Memorial Day Eats

I'm not usually one for holidays, and Memorial Day is more of a day of remembrance, but yesterday I felt like I needed to join in the spirit of relaxing, eating good food, and welcoming the summer. 

I decided that going to the movies and eating would fulfill my needs, so after an expensive matinee of The Hangover 2, I got my grub on.  In addition to the usual suspects- hot dogs (Hebrew National) and chips (Kettle salt & pepper) I was inspired to make the two latest dishes from Smitten Kitchen, one of my very favorite food blogs.  She always seems to know just what to eat at the exact right moment of the year and her recipes for potato salad and strawberry summer cake sounded incredibly amazing.  And they were!

The potato salad was delish, more frenchy style with green beans and asparagus and a mustard vinaigrette, but the real star was the cake.  YUM. You need to make it immediately.  It was buttery and vanilla-y and jammy. The top is golden and crunchy and if you add whipped cream, you will be in cake heaven.  I imagine you could use any fruit in it and I plan on making many variations over the summer.  I think I found my new go-to dessert for when company comes over!

I hope you all had a lovely and relaxing day too.

The Burning House, Super Girly Edition

Have you guys been reading The Burning House where people have to pick possessions as if their home was burning down?

I've been obsessed with it and thought it would be fun to make a super stylized one, as if I had hours to pick through my belongings and was in no immediate danger.  Obviously, my real list would go something like- cat, phone, handbag- but this one represents my super girly stylish side!

(clockwise from top left)

1.  Complete collection of Domino Magazine.

2.  My RGB, Butter London, & Chanel nail polishes.

3.  The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford, one of my fav girly reads.

4.  New ring from H&M, which I've been wearing every day.

5.  The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy, another fav girly read.

6.  My signature scent- Parfum Sacre.

7.  Signature lipstick- Strawberry Suede by Revlon, sadly discontinued.

8.  Ritz & Saltine cracker necklaces.

9.  The Secret Life of The Lonely Doll by Jean Nathan, a book I wish I had written.

10.  D.V. by Diana Vreeland, my favorite book of all time.

The Salmon Of Capistrano

Photos from my recent visit to the Mission San Juan Capistrano.

Carmela Ice Cream

I stopped by Carmela Ice Cream in Pasadena after reading about it on all the blogs. 

It did not disappoint.  The chocolate sorbet with cocoa nibs (pictured above) was so chocolaty that I felt like I was eating brownie batter, in a good way.

Also tried the salted caramel and it was by far the best I have ever had.  Strawberry buttermilk was the tops.  Carmela Ice Cream- 2495 E Washington Blvd. Pasadena, CA

Ultimate Happiness

My monthly ritual, the new Vogue and a packet of peanut M&M's.

What could be better than sugar and fashion?

Tulip Mystery, Solved!

Yellow!

I'm happy because it matches the vase. 

Tulip Mystery

I picked out this bunch of green tulips at the store. 

What color do you think will they be?

Sunday Pattern

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these chocolate chip cookies from a recipe by David Lebovitz from his cookbook, Ready for Dessert, and they were the best I have ever had!  There are a few things that I think make this cookie really amazing.

• You chop up chocolate bars instead of using chocolate chips, which gives you these huge bits of chocolate in your cookie and is really marvelous.
• Use toasted pecans instead of walnuts.
• After making the cookies, you roll the dough into logs, then wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours.
• Then you cut the dough into 3/4" disks, which allows it to cook very evenly, and not be burnt on the bottom and raw on the top.

This recipe makes what seems like a million cookies.  I like to keep the dough in the fridge and then you can cut off a few and bake them fresh whenever you feel like a treat.  You have to try these, I will never make chocolate chip cookies the old fashioned way ever again! 

Thanks David.

Day 18 Drawing Challenge- Doodle

Whenever I aimlessly doodle, I always seem to draw these diamond and square and round things that I fill in with their own shape.  What do you doodle?

Day 17 Drawing Challenge- Favorite Plant

Today was favorite plant.  Right now I am loving the Jacaranda trees that bloom in the spring here in LA.  They are gorgeous.  Sort of like a cherry tree but larger and a lovely light violet color.  They are all over the city and every time I see them they make me so happy!

Tomorrow is "draw a doodle".  I can definitely do that.

Molten Chocolate Cakes

Martha's recipe of course.

I've been cooking these for years and they are the easiest, tastiest, most crowd pleasing dessert I know.  I realize that the "molten chocolate cake" is sort of 1980's, but I have never heard one person complain when this is set in front of them.  They lap it up and ask for more!  

Also, this dessert is impossible to mess up.  It's too easy to make, and even works when you mix it by hand and not with an electric mixer.  I always serve it with something dairy like, whipped cream is a favorite or ice cream is also amazing.  It's so rich it needs something to cut through all that melted chocolate.  Make it now!



Beach Bonfire Barbecue

First of all, let me just apologize for being so quiet on here lately.  It turns out that when you work a lot, you don't have time to do fun and creative things to write about on your blog.  My new theory is that if none of us ever had to work, we would have a world overrun by creativity and fun.  There are so many things I want to do but that pesky job is always getting in the way!

I did have the opportunity to do one awesome thing over the weekend, and that was my first official Beach Bonfire Barbecue here in LA.  I met some friends at Dockweiler Beach (it's right in between Playa Del Ray and El Segundo) where they had staked out a fire pit.  The weather wasn't ideal but it didn't rain, thank goodness.  We cooked hot dogs & smores, and drank some smuggled in tequila (don't tell!)  and generally had a grand time.  I highly recommend it!

Sneak Peek

I've been working on some small cross stitch patterns. 

I'm interested in seeing how much detail I can get into a tiny space.

What's For Dinner?

(image via simply recipes)

Thomas Keller's Roast Chicken

Several things-

1.  I've never roasted a chicken before.  I get kind of squeamish about handling raw meat and with a chicken you have to take the innards out and rub oil on it and so forth.  They are so easy to buy at the deli counter I just never bothered before. 

2.  I didn't truss my chicken.  I didn't have any twine in my kitchen.  Bad cook!  And I only used fingerling potatoes, carrots and shallots for the vegetable part of the dish. 

3.  By the time I got off work, brought the chicken to room temp, cut up veggies, cooked the dish and let it rest it was so late and I was so hungry I forgot to take any pictures so I got the one above off Simply Recipes.  But it looked very similar to my chicken and I did use a cast iron pan (my favorite pan in the whole world, I use it for everything). 

4.  This chicken was fantastic!  It was so juicy and delicious, and the fat coated vegetables tasted amazing.   I have officially been converted into a person who roast chickens! 

5.  You should probably make this.  I got everything I needed at Trader Joe's (except that pesky twine) and I have lots of leftovers for lunch and dinner tomorrow.  In spite of how people seem to think this is an exacting recipe, I thought it came together quite easily.  Just maybe make it on a day off so you don't have to eat at 10:30 at night!

Day 8- Favorite Animated Character

Oops.  I wasn't really paying attention here.  I realize now that the challenge stated "favorite animated character" but between the time I read that and actually sat down to draw, my brain had changed it into "favorite comic book character".  I think I had an attack of low blood sugar.  It's probably for the best though because I don't really like animated movies that much, I don't know who I would draw. 

When I was a kid I read the Dick Tracy comics which are unbelievably violent and entertaining and they certainly left an impression.  You should definitely read them, they will blow your mind.  I couldn't decide which was my favorite villain so I chose 88 Keys, a murderous piano player. 
Tomorrow is favorite TV show!  Yay!

Day 7 Drawing Challenge- Favorite Word

This challenge is funny because it makes you pick a bunch of your "favorite things" which is something I was adamant about as a kid, but don't really care about anymore.  I kind of like every color now, and tons of foods and lots of words.  Anyway, this is one of my favorite ones.  Couture.

PS- Sorry about skipping a couple of days there.  I'm thinking maybe I could go back at the end of the month and do the ones I missed.  I'd really like to do all 30!

What's For Dinner?

YUM.  Sliced spring salad with avocado and feta.

It seems like every time I write about a salad on here, I proclaim it the best salad ever.  I guess I'm just surprised that salad can be so tasty or something, I don't really know.  Anyway, this salad is from Molly Wizenberg's excellent memoir/cookbook, A Homemade Life.  It's one of the first recipes I made from the book and the uniqueness and tastiness of the salad really cemented for me that every recipe from the book was going to be something to write home about.  Or blog about, for that matter.  So far, everything I make from this book is a huge winner.  The rum cream pie with pistachios and chocolate has become such a favorite with my crowd that it's now attributed to me instead of the original author (sorry Molly!) and the ratatouille and bouchons au thon make frequent appearances in my kitchen. 

This salad is perfect for any time of year but I especially enjoy it in the summer months when it's too hot to cook and you want something fresh and cold and crunchy to eat.  One last thing:  this recipe is perfectly balanced.  Please don't try to leave one thing out or substitute something else.  I want you to try it exactly how it is meant to be, it's really something. 

Get the recipe here. 

Umami Burger

Surely you've heard the hype about Umami Burger.  I have been dying to go forever and last night was finally the time.  We went to the Los Feliz location and I ordered the classic Umami burger, which consists of a perfectly medium rare incredibly juicy beef patty with grilled mushrooms, roasted tomato slice, parmesan crisp, housemade ketchup, and caramelized onions.  I really want to go back tonight and try the carnitas burger.  And then again tomorrow night to try every single other burger they have! There has to be something to this whole umami thing because I am seriously craving another delicious burger as I write this.  I also tried the shoestring fries with garlic aioli (perfection) and the strawberry ice cream sandwich (made by Milk) which tasted bright and fresh and utilized macaroons for the sandwich part!  Service was excellent and the waiter recommended the perfect draft beer pairing for my burger.  All in all, I think you should probably get yourself there immediately.

Bouquet

This week's bouquet.
More ranunculus but deep red this time.  Reminiscent of roses, but not half as predictable.

Day 4 Drawing Challenge- Favorite Place

Day 4 was favorite place, and I chose the Getty Museum here in Los Angeles.  I don't know if it is my very favorite place in the world, but I certainly love going there and I think it's perfectly designed and it always makes me very happy and inspired.  So there you go.

I'm not 100% pleased with how it turned out but I certainly like it better than the ice cream I drew yesterday!  I noticed that I have been doing super light pencil strokes and I think I need to be more bold and not afraid of putting the pencil on paper.  It's erasable so what am I so afraid of?  Tomorrow is "draw your best friend" and I am going to get all crazy!  Just you wait.

Day 3 Drawing Challenge- Favorite Food

You guys, I hate it so much I didn't want to post it.  Yuck, yuck, yuck.

Do you see how I can't draw inanimate objects?  One of the things I hope to do during this challenge is to cultivate a drawing style for these kind of objects that is simple & clean.  I think I may need some help with learning how to do that.  Perhaps a little research is in order.

Tomorrow is "favorite place".  I'll have to think about that for a while.

Mint Ice Cream

Hey y'all! I want you to make this mint ice cream!  It's made with real mint leaves, from a recipe by the dessert genius David Lebovitz.  Because you aren't using artificial mint flavoring, it has the most amazing leafy herbaceous flavor that isn't quite like anything you've probably tried before in the world of mint.  Lebovitz has you incorporate chocolate bits in his recipe but I like to leave it plain (my absolute favorite is serving it with these) and just thoroughly enjoy the bright flavor.

Day 2 Drawing Challenge- Favorite Animal

Today was favorite animal day.  The best animals are cats but I drew my very own dear Strudel because there is no cuter cat in the whole wide world!  She looks kind of angry in this but she is a little unfriendly so maybe she always looks that way and I just never noticed before?  Crazy cats.  Stay tuned for tomorrow- it's favorite food day!

Oranges and Peaches

My favorite nail polishes for Summer 2011

Rimmel Sunset Orange

Chanel Orange Fizz

Essie E-nuf is E-nuf

Revlon Demure

Day 1 Drawing Challenge- A Picture Of Myself

Day one is already freaking me out!

Being a perfectionist Virgo I was upset that I couldn't draw the portrait exactly how I wanted it.

Being a lazy human with a lot of errands to run I stopped caring after a while. 

I haven't drawn in such a long time so I am hoping that my skills will improve day after day in this challenge.  Tomorrow is "favorite animal" so that will be fun, my kitty Strudel will be posing for me!

Have a great one y'all! 

drawdrawdraw

  

Remember when I decided to do that 30 Day Drawing Challenge?  Well it starts today.
Day 1 is "A Picture of Myself". 
I have to work all day and then attend a birthday bbq so hopefully I can squeeze in some time tonight to sketch away.  If all goes well, I will post my first drawing tomorrow!  Have a great Sunday!