret.  Joy.  Get back to an email from the good folks at Apple - they finally released the brand new Mac Book Pro.  Been waiting on if for YEARS and immediately tore off to Santa Monica to buy one.  Now this is AFTER I made the best fried rice of all time (with pea tops!).  Then, while walking around digesting the most delicious jalapeno Wetzel's Pretzel ever, randomly discovered a new Asian spa - and it's spa week.  Half price everything.  So relaxing.  Suddenly, get a call from my truck mechanic and lo and behold, the man has finally figured out what is wrong with my Land Rover.  That little monkey has been on the hurts for months and nobody could figure out what it was...but finally - FIXED.  Picked it up, rocked a perfect pedicure, slammed two Baja-style fish tacos and went to my first ever navigation class at Del Rey Yacht Club.  Very interesting how little I know about navigation.  However, recorded the entire 3 hour discussion on my iphone for reference.  2 more classes and I will have that tackled.  Delighted to know that I will be able to dead reckon.  And, then of course - Glee.  Enough said.

Guess happiness is all relative.  Once again - I'm on top of the world)

The Last 5 Times Happiness Came Round...

I was trying to think today - what were the last 5 times I was for real, truly, madly, gleefully happy.  Not 10.  Just 5.  Should be easy to name.  I named one and hit a real hard wall.  I mean - I'm always happy.  That's just my nature.  But bliss - well that is a different beast.  Toes in the sand, feet in grass, hair in the wind, butterflies in the air, just straight-up naturally happy.  Hard moments to come by.  Why though?  Life is beyond good.  Beyond compare really.  So - why the internal struggle?  The angst-ridden nights of sleep.  F'ed up slumber if you wanna call it that.  Gotta get to the root of that one.

Last 5:

1.  Learning to scuba dive in Indo.  And getting certified.  Then seeing my official PADI card. 

        Reason:  Brutal Accomplishment.

2.  Wheeling around on golf cart on Isla Holbox...and Isla Mujeres before that.

        Reason:  Simple Windy Freedom.

3.   Hauling my trailer through Mexico - Alone.

        Reason:  Had No Final Destination.

4.  Swimming in the slam-on-the-brakes blue ocean - in Cancun of all places.

        Reason:  Tourist Illusion Shattered.

5.  Perfecting fried rice (with grapeseed oil)...over and over again.

        Reason:  Take Out Forever Obliterated.

The Cancun wave-fest was a good one.  Each one crashing harder than the next, ripping the bikini bottoms off - not that anyone could see, or cared.  Water freezing - but then warm after five minutes.  Plane taking off in a few hours, yet still in the water, still waiting on the next wave coming from who knows where on the planet.  Savoring 'til the very last, very wet second.  Not wanting to leave.  Ever.  Go back to What?

Riddle me that one.  Back to What?

Living In the Unknown - Just a Dang Good Song that makes me happy to be alive.