Big Fun with coffee and baked goods at the Grind this am. Thanks to all of you who came out, and here’s the visual for those who missed it:

Notice the solar panels.

Today’s shopper is my friend Donna Blazwich, who’s going to make Sole with Bundled Vegetables. She starts by parboiling her vegetables a few minutes to get them tender: asparagus and carrots from Maggie’s Farm.Then she slices them very thinly and 2″ long, along with some red onion and finely chopped garlic. Then she takes the Dover sole filets from the Smart Fish company and rubs them with butter and tarragon, lays in the sliced veggies and rolls them up into bundles, hence the name! To cook, she takes lemon slices and places them in a layer on the bottom of the steamer and then lays the sole bundles on top. They steam in about 3-5 minutes, so be prepared with your side dishes! Donna’s going to make alittle arugula salad and some rice to go with it. Thanks, Donna! I’m going to try this dish!

Today in the Green Booth, Ava Sadripour of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics was on hand to keep us aware of what we’re putting on our bodies.

Mar Vista Mom has teamed up with the founders of Open Mar Vista/Open Neighborhoods, James Brennan and John Ayers, to create The OPEN Daily, a daily email Essential Guide to the Westside. Free subscription, free listings (and paid advertising as well), the OPEN Daily is designed to promote local businesses, offer updates from Westside schools, and keep you informed about community action items. We’ll also feature local bloggers and great deals and giveaways. Check it out: TheOPENDaily.com.

Click here to submit your free listings.

Oh, and if you’re on the Westside on Tuesday, February 23rd at 8:30am, stop by the Venice Grind, 12224 Venice Blvd. 90066, for a free cup of coffee on us! Yvonne’s Gluten-Free Goodies, too! Come on by!

The Well Baby Center is a non-profit parenting community center, founded out of a belief that every family with young children deserves to have a place to go to access a support system. Their aim is to strengthen family relationships by offering classes and family activities, as well as comprehensive counseling and consulting services. Staffed by family and early childhood specialists, the Well Baby Center offers Mindful Parenting groups, Reflective Parenting groups, Therapeutic services, Music Together, Infant massage, drop-in playgroup times and Special Needs programs, just to name a few. Please see their website for  more details.

The Well Baby Center 12316 Venice Blvd., Mar Vista 90066 (310) 402-2229

Photo credit: Alan Shaffer

Love the color.

Today’s shopper is Caroline De Vita, a talented designer and illustrator. She’s going to make pasta primavera to celebrate this lovely warm weather. She’ll start by oven-roasting this Romanesco cauliflower in chunks with a little olive oil drizzled over top. While that’s in the oven, she sautes some chopped broccoli, zucchini, garlic, and halved cherry tomatoes in a little olive oil — and boils the salted water for the pasta (she uses penne). When the pasta is almost done, she takes a half cup of the pasta water and adds it to the saute pan with the veggies to make the sauce. Then, when the pasta and the cauliflower are both done, she puts all the ingredients in the pot together along with chopped parsley and hand-ripped basil, and mixes it all up. Ready to serve — sounds delish!

Today in the Green Booth, Plug-In America had an prototype electric car on display, the Mitsubishi iMiev. 

And the Valentine’s concert for the kids was a big hit! Here’s Birdie’s Playhouse in action.

PitFire Pizza is freshly opened in Mar Vista and I’m thrilled! I love the space and it just feels great being there. But it’s really all about the food, right? Well, I love that, too. It’s real food, not a plasticy chain delivering plasticy chain food. I’ve tried several of the pizzas: a plain cheese for the kids, the Big Sur, which has shrimp on top, and my favorite so far, the burrata pie, which has arugula on top. I’ve also tried a few pastas: spaghetti and meatballs, North Beach clam and bacon spaghetti, and a special papardelle with short ribs — which was really good. I ate there with friends the other night; Jenny (of MoveYouForward.com) had a special goat cheese, red pepper, sausage and mushroom pizza and Julia (of SafetyGraphicFun.com) had the chopped salad (sans meat) and the flatbread with ricotta as an appetizer.All really tasty.

I got to meet the owner, Paul Hibler. He’s a great guy and he makes great food. My goal is to eat my way through the entire menu by the end of Spring. Wish me luck!

UPDATE: PitFire Pizza is located at 12924 Washington Blvd. 90066 (424) 835-4088.

Gever Tulley is famous for letting kids do dangerous things — of course, in a supervised way. He gave a famous TED Talk, which is on video for the world to see, and he’s written a book of no fewer than 50 Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do).  Mr. Tulley is coming to the reDiscover Center in Mar Vista this Saturday, 2/13, to deconstruct appliances with kids and talk about his book from 2 – 4pm. The event is free, but donations are accepted. Please call to reserve a spot.

reDiscover Center, 12958 W. Washington Blvd., LA 90066 (310) 393-3636

The Green Booth will feature Plug In America. Electric cars, anyone?