Espresso and Crosne

I had a long leisurely morning to explore Santa Monica today because I had to take the car in for a routine inspection and had over two hours to kill.

First I stopped by Caffe Luxxe, which was recently listed as one of the best coffeehouses in LA by The Los Angeles Times. The latte art was beautiful, the space was cute, and the prices were fine ($3 for my 12 oz. latte). I would stop by again if I were in the neighborhood, just because I know coffeehouses have good and not so good days. But was it fa-bu-lous? No.

Ritual Roasters in San Francisco and Anna Bananas in Portland both easily beat out Caffe Luxxe in terms of having a sweeter espresso and tighter smoother foam. The madeleine was also fine, but nothing special. I appreciate that LA is trying, but it's got a long ways to go before it's a coffee powerhouse. And yes, that's a sissy Fitness magazine that I shamefully allowed in the photo. I have nothing to say to defend myself. I was weak. I know. Real women read Hers Muscle & Fitness.

The Santa Monica Farmers' Market is in full fall swing. I picked up some apples, squash, leeks, and onions (bypassed the persimmons for now). The most interesting thing I saw by far were these little tubers. They're called Crosne, and they're the weirdest looking things ever. When eaten raw they're extremely juicy and crunchy the way a good jicama is, and I tasted the very faintest trace of ginseng in the initial bite. It was so faint it might have been my imagination.

Finally, I stopped by the library and picked up two cookbooks I've been wanting to read: Land of Plenty by Fuscia Dunlop (a Sichuan cookbook by an American who studied abroad there and fell in love with the food) and Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen, a best selling all purpose guide to Mexican food.