Casa and The Varnish

My thursday night adventures will be posted hopefully shortly....

Bakin and Shakin all weekend long!

So I totally have midterms this week, and what better way to combat the stress than to bake!!

I was born a baker, I love to cook, but I LOVE to bake. As a little child I was the Chocolate Chip Cookie master. Then it moved to biscuits. There was a period of time where I was making biscuits every weekend to master my skills. This time also coincided with my sister and her new boyfriend getting together. He loved my biscuits, and I think partly that was the reason why he was with her. Literally my biscuits are THAT good.

Well back to this weekend. Saturaday monring I woke up and made the plunge. Its been a LONG time since I had made biscuits, so I knew it was long overdue. I took the recipe from the Joy of Cooking. This is not my normal recipe, but its what I had so I tried it. I cut it in half because I kinda knew I would be the only one eating these things (which I was). But, I added my special touch. I soaked the biscuit tops in butter. Well you are supposed to brush on the melted butter, but I didnt have a brush. So I improvised, DUNK!

The biscuits came out well. Im still figuring out how to cook in Peter's oven, nothing browns in it! Well some things do, but I am still trying to master that fact.

The biscuits were a tad bit undercooked, but thats because I ate one right away. Once they sat for a while, they were great. And I used my fav blueberry jam with them.

Later that day, I was all alone in Peters apartment, studying. I was craving chocolate chip cookies. Craving. So I made them.

Differences between my cookies and others I have made before:

I had to use a cuisinart instead of a mixer

I had whole wheat flour for more than half my dough instead of all purpose flour

I only had white sugar, no brown sugar

These differences made my cookies different, but still DELICIOUS!!

They were interesting too.  THey were more granulated because the sugar never really melted.  Before I made these cookies I did a bit of research.  Someone said to melt the sugar and the butter together.  This would probably have made them more combined in flavors.  

The cooking process was interesting.  I cooked six cookies at a time and each batch was baked at a different time, ie 10 min, 12  min, 15 min.  This was truly a very interesting experience.  

I definitely liked these cookies at their crispiest.   

MMMM cookies.  If I had a final in cookies, I would definitely ace it!

UMAMI BURGER!!

MMMM, Last night I got to go to Umami Burger on La Brea. I was so excited all day, telling everyone I was going there! So after work, Peter and I went. It was quite perfect because he lives literally parallel to Umami but just a mile of blocks away!

So we went, pulled into their parking lot (Yes they have parking!) and in we went. First surprise, is actually a sit down restaurant. I walked in and saw tables, but also saw a waiter standing by the cashiers desk, so I thought it would be like any ol burger joint where you order and sit. NO NO NO, umami burger is not like any ol burger joint! How could I ever think that too, well lesson learned!

We were seated and got our menu, two sided very simple but yet at least three different meat burgers on it with a total of 8 burgers. Peter got the SoCal burger, which the waiter described to someone else as similar to the In n Out style but bigger and much better. And I got the pork burger (with chorizo!!!!). Simply because Im trying not to eat beef these days (i know i know, but sometimes we gotta follow what our bodies say, and my body does not like me when I eat beef). We also ordered the mixed salad (for $4) and the triple cooked french fries.

Then we waited....for what seemed like an eternity for our food. We got the salad while waiting. It was super small for the price, came in a little asian style soup bowl and had delicious beets.

Dun Dun Duuuuun, the burgers had FINALLY arrived. MMMM mine was superb! As I read from eatingla.com, the bun was from a Portuguese bakery and super delicious. The burgers came with a crisp and large piece of butter lettuce, tomato and onions. The chorizo made it a little spicy which was great. My only problem, well not a real problem but opinion, the tomato slice was too thin for the burger. When it mixed with my bite, it needed a lil more sweetness from the tomato. The SoCal burger peter says "was better than your pork burger" in a demeaning tone. haha he is wrong though. Actually his burger was really good and I totally would order it if I was eating beef. They know how to cook their burgers just right, the burger was literally cooked to perfection, seared on the outside and still pink on the inside, a total perfect medium rare.

Both burgers were great because they were sloppy and drippy, but NEVER fell apart, and the burgers as early mentioned, cooked to perfection. Totally fell in love with that bun. It was sweet and stayed together.

Now the fries. Peter and I both burned our mouths on them, I guess they had just been freshly cooked, how dare they! haha just kidding. The fries were good, but definitely need work. The triple cooked was there, but the fries were way to big. I like my fries skinny just like my men.

The handmade ketchup was more sweet than vinegary, which I still appreciated. But make sure you ask for extra because that measly Asian style soup spoon did not hold enough.

All in all, I am going back. The food was delicious, clean and the flavors are there. I wouldn't order the fried again until they have changed. The service was defiantly lacking, they forget about my extra sides that I had asked for. Because of this, I never got to taste the Umami. We did wait for a long time, but I know the place just opened so that will get better with time. We got there around 8:30 and it really did not start filling up till around 9, which was cool when I miss the big crowds.

Suggestions for anyone who goes: Its BYOB, so get your favorite beer or wine and truck it in with you!

So go get your UMAMI on!!! I can't wait till I go back!

Dine LA, I did it! at Ciudad!

My first dinela experience, and we chose Ciudad. I chose it for three reasons. Its subway close to koreatown, where my bf lives. It was only $34 per person for a three course meal. I have never been. So its friday night and since my bf and I NEVER plan anything, we were both excited to go out and have a nice dinner together. After work I dolly up and we both hop down to the metro and get out at 7th and metro. We walk a few blocks to the restaurant, thank god it was not raining like it was earlier in the day! We had a very weird starting experience to the night. Once we got there, they were definitely confused about our reservation but did not let on. So after waiting a bit we get sat down. And then we were ignored for a good 20 minutes. But someone did get us some flatbread but still no water. Finally after flagging someone down, the hostess or manager came over and apologized and took our drink order. After that, they were so attentive it made up for everything. They made sure we left as happy customers and it was much appreciated. Overall it was a great dinner. I started with the shrimp tamale and he got the butter lettuce salad wedge. Both delicous actually. Then for our entrees I got the artic char and he got the carnitas. Not only did I love my fish, but on the menu it was $32. Almost the price of my whole three course meal! and I felt that the dish was miniturized like other DinaLa patrons have said some places are doing. I mean that really sealed the deal right there. His carnitas were good but only because of the fixins that came with it. Honestly I did not pay too much attention to his, because I loved my artic char and the herb barley it came with mmmmm. For dessert we got the fudgey yummy chocolate cake (totally recommend) and the tres leches (totally gross).' All in all, totally would come back here due to our great experience. Our drinks were A+, pisco sour, capirahana (sp?) and a mai tai, mmmm. But without the DineLA prices, the meal would have been overly pricey. oh yea they mixed up our second drink order so they gave us an extra 15% off the bill. That was the sweetest.

A CHOCOLATE SHAM!!!!!

well that teaser was indeed, just a freakin teaser. I found this article saying there was this chocolate buffet coming up soon attached to a 30 min chocolate documentary. DID THEY JUST SAY CHOCOLATE BUFFET!!!! thats all i need to say yes please. I rsvp'd right away!

THIS WAS GOING TO BE SOO EXCITING! I MEAN CHOCOLATE BUFFET!!

well it was tonight, thursday night. I was so excited for it all day, telling everyone....mmmm chocolate buffet. and for a chocoholic, im literally cannot believe I am being part of such an event. I mean I felt like it was picked from a hat and we were so lucky! but really they added on a third showing of the movie and told us we would have the chocolate buffet before the movie besides the other shows which would have it post show.

we go to the studio, pay for our tickets and then we enter....

EVERYONE WAS SURROUNDING A TABLE OF EMPTY PLATES!!!!!

Literally I couldn't believe it. Are you serious? This is what I paid good money for! Oh was this lame. So I asked some woman giving out chocolate hearts sitting on the sides, what is the layout. Seriously, was there only one large table?

THERE WAS!!! ONLY ONE LARGE TABLE!!
and they tricked us with a chocolate fountain. I thought I was coming to a quality chocolate buffet, not some cheap trick. seriously. the fountain was so lame. It was barely working and the chocolate was milk. ugh dont people understand what good chocolate is!!! milk is never involved in the pure chocolate senese. Not only was the showing of chocolate dismal, the amount of people was too much for a girl who cant get her chocolate.

IM OVER IT! I go back to the ticket booth and say in so many words, "I want my money back, the plates are empty and there is no chocolate." seriously you cant tease a girl for a few days and then have her walk into this situation, its just devastating!

The guy I told this to was about to give in, but then his lady sidekick shoved chocolate heart boxes to my date and I. Two boxes and told us not to tell anyone. Whatever its not like I would talk to anyone else there in the first place.

They say they are going to get more plates and chocolate out, so we wait while eating our new chocolate boxed in front of everyone in the buffet area. I hope they saw and are jealous because they ate all my chocolate!!!!!

Fnally plates come out. some dark choco brownie with white cream puff on top, some regular nut brownies and strawberries for the lame choco fountain. LAME, LAME AND MORE LAME!!!
the only edible thing was the dark choco brownie, but really I could make better (thank you tartine!) Then I find the cookies! the only thing left was an oatmeal cookie, but boy was it delicious. It was actually the best sweet I ate at the CHOCOLATE PARTY!!! literally they did no justice and showed no respect to what is the queen of the world, chocolate.

THEN BLASPEMY WAS THRUST UPON US!!! after giving us more lame chocolates and angel cake for the fountain, they brought in STORE BOUGHT COOKIES!!!

are you serious! are you really going to disrespect me now! YOU DIDN'T THINK I WOULD REALIZE!!! it was my first instinct when I took a bite. But I didn't want to believe it. I just couldnt. But then my date said something. He confirmed my thought. and I continued eating it, but yes it was store bought.

I had become so sad but still having a head rush from all the chocolate, we decided to stick it to them and ditch the movie.

We walked back had some ravoli on larchmont and then called it a night.

Next time I have my dessert before dinner, I'll make sure its worth it...

Chocolate Teaser....

We are busy preparing: Chocolate Devil’s Food Cake with Milk Chocolate Caramel Icing, Tulip Cups with Chocolate Passion fruit Mousse, White Chocolate Macadamia Meyer Lemon Bars…….


I will tell you all about it on Friday!

Free Movie, with at least a $30 meal

I was reading through some blogs trying to find out whats happening in LA and came across this:

Dine at H&H restaurants and your movie is on us! (Hollywood and Highland)

I have not tried any of these places except CPK but not since high school and I hate crepes unless they are made in a non restaurant setting (ie the streets of paris). Johnny Rockets is gross except for the milkshakes and I cant make myself buy $30 worth of milkshakes. Im a lover of Shabu Shabu so that maybe a possibility and The Grill's reviews on yelp are not bad at all. Or I would just go to Rise (never been) and waste my $30 on some drinks rather than bad overpriced food at the other places.

Through February 15, 2009
Show $30 or more in same-day receipts from California Pizza Kitchen, French Crepe Company, The Grill on Hollywood, Johnny Rockets, Koji’s Sushi & Shabu Shabu, rise at The Highlands, Trastevere, or uWink to receive 2 FREE Mann Theatres movie tickets.

Redeem your same-day receipts at the Visitor Information Center on level 1, under the Kodak Theatre Archway. One pair of tickets per person, per restaurant receipt, per day. While supplies last.

Ooey-Gooey they say Double, I say Triple Chocolate Cookies

Milk's Ooey-Gooey Double Chocolate Cookies

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-sos14-2009jan14,0,7127251.story

YES, I did make these. So now that my cleanse is officially over, what better way to celebrate than to make cookies!! Three different types of chocolate to be exact!

This all came about during my cleanse, when I would tease myself everyday by looking at various food articles and blogs. This one I found in the LA Times. A reader frequents MILK and wrote into the LA Times for the ooey-gooey chocolate cookie recipe. I read it and said I must try it!

Let me just add my two cents about MILK. I have only been once and had a mint chocolate chip shake. It was delicious but also completely overpriced. I imagine these cookies would be the same.

You see I am first a baker and then a chef. Its due to my massive sweet tooth. So I have made my fair share of chocolate cookies. Most of them are amazing and I basically if I have a recipe in front of me that includes chocolate, people adore my cookies/brownies you name it. I literally grew up on making chocolate chip cookies. My first recipe coming from the Stars dessert book. I had made them so much I figured out the perfect alteration to them to make them my own. And this was all done at the age of 9 years old. But then my house burned down in the Malibu fires in '93 and the recipe with my alterations were lost forever.

I definitely have come a long way since then, but with all that experimenting at a young age, I really got to understand what flour can do in the baking process. But with each new recipe, it takes at least once to bake it to understand what all the components will do anyways.

So back to Monday (2/26) and the official end of the cleanse. After a food filled weekend, what better way to make it last a bit longer than to make these cookies. And I did. With cocoa powder (2 tablespoons), unsweetened chocolate (1/4 pound) and chopped bits of bittersweet chocolate (1 pound!). It actually was a very simple recipe and very quick to put together. The recipe called for it to make 18 cookies, but I realized the cookies would be very large, so I made half the large size, and the other half a normal cookie size. It was interesting to see them bake. At the half way mark when I turned the pan, the middle was still high with runny sides. But by the time I took them out of the oven, they looked like real cookies.

I tried one right away and it was DECADENT!! But they were also very soft and tender due to the chocolate chips inside them. I couldn't pick them up yet without them falling apart and I had to get to class, so i put them in the fridge to bring them together. I actually liked this. It made them a bit more crunchy due to the chocolate chips coming back to its true hard self, then surrounded in chocolate cookie.

I tried one more, and still DECADENT!!! Though refrigerating made them loose the ooey-gooeyness, it did not lose any of the sweetness. Literally you only need one cookie these things are soo sweet. Now its time to give them out and see what others think of them.

Though these are not my favorite chocolate cookies, I prefer some others that I make that is similar to this recipe just not as decadent, they still are delicous. I will make some "Chocolate Drops" later and post a blog on it. The cookie showdown, soon to come!!

Pictures

I have pictures, but they are on a camera that I dont know how to use. Hopefully pictures will be up by mid week. : )

SUNDAY SUNDAY! LAKERS, YARD HOUSE AND EL PARIAN

So I thought my Saturday was eventful, but my Sunday was a close second!

After the pancakes (previous scrub post) Peter, Alex, Kevin and I (all previous guests from the night before) went to the Lakers Game: Lakers vs San Antonio Spurs.

This day I officially broke my alcohol fast. Im sorry but Laker games are so much more fun with beer. So we enter the Staples Center, and go straight for the beer line and then to our seats, which are awesome seats, center section 111 row really close. It was my first game of the season and I was ready. We get there a bit late, but the Lakers have already set the lead. The game gets close, but never that close. We maintain our lead the whole game and win!!!

Anyways onto the food of the staples center. I usually stay away, due to some poor choices in the past. But did you know they have Nate n' Al's now!!! How cool is that!! Though I did not end up having any because of the big breakfast we had in the morning. But next time I will. My friends though didnt listen to my advice (they are from the south bay so they really just dont understand the goodness of Nate n Al's anyways). One got a hot dog and the other got nachos from Comacho's. I was shocked with both choices but actually had some of each and for junk food, it was tasty. I know what I just said. Maybe it was just the cleanse that got to me, and the lack of having anything processed, but i did enjoy my two bits of the hot dog and some chips covered in guac and that gross processed nacho cheese. OH MY GOD IM SORRY I AM ADMITTING THIS, but it was good and it will probably be the only time I will think this, so dont judge me!!

Onwards and up as they say. The game ended, we won, got our free two tacos from jbo (jack in the box) and walked over to LA Live to the Yard House.

We got seated right away and in a booth!! Oh do I love booths. Well we ordered our beers, I got the Chupacabra, raawwwrrr thats why I ordered it, the scary name, but definitely a good beer. Then we all shared the chopped salad, Bearnaise sliders and grilled Jamaican wings. Even though the beer was flowin, we all loved and devoured our food. What I was most surprised with, was the freshness of the food. The chopped salad actually had real corn, real veggies freshness bursting out from it! The sliders were also top qual. Usually you have sliders that are too bready and not enough meat. This was not the case. The bread was a squishy bun and the meat was tasty. It came with 4 sliders so one per person, perfect! The chicken wings were good too, not too spicy not too sweet. I usually do not eat wings anymore. The reason why? My acupuncturist told me all the hormones of the chicken are in the wings. And I knew that these wings were not organic but they were also drumettes, so whatever I was with a bunch of boys and they didnt care anything about hormones and wings. They just wanted food.

All in all, I am a total chain hater. But the Yard House is perfectly located to the Staples Center, with a great selection of drinks and definitely edible food. If you are down enjoying a game, this is a perfect stop to come after for some more drinks and appies!

Yard House
800 W Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90015
(213) 745-9273

www.yardhouse.com

After the Lakers and the Yard House, we went back to Koreatown for some R&R. Suddenly the sun had set and my stomach started to growl again. What better way to end the weekend than with some tacos!! I have not been able to enjoy tacos since my cleanse and even before that I was on some anti taco run. Well that is officially over and to El Parian we went.

Basically its a very simplistic setting. Grilled meats, goat, carne asada and carnitas. We came for the tacos and nothing else. Since I had my pork the day before, I got the carne asada. My first time with beef in like three weeks.

So lets start with the chips. They were completely forgettable. Not homemade and definitely from a bag. I mean they were round and salted. Whatever. Then the tacos, mmmm. Big homemade tortillas with LOTS of carne asada. I loved it because it also came with a plate with onions, cilantro and tomatoes. So basically we got to make our own tacos, well the fixin parts. I ate all of it. For not having beef in such a long time, this definitely hit the spot. The big juicy pieces of carne asada really were delicious. Thats what I call a hefty taco! And for four tacos total, it was only 12 dollars. Now thats a steal in these recession times and why I love tacos. I will have to come back for the other meats and if I do, Ill let you know.

PS: I saw another couple in there get a dinner of beans, rice and meat ( I dont know which kind) but he definitely was into it using his fingers and teeth and not much else. A sight like that always brings a smile to my face. Embracing our try carnivorous traits.

Also after not eating beef for 3 weeks, this was the hardest for my body to recover from. The body in general find beef very complicated to digest and boy oh boy did I realize that. It took me all night and all morning for my bloated stomach to finally go away. Next time I'll just use more of my digest tincture :)!!

El Parian
1528 W Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90015
(213) 386-7361