NOM, NOM, NOM: CHEFS' HOLIDAYS DINNER AT THE AHWAHNEE! JANUARY 2012

Green Papaya Salad with Grilled Shrimp

Besides skiing at Badger Pass, ice skating at the Curry Village Ice Rink and shopping at the Curry Village Craft Bazaar, one of the highlights of winter in Yosemite is the Chefs' Holidays food extravaganza at the Ahwahnee Hotel.  Thanks to our friends Joe and Christy, we had the singular delight of attending the gala dinner prepared by sustainable seafood chef Rick Moonen.  There's nothing like sharing excellent food and wine with friends at a cozily lit table in the Ahwahnee's venerable old dining room on a cold winter's night.  We started off the evening with the superlative Green Papaya Salad above, accompanied by champagne (note the little 'c') and incredibly, the food got better and better as the evening progressed!

Christy and JoeI'm fairly certain that all Chefs' Holiday dinners are excellent.  After all, chefs from around the country descend on the Ahwahnee every winter to demonstrate their knowledge and skills to an appreciative audience about the joys of food and cooking.  Though the dinner is not inexpensive, it's worth every penny and you can augment your experience by attending free cooking demonstrations  (read: free food samples!) by the chefs designated for each holiday session.  And did I mention that each dinner course is accompanied by carefully selected wines?  Chef Rick did us a favor by choosing a crop of lovely California wines to savor with our seafood.  After Papaya Salad, everyone at the table lost their minds over the Arctic Char.  The cucumber/horseradish flavors sent the perfectly cooked fish over the moon as far as we were concerned.  By the time the Alaskan Black Cod arrived and was promptly consumed, Ted exclaimed that this was the best meal he had ever eaten.  When Ted says "best meal ever", he is of course referring to a subset of meals cooked outside of our home.  But still, high praise indeed.  No photo of the cod as I was halfway through when I realized I missed the photo op.  Too busy eating.  This also may have been my best meal ever as in addition to preferring seafood over just about anything, I like me some venison.  And it should always be prepared like this with onions, mushroms and brussels sprouts - perfect!

Applewood Smoked Arctic Char

Venison with Pear ButterChef Rick's current venture is RM Seafood in Las Vegas and his efforts to endorse sustainable seafood purveyors for restaurants resulted in "Chef of the Year" status for 2010 by the Monterey Bay Aquarium's influential Seafood Watch program.  Accolades aside, the man has a way with preparing seafood that is a boon for the rest of us.  We talked with Chef Rick after dinner and he shared how much he enjoyed hiking around Yosemite during his visit.  I shared how fortunate I am in visiting Las Vegas next month where I would be enjoying this dinner all over again.

We ended dinner with Sticky Toffee Pudding (right!) and the evening with a table visit from Ahwahnee General Manager Brett Archer and Ahwahnee Executive Chef Percy Whatley.  Both exuded enthusiasm for the dinner and the Chefs' Holidays event in general, as they should.  Both have had a hand in creating an exceptional dining experience enhanced by it's national park setting.  The Ahwahnee team and it's guest chefs are making winters bright in Yosemite National Park.

Michelle and Chef Rick Moonen

Brett and Ted

Did I mention there was a lot of wine?Junket Ratings:

Chefs' Holidays at the Ahwahnee: Junk in the Trunk!

HOME: WINTER? WHAT WINTER? JANUARY 2012

If ever there was a sign of the impending apocalypse, the photo above may be it.  That's my yard in Yosemite Valley at 4000 feet in the Sierra Nevada mountains.  Not one flake of snow has desended since the onset of winter last month.  Though we can have rather skimpy white christmases here, the snow has usually come and gone at least once if the holiday is green.  Last year the snow started at Thanksgiving and my yard looked like this (we got a new fence last year):

I came across this video by Steve Bumgardner, posted so we don't forget how winter looks in Yosemite.  Though lack of snow has made our day-to-day lives easier, the fact remains that Yosemite looks good in white.  The other fact that makes me a little uneasy is that the less snow we get in the winter, the less water there will be in the spring and summer. We live in a land of fierce wildfires that is forced to drain it's snowmelt for far-off thirsty cities, and sometimes there just isn't enough water to go around.  So pray to your weather gods, cross your fingers or shake your snow stick that we get some whopping storms sometime soon.

HOME/FOOD: HOLIDAY RECIPE KEEPERS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! DECEMBER 2011

So I'm stuck at home this New Year's Eve, and though that in and of itself is not unusual for us country mice, the fact that I am stuck at home with a broken foot is somewhat unusual.  No dancing for me, so I thought Ted and I might team up to cook something nice and ring in the new year, since I can only hobble around on crutches.  We plan to braise some short ribs in red wine and that got me to thinking about other dishes I'd cooked this holiday season with some success and how I'd like to share them with you (besides, I've already started drinking - Happy New Year!).  The success you see above is based on the absolute reliability of boxed cupcake mix (Funfetti!) and the whiskey crafting skill at the High West Distillery in Park City, Utah but not at the same time (well, yes, sometimes).  High West's Silver Whiskey has been my drink of choice this holiday season, as a little whiskey & soda or as a Clementine Cocktail.  I also got to thinking about what it means to be a cook who makes successful dishes now that I can't do it for a few weeks.  But first we must rewind back to the beginning of fall, as everyone who cooks knows that 'holiday season' starts in October.

Another delightful entry in the "small baked goods" category manifested through Olive Oil Pumpkin Bread which I baked in muffin tins and sprinkled with unroasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds).  October rolls in and the urge to cook with pumpkin becomes overwhelmingly incessant.  The husband doesn't like pumpkin-based products, but that rarely deters me.  I cook every day of my life with rare exceptions and wash mountains of dishes in the process.  We live in a place with no pizza delivery some 40 miles from the nearest fast food chain restaurant and though we do have a handful of local restaurants, they are jammed with tourists in the summer, closed in the winter or simply not feasible as a regular dinner (jacket and tie at the Ahwahnee Dining Room again?).  So I cook and cook and sometimes it just has to be for me.

Flank steak and chile relleno

We spent two weeks of our fall in Mexico this year and though that is a whole other culinary story, we cooked up some flank steak that digresses beautifully during the holiday parade of standing rib roasts, roasted turkeys and cured hams.  The flank steak was marinated with citrus juices and achiote paste based on a recipe found in an old special edition of Bon Appetit magazine called "The Soul of Mexico".  Ted's mother keeps the magazine at the house in Mexico and I have never found another copy anywhere, ever, not even online.  Guess I'll have to straight up steal it next visit.  Anyway, the original recipe called for marinating pork in achiote and cooking with banana leaves.  We used the marinade on beef without banana leaves and it's still righteous.  Achiote paste is more of a southern Mexico cooking staple made from ground annatto seeds and sold in small cakes that combine with lime and orange juice to make a sassy meat marinade.  I'm fairly certain you could use the marinade on anything and it would be delicious.  You don't have to be in Mexico to buy achiote paste - see that mexgrocer.com link on the right hand side of this page?

As a cook, if you're not into Halloween treats, you focus all of your fall energy on the Superbowl of Meals: Thanksgiving Dinner.  We shared our meal this year with friends who had just moved to California, so some native foods were in order.  Luckily my Thanksgiving stuffing staple involves artichokes and I've been making it for many years, so I've got it down pat.  Artichoke Parmesan Sourdough Stuffing comes from Sunset magazine back in the day and it remains one of their most popular recipes.  Sourdough bread is an art form in San Francisco, so this recipe really does represent Cali as best in show.  I keep this recipe for leftover turkey: Vietnamese Style Turkey Subs which is just really, really good, but this year I also tried something a little whack: Turkey Flatbread with Cranberry Salsa which is basically a flatbread pizza with all the flavors of Thanksgiving and... jalapenos.  If you're looking to mix it up after a week of turkey sandwiches, this is your recipe.  After years of practice, I am the kind of cook that can take 5 pantry items and 30 minutes to whip up a dinner, make sauces from scratch and comment intelligently on braising vs. sous vide, but ultimately I just want to make something that tastes good, and to me that often involves a collision of cultures and flavors (sometimes to Ted's dismay).  If you are not an adventurous eater, you may want to stick with turkey sandwiches, but I double dog dare you to give it a try!

Some days just require pizza no matter which holidays are looming.  Though I cheat on the dough with pre-made bakery versions that I keep in the freezer, I can still present you with mouth-watering pizza goodness that will not give you cause to complain.  The version above is standard style with homemade pizza sauce, but the pie we've had great success with this year comes from Tyler Florence: Grilled Pizza with Mozarella di Bufala.  You cook the crust separately on the grill or under the broiler and then toss together the usual ingredients like a salad to spread on top of the cooked crust (no sauce, just fresh tomatoes) for a fresh delightful pizza pie.  If you cheat with the dough like I do, you can kick this dinner out in no time flat.

Since I was scheduled for foot surgery on December 22nd, I knew the Christmas holiday was not going to involve any cooking from me.  I bought Hershey's kisses and clementine oranges to make it festive, but I did prepare one holiday treat ahead of time because I couldn't resist.  We bring home hot chocolate from Mexico every visit because I love Mexican hot chocolate though it is readily available in the States (see that mexgrocer.com link to the right?).  Made by Nestle and Ibarra, the Mexican chocolate comes in rounds flavored with cinnamon where you break off a piece and cook it with milk (or in my case, almond milk) slowly over the stove.  Delicious with Hot Damn! cinnamon schnapps, hot chocolate is also the basis for marshmallow treats and I've been seeing gourmet marshamllow treats all over the food world lately.

From familyfun.go.com From saveur.comEnter a rather newish cookbook, Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It and Other Cooking Projects by Karen Solomon along with my desire to consume gourmet marshmallows and another holiday tradition was born: homemade marshmallows coated in sprinkles and cocoa!

Thanks to Karen's easy to use recipe, marshmallows are surprisingly easy to make and surprisingly delicious in their gourmet form.  Coated in cocoa, the sticky sweetness was tempered.  The recipe calls for coating variations like toasted coconut and powdered sugar, and the web recipes I browsed called for flavors like strawberry and lemon.  Next summer, the s'mores will be divine!  No more jet-puffed crap for us. 

If you are a cook looking to add recipes for kitchen staples to your repertoire, I highly recommend Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It and it's sister companion: Can It, Bottle It, Smoke It and Other Kitchen Projects.  The recipes are fun and provide concise instructions on how to easily make staples for your cooking projects.  I made beef jerky this summer without undue agony for a fraction of the cost of the bagged stuff in the gas station.  I hope you can use some of these recommendations in your culinary world, even if you ask someone else to do the cooking.  I also wish you the happiest of new years.  Don't sweat the Mayan end-of-the-world thing, just have fun!

Happy Birthday to my fifteen year old dog, Fleabag and Happy New Year to you!

HOME: HAPPY WINTER SOLSTICE FROM TIOGA PASS! DECEMBER 2011

As Yosemite dwellers, we don't always have vehicle access to the high country, particularly in the winter.  So unless you're slogging it up switchbacks prepared for skiing and snow camping, you say sayonara to the high mountain passes from fall until spring.  Unless of course, the snow doesn't show.  So far this year, snowfall has been almost nonexistent and the roads are being kept open by NPS.  And the people who live here are very, very excited.  Tioga Pass is the Sierra Nevada's highest at nearly 10,000 feet, so even when there isn't snow in December, the groundwater is freezing.  And the Tioga Road is home to three alpine lakes that provide spectacular landscapes for ice skating: Tenaya Lake in Yosemite and Tioga and Ellery Lakes just outside the park in the Inyo National Forest.  We took a trip over the pass two weeks ago and visited the hot springs outside Mammoth Lakes.  Since then I've been inundated with friends' photos and videos of high country skating expressing the joy of accessing Tioga Pass so late in the year.  And since this is the season of joy, I thought I'd pass some of it along to you.

My friend Beth took the three photos above, wrote a great article about driving Tioga Pass in December at National Parks Traveler, and you can hear about her experience as well as about the current climatic conditions in California that are causing us to have such a snow free holiday season on KQED public radio:

Chris Falkenstein shared his video of skating on Tenaya Lake:

My friend Kristal Leonard (Isn't That Beautiful Photography) takes incredible photos of the park in any season:

And the Yosemite Winter Club made to Tenaya Lake for some real old-fashioned ice hockey:

Photo by Kirstie KariSince Ted's knee is not 100% and I now have a bum foot, our trip over Tioga Pass involved admiring frozen lakes and waterfalls from afar (though Ted did try a little skating on Tioga Lake), and heading over the pass to search for hot springs near Mammoth Lakes.  Home to legendary skiing on Mammoth Mountain, Mammoth Lakes also offers common and not-so-common benefits of great ski towns: good restaurants and natural hot springs.  We experienced two great hot springs under moonlight and sunlight and shared dinner with friends Christy and Joe at one good restaurant.  Just southeast of Mammoth Lakes is the Hot Creek Geological Site, one of many hot springs located in the geologicaly active Long Valley Caldera.  Administered by the Forest Service, Hot Creek is not for bathing, unlike the myriad other springs in the area built up with stone and concrete pools and adjustable water sources.  Not commercially developed, volunteers maintain these pools and ask that the sites be respected and kept clean by all users.  We visited the Shepherd Hot Spring by day and the Hot Tub spring by evening under a full moon and enjoyed both pools with their incredible views of the Sierra Nevada in California and the White Mountains of Nevada.

Frozen waterfall next Mariuolumne Dome

Frozen water on Tioga Road

Ted at Shepherd Hot Spring

Hot springs grow bacterial mats that give them beautiful colors

The pool at Shepherd Hot Spring

Sunset on the White Mountains

The Hot Tub spring looking east toward the White Mountains

The Hot Tub spring looking west toward the Sierra NevadaWe basked in the sunshine at Shepherd Hot Spring while soaking our tootsies in this seriously hot pool of water.  These maintained tubs have water pipes that allow you to adjust the flow of water into the pool, which also allows you to control the temperature to an extent.  Four of us soaked comfortably while our dogs tooled around the area sniffing the grasses.  The views are expansive and we even had the pool to ourselves on this December day (though we saw campers and naked hippies here earlier).  Ted and I spent some time after dark in The Hot Tub spring watching the full moon rise over the White Mountains which we also enjoyed exclusively.  To find these springs, we used two sources:  Touring California and Nevada Hot Springs from Falcon Guides (see below) and the HotWaterSlaughter website that contains photos and directions to hot springs all over the western US.

After a relaxing evening soak, Ted and I met Christy and Joe at Slocum's Grill & Bar in Mammoth Lakes for dinner.  We had a great dining experience with the excellent company of good friends and I even got to eat snails - because I love me some escargot.  We shared a Goat Cheese Bruschetta and the Escargot a la Slocum's, both excellent, and I was quite pleased with Seafood Spaghetti, a Caesar Salad and a pre-dinner cocktail Martini (very dirty).  It wasn't my time to blog, but I know everyone enjoyed the dishes that were absolutely heaped on our corner table with culinary goodness and the service was swell.  All photos below from Slocum's.

Not bad for December weekend in the Sierra that didn't involve snow and skiing.  As I write this, the Tioga Road is currently open and ready for your winter adventure, but you should check the Yosemite National Park road conditions for yourself at 209-372-0200 before you go.

Junket Ratings:

Slocum's Grill & Bar: Junk-O-Rama

TRAVEL: LOS ANGELES FEBRUARY 2011

Above is the view from the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles with Catalina Island just perched on the horizon, some 26 miles across the sea.  That's also the view when I walk around my mother-in-law's neighborhood during visits to the peninsula, which I was fortunate to do in February during a stretch of glorious SoCal weather: a full week of sunny and 70 degrees.  I left my weekend in San Francisco and headed down south, though I didn't drive along the coast.  I zoomed down a mostly empty Interstate 5 to make it quick since this week was not about the journey but definitely about the destination.  I didn't plan to stray far off the peninsula that is 20 miles south of downtown LA, but had plenty to look forward to, including spending time with family.  With a mid-day pit stop at my favorite fast food restaurant, I cruised into Rancho Palos Verdes (with bags of avocados and oranges acquired from the vendor across from the In-n-Out) in the late afternoon sun to stay with Wenche (pronounced "Venka" in her native Norwegian) in the Garden Terrace Guest Room.

The first order of business on Monday was a ladies luncheon at the home of family friends Earl and Marion.  Wenche has a small contingent of Norwegian lady friends that live on the peninsula and all have been part of the Hansen/Karner family for years.  Marion hosted the luncheon for Wenche, Olaf and me to show off her newly re-modeled kitchen and to serve an old school Norwegian lunch specialty: Aspic - a dish whose ingredients are set into gelatin made from meat stock or consomme.  Marion served her aspic with a creamy sauce made from sour cream and mayo in a cool accompaniment to the veggie seafood dish.  Aspic is one of those classic dishes that no one makes anymore, so it was a treat to try Marion's version in such excellent company. 

Olaf and Marion

Michelle and WencheOn Tuesday and Wednesday I doubled my in-law quotient when Ted's sister Linda joined us for various outings, including the Wayfarer's Chapel, Abalone Cove and the Santa Monica Farmers' Market.  Built by Lloyd Wright, the son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the Wayfarer's Chapel is a Swedenborgian church known for it's glass, stone and redwood architecture and it's location overlooking the Pacific.  Constructed in 1951, the glass-walled chapel is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a prime example of Wright's Organic Architecture: a philosophy promoting harmony between buildings and nature.  The chapel is surrounded by gardens and a commanding ocean view, enhancing the organic component of the structure.  An evening candlelight service here must be extraordinary.

Wenche and Linda

The persistent rumor in Palos Verdes about the chapel's most famous wedding party concerns Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio.  However, after some research and the potential for bubble-bursting, I determined that another famous blonde - Jayne Mansfield - was married here in 1958.  After waiting to hear the noontime chimes from the chapel belltower, we sauntered across the road to the Abalone Cove Shoreline Park.  The Palos Verdes peninsula is dotted with coves filled with beaches and tidepools.  Though some beaches are private, you can access the ocean at Abalone Cove and Malaga Cove.  We spent Christmas Day at Abalone Cove in 2006, combing through the tidepools along with our niece Ingrid and nephew Bjorn.  On this day, Wenche, Linda and I walked the bluff-top trails and along the beach to the point.  The tide was too high to spot tidepool critters (except the packaged kind we noticed on the beach), but the sunny day made for a great beach trip.

In the colder climes of the Sierra Nevada, I had read that the Wednesday Farmers' Market in Santa Monica supplies local chefs with the ingredients to do their thing with a vast array of Southern California produce.  Winter is the height of citrus season and there were piles of oranges to prove it.  If you keep up with this blog, you know I have a weakness for farmers' markets, and this is quite the largest I've ever seen.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the vendor selling oysters and I found plenty of plenty to inspire me for dinner.  I made off with beautiful greens, blood oranges, basil, Japanese tomatoes, fingerling potatoes, squash blossoms, cara cara oranges, smoked tomatoes and the largest head of cabbage on the planet.

We had a plan for lunch, and thanks to Linda's skillful navigating, we made it to some random commercial park in El Segundo just in time to jump in line for Kogi BBQ.  Perhaps the king of mobile food trucks in LA, I had been coveting Kogi's famous Korean short rib taco for a long, long time.  My mother-in-law was quite bemused by the food truck phenomenon, though both she and Linda were very supportive in my quest (they were also somewhat mollified by my dining determination once they tried the short rib taco).  The truck was scheduled to serve from 1 to 2 PM (follow them on Twitter for real time location updates), and we arrived just before start time to some 20 people in line already.

We sampled Short Rib tacos, a Calamari Taco, a Spicy Pork taco and the ladies tried Chicken Tacos.  We opted out of soda or water beverages and took our tacos to the nearest facility selling alcoholic libations.  Then we illegally tailgated with beers and tacos, savoring every last Korean barbecue morsel.  The short rib tacos live up to their stellar reputation, the calamari was very spicy and sabrosa, the spicy pork was delightful and the ladies thought the chicken was just okay.  Long live short rib tacos!!

Short Rib and Calamari Tacos

Chicken and Spicy Pork Tacos

And if you check out the Kogi site, you'll see that they are now serving an Angus Young all prime beef double cheese burger with buttered kimchi, sasa, sesame mayo, and salad.  Seriously Angelenos, what are you waiting for?!

In keeping with our food-related day trip, Wenche and Linda offered to show me around Surfas, a restaurant supply and gourmet food market with a little cafe.  Though I purchased wonderful things: balsamic vinegar, canned tuna from Spain, sweet chili sauce and a heftily economical box of kosher salt, I took no photos.  Perhaps Surfas wants to protect celebrity shoppers?  Perhaps they have the super secret recipe for Coca Cola posted in the store?  Perhaps they have hideously ugly staff members?  Or maybe they just don't like food bloggers.  I didn't ask, but I did respect their gentle mandate:

With the haul from the market, I prepared a dinner for Wenche and Linda in gratitude for carting me through LA traffic in the quest for good food.  The market selections inspired me to make Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta with Goat Cheese - a little specialty of mine - with the smoked tomatoes and fresh Japanese tomatoes besides.  You'll find my original recipe in a little cookbook called "A Springdale Sampler: Recipes Celebrating Life in Zion Canyon" published by the Zion Canyon Lions Club.  You can support the club by purchasing a copy of the cookbook for $12.95, which includes many wonderful recipes including really exceptional dishes by my friends Bonnie and Sunny - great women and great cooks!  Squash blossoms were also on this evening's menu, stuffed with a goat cheese mixture, battered and fried for a delectable appetizer from Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations by Lois Ellen Frank: Fried Squash Blossoms with Celery Sauce.  My experience with squash blossoms dates back to my garden in Utah where I would take blossoms straight from the garden to the kitchen for cooking.  Once blossoms are picked they will only keep for a day, and even then the longer you wait to prepare them, the more they wilt and become unusable.

The makings of Sun-Dried Tomato and Goat Cheese Pasta

Photo courtesy of The Local Beet

The smoked tomatoes stood in for sun-dried in the pasta dish, and they were a just right.  I assume the tomatoes were smoked over low-burning charcoal or wood fire, just like trout or other smoked meats.  The smokiness was a perfect complement to the goat cheese.  Along with other fine meats, I will be adding tomatoes to my barbecue repertoire this summer.

Thursday dawned - you guessed it - sunny and beautiful, so another trip to the beach was in order.  The Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro is a small facility that is part of the Cabrillo Beach Coastal Park.  I checked out the aquarium with about 8000 school children and then walked the beach to the tidepools.  The aquarium building was designed by Frank Gehry and the park also contains the historic Cabrillo Beach Bathhouse, built in 1932.  The beach is on the harbor next to the Port of Los Angeles, the busiest container port in America, where I believe that Jack Bauer once thwarted a terrorist plot.  The beach is clean and uncrowded with picnic tables, plenty of parking and extensive tidepools.  You must pay to park at the beach for a dollar an hour and the aquarium asks for a $5 donation - a very inexpensive and low-key way to spend a day at the beach in Los Angeles.

Photo courtesy of Cabrillo Marine Aquarium

Photo courtesy of discoverlosangeles.com

The tide was coming in during my visit to the tidepools, and once I rounded Point Fermin, the waves rolled in much larger than on the side closest to the breakwater.  Viewing the waves from shore I caught an interesting perspective of kelp strands clearly visible through the water as they were pulled up by the motion of the waves.  Most of my ocean experience comes from my time in Florida and so the wild Pacific never fails to provide some astonishing new flora or fauna.

Speaking of astonishing flora, Palos Verdes is also home to the South Coast Botanic Garden "The Jewel of the Peninsula".  Wenche and I took a walk here, amongst the flowers and the ducks, really enjoying the winter sun.  Most impressive?  The cactus garden had some large specimens and the swiss chard in the vegetable garden was brilliantly beautiful.

Speaking of pork & beans, one last food adventure before I left town: a visit to Alpine Village and dinner at Inka Wasi.  Alpine Village is a quaint old-school German themed restaurant and marketplace including some bric-a-brac gift shops that have seen better days.  Linda worked at the restaurant in high school.  Wenche shops at the Alpine Village market regularly where she can purchase food near and dear to her Norwegian heart that may be hard to find elsewhere.  She often shows up at our place with many tasty items that end in -wurst, and I was delighted to visit the source of these meat goodies. 

Rows and rows of spaetzles and wursts housed in true California kitsch.  I loved it.  I walked away from Alpine Village with sauerkraut for Ted, pickles, wieners in a jar (yum!), a German beer and the best liverwurst I've ever had.  Check it out:

After re-supplying the house with liverwurst and meat salad (oxymoron or pure genius?!), Wenche and I took a load off before our dinner date.  Inspired by our friend Joe from Yosemite who was spending the month in Peru, I found a Peruvian restaurant in the Peninsula Center just down the road and wanted to introduce Wenche and me to Peruvian cuisine.  Inka Wasi is fairly new to the peninsula, but the owners are not - they operate a sit down service Peruvian restaurant in Torrance called El Pollo Inka.  Inka Wasi has counter service (but they serve beer and wine) with a friendly and knowledgeable staff and a clean, attractive dining room.  We perused the posted wall menu for a while, and then decided to ask the staff for recommendations.  The girl taking our order at the counter cheerfully guided us to choose appetizers and meals based on our food preferences: Ceviche Mixto appetizer, Platanos on the side, Aguadito Soup for both of us and Mariscos Satados dinner for me and Vegetales Saltado dinner for Wenche.  I tried Cusquena beer "The Gold of the Incas" from Peru and Wenche ordered a demi bottle of wine.

From the soup to the plantains to the rice dishes, all of the food was very tasty, though I was particularly taken with the ceviche.  I've had plenty of ceviche in Mexico, but this was something else entirely.  The marinade for the seafood was exceptional and the inclusion of various potatoes and the corn cob with the most gigantic kernels ever was inspired.  The hot green sauce particular to Peru was also a welcome and tasty addition.

If you notice on the menu page above that the Saltado dish is served with a saute of onions, tomatoes, cilantro and french fries along with a side of garlic rice.  Again with the potatoes.  Sides of rice and french fries may seem like overkill to your American fast food palate, but here's the catch: the french fries are included in the saute along with the other ingredients (see my Mariscos Saltado below).  Though there is a sogginess factor for the fries mixed in with the rest of the dish, my impression is that they are not meant to be enjoyed like crispy American fries, but rather as fried potatoes - another vegetable in the saute.  But why include the fries in the first place?

Because potatoes are native to Peru.  Some 400 years ago, potatoes were cultivated in Southern Peru and then spread to the rest of the world via the European explorers visiting/exploiting the Americas in the 1500s.  Now the world's fourth largest crop, potatoes are as integral to Peruvian cuisine as tortillas are to Mexico and tomatoes are to Italy.  And speaking of tomatoes, another crop native to the Americas, what was the rest of the world eating before contact with North and South America?  Foods native to the Americas include: potatoes, tomatos, turkey, chile peppers, peanuts, corn, pineapples, strawberries, avocados, chocolate AND vanilla (we won't mention the more dubious gift of tobacco).  Seriously, I cannot imagine a world without tomatoes.

I left sunny SoCal to return to snow-covered Yosemite, grateful for the opportunity to see more of Los Angeles.  Return trips are sure to unearth more hidden treasures, in addition to the obvious charms of America's second largest city.  If you can make it to the Palos Verdes Peninsula, bring your camera and if you have a Peruvian restaurant in your neighborhood, go now.  And if you ever get invited to Marion's for lunch or to Wenche's Garden Terrace Guest Room, thank your lucky stars!

Junket Ratings:

In-n-Out Burger: Junk in the Trunk!

Wayfarer's Chapel: Junk-O-Rama

Abalone Cove Shoreline Park: Junk-O-Rama

Santa Monica Farmers' Market: Junk-O-Rama

Kogi BBQ: Junk in the Trunk!

Surfas Restaurant Supply: Junk-O-Rama

Cabrillo Marine Aquarium: Junk-O-Rama

Cabrillo Beach Coastal Park: Junk-O-Rama

South Coast Botanic Garden: Junk-O-Rama

Alpine Village: Junkety-Junk-Junk

Inka Wasi: Junk in the Trunk!