Back down the hill

Eastside Road, August 9, 2013—

DINNER AT THE NEIGHBORS' this evening, and I repeat what I wrote day before yesterday: it's a pleasure people still invite us to dinner. They know what they're subject to…

Tonight it was tri-tip and flatiron steak, grilled over oak in the fireplace. Neither cut existed in my youth. Well, technically, I guess tri-tip did, because according to Wikipedia it orignated in Oakland in the late 1950s, when I was in my early twenties, which must qualify as "youth." Not that I ate much steak in those days.

Bottom sirloin, Wikipedia says. Thing is, in my youth a steer (or "beef," if you prefer) was cut into a smaller number of pieces, larger pieces, than it seems to be today. The progression from then to now may have something to do with a finer sense of discrimination, probably of marketers rather than customers; or it may be related to the greater number of people able to buy beefsteak; or simply another byproduct of postmodernism, I don't know.

Again according to Wikipedia, flat iron steak is cut from the chuck, which of course had a special meaning to me in my youth — I won't go into that at the moment. Marbling, they say: not so apparent tonight.

In any case while I have liked tri-tips in the past I must say the flatiron seemed the tastier tonight: but there are many variables. The age: the breed: the source. In both cases it was local, "natural," probably organic beef; certainly not you garden variety feedlot cornfed antibiotic-raised stuff.

With it, tomato salad from the neighboring farm, and delicious green bell peppers, also grilled over the fire. Cave-men knew how to eat. Too bad so many of them never had green peppers or tomatoes…

Oh yes: and baked pears, our own, with almonds…

Picpoul de Pinet, Moulin de Gassac, 2011; cheap Italian red; cheap Spanish red

Back to Chez Panisse

The view from the upstairs porch, Chez Panisse

Berkeley, August 8, 2013—

AS NEARLY EVERYONE knows, Chez Panisse was closed for a number of weeks this last spring after a serious fire under its dining-room floor. And as nearly everyone knows, it reopened in late June, the dining areas completely refurbished and the front wall of the building rebuilt.

I left the country just a few days before the reopening, and only got home a week ago, so it was only tonight that I was able to see the restaurant at work again.

Of course I can't be objective about Chez Panisse: I've been associated with the restaurant from its opening. Perhaps that permits me some pride in its recovery from the fire, and the new beauty of the dining room.

We ate downstairs: Squash-blossom fritters, light as a feather, with cucumber salad and anise hyssop; King salmon à la nage (swimming) in a delicious vegetable broth wih broad beans and pistou; grilled quail with sage, fried croutons, pancetta, wild mushrooms, and roasted vegetables; mulberry ice cream on meringues with fresh peaches. A fine summer supper, intelligently composed and artfully prepared and served.

Rosé, Domaine Tempier (Bandol), 2012; Nebbiolo, Castello di Verduno (Langhe), 2011: both of them authoritative, and perfect with the food

• Chez Panisse, 1517 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley; 510-548-5525

Ribs

Eastside Road, August 7, 2013—

IT'S ALWAYS GRATIFYING, and perhaps a little bit surprising, that we're still invited to friends' houses for dinner from time to time. After all, most of them know I write about what we eat every day. Some of them think I'm a little bit nuts on the subject.

But they still do ask us to dinner, and we're always pleased to accept the invitation. Tonight it was these marvelous pork ribs, marinated in soy sauce and ginger and garlic of course and perhaps one or two other things, I'm not sure, I wasn't there to see. Mac grilled them over charcoal, and served them with a fine tomato salad.

We supplied the dessert: Three Twins vanilla ice cream and mulberries, blackberries, and raspberries from our garden. A fine dinner; an often hilarious evening. Thanks, folks!

Prosecco; Pinotage, but whose?

Fusili

Eastside Road, August 5, 2013—

ANYHOW, THAT'S WHAT I think they're called, fusili — fuses. There's a website somewhere with all the pasta shapes pictured and named, and it's interesting, but you'll have to look for it yourself.

Lindsey made here anchovy-and-garlic dressing, adding some chopped cherry tomatoes because we have them, and they're ripe — their acid lending a bright note to the anchovies. Green salad afterward, and a couple of chocolates for dessert.

Picpoul de Pinet, Moulin de Gassac, 2011 (a little bland)

Moroccan

Eastside Road, August 4, 2013—

IN SOLIDARITY WITH all those inconvenienced by the weekend's events in North Africa, let's eat Moroccan again tonight. (Last night it was those delicious lamb chops, remember?) I don't know where the recipe came from, or exactly how it was made, but we had a delicious pilaf tonight, involving peas, a red pepper, chicken stock, cinnamon, and rice of course; probably one or two other flavorings as well. They and Nancy Skall's broad beans were set off by Franco's Moroccan sausage, also chicken-based, and very flavorful and pointed.

Green salad, with a lemon-juice vinaigrette; applesauce; chocolates.

Merlot

Saturday salmon

Eastside Road, August 3, 2013—

FIRST TIME TO the Saturday Healdsburg farm market in two months, I guess, and how reassuring to find everything just as I'd expected. Same people, in about the same condition. Salmon from Dave, who's apparently out fishing, as he should be on such a fine morning. Lima beans from Nancy, who looks fit and yar as always. Tomatoes our neighbors the Hopkins — gee, the baby is getting big.

What a pleasure, and how lucky we all are…

Cheap Pinot grigio

Final catchup

Eastside Road, August 3, 2013—

YES, HOME AGAIN, and on the whole gratefully so. But in the flurry of settling back in, Eating Every Day has been on hold, and it's time to bring it up to date. So:

Nice, July 29:

The three-course menu at a restaurant du quartier where I've been previously on such an occasion: farewell dinner with friends. I had a delicious soft terrine of violet artichokes, faintly flavored with nutmeg, and then a perfectly grilled and salted contre-filet of beef, softened under chive butter, the most discreet possible use of chives. (My dislike of chives is the result of their nearly universal over-use: one stem, snipped into tiny bits, is enough for any single serving.) Also on the steak: sliced green pepper, pine nuts.

Dessert: cherry clafoutis, the only proper clafoutis, say I, compromised a bit by an irrelevant dusting of powdered sugar, otherwise very good, almost as good as Erik's a couple of weeks ago.

Côtes de Provence, Cuvée Rayne, 2011

* Rendez-vous des Amis, 176 Avenue de Rimiez, Nice; +33 4 93 84 49 66

In flight, July 30:

Some kind of pasta in tomato sauce, but why bother taking notes?

Berkeley, July 31:

An absolutely delicious porchetta sandwich from

• The Local Butcher Shop, 1600 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley; (510) 845-6328
Eastside Road, August 1:Franco's Sicilian sausage (pork, coriander, white pepper, fennel) with cabbage and the last of my purple potatoes; green salad

Trentatre Rosso, Salento (Puglia)

Santa Rosa, August 2:

Moroccan Style Lamb Chops, Preserved Lemon Couscous,
Spiced Almonds & Arugula. Lindsey let me share her Jones Farm Rabbit Rillettes, Spiced Grape Chutney

Tamì Nero d’Avola, Sicilia

• Willi's Wine Bar, 4404 Old Redwood Highway, Santa Rosa; 707.526.3096