Homemade Ketchup

Homemade ketchup is a tasty way to savour your tomatoes all year round. This recipe yields about 3 pints of ketchup. Feel free to multiply it for larger quantities. Other recipes use a food mill or food processor, but this blender ketchup recipe seems more accessible for the basic kitchen setup.

Step 1: Grow tomatoes.

Ingredients:

8 lbs. of ripe tomatoes

(1 pound is 3-5 medium sized tomatoes)

1 yellow onion

1 red bell pepper

1 green bell pepper

3 cups cider vinegar

3 cups granulated sugar

1 1/2 tbl. sea salt

cheese cloth spice bag:

1 tsp. dry mustard

2 tsp. cayenne pepper

2 tsp. whole allspice

2 tsp. whole cloves

2 tsp. ground or 1 whole cinnamon stick

2 tsp. whole peppercorn

Step 2: Wash tomatoes and dip in boiling water for 30 seconds or until skins split.

Drop in ice water, slips skins, core, quarter and remove seeds. Remove seeds from peppers and slice into strips. Peel and quarter onions. (Reminder - all skins & seeds can go in your compost pile.) Blend tomatoes, peppers and onions at high speed until liquified. Pour puree into a large pot. Boil gently for 1 hr, stirring frequently. You may need to do multiple trips with the blender.

Step 3: Add vinegar, sugar, salt and spice bag into pot. Continue boiling and stirring until volume is reduced one-half with no separation of liquid and solids. This took me about 2-3 hours. If it does not quite resemble ketchup after a few hours you can put the mixture back in the blender and liquify more. This should bring you the consistency we're used to. Taste it - if too sweet, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.

Step 4: Remove spice bag and fill jars, leaving 1/8-inch headspace. Process jars for water bath or pressure canner. Process pint jars for 15 minutes at an elevation of sea level to 1,000 ft., 20 minutes from 1,000 to 6,000 feet and 25 minutes above 6,000 feet. So I've read it is recommended to use home canned products within one year.

Taking stock of our Local Urban Garden

Last weekend Donny and I spent a good chunk of Saturday & Sunday planting more and cleaning up our garden.  We are preparing for a light spring harvest and a plentiful summer feast!  See down below for a taste of whats to come AND here is what we have growing:  

FRONT GARDEN

BLUE BERRY BUSH Ω

DILL *

LEMON TREE Ω²

MINT ^

(9) WHITE ONIONS °

(2) PARSLEY PLANTS

(2) ROYESTA TOMATO PLANTS **

(2) SAN FRANCISCO TOMATO PLANTS ** 

(tomatoes & onions in raised bed / everything else planted right into the ground)

ROOFTOP GARDEN

(2) ASPARAGUS PLANTS ^ 

(2) SPICY BASIL / SWEET BASIL Ω 

(8) BEETS *

BUNCHING ONIONS Ω

(4) WHITE ONIONS ° 

(2) PEPPERONCINI PLANTS *

(2) SALSA HYBRID PEPPER PLANTS *

(2) ROSEMARY * 

(2) CELEBRITY TOMATO PLANTS ***

CHERRY GRANDE TOMATO PLANT ***

(2) ROMA TOMATO PLANTS ***

SPRITE TOMATO PLANT ***

(2) "VOLUNTEER" TOMATO PLANTS ▲

(containers only)

KEY: 

 ° from bulb

* from seed

** indeterminate / from seed

*** determinate / from seed

² transplanted from last apartment

^ continuing to grow from last summer

Ω started as seedling from nursery / farmer's market

▲aka "the others" / unknown plants that sprouted in other pots

Beets soon to be harvested.

Bread

Donny has a favorite bread called Black Pepper Parmesan that is made by Manhattan Bread & Bagel.  He will often ride his bike down on Tuesdays to the Manhattan Beach Farmers' Market to pick up a loaf or two.  Even though he likes to make that ride a couple times a week for exercise, its a long way to go just for bread.  Twenty-four miles roundtrip to be exact. Last time he was at the market, the guy told Donny MB&B will start selling products at the Venice Farmers' Market. Wonderful!  So this morning we rode the 1/2 mile and scoured the small, but plentiful market and found MB&B around the corner at the end.  Much to our surprise we walked up to a dozen plastic containers full of...bagels.  Donny nicely asked the guy if he had any bread.  The man replied simply, but with some anger and resentment, that he is only allowed to sell bagels and he can't sell anything else.  So I bought a bagel (and it was really tasty!).  

Disappointed, Donny found Jim who is the guy that runs the Venice Farmers' Market. Jim decided to give us a little lesson in big business.  His speil was basically about how The Breadman has been here for 14 years and MB&B has been here for 2 weeks.  He contests that MB&B is actually a bakery and has too much inventory.  Not sure why that's a bad thing.  He went on to say that if MB&B can sell anything they want then the Bread Man will be out of business.  And then an even larger company will come along and push out MB&B.  The moral of the story, according to Jim, is that soon we'll just have only big businesses at the farmers' market.  Yet oddly, the Rockenwagner stand sells anything they want (including bread) - they are not only a bakery, but a cafe too!  With 3 locations!  That seems to be a much larger establishment than MB&B.  I think a little competition is good and it also gives people options.  There isn't just one stand that sells orange juice or just one stand that sells berries, so why can't we have more than 2 stands selling bread?

Here is one of the rules from the Venice Farmers' Market Operating Rulebook: 8. Producers are admitted into the market based on the following considerations: consumer demand, product mix or competition at the VFM, and/or seniority on the waiting list.

I tend to think we're pretty knowledgeable about our local bread and we weren't there just to give Jim or the Venice Farmers' Market a hard time. We've had at least a dozen experiences with The Bread Man bread going stale in a matter of days. We've tried so many things, including putting it in the bread box, a plastic bag, a paper bag, a plastic bag in a paper bag. And though Rockenwagner has amazing challah, the normal bread loaves are extremely dense and dry that it is often impossible to cut or bite down. All we want is our Black Pepper Parmesan bread.  Isn't that enough consumer demand?

Venice Whole Foods Market is finally OPEN

The Venice Whole Foods is now open for business and it is huge. With a wine tasting bar, make your own peanut butter section and an in-store smokehouse, there are a lot of new and exciting foods to get from this store. But the real question is - how local is it?

For me, the ultimate local aspect is the store itself. It is about a 10 minute walk and will hopefully soon increase my walkscore (check out how walkable your neighborhood rates). Lets get down to the products. The sign BUY LOCAL was in almost every aisle, but you had to keep your eyes peeled. Here are the ones that stood out to me.

Produce: Everything from apples to greens to fruit was local California. It wasn't all organic, but there were plenty of local options.

Fish: Based on their signage I saw NO local fish. I'll have to stick to the Farmer's Market or Santa Monica Seafood for that.

Meat: Mary's Free Range (Fresno) chickens could be purchased whole or by the part. There were also prepared chickens.

Wine: An entire section of the wine department was dedicated to local wine. Some were from wineries I had been to in Santa Barbara, such as Beckman Vineyards. Among many brands they sold San Antonio Winery (Napa Valley) and Red Truck (Sonoma). The price of wine seems to stay consistent and only goes up in price because of quality not origin.

Dairy: Straus Family Creamers is sold in most Whole Foods Markets around here and comes direct from just 60 miles north of San Francisco. Plus the glass bottles are reusable - $1.50 deposit. And there is a local option for eggs: Chino Valley Ranchers.

Frozen Pizza - Full of Life (Los Alamos) Flatbread uses all local organic ingredients within a 400 miles radius. And I found a new company, Vicoli. They come from Hayward, CA. I haven't tried their product, but it looks tasty.

Cheese - One of my personal favorite items in the store. There are a bevvy of local options including, Cypress Grove (Arcata), Winchester Cheese Company (Winchester), Vella Cheese (Sonoma), and Point Reyes Farmstead (Point Reyes Station). As you can see, just like wine all of these local options are from North of Los Angeles.

Condiments - Alexander Valley Pickles (Healdsburg) look tasty and are packaged in recycled plastic containers. There were several dressings/marinades/sauces that were local vendors, but unfortunately none of them were made with local ingredients.

Honey - Honey Pacifica (SoCal) sells several flavored honey varietals, along with the classic that comes in a pour bottle.

Aside from their products the VWFM is doing a lot for the local community. If you shop on September 10th, 5% of your grocery purchases go to the Venice Family Clinic. Also before it opened I was invited to tour the store. Once on the tour I found out all of the local Venice non-profit organizations had been invited. WFM is not looking to take over our community, but instead they want to be welcomed in and give back. It might sound a little cheesy since it is a big corporation, but the idea is in the right place. Hey, even the guy who runs the Venice Farmer's Market was on the tour.

The only downside - the whole neighborhood got the memo. Donny and I went the first night it opened and the bike stand was packed. I couldn't believe how many people were walking around, but it just goes to show how much we needed/wanted it.

Make Your Own Granola

I am mostly okay with paying more money for farmer's market food because it often tastes better and lasts longer, not to mention the local aspect, but everywhere we go granola is often very high priced. We eat a lot of granola around our house; I often eat it as a snack and Donny has gotten into eating organic yogurt with granola and fresh berries. I found a couple granola different recipes and sort of made my own. Turns out granola is so easy to make and tastes delicious. And the great thing about granola is that even if you don't have 1 or 2 of the ingredients it can still be just as yummy.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In one large bowl combine: 4 cups of rolled oats, 3/4 cup wheat germ, 3/4 cup oat or wheat bran, 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, 1/2 cup of finely chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts and/or almonds), 1/2 cup flax seed. Mix well.

Over medium heat in a saucepan combine: 3/4 tsp. salt, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 tbl. maple syrup, 1/4 cup + 2 tbl. honey, 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract. Stir well. Heat until boiling.

Add hot liquid mixture to dry mixture. Stir extremely well. Spread out over two 9x13 baking sheets. Bake in oven. After about 10 min. stir mixture on each sheet. Check again after another 5-10 min. If lightly brown, take out of oven to cool. Granola will start to harden and will cook more even after you take out of the oven. Once cool, add about 1-2 cups of dried cranberries and/or blueberries. Enjoy!

Makes more than 64 oz. (fit perfectly in two 32 oz. mason jars + 1 bowl to eat right away)

Composter Down!

I biked to the twice monthly Santa Monica Flea Market at the Santa Monica Airport. The selection of goods was so much better than the Fairfax High Flea Market last month. I walked away with two tablecloths and a kitchen towel. I could’ve bought a lot more, but I am trying to cut back.

Donny and I planned on rinsing out the composter today. Fun Sunday, right?? Stringy food and large pieces have made the inside a bit messy. The motor sounds like it is overheating and stuff is getting stuck inside. I pull the tray out to empty it before we could get the cleaning underway and a weird red plastic stripe had become visible. There is no way the composter can be fixed. I called Naturemill, but their phone number doesn’t transfer you to a live person. I think it is because they are such a small company. I emailed them and posted a comment to their website. Hopefully whatever is broken is covered under the 1 year warranty and they will send us a replacement. We have gotten used to it for months now. It completely changed our kitchen habits and without it all we really have is a big steel pot to throw our scraps in. I hope they get back to us soon.

After a 24 mile evening bike ride down to Hermosa Beach and back up to Venice we walked to a sushi restaurant nearby home for dinner. On the walk Donny and I passed by a 3 day new restaurant on Abbot Kinney called Gjelina (pronounced "jelina"). The interesting thing about this place is that their slogan is "EAT LOCAL". We nabbed a menu and right off the bat noticed German beer on tap, French wine and proscuitto from Iowa. However they also noted having market lettuce, homemade condiments and San Fransisco steak. Our waitress at the sushi joint, Wabi Sabi, told us that her manager, Robert Schwan, had left them to manage Gjelina. The waitress also thought the local aspect went only as far as delights from the farmer's market. It seems like kind of a cop out in my mind, considering all that is available in this region. And for a restaurant with such a strong slogan it doesn't add up but hey, I'll talk to the restaurant directly and get the scoop. To be continued.

Gasoline

It is no secret that gas prices are at record highs. Today I paid over $4.70 p/gallon, which was $52.17 for my 12 gallon tank. The last date I filled up at the pump was March 26, 2008. Between then and now I have been out of town a total of 4 weeks for business and pleasure, which means I have been in LA for 48 days on 1 tank of gas. This is definitely the longest I have ever gone without filling up. It doesn’t hurt that I am not working and don’t have to drive to thru classic LA traffic to the office everyday. Trips outside of Venice have been mostly for special events or to the local hardware shop. Somehow I managed to do almost all of our grocery shopping by foot or on my bicycle. Donny and I even rode our bikes to the 3^rd Street Promenade for a double feature: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and 3 bags full of groceries from the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market. We brought our bags of food with us into the theater.

In the eight years I have lived in LA I have never taken public transportation and still haven’t – and I don’t think I am very different from most Angelenos. I recently heard on public radio that in the past few months the park & ride for the LA metro had increased by over 40%, however there is still a caste system about taking the bus. I start work on a movie next Monday and plan to try out the Big Blue Bus for my transportation needs. I might sit in just as much traffic if not more, but it will cost half as much. Plus, “43 percent of the BBB fleet is fueled by Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) which is 77% cleaner burning than diesel-fueled buses”. If I can go into Ralph’s by myself with reusable bags and not be too embarrassed, then I can ride the bus. I just might wear really dark glasses at first.