Art and Grains

...Grain Revolution. Just in time for Easter she has posted a recipe from the book for hot cross buns with marzipan crosses. Roxana was a big supporter of the Los Angeles Bread Bakers, a meetup group that I co-founded. It’s been a rough year for restaurants, so consider picking up a copy of her book or, if you’re a local, getting some takeout. Meanwhile, friend of the blog Federico Tobon is launching a new zine, has completed 100 days of small drawin...

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Timing Sourdough Feeding

...works well for me. For exact recipes and techniques I highly recommend the book Josey Baker Bread (library link). What I like about Josey’s book is that it’s kind of like a class in bread baking. He starts you out with simple loaves and then gets into more advanced techniques. There’s plenty of illustrations on top of the fact that Josey is a really nice dude (I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him). If you’re interested in the details of my starter...

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The Architecture of Bernard Maybeck

...sco. Poet and ornithologist Charles Keeler lived in a Maybeck home. In his book, The Simple Home (which you can read online for free) Keeler says, The home must suggest the life it is to encompass. The mere architecture and furnishings of the house do not make the man any more than do his clothes, but they certainly have an effect in modifying him. A large nature may rise above his environment and live in a dream world of his own fashioning, but m...

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Saturday Tweets: Cheap Heaters, Paper Airplanes and Lost Ornaments

...ps://t.co/n4IvJEytGn — Root Simple (@rootsimple) November 3, 2015 Gorgeous book of paper airplanes collected by anthropologist Harry Smith https://t.co/GFtA3w8rUO — Root Simple (@rootsimple) November 3, 2015 It’s time for food justice in Ramona Gardens https://t.co/SoXTBK27L0 — Root Simple (@rootsimple) November 3, 2015 Beautiful, free/open 3D printed book of lost Louis H. Sullivan architectural ornaments https://t.co/IPgqsjSELq — Root Simple (@ro...

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George Rector: M.F.K. Fisher’s Dirty Old Uncle

...or, c.1937. Rector (1878-1947) was a restaurateur and popular author. This book is ostensibly a cookbook–I don’t know what else it would be–but it doesn’t have recipes per se. Instead, he just mentions how to cook things as he’s steaming along. I’m in love with the hardboiled yet strangely comforting prose (though I do have to ignore the casual sexism and racism of the period). Seems most cookbooks these days range from bland to, at best, passiona...

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