So here’s how my mind works. Grab a pen because I paid people good money to get to the bottom of this.

I recently roasted some less than spectacular off-season tomatoes. I made a fairly time consuming, but very delicious, panzanella salad. I called it a winter panzanella because I roasted those off-season little buggers to try to coax as
much sweetness out of them as I could.

This is great trick. But based on some of the emails I received I need to point out that I am not a genius. This method is not something I “invented”. I’ll say it again. I AM NOT A CHEF.  I cannot save you culinarily.

But there is one thing I do know. There are very few tricks in cooking (read life) that have not been tried before. I first had winter tomatoes slow roasted like this at Babbo in New York City a very, very long time ago. Not the 1800s long time
ago. But Bill Clinton was President and my 401k looked pretty healthy. Healthy enough to pay for overcooked tomatoes in a city across the country from where I actually lived.

But I have digressed.

Well it’s happened again. I ripped off KCRW’s Good Food. This time my victim was the chef at Rustic Canyon in Santa Monica, Evan Funke.

When I left the house this morning for the Hollywood Farmers Market I had an open mind about what I would find for my weekly Market Matters post. But when I got there, the market felt a bit off to me. I think we really are transitioning from the winter crops to the early spring stuff. I even saw English peas in the pod. A sure sign that spring is on it way in. But the peas were not really peaking and I’d rather wait a few more weeks and be rewarded with perfect peas.

All the usual suspects were to be found though. I saw great citrus, and the winter greens are still aplenty. There were carrots, carrots, and more carrots. Some nice potatoes too. But nothing really inspired me. Then it hit me. That interview with Evan Funke came bursting to the forefront of my consciousness.

Okay, you have to understand that I store information about food in my head the way most Angelinos store obscure rush hour short cuts. You never know when your gonna need ‘em and you have no idea where the information comes from. But there it is, like magic; just when you need it.

What I am trying to say is I was not intending to steal from Evan Funke. But, after really scouring the market, I came home with a bunch of baby purple artichokes. It may sound like a great choice (and it is), but it was not really MY own unique, one-of-a-kind choice.

Sweeps-Week Wrap-Up (watch video)

Well my first Sweeps-Week has ended. I did 8 posts in 7 days. Which for me is a feat.

I am not sure how successful this period was for me. With the exception of one day. My numbers stayed pretty much the same. But on Feb. 2 my numbers tripled. Then fell back down on Feb. 3. I can’t explain the huge surge either. Feb. 2 was a housekeeping day. I made two posts, but they were merely announcements.

There was an even bigger surge yesterday. Again, no clues as to why. If numbers and statistics interest you, click on the sitemeter at the way bottom right hand-side.

But in any case, my “Sweeps-Week” experiment is over now. I am going to go back to posting whatever, whenever I feel like it. But if there is one true thing about Sweeps-Week in Hollywood, it is this: The week after Sweeps-Week is nothing but re-runs.

So in that time honored Hollywood tradition I am offering you a re-run.

This is not just any re-run mind you. It is the very first installment of SippitySup. What we in Hollywood call the Pilot.