80's dessert

My dessert last night at the new Elements Restaurant in Pasadena was this fantastic 80's explosion. The splatter of colors was awesome! Passion fruit panna cotta and a berry sorbet with a sprinkling of edible flowers, red stemmed microgreens, pink foam and hot pink broken meringues type things. My photo is not that good because I did not want to disturb the romance with a sudden flash, but just imagine. The rest of the meal was equally gorgeous as it was delicious and amazing - an amuse with pink noodles and a little heart shaped piece of tofu, this gorgeous red borscht soup which they should definitely add to the menu (!), and the a perfectly cooked sea bass with a red sofrito. Best Valentines Day meal I've had and clearly the chefs are having a really good time.

rainy morning breakfast

it's been raining for 4 days straight here in LA. kinda unheard of these last drought filled years. love it. a big hearty meal to last me the day.

pizzas!

I've never been into cooking, but we've been cooking a lot lately *. Tried out pizza recipes from Jean Kelley's beautiful cookbook Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes the other night - tomato, fresh mozzarella, and basil; mushroom, chives and added truffle oil; brie, prosciutto, and arugula - delicious and so much fun. It's a great book for a beginner cook like myself who is familiar with flavors, but had no idea how to get them! I've been having ah-ha moments with flavor, having tasted them at restaurants and then all of a sudden creating them at home. Also made her seriously perfect chocolate chip cookies, which has made me very popular :) and butternut squash soup.

dinner at jon's

dinner at jon's...

breakfast at Elements

Polenta, poached egg, and prosciutto breakfast at Elements Cafe - my kind of meal!! They'll be opening a restaurant and bar in the plaza of the Pasadena Playhouse a block away from our Laemmle Theater very soon. Perfect date night. Purple glass sidewalk jewels around the corner of the cafe.

Rivera

Some tapas we "experienced" on Friday night at Rivera - a large mild pepper soaked in vinegar filled with buratta cheese stenciled with fun-ny graphics using paprika(?); the leg of jamón ibérico de bellota sitting in front of me at all night, apparently, it came from a black haired pig that spent its last year of life roaming a forest eating only grass and acorns, therefore giving it it's nutty flavor, a certain authenticity comes with seeing the actual black hoof and bit of the hair left around it, the chef told us that keeping the hoof will become illegal in time... hmmm; and buttery homemade tortillas with embedded herbs.

Palate on Sundays

After little bit of necessary shopping, we stopped by Palate's back wine shop Wine Merchant and found a a lively luscious bunch savoring octopus (yes more octopus!) and garbanzo bean stew over cod topped with garlic aioli and drinking fabulous wines. Ooo-la-la. Huge contrast from the gray clouds outside this weekend. We witnessed chef and owner Octavio Becerra spinning music on his turntables and met French Provence winemaker Magali Combard-Couvignon. She explained that for them, it is the vintification process of Provence that sets wines apar. Her three wines were paired brilliantly with the Sunday stew. My favorite was the Vieilles Vignes made of 75% rolle and 25% semillion varietals - light, minerally, stone fruits. Perfect Sunday surprise.

girly nightcap

such a girly nightcap - little pink owl beer in a little vintage glass with a little orange bonsai tree on a little pink tray with a pear. who does these kind of things!? jk.

Blue Corn Tamales

Tamales are soooo good - very comfort food. I want learn how to make tamales with Midori one day. Picked up these pretty blue corn tamales from Hollywood Farmers Market this morning. Also got frozen black bean tamales for the lunch this week. Will note the name of the vendor next week.

Update: Corn Maiden

starch based filler

Today I received my Muji drawers in this starch based, compostable filler instead of styrofoam. Yay, less guilt from ordering something that needed padding. Included was an insert about it - "it's non toxic, static free, and when exposed to hot water, the material disperses readily, and may be rinsed down the drain only if local regulations permit." They looked cheese puffs and because it's made of starch, they smelled like it too. Almost felt like taking a nibble...

more Yuka Candy

I have been a helper in Yuka's kitchen with her organic candies this holiday. Not only have I been tasting everythig, I've been learning a thing or two about baking and being in the kitchen - lucky me, I think! These are the fruits of our labor - semi sweet chocolate truffles, buttery cashew brittle, dark chocolate truffles, toffee, pecan squares (my favorite!!!) and shortbread cookies. I have been cutting the pecan sqaures into quarters and savoring each bite with a cup of tea. Working together is so telling about how particular/perfectionists we each are about every detail including re-forming the shortbreads when they melt out in the middle of cooking! Each piece is seriously handcrafted - sometimes not time friendly, but definitely resulting in perfect product. One client of mine expects these candies every year!

Pie Raiser

We inhaled Edith Abeyta's homemade apple pie for dessert tonight. She's "baking for art." I especially love her ceramic pieces. This is one of a pair of plates I bought from her Pie-Raiser booth at the holiday sale.

solar baked goodies

Sun Browned Brownies and Oatmeal Raisun Cookies from my new home made solar oven. I'm totally addicted to solar baking now!! Cookies called for an hour of sun, but my second and third batch worked better with an hour and a half. Brownies also called for an hour, but I did three.

So much to say about the solar ovens! Here is the one I made and cooked from basking in the sun. I seriously only used 2 cardboard boxes, tin foil, newspaper, glue, packing tape, and a turkey oven bag. The cookies I brought to Saturday's party at Adam's were a hit. Will post more about the oven soon...

blue eggs

Gorgeous (and real!) blue eggs from local author Jeanne Kelly at the Little Flower Candy Company. She wrote Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes: Recipes from a Modern Kitchen Garden. Found out that each chicken lays the same colored eggs, so these are from 5 different chickens!

The Sustainable Kitchen

Been attending excellent sustainability workshops by Creative Green that will continue through the fall. This past Saturday was The Sustainable Kitchen. The first part was talking about each person's relationship to food. What had we eaten in the last 24 hours and what did it mean? I happened to carelessly stuff pieces of tofu in my mouth using my fingers half sitting in my chair while trying to explain something to my mom with my mouth full. This boiled down to lack of mindful eating often resulting in over-eating. On the flip side, I had also got off the freeway to get a carrot juice even though I knew it would mean getting stuck in traffic because I felt myself coming down with a cold. It was in this case that I slowed down and listened to what my body needed.

The second part was about food, our kitchen set ups, and ways to be sustainable throughout our busy urban lives. Talked about organic on a budget - what foods we really should buy organic and which ones don't need to be. In general, thick skins mean more protection from pesticides. Just some of the other things discussed were safe pots, the microwave, plastic, food storage, and even solar ovens.... On my immediate list - slowly changing out my teflon pans to stainless steel or iron and starting a small herb garden.

I've been greening for the last year or so, but it seems that I'm still far behind! I like that Deborah, the teacher who happened to live as monk for 7 years, always says to leave all judgment at the door. There is no room for feeling bad. She recommends keeping a green acknowledgment list to focus on the things we have done!

Menu planning is also key to a sustainable kitchen - we must accept that no matter what, this requires extra time. This morning, we went to farmer's market, came home, made a fresh from the market lunch, used last week's tired veggies for vegetable stock, and then prepped washed and stored all the produce for easy access. So far, this will be our plan every Sunday and we will do our best keep it! Above is the photo of the veggie stock in crock pot. May be a little too many onions, but I hope to use it to make carrot ginger soup this week.

Butternut Squash Soup

My first butternut squash soup :) (recipe here). If I could learn to cook one new thing a week, even if it's a new topping on a salad, it's progress! With our soup we had bread, avocado spread on top with bacon, and a glass of white wine. I had a few bits of bacon. Yum!

PS. My camera is in the shop again, so I've been using my husband's iPhone - not bad for a night shot!

collapsible chopsticks

I finally found them - collapsible chopsticks! They unscrew midway down the chopstick and fit in a little container. I can pass on the container, but really cool idea! My friend had been telling me that they are all the rage in Japan. These are from Rafu Bussan in J town. They were about $8.

Let's Be Frank

Let's Be Frank - the best and best looking hot dog truck in town serving grass fed beef and family farmed pork!