Stay tuned! Our new podcast is coming soon…
November 21st, 2009
Sunny Thanksgiving
Back in LA, to more sunny days. Thanksgiving sneaking up, my, how fast time is moving. At RFD, we are counting our faux turkeys, one by one as we add up TG-togo
Meals we are serving the day before Thanksgiving. This is our 16th year of offering this incredible meal and deal! The seed for TG-togo was planted in year one. Those were the days, when I was working the floor at RFD-SaMo. One of my regular customers asked me if I could whip up a little something for a Thanksgiving dinner. He would be eating alone and wanted to keep it healthy and clean. Within three days, the core meal we still serve today was created. We wanted to close on Thanksgiving Day, so the brilliant idea to offer it the day before was born. Year one we must of sold 16 meals. By year two with a little more planning and marketing, we jumped to 80 meals and in year two we reached over a 100. By year 4, we were serving close to 200 plus meals and in year five when the second RFD in West Holly opened, they each ran neck and neck serving 228 full meals EACH. All for no turkey necks being broken!
Sorry, excerpt not available…
November 15th, 2009
New Cookbook in the Oven ?
I'm Going For Number 2 !!!
My 48-hour trip to NYC was to meet with editors at major book publishing companies to talk about my second cookbook. It was exciting to be in the center of the literary world. There are many opinions that believe this space will end, as we know it. From my vantage point, this world is alive and percolating with creativity, people and passion. I am really excited about the possibility of my new cookbook. This one will be written from the perspective of the ‘real’ home cook, more personal and dare, I say sassy and sexy, with 100 plus recipes with accessible ingredients and easier steps. Don’t get me wrong, my first book; The RFD Cookbook is a great book. It’s just that it was a restaurant cookbook, thus recipes made for serving and impressing hundreds of people per day. This time, I will share more from the heart and soul of my own home kitchen.
November 13th, 2009
Eating in NYC
How apropos that I write my first blog while in New York. NYC is the place where I started my culinary journey.
I flew on Virgin America for the first time and it won’t be my last. I raise my carrot juice to Richard Branson. Forward thinking! His airline will become the standards of air transportation. Comfortable, quiet, my own private TV screen, free Wi-Fi, compliments of Google. I even got a tee shirt that says, “I hooked up @ 35,000 Ft.”
Two hours after I arrive, I’m chowing down at Souen on 13th street eating dinner with my dear friend Pablo Vela. Pablo and I go back a long way to our days at Goddard College. We have kept up through the past three decades. He has led an amazing life as a theatre artist from teaching to acting to working all over the world. Food at Souen was scumcious as always. I went right for the kimpira as an appetizer and their cabbage salad with the famous secret carrot dressing. It’s hard to find anyone preparing burdock in LA except at a few Japanese places. Burdock is a medicinal food, it warms the body, strengthens the blood. I can feel its power bolting through my veins. This macrobiotic restaurant has been going strong for 30 years in Manhattan with several downtown locations. The Souen menu has a great explanation of the macrobiotic way, ???
On my first morning, I awake to marching bands outside my window. I love the fanfare, but I remember it’s Veteran’s Day. By the time I get on the street, a dozen bands are lined up waiting to march down Fifth Avenue. I thought I saw the Hell’s Angels but it was firemen lined up on their bikes ready to roar. It’s a hoot, especially the cheerleaders with pompoms. New York just liked I pictured it.
While I grabbed lunch at Angelica’s Kitchen, I got to visit with Leslie the proprietress and the love and energy beyond this landmark. I had the wee dragon bowl, with soup and cornbread and spread. Damn that cornbread slathered with tahini miso spread, something about it is amazingly satisfying. I was at Angelica’s on the first day it opened in the late 70’s. I remember I was fasting so I didn’t eat anything. Ha, I have to laugh on that one.
From the lower east side I high tailed it up to Columbus Circle to visit friend and RFD shareholder, Jane Velez Mitchell, TV personality, author, vegan and animal activist. Link to her site. Jane while LA based for the past decade, now is living in the city while hosting her show for CNN. She is joyously spending precious time living with her 93-year-old mother who is in great shape from years of dance and movement and eating vegan. Wow, I want to be like her when I grow up.
Back to Souen, this time the location in SoHo for dinner with another dear friend Margie. I mentioned the famous carrot dressing that for 30 years everyone has been trying to get the recipe for. At this location it was perfectly made, thick and sweet and you want to pour it on everything.
Following day, I trek through the rain and white to the Upper East Side to stop by Candle Café. I run into a RFD long time customer. Yummy split pea soup and nice salad of millet and black lentils. Take food for the plane ride back. Baked sweet potato, slow cooked grilled onions, braised tempeh, and sautéed mustard greens that were so deliciously bitterly good.
Good for you.
November 9th, 2009
American Farmland : Winter ‘08
Golden Gravy and Acorn Squash stuffed with sweet rice, currants and vegetables smothered with a golden gravy!
Two great recipes! Download the PDF to read the full text.
November 9th, 2009
Air Jamaica : March / April ‘08
GOURMET FOOD FOR THE BODY TEMPLE:
Balance the “good-for-youH with the sumptuous, at a cafe that gives license to indulge. Real Food Daily, a gourmet vegan restaurant that hums with a rush of famished post-yoga customers at lunch time is perfect for people-watching, while the URTH Caffe serves healthy, organic dishes for a bellyful with no regrets.