|
SubscriptionsSites I Read
|
|
|
|
| Work-Filled WeekendKnowing that I would have to work all weekend, I left all my work documents in the office and met up with J for dinner at El Torito. I always get burned there when I try to go for something new and tasty sounding. Ultimately, I am meant to eat a Mexican Cesar Salad with a bowl of Tortilla Soup so this time, that is exactly what I ordered.
 
It also gave me a chance to compare Rutabegorz's version of the salad, which I had earlier that week, to the ubiquitous chain version. Of course, I like Ruta's and J liked El Torito's.
Then we finally visited Yogurtland and discovered the miracle of really cheap frozen yogurt. In line, I kept warning J how expensive it would be because you had to pay by the ounce. So we were modest with our portion. Then he pointed out someone sitting in the store with a giant container of the stuff loaded with all sorts of toppings and we laughed inside at his gluttony and the $10 he must have just spent. When it was our turn to weigh out our cup, our total was a mere $1.82. Whoops. And like the crazy Asian girl I am, I told J he could not throw away the cute, green plastic spoons because they were really cute. I also said this with regards to the plastic icecream dishes at Scoops and where are they? Sitting unused in his kitchen. In my defense, we spit cherry pits in them from time to time. This spoon is pink but ours were translucent green. So cute.
 
I came into the office on Saturday and did some much needed work. Then I high-tailed it out of there to head over to a Korean BBQ place in Rowland Heights for dinner. One look and we knew this would be a problem: homeless man sleeping in dumpster container, no individualized portions of banchan, not enough exhaust fans, tiny grills. Like, too tiny to comfortably cook the food for 5 simultaneously. But my kimchi and grilled meat cravings were satiated for the time being. Our grill was maybe the size of that in the photo. Look at those people. So foolishly smiling. They don't know their grill is too small. After dinner we watched Tropic Thunder (but only because Clone Wars was getting shittastic reviews). I won a million dollars in bets because I knew his name was Alpa Cino and not Alpha Cino. I TOLD YOU!
Then we went home and watched the Olympics, like I've been patriotically doing for the past week at the expense of my much-needed beauty sleep. Watched Jamaica win all the running medals; watched Michael Phelps win his bajillionth gold medal and wondered about the curse of the Vault that makes everyone land on their ass.
We slept in Sunday. There is nothing that 10 hours of sleep cannot cure! After grabbing a quick lunch at the nearby Vietnamese restaurant, I headed back to the office (again, sob.)
 
Soon enough, I got tired of the office and met up with J at his favorite Starbucks in all the world. The secret to this Starbucks is that it is relatively undiscovered with a bounty of free tables. I would say that only downside is the music selection. And one of the baristas is quite the fan of reggae and there is a patron who practically lives there and likes to talk to me. But other than that it is perfect. On our way home, we tried to find an Asian grocery store to buy some cheap chicken thighs. We got scared when we saw the Asian butcher smoking on the job so I went to Albertson's (It's your Store) instead. One hour later, oven baked chicken awaited us.
It was a productive weekend, albeit uninteresting. Come again!
| | |
| Light Soy Green Tea Latte, Unsweetened. Thanks.Seeing as I am from California and work in Orange County, my current obsession with vegetarian/vegan restaurants is fitting. There are two close to my office and today I dragged my coworker to one.
The restaurant structure is a round yurt. That propeller thing rotates like a fan. They give PETA stickers!
This was my Soy Amigo aka Mexican Taco Salad. I wonder if I would be upset if they later created a soba noodle dish called the Soy Ni Hao? It was soooo good I made my coworker take a forkful because I proclaimed it a "Fiesta In My Boca."
Yes, I'm a pig. In addition to lunch salad, I ordered Chili & Cornbread to-go for my dinner. It's really smart. You take out the meat in a chili, end up with normal bean chili, and suddenly it's VEGAN! Yes, I fell for it.
This is the Mad Cowboy, which proves if you cover anything in ranch and bbq dressing, it'll taste good.
But don't be fooled. When I'm not eating soy chicken & tempeh, I'm eating steak tartare. A yummy version, from Fraiche in Culver City for July 4th!
| | |
| My Recipe BoxEven though I do not cook much, I collect recipes. Deep down, I hope that I will have more time to cook, or that I will get better at cooking. So far, that has not yet happened. Nevertheless, as I read my food blogs, I will bookmark the recipes/dishes that catch my eye. This is only something I've been doing for about six months and today, I checked my bookmarks folder today and realized, I had a ton of recipes! Scanning over them, I started to laugh because I realized I had essentially bookmarked very similar recipes, but with slight variations.
1. Roast Chicken: J loves chicken and I've subconsciously collected every roast chicken recipe I've run cross: classic salt & pepper, lemon-scented, or herb rubbed. To be honest, the last time we tried to roast a chicken, the smoke detector went off every 5 minutes so we kept the front door open so I could fan the air. Then we ended up with a bucket load of chicken jus and oil that was a horrible mess to deal with .
2. Creamless Soup: I adore soup! I also love the concept of creamless vegetable soups that are made with chicken stock and pureed with an immersion blender. My favorite was Cafe Beaujolaim's Watercress soup. MMMM. If I get around to buying one, I will be able to make "cream" of mushroom, vege-split pea, and butternut squash all winter.
3. Butterless Baked Goods: Guilt prevents me from really being a good baker so I have a stockpile of desserts that don't require butter: cupcakes made with yogurt, fruit sorbets, meringues, angel food cakes, and banana coconut bars.
4. Asian Dishes: So it comes to light that asian cooking requires more than soysauce, hosin sauce, chili flakes, and sesame oil. When I run across a recipe that shows me how to make my favorites like mapo tofu and eggplant & pork with the real deal, I always save it. Because I would be a bad asian wifey if I couldn't eventually learn to make these. Ahem.
5. Pasta W. Mushrooms: Really. All pasta, but if it has mushrooms, I'm surely bookmarking it. I love pasta. I love mushrooms. My favorite sauce is sauteed mushrooms with shallots, seasoned with tarragon salt & pepper and thickened with chicken broth and sour cream. But if I see a recipe for mac & cheese variations, I always bookmark those too. Soooo predictable.
6. Salads with Mexicany/Lemony Dressings: It involves lemons and avocado, I'm in love already =)
This weekend, we were inspired by Bobby Flay's "Throwdown" where he made Arroz Con Pollo. It turned out really well! We're on the hunt for a better recipe than the one we got from tasteofcuba.com which involved 3/4 a can of Tecate (my choice, um); one that uses achiote seeds and saffron and not white wine.
You can all come to dinner some night when I host my first dinner party.
| | |
| How Sweet It Is...
I drop by my favorite bakery from time to time. Not as often as I'd like, considering it is around the corner from my weekend apt., but that's probably better for my waistline. I have my favorites (italian tea cakes, blueberry brioche, cranberry walnut tarts, most of their macarons) but always manage to try something new. This weekend, I tried another variety of tea cakes and a sampling of all the macarons they had available (sea salt caramel, chocolate ganache, and pistachio). I love the size, a solid four bites so they're fun to share! Surprise, suprise, I finally was able to convince J that those overpriced french cookies I pay for are actually deeelicious. This is his new favorite, the sea salt caramel:
| | |
| Cherry Pickin'J told me that when he was young, his family would go to cherry orchards and pick cherries from the trees. A year or so ago, I was enamored with the idea of apple pickin' but I never went. Cherry season is approaching so I'm going to plan a little day trip out to a cherry orchard and bring some back. They sell something like 12 varieties of the fruit and cherry blossom honey as well. Now I'm just waiting for the orchard to email me when the season starts! Can't wait!
| | |
|
