Griffith Park Observatory

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Visiting LA Farmers Market With Brian And Jan 9/30/2015

Page 1 - Dining At Monsieur Marceau | Page 2 Griffith Observatory

It makes for a great day! Nice lunch with friends and then exploring the Griffith Park Observatory! Where does one go for a nice lunch at the LA Farmers Market?  Marcel Marceau's of course.

LA Farmers Market September 2015

LA Farmers Market September 2015
She knows that there is ratatouille available!

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Jan knows Paul is going to try to get Brian to eat snails!

LA Farmers Market September 2015
"Who me do something like that?"

LA Farmers Market September 2015
What are these two up to?

Did You Know? - Like most molluscs, escargots are high in protein and low in fat content (if cooked without butter). Escargots are estimated to contain 15% protein, 2.4% fat and about 80% water.

LA Farmers Market September 2015

Did You Know? - The escargot (plural escargots, French for snail) is a cooked land snail. Escargots are usually served as an appetizer in Portugal, Spain and in France, and are a typical dish in the Catalan region of Spain. The word escargot is also sometimes applied to the living snails of those species which are commonly eaten in this way.

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Delicious adventures in dining!

Did You Know? - In French culture, the snails are typically purged, killed, removed from their shells, and cooked (usually with garlic butter, chicken stock or wine), and then placed back into the shells with the butter and sauce for serving. Additional ingredients may be added, such as garlic, thyme, parsley and pine nuts. Special snail tongs (for holding the shell) and snail forks (for extracting the meat) are also normally provided, and they are served on indented metal trays with places for six or 12 snails.

LA Farmers Market September 2015
The food is always delightful at Marcel Marceau's

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Brian did the Merguez spicy sausages!

Did You Know? - Merguez is a sausage made with uncooked lamb, beef, or a mixture stuffed into a lamb-intestine casing. It is heavily spiced with cumin and chili pepper or harissa (which gives it its characteristic piquancy and red color) as well as other spices such as sumac, fennel, and garlic.

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Paul went more traditional with some Scottish Salmon!

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Caper berries

LA Farmers Market September 2015

Did You Know? - Some confusion exists regarding capers and caperberries. The two are not interchangeable though they both derive from the same plant, Capparis Spinosa, which grows throughout the Mediterranean, and is now being grown in places like California. To clarify, the round, lemony, small capers are not the berries. These tiny pealike bursts of flavor are actually immature buds of the caper bush.

In addition to the tiny buds, caperberries are also harvested, and some may prefer their taste to the stronger caper buds. The berries on the caper plant are oblong, semi-green fruits, about the size of or slightly larger than a table grape. Though they still have some lemon taste, they are much milder than caper buds. You can include sliced caperberries in recipes calling for capers if you want a dish that is a bit less acidic. The substitution doesn't work well in reverse—generally when a recipe calls for caperberries, using capers instead will provide too much acid in a dish.

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Sue knows her desserts! Red velvet merengue

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Brain goes for the cookies (with ice cream)

Time To Explore

LA Farmers Market September 2015

LA Farmers Market September 2015
More desserts... We are a tad too full!

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Well... Maybe we will make an exception!

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Cheese anyone?

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Delightful imported food items look interesting

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Brian wants to cook his little back yard friends when he gets home!

Did You Know? - Because you have no idea what your snails have been munching on that could taste unpleasant to you (or be toxic), allow a 10-day cleansing period before your own feast. The French disdain escargots fed with anything but grape leaves, but snails do fine on plain lettuce. Some folks pre-season them by feeding them herbs. Others plump up snails with cornmeal or bran and high-protein soymeal.

LA Farmers Market September 2015
You might want to put the little devils back into reusable shells

Did You Know? - Three days before feast day, withhold food but not water (or wine) to let the snails finish digesting their last meal. At the end of this fasting period, rinse snails thoroughly in cool water and discard any that don't peek out of their shells. To deslime: Cover the snails with water combined with two tablespoons of salt and one tablespoon of vinegar per dozen snails. Soak the snails until they release all their slime, which takes about four hours. To speed things up, change the solution several times. Rinse the snails well, cover them with water (some cooks add a splash of lemon juice here), bring the water to a boil, and simmer 10 minutes. Cool the snails and remove the meat from the shells.

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Must have proper plates for the snails!

Did You Know? - Garden snails often have thin shells that shatter easily, making it difficult to follow the traditional practice of returning them to their own shells for baking. You can strengthen the shells during the 10-day feeding period by supplying a calcium supplement, such as crushed oyster shell of the sort fed to laying hens for the same reason. Alternatively, discard the shells in favor of reusable gros blanc shells, sold by import shops as coquilles. Because coquilles are often larger than the shells your snails came in, stuff each one with two snails. (To save the coquilles for reuse, wash them in soapy water. Cover them with fresh water to which a pinch of baking soda has been added, bring the water to a boil, rinse the shells, and drain them dry before storing.)

To remove fragile shells from your garden snails, crush the shells between your fingers and peel away the shards. Extract the contents of sturdier shells with a nut pick or seafood fork. As you remove each snail from its shell, peel the skin from the meat and cut away the black portion at the end of the tail. (If you have plenty of extras, freeze them for later use, although they'll suffer a slight loss in texture.)

To remove fragile shells from your garden snails, crush the shells between your fingers and peel away the shards. Extract the contents of sturdier shells with a nut pick or seafood fork. As you remove each snail from its shell, peel the skin from the meat and cut away the black portion at the end of the tail. (If you have plenty of extras, freeze them for later use, although they'll suffer a slight loss in texture.)

When you're ready for final preparation, cover the meat with water flavored with your favorite bouquet garnis, or add a bay leaf and a little parsley, thyme, onion, garlic, and a few peppercorns. Slosh in some cognac or substitute white wine for half of the water. Bring the water just to a boil and simmer the snails for three to four hours, depending on their size. While the meat cools in the broth, prepare herb butter. Allow one cube of butter (no margarine here, please) for each two dozen snails. With each cube, cream two tablespoons chopped parsley, one table spoon chopped chives, two crushed cloves of garlic, one-quarter teaspoon salt, and freshly ground pepper to taste.

 

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Or.... Just go for the octopus!

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Dessert for the snail feast? Gummy Bears!

LA Farmers Market September 2015
The book display was excellent

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Snails might be one of them!!

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Lots of cooking... Lots of gas!

Out With The Old; In With The New... The Grove

Did You Know? - The Grove is a retail and entertainment complex in Los Angeles, California, built, owned, and operated by Rick J. Caruso and his company Caruso Affiliated on parts of the historical Farmers Market.

The complex fills space previously occupied by an orchard and nursery (the last remains of a dairy farm owned by A.F. Gilmore in the latter part of the 19th century). The developers began demolition of an antiques alley and other older buildings on Third Street behind CBS Television City, and broke ground for the new mall in 1999. There was some controversy over potentially increasing traffic in a busy Los Angeles neighborhood that already offered several other shopping venues, including the Beverly Center. The Grove opened in 2002 and has been an extremely popular outdoor mall ever since.

The 575,000-square-foot (53,400 m2) outdoor marketplace is located in Los Angeles' Fairfax District. Caruso Affiliated claims to have modeled its architectural designs on indigenous Los Angeles buildings, influenced by classic historic districts, with shopping alleys, broad plazas, and intimate courtyards. The design features a series of Art Deco-style false fronts, with boxy interiors similar to those found in other contemporary stores.

 

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Let's take the tram!

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Enjoying life... This is good!

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Chris was one of the drivers (changing between conducting
and driving depending upon the direction the car is going)

LA Farmers Market September 2015
The old and the new!

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Ulysses is an amazing Greek restaurant

LA Farmers Market September 2015
The decor is always changing.... Pin wheels today!

LA Farmers Market September 2015
"HELP! Let me out!"

LA Farmers Market September 2015
The street is nicely decorated!

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Sushi Brian??

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Better view on our return trip!

LA Farmers Market September 2015
After Obama got through!

LA Farmers Market September 2015
The "wig-wags" were clever!

LA Farmers Market September 2015
We voted... We like the "Then"

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Fifty years makes a difference!

LA Farmers Market September 2015
When ladies were indeed ladies!

LA Farmers Market September 2015
The "good old days" were not that good!

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Gilmore owned all the Farmers Market property and surrounding area!

LA Farmers Market September 2015
The old tube radio was inside the Gilmore Gas Station replica!

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Pink and blue gasoline?

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Gilmore gasoline was fairly popular in the 1930's

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Gilmore sold out to Mobil Oil and then...

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Amazing

Did You Know? - As the automobile became a staple throughout the West, Gilmore Gas stations popped up everywhere and helped fuel drivers' love affair with the automobile. There were more than 1,100 of them that sold only Gilmore products and another 2,400 that sold them along with other brands. The Company's Blu-Green gas pumps had glass containers so customers could see the colored gas flow.

After Gilmore Oil was bought out by Mobil, E.B. Gilmore opened the nation's first large-scale self-service gas station, a "Gas-A-Teria" where customers saved 5¢ a gallon pumping their own.

LA Farmers Market September 2015
Produce still comes into the market

LA Farmers Market September 2015
They have a little bit of everything!

LA Farmers Market September 2015
It was an original!

LA Farmers Market September 2015

Sound: Theme From Moulin Rouge

Page 1 - Dining At Monsieur Marceau | Page 2 Griffith Observatory