Raven Jake Dawes

Meanwhile, back at the library...

Alrighty, here I was last weekend for Charles Perry's talk about the rise of restaurants. It was awesome. Another one through the hoop for Mr. Perry.

Now if you've never been to the L.A. central public library, it's time. It's like a shopping mall but with books. Parking on the weekend is $1.  Book rental is free.

So here's the next one up for the Culinary Historians of Southern California -

Simply Quince: From Breakfast to Dinner for 3,000 Years

Saturday, October 8th, 2011 – 10:30 AM at the Los Angeles Public Library

Mark Taper Auditorium, Downtown Central Library, 630 W. 5th St.

Free and open to the public

Barbara Ghazarian presents a tribute to the heirloom quince (Cydonia oblonga). Learn why no other fruit symbolizes the continuity of civilization quite like the quince. She traces the fruit’s migration from its origin in the Caucasus, through history and across the globe. Barbara discusses dishes from her cookbook, Simply Quince, especially as they relate to ancient recipes and flavor combinations that inspired many of them.

There will be a members-only Armenian Dinner in Glendale, on the Tuesday following the program.Where: Old Gyumri, 4441 San Fernando Road, Glendale, CA 91204When: Tuesday, October 11, 2011, from 7pm to 9pmWhat: Culinary Historians members are invited to experience a traditional Armenian dinner in the atmosphere of a traditional Armenian village at Old Gyumri in Glendale. We will have a sampling of 15 different appetizers, soup, three different types of kebabs, and a casserole, with soft drink, tea, or coffee included. Host Alex Mhkitaryan will explain Armenian food traditions and act as our guide to a varied, interesting, and little-known cuisine.Cost: $30 per person includes dinner, non-alcoholic beverage, tax and tip. We now accept PayPal! Click here to request more information or to make your reservation.

This event is open to current CHSC members only. Click here for a printable Membership Application.

Have a Homebrew!

Y'all know from previous posts that Jane and I've been known to brew some mead. Most of it's come from our own hive too. Beer? Well, not so much. Did a batch for our wedding and that was the end of that. Seemed pretty complicated Besides that, our closest homebrew supplier, the Home, Wine, Beer and Cheesemaking Shop is an hour away. We love the Maltose Falcons, but it isn't exactly around the corner.

So we got pretty excited to find out that Culver City Home Brewing Supply had opened a new satelite in Eagle Rock. Decided to take a class. 

Here's the next one:

Eagle Rock, September 25th, 5pm-8pm - Beginning Home Brewing Class
Our next beginner's brew class will be on the 4th Sunday of the month, September 25th, from 5pm-8pm. Enrollment will open September 12th. Once you've signed up, be sure to get here by 5:00. You can see just what is involved in the process before you commit to purchasing your own brewing equipment. If you want to learn more, feel free to check out our How to Brew section for resources and tips on home brewing. Class participationcosts $10, $5 of which you can apply towards the purchase of one of our beginner's equipment kits later that night.

Thomas really just lays it out there - here's a regular guy with regular equipment and regular ingredients making a batch of beer in three hours (pretty much right on the dot.) In the meantime, he's telling stories, passing out some of his homebrew, and showin' folks how it's done. I think I'm goin' to the next one too. Thomas says he's doin' a dark batch for Christmas - our class got Pumpkin Ale (which smelled like liquid Thanksgiving).

So, we bought a bunch of beer fixin's (Jane's Uncle Doug gifted us with a bunch of equipment) and we're going to try a porter in the next few days. More on that comin' up. By the way, you can legally brew 100 gallons per adult in your household. More than that and you've gotta pay taxes. 'Course more than that and you might consider checking into a treatment program.

 

Culinary Historians and Homebrew this Weekend

Folks, I'm back at school and by rights I ought to be studying my butt off with no side distractions whatsoever. And I'd be stickin' to that plan too, except now we're gettin' into the time of the year when stuff gets interesting. Real interesting.

For starters, SoCal Culinary Historian Charles Perry switched up his Saturday talk. Instead of Spanish BBQ, he's goin' for the rise of the restaurant.   Here's the skinny on that one:

Dinner in the Exploding City

Saturday, September 10th, 2011 – 10:30 AM at the Los Angeles Public Library

Mark Taper Auditorium, Downtown Central Library, 630 W. 5th St.

Free and open to the public

Charles Perry presents…

“Dinner in the Exploding City: Los Angeles Restaurants 1830-1930″

Before the famous Hollywood restaurants of the 1930s, there was a restaurant scene in Los Angeles – in fact, a swift series of scenes, from tamales around the old Plaza and French restaurants in adobes to the Croatian-owned places of the 1870s and 1880s. In the 1890s there were temples of haute cuisine, 24-hour diners and Japanese-owned 10-cent dinner houses, and in the 1900s, L.A. spawned the cafeteria and the theme restaurant. Every decade seemed to forget the previous one … a pattern that has continued.

Charles Perry is a fourth-generation Southern Californian. After (or despite) majoring in Middle Eastern Languages at UC Berkeley, he was an editor at Rolling Stone Magazine from 1968 to 1976. In 1978 he returned to Los Angeles as a food writer and worked in the L.A. Times Food Section from 1990 to 2008. He is the president and a co-founder of the Culinary Historians of Southern California.

 Programs, except where noted, are 10:30 a.m. at the Mark Taper Auditorium, Central Library, 630 West Fifth Street, Los Angeles 90071-2002. For more information, please call (213) 228-7241. Parking at the Central Library on Saturday and Sunday is $1.00 during library hours at 524 S. Flower St., with a library card and validation from the Information Desk in the library. Library cards are free.

Programs are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.

You do need to bring an id to get your library card, but an LA City Library card, besides the fact that you can use it at a bunch of locations, also gives you access to a bunch of internet resources. Well worth having.

And then I'm going to study for the next 30 hours straight.

Now some time back, Jane's Uncle Doug gifted us with a bunch of brewing equipment. We've made mead of course, and some beer, but we could really use a refresher course. Our primary brew shop is the Home Wine Beer and Cheesemaking Shop in Woodland Hills, home to the Cellar Masters and the Maltose Falcons. But it's kind of a haul to get out there. So we signed up for a new place that just opened in Eagle Rock for a Sunday evening class. If all goes well, there'll be a post on that soon. If all goes badly, there'll be a post on that soon.

Raven Jake and the Rainbow

Nothin' like a summer storm y'all. I'm not sure what happened yesterday, but had you been standin' in my driveway, this is what youd've seen. 'Cept more rainbow. Apparently Bilröst is located somewhere between my head and Asgard, the realm of the gods. 'Course, it only lasts a few minutes, so you gotta enjoy it while you can - kinda like this last summer, which passed way to quickly for my liking.

Down there's the god Heimdallr blowing into Gjallarhorn.

Big Plans for L.A.'s 230th Birthday

Folks, it's L.A.'s 230th and the San Gabriel Mission's 240th this weekend. We got over to the mission last night just in time for the bell ringing, but there is a full-blown fiesta in effect with food and carnival rides and the whole works.

The San Gabriel Historical Association Museum will be open on Saturday, Sept. 3rd. 1:00-4:00. They just received a copy of an oral history of Eulalia Perez de Guillen Marine, and Helen Salazar let us take a sneak peak at it last night. It's a copy of the 1957 typed English translation, and it's in Eulalia's section of the museum. This one's got a little extra info in it, maybe things that other people don't think are as important - a little anecdote about buried treasure, and some funny little songs she sang to Thomas Savage when he interviewed her. If you ask me, that's the best part. Here's the address of the museum - I'm fixing to meet up with some of the Old Spanish Trail Association Rancho Chapter around 1, then headin' out to the mission.
546 W. Broadway, San Gabriel, Ca. 91776, Museum phone (626) 308-3223 

The mission website is down with a virus, but they've got a jam-packed schedule over the weekend. I'm hoping to catch the blessing of the kids and animals at 1:45. If y'all have a particularly cute llama or offspring, or just one that's in dire need of being blessed, you ought to haul it on down there today. The mission staff is very accommodating and can handle a blessing in English, Spanish and Vietnamese, and they've got support staff that can bless in Chinese, if that's the language your Pekingese understands the best. They even have a super-tall priest, if you're bringin' a giraffe. (Sadly, that ain't me - this year. But it's on my list)

I heard that there's a Tongva tour of the mission grounds at 2, and John Fantz, docent extrordinare, is telling a mission story at 5. So there's something for everybody. After 5 we've got to clear out, 'cause Capt. Tim Ream is heading back up to Oregon and we'll need to swing by Lucky Baldwin's to see him off. There's a bunch of stuff goin' on in the Pueblo too, if that's where you'd rather celebrate. Come by and say "hi!"  - I'm wearin' my red Scully gambler shirt, so you can't miss me!