And now a message from excellent Los Angeles organization (and friend of Spooning) Closed on Mondays:

This fall, Closed on Mondays is hosting a Dinner Party Raffle in order to raise additional funds to support our work!

To enter, just click hereand purchase your tickets today! $10 per ticket or 3 for $20

What can you win? A private dinner hosted by Closed on Mondays! You and 7 of your friends will be treated to a 3-course market-driven dinner (and wine!) cooked by Aliza Miner. If you win, we’ll work with you to set the date for January-February 2012, and we’ll host you and your guests at a lovely east side location (in one of 3 special spaces, depending on the timing!).

And thank you for your continued support for Closed on Mondays. Each of our dinners supports a local food organization or initiative, and we’ve raised $17,250 so far for local groups like RootDownLA, Garden School Foundation and others! We should raise $20,000 by the end of the year!

» Blog Archive » Get Your Tickets!.

Here is Max Read’s astute, and brilliantly funny, summary of this week’s Batali vs. Bankers (bear vs. sharks? Or are they both bears?) clash, in which the “be-Croc’d chef”

indelicately compared “the entire banking industry” to “Stalin or Hitler and the evil guys” at a Time panel on Tuesday. A poor choice of metaphor, for sure—especially when you consider that bankers make up a significant portion of the customer base at Batali’s high-end New York restaurants. Even more so when you consider what crybabies bankers are.

He goes on to outline the splendidly absurd call for a Wall Street-wide ban of Batali eateries. But it’s the point Read raises there about Batali’s restaurant denizens that interests me: OWS has been getting support from all angles, sometimes vaguely uncomfortable angles (the Los Angeles Chief of Police to Kanye “Diamond Teeth” West) which is great…But as Read notes, Batali’s name-calling does smack a bit of biting the hand that feeds you. (Dough for dough!) It’s worth considering the moral lines between those who benefit  from ill-gotten gains from those who generate the ill-gotten gains. And not just Batali; we are all participants in the U.S. economy, and therefore our choices are to some degree complicit in its current state. Fortunately, that means we can all do something about it. Hopefully that something goes above and beyond playing the tired fascist-dictators card, and involves switching your ATM card to a credit union.

via Crybaby Bankers Boycott Mario Batali After He Calls Them Hitlers.

Back in ’06, I posted from Spain about the cuttlefish and rabbit paella that I had learned to make there, fish head broth and all. The technique I describe there is truly no-fail, if followed to the letter, and I have since made all manner of variations (rabbit and cuttlefish both being, sadly, extremely hard to find Stateside). This time, though, in honor of my dad’s birthday, I went whole hog–or, rather, whole chorizo-prawns-shrimp-chicken-squid. When it comes to paella, the more most definitely the merrier, and this was one helluva plate of rice.

I followed my previously posted recipe, with just a few tweaks to accommodate the pile of protein. Since I didn’t have a frozen bag of fish heads awaiting me in the freezer, as my Spanish roommate always did, I went to my local fishmonger and for $1 I bought a halibut carcass, which I boiled with onions and garlic to make a potently oceanic broth. The broth is your foundation, and it’s extremely important not to skimp on it–you are shelling out for pricey seafood and saffron (I use Penzey’s Spanish saffron, which is aromatic but not flowery), so why ruin it with nasty packaged broth?

For this variation, I started by dicing the chorizo (Spanish, not Mexican–try Dona Juana’s brand) and frying it in olive oil until browned. I scooped it out with a slotted spoon and proceeded with the chicken and squid as per the posted recipe. In the final moments, I added the shrimp and prawns, so they cooked briefly and finished up during the all-important 5-minute rest period. I served the paella with a simple Spanish-esque salad (they aren’t big on salads over there…), made with Romaine hearts and roasted red pepper strips, dressed with a gently spiced yogurt dressing. Que delicioso!

I have never been so tempted to open a restaurant. Look at those turquoise chairs at the counter!

“This 1946 Pullman Budd Round End Observation Kitchen and Dining Car – is no longer in use and is being sold by the rail service company to free up funds.

This WWII vintage dining and kitchen car  was manufactured by Pullman in 1946 and at the time was state of the art. Relive the past and buy this 85′ car as a guest house, starter restaurant or put it back on the tracks.

The interior is in excellent shape and includes a coffee bar, kitchen and dining area. The under carriage was certified four years ago.”

Pullman Railroad Budd Round End Observation Kitchen and Dining Car – 1946.