we DO cook.

i am deeply invested in creating a kitchen culture in america ... supporting the mama, the creator of the home & family, the woman who some how finds a way to keep it going with kids, jobs, husbands, families etc... AND has food in the kitchen at any given time.... the concept is not to have dinner ready at 5 or get up at the crack of dawn to make crepes a la whatever with a shiso leaf & some fig compote.... the deeper need here is to be fed.

we are hungry.

actually, we are starving.

and....we all have different needs. lets start cooking food that we have all day long .... on the table...a beautiful cloth over it... food that lasts a day or 2. stop freezing in plastic. is anything in the freezer calling your name? are you just dying to get in there and defrost that incredible something? we want to eat food. we yearn to be creative and have time.. have time.. have time... some how other cultures have time.. make the time.. create the time... have the support... they have something we do not have... they have a CULTURE. it's embedded in how they live. i am creating this with renaissance mamas. once you see, realize, cook, do it.. you will never go back. it's sharing wisdom, learning easy ways to create it, make it happen within your lifestyle....

so.. with all this said.. i have been meaning to post this article that i somehow got through without turning into the element of fire....did you see it in the new york times sunday magazine on august 2? it's my responsibilty to post it here because i am the antithesis of this article and I BELIEVE WE CAN COOK alive, local FOOD and i will continue my mission one wooden spoon at a time until i am in your kitchen supporting you and creating this reality....see you in the kitchenxxx

new year.

wow. i missed you.... there have been some holidays since we shared a fig cake...l'shanah tovah! which means.. happy new year..... these days from the evening of friday, september 18th to monday, september 28th are some sacred days of the year (jewish, buddhist, beautiful, all the single ladies.. whoever you are i say get on board) this is the time of the year when you reflect on last year, comb the natty dreads and do a deep edit on what you did not like in the year then creating what you want into this year...we do a bit of fasting, praying & rocking out on sealing this into the torah which could also be your journal..... i do this checking in ritual (not the fasting part) on the other new year & on my birthday... reflecting is powerful and relevent as it keeps us connected to our story... ourselves, our family, our bodies and what we want to continue to create in our lives.

we also just passed through our autumn equinox... which means lots and lots of apples, pomegranates, butternut squash, and did i say apples? the apples dipped in honey bring in the sweet of this new year, new time, new fall....to taste the sweet & make it palpable, genuine & awake in each cell. that is what food does... it makes everything alive... as that is how we remain alive....sometimes the obvious can sound like poetry....sometimes.....see you in the new yearxxx

fig cake.

black mission figs....heat oven to 350...cut 10 figs in 1/2...work it.

organic unsalted butter...4 tablespoons melted...

add 1/2 cup brown sugar & 2 tbs. honey or agave....stir sauce in sauce pan...

butter 9" cake pan, line with natural parchment paper, butter all over

(paper and sides of pan), pour sauce in pan

20 cut figs...

ocean arranging figs on sauce..

what you will need:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp kosher salt

3/4 cup cane sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 large brown eggs

1/2 cup whole milk

8 tablespoons of butter

in a medium bowl...whisk together all the dry: flour, powder, salt

in kitchen-aid or another bowl with electric mixer...beat butter, sugar,

vanilla until light in color & texture (almost whipped like) for baout 2-3 minutes...

add eggs - one at a time on low...then add dry ingredients in 3 parts..

adding milk 2 times in there too.. so after eggs are well mixed...

add some dry and some milk... mix... do it again and again...

spoon batter over figs evenly...bake for about 45 - 55 minutes..cool in pan for about 50 minutes....

hello september...yep. it's the beginning of so many things...(with the heat so thick & these southern california days filled with smoke day after day it feels like a never ending story over here with a bit of molasses on top)...with that said...fall is on it's way making a slow, back stage enterance with butternut squash & cool evenings here and there. and yes...there will be cashmere...wooly slippers (even here in los angeles...it does get cold...no, really, it does..) and there will be those warming foods that only serve to nourish every single cell in our hungry bodies...so much to look forward to and with that said...so much still growing (to share) before our favorite summer fruits take their last bow. here is another sweet on that path...an upside-down fig cake. i found this in a beautiful book that celebrates local farms & cooking: outstanding in the field. i feel a kindred connection to what jim is doing out in the field...bringing it from the farm to the table as i bring it from the farm to the kitchen....ocean helped me with this one as he arranged the cut figs onto the brown sugar, butter, agave sauce. we did a few substitutions ... we did agave intead of honey just because. oh and i used some earth balance with butter b/c i ran out! it turned out so good. it's like a pinapple cake... better with figs? let me know....see you in the kitchenxxx