I got a load of lemons today.

It's citrus season is Southern California, and you know I am always up for a little urban foraging!

So that is just how I started my day, sack in hand rummaging through the branches of my neighbors fruit trees. Just so you know, I have rules about foraging. So don't accuse me of stealing. All my "victims" are either willing participants or silly people who stupidly planted their citrus so that the branches hang out onto public thoroughfares! So you see, these details make my harvest perfectly legal. Still, I never take more than 2 or 3 pieces of fruit from each tree... I do have some scrupples!

But once I was home, I was faced with the decision of what to do with my haul... A dessert popped in my brain. I do like lemon desserts, and considered a lemon sabayon tart. Besides, Sippity Sup has been abondonded by its readership and a pretty dessert always brings the strays in my flock back home. I may still do that dessert too, because I have a lot of lemons. But there is no time to bake today. I have other committments.

Now that’s funny!

So funny, in fact, that I have added Rumaki to my Panama cooking party menu. In case you have been living under a rock I’ll go ahead and tell you that I was invited to Panama by Boquete Gourmet to lead a demonstration on cooking. I am being hosted by a group of rather glamorous ex-pats who get together and learn about food by inviting chefs and other food-obsessed freaks like me to come to the beautiful village of Boquete, near the Costa Rican border and cook. I have decided to do an evening of small plates highlighting recipes from several legendary Hollywood restaurants.

So when I saw the Wikipedia reference to Rumaki not only did I laugh, but I also took note of another fun fact– “the earliest known reference to it is on the 1941 menu of the Don the Beachcomber restaurant”.

Nature’s Pride sent me a couple of loaves of bread recently asking me to try their new product. Free bread – what’s not to like!

But seriously, I thought I’d put this bread through the paces. So I made sandwiches. Good sliced bread absolutely must do well with sandwiches. It’s 90% of its duty at my house.

I am pleased to report that it indeed made excellent sandwiches. The main reason for this fact was because it's not too sweet. Have you noticed that many of the grocery store brands of bread have gotten strangely sweet? It seems modern companies have crept up the processed sugar content in these breads slowly over time. As Americans began to turn to “healthier” whole grain sliced bread I think these companies doubled down on their bets by increasing the sugar content.

In case you didn’t know the phrase “Sippity Sup” started out as the title of a Nursery Rhyme.

I feel kinda bad that I sorta usurped that poor old Nursery Rhyme. I mean it was a lesser-known Nursery Rhyme to begin with. I don’t think it held much favor with Mother Goose. So it wasn’t really that hard to beat the Google pants off it.

Still, there was a time when you could Google “Sippity Sup” and you’d find references to that less than popular children’s poem of the same name. Then “along comes a spider” in the form of a food blogger. And guess what? Now that poor little Nursery Rhyme does not even come up on the first page when you Google the phrase. That’s my fault… it wasn’t intentional. I never even knew what HTML was before I started this blog. Let alone understand how to optimize it!

For this week’s Market Matters at the Hollywood Farmers Market I am choosing artichokes.

Coastal California is as close to a perfect growing environment for artichokes as exists on the planet. So we get a wide variety, and they are available nearly year round. But typically when grown in mild weather areas they are planted in fall and the harvest begins in spring. Colder areas use the reverse schedule. Planted in spring and harvested in fall. So artichokes may not yet be found at your farm stands.

I am making a Roasted Artichoke Bruschetta. You might call this an Artichoke Crostini, or you might prefer to call it an Artichoke Spread. Whatever name you use, I predict the word delicious will be on the tip of your tongue.

To achieve this, I want to choose small artichokes. My plan is to peel them down, removing all the tough outer leaves. Small chokes make for less waste.

But do not be fooled, a small artichoke does not necessarily mean baby or “immature” artichokes. So for this recipe choose your chokes wisely.

If you stop and remember that an artichoke is a flower it will help you choose a good artichoke.

Like a flower, you should look for nicely formed buds that are symmetrical and with out blemishes. They should feel heavy for their size. This indicates freshness. I like artichokes with several inches of stem still attached because those stems are good eating!

Meat loaf. Meatloaf. Loaf of meat!

No matter how you say it. Now matter how much you love it. It just does not sound that good, does it?

It’s such an American staple though. Indeed, it is an American food of iconic proportions. Well worthy of the name comfort food, in my opinion.

But meatloaf? Really? Could there be a less glamorous name? Who named it any way? Ethel Mertz?

Now the French understand a good meatloaf too. But, let’s face it--- Mousse de Foies de Volaille, Pâté Maison, Torchon, Rillettes, Terrine de Campagne. These are all just fancy French ways to say meatloaf.

Well, I have to admit. I do like fancy.

But I also have to admit to limited culinary skills. So I am choosing to make the most rustic of the French meatloaves, Terrine de Campagne. Which loosely translated means: countrified meatloaf.