I had seen him circling around the neighborhood before and knew that it was only a matter of time until he walked through my front doors to try out some sort of hustle. Within days my premonition would come true. He rode up on a BMX bike with a small bucket, squeegee, and a dirty rag. Skates was about 6'-6", tall and lanky, he was truly a sight to see on that beat up old BMX, with his head hanging over the handlebars and knees knocking into his elbows.
He walked through the front doors and I was waiting for him. I put on my no bullshit, stone cold "get the hell outta here" face on and waited for him to ask me what I already knew he was going to ask and that was; "hey man, lemme clean your windows". My brain was telling me to say no, no, no, get the hell outta here, beat it, scram, get, go now ! But my mouth uttered the words "sure man, have at it".
Within minutes I was watching my perfectly clean windows getting streaked up, and progressively dirtier to the tune of $15. It was the start of a whole new friendship.
For lack of a better phrase, I let Skates "drink from the well" only a couple of times before it ran dry. His work ethic was pretty shitty, big surprise. He was persistent though, and saw that Stroh's could still be a great source of revenue for him. For Skates, the constant rotation of patrons coming in and out through the front doors and milling about eating their food and drinking their coffee provided him with a whole new set of potential customers for one of his many skills and talents.
One of his favorite rackets was the car wash scam. For a small fee of anywhere from $15 to as high as $60 Skates would wash your car for you using the hose on the side of my building and my water. It took me a little while to catch on because the hose was where I couldn't see it on the far side of the property. Most of the time he would get a small deposit or the whole amount and then say he had to go buy some car wash soap and just disappear for the rest of the day. On the few occasions that he did actually wash a car the results were pretty shoddy and needless to say his repeat business wasn't very strong.
In the early days of Stroh's Skates still had it pretty good by Skates' standards. He had a small utility trailer which was no longer than six feet and no wider than four with high sides and a tarp for a roof. Fully stocked with all the bare essentials; oatmeal, toilet paper, porn, blankets etc. he would lug it from one side of the street to the other by hand (because he had no vehicle) to avoid costly parking tickets for street cleaning. As the "new" Venice was slowly gentrifying the police became less and less tolerant of situations like this which played themselves out over and over in our small beach side community. Because his trailer registration had expired the police now had a reason to tow the trailer that Skates once called home. Early one winter morning they towed it away to the impound lot never to be seen by Skates or the streets of Venice ever again.
The year Skates was relieved of his trailer was a cold and rainy one here in Los Angeles which left Skates scrambling for shelter on rainy days and nights. He must have noticed that I had a lot of empty milk crates behind Strohs that were just begging to be made into a make shift shelter. One morning I stepped out back to carry some boxes out to the trash and saw that Skates had done just that. He used up about all of my crates and hung a blue tarp for a roof and was soundly sleeping in a huge pile of moving blankets. I almost didn't want to wake him up. We didn't use the back of Stroh's for anything other than smoking cigarettes and storing empty crates, but imagine trying to explain to the Los Angeles Health Department why you have a homeless man soundly sleeping in your storage area in what appears to be a structurally sound house made of milk crates. So I rustled him out of bed and had him clean up his mess which was pretty impressive seeing that he had only been there for one night.
For some reason, Oatmeal was the meal of choice anytime of the day for Skates. Maybe it was because he had no teeth, or maybe it was because he had fond memories of his Mammy making it for him and it brought him comfort. Regardless of why he liked it he had a specific way that he liked it. While it wasn't everyday that skates wanted me to make his Oatmeal, it was waaaaay to often and usually at the most inconvenient time like at 5:00 a.m. when I was enjoying the peace and quiet of a clean and unopened store. Or right during the middle of the breakfast rush he would knock on our back door until we opened it because even if you yelled at Skates, you just couldn't be mad at him and he knew this. Because he liked it a certain way and never paid, it was all the more a pain in the ass. He had to have it overcooked and gloopy with a pinch of salt and a little bit of butter. Skates had a special knack for smashing the proverb "beggars can't be choosers" to pieces.
In a life filled with strangers, once in a while one comes along that you'll never forget. Skates was one of them.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Monday, July 25, 2011
Quick Dish Idea Beacuse They're Everywhere: Green Bean And Avocado
I actually have no recollection whatsoever about how this dish came about at Stroh's but we used to have it in the case often. I think it evolved because there was a time when I was putting Avocados into everything to see if the combinations worked or not. Fortunately this one worked ! I preferred to use Haricot Vert's, which are the more slender green beans, but if you can find some younger tender regular green beans, they will work just as well. Only four ingredients besides the salt and pepper are needed for this and they are green beans, ripe but not mushy avocado's, lemons for juice, and extra virgin olive oil.
To begin:
You will need to blanch the green beans in boiling water for a few minutes until they are just tender. After they are tender immediately strain them and drop them into an ice bath to stop the cooking process and keep them nice and green. If you don't have enough ice to make an ice bath than you can use the spray nozzle on your sink and toss the beans under cold water until they are cool to the touch.
Once the cooked beans have completely cooled, begin to peel a couple of avocados. Cut the avocados in half, remove the seed and dice in small cubes. Add the avocado to the green beans and squeeze the juice of two or three lemons on to the green beans and avocado. Gently fold the avocado into the green beans trying not to smash up the avocado too much. At this point you can add the olive oil to the mixture. As a rule of thumb, add just enough so that when the dish sits you won't collect any excess oil at the bottom. Also add Kosher salt and pepper to season.
As always, give it a taste to make sure everything is all right and make any needed adjustments.
green bean and avocado salad makes a great side dish or salad to bring to a picnic or party. You can keep it in the fridge overnight if you want to make it ahead of time. Just remember to use plenty of lemon juice. Not only for seasoning, but to keep the avocados from turning brown !
I hope you enjoy !
To begin:
You will need to blanch the green beans in boiling water for a few minutes until they are just tender. After they are tender immediately strain them and drop them into an ice bath to stop the cooking process and keep them nice and green. If you don't have enough ice to make an ice bath than you can use the spray nozzle on your sink and toss the beans under cold water until they are cool to the touch.
Once the cooked beans have completely cooled, begin to peel a couple of avocados. Cut the avocados in half, remove the seed and dice in small cubes. Add the avocado to the green beans and squeeze the juice of two or three lemons on to the green beans and avocado. Gently fold the avocado into the green beans trying not to smash up the avocado too much. At this point you can add the olive oil to the mixture. As a rule of thumb, add just enough so that when the dish sits you won't collect any excess oil at the bottom. Also add Kosher salt and pepper to season.
As always, give it a taste to make sure everything is all right and make any needed adjustments.
green bean and avocado salad makes a great side dish or salad to bring to a picnic or party. You can keep it in the fridge overnight if you want to make it ahead of time. Just remember to use plenty of lemon juice. Not only for seasoning, but to keep the avocados from turning brown !
I hope you enjoy !
Supporting Your Local Chinese Farmer
Do you support your local Chinese farmer ? You might unknowingly so. It sounds absurd, but many U.S. companies and consumers are buying their produce from China because it's cheaper than the produce that's grown here in the U.S., this goes for Organic produce as well.
I was first made aware of the availability of Chinese produce about seven or eight years ago when I was buying Garlic at the Central Market located in downtown Los Angeles. My normal price range as I recall was about $18-$21 for a three pound container of peeled garlic. But on this glorious day the container could be had for $5. I couldn't believe it ! I naturally asked, how this could be so ? Was there a huge surplus ? Did someones check bounce on a big order and now your sittin' on a truckload of Garlic ? What gives ? The agent explained to me that they were starting to get some produce in from China and I would soon be seeing lower prices on a few things like Apples, Broccoli, and Cilantro. I took the $5 Garlic and I was now supporting my local Chinese farmer.
Things seem to be running pretty smooth for Chinese farmers. In 2008 they became the third largest importer of agricultural and seafood products. Because of that fact alone, I think it's pretty safe to say that even the most devout "locavore" has sampled the fruits of the Chinese farmers hard work.
We are constantly being bombarded by information about all sorts of concerning subjects making it easy to drown out many of the red flags when it comes to imports coming from China. Let's just take a moment and look back at a few, such as the milk derived product baby formula, which tested positive for melamine, (an industrial chemical to make plastic) and sickened tens of thousands of children in 2008. They also found some melamine in coffee products and recalled those as well. Then there was the epidemic of peoples beloved dogs and cats dropping dead because the pet food from China was bad, that was in 2007. That very same year the F.D.A. held all farm raised seafood shipments until the shippers could prove that they had no traces of unapproved drug residue.
But before we throw all Chinese farmers under the bus, let's be clear that there's still more good than bad in this world and not all Chinese farmers use dangerous drugs and other chemicals on their crops...just the ones who grow food for the U.S.
As a cured meat junkie I had wondered why we couldn't get certain items that I had eaten in Europe such as Pata Negra which is coincidentally now allowed in the U.S. as of 2007. It was explained to me by an old employer of mine in Boston that "you have to have F.D.A. inspectors come to your location and that's too expensive for small producers". Although a little on the simple side, very true.
Currently there are two main agencies that are responsible for all of this and their work is supported by a select few federal, state and local agencies. They are the F.D.A. and the U.S.D.A.'s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). I'm not really sure what their intentions are because although all imported food products must meet the same safety standards as domestically produced foods, international trade rules permit a foreign country to apply its own, differing, regulatory authorities and institutional systems in meeting such standards, under an internationally recognized concept known as "equivalence".
I chose the Chinese farmer subject because of a conversation that I had with someone the other day about Soy Milk. He told me that some Soy Milk is made with Soy Beans from China because beans from the U.S. are too expensive. I honestly didn't know what to say. On one hand I thought that there was no way that this was plausible but then I had an instant reality check and said to myself- "why not?" Cash is king and the cheaper price wins the contract. This is such the case for Silk brand Soy Milk. Silk was founded in Boulder in 1996 and sold its operations to Dean Foods in 2002, which is coincidentally the same year they started to support Farm Aid, a not for profit who later allowed them to present a Farm Aid concert in 2009. So I guess when Farm Aid states that they support food from family farmers, they mean Chinese family farmers! In 2009 Dean Foods got busted for using Soy from China and not notifying consumers that it wasn't organic at which point they changed the label from "organic" to "natural". These guys account for roughly 75% of all refrigerated Soy Milk sales here in the U.S. which when you think about it is nearly everything.
So next time you have a moment, do a little research about some of your favorite food products. I think that you may be surprised as to who owns them and where some of them source their ingredients from. Let's give our American farmers a hand and make a conscious effort to buy American agricultural products.
I was first made aware of the availability of Chinese produce about seven or eight years ago when I was buying Garlic at the Central Market located in downtown Los Angeles. My normal price range as I recall was about $18-$21 for a three pound container of peeled garlic. But on this glorious day the container could be had for $5. I couldn't believe it ! I naturally asked, how this could be so ? Was there a huge surplus ? Did someones check bounce on a big order and now your sittin' on a truckload of Garlic ? What gives ? The agent explained to me that they were starting to get some produce in from China and I would soon be seeing lower prices on a few things like Apples, Broccoli, and Cilantro. I took the $5 Garlic and I was now supporting my local Chinese farmer.
Things seem to be running pretty smooth for Chinese farmers. In 2008 they became the third largest importer of agricultural and seafood products. Because of that fact alone, I think it's pretty safe to say that even the most devout "locavore" has sampled the fruits of the Chinese farmers hard work.
We are constantly being bombarded by information about all sorts of concerning subjects making it easy to drown out many of the red flags when it comes to imports coming from China. Let's just take a moment and look back at a few, such as the milk derived product baby formula, which tested positive for melamine, (an industrial chemical to make plastic) and sickened tens of thousands of children in 2008. They also found some melamine in coffee products and recalled those as well. Then there was the epidemic of peoples beloved dogs and cats dropping dead because the pet food from China was bad, that was in 2007. That very same year the F.D.A. held all farm raised seafood shipments until the shippers could prove that they had no traces of unapproved drug residue.
But before we throw all Chinese farmers under the bus, let's be clear that there's still more good than bad in this world and not all Chinese farmers use dangerous drugs and other chemicals on their crops...just the ones who grow food for the U.S.
As a cured meat junkie I had wondered why we couldn't get certain items that I had eaten in Europe such as Pata Negra which is coincidentally now allowed in the U.S. as of 2007. It was explained to me by an old employer of mine in Boston that "you have to have F.D.A. inspectors come to your location and that's too expensive for small producers". Although a little on the simple side, very true.
Currently there are two main agencies that are responsible for all of this and their work is supported by a select few federal, state and local agencies. They are the F.D.A. and the U.S.D.A.'s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). I'm not really sure what their intentions are because although all imported food products must meet the same safety standards as domestically produced foods, international trade rules permit a foreign country to apply its own, differing, regulatory authorities and institutional systems in meeting such standards, under an internationally recognized concept known as "equivalence".
I chose the Chinese farmer subject because of a conversation that I had with someone the other day about Soy Milk. He told me that some Soy Milk is made with Soy Beans from China because beans from the U.S. are too expensive. I honestly didn't know what to say. On one hand I thought that there was no way that this was plausible but then I had an instant reality check and said to myself- "why not?" Cash is king and the cheaper price wins the contract. This is such the case for Silk brand Soy Milk. Silk was founded in Boulder in 1996 and sold its operations to Dean Foods in 2002, which is coincidentally the same year they started to support Farm Aid, a not for profit who later allowed them to present a Farm Aid concert in 2009. So I guess when Farm Aid states that they support food from family farmers, they mean Chinese family farmers! In 2009 Dean Foods got busted for using Soy from China and not notifying consumers that it wasn't organic at which point they changed the label from "organic" to "natural". These guys account for roughly 75% of all refrigerated Soy Milk sales here in the U.S. which when you think about it is nearly everything.
So next time you have a moment, do a little research about some of your favorite food products. I think that you may be surprised as to who owns them and where some of them source their ingredients from. Let's give our American farmers a hand and make a conscious effort to buy American agricultural products.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Another Stroh's Story: The Morning My Bullmastiff Ate Our Bread Order
Back in the late 1990's the super chefs and their stories were in full swing. It seemed like everyone out there was getting a $60 hardcover cookbook with giant glossy pictures of tiny plates drizzled with colorful sauces. I had started a small collection of my own and one book in particular featured prominent woman chefs and their daily routines. The one story that I loved the most was about a chef that even though she worked 16 hours a day, she still had time to take her dog to work with her in the morning while going over the plan for the day. I thought to myself that working so much wouldn't be so bad if you could bring your dog with you ! Maybe the dog could hang out in the office for most of the day too ! It would be perfect, a cool dog and my own restaurant. The plan was set.
The one thing about plans is that they have a tendency to change unexpectedly sometimes. I had envisioned a Golden Retriever and a French Restaurant in New York City. I ended up with an obnoxious 135 pound Bullmastiff named Mulch and a deli in Venice Beach. Looking back though, I'm happier that things turned out the way they did. Mulch was a great dog, and although a restaurant is really no place for an animal, I really enjoyed having him around.
When we first opened Stroh's my wife Christina and I rented a bedroom in a three story loft on the ground floor. It wasn't much at all, and about all you could fit in there was our bed,clothes and a chair that I never sat in. We managed to pull of about a year in that place with Mulch stinking up the place at the foot of our bed every night. To say it was cramped is an understatement. To make things a little easier on the dog I hired a dog walker to take him on some extra walks. The walkers name was Dog Care Daddy and he had a handlebar moustache that made him look like he was either going to break out in show tunes or pitch a fastball. He drove around Venice in three wheeled rickshaw type bike that had an electric motor and he stole the show every time he pulled up to Stroh's to pick Mulch up for a walk.
Because of traffic and an early opening time, I would go to the produce market downtown at around 4:00a.m. a few times a week to pick up supplies. I would then drive back to the shop, unload and go grab Mulch to take him for a morning walk. Breaking a routine like this can be like throwing a wrench in the spokes of a wheel. One morning in particular it seemed as though everyone's routine was out of balance. I was running late at the produce market, hit traffic, and didn't get back to the shop until it was too late to take the dog for a walk. So he stayed in our room until Christina left for work at around 7:00 a.m. On a normal morning at Stroh's we had a our bread order well before 5:00 a.m. so that we could start to prepare our panini sandwiches and get our breakfast pastries put out in the case. This not being a normal morning, our bread order was late and probably didn't arrive until sometime around 6:30a.m., and was sneaked in and dropped off in the back so I wouldn't yell at the delivery driver for being late. This would have worked out just fine, except I was inside calling the bakery wondering where my bread was the whole time. When 7:00 rolled around, Christina brought Mulch over to the shop to drop him off in the back for the dogwalker. She walked around the back like she had done countless times before, opened the gate, let the dog in and closed the gate behind him. I don't pretend to know what type of thoughts or feelings that a dog would have when presented with five dozen bagels, three dozen croissants and about 40 pounds of bread but I can imagine that they were positive thoughts. That fat son of a bitch ate all of the bagels and every single croissant, when I came out back to check on him and realized what had happened he was so big that he looked like he was about to explode all over the walls. I gave him his usual verbal thrashing recieved after eating something that he wasn't supposed to and gathered the rest of the bread order that was miraculously placed by the driver up high on some shelving. To this day I am amazed at how fast Mulch made our bread order disappear.
For the record, Mulch had three emergency surgeries to remove a "foreign" object from his stomach. The first time was for a mashed potato masher handle from an antique potato masher that I had in my house. The second time was to remove a corn cob that had become lodged in his intestine. The third time was for a Mango pit that claimed his life.
Mulch wasn't a dumb dog, he just did a lot of dumb things.
The one thing about plans is that they have a tendency to change unexpectedly sometimes. I had envisioned a Golden Retriever and a French Restaurant in New York City. I ended up with an obnoxious 135 pound Bullmastiff named Mulch and a deli in Venice Beach. Looking back though, I'm happier that things turned out the way they did. Mulch was a great dog, and although a restaurant is really no place for an animal, I really enjoyed having him around.
When we first opened Stroh's my wife Christina and I rented a bedroom in a three story loft on the ground floor. It wasn't much at all, and about all you could fit in there was our bed,clothes and a chair that I never sat in. We managed to pull of about a year in that place with Mulch stinking up the place at the foot of our bed every night. To say it was cramped is an understatement. To make things a little easier on the dog I hired a dog walker to take him on some extra walks. The walkers name was Dog Care Daddy and he had a handlebar moustache that made him look like he was either going to break out in show tunes or pitch a fastball. He drove around Venice in three wheeled rickshaw type bike that had an electric motor and he stole the show every time he pulled up to Stroh's to pick Mulch up for a walk.
Because of traffic and an early opening time, I would go to the produce market downtown at around 4:00a.m. a few times a week to pick up supplies. I would then drive back to the shop, unload and go grab Mulch to take him for a morning walk. Breaking a routine like this can be like throwing a wrench in the spokes of a wheel. One morning in particular it seemed as though everyone's routine was out of balance. I was running late at the produce market, hit traffic, and didn't get back to the shop until it was too late to take the dog for a walk. So he stayed in our room until Christina left for work at around 7:00 a.m. On a normal morning at Stroh's we had a our bread order well before 5:00 a.m. so that we could start to prepare our panini sandwiches and get our breakfast pastries put out in the case. This not being a normal morning, our bread order was late and probably didn't arrive until sometime around 6:30a.m., and was sneaked in and dropped off in the back so I wouldn't yell at the delivery driver for being late. This would have worked out just fine, except I was inside calling the bakery wondering where my bread was the whole time. When 7:00 rolled around, Christina brought Mulch over to the shop to drop him off in the back for the dogwalker. She walked around the back like she had done countless times before, opened the gate, let the dog in and closed the gate behind him. I don't pretend to know what type of thoughts or feelings that a dog would have when presented with five dozen bagels, three dozen croissants and about 40 pounds of bread but I can imagine that they were positive thoughts. That fat son of a bitch ate all of the bagels and every single croissant, when I came out back to check on him and realized what had happened he was so big that he looked like he was about to explode all over the walls. I gave him his usual verbal thrashing recieved after eating something that he wasn't supposed to and gathered the rest of the bread order that was miraculously placed by the driver up high on some shelving. To this day I am amazed at how fast Mulch made our bread order disappear.
For the record, Mulch had three emergency surgeries to remove a "foreign" object from his stomach. The first time was for a mashed potato masher handle from an antique potato masher that I had in my house. The second time was to remove a corn cob that had become lodged in his intestine. The third time was for a Mango pit that claimed his life.
Mulch wasn't a dumb dog, he just did a lot of dumb things.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
After 900 Miles, One Question Remained Unanswered
Question: Do the Bio-Engineers responsible for Genetically Modified Corn buy Organic Milk ?
Now for a little back story on how the question popped up in my head.. Last week, I took my two boys on a road trip to Idaho to visit some family and get out of L.A. for a little while. We opted to drive this time so we could enjoy the Eastern Sierras and all of the expansive views and interesting towns they have offer along the way. Each way the trip is roughly 900 miles with pretty long distances between most of the little towns.
On the return trip from Boise while driving through the wide open and desolate grasslands of South East Oregon, I picked up an A.M. radio station that I was able to listen to for a couple of hours until just a little past somewhere outside of Winnemuca, NV. The topics on this particular radio program ranged from alien abduction to genetically mutated goats (I kid you not) and pigs with human hearts rather than humans with pig hearts. One of the callers on the show really sparked my interest, because he was speaking about Genetically Modified Crops, a subject in which I have a lot of interest. As he was speaking about the possibility of a termination gene possibly wiping out all of the native grasses and weeds in North America and turning the country into a big dirt mound, the radio host asked a really good question that I had often wondered myself but never had the time to learn about. The question was - "How do they make a corn plant or soybean plant resistant to Roundup?" The answer given to the question was that scientists modify the DNA allowing the plant to absorb herbicide, rather than be destroyed by it.
For those of you that aren't aware, Roundup is a herbicide that kills everything, not just "weeds". If there were to be a family tree of Herbicides you could say that Roundup has a cousin that goes by the name of DDT, and another cousin named Agent Orange- you may have heard of them. Nasty stuff.
The radio had turned to complete static and there was nothing else I could pick up. My boys were fast asleep and we had a couple of hours until we arrived in Reno to stay the night. As the miles were stacking up, I started to wonder about the pesticides and herbicides that accumulate inside of plants and how much Roundup is inside each little kernel of corn. I was wondering how things may or may not might have been different in our lives if we didn't give our kids organic milk or watch what they eat. As a parent I am now much more hyper sensitive to the potential and actual harms that things like pesticides and herbicides in our diets can cause. My mind kept circling back to the word "proof". There was really no way to "prove" all of the points about organic foods being more beneficial to your health.. or was there?
I thought that the scientists behind the creation of the Genetically Modified Corn must know of all of the possible health repercussions caused to humans by eating foods created with or made by GM corn. And corn is a major part of a Dairy Cow's diet, and Toxins pass from the corn through the cow into the milk and then into our bodies. Sooooooooo, if this stuff is actually bad for us than what do those responsible for creating it do to avoid it ?
Which brings us to my question that goes unanswered for now, and that is.. Do the scientists responsible for Genetically Modified Corn buy Organic Milk ?
My guess would be yes.
Now for a little back story on how the question popped up in my head.. Last week, I took my two boys on a road trip to Idaho to visit some family and get out of L.A. for a little while. We opted to drive this time so we could enjoy the Eastern Sierras and all of the expansive views and interesting towns they have offer along the way. Each way the trip is roughly 900 miles with pretty long distances between most of the little towns.
On the return trip from Boise while driving through the wide open and desolate grasslands of South East Oregon, I picked up an A.M. radio station that I was able to listen to for a couple of hours until just a little past somewhere outside of Winnemuca, NV. The topics on this particular radio program ranged from alien abduction to genetically mutated goats (I kid you not) and pigs with human hearts rather than humans with pig hearts. One of the callers on the show really sparked my interest, because he was speaking about Genetically Modified Crops, a subject in which I have a lot of interest. As he was speaking about the possibility of a termination gene possibly wiping out all of the native grasses and weeds in North America and turning the country into a big dirt mound, the radio host asked a really good question that I had often wondered myself but never had the time to learn about. The question was - "How do they make a corn plant or soybean plant resistant to Roundup?" The answer given to the question was that scientists modify the DNA allowing the plant to absorb herbicide, rather than be destroyed by it.
For those of you that aren't aware, Roundup is a herbicide that kills everything, not just "weeds". If there were to be a family tree of Herbicides you could say that Roundup has a cousin that goes by the name of DDT, and another cousin named Agent Orange- you may have heard of them. Nasty stuff.
The radio had turned to complete static and there was nothing else I could pick up. My boys were fast asleep and we had a couple of hours until we arrived in Reno to stay the night. As the miles were stacking up, I started to wonder about the pesticides and herbicides that accumulate inside of plants and how much Roundup is inside each little kernel of corn. I was wondering how things may or may not might have been different in our lives if we didn't give our kids organic milk or watch what they eat. As a parent I am now much more hyper sensitive to the potential and actual harms that things like pesticides and herbicides in our diets can cause. My mind kept circling back to the word "proof". There was really no way to "prove" all of the points about organic foods being more beneficial to your health.. or was there?
I thought that the scientists behind the creation of the Genetically Modified Corn must know of all of the possible health repercussions caused to humans by eating foods created with or made by GM corn. And corn is a major part of a Dairy Cow's diet, and Toxins pass from the corn through the cow into the milk and then into our bodies. Sooooooooo, if this stuff is actually bad for us than what do those responsible for creating it do to avoid it ?
Which brings us to my question that goes unanswered for now, and that is.. Do the scientists responsible for Genetically Modified Corn buy Organic Milk ?
My guess would be yes.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
From The Breakfast Burrito Files
I'm sure that many people out there lay claim to the invention of the Breakfast Burrito. In fact, the most reliable source for information used for doctoral thesis's and high school reports the world over (Wikipedia) states that a woman in New Mexico claims to have invented it in 1975. I personally question this because I ate a Breakfast Burrito at a restaurant in Seal Beach who's owner also claims to have invented the Breakfast Burrito back in the 70's, with old newspaper cutouts to prove it.
The truth be told, I actually invented it back in 2004 here in Venice Beach. Wikipedia is definitely incorrect and the guy in Seal Beach doesn't know what he's talking about. Looking back on it all I can't believe that I didn't get any press.
When you set out to create something for yourself or others to eat, there are some crucial factors that come into play that must never be overlooked. When we're talking Breakfast Burrito, I'm going to have to take the reigns on this one and interject copious amounts of personal opinion when it comes to the factors.
As for Burrito factors, one important factor is the texture. Sloppy food is just that, sloppy. There is nothing worse than a heaping portion of bland eggs and beans haphazardly rolled up in a tortilla. There's just no texture variety or creativity there, even if you add chili. A good example of such a Burrito can be found at Whole Foods right here in good ol' Venice, they have a Breakfast Burrito that is basically mushy garbage wrapped in a tortilla, and I'm sorry if you have to eat them.
The texture must define what is in the Breakfast Burrito, you have to be able to discern what it is that you are eating. There has to be a certain amount of "crunch" given to the Burrito by a crispy Hash Brown and some elasticity from Cheese. Maybe a cool splash of tangy Tomato from a Tomato that has been diced with care. Or some Buttery Avocado. The tortilla's texture has to be warm and snuggle soft, like a baby's blanket fresh from the dryer. You get the picture.
Another important is the roll/fold factor. Proper roll and fold can't be obtained unless the proper volume of ingredients are placed within the Burrito shell. The three things that bother me the most in this world are Nuclear Weapons, Carnivals, and Breakfast Burritos that are poorly rolled and fall apart at the seams. If your Breakfast Burrito isn't wrapped up properly I'm afraid it means that the person making it didn't put their heart into it.
The last but not final factor I will bestow upon you is the size factor. I understand that in these times of economic uncertainty, consumers are looking for value, but this can quite easily lead to over consumption. While a Burrito that shares a similar appearance in size and shape to an airline pillow may be appealing to some, it's just waaaaay too much and there is no need for portions that size. The Breakfast Burrito by nature isn't known for its health qualities. There's quite a bit going on in there and each kitchen or person has their own cooking technique to get the job done. In other words, one place might not use any cooking fat to cook the Burrito, while another place tallies up 20 - 30 grams of it or more.
Taking all of this into consideration Stroh's created a Breakfast Burrito that could cure a hangover and Gordon Ramsay himself would describe as "neat and tidy".
Our first version that we offered on the menu, only had Bacon as an option for meat. Followed shortly by regular Chiorizo and then Soy Chiorizo for those who don't eat meat, or simply detest Pork. From there many of our regular customers created their own personal favorites. Some only wanted Egg Whites and Avocado. While others who weren't afraid to ask, like Andrew Lin, would push the culinary envelope with outlandish lowbrow culinary requests like his personal favorite the " Buffalo Fried Chicken Breast Breakfast Burrito". For myself I love a Breakfast Burrito with extra extra Bacon and swimming in J.D. Cowles' All Spice Hot Sauce. J.D. walked into Stroh's one day and showed me some of his Hot Sauce that he had painstakingly created and bottled. He also turned out to be from Spencerport N.Y. a village not far from where I grew up. The Hot Sauce Pedigree up there is outstanding I assure you. J.D. convinced me to place his Hot Sauce on the shelves for retail and in exchange he would provide me with sample bottles for my customers to use. His sauce was such a hit that at times we went through at least eight gallons a month of Hot Sauce just for our Breakfast. He now sells it around town and I have seen it at Surfas in Culver City and Whole Foods here in Venice.
Often my main hombre in the kitchen, Manny, would only require eye contact and a simple nod to get your order going and five to ten minutes later you had a party in your hands. Although never simple, accommodating a customers wants and needs no matter how time consuming is always rewarding. Memories like this wash away any bad tastes from my whole experience and make me want to re-open when the timing is right. I'm so glad I invented the Breakfast Burrito.
For those of you who wish to make a Breakfast Burrito in your own homes that have never tried or are having a hard time duplicating what we did I will pass on a few tips. The first is that you only need no more than two Eggs in a Breakfast Burrito. A standard 10" Tortilla can't really hold more than that when you add the other ingredients.
Start out by cooking all of your ingredients separately. Saving the Eggs for last . If you are using regular or Soy Chiorizo be sure to break it up real good by moving it around the pan a lot and hacking away at it with a wooden spoon. If you don't break it up it will stay clumpy and burn adding flavors that you don't want.
When it's all ready to wrap up into a Burrito, put the mixed ingredients in, give it one fold over and pull the top flap back two thirds of the way. Then fold the left and right ears over towards the middle and finish rolling keeping your roll even and tight.
Keep your eyes open and let me know of any great Breakfast Burrito spots so I can pass them on to others or write them down in the comment section below. If no one has any I guess I could start selling them out of my back alley at a fair price !
Till next time !
The truth be told, I actually invented it back in 2004 here in Venice Beach. Wikipedia is definitely incorrect and the guy in Seal Beach doesn't know what he's talking about. Looking back on it all I can't believe that I didn't get any press.
When you set out to create something for yourself or others to eat, there are some crucial factors that come into play that must never be overlooked. When we're talking Breakfast Burrito, I'm going to have to take the reigns on this one and interject copious amounts of personal opinion when it comes to the factors.
As for Burrito factors, one important factor is the texture. Sloppy food is just that, sloppy. There is nothing worse than a heaping portion of bland eggs and beans haphazardly rolled up in a tortilla. There's just no texture variety or creativity there, even if you add chili. A good example of such a Burrito can be found at Whole Foods right here in good ol' Venice, they have a Breakfast Burrito that is basically mushy garbage wrapped in a tortilla, and I'm sorry if you have to eat them.
The texture must define what is in the Breakfast Burrito, you have to be able to discern what it is that you are eating. There has to be a certain amount of "crunch" given to the Burrito by a crispy Hash Brown and some elasticity from Cheese. Maybe a cool splash of tangy Tomato from a Tomato that has been diced with care. Or some Buttery Avocado. The tortilla's texture has to be warm and snuggle soft, like a baby's blanket fresh from the dryer. You get the picture.
Another important is the roll/fold factor. Proper roll and fold can't be obtained unless the proper volume of ingredients are placed within the Burrito shell. The three things that bother me the most in this world are Nuclear Weapons, Carnivals, and Breakfast Burritos that are poorly rolled and fall apart at the seams. If your Breakfast Burrito isn't wrapped up properly I'm afraid it means that the person making it didn't put their heart into it.
The last but not final factor I will bestow upon you is the size factor. I understand that in these times of economic uncertainty, consumers are looking for value, but this can quite easily lead to over consumption. While a Burrito that shares a similar appearance in size and shape to an airline pillow may be appealing to some, it's just waaaaay too much and there is no need for portions that size. The Breakfast Burrito by nature isn't known for its health qualities. There's quite a bit going on in there and each kitchen or person has their own cooking technique to get the job done. In other words, one place might not use any cooking fat to cook the Burrito, while another place tallies up 20 - 30 grams of it or more.
Taking all of this into consideration Stroh's created a Breakfast Burrito that could cure a hangover and Gordon Ramsay himself would describe as "neat and tidy".
Our first version that we offered on the menu, only had Bacon as an option for meat. Followed shortly by regular Chiorizo and then Soy Chiorizo for those who don't eat meat, or simply detest Pork. From there many of our regular customers created their own personal favorites. Some only wanted Egg Whites and Avocado. While others who weren't afraid to ask, like Andrew Lin, would push the culinary envelope with outlandish lowbrow culinary requests like his personal favorite the " Buffalo Fried Chicken Breast Breakfast Burrito". For myself I love a Breakfast Burrito with extra extra Bacon and swimming in J.D. Cowles' All Spice Hot Sauce. J.D. walked into Stroh's one day and showed me some of his Hot Sauce that he had painstakingly created and bottled. He also turned out to be from Spencerport N.Y. a village not far from where I grew up. The Hot Sauce Pedigree up there is outstanding I assure you. J.D. convinced me to place his Hot Sauce on the shelves for retail and in exchange he would provide me with sample bottles for my customers to use. His sauce was such a hit that at times we went through at least eight gallons a month of Hot Sauce just for our Breakfast. He now sells it around town and I have seen it at Surfas in Culver City and Whole Foods here in Venice.
Often my main hombre in the kitchen, Manny, would only require eye contact and a simple nod to get your order going and five to ten minutes later you had a party in your hands. Although never simple, accommodating a customers wants and needs no matter how time consuming is always rewarding. Memories like this wash away any bad tastes from my whole experience and make me want to re-open when the timing is right. I'm so glad I invented the Breakfast Burrito.
For those of you who wish to make a Breakfast Burrito in your own homes that have never tried or are having a hard time duplicating what we did I will pass on a few tips. The first is that you only need no more than two Eggs in a Breakfast Burrito. A standard 10" Tortilla can't really hold more than that when you add the other ingredients.
Start out by cooking all of your ingredients separately. Saving the Eggs for last . If you are using regular or Soy Chiorizo be sure to break it up real good by moving it around the pan a lot and hacking away at it with a wooden spoon. If you don't break it up it will stay clumpy and burn adding flavors that you don't want.
When it's all ready to wrap up into a Burrito, put the mixed ingredients in, give it one fold over and pull the top flap back two thirds of the way. Then fold the left and right ears over towards the middle and finish rolling keeping your roll even and tight.
Keep your eyes open and let me know of any great Breakfast Burrito spots so I can pass them on to others or write them down in the comment section below. If no one has any I guess I could start selling them out of my back alley at a fair price !
Till next time !
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
One Of The Stories I Have Been Waiting To Tell
If one were to ask me what the best part about owning a business in Venice was, I would hands down have to say it was the people who lived there. The folks here in Venice gave me years of happiness and entertainment while I was standing behind the counter of Stroh's. Often described as one of the only places around where it was acceptable to roll out of bed in the morning without brushing your teeth or changing into your clothes to grab a cup of coffee, Stroh's turned out to be a pretty interesting place frequented by some pretty strange birds and I have a lot of funny stories about them.
I would have to categorize the "customers" who made so many lasting impressions into three categories to make it easier on me to remember. Category number one were people that actually worked on a regular basis at a regular job, they always paid full price and never had a problem with it. Category two, were people who had worked in the past or just finished up a gig or were in between paintings and were waiting for more work and always paid but needed a little discount from time to time. Category three was reserved for those who had no desire to work, only mooch and beg. Category two and three made for the most interesting people. My version of interesting might be a little different from yours, but I am sure you would appreciate it.
One day, a man that would fit into category number three decided to pop in to Stroh's and check out what we had going on. I came to learn that his name was Frank (not Steak Salad Frank) and he had just finished serving a little bit of time in County and he was down on his luck. Go figure. Well, just like you never feed a stray cat....Frank started to make a pretty regular appearance during prime business hours and I just did'nt have the heart to turn him down. Ah well, nobody's perfect. It didn't take too long and as you can imagine he started to become a nuisance, customers and employees alike started to grow tired of him.
Enter my Wife. My Wife has a no nonsence, take no prisoners approach to everything. That's why I love her. Ooooohhhhh she's so tough. Exactly what someone like me needs.
One day Frank made the fatal mistake of walking in to Stroh's while my wife was working and asked for a sandwich. My wife politely responded "no", and probably fully expected him to just walk away. By this time Frank had become pretty entitled to his free sandwiches and wasn't going to take no for an answer from an unfamiliar face without causing some sort of chaos. So, in a not so creative fashion he proceeded to cuss out my wife with no shame whatsoever and tell her that he was going to get his sandwich if it was the last thing he did. Now that he had alienated everyone in the store it was time for him to leave and go about the rest of his day.
Frank made good on his promise in a big way. To this day I am still impressed with his handy work and because of it, don't really harbor any ill feelings towards him. Two nights after he had his episode at Stroh's, I was jolted out of bed by my phone at about 3:00 a.m.. The caller ID showed that it was my alarm company calling me. I answered the phone and the operator on the other end told me that the motion sensors were going off at Stroh's and that the police were on their way. I put my clothes on to meet the police at the shop and survey the potential damage and missing items. We always kept our cash register with change for the next day, and I figured that this was the target, possibly also a broken window, smashed in door or some missing equipment. But when I arrived, there were no broken windows and the front and back doors were still locked and all of the stores equipment was right where it was supposed to be.
When the police officers said it was safe to go in, upon further inspection I noticed that the door to the six foot deli case which held the sandwiches was sitting wide open. This was strange to me not only because it was three o' clock in the morning and I thought that there was still the off chance I was dreaming, but also nothing else in the store whatsoever had been touched. The burglar had broken in and had only taken something from the deli case ! The officer that walked around the side of the building to do a perimeter check noticed that there was a trash can underneath our bathroom window, which was located a full 12 feet above the side walk and only about 24" wide by 12" tall. Beyond the trash can the officer said that "there was a trail of cheese and grilled vegetables leading around the corner". It did'nt take long to figure out that the person responsible for this used a trash can to climb through the bathroom window to steal the one last sandwich out of our deli case and then climb back through the very same window.
I recalled that when I closed the previous night, I left the one last sandwich that didn't sell in the case because I thought that someone would be along to buy it before we closed up for the night. But at the end of the night, the lights were turned off, the floor was mopped and the sandwich was forgotten. Left out as easy prey for a vengeful and ambitious sandwich thief.
It would be a while before I saw Frank in the neighborhood again, and by that time I didn't really care about it anymore anyway. I later received word that the police were looking for him because he was stealing peoples car keys off of their counters then later trying to offer them back saying that he "found them in the alley" and he was looking for a reward. Not the dumbest idea when you think about it, but also not the brightest.
Well, that's my story about "Frank the Sandwich Thief", not to be confused with "Steak Salad Frank". Join me again shortly for some of the tips and secrets to an amazing great breakfast burrito.
I would have to categorize the "customers" who made so many lasting impressions into three categories to make it easier on me to remember. Category number one were people that actually worked on a regular basis at a regular job, they always paid full price and never had a problem with it. Category two, were people who had worked in the past or just finished up a gig or were in between paintings and were waiting for more work and always paid but needed a little discount from time to time. Category three was reserved for those who had no desire to work, only mooch and beg. Category two and three made for the most interesting people. My version of interesting might be a little different from yours, but I am sure you would appreciate it.
One day, a man that would fit into category number three decided to pop in to Stroh's and check out what we had going on. I came to learn that his name was Frank (not Steak Salad Frank) and he had just finished serving a little bit of time in County and he was down on his luck. Go figure. Well, just like you never feed a stray cat....Frank started to make a pretty regular appearance during prime business hours and I just did'nt have the heart to turn him down. Ah well, nobody's perfect. It didn't take too long and as you can imagine he started to become a nuisance, customers and employees alike started to grow tired of him.
Enter my Wife. My Wife has a no nonsence, take no prisoners approach to everything. That's why I love her. Ooooohhhhh she's so tough. Exactly what someone like me needs.
One day Frank made the fatal mistake of walking in to Stroh's while my wife was working and asked for a sandwich. My wife politely responded "no", and probably fully expected him to just walk away. By this time Frank had become pretty entitled to his free sandwiches and wasn't going to take no for an answer from an unfamiliar face without causing some sort of chaos. So, in a not so creative fashion he proceeded to cuss out my wife with no shame whatsoever and tell her that he was going to get his sandwich if it was the last thing he did. Now that he had alienated everyone in the store it was time for him to leave and go about the rest of his day.
Frank made good on his promise in a big way. To this day I am still impressed with his handy work and because of it, don't really harbor any ill feelings towards him. Two nights after he had his episode at Stroh's, I was jolted out of bed by my phone at about 3:00 a.m.. The caller ID showed that it was my alarm company calling me. I answered the phone and the operator on the other end told me that the motion sensors were going off at Stroh's and that the police were on their way. I put my clothes on to meet the police at the shop and survey the potential damage and missing items. We always kept our cash register with change for the next day, and I figured that this was the target, possibly also a broken window, smashed in door or some missing equipment. But when I arrived, there were no broken windows and the front and back doors were still locked and all of the stores equipment was right where it was supposed to be.
When the police officers said it was safe to go in, upon further inspection I noticed that the door to the six foot deli case which held the sandwiches was sitting wide open. This was strange to me not only because it was three o' clock in the morning and I thought that there was still the off chance I was dreaming, but also nothing else in the store whatsoever had been touched. The burglar had broken in and had only taken something from the deli case ! The officer that walked around the side of the building to do a perimeter check noticed that there was a trash can underneath our bathroom window, which was located a full 12 feet above the side walk and only about 24" wide by 12" tall. Beyond the trash can the officer said that "there was a trail of cheese and grilled vegetables leading around the corner". It did'nt take long to figure out that the person responsible for this used a trash can to climb through the bathroom window to steal the one last sandwich out of our deli case and then climb back through the very same window.
I recalled that when I closed the previous night, I left the one last sandwich that didn't sell in the case because I thought that someone would be along to buy it before we closed up for the night. But at the end of the night, the lights were turned off, the floor was mopped and the sandwich was forgotten. Left out as easy prey for a vengeful and ambitious sandwich thief.
It would be a while before I saw Frank in the neighborhood again, and by that time I didn't really care about it anymore anyway. I later received word that the police were looking for him because he was stealing peoples car keys off of their counters then later trying to offer them back saying that he "found them in the alley" and he was looking for a reward. Not the dumbest idea when you think about it, but also not the brightest.
Well, that's my story about "Frank the Sandwich Thief", not to be confused with "Steak Salad Frank". Join me again shortly for some of the tips and secrets to an amazing great breakfast burrito.
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