Ron Finley, A Renegade Gangster Gardener

If you go to the TED website, you can check out the speaker line up for any of their conferences. There’s a little blurb and some links about who they are so if you read the blurb you start to understand why they’ve been asked to speak. Before going to TED, a fun thing I like to do is to read through the speaker list looking for familiar names. Then, if/when I find one, I get really excited about hearing them speak at the conference. Little did I know that I'd be jazzed by Ron Finley, the artist, clothing designer and renegade gangster gardener. I certainly would never have guessed that Ron's TED talk would inspire me to help plant a garden across the street from Watts Tower in Watts, CA.

Ron grew up in South Central Los Angeles. He’d be the first to call his area a Food Desert, there’s nothing fresh or organic to be found. He started planting gardens in random places: vacant lots, traffic medians and curbside plots. Currently, all the food that’s produced is given to the communities for free. He thinks having access to fresh produce and getting the communities involved will help foster better eating habits. "If kids grow kale, kids eat kale."

So when Nick Weinberg invited me to a TEDActive Ron Finley gardening event, how could I not go? Ron describes a future plan of turning shipping containers into healthy cafés selling the food they grow. “Free is not sustainable. Funny thing about sustainability, to be sustainable we need to sustain.” Amen, Ron.

For more information about volunteering or becoming a part of LA Green Grounds, click here. 

(Images, from the top! Me and Ron; Anna and Nick; donated bulbs for planting; donated shovels; our gardening plot in Watts, CA; me turning soil while Ron's nephew waters; Ron's nephew teaching us about stressed tomato plants; Cholula observing our work; gardener's motto; squash plant; plant trays)

eggslut: A Breakfast Truck Walking Distance from Home

One of the bonuses of moving is discovering new places to eat near home. I’ve heard and been told that people don’t walk in LA but since I’m fresh from New York, I can’t quite stop my two feet from doing their thing. One of the places we walked to recently (thanks for the reco, Joy!) was the eggslut truck.

Eggslut is parked in front (actually on the side) of Palihotel. The restaurant inside, The Hart and the Hunter, doesn’t have an extensive breakfast menu so I guess Palihotel, eggslut and The Hart and The Hunter have reached some sort of agreement: hot breakfast items from eggslut, espresso beverages (Handsome Coffee Roasters coffee) and baked goods from The Hart and The Hunter, seating at Palihotel. Whew!

Eggslut had sold out of The Slut (a coddled egg cooked in a glass jar, garnished with chives and gray salt) so I got the scrambled eggs tossed with chives on toast with a side of homemade sausage. Mr. Mari went with his morning go-to fave: a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich. 

The order took some time to prepare (this would never fly in NYC) but since you can sit outside in the 70-degree, zero humidity dappled sun, it didn’t really matter how long it took. Delicious. The scrambled eggs were amazing. Tender folds of pillowy, buttery eggs served atop a lightly toasted piece of airy French bread. The homemade sausage patty was tasty but some parts had a hearty kick, others didn’t, depending on where you took a bite. Mr. Mari’s egg sandwich was just as good as my eggs. The barely melted thick slice of cheddar cheese helps keep the tender egg curds from falling out.

I haven’t been to many food trucks (gasp!) but now that we’re in LA, it’s clearly something that deserves further investigation. Perhaps I'll get lucky and there will be more within walking distance. 

Pantone (Food Pairing) Chips

In my former life as a designer, Pantone color books were always within arm’s reach. Leave it to David Schwen to marry food and design together in a totally fun way. His site says the prints will be available for sale soon. Excellent news since there's a vacant spot over my new desk, perfect for some food & design related art.

Sir, I tip my food loving, designer hat to thee.

(News bite via Subtraction; Images via David Schwen)

Taco Bell Doritos Locos Tacos Supreme

1) I love chips. I’m a big fan of the category.
2) Mr. Mari and I have (food) trip rules: Anything goes. That includes fast food.
3) Our friend Sandy loves Doritos. She was the first one to alert me to the Taco Bell phenomenon: the Doritos Locos Tacos Supreme.

Even though we moved to Los Angeles, technically since our stuff still hasn’t arrived and we were driving to TED, well, I'd say trip rules apply! 

Mr. Mari and I stopped off at the Taco Bell in Long Beach, just a few blocks from where TED was being held. I ordered two Doritos Locos Tacos Supreme and sort of wish I had ordered three. I’ve never been a big Taco Bell fan but these tacos were like the ones I grew up eating at home: Old el Paso tacos - but 100x better because of the Doritos shell. 

And, like after eating a bag o’ Doritos, you’ve got to lick the orangey cheese off your fingers. I just read they introduced a Cool Ranch Doritos Locos this past Thursday. I'm thinking trip rules still apply since my stuff still hasn't shown up.

TED & What Are YOU Passionate About?

Last week, Mr. Mari and I took a break from our moving meyhem and drove down to Long Beach for the afternoon to hear our friend Barb speak from the Main Stage at TED. Go, Barb!

The first time I went to TED was in 2006. It was held in Monterey, CA and none of the talks were online. What struck me the most was that although I may not be interested in statistics or African aid as a career, someone else is - and passionately so! Boy howdy was I inspired! I left the conference thinking to myself, what was I passionate about? A few months later, I started my brownie company.

This year was no different. There were a bunch of interesting talks (building skyscrapers with wood to a 15-year old kid who designed an affordable and non-invasive cancer detector) but there was a lot about food! Obviously Barb’s, she spoke about umami; Jinsop Lee, an industrial designer, who combined candy flavoring and a toothbrush; Leyla Acaroglu, a sustainability strategist, talked about paper vs plastic bags (you’d be surprised by her answer) and hot water kettles; Ron Finley, an artist and renegade gardener, creates edible gardens in South Central LA; Wang Li, a mouth musician played a calabash flute!

Again - the inspiration, the wow, the ‘what the hell am I passionate about’ thoughts roller coastered through my brain. What are you passionate about? What revs you up and bolts you out of bed in the morning? Happy weekend, chewing on this (Get it? Chewing?)! See you back here on Monday!

(Video still of Barb Stuckey via Will True; all other images, except of me, by James Duncan Davidson)

Tip: Crisp Cereal, To The Very Last Spoonful

I love crunchy things and really don’t like when crunchy things devolve into soggy and then mushy textured foods. Breadcrumbs, pizza crust, and cereal are some examples of foods that start crispity crunchy and by midpoint of eating them are soggy.  To me, that makes them totally less desirable. I readily admit I'm a little slow sometimes. Before my crisp cereal epiphany, I would pour cereal into the bowl, top it with fruit and then pour milk over the entire thing. Sounds normal, right? Eureka! DING DING DING DING DING! NOW I put the FRUIT on the bottom, top it with cereal and then pour in some milk along the bowl’s edge. The fruit layer buoys and buffers the cereal from the milk pool. Sure some of the cereal falls into the milk but most of it stays crisp. Oy. It’s only taken me 40-odd years to figure that one out but I don’t care; I’m finally happy with my cereal - to the very last spoonful.

New Shooter Comin' Out: Firecakes Donuts

Mr. Mari and I went to Chicago last year, ostensibly to dine at Charlie Trotter’s before they shuttered their doors for good. Well, you can’t expect one meal to sustain you an entire weekend, right? Right. So, like normal people, we went on an eating binge. We walked to one place and ate. Left. Walked to the next and ate again. We were like Hobbits - eating elevensies, second breakfasts and afternoon tea. Between our proper breakfasts, lunches and dinners, I took Mr. Mari on a mini doughnut tour. We stopped at Do-Rite Donuts, The Doughnut Vault, Glazed & Infused and managed to eat/sample 17 sugar and heaven fried doughnuts between the two of us. Since our calorie-laden trip, Firecakes has opened. Looking at the above image, I have two thoughts: There’s a new shooter in town and I can’t wait for my next trip. I'm eyeing you, Butterscotch Praline; and you too, Lemon Verbena Meringue. Get in my belly!

(News bite and image via RedEye)

Cynthia Rowley's Latest: CuRious Candy

I’m a big candy fan - red and black licorice, sour chewys, gummi bears, circus peanuts, Sweet Tarts, NECCO wafers, salt water taffy, gumdrops, violet pastilles, PEZ. You name it - chances are I love it. Economy Candy is to me what the Barneys shoe department is to a shoe fiend: dangerous! 

Last fall, when I bumped into Cynthia on the street, she told me she was opening a candy store on the Upper East Side. Having worked on her home line for Target, I knew she would do a candy store like no other. When I heard CuRious Candy opened (Get it? The C & R are capped for Cynthia Rowley?), like a sugar-obsessed addict I needed to check this place out ASAP.

Love this video she made to introduce the shop - I want to eat an edible vase too! Check out more images after the jump! (Nice cameo, CR!)

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