My name is James.
I'm a photographer and writer with a love for food, and flannel.
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Kim: “I feel like baking. I have an itch.”
Me: “You should make cookies out of German chocolate cake.”
Kim: “Okay.”
This, my friends, is love.
Recipe courtesy of Mag-Pie’s and More
I spent Friday in San Francisco for a research field trip. (What I was researching will, hopefully, be revealed soon!)
First stop: Foodspotting, where I met Matt from San Franola Granola. Here he is with Fiona (head of outreach for Foodspotting).
Next, I walked around South Park with fellow Eat Retreaters Kimberley and Emily. No surprise, we talked about food.
For first lunch, Ryan met me in the Financial District.
We walked around taking photos of strangers.
For second lunch, Ryan and I tracked down Mona.
She introduced me to the oyster po’ boy at Queen’s Louisiana, served with hushpuppies and sweet cream butter.
I didn’t want to leave, but at least the drive home was pretty.
Have I mentioned how much I love the city?
Saturday afternoon I found myself surrounded by gentle-rolling countryside neatly lined with luscious vineyards. “It’s hard to believe this is still Fresno,” someone noted as I readied the camera.
Kim and I were visiting the Tanielian Farm House for an Armenian dinner organized by Slow Food Madera. The event highlighted the Torigian family’s journey from Kharput, Armenia to Fresno, and featured traditional Armenian fare: toorshi (pickled vegetables), fresh string cheese, yalanchi, bulgar pilaf, grilled lamb, cheese berag, and soorj (sweet, “Turkish” coffee). Yum.
Fredo Martin, fellow Slow Food Madera board member and one of the event’s organizers, offered a summary of the Torigian family’s story, as told by daughter Tracy:
Tracy’s first American ancestor came to America in the early 1900s, and quickly made his way from the east coast to central California. Her emotional moment with the microphone said it all: this was a very important event for her family and for Fresno metro Armenian community–a moment to remember its history, celebrate its culture, resilience, strong family ties and tightly woven sense of belonging.
Her family lost an entire generation–her father, Marshall Torigian, pointed out to me that Armenian Americans of his age never had grandparents because of the genocide. The family members who could, fled to safety and reached Marseille in southern France, where they remained for a few years, then, made the long journey to the Americas, reaching Veracruz, Mexico. One of the four sisters decided to go north and married Kazar, the first American of the family, already settled in Fresno.
Tracy shared the family’s story while her father and brothers cooked (with help from a few others).
We ate feasted. We drank local wine (from Agajanian Vineyards). And we danced. I’m not sure photos can capture the importance of such an event, but for those who couldn’t be there:
Today started great. I spent a little quality time with the dogs before heading out to the Vineyard market, which was overflowing with color and energy.
Unfortunately, I can’t share the photos I took of the sea of strawberries, or the squash blossoms, or the vegetable succotash from Chef Mike Shackleford’s cooking demo. No, I didn’t check to make sure there was actually a memory card in my camera. (Rookie mistake.)
Instead, I can only offer you a taste of the blueberry pastry I picked up at La Boulangerie’s booth. This is one of my favorite ways to eat fruit–it’s healthy because I bought it at a farmers market. Right?
Easy Sunday dinner:
What are you eating?
One of my earliest memories of childhood in northwest Louisiana is of picking honeysuckle blossoms, in front of our home in a lakeside community of about 800 people.
Paired with that memory is a lesson in treating bee stings with chewing tobacco, but the reward always seemed worth the risk. In fact, at one time I was going to collect the nectar in mason jars and sell them to my neighbors; consider that my first entrepreneurial failing.
Anyway, it’s been years since I’ve recognized that fragrance, but as I rode through the countryside this evening, just outside of city limits, it tickled my nose. It was incredible.
It’s not often that I’m taken back to search early memories—in fact, it’s quite rare. So I’m curious: What scents or flavors take you back?
Rumor of a “not to be missed” taco stand at the Selma Raisin Festival is all it took to get Mike Oz and me out on Saturday. We found two options: “Juicy Tacos” prepared by Trinity Life Assembly, or “Delicious Steak Tacos” offered at Peppe’s. (For comparison’s sake, we tried both…but let’s focus on Peppe’s.)
When Joe, the owner, saw the camera, he offered Mike and me half his profits if we’d make him famous–too bad he doesn’t have a restaurant! He sets up the booth at fairs and events as a hobby. As a hobby.
Overall, not a bad excuse to drive to Selma. The meat was tender and flavorful–not a spice mix I’d want every day, but a nice change. The only disappointment was the green salsa, which was unnecessarily labeled with a “caution” label. I can take the heat.
Last week I received a jar of herb sea salt from Woody’s Gourmet, as a preview of what’s coming in this month’s Tasting Box from Foodzie, and a challenge to use the ingredient in a recipe worth sharing.
After smelling and tasting the salt, my first inclination was to simply sprinkle it over fresh tomatoes, which I’m starting to see at the farmers market. The flavors from the herbs were incredible with the raw tomato! But that’s not much of a recipe, so started to experiment with fava beans (also found at the farmers market).
At last month’s Eat Retreat, I learned how to make a fava crostini from fellow-retreater Lauren Ladoceour. This is my take:
Fire up the grill (I like mine about 400°F). Line up the fava pods—if you can’t fit all of them at once, grill them in stages. Close the lid on the grill and cook for 4-5 minutes; flip, then cook for another 4-5 minutes. A little char is good for flavor, but if you leave them on too long, the beans will start to dry out and will be difficult to shell.
Remove the cooked pods from the grill, and let cool (this only takes a few minutes). Zest the lemon; squeeze and reserve 1/2 of its juice. Using the zester or a microplane, grate the cheese and set aside.
Once cool, peel the pods and pile the beans in a bowl. Now comes the fun part: use a fingernail to open each bean shell and squeeze the bean out. If you’re scaling the recipe for a larger serving, get comfortable.
Once shelled, combine the beans, 2 Tbsps. of the olive oil, water, mint, lemon zest and juice, and lightly mash to combine—use a stick blender cream everything together. Taste and adjust flavors as desired. Fold in 1 Tbsp. of the olive oil to add texture and make the mixture easy to spread.
Heat an oven to 400°F; slice the bread and toast until crispy. In a small bowl, mix the herb sea salt in 1 Tbsp. olive oil. Brush the mixture over the toasted bread.
To serve, spoon the fava mixture on the oiled bread, and top top with the parmigiano reggiano.
Makes 8-10 servings
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