Farro
The trip to Newport Beach was a nightmare: 1h40' in a car without air conditioning in the middle of the day under the LA sun. It was stop and go most of the way. We missed the first ten minutes or so of An Inconvenient Truth, but it was definitely worth seeing. We came out of the theater feeling all galvanized and ready to spring into action. What action, we still don't know, but I hope we do't lose the energy.
After that, we went to Caffè Il Farro where we had a very enjoyable dinner that included zuppa di farro invernale (perfect for July 12th, don't you think?) and a farrotto. Farrotto is like risotto in the way it's cooked, but made with farro insted of rice. Finally an Italian restaurants with Italian staff. Great service, great food and I did find farro perlato. That alone was worth the trip.
As I found out last year, the other kind of farro — farro decorticato — requires soaking overnight and at least 90' of cooking, and even then my zuppa di farro was way to chewy. According to the instructions on this package, farro perlato requires thorough rinsing in cold water and then only 20-25 minutes of cooking. I'll test for myself soon.
In case you wonder, farro is called spelt in English, at least in the US, but if you find farro at Whole Foods or other such places, it's more likely to be the kind you need to cook forever.
P.S.
Correction: farro is emmer!