Santa Monica Farmers Market

Part III Eating My Way Through LA

A friend in LA gave me a beautiful cookbook from the famous Santa Monica Farmers Market for my birthday last year and over my visit in January, I was lucky enough to go visit it in person! We caught the Sunday market on Main Street, which actually runs four days a week year-round. Lucky California.

Coming from Seattle in the winter, it was wonderful to see all the fresh produce. The giant strawberries smelt like summer and we saw raspberries that were pink, blue, and white. This is definately a place you could visit weekly to stock up on all your fresh produce. My personal favorites were the pistachios in all different flavors and the dried apricots, plums, and pluots. We chose the unsulfured variety and had a snack for the remainder of the afternoon. Here is a piece on the Farmers Market by my good friend and "welovenice.com" eats&drinks editor, Laura Malcolm:

It’s easy in Southern California to forget that it’s snowing and flooding in the rest of the country half the year. While we do realize it’s not normal for most people to wear flipflops in February, we probably do overlook the fact that this has more subtle effects as well – namely, our year round access to a variety of produce that beats what’s available in most parts of the country any season, let alone in the dead of winter.

While we may not have major lapses in the growing seasons, there are certainly still prime times to find certain items. Trust me when I say if you like any of these items and have never experienced them straight from the farm at the peak of their season, you may be in for a religious experience.



Luckily for me, there is a farmer’s market within 5 miles of me every day of the week – that is hundreds of farmers selling thousands of items that I can buy directly from the source - no shipping, packaging, handling, refrigerating or storing. However, I do most of my shopping at the Santa Monica Wednesday market, one of the largest and most well known in the country. Shopping alongside some of the most elite chefs in the country, picking through baskets of tomatoes and herbs with sauce in mind, selecting from twenty varieties of citrus from one farm, having a farmer advise you on which of the four avocados would be best in your salad – this is food on entirely different level.

One of the Santa Monica chefs that’s known for highlighting goods from the Wednesday market is former Top Chef contestant and current Executive Chef at The Yard, CJ Jacobson. His in-season favorites of the moment? Cara Cara oranges, kumquats and broccoli rabe (excellent for a ragout, he says). The highlight of my farm-to-table dining experiences was once noticing the height of peach season at the market, going to dinner at The Yard and having my choice of four dishes incorporating peaches, and knowing that I had just been squeezing those same peaches hours earlier.



I hope that those of us jetting down to the Wednesday market from our offices at lunch, or going to one of several Saturday markets for breakfast and a leisurely shop, realize how truly lucky we are to have this rainbow of fresh food available to us and that we continue to support the farmers that are making it happen – because without them, we’ll all be buying our produce packed, stored, shipped and optimized.

And isn’t it all perfect just the way it is?

-Pictures and feature by Laura Malcolm

Brunch aka My Favorite Meal

Part II (Eating My Way Through LA)



There's nothing better than making a delicious brunch on a Sunday morning...except if someone else makes it for you! My friend Rob Tallon is a talented chef that rarely follows the rules, or a recipe. I got one out of him for this special occasion because the citrus french toast crema he made for our brunch in LA last month won our hearts. Rob cooks with the ease of a true professional and creates an experience for all with focus on food and friends, just the way I like it. Here is his recipe for all to enjoy!

Sweet Pain Perdu with Orange Creme Anglaise
This recipe utilizes a few classic french techniques with delicious results. While it’s not exactly diet fare (it’s main ingredients being bread, cream, eggs, and sugar), it’s homemade and things that are homemade don’t have calories, as far as I am concerned. While organic ingredients aren’t necessary, I recommend everyone try to buy local and organic whenever possible.

Make the creme anglaise first, and set in the fridge to chill. I usually double this recipe, mainly because it’s delicious and keeps for a day or two. Blood or cara cara oranges work really well.




Orange Creme Anglaise
4 oranges
1 cup heavy cream
4 egg yolks
⅓ cup cane sugar
Dash of salt

●First, zest ONE orange with a zester or microplane. Make sure to stop before you reach the white pith, which is bitter and not tasty. Dice the zest very fine. Set aside.
●On a cutting board with a juice channel, supreme the oranges, reserving the juice. Instructions for this can be found HERE Squeeze remaining juice from the pulp. Set aside segments.
●Place juice in a saucepan and reduce by half over medium heat, until it is a syrupy consistency. Set aside.
●In a medium saucepan, bring cream to a simmer on medium-low heat and add orange zest.
●While cream is heating, separate yolks into a glass or plastic bowl, reserving whites.
●Slowly pour sugar into yolks while whisking, this is easier if you place a towel underneath the bowl.
●Whisk until yolk lightens and runs off of the whisk in ribbons.
●Once cream is simmering, pour half of it slowly into yolks, while whisking. This tempers the yolks and avoids curdling. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and set on low heat. Whisk often while the cream heats. The longer it cooks the thicker it will be. If you take it all the way to bubbling, it will be like a pudding. If you pull it sooner, it will be thinner. This is mostly personal preference, but keep an eye on it, if it overcooks it will curdle.
●Whisk in reduced orange juice, pour creme through a fine metal strainer and place in fridge, covered.

Sweet Pain Perdu (French Toast)
Brioche is the classic choice for french toast, but I like challah as well or better. I have even used King’s Sweet Hawaiian Rolls for this, and they worked brilliantly. Slice the bread the night before and let it sit out overnight, with a towel on it.

1 loaf of brioche, challah or other egg bread.
8 eggs plus excess whites.
½ cup whole milk
1 tablespoon sugar

●Put eggs, whites, milk, and sugar into a large bowl and whisk briskly until combined.
●Place large, greased, non-stick skillet over medium heat.
●Soak as many slices of bread as will fit in pan in egg mixture for 30 seconds.
●Place slices in pan and cook on both sides until golden brown.
●Can be held warm in a 200 degree oven.

Serve french toast with creme anglaise, garnished with orange sections. Honestly, this is as mush a dessert as a breakfast, but life is for living, right?

-Rob Tallon
Pictures by Laura Malcolm (1/20/11)

Valentine's Day is all about the Food

“Valentine’s Day is a holiday designed by greeting card companies to make money and guilt people into romantic obligations.” Have you ever spouted this off, frustrated, or heard a disgruntled anti-Valentine grumbling these types of remarks?

I love Valentine’s Day. It started in elementary school when I looked forward to decorating pink heart “mailboxes” in class and painstakingly hand-wrote notes in Barbie Valentines bought from the grocery store for every classmate.

On Valentine’s Day, the whole class would marvel at all our love letters, count them, and read them over and over (or was that just me?). We got to eat soft white sugar cookies with thick pink frosting and sprinkles. And I always wore a pre-planned pink, red, and purple outfit.

In 9th grade, my “boyfriend” surprised me with a giant, white teddy bear and everyone was jealous.

My Mom makes me a Valentines package including candy and socks with hearts on them every year – still.

My husband and I never fail to celebrate Valentine’s and look forward to a special dinner together on that evening. One thing that holds importance to us on this holiday is the food aspect. Dinner reservations across the country are booked weeks in advance as people remember the restaurants they’ve wanted to go to, but have been saving for a special occasion. Couples dress up, share wine and splurge on dinner and time together. Others use the opportunity to create a special meal at home, hoping to avoid the crowds. They research menus, buy quality ingredients, and lovingly construct an experience to enjoy together.

I look at Valentine’s Day as a time to indulge in delicious food (chocolate) and to spend time with the people you love. Instead of hating on February 14th, why not choose to embrace it, share a great meal, and celebrate life and love?