Water, Water Everywhere...

Recently I started drinking exclusively tap water. I supposed that isn’t some sort of eco-revelation as millions of Americans do the same, but in a town like Los Angeles, it’s almost heretical. To eschew a $6.00 bottle of flat Panna water at a West Hollywood eatery in favor of something that came from a spigot and poured from a plastic pitcher is the equivalent of announcing, “I’m a classless jackhole who parked on the street instead of using the valet.”

I’ve always felt very self conscious after a group meal when everyone is waiting for the valet to bring their Lexus hybrid and I’m walking a half a block away to my equally fuel-efficient Honda. Likewise when I say, “Oh, tap water’s fine,” and the rest of the table looks at me oddly and says, “Bring us two bottles of Pellegrino. The big ones.”

But the truth is Los Angeles water quality is excellent, thanks to the land barons who diverted the pristine mountain spring waters of the Hetch Hetchy westward to our desert paradise. It’s sanitized and, unlike places like Atlanta or Nashville, our pipe infrastructure is relatively sound. As long as your home plumbing is in good condition, your water should be even better than bottled water contamination-wise, as the restrictions are much more stringent.

On top of that, you’re not drinking water that was shipped by some diesel freighter from Europe or the South Pacific. This is stuff that comes to you via natural water pressure (for the most part). Lastly, you’re not expending fuel to make glass or plastic bottles; everything’s already in place. You can drink it out of your own hand, for crissakes.

So now I’ve taken to looking down at those who order the fancy bottled waters. Volvic Springs? I wonder how many gallons of petroleum it took to bring that liter of water to the table? Heh-heh. Fiji? Oh, please. Don’t get me started on South Pacific water. It’s worse than driving a Hummer.

I mean, seriously. If you just want to get hydrated, just cup your hand under the faucet, you jerk. Dasani tastes better? Whatever. It comes from a tap and they add minerals. Aquafina is sweeter? Right. Same deal, bucko.

But then I thought about it. How is that different from buying a Coke? It’s tap water with added stuff to make it more quaffable. The environmentalist in me says, why would you drink water from overseas when we have perfectly good water right here? How selfish is that? I pose that question as I drink a Mourvedre/Grenache blend from Bandol. Why drink that when there’s perfectly good wine here in California? Well, because it tastes better than…oh! I see. I’m the jerk.

The truth is, there are times when I really want to have a Diet Coke. Or an Italian wine. Or cheese from France. Because they taste good and they make me happy. But though I acknowledge that some bottled waters taste better than tap water, I still won’t buy them. And it’s because I don’t drink water because I want to have some gustatory experience. I drink it because I’m thirsty.

And that’s the challenge for consumers during this renaissance of environmentalism: how to temper your hypocrisy. Where to draw the line? If I were some kind of hydro savant for whom an extra part per million of manganese in my water might ruin an otherwise delicious meal, I’d happily pay for Alaskan glacial water. But if I’m drinking it because I have an unfounded belief that municipal water is inferior to bottled water, I’m an idiot.

And to further illustrate that point, I offer this:

Wine 4 Drinking

I just saw a new product being advertised, the Tums Quik Pak, a 24-pack of plastic envelopes filled with antacid that, “delivers the strength of two regular TUMS tablets in a small amount of great-tasting powder.” Hey, I know a way you can get the same effective medication delivered as a great-tasting powder – chew two Tums tablets. How ridiculous is that? More packaging and waste for the same chalky product and it costs four times as much. It’s like you’re paying them extra money to not press it into a tablet.

This is the problem with American consumerism. It’s all about packaging and waste. With food shortages, rising oil prices and increased pollution, we should be focusing on conservation. No politicians talk about that because then we constituents might be inconvenienced. We might have to use public transportation. Or buy foods that aren’t metered out in prepackaged individual serving sizes. Or, as they do in other countries, pay for your shopping bags. But instead, we’ve created a culture of convenience and “freedom.” That I can choose between 18 different Coca-Cola beverages in 6 oz, 12 oz, 16 oz, 20 oz, 24 oz, 1 liter and 2 liter sizes does not make me feel liberated.

So in my life I’ve tried to reduce my consumption, which is why I’m always keen to try a new boxed wine. How does stuffing four bottles of wine in a plastic bag packed in a cardboard box help reduce consumption? It’s much lighter transporting the same amount of wine costs less, it takes up less space and it keeps wine fresher. And sure, a plastic bag uses fossil fuels, but so does recycling glass. So yesterday, I was in Cost Plus when I saw they were hocking two new boxed wines, Wine 4 Grilling (red) and Wine 4 Chilling (white).

Closer inspection showed that these wines were made exclusively for Cost Plus by the Trinchero Winery, a mass-market winery in Napa that also makes some of the boxed wines for Target. At $14.99/3-liter box, it was a bit cheaper than the Target wines. I bought them, figuring that if they were the same wines in a less pretty box, I could at least get the same buzz for a couple bucks cheaper. But I spoke to Mark Gallo of Trinchero, who explained that the wines were focused at a different price point and were formulated from different grape sources to fit that criterion.

The wines are definitely cut from the same swathe as the Target wines – fruit forward, soft tannins – but as a whole, I found them much more drinkable and interesting. The Wine 4 Chilling (I don’t name it, I just drink it) is a blend of Chardonnay, Moscato and Chenin Blanc. It has peachy, floral notes on the nose from the Moscato, very pleasant. The wine itself is a little flabby and fruity and there’s a touch of tight bitterness on the finish that’s not unpleasant, but not necessarily welcome. It’s pretty similar to the Target white blend, but with less of that Sweet Tart thing going on. It’s drinkable, but the colder it is, the better.

The Wine 4 Grilling is good for more than just backyard barbecue. Despite it having almost no nose (it could be my allergies), it’s surprisingly drinkable. It’s a blend of Zinfandel, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon and you can taste all three. The briar fruits that Zin brings are there up front followed by the softness of Merlot on the tongue and there is a healthy amount of Cab tannins on the back end. It’s not terribly complex and these days, I prefer my wines with a bit more acid, but it’s perfect for everyday drinking. At what comes out to be less than $4/bottle, it’s a real bargain.

Plus, as the packaging is made from 30% post consumer materials and both bag and box are recyclable, I like to think that by drinking it I’m doing my part to help the environment. As for conservation, I’ll do that with my gasoline and antacid packaging, but I won’t do that with my wine.

Death by Consumption

Today, Sunday, I just wrapped up a six-week job that sent me all around this crazy city. And it just so happened that I was able to turn a lot of it to my dining advantage. For instance, a trip to Mid-Wilshire might facilitate a lunch at Koreatown Plaza or my trek to Arcadia happened to coincide with me jonesing for Din Tai Fung.

So on Friday, my penultimate job visit led me to North Hollywood. The site happened to be a quarter mile from my favorite Thai place, Sri Siam (newly renovated). I dragged two co-workers there and gorged myself. We began with crispy rice salad, a mélange of crunchy deep-fried rice, crisp roasted peanuts, fiery red ground chiles and small cubes of Spam-like sausage that has been marinating in a vinegary pepper brine for three days. You eat scoops of it on leaves of lettuce with several hand-torn sprigs of mint and cilantro. It’s one of my favorite dishes of all time and I normally hate peanuts in my food. It’s such a perfect blend of flavors and textures – spicy, sour, crunchy, crispy, etc.

After that, we had the Tom Yum Gai, a citrusy chicken soup I’m not normally crazy about, but their recipe is so rich and perfect, I’m sure to order it again (should I survive past today). For an entrée, I ordered the green curry catfish, but due to some language barrier, was delivered the green curry soft shelled crab instead. When I saw the world’s largest soft-shelled crab coated in golden batter and rich curry sauce, there was no way I was going to send it back. It was a little over-battered, but it was still delicious. It was the first time I’d had crab Thai style and I must give it a hearty thumbs up. After polishing off some sweet sticky rice with sliced mango for dessert, I had trouble breathing for the rest of the day.

But that did not stop me from my continuing weekend bingeing. Next stop was Saturday at noon where I feasted on a borrego (lamb) quesadilla and a chile rojo burrito at My Taco. I’ve written about that place previously, so I won’t go into too much detail. The chile rojo, though, is glorious. Small chunks of pork stewed in a spicy red sauce stuffed into a tortilla with luscious refried beans. I went with a friend and his sons, 2 and 4. The little ones obliterated two borrego quesadillas almost as quickly as I did. My order left me completely satisfied but it didn’t stop my friend from giving me an extra taco al pastor he had. Of course I had to eat it. I left with a feeling of overstuffedness I hadn’t felt since…the day before.

I managed to keep food out of my mouth for the next several hours, but after babysitting for my friends’ kid, I was driving home at 11PM when I felt a feeling in my gut akin to hunger, except that my stomach was still full from lunch. So what did I do? I called up Casa Bianca and ordered a medium pizza with (homemade) sausage, eggplant and fresh chopped garlic. As far as I’m concerned, this is the only pizza worth ordering there, as I’m not a fan of their cardboard-like crust. But the sausage is chunky and fennel-y and generally great as is the eggplant. Cut to 25 minutes later when I was staring at an empty pizza box and a half-drunk bottle of cabernet franc. Oh, the humanity.

Sunday morning, eight hours later, I was getting ready for the last site visit of this job – this time in Alhambra. Two friends visited me there and after the job I convinced them to join me for lunch at the restaurant that has one of my other favorite dishes, 101 Noodle Express. They have 20-ish different types of steamed dumplings - everthing from scallops and yellow leek to shrimp, pork and pumpkin - and various soup noodles done in the Shandong style (don’t ask me where that is – somewhere delicious in China). They’re fine; we had some very juicy lamb dumplings and some others with pork and chopped vegetables. They also have noodles with beef tendon, which one of my friends loves. But the only real reason to go is for the beef rolls. It’s like a thin, fried flour tortilla shell slathered with a thin layer of hoisin sauce (homemade), cilantro and thin slices of slow-cooked brisket, all rolled up into a tube of heavenly goodness, especially when topped with their zesty sesame oil/green relishy stuff.

You think all that consumption would be enough for one weekend, but I came home tonight and made myself a pizza with Italian black kale and oyster mushrooms, both of which I grew at home. Which brings my weekend calorie intake to somewhere in the mid-five digits.

I feel a little guilty. And more than a little stuffed. There was also a wine tasting, a donut and half a maple bar I neglected to include in my weekend calorie count. And the sake I’m drinking now. I feel like I've eaten what one would eat if they knew they only had one weekend left to live. Thank goodness this job is over.

On the Beef Soapbox...

First of all, my apologies for my blog silence. John, as the only reader of the blog, I am truly sorry. But I haven’t stopped eating or cooking or thinking about food. A couple weeks ago, I went to hear Michael Pollan speak. He has a new book out that’s a primer for sustainable eating called In Defense of Food, a companion to his acclaimed The Omnivore’s Dilemma. The book’s mantra is, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Basically, he means that we should eat things that we recognize as food (sorry, Gogurt) in moderation. He’s not completely anti-meat, but he suggests that industrial farming has created a glut of artificially cheap meat at the expense of the environment, fossil fuel consumption and our own personal health. Sure. I’m two-thirds with you there, Mikey. But I can’t help but eat a lot. It’s not my fault food is so damned tasty.

My big criticism with his manifesto is that he says we’re not paying enough money for our food. That there are hidden costs that are paid through farm subsidies and in incalculable environmental damage (there is an dead zone the size of New Jersey in the Gulf of Mexico that cannot sustain fish because of fertilizer runoff from Iowa cornfields via the Mississippi River). And of course, he’s right, but how do you justify telling a low income family of five that they have no business buying $1.29/pound hamburger from Wal-Mart?

He acknowledges that the sustainable food movement is elitist but then he also cites women’s suffrage and environmentalism as movements that were started by the rich and privileged. The food thing is a little different because you can be environmentally aware and support women’s rights without spending extra money. The fact is grass fed ground beef can cost $8.75/pound (plus shipping). No matter what techniques they employ, it’s never going to come close to Wal-Mart prices. In fairness, it’s not so much that he’s saying that we should spend more on food, but as the hidden costs of industrial farming are realized, rising food prices are inevitable. Brace yourselves.

Speaking of beef, last night, I cooked a couple pounds of beef filet into a beef stroganoff which turned out really well. The beef was from Harris Ranch, the largest beef processor in California. It’s no Niman Ranch – it’s a basic feedlot – but at least they don’t feed the cows animal products. And it’s tasty stuff. Hm. What’s my point? I guess that it’s hard to adhere to Pollan’s lifestyle without spending a lot of money. The same beef I purchased at Harmony Farms meat market for thirty bucks would have cost a hundred from a grassfed beef supplier. It’s not like I eat that way every day. Or every week, for that matter. (On a side note, Harmony Farms also sells alligator, kangaroo, pheasant, caribou, bison, wild duck, etc. It's a trip.)

Trader Joe’s occasionally has some frozen grassfed steaks for $11/pound or so. They’re actually very good except that they’re carted in from Australia, so factor that into the carbon footprint equation. I just can’t win. A quick note on grassfed beef: because they generally have less fat of a different quality, they tend to cook more quickly and aren't usually as tender as cornfed beef. So keep that in mind when you're cooking them and consider using a Jaccard tenderizer. I do.

I will try to be better. But whether my next steak is from a grassfed bovine from Polyface Farms or if it’s defrosted from Trader Joe’s, I’m going to try Mark Bittman’s method of getting a meaty crust. It basically involved drying it out for a day or so in the fridge to concentrate some of the flavors – a poor man’s dry aging, as it were. But John, as my only reader and the one who introduced me to this method, you already know this. I’m basically wasting valuable digital space. So on that note…