OMG. I have a simple and satisfying meal. It perfectly bridges the season between summer and autumn. Braised Pork Sirloin with Tomatoes, White Beans & Sage. Sounds delicious and seasonal, right? But it also offers me an opportunity to discuss something I have not talked about in almost three years of writing this blog. Which is shocking to me. I mean how can there be any virgin territory in three years of blogging.

And I don't mean pork. This ex-virgin has been porked. In fact the word pork appears in 141 posts. That's is out of almost 700 posts. That's a pretty strong pork ratio. Oink. Oink! Wink, Wink!

No the subject I seem to have missed is talking about the myriad of pork cuts. Which is a bit shocking. I mean I have read Fergus Henderson's The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating. I have even eaten nose and tail. My last post was jowl. But truth be told. Snout thru jowl to tail is fun information. But I suspect lots of us could use a bit of briefing on the more common cuts of the pig.

Seems like a good idea, but here I am three paragraphs into this post and I realize there is no freakin' way. There are just too many cuts of pork. I can't possibly discuss them all without you wanting to butcher me! Take ribs. Pork back ribs = pork backribs = pork country back bones = pork loin back ribs = pork ribs for barbecue = Canadian pork back ribs. These are all just different names for pork baby back ribs. All those names and I am not even including spare ribs!!

It's summer but it's kind of gray in L.A. The kind of summer gray that makes me crave green.

So this morning I walked down the hill to the Hollywood Farmers Market on the hunt for green. Well the most prominent green of summer is zucchini. If you have ever grown zucchini you realize how much of the summer garden they are willing to take over if you let them. Why let them?

If zucchini is left to do it's thing, 12 pound monster squash would be the result. Those behemoths are fun to look at, but honestly they are not the zucchini of my culinary dreams. Big zucchini can get woody in texture and quite bitter. I like sweet zucchini, which means I look for the smallest zucchini I can find.

Strangely baby zucchini are more prevalent at my Farmers Market during the peak of summer. You'd think the little guys would make their appearance earlier. But I guess as the vine grows the opportunity for zucchini multiplies exponentially. Makes sense. So farmers have lots of little squash and have no qualms about plucking them when they are tiny. Because they know that as long as summer shines there will be more zucchini.

I am so happy to still be a contender in the #PFB2010 Project Food Blog contest. I am having a blast, but one thing I have missed is my weekly Market Matters posts from the Hollywood Farmers Market. But this week the slave drivers over at FoodBuzz are giving us a break. The competitors have a rare Sunday off and I am using that time to get myself back to my market.

It's the perfect weekend for it too! There is a certain sound in the air. Have you heard it? It's a happy sound. I think you know what it is. It is the change of seasons. There has been a subtle shift in the atmosphere here in Los Angeles. A slight changing of the angle of light and an indefinable quality ringing through the air.

People unfamiliar with Southern California always (unmelodiously) ask... "Oh, but don't you miss the seasons?"

Well if by seasons you mean driving around in the snow, sleet and hail whether you want to or not, then my answer is: "No, heck no!"

But if by seasons you mean that certain melodic changing of the emotional guard that co-ordinates with a change in pitch of the weather, then I say "No, heck no. We have beautiful seasons here!"