Not too long ago, we put up an article about what exactly "heirloom" meant when you see it on a menu or in reference to any produce you purchase. While that term applies to fruits and vegetables, there is also a sister term that you may have seen before but in reference to meat. This would be "heritage" and points to livestock and poultry that follow very similar guidelines to what it means for produce to be "heirloom." If you are looking at a menu one day or browsing the meat section of your grocery store and you see "heritage" in front of the name of the type of meat, you can be assured that it is from a breed from pre-feed-lot days. When I see "heritage," I think about animals being raised the ways most ideal. There are several farms these days that have cropped up to try and bring back these breeds so let's take a look at specifically why this is important and "what does 'heritage' mean anyway?"

This post is part of a series Much Ado About Fooding is doing on farmers' markets - Duc and I plan to visit as many as we can, starting in southern California, to get a sense of what sets each apart, what drives communities to them, and what gems people should look out for. To keep track, bookmark the "Farmers' Market" category.

The Buena Park Downtown Local Harvest Farmers' Market is located in the parking lot of Orange County's 20th largest mall, the Buena Park Mall (also one of the first malls in the county, built in 1961). The market commences every Saturday from 9AM-2PM with a sizable number of vendors from Certified California Grown Fruits and Vegetables farms to gourmet specialty food vendors to arts and crafts creators to even cooked fare vendors. We have been to this market twice now and every time, have discovered something to love about the vendors that are there on those visits.

I don't share it often with people but I have a slight sensitivity to eggplant. I'm not allergic or anything but I definitely feel some kind of effect when I do get a bite or two in of the purple plant. My lips and tongue get buzzy along with a little bit of irritation in the throat sooooo it is generally safer to just avoid it altogether. However, ratatouille has always intrigued me because it is a dish that contains a variety of other favorite vegetables. Once I participated in the Mushroom Makeover though, I realized that perhaps I should just replace the eggplant with mushroom and be okay with the rest of this vegetarian/vegan dish! We lost nothing in translation and ended up with a very hearty, comfort food dish. The only thing you'll have to worry about is all the prep work but at the end of it all, it'll be worth it.

When your mother was a catering chef and restaurateur extraordinaire while you were growing up, you got exposed to plenty of creative culinary talent and the best of the best in the cooking business. Chef Katie Chin had sworn after such a fast-paced childhood lifestyle with her ever-busy mother that she would not be a part of the culinary arts world but the legacy continued after a long journey of trying to deny what she herself had been saturated in. Hence, the Chef title. With various appearances on national television, a stint as a guest judge on Iron Chef America, and several cookbooks out with her signature cooking style, Chef Katie Chin is no stranger to the world of food nor to the demands of being a widely recognized media personality. It seemed natural enough then when we, and several other members of the local food community, attended a fun and educational demo held at the Inspire Artistic Minds (IAM) Culinary Center with the ebullient chef for her to put on a show and still make delicious food. It gave us a great sneak peek into her newest cookbook, Everyday Thai Cooking, and a chance to understand this superstar a little better.

When we chose spelt as the Test Kitchen ingredient, it was because I had given in to the ease of ordering from Amazon (as I always do) and bought several pounds of the stuff. I was on a health kick to find whole grains. My intent was only to purchase farro but the wretched "Customers Also Bought" scrolling bar made me curious about the spelt; a quick click and Amazon Prime produced a box of the stuff in two days' time. I gave a bag to my mother to try out too but she didn't read the instructions one day and ended up with hard-to-chew grains (she didn't soak it overnight). That experience delayed my exploration of this ancient grain but I finally decided it was time to try it out. In a soup, it expands and makes itself well known as an ingredient, lending a nutty flavor and texture to the dish. I quite liked this soup which turned out like a vegetarian beef stew. Try out the recipe yourself and enjoy.

This post is part of a series Much Ado About Fooding is doing on farmers' markets - Duc and I plan to visit as many as we can, starting in southern California, to get a sense of what sets each apart, what drives communities to them, and what gems people should look out for. To keep track, bookmark the "Farmers' Market" category.

Founded on May 5, 1991, the Hollywood Farmers' Market is one of the oldest in California and by attrition, one of the most bountiful in farmers and producers. We ventured to the market in search of unique produce and mushrooms and came away with more than we thought we would purchase. This outdoor street market tends to every grocery need from fruits and vegetables to james and jellies to meat and fish to even prepared foods and nifty crafts. When it was first founded, it easily became a hit for being the perfect congregation spot for farmers in the area to those further north and south that needed a central location to share their wares - Los Angeles was perfect for that. We entered from one end but realized that it branched out into four directions with long-stretching arms, and it is no surprise that they claim to have more than 160 specialists who are farmers, producers, artisans, and so forth. The local community love the market as do chefs, and for most, it is their weekly food source instead of big box grocery retailers.

I only felt that this was the appropriate day to post this recipe since it is right before the famed egg holiday (also known as Easter) but the post is more than a yolk...I mean, joke. It is part of the glorious dish we all known and love as ramen. You see, this marinated soft boiled egg known as ajitsuke tamago has a droolworthy combination of several character traits - there is a salty, savory flavor on the outside, a perfectly cooked egg white, and a half runny, half salted yolk. I love having this egg with my ramen so I just had to make some for my friends for our Japanese themed dinner. To clarify, I also made the rest of the ramen dish too including chashu pork and the miso ramen broth itself. Since this was my first go at it, I consulted several recipes but spent quite a lot of time checking out this one here because it also took note of the science behind the dish. My thanks to the collective internet for its collective wisdom and guidance!

Does the name Chef David Slay ring a bell for you? How about Park Ave? Constantly voted #1 restaurant in Orange County and in the top ten in OC through Zagat, the modestly located restaurant is a site for exquisite food, excellent environment, and dedicated commitment to quality ingredients. In fact, the chef and owner was recently named to the Orange County Hall of Fame for culinary arts through Orange Coast magazine, and it is well-deserved. We were intrigued, however, by what made the restaurant so special beyond just the food, and the answer resided in the simple back-to-basics method of sustaining one's self via a garden. The iconic restaurant celebrates its 10th anniversary this year (look out for a soirée involving food and wine), and its garden located on the five-acre property has been maintained for nine of those years. Getting more involved in gardening ourselves, this kitchen-providing masterpiece of a layout was of high interest so we just had to learn more.

You look down at your menu and part of the description says that you will be having heirloom tomatoes tonight. That sounds delightful because heirloom vegetables are better for you; you know this because someone had told you this before. Your dining mate opted for a salad made with heirloom beans as well - how perfect that you both are getting your fill of healthful vegetables. However, do you really know what that term means? Is it just a buzzword to blindly follow and believe in these days? I confess that I have a love for heirloom tomatoes too but knowing how many hundreds, if not thousands, of tomato varieties exist, it has been perplexing why that detail on varietal is overlooked (is it a Merlot tomato? Black Plum?). Heirloom tells me nothing about flavor profile but rather just about how the vegetable was grown. We did our research to dig up the truth about heirloom and wanted to share our findings with you. Here is the answer for the question, "What does 'heirloom' mean anyway?"

This post is part of a series Much Ado About Fooding is doing on farmers' markets - Duc and I plan to visit as many as we can, starting in southern California, to get a sense of what sets each apart, what drives communities to them, and what gems people should look out for. To keep track, bookmark the "Farmers' Market" category.

Every week, I look forward to my e-newsletter ("The Juice") from the Orange Home Grown Farmers' Market which tells me who their upcoming Featured Farmer and Featured Artisan are that Saturday at the small but savvy farmers' market. An intense list of events and fundraisers is also sent over, a tribute to how robust the market aims to be and an example of how this community is spoiled by the passion in people. Situated near Chapman University in the corrugated metal Historic Villa Park Orchards Packinghouse (VPO) lot, the Orange Home Grown Farmers' Market takes place every Saturday from 9AM-1PM (rain or shine!) in a location that begs no fanfare but still invites passersby in with the buzzing activity and bright signage. The VPO lot itself with its historic ties to agriculture is quite the apt location for a "buying local" market and gives character to the buildings towering above the vendor booths. The distribution of vendors makes the market seem small but upon further inspection, you'll see that there are more than enough high-quality vendors to finish off your week's shopping list with a farmer-centric side and an artisan section. We really quite enjoyed browsing all of the booths and seeing just what specials were out that day.

There seem to be some different schools of thought when it comes to the delicious, glorious meat known as chashu pork. I know it for its rich tender addition to any tonkotsu ramen, giving protein and purpose to the soup. One could easily use it for other reasons but my purpose for making it involved ramen, and the schools of thought I mentioned are about the cuts of pork to use when making chashu - do you go with pork belly or pork shoulder? To test them out, I made both! The consensus of everyone who tasted both was that they preferred the shoulder (me too!) over the belly but that was just among my own friends. I suggest you try it both ways as well and have eager people helping you "judge"...though I really preferred the pork shoulder. In terms of the recipe, I got a lot of guidance from this site linked here but made some tweaks myself. Below are the two versions that I made, and no, it's not exactly the prettiest of recipes to look at while in process.

Wine and Kama Sutra - did I read that right? My first look at my email invitation to taste LXV Wines noted that the wines and their labels were inspired by the Kama Sutra and featured those inspirations of the acts. I've always known that there was more to that text than what many think of as just creative ways to have sex (it's about sensuality, love, respect, and virtuosity) but I could not help but wonder if I might come across lewd artwork in their branding. Curious though because the iconic name Amy Butler (prestigious and well-respected winemaker) was tied to the winery, Duc and I opted to attend the tasting and see why there has been buzz about LXV lately. Upon first sip, we could understand why.

"Pay respect to the grape, pay respect to the terroir, and let the rest of the vineyard play it out."

The grapes come from Paso Robles on a property which is just about the intersection of three top-notch vineyards. The terroir in this region tend towards what Paso Robles is known for - Rhone Valley style wines - and the focus of the winery itself is to produce food-friendly French styles. They stay away from overextracting fruit and try to intervene very minimally with the grapes and their process in neutral oak barrels. No wonder the iconoclastic Amy Butler is involved; there is also an emphasis on picking the grapes early, a practice Butler is known for. Owner Neeta Mittal explained the arduous process of finding a winemaker for LXV Winery's vision (a two year search) but once they came across Butler who had the same vision and the exact style they discovered, it was time to produce. Mittal said of Butler, "She'll taste the flesh of the skin and the seeds instead of looking through the refractor to decide when to pluck. She is a true artisan through and through."

I am surprised at how long we have been able to keep the Test Kitchen series up but there are just so many ingredients out there to play with! The last one we put up was split green peas, and we did get some fun suggestions from you all. The one that seemed most interesting was over on Twitter when our friend and fellow blogger Mike of Eating My Way Through OC (go check it out!) said, "Pancakes!" He's always trying to put me up to a challenge, and I gladly ran with it. Pancakes and split green peas made me think of roti, an Indian bread that I've heard of being stuffed with lentils before. Apparently split peas is also another option for filling but most people use the yellow version; I opted to make this green and had a fun time working with the dough. However, it is easily a time consuming activity so it's no wonder that people think of these as the homemade stuff "grandma" makes! It definitely takes time. I didn't have the appropriate cooking surface but a large non-stick skillet worked out just fine. Roti are just the perfect snack to munch one, crispy and savory. The recipe's below with some help from this recipe here:

This post is one of several as part of the Mushroom Council's 30-day weight loss challenge called the #MushroomMakeover. I am being financially compensated for my participation as an ambassador for this program but the opinions and anecdotes posted are my own.

This is it - the final post. How quickly the Mushroom Makeover challenge has gone by! I am so honored to have been part of this great group of bloggers who were participating and to also have been a participant in a live Google Hangout session about mushrooms. If you haven't seen the past posts, I have just finished this Mushroom Makeover challenge held by the Mushroom Council and Mamavation where I replaced mushrooms for meat (or just make mushroom-centric dishes) four times a week in addition to followed some dietary guidelines and a defined workout schedule. Last week I didn't lose any weight but this week, I dropped off 1.2 lbs. While the total amount for the past 30 days might not seem impressive (2.6 absolute loss), I know that the progress has been much more impressive on my health. It is a definite truth that mushrooms are great fillers with less the calories than meat.

In addition to my weight in pounds, I was also asked to measure myself progress at specific areas. I had some interesting changes between Day One and the end date. As aforementioned, 2.6 pounds were lost but I would suspect more has been. It is very possible that doing all of my workouts has built out muscles and therefore made little progress on what is lost, numerically. I lost 2" off of my waist but gained .5" on both my hips and thighs (leg workouts and muscle growing?). I also managed somehow to lose about 2.5" from my chest! Throughout the journey though, the weight loss was secondary to getting my health back on track. With help from Corinne Dobbas, our dietitian during this program, and Mark Segedie, our physical trainer, I think I have done a good job kickstarting myself back to a healthier me. This week's meals involved some help from others in the family as they wanted to get in on the mushroom action - check the photos after the jump:

Ah soup. You are the epitome of comfort food. Warming and soothing, you help make days and nights better, and no matter how savory you get, you always manage to woo me. I know that I have been posting a lot of mushroom recipes lately but the one type I haven't really focused on is a hearty (mainly) mushroom soup. To create something savory and worthy of both being a side dish and a full entree, I need to make a soup that was hefty enough in substance and flavors. Green lentils made a huge difference as did the aroma from several different herbs so here you have it, a mushroom lentil soup that will chase away your worries with each spoonful. Try this recipe on for size - hope you enjoy!

This post and giveaway are sponsored by Islands Restaurants. However, I value the integrity of my work on this website so all opinions and experiences posted are my own and as truthful as possible.

[Giveaway details at the bottom of the post] I recall having fond memories of Islands restaurants in my high school and early college years. It was a place that one of my friends introduced me to at a spontaneous dinner. He was in town with his buddies and apparently Islands was one of their favorite restaurants to visit. I stopped by to meet them and appreciated the apt decor. It soon became a restaurant where we would eat often (so I'm guessing it really was a favorite) and I would find myself frequenting on other occasions. So when Islands Restaurants reached out about us giving them a try, I was not really hesitant. After all, it had been a few years since my last stop in, and I had enjoyed my previous visits. The restaurant seems to have grown to various locations since then but I opted for the spot where I had my first Islands experience - Huntington Beach. Before we get into my visit though, perhaps we should see where their fine burgers & drinks come from.