Living in the Bay Area has made me appreciate farmers' markets.

I know that's not the most profound or even more original thought I've ever expressed, but you should know that before we moved here (a scant three years ago) I had never willingly visited a farmers' market. (I don't count the time I was bodily dragged to one with my Minneapolis Girl Scout Troop because those were my picky eater years, and I really wasn't interested in knowing what new vegetables I was sure to hate were being sold by the Hmong community. I was more interested in their textiles.)

Boston -- where I lived for six years -- probably had/has a few knocking about, but we didn't have a car and I never was inspired to figure out if any of them were T-able. When we did get our hands on a car, we usually booked on over to Bread & Circus (the Boston name for Whole Foods) and rolled ecstatically around in the produce section.

However, three short years in San Francisco ensured that one of my main aims in Hawaii was -- no, not getting a deep tan. No, not going on a surfing safari. No, not drinking my body weight in parasolled drinks -- it was going to a farmers' market. At first I didn't care which one, but while eating our first Big Island meal at Cafe Pesto on Hilo's historic boardwalk, we realized the farmers' market around the corner was just closing down for the day. Our server told us that of all the farmers' markets on the Big Island -- which is all about the farms -- Hilo was the one to visit. And, get this, Saturday wasn't the big draw. No, it was the Wednesday market that was a don't-if-your-island-life-depends-upon-it miss.

A week and several spectacular waterfalls later, and we were back. The Hilo Farmers' Market advertises their hours as "from dawn 'til it's gone." My first act was to walk up to a fruit seller and ask, "Do you know who has mangosteens here?" "Yeah," he said, "I do! And I'm the only one." What luck! What rapture! High on my list -- if not tops -- of things to eat in Hawaii were the elusive mangosteens. I looked around the table, hoping to spy one but realizing I wouldn't know one if it jumped up and bit me. The fruit seller -- an ex-San Franciscan, it turned out -- smiled and told me the season had just ended and mangosteens couldn't be found for love or money. As consolation, he handed me a lychee to suck on as I continued my rounds.

At one point, it started to rain. Far from people dashing under the shelter of the tents, no one really reacted. I quickly learned that the rain was as regular an occurrence in Hilo as protests in San Francisco. The rain was warm and light, barely discernible from the natural perfumed humidity of the tropical day.

These beets were bigger than my two fists put together.

I couldn't get over how long and elegant these scallions were.

Cool sauces.

Even better sign. (Hanging over the sauces.)

Crazy, beautiful Southeast Asian fruit.

I'm not a big fan of papaya except in savory Vietnamese salads, but strawberry papaya has an irresistible color. Deep and blushing.

How can you pass up Maui onions when you're in Hawaii?

I think a Madame Maxime might use this banana fan to flirt at the Giant Opera.

Thinking of the parking situation at the San Francisco Farmers' Market, this sign tickled me no end.

Familiar foods in such an exotic location.

I've never seen such smooth ginger with this incredibly delicate and pink skin. You feel as if you could chomp into a knob right there.

Longans, similiar to lychees but with a later growing season. We saw lychees hanging down from neighborhood trees on our walk to Lanikai Beach on Oahu.

Dragonfruit is the best name for this otherworldly, spiny fruit.

"Take a picture, buy a coconut," he told me. So I did.

Compared to our neat, tidy, and well-appointed market, Hilo's was rough around the edges, unpolished, and I delighted in the differences.

Hilo Farmers' Market
Corner of Mamo Street and Kamehameha Avenue
Hilo, Hawaii 96720

Wednesdays and Saturdays, all year round: From Dawn 'til it's Gone

Dorie Greenspan is a something of a legend, especially among food bloggers. I never heard of her until I started reading blogs and then I found references to her all over the place. Greenspan knows baking. She wrote the Julia Child book, Baking with Julia and Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme.

Now I truly believe when you are cooking you can fake it, but when you are baking no such luck. Just recently I tried several cookie recipes for upcoming cookie exchanges with miserable results. Frankly the ingredients are too expensive to waste on a recipe that doesn't work well, which is why you need some solid baking books and they don't come much more solid than Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours. The recipes are meticulous and the notes with each recipe are filled with stories and tips to savor. In the book you'll find breakfast sweets, cookies. cakes, pies and tarts, and spoon desserts such as Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler and Lemon Cup Custard.

This year for Thanksgiving I chose to forgo the pumpkin pie and instead made the All-In-One Holiday Bundt Cake. Imagine a delicious pumpkin bundt cake studded with nuts, apples and cranberries, spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. It was fantastic and easy to make. I've also gotten a chance to try her World Peace Cookies. You've got to appreciate a recipe that inspired the name "World Peace" due to a fan believing a daily dose of these cookies could ensure peace and happiness. The original recipe is from Pierre Herme and the secret ingredient is a 1/2 teaspoon of fleur de sel. For the committed home baker, this book is a treasure.

Classic Brownies

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder (optional, but really good)
1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt (according to taste)
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped walnuts

GETTING READY: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, butter the foil and place the pan on a baking sheet.

Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Put the butter in the bowl, top with the chopped chocolates and stir occasionally until the ingredients are just melted-you don't want them to get so hot that the butter separates. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.

With a whisk, stir in the sugar. Don't be concerned when your smooth mixture turns grainy. One by one, whisk in the eggs. Add the vanilla and give the ingredients a vigorous whisking before gently stirring in the espresso, if you're using it, salt and flour; stir only until incorporated. Switch to a rubber spatula and fold in the chopped walnuts.

Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top with the spatula.

Bake the brownies for 30 to 33 minutes, or until the top is dull and a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool the brownies to room temperature.

When the brownies are completely cool, turn out onto a rack, peel away the foil and invert onto a cutting board. Cut into 16 squares, each a scant 2 inches on a side.

Recipe reprinted with permission from Dorie Greenspan's cookbook - Baking From My Home to Yours, Houghton Mifflin 2006.

As someone who loves food, and who spends a good amount of time looking for the next great meal, I have many bites each year which are completely memorable and exciting. But it is rare that I have a bite that flattens me, that is transcendent, that makes me want to jump up and down in joy because of its perfection. And that experience? That is what people like me live for. It's the reason that we trudge through insipid bites, through bites that are boring, and through bites that are just uninspired.

It happened to me this year at Oliveto Restaurant. My good friend Jeanne took me to Oliveto's yearly truffle dinner this year for my birthday. The dinner is a joyous event. Everyone in the restaurant seems to be in a good mood, and the intoxicating scent of white truffles permeates the entire evening. At the beginning of the meal, we were presented with different sizes of truffles and asked what our truffle strategy for the evening would be. Our choices were to purchase and entire truffle, and to have it as our dining companion for the evening, or to have truffle shaved and weighed on each dish. We opted for the former, and purchased a truffle which we promptly named Luigi.

Each dish that we ate at the dinner was designed to show off the wonder of Luigi, and dish after dish coming out of the kitchen was wonderful. And then came The Dish. The dish that, looking back on this year, will be considered the highlight: a wild boar ragu served on a delicious polenta. It was simple and rich and each bite was full of flavor and depth. There is something about ragus that I have eaten in Italy - it's a back of the mouth tang or bite that I rarely taste here. It also had specific taste that comes from using the best ingredients one can find, and a flavor that only comes from patience and time with the dish.

With my first bite, I declared that I would like to marry the man who created the ragu, who was responsible for this amazing bite (by chance, the next day, I met his lovely wife - the owner of the wonderful Ici).

While many of the dishes this evening were completely heightened and made infinitely better by the addition of truffles, this didn't need the truffle and stood on its own in its fantasticness.

Since that day, I have spent some time working on a recipe for wild boar ragu, and have managed to make a successful rendition at home. I bought the wild boar at Golden Gate Meat Company in the Ferry Building. Wild boar is lower in fat than pork or beef, so I made up for that by adding a couple of slices of pancetta to the recipe in order to bring the richness up a bit. The recipe is very forgiving in the amount of time that you cook it -- I would suggest cooking for three hours at a minimum, and anywhere up to about five hours.

WILD BOAR RAGU

2 slices pancetta chopped into small pieces (about 1 oz)
3 T butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
2/3 cup chopped celery
2/3 cup chopped carrot
3/4 pound wild boar, cut into very small pieces by hand
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup whole milk
1/8 t freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup red wine
1.5 cups diced tomatoes with their juice
1 pound dried egg noodles (I like Rustichella D'Abruzzo Pappardelle)
Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

Equipment: a large Dutch Oven or heavy enameled cast iron pot that can be used in the oven. I use a Le Creuset 6.5 quart dutch oven.

1. Place the empty pot on the stove and turn the heat on low while you are prepping your ingredients.
2. Raise the flame on the stove to medium.
3. Add the pancetta and let it cook until the fat has begun to separate from the meat and the pancetta is beginning to brown (About 5 min).
4. Add 2T of butter and let it melt.
5. Once the butter has melted, add onion and cook until it becomes translucent, about 5 minutes.
6. Add the celery and carrot and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring.
7. Add the boar, a pinch of salt, and a few grindings of pepper. Stir and allow the boar to cook until it is brown on the outside, about 5 minutes.
8. Add the milk and the nutmeg. Let the milk cook until it is almost all boiled off, about 10 minutes.
9. Add the wine and let it cook until it is almost all boiled off, about 10 minutes.
10. Add the tomatoes. Once the tomatoes begin to bubble, lower the heat to the lowest it will go.
11. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
12. Cook the ragu on top of the stove, uncovered for 1 - 1.5 hours. If you are able to achieve a very low flame and the sauce is bubbling only occasionally, you can cook the ragu on top of the stove the entire time if you'd like. If, like me, you have a cranky stove that doesn't heat the pot completely or a flame that doesn't go low enough, place the entire pot in the oven, covered, after 1 hour of cooking uncovered on the stovetop.
13. Continue to cook for 3-5 hours, stirring only occasionally.
14. By the time the ragu is done, there will be very little liquid and any remaining fat will be separated from the meat. If at any time during the process you feel that the sauce is beginning to burn, you can add water, 1/2 cup at a time, to the sauce. When the sauce is complete, there should be no trace of water in the sauce.
15. In the last 20 minutes of cooking, taste and adjust the salt and pepper if necessary.
16. Just before serving, cook the egg noodles and toss with the remaining 1T of butter. Serve with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

Oliveto Restaurant
5655 College Ave
Oakland, CA
(510) 547-5356

No dinner party of mine is complete without at least one culinary disaster. I was still reeling from my 36 hour flight back to Paris peppered with 4 stops, rain delays, circling over Wisconsin, a refueling stop in Rockford Illinois, 2 missed connections, lost luggage, stolen items, no water and cranky flight attendants and still recovering from my Diner des Femmes Phenomenales the weekend before but I was leaving for the US for the holidays so it was this weekend or never so I broke out the whisks and got cooking.

Disaster #1: I made the butternut squash-pumpkin soup the night before, finishing it around 1am. The fridge was packed within a inch of its life so I put the soup in zip lock bags and set them flat in the freezer which was empty save for a big bottle of Absolut, a bag of Peet's Coffee and some ice cubes, and headed off to bed. The next morning I woke up, took my time, pleased of my progress the night before. Checked email, made a few calls, then meandered into the kitchen. I opened the freezer and grabbed for the bags of soup. I nearly pulled the fridge over. The bags had frozen solid to the bottom and side of the freezer and to the bottle of Absolut. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK!

I spent the next two hours boiling pots of water and ladling it over the bags desperatly trying to melt them from the freezers creul grip. I had gallons of water all over my floor, all my bath towels soaked through. When I initially grabbed the bags, I ripped one so I had to balance a bowl underneath the bag to catch the melting soup while ladling boiling water and trying to coax the bags off the vodka bottle if for nothing else than at that point I needed a cocktail like no one's business.

Disaster #2: I am very leery of cooking meat. Fish for me is a piece of cake, pun intended, after months on a lobster boat, but meat is even more intimidating for me than pastry so what did I decide to make. Well meat of course. A beautiful rack of lamb lovingly butchered by my handsome, blue-eyed butcher Serge topped with those cute little lamb hats. I should just trust my instincts, not to mention what I learned in cooking school(!!), but I decided to - for once - follow a recipe exactly, well almost exactly.

I used the Stonewall Kitchen Favorites recipe for rack of lamb with a walnut-rosemary crust which said to refrigerate the meat until ready to put in the oven. Now I know better, really I do, but would I listen to myself. Oh good Lord no. I knew it was always optimal to let meat come to room temperature first and I pontificate on this point endlessly with anyone who will listen. Doctors make the worst patients, as the saying goes... so what did I do? I ignored the bells going off in my head and put the meat in the oven, straight from the fridge and cooked it for 35 minutes per the recipes instructions. After 35 minutes The thermometer read 140F so for a moment I thought I'd overcooked it. When I pulled out the lamb, the crust was a beautiful golden brown with the most delicious aromas tickling my nose.

Like a proud parent, I paraded my rack, of lamb that is, around my guests then retreated to the kitchen to serve. When I cut into the rack, and separated the chops I wanted to cry. It was basically raw on the inside. Needless to say dinner was a bit late, I was sweating and cursing, and my blood pressure was off the charts. My friend James, who had flown down from Copenhagen for the dinner, ran and grabbed my glass of wine off the table and instructed me to drink it immediately. I gladly obliged. Knowing my guests were hungry and it was getting late, I turned my 4-course dinner into a 5-course dinner and served the Brussels sprouts and mashed, truffled potatoes first followed a half and hour later by the lamb chops. Amen and pass the Bordeaux.

Buon Natale! Joyeux Noel!
Le vendredi 9 Decembre 2006
chez Laura

Duval-Leroy Champagne Rose

Pate a l'Armignac sur un Toast avec Noisettes Grillees et une reduction de Porto - Pate with Armignac on Croutons topped with Chopped Roasted Hazelnuts, Drizzled with a Port Reduction and a pinch of Fleur de Sel

Saumon Fume sur une Baguette avec Creme Fraiche au Citron - Smoked Salmon on Toasted Baguette topped with Lemon Creme Fraiche

Chateau de la Dauphine, St Emilion 2001

Potage de Potiron a l'Huile de Truffe avec Amaretti Ecrase, Brunoise de Foie Gras - Pumpkin Butternut Squash Soup topped with Crushed Amaretti, Tiny Dice of Foie Gras and a drizzle of Truffle Oil

Cote d'Agneau Roti avec la Croute de Noisettes et Romarin - Rack of Lamb with a Hazelnut Rosemary Crust
Sauce de Champignons et Bordeaux - Red Wine Mushroom Sauce

Choux de Bruxelles Rotis avec Pancetta et Balsamique - Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta and Balsamic Glaze

Pomme de Terre Puree a l'Huile de Truffe - Mashed Potatoes with Truffle Oil

Assiette de Fromages - Cheese Plate

Decadence de Chocolat aux Framboises et Cognac - Flourless Chocolate Cake with Cognac and Raspberries

Et les recettes.....

Rack of Lamb with Hazelnut-Rosemary-Thyme- Garlic-Parsley Crust :)

a rack of lamb for 10 (approx 2 chops per person)
1 cup finely chopped roast hazelnuts
4 tablespoons finely chopped rosemary
4 tablespoons finely chopped thyme
4 tablespoons finely chopped flat leaf parsley
8 cloves garlic, finely chopped
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup bread crumbs - I used a Poilane whole wheat walnut bread that I cubed, toasted then ground.
salt & pepper
olive oil to moisten

1. In a glass bowl, combine the nuts, herbs, garlic, zest, bread crumbs, salt and pepper.

2. Add olive oil to moisten

3. Press this mixture, a small handful at a time, onto the lamb. This can be done ahead of time and refrigerated. IF YOU DO THIS AHEAD, take the lamb out an hour before you begin cooking it and let it come to room temperature. Also, here I threw about a cup of red wine in the roasting pan.

4. Roast lamb in a 400F oven for approximately 30 minutes. The internal temperature should read 130F.

5. Let me meat rest 10 minutes before cutting.

Red Wine Mushroom Sauce

4 handfuls of small mushrooms - I used Champignons de Paris, small brown mushrooms but any will do.
1-1/2 bottles of Bordeaux (cabernet Sauvignon)
5 shallots, finely chopped
2 sprigs rosemary and 4 sprigs thyme, tied in a bundle
4 cups beef broth
2 tablespoons beurre manie to thinken the sauce if necessary (combine 1 T flour with 1 T soft butter)
drippings from the lamb
1-2 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup cream (optional)

1. Clean and slice mushrooms

2. Saute in olive oil until caramelized. Set aside.

3. Add shallots to the pan (adding a little more olive oil if necessary) and saute.

4. Deglaze with 1 bottle of wine. Add herb bundle and reduce to about 1/2 cup.

5. Add beef broth and reduce to about half.

6. Take out the lamb and pour off the juice and drippings into the mushroom sauce. Add a tablespoon or two of breadcrumb crust if you'd like.

7. Depending on the desired consistency, whisk in beurre manie and cook for a few minutes to eliminate the raw flour taste. Add wine as necessary. Taste and adjust seasoning.

8. When you have the consistency and taste you want, just before serving, whisk in butter which adds a sheen and velvety-ness to the sauce.

9. Add the cream here if you'd like. I did and wished I hadn't but live and learn.....

Bonne Cuisinez, Joyeux Noel, Buon Natale!

The Grinch Who Stole Christmas
- Theodore Seuss Guisel

And the Grinch
with his Grinch-feet
ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling
"how could it be so?"

It came without ribbons!
It came without tags!
It came without packages,
boxes or bags.
And he puzzled 3 hours
'til his puzzler was sore

Then the Grinch
thought of something
he hadn't before
Maybe Christmas, he thought,
doesn't come from a store
Maybe Christmas perhaps
means a little bit more...

Falletti Foods is open. Perhaps I should say "Falletti Foods has re-opened in a new location after a long absence." Whatever the case, it now exists at 308 Broderick Street.

I had only a slight idea of Falletti's previous existence, even though I have lived here eleven years. and then, it was only in passing-- quite literally. I was driving down Fulton Street a few years ago with a friend. The new Albertson's was near completion. My friend asked, "Ever go to Falletti's?" He was annoyed that what he considered a good, local grocery store was being replaced by a mega-chain. I thought of a poor little Italian grandmother getting muscled out of the neighborhood by a gang of corporate thugs. This may or may not have been the case, but I have a thing for Italian grandmothers, so the idea was disturbing to me nonetheless. My friend, who is not a man I would consider nostalgic, sighed. Apparently, I had missed something worth sighing over.

Well, grandma got a brand new house. She was welcomed to her new neighborhood on November 7th. I finally made my way to visit her a couple of days ago, a little wary of disappointing myself, all those false memories of a place I had never before visited popping into my head, a little apprehensive of reviewing another grocery store. Will there be picket lines?

I almost walked by the store as I wandered up Fell Street. I had my nose in a book, so that is not surprising. I peered up from my paragraph, looked around me and backtracked a few yards. The sign was small, unassuming. I was expecting something big, something bright that yelled "Shop Here." I was expecting a slightly toned down version of Bristol Farms. I was wrong.

What I found was surprisingly small. Delightfully so. And very well organized. There is little chance of getting lost at Falletti's. Doubtful you will hear mothers shouting the names of their out-of-sight children. I think I was initially a little disappointed. Is that all? Where's the durian jam? Where's the speck? I realized that I had become so inured to gigantic grocery stores-- organic or otherwise-- that a small store felt so...small.

What I finally got through my thick head after roaming the place for a while was that this is a neighborhood grocery store. It serves its community. It's even adding to the community, with 70 condominuims freshly built right above the store-- a sort of built in customer base.

Falletti's has teamed up with a couple of well liked San Francisco stores to fill some of your other gustatory needs. Grab a cup of joe at Peet's Coffee to keep you company while you stand on line at the DMV across the street. Or, similarly, console yourself with a piece of bread pudding from Delessio Market & Bakery after failing your driver's test. Again.

By the way, you should be pleased to know that, though not a union store, Falletti's offers it's employees health benefits and, according to General Manager Alan Miloslavich, pays them a wage higher than union scale.

So... if you live in the neighborhood, drop by and shop with a clear conscience and an empty belly. Even if you don't live nearby, go for a little visit, just to see what a neighborhood grocery store should be like, in case you might have forgotten, like me.

Check, Please! Bay Area is KQED's local series featuring regular people reviewing Bay Area restaurants.

Visit the Check, Please! Bay Area blog to experience the restaurants from Season 2 Episode 11:

1) Mecca SF: | restaurant information | reviews | recipe

2) El Jarro: | restaurant information | reviews | recipe

3) Maria Manso: | restaurant information | reviews | recipe

Please feel free to join the discussion by posting comments about the show and your reviews of the featured restaurants!

You can watch all episodes online as well as subscribe to the Check, Please! video podcast in iTunes.

This season, Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic will be blogging about what happens behind-the-scenes during the making of Check, Please! Bay Area.

You can also view the Check, Please! Bay Area photo gallery to view behind-the-scenes shots at many of the featured restaurants.

I'll come clean, this post is a total self-pimp. Wendy told me I had to write it at some point, so given that my deadline fast approacheth and I don't seem to have another idea in my head, I'm just going to give in to peer pressure and abject show-offiness.

You may have noticed that I haven't been around as regularly as some of the other fine BABbers. (Or you might not have noticed that at all, in which case, you can just continue ignoring me completely.) I have a really good excuse for my absence. I've been drunk.

Okay, not exactly, but I have been working hard on a bunch of projects and there's one in particular that I'm thrilled to announce has finally come to full fruition: CocktailSmarts. It's the latest cool product to come from the ladies of SmartsCo and guess who wrote it? Moi! Look there, you can see even my name on the spine if you look really hard -- so very thrilling. When explaining CocktailSmarts to people, I've described it as a "book-game-thing," but it's really a cocktail trivia game you can use to test your cocktail IQ, as well as a resource of lots of new and classic cocktail recipe.

But hey, this isn't totally self-serving! Buy up oodles* of CocktailSmarts for everyone on your holiday gift list and look as suave as James Bond doing it. Funny I should mention James Bond, because you can learn cool stuff about him in CocktailSmarts as well. For instance, did you know he didn't only drink shaken not stirred vodka martinis? It's true! To quote myself:

Though moviegoers associate 007 with a specially prepared martini, the licensed-to-kill ladykiller drank many things between the pages (and sheets) of Ian Fleming's novels. Bond has been known to drink a Black Velvet (Champagne and Guinness stout), and in Casino Royale, he sips a cocktail of Campari, sweet vermouth, and soda water -- code name "Americano."

See how a little knowledge is a drunk thing?

CocktailSmarts' sleek Art Deco design really dresses up a coffee table, it's a great holiday party game, and it makes a great stocking stuffer. For...really wide stockings. And here's a little bonus for suffering through this shameless post, if you order it from SmartsCo and enter "Stephanie" as coupon code when you check out, you get 15% off the entire order. So, even if you want to get WinePassport or WineParty or any of the other fun products at SmartsCo, you will get that same discount. See how generous I am when shilling my book-game-thing?

*Technically, an "oodle" is more than five but less than fifteen. Over fifteen and you're in the "scads" territory.

By pure coincidence, two of your Bay Area Bites authors will be taking a trip to Vietnam in the next few months. Amy Sherman and I separately planned trips are both packing our bags and getting our palates ready to taste the wonderful food of Vietnam.

In preparation for my upcoming trip, I took a drive through Little Saigon in Southern California this week. Little Saigon crosses parts of Westminster, Santa Ana, and Garden Grove in Orange County, and is considered the oldest, largest, and most prominent Vietnamese community in the United States.

The restaurants and food offerings in this community are remarkable. Everywhere you look, there is an overwhelming number of pho shops, banh mi stores, and restaurants offering food from every part of Vietnam.

Knowing that I only had a limited amount of time to spend in Little Saigon, I consulted several reference sites that cover the area, and made a concrete plan. The area is spread over several square miles, and I was glad I had a set plan in order to hit the best spots.

My first stop was New Trieu Chau Restaurant. It had been described on Chowhound as having the "best noodle soup you can get". The menu is large but descriptions are brief and not very forthcoming. I chose soup with thin egg noodles, and it came with cut pork, pork balls, chicken, liver and shrimp. The broth was satisfying and the noodles were perfect. Thin and firm, I slurped up every bit of noodle that I could. Chowhound posters also mention that the donuts here are good for dunking in soup, but as this was my first stop of several, I skipped the donuts.

Across the street from New Trieu Chau is a chain store called Lee's Sandwiches. Lee's serves banh mi sandwiches, cream cakes, baguettes, and other various items in their clean and well-lit store. I'm not a banh mi expert (yet) so don't really feel I can judge it, but the pickled slaw on my BBQ Pork sandwich was craveable, and the baguette was delicious. Next time I come to Little Saigon, I would like to try the favorite of Elmomonster and other Little Saigon experts: Banh Mi and Che Cali. Elmonster claims that Lee's Sandwiches serves a good sandwich, much like In N' Out serves a good, mass-produced burger, but that Bahn Mi and Che Cali is the real deal.

The restaurant that I was really sorry to miss this trip is called Brodard. It's well known for Nem Nuong Cuon: Spring rolls wrapped in rice paper with a fried egg roll inside. The roll has pork in it, and is supposedly quite delicious. Alas, Brodard was closed and I am going to have to try it another time. It's in the same shopping center as New Trieu Chau, but it's located behind the 99-cent store, in the very back of the shopping center.

The Thanh Son Tofu Factory is an interesting shop that contains all types of tofu products that you can imagine. Here, I bought a tasty tofu pudding which was a large container of piping hot tofu with a container of sugar syrup on top which, when added to the tofu, makes a tasty dessert. This crowded store was full of people buying fried tofu products, soy milk, and fresh tofu to take home.

In addition to the locations above, the ABC Supermarket is worth a trip. The store is chock-full of all sorts of Vietnamese goodies and is a fun place to check out. Additionally, the Asian Garden Mall has many small food stalls that had tempting looking food. The Asian Garden Mall would be a good place to try a wide variety of Vietnamese foods within a small area.

REFERENCE SITES FOR LITTLE SAIGON

Wikipedia: Little Saigon
Monster Munching, a blog about eating in Orange County that covers many restaurants in Little Saigon.
The OC Weekly.
Chowhound

RESTAURANTS AND STORES MENTIONED IN THIS POST

ABC Supermarket
8970 Bolsa Ave (at Magnolia), Westminster

Asian Garden Mall
9200 Bolsa Ave (between Magnolia and Brookhurst), Westminster

Banh Mi and Che Cali
8948 Bolsa (at Magnolia), Westminster

Brodard
9892 Westminster Ave (at Brookhurst), Garden Grove
Closed Tuesdays
(714) 540-1744

Lee's Sandwiches
13991 Brookhurst Street (at Westminster), Garden Grove
(714) 636-2288

New Trieu Chau Restaurant
9902 Westminster Ave (at Brookhurst), Garden Grove
Open 7 Days
(714) 537-2433

Thanh Son Tofu Factory
9688 Wesminster (between Magnolia and Brookhurst), Garden Grove
(714) 534-2100

Once a year I used to get the urge to do something crafty. I usually made a big batch of something for public consumption. One year I made homemade pasta in three flavors. Another year I made chocolate dipped biscotti. This year if you too are feeling crafty, skip the Christmas cookies and make something flavored or infused.

Chronicle Books has come out with two really cool books for the kitchen craft-inclined, Infused 100+ recipes for Infused Liqueurs and Cocktails and Michael Chiarello's Flavored Oils and Vinegars Here you'll find mostly no-cook concoctions that will spice up drinks or dinners. Each book begins with the infused or flavored recipes, then follows up with how to use your new creation in cocktails and meals.

Vanilla Julep, anyone? Infused has the recipe. If you've hung out in any sophisticated bars lately you may have noticed the use of bitters and infused liqueurs. But you don't have to buy infused liqueurs, like your crafty hipster bartender, you can make them. With clear and simple instructions from Susan Elia MacNeal you'll find versions from Apple Liqueur to Watermelon Liqueur and everything in between. I like the idea of Rose Liqueur and also Pepper Liqueur. The spice liqueurs seem perfect for this time of year. This book would make a great gift for an aspiring mixologist or serve as the inspiration for your next batch of homemade gifts. Note that most of the liqueurs take 2 weeks to one month to infuse and another month to age.

Michael Chiarello's Flavored Oils and Vinegars will add a new element to your cooking. It's actually a reprint of two books combined. The oils mostly need to be used within a week for best flavor so take a look at the recipes and think about how you might you use them before making a batch. The vinegars also should be used within a week or so, although some of them can be stored in sterilized bottles for much longer. There are so many suggestions for what to do with them that you probably won't have any difficulty using them up quickly. Perhaps the most versatile are the fruit vinegars can be used in everything from spritzers to barbecue sauce to salsas to dessert sauces. There are lots of mouth-waterng Italian influenced recipes to try in this book. Many of the recipes use the overflow from the garden or farmers market. But those without access to great produce have no fear, the recipe for Mushroom and Artichoke Pappardelle is enticement enough for making porcini infused oil.

When we go out to eat in restaurants we are all looking for something similar. Although we think it is for good food, we go back when the service is exceptional. We are looking, as Danny Meyer would say, for an emotional experience. We are eating out to be a part of something.

As a professional cook I would like to believe diners sit in the dining room of where I work because they want to eat my food. The food I help create, prepare, conjure and plate. When I go out to eat I am looking to be inspired by other chef's visions. I'm always on the lookout for delicious food, and like a Chowhound, I will look harder for it than the average person who may only follow what one or another restaurant critic likes or doesn't, or what the latest trend-setters say is fabulous. Of course I like to know what's new, I want to see who's cooking for whom and where they last worked.

In an era where chefs are becoming superstars, having TV shows and naming brands of supermarket sauces, a brighter light is being pointed at the restaurant industry. What the public expects from my field has changed, especially in California, birthplace of Chez Panisse and the local-sustainable-Organic food movement. Supposedly in California we like to know where our food comes from, who grows it and how. We do this research by shopping at farmers' markets, talking to the chefs who shop there and "voting with our dollars."

When I eat at a restaurant because I know the owner, chef, pastry chef or cook, I say I am "supporting" said establishment. When the restaurant industry in San Francisco was hit by two consecutive blows, September 11th and the dot com bust, it became important to be aware, without the intentional support of "regulars," our favorite places would close. Many restaurants did close at the start of 2002, and just as many menus changed to reflect the devastated economy. Cook and chef jobs became scarce and few people migrated the way cooks tend to do.

At the end of 2002, a chef I knew scanned the horizon, commenting on the lack of those restaurants he felt should not have opened in the first place. Ones seeming merely to exist as a place for young millionaires to spend money. He and I talked about how opening a restaurant without understanding all its hidden costs and responsibilities was a crime. It seems amazing that very few restaurateurs understand accounting math or have any grasp on State, Local and Federal labor laws.

Just knowing how to cook is not enough. Opening an eating establishment is only in part about the food you serve, how you plate it and the names embroidered on chef's coats. In all fairness, if a person is going to take an interest in where their food is from, how it's grown and who grows it, one must also be able to see beyond the smoke and mirrors of cheffing and take an interest in who is really prepping and cooking their food, night after night, week after 6/7 day week.

Can a person who gives $1 every day to the homeless person say they're doing enough? Giving to charity? Voting with their dollar?

Is a restaurant worth its conscionable weight if it never has enough capitol/care/time to offer its employees health insurance? Do you ask the waiter if the chicken is free-range if you don't care whether he/she's making a living wage? Can you say you believe in immigrant's rights if you eat in a restaurant that hires undocumented workers because they're cheaper and won't complain about low wages/lack of healthcare/unbearable working conditions/boring, repetitive tasks/long hours without overtime? Can you preach the Organic values of a restaurant whose kitchen is 25% unpaid "volunteer" workers?

How transparent do you want the place you go for a nice warm meal to be?

I'm not sure it's the diner's responsibility to take on how a restaurant chooses to run itself, or treat its employees, except of course when an eatery puts diners at risk because of unsafe food handling. But these are important questions for the person who does feel a responsibility to their food growers, handlers and preparers-- owners or not.

When I heard about the horrible accident involving 3 of Bar Crudo's staff and a taxi driver I was deeply saddened. I have worked in restaurants where deaths and horrific accidents have taken place. When I hear the news it never escapes me, the funeral I am attending could be my own. On September 11th I lost friend and colleague Heather Ho. Both my parents cried, knowing down to their core that she could have been me.

But I cannot say that my sadness is not also mixed with anger. How could a restaurant conscionably hire a chef and not offer her/him health insurance? In such a dangerous industry, how can we continue to overlook such an important issue?

I know the answer; because I can count on one hand how many restaurants in my 14-year career have done so. Have seen it's importance and necessity. Have made their employee's health a priority. Even when I have barely been able to make rent, I have paid for my own health insurance.

Much discussion has been had about transparency as it has to do with food businesses. Michael Pollan's back and forth letters to Whole Foods can be found by clicking here. An article about how the Golden Gate Restaurant Association is suing SF over the proposed restaurant worker health care mandate. Kim Severson wrote of NYC's restaurant trans fat ban in the NY Times.

In an era where eating, paying for food, and making intentional choices about what food we eat and why, has become politicized, it becomes ever important to weigh in the answers on all the backs of those who carry a portion of the burden-- helping to create your warm meal, your emotional experience at restaurants and eateries.

My grief is not a cry for war, but it is a cry for action.