Lasagna made with zucchini from my mom's garden instead of noodles. Also features spinach, as well as homegrown peppers, basil, and parsley
After
Cheeeeeese
More after the jump!
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Eating My Way Through Blacksburg
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Barbecue with the New Roomies
For those of you who don't know, I moved recently. Like a whole six blocks. Somehow still a lot of work. Anyhow, my new roommates decided we should have a party, and I'm really never going to say no. As luck would have it (and as I mentioned in my previous entry), I got a pretty sweet haul from a show I was working the other night, including several heirloom tomatoes, 2 fennel bulbs, 1/3 of a box of olive oil, a couple lemons, a big ol' clamshell of micro greens, a bunch of organic kale, a pint of grape tomatoes, a pint of raspberries, a quart of blueberries, several dozen beautiful macarons handmade by the lovely Christine Manke, and enough stone fruit to sate an army of the most voracious fruit bats.
My contributions to the party were as follows: sliced heirloom tomatoes with thyme; kale salad with citrus, fennel, grape tomatoes, avocado, and cilantro pepita dressing; Manke macarons; and mint juleps (which have nothing to do with the aforementioned awesomeness. Items I actually purchased for all this? Thyme, 2 oranges, mint, and bourbon. Some stuff I just had in the house already. Like homemade cilantro pesto.
Really wish I had a close-up of the kale salad. Alas. I thinned out some cilantro pepita pesto I made recently with lemon juice and olive oil, and tossed the kale with that. Then I added shaved fennel, grape tomatoes, orange slices, and avocado. It was delish. And so pretty. You can see it at about 10 o'clock in this photo.
Here's a nice porn-y pic of my 'maters.
Somehow I forgot that I also made little single serving fruit pies. Not sure how that slipped my mind. They were kind of a pain in the ass. Oh, I know why. I didn't take any pictures. I'm so old and senile now that I only remember things if I photograph them. Or maybe I'm like the guy in Memento.
I made a couple dozen: raspberry; blueberry; mixed peach, plum, apricot, nectarine. I had a hell of a time with the crust though. I'm not sure what the problem was, but I suspect it was the butter. I followed a recipe. A recipe I had just used the other night, no less! The only thing wrong when I used it before was that it was perhaps too tough, too strong. My first batch this time just wouldn't hold together at all. Now I would blame the almond flour (I subbed in a little for the GF all-purpose), but my second batch, where I followed the recipe to the letter, was not much better. Anybody know anything about making pie crust with Plugra butter? Thank goodness it's "when all the berries and stone fruit are ripe and cheap" season, so the fruit was sweet and delicious enough to make up for the shortcomings of the crust. Because really, all I did was put fruit in the pie shells and bake 'em. No sugar, no lemon juice, no nothin'.
And now for something completely different:
Here's a series of my attempts to take a selfie with a baby eating crackers.
My contributions to the party were as follows: sliced heirloom tomatoes with thyme; kale salad with citrus, fennel, grape tomatoes, avocado, and cilantro pepita dressing; Manke macarons; and mint juleps (which have nothing to do with the aforementioned awesomeness. Items I actually purchased for all this? Thyme, 2 oranges, mint, and bourbon. Some stuff I just had in the house already. Like homemade cilantro pesto.
Really wish I had a close-up of the kale salad. Alas. I thinned out some cilantro pepita pesto I made recently with lemon juice and olive oil, and tossed the kale with that. Then I added shaved fennel, grape tomatoes, orange slices, and avocado. It was delish. And so pretty. You can see it at about 10 o'clock in this photo.
Here's a nice porn-y pic of my 'maters.
Somehow I forgot that I also made little single serving fruit pies. Not sure how that slipped my mind. They were kind of a pain in the ass. Oh, I know why. I didn't take any pictures. I'm so old and senile now that I only remember things if I photograph them. Or maybe I'm like the guy in Memento.
I made a couple dozen: raspberry; blueberry; mixed peach, plum, apricot, nectarine. I had a hell of a time with the crust though. I'm not sure what the problem was, but I suspect it was the butter. I followed a recipe. A recipe I had just used the other night, no less! The only thing wrong when I used it before was that it was perhaps too tough, too strong. My first batch this time just wouldn't hold together at all. Now I would blame the almond flour (I subbed in a little for the GF all-purpose), but my second batch, where I followed the recipe to the letter, was not much better. Anybody know anything about making pie crust with Plugra butter? Thank goodness it's "when all the berries and stone fruit are ripe and cheap" season, so the fruit was sweet and delicious enough to make up for the shortcomings of the crust. Because really, all I did was put fruit in the pie shells and bake 'em. No sugar, no lemon juice, no nothin'.
And now for something completely different:
Here's a series of my attempts to take a selfie with a baby eating crackers.
This lil' guy is Greyson. He's my buddy. He belongs to these nice people:
That's my Jam!
It's the return of the blog. No fanfare necessary. I was working on a movie about a chef, and I had the good fortune to come home with what we nice Southern girls call a f*@kload of fruit. So I made a metric ton of jam. Footnote: For the film, I also got to work in the kitchen of Hatfields with Roy Choi. NBD. We had to clear out a walk-in fridge worth of food at the end of the night, so I took home as much as I could realistically use. This included several heirloom tomatoes, 2 fennel bulbs, 1/3 of a box of olive oil, a couple lemons, a big ol' clamshell of micro greens, a bunch of organic kale, a pint of grape tomatoes, several dozen beautiful macarons handmade by the lovely Christine Manke, a quart of blueberries, and more stone fruit than you can shake a stick at. Even hosting a barbecue, I was hard-pressed to use all this stuff. But I do love a challenge. Let's talk jam.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Thanksgiven
I was going to stay home in LA this Thanksgiving, but I got a wild hair to fly to VA and surprise everyone. Turns out no one was really that surprised, but I'm glad I did it anyway. My trip there was relatively painless. I seemed to bypass all the madness of traveling the day before Thanksgiving, and the rest of the trip was ever so relaxing. I didn't even mind so much that it was bloody freezing outside.
Thanksgiving with my parents means Etaturk, a gathering dating back to my mother's days at Elon College, when the students in the liberal arts forum got together to eat and drink and carry on in a sort of high brow low brow fashion. The Etaturk group and ritual has fluctuated and evolved over the years, but it still involves eating at midnight on Wednesday and dressing up in costumes. You may recall from my previous post how much I love Halloween. Well, I love it so much, I do it twice!
This was the lovely rental house we stayed in on a GORGEOUS Thanksgiving day.
Thanksgiving with my parents means Etaturk, a gathering dating back to my mother's days at Elon College, when the students in the liberal arts forum got together to eat and drink and carry on in a sort of high brow low brow fashion. The Etaturk group and ritual has fluctuated and evolved over the years, but it still involves eating at midnight on Wednesday and dressing up in costumes. You may recall from my previous post how much I love Halloween. Well, I love it so much, I do it twice!
Does this costume look familiar?
My sister with her roommate, Tierney
I love this photo. It looks like some bizarre 19th century French play
Mikey giving a traditional toast
Larry in a turkey coma. Not sure why he's got my wig.
My favorite thing about doing dinner Wednesday night is that Thursday, when everyone else is cooking and being busy, we just laze around and eat pie, cozy in the knowledge that we're loafing while people elsewhere are working hard.
The ceremonial Thanksgiving morning MFK eggs. The ceremonial pie has already been eaten.
Perfect.
Friday I was back to the grind a bit. I spent about 6 hours launching the fundraising campaign for my album from my laptop in the dining room. It was sort of grueling, but it really needed to get done. If you haven't heard about this already, check out our page: http://www.kapipal.com/thepictureandtheframe, and - no pressure - maybe give a little if you've got it.
So once the work was done, I got back to the serious business of having fun. Mom and I made dinner with some help from Haley and Sunil. The idea was to use up everything in the fridge before disbanding the next morning. I think we did pretty darn well. There was left-over split pea soup, more turkey, ham, and stuffing. Mom made a nice mess o' greens, and I made a what's-in-the-fridge soup that was out of this world. I was inspired to make something vichysoisse-esque with the leftover mashed potatoes and cauliflower, but that was just a jumping off point. I added leeks, turkey bacon, white wine, and a little buttermilk, and it was divine!
Mom makes greens next to my magical wonder-soup
Sweeties. I forgot to mention they made a souffle and some cornbread.
The Spread, aka, Larry Carves Another Turkey
Results!
Consequences.
I would be remiss if I did not mention a couple more things before I draw this to a close. We have a time-honored tradition at Etaturk of writing an illustrated verse about each year, in the voice of Etaturk himself, the turkey king. It is presented before dinner by the artist, Renny Johnson, and the bard, none other than Larry Bechtel (though Larry took up the mantle only a few years ago). Here is ETA XLV:
The other thing I thought important to acknowledge was the presence of our canine companions:
Lucky
Lilly
and Buddy, who lost his leg to a flock of angry geese.
Three cheers!
Sunday, October 7, 2012
A Little Jaunt to San Diego
I just got back from a weekend trip to San Diego, and man was it great. Lauren, a close friend of mine from William Paterson, is having a baby, and the shower was a Sunday brunch in San Diego, so Alex and I decided we might as well make a weekend of it. It was short, but lovely just the same.
We stopped at a gluten-free restaurant in Encinitas on the way down to get some cupcakes for the shower (and also a chicken pot pie, pizza margherita, cinnamon roll, coffee and tea for lunch). Really good stuff. In LA, gluten free baked goods tend to be vegan as well, so it was refreshing that 2Good2Be did not have that hang-up. That cinnamon roll was bangin'!
We arrived at Hotel Solamar at about 4, after a little snafu at the hotel next door. They had a sign that looked very similar! We checked in, made ourselves comfortable, then changed into our evening attire. We enjoyed the complimentary wine service in the lobby. Pretty decent Torrontes. Our dinner reservations weren't until 9:30, so we changed into our bathing suits and got drinks by the pool.
We stopped at a gluten-free restaurant in Encinitas on the way down to get some cupcakes for the shower (and also a chicken pot pie, pizza margherita, cinnamon roll, coffee and tea for lunch). Really good stuff. In LA, gluten free baked goods tend to be vegan as well, so it was refreshing that 2Good2Be did not have that hang-up. That cinnamon roll was bangin'!
We arrived at Hotel Solamar at about 4, after a little snafu at the hotel next door. They had a sign that looked very similar! We checked in, made ourselves comfortable, then changed into our evening attire. We enjoyed the complimentary wine service in the lobby. Pretty decent Torrontes. Our dinner reservations weren't until 9:30, so we changed into our bathing suits and got drinks by the pool.
We had a little swim in the heated pool, then another costume change, back into evening attire, and walked to dinner.
Monday, August 27, 2012
I Know How to Pack it In
So much for a week off. It looks like I'll be working Tuesday through Friday this week, but I think that's probably a good thing. I've really got to shake off this laziness. And, you know, make some money. I had a nice extra-long weekend though.
Wednesday I went to yoga for the first time in a couple weeks. It was a wee bit challenging, but it felt good. I did a volunteer shift at KCRW for their pledge drive in the afternoon. It was fun. The phones weren't super-busy, but it was nice to be there and meet other KCRW members. And there were delicious macaroons!
Thursday I got together with Helene. She picked me up from the auto shop where I was getting my oil changed, and we went for a nice long lunch at Figaro in Los Feliz. I got the spinach and salmon salad, which was good, but the lemongrass dressing makes it look as though it's full of boar bristles. Not the most appealing visual. Helene got the steak tartare, which was delish! We talked about music and fundraising, and film and fundraising. We were going to go to a movie at Los Feliz 3, but the service was quite slow at the restaurant so we decided, rather than hurry, we'd just get dessert instead. So we ate a light, fluffy piece of cheesecake and some chocolate mousse, and discussed why a mutual acquaintance of ours sucks. I was a little overstuffed by then. French food is a bit rich for me, but boy do they know dessert. We strolled around a bit, looking in the cute boutiques on Vermont, wishing we could afford to actually shop there. Then we browsed the shelves at Skylight Books, and I ended up walking away with Rick Steves' "Europe Through the Back Door," a travel guide that's going to help me plan my next adventure. So far, Rick's gotten me through the UK and Spain, and hasn't let me down.
Friday morning I got up early. I liked my first volunteer shift so much, I decided to do another. I toughed out the early wake-up so I could be in the studio when "Morning Becomes Eclectic" came on. No magical opportunity to talk to Anne Litt or Jason Bentley presented itself, unfortunately. Afterward, I trekked back to the East side, and went to another yoga class, this time with Tony himself. Great class, but I'm still sore. I went to see my little buddy Greyson, and my bigger buddy Jessie. We walked down to Wrap Express (which is way better than the name suggests) and got lunch. I had a veggie plate that included brown rice, grilled veg, hummus, and some kind of garlic sauce. I got them to give me corn tortillas, rather than pita. They had something I'd never seen before: rose hip juice. It tasted like a less-sweet version of tamarindo. I liked it. Greyson made friends with a nice little boy named Nicolas, but then he got all cranky, so we had to hurry back to the house to feed the voracious little beast. Jessie got him down for a nap eventually, so we had a few minutes of undistracted time to have a grown up chat. Jessie's such a good mom. It's definitely not easy.
After leaving Jessie's, I went to a place I fear over all others: the mall. Alex wants a bathrobe for his birthday, so I'm trying to find him a nice one. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate the mall? The whole place smells of the most cloying perfume. As soon as you get away from the smell, someone walks by wearing the wretched stuff. You can't escape it! At least it wasn't crowded, but I didn't find what I was looking for either.
I met up with April, her sister Allie, and Maree at Dtox spa in Atwater Village for their monthly happy hour. It was pretty cool. I got a great stress relief massage (the perfect solution to mall stress), and there was lots of free wine and snacks. The DJ wasn't so good, but oh well. After we'd all had our treatments, we went next door to Bigfoot Lodge, but we were all pretty tired, and April had to get married the next day.
Saturday was a big day. I got up early again, and Alex took me, ehem, the long way to First Entertainment Credit Union to open a savings account. He's ever so proud of himself. We tried a new place for breakfast - Modern Eats on Rowena. It was alright. Nothing out of the ordinary. The Picture and the Frame had a short but strong practice. Rickett hooked up his old guitar amp as a vocal monitor for me, and it sounded pretty rad with the reverb turned up.
I went to my voice lesson, then jetted out to Simi Valley for April and Loren's wedding. It was really really nice. They were very low-key about the whole thing. They really just wanted to have a party, but I thought they had a good balance of sentiment and light-heartedness. The bride wore apple green, which I loved! And interesting delicious (virgin) shrub cocktails were mixed up by Wunderbar.
Sunday morning we got up early and drove to Santa Barbara to cash in a wine tasting voucher I got from Travelzoo a while ago. It was for Rideau Vineyard, which had a semi-obnoxious New Orleans theme, but really solid wines. I legitimately liked all 5 or 6 wines we tried, even the whites. Our guide was an older Irishman named Shay, who is basically Alex in 40 years. They were pretty much wearing the same outfit. He gave us a little tour of the vineyard and told us about the varietals they grow there (all Rhone), and the grafting of European varietals onto wild American root stock that saved wine grapes worldwide from extinction. Really! A bug that attacks grapevine roots devastated vineyards across Europe, but wild grapes from Arkansas were resistant to it. So even the finest of French wine grapes have American roots. Go USA. Way to be good for something.
This was my favorite part of the trip:
Ponies! Little teeny fat ponies!
AND little teeny mini donkeys!
After the tasting we went into the charming little town of Los Olivos for a late lunch. A little too late for me. I was already cranky. We had gazpacho at a charming place that used to be a hardware store, and still retains the name.
We were still hungry, so we went down the block to Los Olivos Cafe for a second course. I was rather set on that place since I went there in 2008 with Nik and Nate on the way back from Outside Lands in San Francisco. It's not quite as swell when you can't eat gluten, but the tapenade was fab.
It took forever to get back to LA, but on balance it was still worth it for a beautiful day in the California countryside with my honey.
Wednesday I went to yoga for the first time in a couple weeks. It was a wee bit challenging, but it felt good. I did a volunteer shift at KCRW for their pledge drive in the afternoon. It was fun. The phones weren't super-busy, but it was nice to be there and meet other KCRW members. And there were delicious macaroons!
Thursday I got together with Helene. She picked me up from the auto shop where I was getting my oil changed, and we went for a nice long lunch at Figaro in Los Feliz. I got the spinach and salmon salad, which was good, but the lemongrass dressing makes it look as though it's full of boar bristles. Not the most appealing visual. Helene got the steak tartare, which was delish! We talked about music and fundraising, and film and fundraising. We were going to go to a movie at Los Feliz 3, but the service was quite slow at the restaurant so we decided, rather than hurry, we'd just get dessert instead. So we ate a light, fluffy piece of cheesecake and some chocolate mousse, and discussed why a mutual acquaintance of ours sucks. I was a little overstuffed by then. French food is a bit rich for me, but boy do they know dessert. We strolled around a bit, looking in the cute boutiques on Vermont, wishing we could afford to actually shop there. Then we browsed the shelves at Skylight Books, and I ended up walking away with Rick Steves' "Europe Through the Back Door," a travel guide that's going to help me plan my next adventure. So far, Rick's gotten me through the UK and Spain, and hasn't let me down.
Friday morning I got up early. I liked my first volunteer shift so much, I decided to do another. I toughed out the early wake-up so I could be in the studio when "Morning Becomes Eclectic" came on. No magical opportunity to talk to Anne Litt or Jason Bentley presented itself, unfortunately. Afterward, I trekked back to the East side, and went to another yoga class, this time with Tony himself. Great class, but I'm still sore. I went to see my little buddy Greyson, and my bigger buddy Jessie. We walked down to Wrap Express (which is way better than the name suggests) and got lunch. I had a veggie plate that included brown rice, grilled veg, hummus, and some kind of garlic sauce. I got them to give me corn tortillas, rather than pita. They had something I'd never seen before: rose hip juice. It tasted like a less-sweet version of tamarindo. I liked it. Greyson made friends with a nice little boy named Nicolas, but then he got all cranky, so we had to hurry back to the house to feed the voracious little beast. Jessie got him down for a nap eventually, so we had a few minutes of undistracted time to have a grown up chat. Jessie's such a good mom. It's definitely not easy.
After leaving Jessie's, I went to a place I fear over all others: the mall. Alex wants a bathrobe for his birthday, so I'm trying to find him a nice one. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate the mall? The whole place smells of the most cloying perfume. As soon as you get away from the smell, someone walks by wearing the wretched stuff. You can't escape it! At least it wasn't crowded, but I didn't find what I was looking for either.
I met up with April, her sister Allie, and Maree at Dtox spa in Atwater Village for their monthly happy hour. It was pretty cool. I got a great stress relief massage (the perfect solution to mall stress), and there was lots of free wine and snacks. The DJ wasn't so good, but oh well. After we'd all had our treatments, we went next door to Bigfoot Lodge, but we were all pretty tired, and April had to get married the next day.
Saturday was a big day. I got up early again, and Alex took me, ehem, the long way to First Entertainment Credit Union to open a savings account. He's ever so proud of himself. We tried a new place for breakfast - Modern Eats on Rowena. It was alright. Nothing out of the ordinary. The Picture and the Frame had a short but strong practice. Rickett hooked up his old guitar amp as a vocal monitor for me, and it sounded pretty rad with the reverb turned up.
I went to my voice lesson, then jetted out to Simi Valley for April and Loren's wedding. It was really really nice. They were very low-key about the whole thing. They really just wanted to have a party, but I thought they had a good balance of sentiment and light-heartedness. The bride wore apple green, which I loved! And interesting delicious (virgin) shrub cocktails were mixed up by Wunderbar.
Sunday morning we got up early and drove to Santa Barbara to cash in a wine tasting voucher I got from Travelzoo a while ago. It was for Rideau Vineyard, which had a semi-obnoxious New Orleans theme, but really solid wines. I legitimately liked all 5 or 6 wines we tried, even the whites. Our guide was an older Irishman named Shay, who is basically Alex in 40 years. They were pretty much wearing the same outfit. He gave us a little tour of the vineyard and told us about the varietals they grow there (all Rhone), and the grafting of European varietals onto wild American root stock that saved wine grapes worldwide from extinction. Really! A bug that attacks grapevine roots devastated vineyards across Europe, but wild grapes from Arkansas were resistant to it. So even the finest of French wine grapes have American roots. Go USA. Way to be good for something.
This was my favorite part of the trip:
Ponies! Little teeny fat ponies!
AND little teeny mini donkeys!
After the tasting we went into the charming little town of Los Olivos for a late lunch. A little too late for me. I was already cranky. We had gazpacho at a charming place that used to be a hardware store, and still retains the name.
Those are garlic blossoms, by the way. No bigs.
We were still hungry, so we went down the block to Los Olivos Cafe for a second course. I was rather set on that place since I went there in 2008 with Nik and Nate on the way back from Outside Lands in San Francisco. It's not quite as swell when you can't eat gluten, but the tapenade was fab.
It took forever to get back to LA, but on balance it was still worth it for a beautiful day in the California countryside with my honey.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Funemployment is Over
Yesterday was my last day of funemployment. I can't believe it! So much I planned to do that will have to wait til my next bout. I've been packing it in these last few days, by which I mean eating and taking lots of naps. I'm ready to work though, no question. Somewhere around a month ago I passed the point where I was getting things done in meaningful way. Inertia starts to set in when you don't have to be anywhere at a particular time. I'm looking forward to some structure! Remind me of that in a few weeks when I start complaining about work, will you?
I plan to continue the blog, although I may change the name to more accurately reflect the alteration of my situation. Any clever suggestions?
Wednesday was all about preparation. So many tasks I've been putting off... but first I met up with Helene in Larchmont for a cuppa and a chat. Then I ran an errand for Alex that included stopping by Paramount to see him. I brought him some cobbler, 'cause I'm awesome.
It's amazing how much you get done when you know your time is limited. I did 4 loads of laundry, washed the dishes, watered the plants, read the script, washed my car, made my lunch for the next day, and even had time to watch the last (available) episode of "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency."
I got up at 5 am today. I haven't done that in a while! It's such a blissfully easy drive to Universal from my place. A girl could really get used to this. Everybody on the show seems very nice, and I like the other folks in my department. Things were a little squirrelly today, but didn't seem so bad to me. Of course, this was my first day on a multi-cam show ever, so I have no frame of reference. There's a lighting guy on the show that I've worked with on a number of things, but other than that, it's all new faces. I had a nice surprise at the end of the day: I ran into Rick, an effects guy at "Raising Hope," by the Backlot Cafe. Yet another person I miss from "Hope."
I had some ideas about doing something social this evening, but decided it was too hot, so I made frozen yogurt instead. These peaches are just off the hook! I blanched a couple of them, blended them up with a couple dollops of Greek yogurt, a squirt of agave syrup, and the last splash of sage vodka, and stuck it in the ice cream maker. Heaven!
Core temperature lowered. Time to sleep.
I plan to continue the blog, although I may change the name to more accurately reflect the alteration of my situation. Any clever suggestions?
Wednesday was all about preparation. So many tasks I've been putting off... but first I met up with Helene in Larchmont for a cuppa and a chat. Then I ran an errand for Alex that included stopping by Paramount to see him. I brought him some cobbler, 'cause I'm awesome.
It's amazing how much you get done when you know your time is limited. I did 4 loads of laundry, washed the dishes, watered the plants, read the script, washed my car, made my lunch for the next day, and even had time to watch the last (available) episode of "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency."
I got up at 5 am today. I haven't done that in a while! It's such a blissfully easy drive to Universal from my place. A girl could really get used to this. Everybody on the show seems very nice, and I like the other folks in my department. Things were a little squirrelly today, but didn't seem so bad to me. Of course, this was my first day on a multi-cam show ever, so I have no frame of reference. There's a lighting guy on the show that I've worked with on a number of things, but other than that, it's all new faces. I had a nice surprise at the end of the day: I ran into Rick, an effects guy at "Raising Hope," by the Backlot Cafe. Yet another person I miss from "Hope."
I had some ideas about doing something social this evening, but decided it was too hot, so I made frozen yogurt instead. These peaches are just off the hook! I blanched a couple of them, blended them up with a couple dollops of Greek yogurt, a squirt of agave syrup, and the last splash of sage vodka, and stuck it in the ice cream maker. Heaven!
Core temperature lowered. Time to sleep.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
8/4/12-8/7/12 - Closing in on it
With the end of my funemployment fast approaching, I've been trying to fit in as much fun as possible. Sometimes it's just really hard, you know (sniff), when there's so much great stuff to do. Saturday, I planned to go to the I Shot Rock'n'Roll event at the Annenberg Space for Photography to see Raphael Saadiq and Band of Skulls. Well that was a total bust. I drove all the way over to Century City and waited in a huge line of cars for 15 minutes, only to be told when I was almost to the front of the line that the event was full. I get it, it's a free concert, but it was RSVP only, not to mention two hours before the event even started. Maybe don't take so many RSVPs. What's the point of an RSVP in that situation? I was one of probably a thousand or more people that got turned away (that were already there). This is the downside of all the cool stuff to do in LA: squillions of other people want to do it too. You have to show up hours before it begins, effectively dedicating a full day to your evening plans. I get really frustrated with that.
Rant aside, I was actually not too hideously bummed out. There was tons of other stuff going on that night. I called Alex to let him know what was going on, since he was supposed to meet me at the Annenberg, but he didn't answer...and then I didn't hear from him for an hour and a half, and he didn't actually show up until about 8 pm. By this point, I was hideously bummed out. So much for all the other stuff we could have done.
We ended up, after much chastising, going to Mo-Chica for a rather late dinner. I've been wanting to try that place for a while, especially after hearing the chef, Ricardo Zarate, talk at Evan Kleiman's panel at the library recently. I must say, it was a little hit or miss. The ceviche Carretillero was outstanding with big chunks of tangy seabass and a couple different kinds of corn. The causa de congrejo - a pretty little layered puck of mashed potatoes, avocado, and crab - tasted fine, but was rather uninteresting. Likewise, the papa a la Huancaina was beautifully presented, but ultimately sort of boring.
More about Mo-Chica and other exciting stuff after the jump.
Rant aside, I was actually not too hideously bummed out. There was tons of other stuff going on that night. I called Alex to let him know what was going on, since he was supposed to meet me at the Annenberg, but he didn't answer...and then I didn't hear from him for an hour and a half, and he didn't actually show up until about 8 pm. By this point, I was hideously bummed out. So much for all the other stuff we could have done.
We ended up, after much chastising, going to Mo-Chica for a rather late dinner. I've been wanting to try that place for a while, especially after hearing the chef, Ricardo Zarate, talk at Evan Kleiman's panel at the library recently. I must say, it was a little hit or miss. The ceviche Carretillero was outstanding with big chunks of tangy seabass and a couple different kinds of corn. The causa de congrejo - a pretty little layered puck of mashed potatoes, avocado, and crab - tasted fine, but was rather uninteresting. Likewise, the papa a la Huancaina was beautifully presented, but ultimately sort of boring.
More about Mo-Chica and other exciting stuff after the jump.
Monday, August 6, 2012
What I Did on My Summer Vacation Pt III
The big day dawns! My one responsibility for the birthday party of the century was to make a gluten-free blackberry cobbler for my grandmother (and myself). I made sure to get up early and get bakin'. Normally when I make stuff with fruit, I don't like to add sugar or lemon juice because I don't want to alter the taste, but these blackberries, while big and juicy, weren't winning any prizes for flavor. So I just followed the recipe. I can't remember where I found it, but it called for lemon juice and a vulgar amount of sugar. The thing that actually sold me on it was the lemon zest. I love lemon zest in pretty much anything. I replaced the flour and leavening with gluten-free baking mix and popped that thing in the oven. Cobbler is so much easier than pie! Now that I think of it, who coined the term "easy as pie?" Pie crust is a pain in the ass! Cobbler may not be as pretty, but it's way less work.
Not so bad lookin' for a cobbler. See more after the jump!
Thursday, August 2, 2012
7/30/12-8/1/12 - Hitting the Ground Running
There is no rest for the weary. My amazing trip to Virginia kinda wore me out. Monday I had to get up at 3:30 am to get to the airport. I managed to sleep some on the plane, and then a little more in the gate at O'Hare. Then guess what? My flight got delayed again! Not too bad this time. I was back in LA by 1 pm, and Rickett was kind enough to drop everything and come pick me up at the airport. We had some Thai food and caught up, and then I crashed the F out on my couch. I had Sunken Ships practice at 8:30, not to mention other things I needed to do - like shower - so I couldn't sleep for long. So sad. I really could have slept from 4pm on through the night. But we had a great practice! So it was worth the effort.
Alex came over after work, but I was so tired, I'm pretty sure I fell asleep immediately after his arrival.
Tuesday morning I had my on-camera interview for the cooking show. Did I not mention I got a call-back? I got a call-back. I think I did okay, but immediately after leaving the room I kept thinking of more interesting answers to the questions. Oh well. At least I picked a cute outfit.
I spent the rest of the day getting myself together. Grocery store, tidying up, etc. I played my guitar a bunch, and then I had to take another nap. I'm so jetlagged! More after the jump!
Alex came over after work, but I was so tired, I'm pretty sure I fell asleep immediately after his arrival.
Tuesday morning I had my on-camera interview for the cooking show. Did I not mention I got a call-back? I got a call-back. I think I did okay, but immediately after leaving the room I kept thinking of more interesting answers to the questions. Oh well. At least I picked a cute outfit.
I spent the rest of the day getting myself together. Grocery store, tidying up, etc. I played my guitar a bunch, and then I had to take another nap. I'm so jetlagged! More after the jump!
What I Did on My Summer Vacation Pt. II
When we were done eating, we took the kids across the street to play on Henderson Lawn, but we had to skedaddle in a hurry when a storm blew in. It was crazy, all of a sudden it was dark and there was all this debris blowing around. We hightailed it to the cars just in time. I'm really glad I wasn't still on the bike!
I had a late dinner at The Cellar with Catherine, which was thoroughly enjoyable. I get so excited about gluten-free pizza. Theirs wasn't the best I ever had, but it was good enough, and they ended up giving me an extra for free!
My Aunt Kathleen and her kids, Travis and Grace, showed up around 1 am, and we chatted briefly before everybody crashed. I hadn't seen any of them in a couple years, so it was great to have them there.
So much more Shawhan family fun after the jump!
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
7/23/12 - The Day Before Vacation
Things really came together in a good way. I'd been really wanting to see "The Dark Knight Rises" and to make peach gazpacho. When Helene messaged me to see if I wanted to see a movie and have a picnic in Barnsdall Park, all of a sudden I had a perfect opportunity to do both. It was kind of last minute, so I had to throw it together in a hurry, but I finally had some good ripe peaches, so I had a good feeling it would come out well. I looked at a few recipes for inspiration, but I definitely did my own thing. I would say I most closely followed this recipe,
http://expatriateskitchen.blogspot.com/2012/06/peach-gazpacho-and-ginger-peach-sorbet.html although it's hardly recognizable. I took a few peaches and blanched them to get the skins off.
Then I blended them with a couple of incredibly ripe heirloom tomatoes and a peeled cucumber. I added some raw garlic and onion, but I used very little since those things can be a bit powerful. I had so many jalapenos left over, I went ahead and threw one of them in. I also used a little bit of the dried ~nora pepper I got at La Espanola. The recipe called for balsamic vinegar. In the future, I think I'll use white balsamic, just because the dark stuff really affects the color in a not-so-nice way. After adding a left-over roasted red pepper and some ground almonds, I decided it was done. I garnished it with some avocado, and plated it up nice in a tupperware container to go.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
7/18/12 - Cherry Pie and a Hangover
I woke up with a hangover. Too much fun with April the night before. I grabbed a coconut water, a scone, and my laptop and got back into bed, until, ehem, 11:30-ish. I chatted with Becky for while, then I made myself some tea and cleaned the kitchen. I spent a good long time going through my little song journal, playing my guitar and singing in my hoarse end-of-cold voice, revisiting a bunch of songs I've been neglecting for a while. I write some good shit.
I had to do something to get "Hot Knife" out of my head. Seriously, I'm obsessed with that song. It really grows on you.
My travelogue of Spain is taking a little longer than expected. I have the book now. I printed out the photos from Madrid - this time editing more carefully - and weeded through the ones from Barcelona. Otherwise, this book is going to end up wedge-shaped.
I've had 3 pounds of cherries in the fridge, just waiting to be made into something wonderful. So I finally got around to making them into a pie.
A song I wrote in February. I was sad. Maybe you can tell.
I had to do something to get "Hot Knife" out of my head. Seriously, I'm obsessed with that song. It really grows on you.
My travelogue of Spain is taking a little longer than expected. I have the book now. I printed out the photos from Madrid - this time editing more carefully - and weeded through the ones from Barcelona. Otherwise, this book is going to end up wedge-shaped.
Just you wait. I haven't gotten out the ticket stubs and ephemera yet!
The lattice looks a little sad. I didn't have quite enough dough left, but I didn't let that stop me.
We had a Sunken Ships band meeting at 9 at Public House. It turned out to be trivia night, so perhaps not the quietest environment to talk business, but we are a band. We're kind of used to loud noises.
I was hoping Alex would be out of work by then so I could load him up with scones, but alas, more scones for me. There are worse things :)
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