Paul Beckwith at Radio Ecoshock

Paul Beckwith was recently interviewed by Ecoshock Radio, for a show that will go live to over 50 radio stations on three continents from Tuesday December 18 onward. Paul speaks about Arctic albedo collapse and our "new" climate, and more.

Click on the player below to hear the audio:



As said, the show won't air until Tuesday December 18, 2012, but an mp3 file for the earlier part of the show is already available at Radio Ecoshock.

How To Date A Supermodel

How to date a supermodel:

Step 1: Find your supermodel.

Step 2. Ask her out on a date.

Shame on you. You thought this would be tricky. She's just another woman, you know, not some kind of deity with a décolletage.

Granted, supermodels are a little thin on the ground, especially if you live in Waukegan or Wolverhampton. Likewise, you're unlikely to bump into one ordering a number one combo at McDonalds. But if you own an eighty metre-long yacht, spend mucho time in Monaco and vacation sixty-three weeks a year, the odds are better. In fact, hot babes in bikinis are probably lining up to express their affection right now. Why not go for the crème de la crème?

For one thing, supermodels always feel a little unhinged to me. You would be too if everyone within tonguing distance was tossing your salad and telling you how awesome you are. A certain unreality would come to seem normal. Unfortunately, unreality creeps towards insecurity, insecurity leads to paranoia, paranoia to drug abuse, and drug abuse to constipation, a (ahem) regular supermodel ailment I'm led to believe.

So that's the up and down of supermodel pursuit. You get to be chased by paparazzi and have your melon photographed with a famous chick; she gets to sit on your pedestal. 




Bottoms Up Bar Rafaeli fans.

Il Fornaio Santa Monica Closed

It is strange the assumptions one makes. Some places seem fixed in your life like anchors. Long-lived businesses become friends-of-the-family and, as such, seem guaranteed to be experienced whenever one wants. And then, just like that, they are gone.

 For seventeen years we had a dining out routine.

During the first two weeks of every month, we would go to Il Forniao across from the Santa Monica Pier for the Festa Regionale. We would enjoy dishes and wines that celebrated specific culinary regions of Italy: Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige, Piemonte, Umbria, Sicilia, Toscana, Campania, Lombardia, Lazio, Abruzzo and Marche.

Antipasti, salads, soups, pastas, risottos, grilled and baked meats and fish, and braises would come to the table flavored by the unique preferences of the region's traditions.

Designed to fight off the cold, Northern Italian dishes had a "rib-sticking" quality, featuring luscious, thick sauces and soups topped with croutons and cheese. From the south, the dishes were lighter and featured the seafood found in local waters.

Coming to the monthly Regionale also meant participating in the Pasporto program. When we visited, we were given a gift: a small bottle of balsamic vinegar, flavored olive oil, dried pasta, beans or pizza dough to cook at home, a calendar, an apron and, best of all, a hand-painted dinner plate.

Full disclosure: I have collected 74 Il Fornaio dinner plates, which officially qualifies as obsessive compulsive behavior.

Also, every June and December, drawings were held. The grand prize winners were sent on an all-expense paid trip to Italy. The runners-up took home bottles of premium wine, Il Fornaio olive oil or balsamic vinegar and gift certificates.

Besides good food and gifts given to visitors to any Il Fornaio during the Regionale, the Santa Monica restaurant was a friendly place to visit all the time. The waitstaff was welcoming, Luis, the executive chef, and managers like Fernanda and Chamal became friends and always stopped by the table to see if we needed anything.

Even though the interior was large, with two levels for dining, an open kitchen area and a long bar, the restaurant was warm and cozy, dominated by the colorful accents of a Venetian mural and dark wood.

If there was time after dinner, a walk onto the Santa Monica Pier or along the Santa Monica Promenade with a view of the beach and Pacific Coast Highway below was a good way to talk and walk off the meal.

For posts about Il Fornaio, please go to: Putting Romaine's Feet to the Fire, Valentine's Day, The Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region Comes to Il Fornaio, Abruzzo at Il Fornaio, Santa Monica, Il Fornaio Heads North to Lombardia, Il Fornaio Serves Up a Recession Busting Tasting Menu, Il Fornaio Heads South to Campania, A Trip to Italy,   A Tasting at Il Fornaio, Couscous, and Plate Envy

On the regular menu, we had our favorites. The Il Fornaio salad with creamy dressing, topped with sheets of quality Parmesan cheese, the paper thin pizzas, the branzino with mashed potatoes, sautéed spinach and roasted vegetables and the gelato ice cream.

As with most stories that have an unhappy ending, there is a villain.

Over the years, Il Fornaio opened many restaurants. Santa Monica was an early addition. Across from the Santa Monica Pier, the location had the advantage of attracting tourists. But that also made the restaurant vulnerable to seasonal and economic fluctuations.

The building landlord seemed indifferent to the vagaries of reality and every year increased the rents not just on Il Fornaio but the other tenants. The spaces opposite and behind Il Fornaio had been home to many restaurants which opened and failed with alarming frequency. No restaurant lasted very long. Il Fornaio held the course for seventeen years.

Finally, this year, the landlord insisted on increases that were not sustainable. When management was notified of the latest demand, a decision had to be made quickly. Just after Thanksgiving, the restaurant closed, the staff given their choice to work at the other area Il Fornaio restaurants.

We only learned of the closing when a friend emailed saying she was meeting friends and needed a place to eat in Santa Monica. Since Il Fornaio was permanently closed, she said, where else would I suggest?

Happily Il Fornaio survives elsewhere in the area. For the holidays we are staying in Carlsbad, south of Los Angeles, and we will visit the Il Fornaio in Del Mar. The web site lists all the branches so if we want to enjoy affordable, well-prepared, authentic Italian food, we know where to go.

There is talk Il Fornaio will find a new, more affordable space in Santa Monica. That would be great.

Beef Stew

While I'm all for variety in my diet, I've recently come to appreciate cooking in larger quantities.  The more meals I can get out of an hour of cooking, the better!  As the temperatures start to drop, warm meals become the norm and soups/stews have been making an almost weekly occurrence.  This soup surprised me with its flavors, and because I so badly wanted to share it with you I snuck a quick picture before I brought the last serving to work for lunch!

Beef Stew w/Sweet Potatoes and Mushrooms
adapted from Joy the Baker
Serves 6

Feel free to use fresh mushrooms if you have those on hand!

3/4c white whole wheat flour (AP or whole wheat pastry will also work)
1 1/4lb stew beef (local, grass-fed if you can), cut into 3/" chunks
1/4c extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 medium onion, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
6 cloves of garlic, minced/pressed
3T tomato paste
1/2c red wine  (or beer)
3 medium sweet potatoes, diced
100g/3.5oz diced dried mushrooms (I used a medley from Job Lot)
1 bay leaf
3t fresh thyme, coarsely chopped (or 1t dried)
1T worcestershire sauce
8c broth (I used a mix of beef and vegetable)
1T sugar
salt and freshly ground pepper
cooked whole wheat couscous, for serving (if desired)

In a ziploc bag, add flour and season with a big pinch of salt and pepper.  Add diced beef and close the bag.   Shake until all the beef is lightly coated in flour mixture and set aside.

Heat 2T olive oil over medium heat in a large dutch oven.  Add beef in a single layer (it all might not fit) and cook until browned on each side.  Repeat with remaining beef, then remove from the pan and set aside on a plate.

Add 2T oil to the dutch oven and heat over medium-low.  Add onions and carrots and cook until onions are translucent, ~8min.  Add garlic and cook for another minute or two before adding tomato paste.  Stir well and cook another minute before deglazing the pan with wine, scraping off the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.

Add the sweet potatoes, dried mushrooms, bay leaf, thyme, worcestershire sauce and beef.  Cover with stock.  Turn the heat to low and gently simmer slightly covered for ~45min, until the veggies are cooked through.

Taste and add 1T sugar, then season with salt and pepper, adjusting as necessary.  Serve over couscous (or other grain), if desired.


Why not throw a batch of this on the stove, and while it simmers away whip up a batch of cookies?  Perfect December weekend if you ask me :)

Two Chimps on a Davenport

I tried outrage once, and what a waste of time. It was a stretch of whatever emotion I was inflating, a complete push. I discovered that outrage doesn't make friends; outrage puts you - alone - in the back yard at parties, when everyone knows that the guest bedroom is the place to be.

Milquetoast ever since, it's worth noting that I see lots of guys in the same mental space now. Hot-headedness has given way to a kind of mellow acceptance, especially of other blokes. For this I thank our womenfolk. Ladies, I think you've won.

After years of being told...

+ to show my feminine side

+ not to be afraid of crying

+ to be a little less macho

+ to try getting in touch with my emotions 

...y'all can stop now. I'm there, I'm right there with you. No need to continue, I have seen the (foxglove hued) light.

 
To the outside observer (ie: women) the male social process must appear to be little more than mildly boastful bravado mixed with sport-talk. I'm sure you see it through the female prism, which is to say that you think we're working out the hierarchy in the room; who's above and below whom in the pecking order.

The reverse is true. What's really happening is that we're attempting to find the common ground, so that we know how to communicate. This low-level détente is designed precisely to avoid conflict. We know how discord goes, and it's good for no man. Much better to figure out how we can sit happily and watch the women doing their thing at parties. 

BTW, I'm waiting for the first man to say to a woman:

+ you know, you should really find your masculine side.



Bottoms Up, Peaceniks.

Green Beans w/Goat Cheese Mushroom Sauce

This is not your mothers green bean casserole.

While that means you probably wouldn't want this on your Thanksgiving table, I'm almost certain you'd enjoy it any other night of the week!  Since I've never liked the traditional dish, I simply used the parts I liked- green beans, mushrooms and onions.  Onions got caramelized, green beans got roasted, and then I made this killer goat cheese mushroom sauce... that I would eat on it's own!

Goat Cheese Mushroom Sauce
adapted from Cake, Batter & Bowl

This is great over some pasta or roasted veggies (like green beans!)

1T butter
1T white whole wheat flour
1/2c almond milk
5oz goat cheese
12oz sauteed or roasted mushrooms
1/2t sea salt

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add flour and whisk well, then continue to cook for a minute or two.  While whisking, slowly add in milk.  Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat.  Crumble in goat cheese and whisk until the cheese has melted and the sauce is smooth.  Add in mushroooms and salt, then taste and adjust seasonings.  Keep warm until serving.

ps- My apologies to the 5 Star Makeover crew for not getting this up last month, but be sure to check out everyone's makeover of this holiday classic over at Lazaro Cooks!

It's Just a Little Crush

It's just some little thing.

There's no power behind it, so I leave it alone, sitting somewhere in my head, ready to look at whenever I'm in a dreamy mood.

A crush is like an unfertilized egg. It's beautiful and self-contained, symmetrical and not, forever and not. An egg never turns into anything until you crack the shell, and even then it can become something tasty. Like brunch.

Or it ends up on  floor, broken, a big gooey mess.

To make the egg safe to eat, it needs to change, however subtly. You must add heat, or mix it with milk and brandy. An egg by itself is just...itself.

Like a crush.



Bottoms Up, Secret Lovers.