Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Peas. Pasta. Salad.

Eastside Road, August 31, 2010—
THE PEAS WERE WARMED — "cooked" seems too strong a word — with butter, salt, and pepper. English peas from the Marin Farmers Market, still tasting remarkably fresh two days after purchase.

The pasta was Lindsey's favorite whole-wheat penne. I made pesto, picking the basil leaves from our garden this afternoon, pounding up the leaves with good red garlic, sea salt, and pine nuts. Alas, we're out of Parmesan: make a note to pick some up soon.

The usual green salad, but afterward a couple of fat slices of yellow heirloom tomato, also from Marin county. I hear that our local newspaper tells us today that fall is two months early, after a summer that arrived at least two weeks late: not much of a tomato season. Still, we're grateful for what we get.
Cheap Nero d'Avola

3 comments:

Curtis Faville said...

Charles:

Thanks for these entertaining posts over the last week.

We're definitely going to have check out Eva's old place.

There had been two very nice restaurants at this location, following the long history of Case de Eva (a typical, reliable, Mexican restaurant). One was Italian, the other less specific. Then some fish joint moved in, repainted the place horrific light blue, and just as suddenly, closed (or never opened--we weren't sure what had occurred). Finally, Locanda da Eva, and a resumption of the Italian theme.

As an aside, I'd be interested to know why you say so little about breakfasts. Miles Karpilow once said he thought breakfast almost a non-existent meal, "I only have a few little crusts, and maybe a mild tea before starting work," her averred. There's disagreement among the culinary community about the importance and value of substantial breakfasts. Some say it's "the most important meal" since it drives our energy and provides sustenance for our core working time. Others say a big breakfast will make us fat, that we should reserve our eating for "one big meal" per day. Then there's the "many small" meals theory.

As for myself, I don't like to drink alcohol before about 1:30 in the afternoon, or after 8:30 at night. My mild diabetic condition makes any heavy (or sweet) eating after that time problematic. Elsewise, I'm up for a good meal at almost any time, assuming it isn't under too formal circumstances, where the talk is more important than the food.

What kinds of breakfasts do you like, and why?

Charles Shere said...

Much to comment on in this comment, but I'll be brief:

Locanda da Eva has apparently nothing to do with the old Casa de Eva except for paying some kind of homage to it by maintaining the name. (Maybe the present name is a sort of play on words: "Eva's [former] location," as well as the Italianate "Eve's Locanda [Inn]."

In any case it has been a hard-luck location, perhaps too far from the campus end of Telegraph. You're right about the horrificness of the light blue.

We eat the same breakfast every morning: a slice of toast with honey (sometimes jam or marmalade) and a bowl or two of coffee with hot milk. Sunday is the exception, as I think I've noted, adding a soft-boiled egg to the meal. On the road, of course, we vary this routine.

Alcohol: Wine with dinner, almost invariably. (The exceptions: illness, or being trapped in a teetotaller restaurant, or with problematic friends.) There was a time we could drink a bottle of white and a bottle of red at lunch, then the same at dinner. But a) we were younger b) the wine was less alcoholic, c) those days are gone.

Curtis Faville said...

The essence of simplicity.