Huge Hurricane Swell! Too Big For This Wimp. But…An Awesome Banh Mi For Lunch!

So last week I got out to the beach a few times and had some fun, first with my Mentor doing some wave management and then paddling out solo on some really mellow waves a couple of days later.  I planned on going out over the weekend again, but plans change! What happened was first one and then another hurricane was churning down south off of Baja.  Now the first caused some bigger swells that affected the weekend.  I headed out to the beach Sunday, but things were very choppy and the waves getting big. So I swam only. Then came Hurricane Marie. Marie was a monster storm that produced the kind of swell that apparently hasn't been seen in So Cal in years. I'm talking ten to fifteen feet at south facing beaches like in Malibu.  Crazy stuff.  I mean these waves, and these water conditions, are for expert surfers only.  I know a few who were most likely having a blast.

But today, Thursday, things were starting to calm down, and so I took the board out to Santa Monica, where conditions weren't quite so fierce.  Shout out, again, to the guys (and girls) of the LA County Lifeguards for watching over us.

These guys made a lot of rescues over the past few days.  So brave.  Anyway, I left the board strapped to the car because even in Santa Monica there were some pretty steep waves, but I put on the wet suit and managed to do a little swim and wave management session.  It was fun, and it felt so good to be back in the water after a few days of staying away because of the conditions.  One day maybe if I work really really hard at it I'll be able to get out on some really epic waves, but for now it's the smaller ones that'll do.

But since I was out at the beach, I decided to stay for lunch. I'd been wanting for the longest time to try out this sandwich that sounded very delicious that you can find at Gjelina Takeaway in Venice.  If you haven't been to Gjelina, and you like really good food, go!  A few months back my big brother was in town from back east and we had dinner at Gjelina.  Here's some of what we had, and I can tell you it was all excellent, starting with a Charcuterie board, continuing to one of their excellent wood-fired pizzas, and then on to I think it was a lamb chop (I can't quite remember!), and then there were some very delicious meatballs, and finally a butterscotch Budino, which is right up there with the one Nancy Silverton serves at Pizzeria Mozza.

But the sandwich I had been wanting to sample was Gjelina Takeaway's Brisket Banh Mi.  Now, I have become something of a Banh Mi fanatic.  It's pretty much my new favorite sandwich, but it's not easy making a good one at home, I've learned, so I usually get them out.  Michael Voltaggio's Ink Sack in West Hollywood, for example, makes a couple of really delicious Banh Mis, including a spicy tofu one I'm just addicted to. Viet Noodle Bar in Atwater makes some pretty good ones to, as does Gingergrass in Silver Lake.  But I'd been really after that Brisket one so take a look, first wrapped up in nice brown paper, with an Arnold Palmer on the side, and then ready to scarf down.

Okay, this sandwich was so, so good.  The brisket was exceedingly tender.  It's rich, but the richness is cut by the pickled vegetables, which I think included carrots, and daikon. Also there was lots of Cilantro (sorry Sam!).  It's pressed and the bread is crisp.  Wow.  Amazing.  So next time you find yourself in Venice, and you want lunch -- maybe even something you can take down to the beach, hit up Gjelina Takeaway.  You won't regret it!

Dear In-n-Out Burger

Look at you, combo #2, with the burger Animal Style.  I adore you.  That is all!

Okay, wait, here's a little story about this particular In-n-out Burger location, which is on Venice Boulevard in Culver City, because it also involves surfing.  Btw, I did have a surf session today.  Here's my daily beach picture:

It was a little overcast, and the tide pretty low. We actually didn't really surf but I did more practice just catching waves and gliding in on my board.  I did great, until that one time when I nose-dived, lost track of my board, and it came back and smacked me in the head.  Good thing it's made of foam.  Didn't hurt a bit!   But I digress!  A while back I surfed solo and there was this other dude out in the line-up with me and we traded heys and all that.  Well, later I stopped at In-n-Out because it was lunch time and I was starving and every once in a while I get a craving for it. Well, there was that same dude, right behind me in line!  True story.

I don't normally eat a lot of fast food.  In fact I don't really eat any fast food like McDonalds or Burger King because I don't think they really take care about where they source their ingredients.  I'm not saying the  In n Out people are angels, but from what I understand they do take a little more care.  Also they aren't giant behemoths like those other chains so they can be a bit more careful and choosy. I hope they stay pretty small and family run, as they are now.

So In n Out Burger?  Definitely a candidate for the Surf Dude Food Hall of Fame, in my opinion.  Go get one Animal Style soon! www.in-n-out-com

Weekend surf, plus a large loaf of really good bread!

Didn't make it into the water Saturday, but Sunday was a surf day, and it was a nice one, with clear blue skies and warm temps.  See all those footprints?  Seems like everybody was headed to the water, doesn't it?

It was pretty mellow too, with gentle waves (although some bigger sets kept creeping in) and I paddled right out into the line-up without a thought.  Didn't have much luck getting any good long rides, but I did notice it wasn't just me.  These waves seemed tough to gauge and tough to catch.  Also, it was super crowded, even though conditions weren't ideal.  I'm still learning about right-of-way issues and so I'm always looking for a spot where I have some space.  Here's something I have learned -- you don't want to get in a better surfer's way. You just don't. Anyway, like I said, conditions weren't ideal. Even if a better surfer would consider it a crappy day, I always give myself props when I get out there and try.  If there's something you're trying to do, and you're not all that good at it yet, I highly recommend giving yourself a pat on the back. If you wait for somebody else to do it, it most likely won't happen.

But first there was breakfast, which kind of has a story behind it.  It's a story about a loaf of bread.  This loaf of bread, actually--

This is only part of a very large loaf of rustic country bread Sam picked up at the Silver Lake farmers' market on Saturday.  It's actually from the Village Cafe and Bakery on Los Feliz Boulevard (www.thevillagebakeryandcafe.com) but they sell at the farmers' market too.  Anyway, Sam had mentioned something about an Italian Sandwich for lunch Saturday. I've already talked about the best Italian sandwich in LA, which is the Godmother from Bay Cities Deli in Santa Monica, but you can also make a pretty good Italian sandwich at home.  Here look:

Not bad, huh?  Just get yourselves some good Mortadella, Genoa Salami, Provolone and roasted peppers, along with a bit of shredded lettuce and sliced tomato.  Slice that bread in half, lay down some mayo and mustard, then layer the meats and peppers. Top with the lettuce and tomato, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar, sprinkle on a little salt, pepper and garlic pepper and there you have it!  (full disclosure: the Godmother still wins hands down, but the at-home version is pretty good too).

But as you can tell, that loaf of bread still had a lot of giving, and before the surf Sunday morning, breakfast was called for. We had planned on having something I've always called Toads in the Hole, but the real name of the dish, I've learned, is Eggs in a Basket.  If you've seen the movie MOONSTRUCK (and you should if you haven't) you'll know what I'm talking about because Olympia Dukakis cooks this in the movie, and that was the inspiration for me to try them.  (Toads in the Hole, btw, are sausages cooked inside a Yorkshire batter.  Not bad sounding either.  Might have to try that one day).  Anyway, for Eggs in a basket, to serve two, you'll need

2-4 slices thick country bread (this depends on the size of the loaf as you'll see in pics.  You want one piece for each egg, but this loaf was so large I could cut one slice in half)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 large eggs
Salt and fresh ground pepper
Roasted peppers, optional
*note:  this works much better in a non-stick skillet, so use it if you have one.

1. Using a serrated knife, cut circles in the slices of bread, taking care not to tear the sides.
2. Melt butter and olive oil in a large non-stick skillet.
3. When butter and oil sizzle, place bread slices in skillet.  Carefully crack open eggs and drop one egg in each hole.  Sprinkle with salt and fresh ground pepper
4. After about 2 minutes check the bottoms.  They should be starting to brown.  Carefully flip the slices of bread and cook another 2-3 minutes if you like your yolks runny, longer if you don't.
5. Remove Eggs in Baskets to plates.  Top with roasted peppers if you like.

Here's a bit of of breakfast making for you to look at, first the thick slices of the bread, then with the holes cut out, then in the pan, and finally on the plate!

Now that looks like a good breakfast to fortify a person for a surf session, doesn't it?  But there's still more to this loaf of bread.  It made toast this morning, and then tomorrow may serve as big croutons underneath Nancy Silverton's chopped Italian salads (pretty much what I always do with meats left over from the Italian sandwich and great for a summer night dinner -- that recipe is in Nancy Silverton's Sandwich book, by Nancy Silverton with Teri Gelber -- it's a great book to have on hand too).  

So one more tidbit from the weekend.  If you've been following along, you know I recently dug the ice cream machine out of the closet.  Well, in Saturdays LA Times, in the food section, Irene Virbilia wrote about making ice cream, and she included a recipe for vanilla ice cream from David Lebovitz.  So go to www.latimes.com and get the recipe if you're interested. It's pretty easy.  You will need a vanilla bean, but most supermarkets carry them.  Here's the ice cream churning away.

Virbilia included a recipe for a fudge sauce which I didn't make because it had too many things we didn't have on hand.  What we did have, though, is a box of Hershey's unsweetened cocoa, and I found an easy chocolate sauce recipe that took about five minutes to put together.  Here's a link to the source www.southernfood.about.com, and here's the recipe for five-minute chocolate sauce:

2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
*note:  I halved this recipe and it made more than enough

1. Place first four dry ingredients in a medium saucepan.  Add 1/2 cup of milk and whisk to form a smooth paste.
2. Add remaining milk and bring to boil, whisking until smooth.  Reduce heat to low, simmer gently for five minutes, whisking often.
3. Remove from heat.  Add the vanilla and cool the sauce.  Keep in the refrigerator, covered tightly, for up to a week.

 So here's home churned vanilla ice cream with the chocolate sauce.

A pretty good send-off to a pretty nice weekend, wouldn't you say?

Back to basics 2.0...Campaign working! Plus, what's more basic than pickling something?

I mentioned I have a mentor, a gent who's been helping me with my surfing.  He pointed out that I had plateaued, (okay he basically said I sucked!) and that I needed to go back and master some basic ocean skills if I want to be a better, and more important, a braver surfer.  I felt totally bummed out about that.  I thought I was doing pretty good.  I resisted the idea of starting from scratch. In fact, it felt to me like some kind of failure.  But deep down I knew he was right.  So the past few sessions I've been out have mostly been about leaving the board on the beach and just relearning how to manage waves.  In fact the truth is this is probably the way I should have started.  On my first surfing lesson a while back, we just plunged into the ocean at Zuma and tried to catch waves.  I didn't really reveal all my ocean phobias to my teacher, and that was my mistake. I think it was because I was embarrassed about it. I mean, really, who wants to say, 'I am afraid of drowning'.  So I kept my mouth shut and tried to power through it, but when you have a real phobia about something, what I am learning is it's best to confront it head on.

But the other day I had what I consider a real breakthrough. In the past, if I got up on a wave, more often then not, I'd wipe out somewhere right in the impact zone. For anybody who doesn't know what I'm talking about, this is right where the waves break. It's not the best place to be for a couple of reasons, the most important being, depending on whether or not it's a short or long period swell, but another wave will most likely be upon you sooner or later, so it's good to get out of the way.  My method of doing that involved finding my board as soon as possible and racing to get back on it in a quasi-panic.  This is wrong.  What I've learned to do first is look to see what the waves are doing.  If another wave is coming you might have to dive through it.  Just push the board away and forget it! Which was hard for me, because for some reason I considered the board a safe zone.  But it's not really.  The safe zone is back in the line-up but you might have to wait a bit to get there and that's okay. Anyway, the other day, the breakthrough was just practicing in the impact zone with my board and diving through waves when I had to and just staying calm.  I'm not completely over my fears, but we are definitely making strides.

When I got home, like I always do, I was hosing down the Greco and my wetsuit when I noticed our Jalapeño plant was bursting with peppers! I mean, look at this, which is only part of the harvest.

Sam doesn't really eat them, and don't even ask about the time Derric the Beagle once swallowed half of one before I could get it out of his mouth. Well, one person can only eat so many Jalapeños, right?  I've already given some away, but then I thought about pickling them, which is also sort of a back-to-basics kind of thing to do, isn't it?  And I was just in that kind of a mood.

But I'd never pickled anything before so some research was required (btw, I wasn't planning on canning them for long-term storage.  Just a quick pickle that would last in the refrigerator for a month or so). Somewhere recently I'd discovered Lisa Fain and her really cool Homesick Texan blog, cookbooks, etc.  She recently posted a recipe for Zucchini pickles, so using that as a template I made a few small changes, mostly because there were certain things I didn't have on hand. Also, some recipes I looked at call for sugar, but I didn't want them sweet so I didn't add any. But here's a link to Lisa Fain's site www.homesicktexan.com if you want to check out the original zucchini recipe, or check out all the great recipes actually because there's many.  So if you have a lot of Jalapeños on hand, and you want to try pickling something, here goes.

1/4 pound Jalapeños
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1/4 teaspoon powdered mustard
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1 cup water, plus more warm water if needed
3/4 cup white vinegar
1 sterilized 8 ounce jar with lid and band
*note:  to sterilize jar, lid and band you can either run through the dishwasher or place in a pot of boiling water for five minutes.

1. Slice the Jalapeños into 1/4 inch slices (I suppose if you want them a little milder you could remove some of the seeds, but I didn't).
2. Place the minced garlic, salt, peppercorns, mustard and cumin in the sterilized jar.  Pack in the Jalapeño slices.  But really pack them in pretty tightly.  They will shrink when you add the hot liquid.  I learned this because I started out with two jars, but it turned out they'd all fit in one.
3. In a medium pot, bring water and vinegar to boil.  Pour the liquid over the Jalapeños.  Add warm water if needed, but leave 1/2 inch headspace. Screw on lid. Give the jar a shake.  Refrigerate for 24 hours before tasting. Pickled jalapeños will keep in the refrigerator, tightly sealed, for about a month.

Here's a few pics of the process:

Here are the Jalapeños in the jar, just after adding the liquid.

As you can see, I should have packed the slices in much tighter.  So learn from my mistake.  Here's the final product, all in one jar.  They are very tasty, a little spicy, but that's good.

 So get back to basics.  Pickle something!

Back to Malibu for breakfast on the beach. No surf :(

When we lived in Malibu, a favorite thing to do was to pack up some food and take it down to the beach.  Sometimes it was lunch and sometimes it was dinner, but I think my favorite meal to eat on the beach is breakfast, especially if you can get down there super early, so it's nice and quiet, and maybe even the sun is just coming up.  It's even better if you can get in the water after eating, but Sunday morning in Malibu conditions weren't right for me.  Waves were kind of on the big side and the tide was high and, I don't know, something told me that even though I had my board, it would probably be a better idea to stay out of the water.  Shout-out, though, to these gents and ladies--

LA County Lifeguards are the best.  You can learn more about them here if you're interested: www.lacountylifeguards.org.  The more intrepid surfers seemed to be having a good time though.  Look at this dude go!  So jealous!

Since I got in the water Saturday, it was okay to skip Sunday, and the Beagles had fun in Malibu too!  They took a nice long walk at Point Dume and George got to refamiliarize himself with all those gopher smells.  Also, he has friends from his Malibu days, like the nice lady with the fanny pack full of treats.  He can spot her from like a mile away and will pull us toward her until he gets his treat!

And then there was breakfast. This isn't a complicated one. Just bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches, which don't really require a recipe.  A word again about ingredients, though.  This bread and these eggs, for instance, came from the Saturday farmers' market in Silver lake.  I know I've said this before -- you'll pay a little more for these ingredients but there are so many reasons it's worth it.  The bread wasn't made in some factory a gazillion miles from here, and it's not loaded up with preservatives to keep it 'fresh'. The eggs come from a farmer who cares about his animals. You really don't want to know about conditions for most supermarket eggs. If you did, I bet you'd think twice about eating them. Plus there really is a difference in how they taste. If you don't believe me, try and then see for yourself. Now a contradiction!  The cheese, which was leftover from burgers the other night, is American!  Yes, I love American cheese on cheeseburgers.  Almost nothing melts like it.  So, yeah, not everything has to be artisan made or from the farmers' market, okay?  Oh, but here's one tip about American cheese that is better for the planet.  Try not to buy the kind where every piece is individually wrapped in plastic. That's a very big waste. But at the deli department of most supermarkets you can buy American cheese by the pound.  This way you can get as much as you want and you're not wasting plastic.  See…easy, huh?  So here's the breakfast sandwiches coming together, first this really good whole grain bread, which has some seeds and nuts on top, then the eggs:

Don't forget the cheese and bacon!

Let the eggs sizzle in the pan, and if you don't want them too messy, you can break the yolks so they're not too runny.  Covering the pan helps too.

Here's the finished sandwich, all ready to be wrapped up in foil for the trip to the beach!

So if you live anywhere near a beach, I say pack up your breakfast, your lunch, or your dinner (and don't forget the cocktails!) and eat on the sand.  You'll be happy you did.

Is there surfing in Cuba? Yes or no, we can always have a Cuban Sandwich!

What is it about Cuba?  I have always been curious about that place.  I mean, here's this little island, one hundred or so miles off the coast of the Continental United States, but it seems so odd and strange and alien to us.  When I think of Cuba I picture ancient big old American cars, a crumbling infrastructure, and, of course, Castro.  Maybe because we can't easily just jump on a plane and go there is part of the allure. I've always been a little obsessed with JFK, and of course his history is eternally tied into Cuba's, with the Bay of Pigs fiasco and that Missile Crisis, so there's that. Sam's always been intrigued by Cuba too, perhaps because he had a close friend, Oscar, who's no longer with us, who was Cuban.

Cuba's an island, surrounded on all sides by ocean, so I also wondered: do people surf in Cuba?  Well,  a quick search revealed this article from the New York Times about surfing in Cuba.  The answer is yes there is surfing in Cuba, and you should read the article -- it's really interesting. So here's the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/sports/cuban-surfers-face-hurdles-before-catching-waves.html?smid=pl-share.

You can't think about Cuba without thinking about food, because Cuban food is seriously delicious.  (okay, also Desi Arnaz comes to mind, doesn't he?  Who didn't love Desi?  He was a genius actually, pretty much helping to invent the three-camera sitcom, but that's another story!) There's some good Cuban food right here in LA. There's Porto's in Glendale www.portosbakery.com, which also has a pretty great bakery, Versailles www.versaillescuban.com, and in Silver Lake Cafe Tropical on Sunset www.cafetropicalla.com.  I love Arroz con Pollo, I like plantains, but my favorite thing to eat is a Cuban Sandwich, which is a nice thing to have for lunch after a surf. Yep, I paddled out this morning.  Conditions were not ideal though, so after a while I ditched the board and just did some wave management.  Still, as always, I worked up a hunger.  Now, let's backtrack a couple of days when we had Cuban style pork tenderloin with Chimichurri Sauce for dinner. There are always leftovers, which are perfect for Cuban sandwiches. So I'll pass along the recipe for the tenderloins first, and then we'll make these babies, which are super easy, btw. They're pressed sandwiches, so the bread comes out hot and crisp, the filling warm and the cheese all melty.  Nothing wrong with that, is there?

So for Cuban-style Pork (recipe adapted, I think, from the New York Times Magazine several years ago) you'll need:

2 one pound pork tenderloins (best quality from your butcher, as always)
3 teaspoons chopped garlic
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
fresh ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/3 cup, plus 3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons orange juice
1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
A dash or two of red chili flakes, optional
*I usually half this recipe for two people. The regular recipe will easily serve four, with some leftover. It's also easy to double it.

1. Place the pork tenderloins on a double thickness of foil.  Coat with 2 teaspoons garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper to taste, cumin, 1 teaspoon oregano and onion. Sprinkle with 3 tablespoons olive oil and the orange juice. Wrap the tenderloins in the foil (ahead of time note:  this can be done several hours in advance)
2. make the chimichurri sauce: in a small bowl whisk lime juice, vinegar, remaining olive oil, garlic, oregano, red chili flakes if you like, and season with salt and pepper.  Shortly before serving stir in the chopped parsley (if you do this too far ahead the parsley will get too limp).
3. Heat your grill to medium.  If using charcoal, bank coals to one side.  If using gas, keep one side of grill cool. (note: I usually add some mesquite chips to my coals, but that's optional.  It adds a nice smokiness to the pork, though). Place wrapped pork on unheated side. Cook, turning occasionally, for 45 minutes to an hour, or until pork is 160 degrees on an instant read thermometer.
4. Let pork rest. Slice thinly and serve with Chimichurri on top, and if you like -- and you should -- rice and black beans on the side.

Now, you will have leftover roast pork. Place it on a plate and spoon any leftover Chimichurri on top.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to make Cuban sandwiches, which sometimes I've seen called Medianoches.  I'm not sure if there's a difference between a Cuban Sandwich and a Medianoche.  If anybody knows, please comment! Anyway,  you'll need, for 2 Cuban Sandwiches:

2 soft Cuban Style rolls (These can be hard to find, but if you can find Mexican-style Cemita rolls they'll work too)

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

Yellow mustard, optional (I've seen some recipes that include mustard and some that don't.  Up to you!)

Leftover sliced Cuban style pork, about 1/4 pound

1/4 pound plain thinly sliced boiled ham

Thinly sliced dill pickles

1/4 pound thinly sliced baby Swiss cheese

2 tablespoons melted butter

*Note:  many recipes will call for making these in a panini or sandwich press.  I don't have one, and you don't need one either as you'll see below.  But if you have one, use it!
**note 2: you might need a bit more sliced ham and cheese, depending on the size of your rolls, but don't lay it on too thick, okay?

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and place a heavy cast iron skillet inside.
2. Slice rolls in half.  Spread bottom and top halves with mayonnaise.  Add mustard if you like.
3. Lay a slice or more of cheese on bottom half.  Top that with a layer of pork. Follow that with a layer of ham and then pickle slices. Top the pickle with more slices of Swiss cheese.  Place the top half of bread on the sandwiches.
4. Brush a baking sheet with melted butter and place the sandwiches on it. Brush melted butter on the top halts as well.  Using an oven mitt remove the hot skillet from the oven.  Carefully place it on top of the sandwiches. Then place the baking sheet back in the oven.  Let the sandwiches bake, with the skillet on top, for about 20-25 minutes, until they're pressed down and the cheese is melted.

Here's a couple of shots, of the sandwich making process, and also of the Cubans in the oven with the skillet on top.   

Maybe one day we'll get to Cuba. I bet at some point travel restrictions will be eased and we will just be able to jump on a plane.  It looks like it would be a fun trip.  For surfing, and for eating.

Weekend Surfing/Weekend eating -- Waffles! Salted Caramel Ice Cream! BLT's!

Wave management sessions are paying off!  This past Saturday I paddled right out into the line-up with no worries! Okay, it helped that there were tiny waves and the tide was pretty low.  Some other surfer said, "hey, it's pretty glassy, huh?" and I said, "yeah, yeah, right on!"  Honestly, I've heard the term before but I was never quite sure what it meant.  But then I noticed that the surface of the ocean did look almost like glass -- just real smooth, with almost a shine to it. Still, I had fun, and again there were dolphins.  That's always good (that other surfer, btw, was doing yoga on his board in between waves.  How Cali can you get?).

You know what's a nice reward for bravery?  Waffles!

But…wait:  waffles were on the schedule for Sunday breakfast and this was Saturday.  Also, this waffle batter as you will see, needs to rest for twenty-four hours.  So sit tight and we'll get to them! Still, after Saturday's surf, we needed lunch.  Again we had an abundance of tomatoes so it was BLT's.  I don't think anybody needs a recipe for BLT's, right? Just toast some bread, lay down some mayo, then lettuce, tomatoes, bacon and, okay, we added a little cheese.  Don't neglect to salt and pepper the tomatoes, by the way.  It's important to do this.  Also, as always, use the best quality ingredients.  Nueske Bacon, for example, is what we use -- www.nueskes.com. Here's a glimpse of sandwiches being put together, plus the finished product.

Ok, so lunch out of the way, it was on to mixing up the batter for the waffles.  But first, a pop quiz: do you recognize this pretty lady?

Major props if you do!  It's late food writer Marion Cunningham, who lived and worked mostly in the pre-food blog, pre-Top Chef and pre-Food Network world but she was a very important voice in that world. If you have an interest in the history of the food world, google her because she was an interesting character. Apparently, for example, with royalties from her first cookbook she bought a Jaguar and drove it all over the Bay Area in search of the next restaurant or food story. Sweet, huh? Anyway, this is her waffle recipe, which I clipped from the LA Times a few years ago, even before I had a waffle iron, because it sounded like it would make for a great Sunday breakfast.  So here is Marion Cunningham's Raised Yeast Waffle Recipe from the LA Times www.latimes.com (note -- I halved this recipe for 2 people.  And half a package of yeast is 1 1/8 teaspoons, FYI.  Full recipe makes about 18 waffles).

1/2 cup warm water

1 package active dry yeast

2 cups milk

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

2 cups flour

2 eggs

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1. Place warm water in a large mixing bowl (the batter will double in volume) and sprinkle in the yeast.  When dissolved, stir in milk, butter, salt, sugar, flour and eggs.  Beat until smooth and blended.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
2. Just before cooking the waffles, beat in the baking soda.  The batter will deflate and become about as thin as soft yogurt.  Cook the waffles according to the manufacturer's instructions for your waffle maker.

Below are ingredients gathered, along with some pics of the process, first the yeast dissolved in the water, then with the rest of the ingredients mixed in, then after it sat overnight.  It took all of about ten minutes to put this batter together.

Here's my little Oster waffle iron, which I've grown quite fond of!

This dude's a workhorse.  Also, it's fun to watch steam puffing out the sides as it cooks the waffles.  Don't know why, but it is.  As you can see from the first picture in this post, the waffles came out really really good. Feel free to throw some blueberries on top, a little bacon on the side, and, of course you'll need syrup -- and not just any syrup, the good stuff you see here:

This was brought to us by an actual Funk, but if you want to get some, here's a link to their site:  www.funkspuremaplesirup.com

So, also when I was pulling out the waffle iron for the weekend, I came across this guy:

Yep, it's an ice cream maker!  You have one too, don't you?  Well, to be honest I sometimes kind of forget I do too.  I mean, here it is August -- the Summer is like half over -- and I have yet to make ice cream.  So we dusted this guy off and I decided to try one of my favorite ice creams, salted caramel.  This recipe comes from now defunct Gourmet magazine (August, 2009 issue).  It's not too complicated but again most ice cream makers require that you stick the bowl part in the freezer for about 24 hours so you may have to plan ahead a bit.  Also, I had always wanted to try making caramel, but I was always a little intimidated.  Don't be.  It's really not that hard.  So here is the recipe, which will yield about a quart of ice cream:

1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
2 1/4 cups heavy cream, divided
1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt like Maldon (or just kosher salt is fine)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk
3 large eggs

1. Heat 1 cup sugar in a dry ten inch pot over medium heat, stirring with a fork to heat sugar evenly, until it starts to melt, then stop stirring and cook, swirling pot occasionally so sugar melts evenly, until it is dark amber (note: this took longer than I thought, to get the sugar to start to melt.  So just be patient and keep at it!)
2. Add 1 1/4 cups cream (mixture will spatter -- stand back!) and cook, stirring, until all of the caramel has dissolved (another note:  this stirring also took longer than expected. Again, be patient and take your time).  Transfer to a bowl and stir in sea salt and vanilla.  Cool to room temperature.
3. Meanwhile, bring milk, remaining cup cream and remaining 1/4 cup sugar just to a boil in a small heavy saucepan, stirring occasionally. 
4. Lightly whisk eggs in a medium bowl, then add half of hot milk mixture in a slow stream, whisking constantly.  Pour back into saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until custard coats back of spoon and registers 170 degrees Fahrenheit on an instant-read thermometer (do not let boil).  Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl, then stir in cooled caramel.
5. Chill custard, stirring occasionally, until very cold, 3-6 hours.  Freeze custard in ice cream maker (it will still be quite soft) then transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to firm up.

Here are some snaps of the process.  Again, ingredients gathered.  Then stirring the sugar in the pan, and after adding the cream to the melted sugar, the caramel bubbling away.

Below is the finished caramel.  You'll want to, but please restrain yourself from sticking your finger in there to take a taste…it's very, very hot! Don't ask how I know this! You can taste when it cools. Be patient!!

Next are a few pics of the custard-making process, along with the ice cream churning away in the Krups (this should take about 20-30 minutes, btw.  It should look like soft-serve ice cream).

And here's the final product, Salted Caramel Ice Cream!

It was pretty delicious.  Okay, yes, it's very rich and decadent.  I mean it's basically cream, milk, sugar and eggs!  But we don't eat it every day, right?  And surfing, like I've said, or any ocean sport really, uses up a lot of calories.  And you have to replace those calories somehow, don't ya?

Moral of the story?  Be brave!  Then eat Waffles.  And Salted Caramel Ice Cream.