Bits of my weekend: Vol. 28

17 04 2011

We decided to celebrate our anniversary by trying a new restaurant. We set our sights on

NY pizza dough or at least descendants of

Alas, we forgot to check hours of operation and didn’t discover it only serves dinner until we got there.

as luck would have it, Umani Burger was across the street

Umani is all about tasty everything.  And even their ice tea had a little something extra.

a hint of coconut. it was refreshing!

Al loved it.

We had some great portabello mushroom burgers, sweet potato fries and truffle beet salad.

the ice cream sandwich was pretty yummy too.

I believe we’ve had a chocolate dessert at every wedding anniversary celebration.  How could we not, when we choose to serve chocolate wedding cake.

chocolate ganache cake with one layer of raspberry cream. photo by Suzi of Q Weddings

there were barely crumbs left of our wedding cake. photo by Suzi of Q Weddings

post-party at the Prince O' Whales. photo by Suzi of Q Weddings.

This year’s anniversary celebration was extra sweet because we shared with a giggling two-year old.

who like mom and dad, appreciates chocolate!


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Categories : Family, food, Husband, weddings

Bits of my weekend: vol 26

14 11 2010

This weekend’s summary also includes some of the highlights from our trip to New Orleans.

Looking for the Café du Monde beignet under the powdered sugar

If you don't know what a Beignet is - it's a donut with sugar. Lots of sugar. It seems every culture has their version. This is the French/New Orleans version.

We saw this store that offered Voodoo Dolls and Children's Books. Only in New Orleans.

We were lucky enough to see two wedding processions going down the street. Both were accompanied by a band. The Bride and Groom were pumping their umbrellas to the music.

While the band played "When the Saints Go Marching In" and the rest of the wedding guests waving white hankies.

I love the tuba in the band.

We love just walking through the streets catching fun shots.

Elvis in his pink lamp phase.

I couldn't find the men's entrance. The shop is now a croissant shop.

Saturday ended up being a very long day because our 6:50 p.m. departure was changed to 8:30 p.m., 12:00 a.m., 9:30 p.m., 10:05 p.m.  In the end, it all worked out because it gave us time to do a little shopping and we found Zebra.  We’re taking Zebra to China with us to meet our daughter, Quinn.  To follow our journey to Quinn, click here. Zebra is up for the task.

Zebra waits patiently to board the plane.


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An awesome meal in New Orleans

13 11 2010

I love how the emergence of social media has pointed us to some great restaurants.  Sylvain in New Orleans on Chartres Street was no exception – and it was EXCEPTIONAL.

What was cool about it, besides the food was the friendly staff and the details (some historic) throughout the restaurant.  The courtyard was bordered by the second oldest wall in New Orleans.  The lamps were from Morocco.  I believe the table we were sitting at was from Buenos Aires.  They had a US flag with only 40 stars hanging in the bar.  Everyone on Yelp was raving about the restaurant.  Once we were there, we found out it had only been open for a month.

Fried zucchini with lemon aioli and shaved parmesan

Porchetta Po' Boy: shredded seasoned pork with broccoli rabe and sharp provolone

Brussel sprout salad: shaved raw brussel sprouts, with gala apples, roasted hazelnuts and shaved pecorino cheese

Pot de creme a la chocolat

If I could have stuck my tongue in the ramekin - I would have licked it.

The FINAL WORD was an amazing cocktail with whiskey and green chartreuse.  Who knew that a color was named for a liquor made by Carthusian monks.  This stuff was amazing (both the cocktail and the liquor).  The liquor is distilled with 130 herbal extracts.  Made since the 1740s – these monks had it dialed in.


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Traditions y’all

10 11 2010

It’s difficult NOT to veer towards Cafe du Mode when the hotel is only a few blocks away.

And frankly fried oysters with poached eggs was one of the healthier choices for breakfast. Bananas fosters French toast with vanilla bean ice cream. Really?


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Bits of my weekend: Vol 24

31 10 2010

pumpkins 2010

Every year for the last 4 years, we’ve had a pumpkin carving party followed by dinner.  We’ve managed to pull it off, even when it’s been a week night.  But this year and last, it’s been on a weekend – so we get a head start.  Here are most of our entries.  And yes, the last one is a poser pumpkin – it’s a watermelon.  And yes, it won.  Great brains – the red interior was really necessary to pull it off.

Can you guess which Peanut's characters we are?

I made Al and my costume.  It was the first year we asked people to wear costumes.  And boy was I impressed with the everyone’s costume.

Which Alice & Wonderland characters are Sam & Thomas?

Jessica & Greg were a happy couple

Shelley and Joe picked their own favorite movie characters to represent

The shark after eating a bunch of candy

We offered some Halloween food:

Deviled Eggs

Mini Owl cupcakes with Mentos surrounded by "eyes"

vegan pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes

And we had a few healthy things to accompany the BBQ ribs:

Eggplant

Asparagus, Italian-style

The beer and I share the same name. Courtesy of Jess & Greg.

My favorite shot.  Just beautiful.  Shot by my husband, Al.

Fresh veggies with truffle salt

Another Halloween success.


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Bits of my weekend: vol. 18

19 09 2010

We wanted to visit some new galleries in Chinatown on Saturday.  Apparently a lot of galleries have taken up residence in old shops and have keep the original facades.  Half way there, I suggested we have breakfast at Homegirl Cafe.

Homeboy Industries

We’ve developed a great affinity to this place since our friends the Moresco’s put together a fundraiser at their house helping Homeboy Industries.  It’s an organization that helps gang members get off the streets and gives them live skills. One of them is food service work.  They have a cafe and bakery.

Torta with jalepeno pesto and red sauce. Yummy.

Three tacos: pork, chicken and turkey chorizo

We really enjoyed ourselves there.  We talked to several of the homies (yes, that’s what they call themselves) and we bought some goodies from the bakery along with some mugs from the gift shop.  We were really sadden by the news that one of the kids who spoke at the fundraiser was shot three times and killed earlier this week.  The funeral was the same day we had breakfast – so several folks were going.  As his last act, Smiley, was kept a live for 2 days so that his organs could be donated.


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Happy Birthday, Albie!

14 09 2010

I take risks.  For example, to celebrate my husband’s birthday I booked a reservation at a restaurant that I’ve never been to – hoping that the reviews of the view and food lived up to the real thing.  Lucky for me, it did.

View from The Penthouse restaurant at the Huntley Hotel

Any place that garnishes it's butter with a flower must be good.

Flatbread with three cheeses and black truffles! Yum!

Can you tell how happy we are about the flatbread?

As the evening progressed, the view changed.

We topped the night off with a browned butter tart with blackberries and homemade coffee ice cream. You had me at browned butter.

Wishing my favorite person a happy birthday and hopes for a great year!  Love you Al.


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Categories : food, Husband

Bits of my weekend: Vol 17

13 09 2010

I had to work most of Saturday, so my weekend was cut short.  We started to celebrate Al’s birthday early with a dinner at Il Forno with all the parents.  And then we drove to Chinatown to see Joey Chou‘s first art show.

Joey and Al

Joey is a fellow Art Center grad.  Al and I love his art.  So as a surprise, I commissioned a painting from Joey for Al’s birthday.  Well, it was going to be a surprise, but Al really wanted to purchase something at the show and I finally had to let the cat out of the bag.  He was thrilled.  Funny thing is that the show was at a cool, hip shop called Flock Shop which is owned by Michelle.  Someone that Al has known for years, but hasn’t seen in 7 years.  They reconnected at the show.

On Sunday, we took a trip to the historic Farmers Market.

New Orlean's food y'all

Okay so we gobbled the food and there aren’t good photos to show.  Except one.

collard greens. tasty!

Then we started to search for the perfect dessert.

You can't go wrong with an apple fritter and hot coffee.

We closed out the weekend celebrating our friend James’ birthday.  He did an amazing job catching a tuna and then serving it for four courses.  Each one yummy and unique.  Happy birthday James!


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Bits of My Weekend: Vol. 15

29 08 2010

Summer is coming to an end, but the tomato crop seems endless…

Tomatoes from the garden

So I roasted four pans of tomatoes

These were turned into sauce, soup and some were kept to top pizza and open-faced sandwiches

toss these cherry tomatoes with balsamic and it's a simple side or pasta dish

I also got to help my friend Paulo celebrate his second birthday.  There is nothing like it.  Suddenly without cause, a day filled with presents, chocolate cake and Curious George.

Paulo is also a budding artist. He has the smeared paint look down.

Paulo's mom made a four layer cake with George perched happily on the top. Looking curious.

The anticipation was killing Paulo

He got the first and largest slice of cake.

chocolate-bearded Paulo

Next year, he’ll be old enough to understand how special this day is. Happy Birthday Paulo!

I got this idea from Michelle, author of Six in the City Blog. Unfortunately due to a family tragedy, she’s on hiatus from her regular weekend updates. Prayers going out to her family.


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Bits of my weekend: Vol 14

22 08 2010

On Saturday we attended a fundraiser for Father Greg Boyle’s Homeboy Industries.  It was hosted by our friends the Morescos and it was such a worthy cause.  I’ve known about Father Boyle for quite sometime as he’s an alumnus of Loyola Marymount University where I work.  But nothing can really explain what he’s done for gang members and people who have been incarcerated most of their lives.  Only the words of those people can truly provide you with a sense of what this Jesuit priest has done for so many.  Their stories and words were so powerful. I really respect them for all their work to turn their lives around.  Because for most of them, it would have been easier to stay in a gang and on drugs. To hear a recent story on NPR about Fr. G as he’s referred to by the Homeboys, click here.

Sunday was spent gathering the fruits of our garden.

San Marazano tomatoes. The pinnacle of tomatoes for many Italians. Tomatoes are fruit.

We had some friends over for pizza night.  So of course I had to make a dessert.  For the recipe, visit my qt-cakes blog.

Lemon blueberry cupcakes

We had some great starters.  I suppose anything with cheese that costs $32.99 a pound would be good.  I obviously didn’t ask the price when I was convinced to buy some after sampling it at Whole Foods.

black figs with sharp cheese, drizzled with honey

We bought some fresh anchovies from the Mar Vista farmer’s market that we love.  Al mixed ricotta cheese with lemon zest and parsley for a yummy appetizer.  I had a tough time getting the camera to focus on the fish -  so a slightly out of focused photo.

white anchovies with ricotta cheese mixture on crostini

It’s always good to end the weekend with some friends, food and wine.

I got this idea of blogging about my weekend from Michelle and typically she posts links to many others who have followed suit.  Unfortunately her family suffered a tragic loss and she is on hiatus.  I pray for her family and in particular for her brother-in-law’s young children and wife.  Learn more here.


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