Leftover Creations... Crostini with Carmelized Onion, Morbier & Pancetta Lardons

I had a lot of cheese leftover from a dinner party because maybe I bought too much. No wait, people didn't eat enough cheese! Boogaloo to them. I also had a small chunk of pancetta. I sliced a La Brea Pain Rustique thinly and toasted them with olive oil brushed on both sides til they were crispy. I forgot to rub garlic on them when they came out. Oops. I layered carmelized onion doused with a little balsamic, thinly slice morbier, and topped each crostini with pancetta lardons which I crisped up slightly in a pan. Popped these babies in the oven til the cheese melted. So good. Yumm. The sweetness of the onion, the crispiness of the crostini, saltiness of the pancetta, and of course the melted cheese. [drool!]

Girls, Grub, Gossip, & Booze

One of my friends E is getting married next weekend so to send her off the girls put together a little fem gathering. For this quaint event I made sun-dried tomato polenta w/marinara and thyme breadcrumbs. This time I used a metal mold to cut out pretty little oval shapes rather than cutting em up into squares. Much more refined for my ladies, isn't it? And something a little bit sweet... brownie cupcakes with nutella icing. I completely fucked up the icing by trying to take shortcuts instead of following a recipe. Then I remembered my jar of nutella! I sprinkled some marigold color sugar crystals on top for festivity. Who woulda ever thunk my non-baking ass would ever get a jar of sugar crystals?



So the girls filled up on cute polenta bites, brownies, wine and tequila while we jibber jabbered throughout the night. And hopefully sent off E with happy thoughts and happy tummy!

Little Treasures from La Brea Bakery

I had to once again drop my car off at the service department for minor problems. Sigh, car problems. Never ending aren't they? However, on my chilly and dark walk home I stopped by La Brea Bakery to peruse and look for some goodies that I may fancy. I don't frequent the Bakery too much but I should really rethink that considering I can get a unique treat for myself everytime I go.

This time a jar of peppers caught my eye: Matiz Vasco Piparras. "Piparras are a traditional Basque pepper with a mild sweet flavor and a fine texture." I have a small fascination with the Basques and love peppers, so there was nothing to hold me back. I also got a 4 inch cacciatorini. They even sliced it for me into thin rounds while I waited browsing and noshing on a complimentary piece of their heavenly chocolate cupcake. Friendly customer service, definitely something to appreciate.

So I brought these jewels home for a little tasting. I drizzled a bit of good olive oil over the peppers and sprinkled a teenie pinch of kosher salt. I guess some fancy salt would have been better but I still haven't delved into them fancy stuffs. Yet. The peppers tasted like pepperoncini but sweeter and mellower, with a softer texture. It was delicious especially with the accompanying salami and chunks of the Bakery's Pain Rustic dipped in the olive oil mixed with some of the brine.

Here is a bit I found on cacciatorini...

A dry Italian salami, which generally consists of equal parts of pork and beef, however it can be produced with all pork meat. It is seasoned with black pepper, garlic, spices, dry white wine, and packed into a small natural casing measuring approximately 4 to 8 inches in length (10 to 18 cm) and 1 inch (3 to 4 cm) in diameter. It is then dry aged for one month or longer. When served, it is sliced thin for use in sandwiches, as an appetizer with cheese, or as a topping for foods.
Dry sausages such as Italian cacciatorini are commonly thought of as hunter style salami, since it is made as a small rustic salami to be carried in hunter's pockets and eaten as a lunch meal. This product may also be referred to as cacciatore, cacciatoro, or salame milanese. [Hormel.com]


La Brea Bakery
624 South La Brea Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323.939.6813
www.labreabakery.com

Stuff I Be Eating Lately...

Short post of stuff I be eating lately...
NO MORE non-fat yogurts w/granola, cold tofu, and salads. Well, probably more tofu and salads to come but definitely NO MORE non-fat yogurt. Although I am far from being in shape I decided to be a bit more adventurous and integrate more variety into my daily meals. And also not be lazy about cooking just because I hate doing the dishes. I changed my shift at work to 730am to 4pm, and now take night showers, therefore have 30 minutes to pack lunch and/or make breakfast in the morning. I like the change. And by the way, doesn't cooking count as exercise? After all it's all manual labor + a lot of standing. See? A well balanced lifestyle. ;)

Trader Joe's Punjab Spinach Sauce
**with my addition of potatoes and brown basmati with lemon & cashews.

La Brea Bakery croissant w/Nutella
**wanted to put chopped cashews and pomegranate in but forgot the nuts and pomegranate had already passed away.

Ghirardelli Chocolate Mocha Hot Chocolate
**with Silk Vanilla Soymilk

Arrowhead Mills Multigrain Pancake & Waffle Mix
**with Grand Marnier soaked dried blueberries, buttermilk, and pure maple syrup.

Roasted Cauliflower with Curry and Paprika
**somewhat replicated dish from AOC. it was delicious! i've never liked cauliflower but now i'm a changed gal.

Linguini w/Red Pepper Flakes, Lemon & Parmesan
**simple pasta dish for simple me. next time i will add some crispy thyme bread crumbs on top for texture and delicious yumminess.

Bluejay Farm Satsumas
**from the korean market which always has high quality fruits.

365 Organic Green Tea
**nice and warm start to longs days at work.

Beautiful Mountain of Cheese

beautiful. yumm.

Mum's Birthday, the Celeriac & the Hangover

I woke up bleary eyed, thirsty, tummy aching, and tired from my expeditions the night before. After downing about three cups of whole milk (my hangover ritual) I napped half-conscious in the living room with the gentle buzz of the tv. But late afternoon rolled around quickly and I had to get started on my mom's birthday dinner.



I wanted a simple and comforting menu for our small family dinner. I decided to serve Barolo Wine Poached Filet w/Celeriac Puree (Jamie Oliver), Roasted Butternut Squash Soup (Emeril), and Trader Joe's Tiramisu (yeah I cheated a lil).

Now when one is hungover, especially me, the super strong scent of celery or celeriac is not pleasing at all. In fact, it is pretty disgusting. I had to peel the ugly thing, chop it up, and boil it. I did a lot of mouth breathing but pushed on saying to myself I can do this. The water came to a boil and the celery-scented steam was produced with vigor. It got to a point where I thought I was going to throw up. I chucked the whole thing (still breathing through my mouth), minus the russet potato I put into the mix. I had to light candles all over the house bc I would smell celeriac EVERYWHERE! I was not in a good state of mind at that point and wanted the house back to pre-celeriac abomination.

Thank god there were a few potatoes lying around. I switched to good old mashed potato with butter and milk to serve with the filet of beef. The filet was cooked to a tender medium-rare but the wine I'm not sure if I was too fond of the wine I used. It was some Chilean cab. I ended up returning the second bottle of it back to TJ. I guess I am sure. The wine sucked.

The filet was a bit bland. Even though the poaching liquid was seasoned it was not enough to season the filet. I think homemade rosemary-salt would be a great to sprinkle over the filet before serving.

The soup was okay. My family members liked it but I thought it needed way more butternut squash than the recipe called for. I tasted way too much of the mire poix and not enough of the sweet roasted squash. I served this with a salty crunchy parmesan-ciabatta crouton. I originally wanted to place the crouton across the soup bowl but the crouton fell a tiny bit short. Another thing gone wrong. Bleh.

So a pretty unmemorable dinner but effort counts right?

Mum's Gochujang Soup

My mom threw this soup together one day with nothing to eat for dinner and a drawer full of vegetables. Cut up some onion, zucchini, potato, mushroom, scallion, garlic. Add pork/pork broth or spam if you have it on hand. Bring it to a boil with a few spoons of gochujang (Korean red pepper paste) and a few jalapenos. So fast and simple and completely addicting. I suggest serving it with some rice because the spice will be fierce and gochujang is a little bit salty. Yumm.

Turkey Day 2005

My cousin, Vivian, and I were in charge of Thanksgiving dinner for our family of 19. And since our Grandma's birthday is within a few days of this gluttonous holiday, we made it a double celebration dinner party. Unfortunately I was feeling a bit under the weather and kept putting off duties til late afternoon. Then, busy busy busy! Here is what we cooked and ate into a comatose:

Leftovers from last party...
Warm Picholines & Olives
French Cow's Milk Cheese Plate
Rosemary-Dijon Lambchops w/Pistou

Menu...

Herb-Butter Roasted Turkey w/Gorgonzola Sauce
I didn't want to cook a whole bird and didn't want to have gravy. So I roasted a few turkey breasts and thighs and made gorgonzola sauce instead. The gorgonzola sauce is soo much better than gravy, imo.


Pan-Roasted Brussel Sprouts w/Pancetta & Balsamic
I tried brussel sprouts for the first time at AOC last week. It was so good and that I was inspired to make a similar dish for Thanksgiving. I forgot to get veal stock reduction for mine but it was still delicious. When the sprouts were carmelized in the pancetta fat with the crispy pancetta, red onion, and garlic, I drizzled in some balsamic vinegar and let it reduce for a sec.


Autumn Panzanella of Root Vegetables
This was my mistake of the night. I thought it would be brilliant to roast the veges under the turkey breast and finish it off later in super high heat with herbs and balsamic. But there was too much meat on top of the veges for it to roast. It steamed instead. The roasted veges with the shaved pecorino were still delicious but this was no panzanella. I'll have to rethink this recipe.


Bread Pudding w/Grand Marnier, Dried Blueberries & Candied Pecans
For some reason I was craving condensed milk and had a box full of bread crusts leftover from the last party. So bread pudding it was. I soaked some dried blueberries and grand marier, cut up one apple, got some golden raisans out. Voila, bread pudding. Topped it with La Bread Bakery granola and candied pecans. It came out so very dense but delicious. I need practice on this one... it is baking afterall.

Vivians' dishes...

Broccoli w/Lemon-Butter, Pinenuts & Parmesan
A simple vegetable dish topped with toasted pinenuts and parmesan. I like broccoli a lot so there was a lot of picking one out of the serving bowl everytime I passed by the dining table.


Thyme Popovers
These were popped over when we took it out of the oven. When we turned our backs for a second they completely deflated! I think this may be my doing because I peeked and the recipe says "Do not peek." Oops.

Sweet Potato Pie
[this one was devoured before i got a chance for a photo]
Mmmm... so comforting. I love sweet potatoes. Damn, is there anything I don't love?


Red Velvet Cake
Such a pretty cake for our grandma!

South Pole Departure Party

There are leftovers to be had from my brother's Departure Party. SO MUCH leftovers! Everyone stuffed themselves silly, imbibing delicious wine and seasonal beer and having a relaxed time. Here is what we ate to silliness...



some tj italian salami, candied pecans, crackers, and walnut-date crostini

French Cow's Milk Cheese Plate:
a. Morbier
b. St. Agur Blue Cheese
c. (crap, i don't remember the name. something really frenchy)
*oh my god, st.agur blue cheese is amazing. it's a double creme blue cheese. when the silverlake cheese monger gave me a piece of this i just want to melt. i think it was also the most expensive at $35. it's so much fun shopping for cheese (at a cheese store) bc you get to try so many different cheeses. just go into a cheese store and ask for their help and opinion. and many cheese samples will come your way.


[blurry warm picholines and almonds]
Warm Picholine Olives & Almonds
*this is from Lucques restaurant. whole foods was out of lucques olives so I subbed picholine, which worked great. I really like the meaty texture and juiciness of picholines. the best part of making this dish was when i combined the hot toasted almonds to a bowl of marinating olives (olive oil, thyme), and off went the crackling!


Goat Cheese Mousse on Walnut-Date Crostini
*this recipe is adapted from the French Laundry website. i used an 8oz trader joe's garlic and herb goat cheese. and i picked up an extra 4oz of french goat cheese at the silverlake cheese store in order to double the recipe i added this dish last minute so i had to pick up a few extra items. luckily the cheese store was selling bread that day, supposedly their first batch, and i didn't have to make a separate trip. the bread was delicious. although a super simple dish, it was a big hit.


Sun-Dried Tomato Polenta with Mushroom Ragu
*this is adapted from giada's (everyday italian) recipe. i cooked 2 lbs total of cremini and button mushrooms with thyme, rosemary, garlic, dry marsala, and sherry vinegar. i added a drizzle of white truffle oil off the heat and it really gave that extra vavoom to the dish. giada's recipe did not call for any herbs. :P wth, i say pooey to that. her food is really uninteresting but it's still useful to get a general proportion for things. i think polenta always needs more salt then what the recipe calls for. first batch was a little bit bland but i fixed that by sprinkling some kosher salt before i broiled them. i shaved a bit of pecorino after i topped the polenta squares with a small spoonful of the mushrooms. even mushroom haters loved this dish.


Croque Monsieur
*next was this delectable, cheesy ham and cheese sandwich. just watching the cheese bubble under the broiler was almost unbearable. it was a beautiful sight. i used black forest ham in this. why? bc i was at costco and that was what they had. i would prefer to use thin slices of french ham. god, it was soo good. anything with that much cheese can't be bad. the aroma of the browned cheese is amazing. one thing i would do differently next time is to toast the bread a little bit more before assembly. i have an electric stove so the heats not always even. the bread should have been a light golden brown.


lamb on a beautiful disposable plate :)
Rosemary-Dijon Rack of Lamb
*finally, we got to the meat dish. since this event was supposed to be centered around finger foods, i served these sliced up on a big platter with a beautiful green dollop of pistou on each one. delicious.


Truffle Brownies and Chocolate Truffles
*finally, finally, the desesrt. i got the truffle brownies from town & country bakery and made the truffle. when i tried to roll the truffle into a ball, quickly, it kept melting into my hands! with the addition of coffee, vanilla and grand marnier (barefoot contessa recipe) these truffles came to life. unfortunately they almost killed a few people with their easily breathable powdered sugar and cocoa. desserts are definitely not my specialty but i still had fun making these.

At the end of the night, I served a few bottles of Cristalino Cava. Another noteworthy drink of the night was Anchor Brewing's winter ale. So frickin good. A nice touch of spice but not overwhelming, balanced with a good amount of hops.

I really had fun planning and executing this event. I think this is my biggest production to date. My brother left today for the South Pole. I hope he left with some memories of good food and fun people. Have a good trip!

My Side Stint as a Kitchen Intern at A.O.C.

As I was driving up Crescent Heights going to my hopefully second "work," I couldn't believe I was going to work in a kitchen. For the last few months I kept telling myself that I will look for a kitchen job, get in touch with some restaurants and such. But being the big chicken that I am I kept putting it off. I hate rejection!

But I finally did it, put pen to paper, or more realistically, put fingers to keyboard, and wrote an email to AOC, one of the five restaurant on my list to hit up. And to my surprise someone got back to me. And there I was, walking through the door of AOC and heading back to the kitchen with my knives, wrapped in cloth napkin in a paper wine bag.

I worked helping with some vegetable prepping and dessert plating. I had fun and more importantly it felt very comfortable. So yesterday was a chance for the kitchen staff to feel me out and see if they want to keep me but I think I did well. The staff there is really great because everyone is pretty young and easy to get along with. Plus they made sure I got to taste a bit of everything they made. Throughout the night someone would say "make sure Susan tastes some!" :D I think I would really enjoy working with all of them.

Now onto the juicy bits, I tasted some delicious food. It's been a while since I ate at AOC so the menu is completely changed now. I ate a bite of each but if you add all that up it's a small and delicious meal.

halibut, celery root, sunchokes and hazelnuts
veal saltimbocca with madeira brown butter
farro and black rice with pinenuts and currants
brussel sprouts with balsamic and pancetta
crème fraîche panna cotta with spiced persimmon compote and maple pecans
chocolate pot de crème with hazelnut bark and pirouettes
roasted dates, parmesan and bacon

There was nothing that I didn't like but the brussel sprouts and the roasted dates really stood out to me. Simple but packed with flavor. I am kind of tired today but yesterday was my exciting first day in the culinary world. I am working this Saturday so more updates to come.

AOC
8022 W 3rd St
Los Angeles, CA 90048
www.aocwinebar.com

Farewell Brother and Hello South Pole!

Of all places you thought you would ever go to, does the South Pole ever come to mind? I didn't even know there were people down there! Well now one of those people will be my brother for a few months. He is going down there to do some scientific research stuff. Stuff at the other extreme of delicious food.

So what better way to send him off to the freezing temperature and 24-hour sunny snowland than a dinner party with friends? Since feeding sixteen people a sit-down meal may be a bit difficult for one dining and one coffee table, I opted for a night of small bites.


To start off...

French cheese plate of Salers, Roquefort, and ___ (undecided).
Warm Picholine Olives & Almonds

Sun-dried Tomato Polenta Squares with Mushroom Ragu

Croque Monsieur

Rosemary-Dijon Lamb Chops with Pistou

Chocolate Truffles
Brownies

*All to be eaten with clean phalanges and a small plate.

The lovely guests will be contributing a bottle of wine for the festivities. {I hope no merlot or chardonnay!} I on the other hand am supplying a few bubblies, Cristalino Cava, and few reds.

Well the craziness began yesterday after food shopping at both Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, as usual. I candied some pecans for the cheese plate. Ehh, it turned out alright. I know, I know, it's just candying nuts and I could I mess that up. Maybe I will do them over again. But then who's gonna eat the first batch?

I also made the mushroom ragu and sun-dried polenta with Giada Laurentiis's recipe tweeked a bit. My mom said the mushroom ragu was good but I don't think it was mind-blowing or anything. The polenta was just okay too. I think I will make a second batch tonight, adding more salt and herbs. I think a touch of pecorino after assembly may do the trick. I also added a few drizzles of white truffle oil to the mushroom ragu for delicious aroma and depth of flavor.

Last minute I decided to make dessert too, the chocolate truffles. The brownies I will buy, thank god. Why did I decide to drive myself crazy and make the dessert too? I don't know. I may add another dish too. Running out of food will be a nightmare and maybe even a riot!

I hope everything turns out okay. I am looking forward to the end of tomorrow night, when hopefully people will be inebriated and full with delicious food, and when I will be able to knock back a few and relax. Until Monday that is when it will start all over for a family Thanksgiving dinner of eighteeen.

The Stupidest Person on FoodTV

Sandra Lee, hands down, no competition, period. When I turn on FoodTV and I get a minute's glimpse of this moron babbling off about how "cool and easy" her food is my blood starts to boil. She really gets on my nerves, ten times more than hyperactive loony Rachael Ray.

The food she cooks is digusting. Her table setup is horribly tacky and super matching so everything blends with each other. Even her clothes match sometimes. She goes out of her way to be "semi-homemade" when she can make something homemade and actually delicious for the same amount of time and money. The longest duration I've watched this show is about 3 minutes. She disgusts me.

I am glad to find that others are disgusted with Sandra Lee as I am and that the world is not coming to an end. People like her that promote bad food and bad cooking philosophy should be cast off onto an island and forced to eat only their food til death, which no doubt they will love with their bad taste.

The Doom of the 1st Roast Chicken

Last year for my family's annual Thanksgiving gathering, I was assigned to the duty of the turkey. I was not particularly happy about this assignment but everyone (the diligent ladies of the family to be exact and not the lazy men who play golf all day. minus my mom who plays golf with all the men. traitor!)does as they're told. Now, cooking up a whole bird, especially one that's huge, sounds like a very unattractive proposition unless the dish in question is sam-gye-tang (Korean chicken), which uses little cornish hens. Well thank god I wasn't required to make a homemade turkey. I ordered a roast turkey from Gelson's and called it a day.

But I finally came to grips with the fact that I will need to roast a whole bird sometime because: a)who doesn't make roast chicken!; b) I want to be a well-rounded cook; and c) because it's frickin delicious silly. When I came to that realization and faced my fear of roasting a whole bird, that's when things began to go wrong like a mysterious horror film.

The naked bird...
I am facing the naked bird. A whole carcass to be exact. This makes me feel a lil bit uneasy because I am forced to face the connection between my food and its former animal life. It's not same as the deconstructed pieces of food that are nicely packaged into "thighs" or "breasts," far removed from our minds as Clucky, the cute chicken. I get over it and rub it down with olive oil, season it with salt and pepper, and fill its cavity with lemon, herbs, celery and onion.

The roasting pan...
I ordered a roasting pan from amazon. I awaited the package anxiously and when it was delivered I opened it with a gusto of a five-year old birthday girl opening her most ginormous gift. It was beautiful as I expected it to be, gleaming and shiny without a nick to disturb its smooth stainless steel essence. If anything delicious was going to be made in this beauty it was going to be a roast chicken.

Now the adventures...
After seasoning the chicken, I trussed it, placed it in the middle of the roasting pan, surrouding it with a crowd of garlic cloves, onion and lemon wedges, and herbs. In it went. Being the completely impatient cook that I am, I had to try really hard not to open the oven door to peek, lest all the heat escape into the night. But unable to see through the window on the oven door (due to the fact that it had never been cleaned before) I could not see a damn thing! So I did it. I peeked.

Oh, it was beautiful. The skin was browning nicely and the aroma of the roasting chicken and veges filled the kitchen. I closed the door quickly and excitedly waited for the timer to go "beep beep beep." I was a proud little yoony, hearing no doomed soundtrack from a horror flick.

"Beep beep beep!" Carefully grabbing the mighty roasting pan, I took out the golden chicken and let it rest on top of the stove, after poking the breast of the chicken to see how crispy the skin was.

Finally after about 10 minutes I grabbed a knife to start carving. I placed the sharp knife along the breast bone and began to push down to cut off the hopefully juicy piece of white meat. However, the knife did not cut through the meat and no steaming juice dripped from the cut. Now the skin that once looked golden and crispy was not so. What the hell was going on?!(insert doomed music here).

I continued to carve the rest of the meat off the chicken, making sure to neatly cut off the wings and legs, the best parts imo. I was very disappointed at my first Roast Chicken. What had gone wrong? Was this fate's cruel joke at my attempt to avoid roasting poultry for 24 years? Was I sabatoged?

Nope, no cruel joke and no sabatoge. Silly me, I roasted the chicken upside down! No wonder I couldn't carve any meat off. The mistake also contributed to the uneven browning of the chicken. At that point my disappointed turned into a less disappointed laughter. I had also forgotten to season the cavity. Arg! Next time I will conquer you upside-down-bland-chicken! Next time...



But I did make a delicious side to go with my supposed-to-be-delicious roast chicken, a Chorizo Stuffing. My saving grace of the night.

The Smell of Autumn & Winter

When I was wee and skipping through the streets of Yesan, South Korea, when the leaves were turning color and the cool breeze would begin to pick up, the streets were filled with the smell of autumn, and winter for that matter. The smell of delicious warm food.

Vendors would sell hot buns filled with meat and vegetables, charcoal-grilled flattened pieces of dried cuttlefish, and last but not least, roasted chestnuts. The smell of roasting chestnuts... so warm, nutty, and just downright comfy. That memory has only been recently relived (I haven't eaten roasted chestnuts since I was a small little thing) when I passed by a vendor in Little Tokyo and caught a whiff of that familiar but distant aroma.

I walked over with my eyes fixed on these little gems, much smaller than most chestnuts I had ever seen. I grabbed a sample and slowly opened up the cracked outer shell and popped it into my mouth. Its sweetness being outrageously reverse-proportioned to its smallness, my mind screamed "so good!"


So here it is folks, a simple pleasure of exiting summer and plunging into autumn.

Gift-Giving Through Food

My friend Linda is finally catching up in age with me with her late October birthday. Instead of getting her a gift this year I decided to invite her over for lunch. Have you ever gotten a gift you appreciated but never put to use? Or something that sits on your shelf or drawer and you forget you even have it for years? But food, everyone loves food. Especially when you take the time to make everything at home for that special person. Sure you can take them out to a restaurant but home is more comfortable and also you can indulge a bit more.



I made Goat Cheese Tart (Barefoot Contessa) to start off. There was a lot of butter, cream and cheese involved in this rich recipe. However, the tart did not taste heavy at all. The tanginess of the goat cheese and the cream balanced each other out. Originally I didn't plan on making the dough (bc I suck at doughs) but I couldn't find any folded up pie dough at stupid Ralph's and I didn't feel like making a separate trip to Dupar's at the Farmer's Market. I definitely need practice and a huge silpat I can work on. Wow, I made dough.



I served the Goat Cheese Tart with some baby greens with dijon dressing (dijon, red wine vinegar, olive oil, black pepper and salt). Then we moved onto the Butternut Squash Soup which I cheated a lil bit and bought from Trader Joe's. But I made my own croutons with some La Brea Bakery baguette, pasta seasoning, herbs de provence, black pepper, salt & olive oil. I sprinkled some chiffonaded basil but next time I will dollop the soup with some pistou.



And of equal importance, what beverage did we drink to round out this girls' luncheon affair? A bottle of Basa Rueda Blanco from the D.O. Rueda region in Spain. So good! It went perfectly with the Goat Cheese Tart and the Butternut Squash Soup. Another great value wine at only $8-$10! Check out a review here bc as you know my wine descriptive skills are rudimentary. We drank the whole bottle without a blink so let that speak for itself.

Bounty of Pomegranate

From our family friends in Merced... two big beautiful bagfuls.

Sunday Walk to the Larchmont Farmer's Market

I absolutely hate going to the gym. But I still have a membership. Bleh. I hate that, the thought that "I might want to go sometime so I'll keep paying $36 a month." I'm trying to ween myself off that and integrate more walking into my daily doings. Like parking as far as I can from my department door, or always taking the stairs when I am home and the past weekend, walking to the Larchmont Farmer's Market.

Larchmont Village is super close to my place. The Farmer's Market is 1.1 miles to be exact. I got my ipod all ready, *click*Pavement *click*HOLD. Got my flippy flops on and headed off for a healthy Sunday walk. On my way I saw the evidence of the fall coming in, or at least as much evidence LA can show (i.e. the pathetically changing leaves above).



The Larchmont Village Farmer's Market has a lot more non-food items than the Santa Monica one, such as orchids, handmade soaps, bath salts and jewelery. But the produce definitely is not as good. The market is held between 10 and 2, which means by the time I went (1:45... I procrastinate), the veges and fruits have been exposed to the fairly warm heat during the prime sun hours.



I got a small bag of lettuce which looked a bit wilted but I thought it would do well in the fridge with a damp paper towel. The vendor was kind enough to give it to me for free with a simple "Enjoy!" It was very nice of him but I did not indeed enjoy my wilted salad the next day. I did get my first batch of corn for this and last season and it was delicious steamed, cut off the cob & eaten with a knob of butter.



Gourmet Tamales' pork tamale (that was all they had left) was soo frickin good. I'm not a big tamale eater bc most time I think it's bland and needs a bucket of hot sauce. This one was so full of flavor, large enough to fill me up for lunch and the pork super moist.

But my failed buy was the very small 1/2 ciabatta from Rockenwagner. It was $2! I should have just walked away when the man told me the crazy ass price for a small chunk of bread. But my unwillingness to make a separate trip for bread got the best of me. I got ripped off bc the bread wasn't even as good the Il Fornaio ones at Trader Joe's. =P

Total spending=$6

The Gourmet Tamale Factory
119 N Maclay Ave
San Fernando, CA 91340
818.837.3524

Childhood Mortar & Pestle

My friend C gave me this (my first) adorable mortar & pestle. When she was wee with the wee mortar & pestle, she helped her mom smash up cumin seeds. Now I use it to smash up coriander seeds.

{Thanks C. I feel very special} ;)

Slow Food LA: A Taste of Jerez (Sherry)

A bit on the Slow Food organization...
Founded by Carlo Petrini in Italy in 1986, Slow Food is an international association that promotes food and wine culture, but also defends food and agricultural biodiversity worldwide.

It opposes the standardisation of taste, defends the need for consumer information, protects cultural identities tied to food and gastronomic traditions, safeguards foods and cultivation and processing techniques inherited from tradition and defend domestic and wild animal and vegetable species.

Slow Food LA, a local chapter of Slow Food U.S.A., organizes and holds events in and around LA that promotes their philosophy of enjoying and appreciating quality food and wine. A Taste of Jerez (Sherry): The Styles and Traditions of a Neglected Classic Wine, my first Slow Food event, was held at the beautiful Grace restaurant.

Not only was the event thoroughly enjoyable but motivating to hear dedicated individuals speak about the Slow Food philosophy, which I want to integrate more into my life. I was the youngest attendee at 24 years with most attendees being around 40-60 years.

There was one obnoxious lady who was acting like a middle school girl, making oinking noises! Wtf? I didn't appreciate her juvenile behavior but understood why she would do such a tasteless thing. Prosciutto, duck prosciutto, lomo, Spanish almonds, baked figs and 8 different cheese to go with the 8 different sherries.

I don't think I've ever had sherry before this tasting. Sherry has always been a mystery to me. I use sherry vinegar sometimes but what the hell is sherry? Sherry is a fortified wine from the Jerez de la Frontera region of Spain. I read somewhere that back in the days sweet sherry was the proper ladies' drink. Seems very misunderstood considering that sherry is a big part of Spain's culinary culture. I won't try to transfer any of my messy notes onto this post. I don't want to confuse anyone with my super limited knowledge of sherry.

Here are the sherry and cheese pairings (cheese is from Beverly Hills Cheese Store):

Manzanilla
San Pantaleo (Italy, Goat)

Fino
"La Tradicion Manchego" (Spain, Sheep)
I enjoyed the Fino very much, considering that it was the lightest sherry there. My palate is definitely not trained for the intense fortified flavor.

20 yr Amontillado
Mandarine Provolone (Italy, Cow)

30yr Oloroso
Salers (France, Cow)
This was my favorite cheese that I tried. All I was thinking was "oh my fricking god"-- amazing. It was soft, creamy, nutty and tangy. At this point I was in heaven.

Amontillado
San Jorge (Portugal, Sheep)

Oloroso
Parmagiano "Vaca Rosso" (Italy, Cow)

Cream
Le Vieux Berger Roquefort (France, Sheep)
The sherries progressed from lightest to richest, with appropriate cheeses to match. The Cream and the Roquefort went so well together. The pairing was pretty amazing. The tang of the blue cheese complemented the creaminess of the sherry very well.

Pedro Ximenez
Le Delice de Bourgogne (France, Cow)
The Pedro Ximenez was very rich and dark and pretty much opaque even when I held my glass up to the light. The texture was syrupy and clung to my tongue. It was delicious. With the triple creme Le Delice de Bourgogne the pairing really blew my mind. This combinations made the most commotion with a lot of "mmm"s and "amazing"s.


My Saturday afternoon was well spent I believe, tasting interesting sherries, eating delicious cheese, wrapping figs with prosciutto, and learning something new in a beautiful setting.

Slow Food
Slow Food LA

Grace Restaurant
7360 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323.934.4400

Curried Eggplant and Chickpeas

My first attempt at an Indian dish was completed without a specific recipe and just a few spices and ingredients out of my pantry. The beautiful Indian eggplants I got last weekend was finally put to use before their last hurrah into their decline. I sauteed 1/2 onion and 2 garlic cloves with curry powder, cumin and bashed up coriander seeds (no ginger). I added the diced eggplant and sauteed them for few minutes then added the chickpeas. I added about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of vegetable stock at this point to simmer the ingredients together a lil bit. The eggplant was particularly tough when I was cutting it so I wanted to make sure it absorbed some water and cooked down somewhat. I didn't have any cilantro so I added a stalk of green onion.

Too lazy to make basmati rice, I packed my lunch with white rice. The eggplants were still tough! My mom said their toughness is a result of my leaving them out of the fridge (bc they dry out). Is this correct? I dunno. The skin was so resistant to my knife, I just thought the type of eggplant was to blame. Anyhow, the chickpeas were delicious. With the addition of a few shakes of Congo hot sauce, I nearly put my mouth on fire. Yay.

Surfas: Chef's Paradise

LA streets pretty much go north, south, east and west. Until you get on National Blvd. National has to be my least favorite street bc I get lost on this non-conforming road everytime I exit off it from the 10W. Many trips to Surfas, a restaurant supply store, has ended up with a tour of Culver City which ends with a call to Boy to look up the map on the web. Now if I was smart I would have seen that on their website it tells you to exit off Robertson from the 10W. Durr.

Anyhow I love Surfas. I wouldn't even mind a weekly trip there, although I don't know if I'll be able to keep my wallet closed. I like to walk down the aisles and pick up all sorts of pans, feeling the weight of each one. Carefully look at imported bottles of spices, olive oil, mustard and other gourmet goods. There's an eyeful there. I can spend a whole afternoon there just eye-shopping and making a mental wish list.

Surfas, a family-owned operation, had its humble beginning in 1937 out of an abandoned LA garage. But since then Surfas has become an important source for culinary professionals. They carry commercial equipment, cookware, tools and etc. A few years ago they opened their doors to the public. Lucky us!



It's a place you definitely have to check out. So many great products. Well it's where restaurants shop so it better be good. Once I made the mistake of looking for a food processor there. Of course it was for commercial use and cost over $700! Whoa. But pans, pots and non-commercial items are at good prices. They also sell a lot of white (restauranty) tableware.

Here is my last Surfas loot:


I love the patented Microplane graters. They work so well but you gotta be careful not to nick your finger and fingernails. HP sauce is so good on many things, especially "chips." Also on a soft roll sandwich with bread fish fillet (the frozen kind - I like Whole Foods one), arugula, red onion and mayo - homemade fast food.

I'm not much of a sweets person but I'm down for chocolate anytime. The Vosges' Oaxaca Bar is a Tanzanie bittersweet chocolate with pasilla and guajillo chilies. The chilies hit your tastebuds once the chocolate melts a little bit. It's a good combination with the bittersweet chocolate. At $5 a bar, I had to limit myself to just one. Their website is filled with all sorts of tantalizing chocolate products. It's kind of hard to look at all of em knowing I can only have a few. After all, they are Haut Chocolat.

8825 National Blvd (between Venice and Washington)
Culver City, CA 90232
310.559.4770
www.surfasonline.com

www.vosgeschocolate.com

Mitsuwa Treats: Natural Yeast Bread

I absolutely love going to Japanese markets bc everything is so clean and perfectly stacked. I don't know why I'm so obsessed with perfectly neat things bc I was so messy growing up. I used to get in trouble all the time by my mom to whom I would say "then don't look into my room!" Well, these days I've grown up a little and also lived in really ghetto, dirty apartments with super dirty, messy people. I've mostly reformed thanks to my disgust at other people's dirtiness.

Anyhow, everyone knows how cutely and perfectly adorable all the Japanese crackers, candies, cookies and special breads are packaged. I am a total whore for that. I rarely ever buy any of those things (except for baguettes and whole wheat stuff) but when I goto Mitsuwa or Nijiya I get excited and grab an assortment of stuff. Only to play process of elimination and put most of it back very slowly after deep contemplation.

Last week I had an extended lunch and took off to Mitsuwa to eat and kill some time. After finishing a bento box of Donkatsu for only $4.99, I began to peruse the aisles for anything that might fancy me. That's when I saw the "Natural Yeast Bread". I saw the perfectly shaped fluffy pillow of bread before I even read the super unsexy name. The Chocolate flavor with thin, dark brown lines cutting parallel through it was my first choice. Then the Melon. Melon? Yip, I didn't even know melon was a flavor of bread!

Both were as I expected, fluffy with a refined texture and not too sweet. The very slight presence of the chocolate added just enough sweetness and flavor but the bread still remained the star. The melon was interesting and so much better than I thought it would be. Sweet melon flavor and also a slight melon color in the bread. It didn't taste artificial or too fruity. It seemed as though the chocolate and melon flavors were there just to make you reminisce about that last time you had a good chocolate or bit into a sweet, juicy honeydew. Definitely going back for more of these next time.

A Few Minutes Walk...Marouch

Boy lives only a 2-minute walk from Marouch but we always seem to forget about it when contemplating lunch or dinner destinations. After more than a year of living next to this Lebanese (Armenian & Middle Eastern) restaurant, we walked over there the past weekend expecting very delicious food which I've read many others rave about.



And it was soo good! We got Baba Ghanouge (Mtabal) and Kabab Combination (Lamb, Beef and Chicken) to share for a light dinner before heading out for the night. The nice smokey baba ghanouge and the pita bread went down pretty quickly. We are very susceptible to such addicting appetizer items and cannot stop our hands from reaching for "one more."

From the Kabab Combination I liked the lamb the best. The beef seemed a little dry but the whole dish was great. Stuffing little pockets of pita with bits of meat, rice, onion, yogurt and tahini was... mmmmm. Couldn't stop that either.

And to wash all this down we got a glass of Jallab (raisin & grape juice, honey, rose water, served with pine nuts and raisan). The rosewater really came through and it was refreshing to drink between each stuffed pocket. Although I do not like raisins and pine nuts, they did not impede the pleasure of the other ingredients. I see myself frequenting Marouch a lot more now that they got me hooked.

4905 Santa Monica Blvd
323.662.9325
Marouch

Pantry Raid: Trader Joe's Jalapeno Blue Cornbread Mix

It's much easier to eat healthy when I can afford to go produce shopping at few times a week at Whole Foods. Instead I'm eating whatever I have, which are eggs, rice, freezables and other storable/stored items. This budget crisis has thwarted my get skinny plan, which was already in decline anyways. Don't get me wrong, the food has been delicious and mostly unprocessed, but I miss the freedom of shopping. Like finding a type of cheese I want to try, a bottle of chilled white that would be so refreshing after dinner tonight and delicious impulse items. But I've realized that so many delicious things are very inexpensive to make and that I can really cut down on my unnecessary expenses and save some money.

But for today I am still satisfied because Trader Joe's Jalapeno Blue Cornbread has turned out delicious. The only ingredient I bought was the mix. I used soy milk bc that's what I had at home, 1 egg and some vegetable oil. I was a lil worried bc the mix called for whole milk but it came out great. The jalapenos really come through so you get a nice spiciness with each bite. I baked them in a muffin pan instead of a rectangular baking dish. Much cuter and mobile this way. Love the blue corn color with the browned bits.

I will serve them for a Hollywood Bowl dinner tonight with mango chutney and parmagiano chunks. Boy is responsible for red wine... $0 for me. Yay.

Total cost of non-pantry items=$3 [dinner for two].

Pantry Raid: Curry-Flavored Potato Croquettes

I recently got my car repaired for a whopping two and a half paychecks worth of a bill. So in order to budget I will be eating out of my pantry with the additions of a few affordable groceries. I usually spend around $200-$250 a month on groceries for myself even though living at home. I am trying to cute down to about $150 for this month. And of course my mom buys the Korean food so I will be taking a greater part in eating that. So the first Pantry Raid entree is Curry-Flavored Potato Croquettes.

The only thing I bought for this dish was the potatoes which cost $1.50. For the meat I used my mom's Kirkland Canned Chicken. I was so grossed out when my mom first bought these (which she doesn't cook with anyways) but in the croquette it works fine. The recipe said that canned tuna or salmon will work well too, so why not canned chicken. To go with the croquettes I made cabbage salad with thousand island dressing. The cabbage cost $1.60 and I only used a fourth of it, so 40 cents to be exact. The Boy made some jasmine rice so $0 for me. :)

The croquettes turned out okay. I used regular bread crumbs because I didn't have any panko and shallow fried it bc, well deep-frying uses so much oil. The thought of having to clean, drain or store a large amount of oil seems like too much of a hassle. They look a little bit burned but they tasted fine but panko would definitely be an improvement.

Total cost of non-pantry items=$2.00 [dinner for 2 and bento lunch for 2].

Town and Country {cafe.bakery}

Few months ago I called in to see if Town and Country had any gift certificates available, which they didn't. When I stopped by an hour later the chef immediately got on top of things and made one by hand for me. Although it was a piece of paper xeroxed with their heading and value written by hand, I thought it was very sweet of her to take time to make their very first gift certificate by my request. She was very flattered that I would want to refer my friend to her bakery. While I was waiting I was given refreshing ice water (it was a very hot hot day) and soo delicious crunchy-around-the-edges-but-soft-in-the-middle chocolate chip cookies. Good customer service is very rare so I highly appreciate their efforts to accomodate.



I initially thought that Town and Country was a bread bakery. Although I couldn't get a crusty baguette on my first trip there, I left with a box full of goodies. The Cream Puffs were divine and I love getting an ooze of the cold cream center. I finished two of these before I even left the parking lot.

I tried the Coconut Banana Lime bread upon one of the staff's recommendation and I'm glad I did. The cake was moist and dense from the bananas but lightened by specks of coconut and citrusy lime. Paired with a cold glass of whole milk, this made a delicious snack. The Bran Muffin had a great toasted flavor and served as a perfect breakfast item the next morning.

So four out of four (including the free chocolate chip cookies) plus awesome service... pretty good I think. I need to go back soon for the Cream Puffs especially. They also serve variety of sandwiches, salads and casual food items perfect for dine-in at their cute location or take-out for a comfortable meal at home.

3823 West Sunset Blvd
Silverlake
323.667.3331

Farmer's Market Goodies for Oct. 1

It's been a while since I've shopped at the Santa Monica Farmer's Market but Saturday I was diligent and got myself over there around 11. The area was already bustling and busy with drivers and pedestrians and parking as usual at that time took a few loops around the block. It was a beautiful foggy day when I first got there but quickly cleared up within 30 minutes and the sun began to shine through.

I have to be pretty frugal for the next month and a half due to a huge expense item so I tried hard to stick to my list of buys which consisted of potatoes, cabbage and tomato. From the left, I got Russian Butterball Potatoes, Ox Heart Tomato, Indian Eggplant and Pineapple Guava. I couldn't resist the eggplants because they were so beautiful and the pineapple guava intriguing and delicious.

What will I make? First, Curry Potato Croquettes and Cabbage Salad... coming soon.

Din Tai Fung... Finally

shrimp & pork shiaomai

I finally went to Din Tai Fung which has been on my "To Eat" list for so long. Arcadia is pretty far from Mid-Wilshire LA and admittedly I do not get up early enough on the weekends to try to get the earlier, shorter than 1 hour wait that is a common characteristic of the dumpling house. But today I did. Set my alarm at 10 and tried very hard to avoid my "five more minutes...five more minutes" habit that frequently causes my late departure for work. I just kept telling myself "dumplings, get up, dumplings."

Sleepy, hungry and hot, we endured the 40 minute wait with a few iced green teas from next door. As soon as we were seated a metal steamer was plopped on our table full of Juicy Pork Dumplings. Little, bite-sized parcels filled with delicious, moist pork filling. The wait was definitely worth it. I got so busy with those bundles, dipping them in soy sauce and vinegar with ginger, I forgot to take any pictures til the end of the meal.

Next came the Juicy Pork/Crab Dumplings. This was my favorite. Simply delicious. I liked the additional layer of flavor from the crab and thought it went very well with the pork. The Shrimp & Pork Shiaomai were delicious but I thought the shrimp on top of the bundle were little bit overcooked. I liked the presentation however with the pink shrimps on top of a flowering mouth.


Sour & Spicy Soup

By the time we were seated (around 1230) they were already out of the Pork Buns and Small Dumplings with Soup. :( Next time I must wake up even earlier. I read somewhere that the dumplings in soup were delicious. The Sour and Spicy Soup was just okay. It wasn't as sour as I usually have it and it definitely was not spicy. The Shanghai Rice Cake was delicious. The oval shape of the rice cakes is exactly like sliced Korean rice cakes. It was stir-fried with a soy sauce mixture and some greens.

We left very satisfied. I guess now it's time to try the few other top dumpling places and compare, right?

1108 S Baldwin Ave
Arcadia, CA 91007
626.574.7068
Din Tai Fung USA