Bison tastes goooood

My bison burger was a rousing success! I defrosted the meat over night in the fridge, then mixed it with some scallions and shitake mushrooms. I added some freshly ground black pepper and sea salt, along with a couple of splashes of Worcestershire sauce.

I made a small patty and threw that bad boy on what we call the GFG (George Foreman Grill) for two minutes. I dressed it with tomato, brocolini sprouts, and a hearty slice of avocado on a half slice of whole wheat bread. It was marvelous - juicy, with a nice texture. I only wish I had thought ahead and made some baked sweet potato fries and had a cold crisp pickle.

I rounded off the meal with a large spinach salad (leaves eaten raw to maximize nutrients), but that's not really interesting.

I feel good about what I ate. I purchased from a top-quality local ranch that uses humane practices. Awesome! My next step is going to try some other bison cuts - hopefully they'll be just as tasty!

It's bison time!

I'm excited - my first taste of free range, grass-fed and grass-finished meat.

Ever since watching Top Chef's porkapooloza, I've been having a hankering for meat.  My co-workers' trip to N and Out Burger didn't help matters much.

So here's my attempt to eat meat locally and more humanely.  Being grassfed is more natural for the animal, better for the environment, and better for humans (raises the nutritional value).  Eatwild.com has a detailed discussion of facts and links to suppliers of grass-fed meat.  

I bought my ground bison at the Hollywood Farmer's Market from Kathy Lindner of Lindner Bison...  They practice humane animal husbandry and the picturesque picture above is from their ranch.   

Information from their website:

What we do:
1. pasture raised, grassfed and grass finished bison
2. lush irrigated pasture during summer, dry grass (hay) during winter
3. smooth game fencing only; no animal can come in contact with barbed wire
4. fine sand for wallowing
5. salt & mineral supplements
6. salvage & erect used street sweeper brushes for scratching
7. natural parasite control through the use of diatomaceous earth (see future plans for heritage turkeys)
8. fresh well water in stock tanks with built-in 'small critter ramps' (if a mouse or other small creature should accidentally fall in while trying to get a drink, they can safely climb back out)
9. encourage strong family units by mimicing Nature's cycle; bulls remain with cows year round to produce robust calves in the spring and natural predator control year round
10. slow, low-stress management techniques

What we don't do:
1. no grain or corn - no feedlots or feedyards - ever.
2. no added hormones, antibiotics or animal byproducts
3. no barbed wire 
4. dehorn, castrate or artificially inseminate

Future plans at Lindner Bison's Heritage Ranch:
1. new paddocks for rotational grazing
2. handling facilities and equipment which are quieter & less stressful than traditional meth

Why I don't cook

So this is what my kitchen looked like - hell, let's be honest - looks like after my cooking extravaganza last night.

Note the forlorn piece of swiss chard or whatever on the floor, the chopped carrots, the various bowls and trash.  It's a friggin mess.  If you look closely you can see the glass and bottle of wine which is responsible for my current headache.  I have to clean all this up when I get home.  Bummer.

But on the upside - my meal was really yummy!

• Green lentils with shitake, porcini, and white mushrooms in a red wine reduction
  
• Parmesean garlic Yukon Gold mashed potatoes
  

It looks unappetizing as all get out, but it was tasty - honest!

And I made a batch of lentil/split pea soup.  I'll freeze half and use the rest for lunch with my veggie sandwich.  I'm actually not missing meat and I've yet to use any of my weird tofu products.  

Tonight was going to be bison night - but we're going to a Sheryl Crow concert and I won't have time to devote to bison preparation.

The Dirty Dozen

This article describes foods that should be bought organically because their conventionally grown counterparts retain a decent amount of pesticides, as measured by the Environmental Working Group.

Things to buy organic:

• Peaches
  
• Apples
  
• Sweet Bell Peppers
  
• Celery
  
• Nectarines
  
• Strawberries
  
• Cherries
  
• Pears
  
• Grapes (Imported)
  
• Spinach
  
• Lettuce
  
• Potatoes
  

You can get away with buying these items "regular" since they do not normally retain pesticide residue:

• Onions
  
• Avocado
  
• Sweet Corn (Frozen)
  
• Pineapples
  
• Mango
  
• Asparagus
  
• Sweet Peas (Frozen)
  
• Kiwi Fruit
  
• Bananas
  
• Cabbage
  
• Broccoli
  
• Papaya
  

Walking the walk...

First meatless day!

Lunch I had a bowl of vegetable soup, for dinner I had some bean and cheese nachos, spinach/onion enchiladas, and dollar margaritas.  I ate too much and felt sick.  Again the "Not too much" part has bitten me in the ass.

Today will be different!

For lunch I'm having the swiss chard I bought at the Hollywood farmer's market.  I sauteed it with olive oil, garlic, and green onion.  Then I added organic tomatoes and pinto beans from Trader Joes.  I'm also having half of a vegetarian sandwich:  mozarella cheese, fresh sprouts, tomatoes, avocado, and hummus on whole wheat bread.  (I had the other half for breakfast.)  I am anticipating fabulousness.

For dinner I plan on making leek/lentil soup and lentils with shitake mushrooms.  If time permits, I'll make a bean dish as well.  Then I can just feast on leftovers.  I'm a real life plant eater, boys and girls!

Tonight I plan to go to the Culver City farmer's market and pick up some hummus and organic potatoes.  And maybe some artisan chocolate.

Tomorrow my plans are to cook some tofu.  

A foodie's weekend - Saturday!

I know I'm going to be doing a lot of at-home cooking, so I wanted to get myself some decent fresh spices so I could give my veggies the necessary punch. I thought about going to Williams Sonoma or Surfas, but ended up going to Monsieur Marcel in the Farmer's Market on Third and Fairfax.

They have a great display of Nomu spices and set them out in little bowls so you can sniff them to your hearts content.


You don't want to sniff too much, though, cause you'll sneeze and spices will billow forth and people will give you dirty looks because it's nasty.  That didn't happen to me, mind you, because I instinctively knew this.

They have some basic spices but they're known for their blends which range from the common place (chicken rub) to the more adventurous (masala rub, smoky peri-peri rub).  Some of the blends have grinder so you can ensure that your spices are freshly ground. I ended up going with a general "one-for-all" blend grinder and harvested sea salt grinder.  Perfect for savory cooking.  

After our shopping expedition, we went to a Kay 'n Dave's, a fresh-mex restaurant that uses no lard or trans-fats in its cooking.  The outdoor patio where we ate was lovely, with beautiful Spanish tile and creeping vines covering the adobe walls.  

I had the lamb dish below (different types of meats like a good omnivore) and Mr. Insomniac had chicken mole tacos.  Avocado with salsa - a great natural way to get all the nutrient goodness of the tomatoes.  And damn tasty too.



And mojitos. Can't forget about the ruby red grapefruit mojitos.

A foodie's weekend - Sunday!

Sunday - June 1st!  The beginning of the challenge - whoo hoo!

Ah let me say that I am currently reeling in food goodness.... What a day!

We started off at the Hollywood Farmer's Market on Ivar Avenue in between Sunset and Hollywood Blvds

This Farmer's Market is the real deal - probably second to only the Santa Monica Farmer's Market on Wednesday mornings. In both cases - restaurant chefs buy their items from the market and there are literally tons of vendors representing farms, ranches, and dairies from all over Southern and Central California.  It is a food paradise and it was everything I could do not to spin around in dizzy circles with my arms raised.

Okay, so what did I buy?

• 5 avocados for $2
• Large bunches of dill, basil, and mint (can you say mojitos?) for $3
• Bunch of organic spinach for $1
• Bunch of swiss chard for $1
• Second bunch of swiss chard for free - going to the market at closing time has its advantages. A guy behind the stand was like, hey want some swiss chard? I told him that I had just purchased some and he just handed it to me and said, just take it. Awesome.
• A pound of ground grass-fed/grass-finished bison from Lindner Bison for $8.  Kathy Lindner herself was manning the booth and she gave me a fact sheet about the merits of grass-fed/finished meats for the eater, the animal, and the environment and answered all my questions.  She was a very charming lady and I look forward to eating my bison.  This will be my first time eating bison, so we shall see how it goes.

Not a bad haul!  My meal plans are to make a swiss chard, tomato, garbonzo beans dish; a spinach salad (since I learned that eating spinach raw is the best way to capture its vitamins and nutrients); garlic dill potatoes; fattoush; and yet to be determined.

I wanted to spend more time at the Hollywood Farmer's Market, but we were in a hurry to get to another event that a colleague of Mr. Insomniac's had invited us to - the Taste of the Nation, the "the nation’s premier culinary benefit dedicated to ending childhood hunger in America." Because nothing says child hunger than a bunch of people gnoshing on lychee infused caviar atop a bed of fennel and locally grown sugar beets. But 100% the ticket proceeds go to local and national charities, so I was able to get my eat on without much consternation.  Dozens of Los Angeles restaurants were representing - many that I haven't eaten at because they are too damn expensive.  So now was my chance.  Awesome.

Now the food. Lordy, the food. Let's see: highlights were the ahi tuna tacos and calamari salad from Asia de Cuba, a lump crab meat salad on top a dollop of guacamole, watermelon ceviche, hazelnut chocolate, various sushi rolls, and a chocolate espresso donut on a stick garnished with raspberries.  Oh and a grilled cheese sandwich that was perfection on a plate.

And now for the celebrities... lol

Antonia , a finalist on Top Chef, was representing her restaurant Foxtail. Her offering of mussels with pasta was tasty enough, but difficult to eat on the go.  She participated in a 30 minute cook-off against another local chef. Unfortunately, her offering of a Vietnamese duck spring roll (while reported as tasty) lost out to the other chef's raw food concoction of a salad with a spicy pepper dressing.  Here she is toiling away while some cameraman videotapes her:

Antonia seems just as likeable as on Top Chef and joked around with the audience and her sous chef (a local comic) during the cook-off. Sitting in the front row was her daughter wearing a XS white chef's jacket. The girl was adorable and looked exactly like her mom, except for her curlier hair.

Hosting the cookoff was Kirk Cameron, who still has his charm even though he's been reported to be a little loony.  Here he is doing his emcee duty:

And rounding off the celebrity spawn was Harrison Ford's son who is the head chef for Ford's Filling Station in Culver City. I pass by that location on a regular basis and never knew that the Ford represented Harrison Jr. Interesting.  Our hosts for the day (the folks that paid for the tickets!) were part-owners of a nearby restaurant and were hosting an after party.  So we stayed around towards the end of the event.  Wonder what those crazy chefs and wait staff do once the regular folk leave the building?

Wine relay racing.  Oh yeah, it's on.

The rules are as follows: three teams line up balancing trays of an opened bottle of wine and two glasses.  At the signal, the first runners walkrun 50 yards, and come back.  They must, and here the rules are specific, do a "two-inch pour" in one glass and then hand off to runner #2.  Who does the same thing and hands off to runner #3.  At no time may the tray be carried with two hands or a second hand touch the bottles/glasses during the walk/run portion.  And of course, a dropped tray is instant disqualification for the team.  

 So here's Benjamin Ford (Harrison Jr.) representing Ford's Filling Station as he balances a tray of 2-buck Chuck on a waiter's tray with two glasses.

Border's Grill emerged as the victors and only two teams ended up dropping the trays.  Well done folks!