Beer: Lagunitas: Seasonal Release: Crispy Summer Ale

Seasonal schizophrenia extends to beer. Picked up our first bottle of Lagunitas Brewing Company's Crispy Summer Ale on the last day of September, one week after sampling New Belgium's seasonal release for winter.

Have a soft spot for Lagunitas, and am a huge fan of their "homicidally hopped" IPA. Berkeley Bowl generally has a good selection of their seasonal and limited release beers in 22oz bottles.

This beer though is a flavorful, if relatively light, ale with some toast around the edges. Had it with several grilled fish dishes. Reminded me slightly of Blue Paddle, a New Belgium pilsener lager.

Mushrooms: Oyster

These were the first 'exotic' mushroom that I purchased regularly. In 1991 they were already widely available in Berkeley (we're talking Safeway) and cost just a dollar or so more a pound than various button mushrooms.


I got these at the Grand Lake Farmers' Market last week, and didn't get to cook them until Thursday. I was prepared for the worst, but they were still dense and moist - something to do with all that stem matter.


Tom Volk's deep-dive on Oyster Mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) can be found here. Some notes on the taste here:

The common name "oyster mushroom" comes from the white shell-like appearance of the fruiting body, not from the taste. The taste of the oyster mushroom varies from very mild to very strong, sometimes sweet with the smell of anise (licorice).

Usually when I buy Oyster Mushrooms from a store they are a feint grey color. These were a ghostly white. They've always felt fragile to me, but these were particularly thin-skinned. They seared to a golden brown after 30 seconds or so in oil that was still a ways away from smoking.

Fruit: Sugar Plums

First came across these at the Two Girls stand, about halfway down the northern-most row at the Grand Lake Farmers' Market. Not the sort of thing that would catch my attention, but my wife's curiosity was piqued.

The plum flavor is dense, and predictably sweet, but also more tart than I would have expected. The skin color may not really be evident in the photo, a deep muted purple. These have worked their way on to the weekly must-have list.



Google search results that don't have to do with visions of the things dancing in people's heads are hard to come by. So, the only added reference point I can provide gushes thusly:

Its golden flesh is followed by nature’s second honey that comes rushing forward to greet your taste buds with every bite. This fruit's sugar at harvest ranges from 18% to 25%, and it has been said "the rays of the sun have been captured and stored beneath the flesh of this singular fruit to only be set free when tasted."

Not sure about the availability comment on that page. I didn't notice these much before mid-Sepetember. Since then I've seen them at Berkeley Bowl and the Market Hall Produce Shop.

Food: Italian: Opah 'Crudo'

The New Yorker's annual food issue came out in September, and a colleague was kind enough to give me their copy. The most intriguing story for me was the piece on Dave Pasternak of Esca in New York. The article related how Mario Batali and his business partner Joseph Bastianich wooed Pasternak into opening an Italian restaurant with a fish-focus back in 1999.

Before opening the restaurant, the three of them toured the southern coast of Italy extensively, and we're surprised to find that people were eating a whole lot of raw fish. Often served with just olive oil, herbs, and peppers. Based on the descriptions in the magazine, some menu items from the Esca website, and the photos from their gallery I decided to give this a whirl.

I picked up some Opah ( aka moonfish or Lampris regius), a naturally fatty and mild fish native to the pacific. Slicing the fish thinly enough that it was transparent, was relatively easy. Sharp knife, cold fish. I sliced along the long dimension of the hunk pictured at right. This may or may not be the correct way to slice. The longer pieces did break along the fat streaks.

After placing the fish on the dishes you see below, I poured a teaspoon of olive oil over each, and added some minced mint from my herb garden, along with finely diced peppers that a friend had given us. The overall flavor of the dish was pleasant, even unexpected, but still very mild. Salt helped punch it up some, next time around I may also go with white pepper.