Silent Spring
You may have noticed a dearth of Brussels sprouts. And high prices on locally grown citrus that had all too short a season. There will be gaps or shortages in certain vegetable crops in early spring, according to Alex Weiser, of Weiser Family Farms, while other crops will come in later, all due to the successive nights of freezing temperatures in January. “The frost froze our seedlings. Our spinach had to be replanted. Green, purple and white sprouting broccoli was delayed. Potatoes that were up and growing froze.” Alex’s rare and colorful potatoes have since re-grown, but they’ll be a month later and may yield less.
At Coleman farms, Romeo trims the dead lower branches from the fruit trees damaged in the January freeze. His spring planting remains two weeks behind. The sugar snap peas had their season cut short, and the pea tendrils finished up by the end of March. His unbountiful peach trees, annually befogged by the late spring in Carpinteria, are blooming profusely now, so he cuts the branches and sells them at the market; you can see them in the dining room at Eastbluff.
Troy Regier has been absent from the market the last few weeks. It had been a decent season for his mandarin oranges, but it ended 4-6 weeks early. He has no produce to sell until his apricots ripen in May and June, for a brief 2-3 weeks, so he has been cleaning, thinning and pruning around the farm. There’s been no income except a check from Freeze Relief, a benefit by L.A. restaurants that pooled a percentage of the proceeds from several nights to give to the farmers that have become their friends as well as their suppliers. It is these relationships that the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market will celebrate at the 25th Anniversary Dinner on April 15 (see below).
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 Night of the Living Chefs
April 15, 6pm - 10pm
Lowes - Santa Monica
Chefs and farmers will converge on the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel in the appropriately bucolic-sounding Arcadia Grand Ballroom on April 15 to demonstrate and celebrate their enduring partnership and the 25th anniversary of the market that brought them together. Like many an earnest attempt to honor the justly laudable, the evening will no doubt spiral into something-else-entirely, as a galaxy of “Los Angeles-based” star-chefs, plus one invited-for-laughs provincial rustic (Chef Rich), will pair up with a favorite unsung farmer, whose finest, best, post-freeze crop (see above) will provide the fresh ingredients for an appetizer, entrée, or dessert in a sort of culinary three-legged race.
To this bluff, antic, competitively noncompetitive, seemingly off-the-cuff display of virtuosic technique disguised as a celebration, emceed by restaurateur, cookbook author and “Good Food” host Evan Kleiman and honoring (!) the stalwart service of Market Director Laura Avery, the public is cordially invited. The tickets are $100 (each) and can be purchased only in advance by calling 310-455-0181. Just look, dear Reader, at who’s coming: Mark Peel (chef/owner of Campanile, husband of Nancy Silverton, opened Spago in ’82), Alain Girand (formerly of Lavande—he of the little boy charm and sachets of orange peel), Sherry Yard (executive pastry chef at Spago; from Vogue to Good Morning America, the queen of brioche and essential to Hollywood Oscar parties), Suzanne Goin (Lucques and AOC), Neal Fraser (Grace, on Beverly), Michael Cimarusti (Providence, on Melrose), Josie Le Balch (Josie Restaurant, on Pico), Gregg Wangard (Ocean and Vine—inside the hotel), Chris Blobaum (Wilshire), Josh Loeb (Rustic Canyon Wine Bar), Michael McCarty (yes, that Michael, of Michael’s Santa Monica and New York).
Imagine visiting all those restaurants in a single night—with the mileage you get! There will be a raffle and prizes and a silent auction (yawn) for the pitiably grasping; for the homme moyen sensuel, however, it will be a feast without equal. Proceeds from the event will benefit the farmers who participate in California Certified Farmers’ Markets by shoveling cash to their nonprofit, the Southland Farmer’s Market Association. Call now for tickets. You won’t able to sweet talk your way in at the door--there will be pitchforks.
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Sprigs
Hard branches held their dauntless gray
Against the winter’s ghastly mien
But now unto the lengthening day
They sweetly proffer silly green.
From satellites we catch a glimpse
Of Ceres’ faint protuberance
And Flora’s equinoctial push
From strongholds in the Hindu Kush.
‘Tis Spring, whose gentle smile evokes
Armies, pilgrims, artichokes;
Whose first insouciant crocus grows
In pots in front of Trader Joes;
When subprime lenders, scarcely dour,
Prognosticate their Final Four,
And from the crimped and gnarled twigs
Burst the tiniest of figs.
The jasmine scented breeze wafts freely
O’er the chimeless campanili
From striped tents the servant boys
Carry orange juice to the faithful:
Mothers taut, bejeweled, sedaned,
Commanding fathers, deeply tanned,
Girls with secret myspace pages
Boys who long to fight in cages.
The strolling couples grow displayful
When Spring her arsenal deploys
And with their whitest smiles cheer
The quick’ning of the hemisphere
Inside the girls go slightly gaga
Over a Balenciaga
Alas the seasonal fecundity
Means hours in the scullery
Where heat-resistant fingers burnish
The cuticle from roasted turnips,
Chop and melt the tender leeks,
Exfoliate the scalding beets,
Unzip the sugar snap pea pods,
Rub cauliflower with anchoiade,
Pinch fava beans out of their skins
Like puckered fingers après swim,
And fill the bain marie with ice
To plunge the blanched asparagus
Let us stroll then, tú y yo
About the neighborhood we’ll go
While the peas drain in the sink
To see the pluot hung with pink
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