Good Eats

Whenever I go abroad (which is, admittedly, not often enough), one of my favorite things to do is nosh on the local cuisine. I've had some of the freshest, most incredible homemade pasta in Rome; the best gelato of my life in - of all places - Prague; and a seemingly simple goat cheese salad in Paris that looked fairly ordinary, but after taking a bite, absolutely blew my mind. Interestingly enough, the sentiment that is often conjured whenever I find myself lucky enough to travel around the world and *eat* (it might be my favorite thing to do ever, after reading) is that of appreciation. Because I can't help but feel that I eat pretty darn well in my regular life, right here in Santa Monica. With the ubiquity of great restaurants and world class farmers' markets, it's no wonder I'm living the good life when it comes to food, and for that I am eternally grateful. Here's a sampling of the delectable eats I've been enjoying of late. First up, the first bite of nectarine of the season.

And it was just as succulent and delicious as this image suggests.

Bolognese spaghetti with parmesan, served al dente, courtesy of Rustic Canyon, a fabulous local restaurant. The couple who run Rustic also have a great little brunch place that offers the most amazing, savory baked goods (the co-owner hails from Tartine, so she certainly knows what she's doing), as well as a pizza place and an always-crowded ice cream parlor. I swear they're taking over Santa Monica....not that I'm complaining!

Rustic's prime New York steak with caramelized turnips and hedgehog mushrooms. Mouthwateringly delicious.

Lastly, I couldn't possibly skip dessert (if I did, you can safely assume aliens are at work here on this blog). Cupcakes from SusieCakes, the best cupcakes on the planet. Bold statement? Definitely. But it's oh-so-true!  Above is a chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting; below, a white chocolate strawberry cupcake - seasonal and scrumptious!

Is anyone else hungry? Or is it just me?

Happy Earth Day!

T's been in the kitchen whipping up some freshly baked bread on this Earth Day. I love the idea of creating something healthy and delicious that's as easy on the environment (no pesticides) as it is on the old pocketbook (water, salt, yeast, and flour is all it takes). It's super simple to make, too. Very positive and life-affirming all around! 

Adventures in Pasta Making

The best birthday gifts are those that keep on giving long after your birthday has passed. My birthday was a few weeks ago, but I'm still enjoying the rewards of one such gift given to me by my boyfriend T: a gift certificate to attend local cooking classes. It was really a pretty clever idea of T's because he more than anyone (except perhaps yours truly) stands to reap the benefits of said gift. And ever since taking the introduction to pasta class a couple weeks ago, I've been on something of a pasta-making roll. It's actually way easier than I anticipated and quite fun to make! I've been experimenting with different types of flours and the different textures, and what I've thus far learned is that semolina can be very difficult to work with (it's a tougher grain, so isn't as malleable as, say, all-purpose flour....it's a learning process). With my new handy dandy rolling attachment that I have affixed to my apple green Kitchenaid mixer, I am now one lean, mean pasta-making machine. 

Behold my latest cooking creation: fettucini with pesto, olive oil, and a dash of parmesan. Not to toot my own horn or anything (I realize that I am tooting away, anyway), but it was pretty darn delicious. I've come a looooooooong way from the very first meal I've ever made that, embarrassingly enough, involved a George Foreman grill....don't ask. 

Santa Monica Farmers Market & Good Food Festival

I'm not the only one who's recently turned 30. The beloved Santa Monica Farmers Market is also celebrating the big 3-0 by throwing what will be the very first Southern California Good Food Festival & Conference. On the agenda? Chef demos, doc screenings, and a fancy Localicious Gala where chefs from top LA restaurants (think Rustic Canyon, Animal, Spago, A.O.C., and more) will create signature dishes using fresh, local ingredients from the farmers' market. Where do I sign up?

{Image via Grub Street LA}

Breakfast Inspiration

I have to say, this looks mighty scrumptious. Elegant and seemingly simple to make, too. I'll have to give this a whirl and get back to you.

{Photo from Jennifer Causey via her blog Simply Breakfast}

Cookin'

Tonight I made this gorgeous thing. And it wasn't half bad either (which is a direct reference to my amateurish cooking skills and not the quality of the dish).

{Image and recipe from Martha Stewart via LONNY}

A Food Revolution

Is anyone else watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution? I'm so proud of what he's doing to promote healthy eating and revolutionize the way food is made and served in schools today, both in the UK and now stateside. He's certainly come a long way from the days spent zipping around London on his scooter, when he was known simply as "The Naked Chef". Jamie has since started a petition to show our government just how dire the situation is and how we need to make a positive change in the way children eat in this country. I've already added my name to the already 200,000+ list of signatures. Will you?

What's cookin', goodlookin'

This shot was taken last week on the last day of a glorious three-day weekend. T woke up that morning with the urge to cook his own meatballs from scratch and he gleefully set to work while I cheered him on from my perch at the dining table (I like to keep a safe distance from beef and pork, personally). All in all it was a good day: friends came over, Uno was played, pinot grigio was imbibed, twilight walks were enjoyed, and meatballs were devoured...by the males in our party, mostly (alas, I was the only female; story of my life). I, in a very uncharacteristic move, sampled one meatball. It wasn't bad, if you like that sort of thing! T actually thought the recipe was a little heavy on the pork, so he plans on halfing the bacon portions in future. You can find the recipe here.

Lazy Sunday

I stayed home all day doing an assortment of things: reading in bed, doing some laundry, vacuuming (oh, the glamour), baking pumpkin and chocolate chip muffins (pretty fab they were), and writing. All while wearing my pajamas--God bless the end of Daylight Savings Time and that extra hour of sleep! I finally caved in around 6 and made myself decent for an impromptu date night with T. We started off with oysters and sparkling wine, followed by some tapas and Spanish red wine, and ended with an apple tart and cappuccino (at three different venues, no less). Alas, I didn't have my camera with me, so I had to make do with my blackberry camera. Still, not a bad way to conclude the weekend.

My birthday weekend

I had, quite simply, one of the best birthdays ever. Last weekend, T and I flew up north for a little wine-tasting adventure in Sonoma and Napa, and we brought some friends with us along the way (and stayed with T's wonderful and obliging sister and brother-in-law). The entire weekend was filled with great food, great wine, and great company. In other words, it was absolutely perfect.

We flew to San Francisco via Virgin America. As a nod to my 28th birthday, T sprang for first class, where we drank sparkling wine and toasted to a terrific weekend ahead (which it was). Incidentally, Josh Groban was on our flight and could be seen flirting with the flight attendant (he sat in coach, interestingly enough). After we landed at SFO, we were invited to check out the cockpit, our ticket to this little privileged tour being our two-year-old travel companion, Oliver. Thanks, Ollie!

Breakfast on my birthday consisted of poached eggs and asparagus on toast, as prepared by T's fabulous sister Heather. Talk about yum.

We toured Trefethen winery in Napa, where T grew up. I sampled a tiny grape from this vine; its sweet flavor burst on my tongue in a perfectly delightful way.

Barrels upon barrels of wine, each containing 300 bottles. The mind reels from the sheer volume of so much wine and begs the question, 'Have I consumed 300 bottles of wine in my lifetime?' We ended up taking home their cabernet franc. Not all of it, just a bottle. :-)

Birthday cupcakes!

We had three small children in our party, so while the little ones napped in the afternoon, the grown-ups relaxed on a blanket underneath a shady tree (the female ones did, anyway; the males ended up napping along with the babies!), complete with delectable grilled cheese-and-avocado-and-tomato sandwiches and sparkling wine. Rough.

Here is T's baby niece Sophia looking like the angel that she is, post-nap.

The next day we escaped the 100+ degree weather and headed for the much cooler beach. I actually prefer gray, foggy weather, which surely must be some residual love from my London days.

Oysters and South African sparkling wine make a killer combo.

On the last day we headed into the city, where we caught a planetarium show at The Academy of Sciences (which was awesome), lunched in North Beach, spent an hour at City Lights bookshop (I'm guilty as charged), and admired the water from the Ferry Building. It's always bittersweet to experience such magical weekends as this, because for all the fun and sheer enjoyment I felt all weekend long, it's also rather excruciating to see it end and go back to reality. Although I'm struggling with serious post-birthday blues now, each day that passes gets a bit easier and I become even more grateful for having such wonderful friends in my life with whom to share a beautiful birthday weekend.

C is for cookie, that's good enough for me

I find that the simplest and sanest way to face another work week is to bake chocolate chip cookies. Don't you agree? He does.

P.S. I adore my new apple green mixer; tonight was my first experience with this magical machine and already I'm in love.

I'm growing up

Stop the presses. The other night I actually made dinner, from start to finish, all by myself. As in, no boyfriend to do most of the work in the kitchen (or all of it, as he does 99.9% of the time). I did it all ON MY OWN. While this isn't a big deal for most self-actualized adults, it (sadly) is for me and my cooking-challenged brain. On the menu? Salad with roasted peppers, cherry tomatoes, cranberries, goat cheese and balsamic dressing, followed by farfalle pasta with roasted carrots, onions, tomatoes, and zucchini, and a sprinkling of parmesan cheese. I actually quite liked the little meal I whipped up, especially the roasted veggies and pasta. The sweetness of the carmelized veggies + starchiness of the pasta = YUM.

Now, I realize that anyone with half a brain could pull off cooking such simple dishes, but hey, I'm not about to let this quiet grain of truth rain on my parade. For me, this impromptu meal is quite an achievement and has inspired me to crack open my dusty, previously untouched cookbooks so I can try my hand at more yummy recipes. I never thought the day would come when I would actually cook, but, alas, it is here. T is mighty happy about the prospect, I might add.

Holiday Weekend

I spent my 4th of July weekend precisely the way my little heart desired. I celebrated my good friend's birthday in Newport Beach with lunch overlooking the water, then drove down to San Diego to celebrate our nation's birthday with T's family. We ooohed and aaahed over the fireworks, sipped margaritas, gobbled up T's crowd-pleasing chicken, pesto, & sun-dried tomato sandwich, watched the sun setting over the Pacific, and played countless rounds of the card game "Peanut", my new obsession (how have I never heard of this game before?).

Oh, and I whipped up this dark chocolate & espresso souffle, which turned out really well. I was pretty darn pleased with myself! Though I can't take all the credit; T's sister was co-creator.

Wedding and Wine Country

Over the weekend, T and I attended a beautiful wedding up in Paso Robles on the central California coast. But before I get into that, I couldn't resist sharing a couple snaps from the morning of our departure. Naturally, we couldn't get on the road without a little sustenance. Enter my poached eggs and vegetables from Huckleberry. I'm salivating just looking at this lovely little dish again. YUM.

And my soy latte to go was perfect in every way.

Now on to the nitty gritty. The bride and groom are horse and wine enthusiasts, respectively, so what better place to celebrate their nuptials than on a ranch smack dab in the middle of wine country? Here the musical trio liven things up with a little pre-wedding music.

The wedding party pulled up in old cars from the twenties. Super cool.

The lovely couple's beloved canine companion walked down the dirt-path-of-an-aisle, accompanied by these two strapping young men. How adorable is that.

Did I mention that the reception took place in a barn?

I love the dichotomy between the super fancy chandeliers and the rustic barn in which they elegantly hang. Such a lovely mix of glam and pastoral charm.

At night, T and I sipped wine we had bought from the local vineyards and huddled in front of a crackling fire. Sublime.

The hotel where we stayed even had a library and quite a diverse selection of books, from the questionable Danielle Steel to the more literary-minded Samuel Johnson. Do you notice the equestrian theme?

I'll let you know what else T and I got up to post-wedding. To be continued...