And this is why Cali is better

Update: Apologies for 10 days having passed without a post. Since the last addition, I moved to California for the summer, found an apartment, moved in, and acquired not one, but two temporary food-related jobs. I have been rather busy, but I have also been cooking, a lot. I've resumed my old job cooking for Christian Noto of Split Pea Seduction, and I've also managed to hook up a farmers market gig. I biked to the North Berkeley market yesterday and, since I am currently living completely alone, spent very little money on terrific produce!

You know me, I get my kicks from reading cookbooks as literature and strolling down gourmet supermarkets' aisles. So hand-picking organic produce at the market AND getting hired to work for an organic farm in the same day is quite exhilarating for me! Tonight, as I was too tired to actually go out and not motivated enough to find myself a charcoal grill to borrow, I used some of the vegetables I bought yesterday.

I found the cutest baby eggplants, no longer than four inches in length, maybe one and a half inches in diameter at the largest part. I split them in half, lengthwise, lightly olive-oiled them, stuck them in a pyrex baking dish, cut-side down, along with three cloves of unpeeled garlic, and roasted, at 375, for 12 minutes. Then I turned the eggplant over, placed 1/2 a teaspoon of grated parmesan on each, and threw back in the oven for 2 more minutes.

Out they came, my cute little baby eggplants. Six halves of delicious, organic, fresh, local baby vegetables. Needless to say I am very, very happy to be back in the bay.