Oatmeal

I’ve been eating a lot of oatmeal lately. It’s ostensibly good for you, but you know what? It just tastes good. I’ve even been eating the instant stuff sometimes….shhhhhhhhhhhhh – don’t tell anybody.

Thought for the day

Do vegetarian moms pour cans of black bean soup all over everything?

Moving Again: It’s Official

At long last and after much conjecture, I am here to tell you that I am moving to the Bay Area.

Sorry, Seattle, you’re too far from work, a little too dark and rainy and P would probably end up working at Tully’s.

And I have to admit that even though Los Angeles makes me want to stab myself in the eye somtimes, I feel very much a Californian these days.

So I’m headed to the city by the bay this weekend. I’m looking up some old friends and acquaintances, and hope to meet some new ones. I’ll be analyzing cities, neighborhoods and restaurants, and sniffing around the food microcosms I know are all over the place up there.

If anybody wants to have coffee or has a recommendation, as always, click “contact me” at the top of the page.

Listening: Whatever hipster music is playing here at Groundworks Coffee in Hollywood. They played “Fade Into You” earlier; very nostalgic.

Things I wish people would shut the eff up about

Today, I’m introducing a new feature:

**Things I wish people would shut the eff up about.**

If you know me, you know this list is long. Today’s edition:

>**Balsamic Vinegar**

Balsamic vinegar, first of all, isn’t vinegar. It’s grape juice cooked to a third of its volume and aged in successively smaller casks- of different varieties of wood- for a *very long time* (twelve years **or more**). Therefore, Balsamic vinegar is crazy expensive. It is thick, unctuous and spry in your mouth. It only comes from two places, Modena and Reggio-Emilia, and somewhere on the bottle it should say DOC or *Denominazione di Origine Controllata*. “Balsamic Vinegar of Modena” doesn’t mean anything. It could be from Modena, Ohio.

It should never be made into vinaigrettes, because it’s too sweet and not acidic enough. It would taste weird, anyway, I’d bet, not that I’ve ever tried making a vinaigrette out of vinegar that costs $30 for a 4 ounce bottle.

That brown, syrupy shit made from industrial waste doesn’t really taste like anything, and the umber-toned, sickly thick “salad dressings” it makes terrify me at the end of every buffet.

I guess what I’m saying is: “**Fuck balsamic vinegar of Modena**.”