12.31pm - cucumber yogurt shake from the Cow's End Cafe in Venice. Took a mental health day from work today, slept in, then went for a walk by the Venice Canals. Governator Arnold declared a California drought crisis the other day, and with the water so low, the boats all aground and a slightly fishy smell in the air, this was indeed a pretty worrisome picture. According to NPR, we've had the driest spring in 88 years, and this is the first official drought since 1991.
12.47pm - coconut custard pastry from the Cow's End Cafe, by the Venice Canals. Coconut custard cake is a great Brazilian classic - I have a picture from Brazil that I should scan in and post...
12.47pm - coconut custard pastry from the Cow's End Cafe, by the Venice Canals. Coconut custard cake is a great Brazilian classic - I have a picture from Brazil that I should scan in and post... 
14.45h - the One World raw appetizer plate at Juliano's Raw Cafe. May not look like much, but it's very precious and flavor intensive as it's been dehydrated or carefully heated to stay below 44 celsius in an effort to keep enzymes alive - the soup is a Thai lemongrass soup, and the marinated kale chips were my favorite.
14.55h - raw avocado-strawberry-date-cashew parfait w/ macadamia sauce, at Juliano's Raw.
16.32h - pistachios and dried apple twist, at home.
20.29h - a Cambodian fish curry called "Amok" that I'm very excited about, at home, with Ritesh. I spent way more time in Cambodia than in Thailand, so I used to eat this a lot, but unfortunately I never took a cooking class there. Cambodia of course doesn't have the tourist infrastructure that Thailand has, and the only cooking class offered in Phnom Penh was taught by a Dutch couple, which at the time didn't feel "authentic" enough to me. However, Cambodian (Khmer) cuisine is actually the basis of all other cuisines in the area - Thai cuisine allegedly developed out of Khmer cooking after the arrival of the chili from the Americas, which depending on whom you read came either with the Portuguese via Goa or the Spanish via the Philippines. Vietnamese similarly developed out of Khmer-Chinese fusion. Not sure about Laos, but I think the hill tribes from Northern Thailand to Northern Vietnam may have had their own thing going. Anyway, I have a very soft spot for all things Khmer and am so happy this Amok turned out as it did. But I can't help wishing I'd had a blog at the time, taken pictures of the food and asked for recipes ...
20.37h - coconut sticky rice and fresh mango, at home, with Ritesh.
4 comments:
Hey sorry for asking so many damn questions, but I find your blog damn fascinating, lol. So is there a large Brazilian population in L.A.? Btw, that sticky rice and mango look great. And one more thing, haha. Where in Brazil did you stay?
oops... I ask because of the acai, and then the pastry you posted.
hmm, good question. I can't quote any census data but my impression is that the Brazilian community here is relatively small in comparison to the Central American or Asian communities. There's probably less than 10 Brazilian restaurants, I only know of one Brazilian supermarket, and I remember having a really hard time finding any cachaca here when I last tried. That's why I got so excited about that coconut custard pastry - never seen anything like it around here before. What's it like in Virginia? You must have a totally different kind of mix of people...
I was in Rio itself most of the time, living on top of a hill in Santa Tereza. We did go on a few trips around the area, but nowhere near as much as we would have wanted. Have you been to Brazil? Whereabouts?
Have not been to Brazil, however, it is one my list of things to do, hehe. As for the Brazilian community here, it's almost non-existent. I only know of two Brazilians in this area, and they are involved with jiu jitsu. Don't even think if I've ever seen a Brazilian restaurant/supermarket either.
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