Apricot Bars With a Kick

Since my last post was on the indulgent side (as in, two sticks of butter and three kinds of sugar indulgent), today I thought I'd bring you these apricot-ginger bars. They're still sweet, but not too terribly bad for you, as they incorporate whole wheat flour and oats in both crust and topping, and don't contain very much butter at all. The kick in the topping comes from candied ginger (isn't ginger supposed to be healthy?), and most of the sweetness in the bars comes from the apricot jam. I used regular store-brand preserves, but you could try using an all-natural kind if you want: it might have a looser texture, but should still work (just please don't use the "diabetic" kinds that are sweetened with artificial sweetener. They taste funky.).

Momofuku Cookies

Hello friends! Sorry the for extended silence. But look, I've brought cookies! Blueberries and Cream Cookies, to be exact, from Manhattan's Momofuku Milk Bar, courtesy of Bon Appetit. They're a bit more involved than you're average chocolate chip, but definitely worth it, and are going into my usual repertoire for sure. The best thing about them are the milk crumbs:

Fro-Yo Showdown

I have briefly commented on my love for the self-serve frozen yogurt shop before. Back in Los Angeles, there was one just a few blocks away from my apartment. I'm not proud to admit, the people working there new me after about one week of me living in the area. The place is called Cantaloop and they're an independently owned shop; there was also a Pinkberry (aka Crackberry) a few blocks in the other direction. Places like Pinkberry and Red Mango (they're main competitor) didn't impress me as much because they were pricier, offered much fewer flavor options, and were not self-service - I like to control my fro-yo. What can I say, I like the power.

Chocolate!

I didn’t eat dessert after attending the Korean Festival last Saturday, which is unusual for me, because even if it’s just a small square of chocolate I like to end the day with something sweet. Never fear though, I made up for it and then some the next day when I attend the Luxury Chocolate Salon in Pasadena.

Going Down to K-Town

Sorry for the brief hiatus – I am back on Long Island, permanently as far as I know (long story) and will be attempting to get work in NYC in the near future. So posts will probably be even less frequent than they have been and not as interesting. Apologies, but I can offer you two more LA posts, mostly photos of a couple of events I attended last weekend.

I Know, I Know...

...I've been MIA lately, and there's good reason, I promise (personal stuff I won't go into here). There will be a couple photo-heavy posts up hopefully by tomorrow, but until then, how about another Omnivore's 100? This one, created by Cakespy a few years ago, is one after my own heart - a dessert 100! So here you go, copy this list, bold-face everything you've eaten, cross out anything you never 

intend to eat (what dessert would you never eat??).

Baking is Better

I think it's fair to say I am much more partial to baking than to cooking. Case in point: for dinner last night, I sauteed some tofu, mushrooms (pre-sliced), snow peas and edamame (pre-shelled), cooked up some brown rice and then...dumped it all into a bowl with Trader Joe's Sate Sauce poured over it. Healthy, yes. Gourmet...not so much. But the entire meal minus the rice was from TJs, so I get yuppy points.

Busy, Busy, Busy...

My blog has been a bit quiet as of late: real life is intervening as I continue my hunt for work (besides temp work, that is). I also haven’t been cooking much as Todd has been out of town, but now that he is back hopefully that will change. I should have some material from this weekend, but until then I decided to do something a bit fun. If you are a reader of food blogs or a blogger yourself, you have likely at some point run across The Omnivore’s 100, a list put together back in 2008 by UK blogger Andrew of Very Good Taste. It’s a compilation of 100 foods every omnivore should try – bold-face everything you’ve tried (even if it was just a taste), and put a line through anything you never, ever intend to try. Turns out my diet is more varied/adventurous than I thought! Try it for yourself, it’s quite fun; I know there are a few similar lists floating around the Internet that I might do later.

Good Food, Indeed

I spent yesterday morning and part of the afternoon at the Good Food Street Fair in Santa Monica, and came away tired, happy, significantly poorer and very, very full! Some snapshots of the day:

(Almost) Vegan Oatmeal Cookies

This past Sunday I was supposed to spend the day outside, starting with a morning hike in Griffith Park, followed by a potluck picnic (both organized by the LA Foodies meet-up group). I had a batch of these cookies all baked up and was excited to explore yet another part of my new home city. But when my alarm went off at 8am, I awoke to nausea and a splitting headache. I gamely got out of bed...for all of five minutes, just long enough for me to realize that a hike was totally not happening, and then I was back under the covers for the duration of the day.

Chinatown Summer Nights

This past Saturday I attended the Summer Nights event in LA's Chinatown. After meeting up with a few other members of the Pleasure Palate meet-up group in front of Hop Li's Seafood Restaurant, we walked a couples of blocks til we found the "official" entrance to Chinatown:

Weekend in Tucson, Part III

My second and final morning in Arizona, Todd and I took advantage of the rental car and went on a bit of a road trip. While I didn't think Tucson itself was very attractive, the surrounding countryside is actually quite pretty in a rugged, deserted sort of way:

A Weekend in Arizona, Part II

When last we left sunny Tucson, AZ, Todd and I were chilling at Epic Cafe, where we escaped the heat and got our (or my) requisite afternoon caffeine buzz while waiting to meet Kei and Martha (the couple who have kindly loaned their guesthouse to Todd for the month) for dinner.

I am quite happy to take credit for picking our dinner location from the list of possibilities Todd had emailed before my arrival. I chose Maynards Market & Kitchen, a restaurant, bar and market place located in Tucson's historic train depot, which is still active today (we sat at the outdoor patio right next to the train tracks, making for an interesting but at times loud meal). 

(Image curtesy of Maynard's website)

A (Very Hot) Weekend in Tucson Part I

As I have mentioned in previous posts, Todd is halfway through a month-long gig at the University of Arizona, where he went to graduate school. This past weekend I flew down to visit him, so for you enjoyment I present to you 48 hours (actually less) in Tucson, Arizona.


One thing to know before visiting Tucson in early September: it is hot. Not even the hottest time of the year, and every day was over 100 degrees. I landed Friday evening at almost 10 at night, so I couldn't really appreciate the heat til the next morning, when I woke up and realized it was almost 90 degrees before 9 in the morning. Luckily, Kei and Martha, Todd's friends who were letting him stay in their guesthouse, have a pool.

Market Moments

It's been a crazy week here, as I embark on my quest to enter the workforce, Cali's 15% unemployment rate be damned! It's pretty stressful, but oogling gorgeous produce always puts me in a better mood. On that note, I offer you some more moments from the farmer's market (Santa Monica this time). Enjoy!

Wine Tasting at Vinoteque

A few nights ago, I went to a wine tasting event at Vinoteque wine bar, part of their Sip n' Swirl series (I went as part of the L.A. Foodies meet-up group; Darrell, the group's founder, had coupons for the night).

Fig Madness

Fresh fruit makes me nervous. That seems like an odd thing to admit, but I surely can’t be the only one who, when faced with a basket of, say, fresh spring strawberries or summer peaches at the peak of ripeness, experiences a slight frisson of anxiety when they consider that there is no way all that fruit can be consumed in its purest incarnation (that is, right out of hand, preferably standing over a sink to catch the juices) before it invariably begins to cross the line into over-ripe territory. I can’t stand the thought of beautiful farmers market fruit languishing in the refrigerator, slowly turning to mush before being tossed out with the trash.

Brazilian Food at the Farmer's Market (Kind Of)

I’m on a sort of quest right now to go to as many farmer’s markets as I can in L.A. A pretty tall order as this is a big city, and it being California and all, pretty much every neighborhood has its own weekly (sometimes more than that) market. I’ve already visited my neighborhood market in Hollywood, but then I learned of a place a bit farther afield, but that sounded too promising to pass up. It’s called the Original Farmers Market, located on Third and Fairfax, and is open, get this, every day of the week! What could be better, right?

Only in Hollywood Can You Get Thai Food and Elvis Under One Roof

For Todd's last night in LA (he flies out to Arizona this afternoon to teach for a month), we walked down Hollywood Boulevard to one of our favorite Thai restauarnts (or Todd's anyway, I haven't sampled enough Thai food in this town to come to a decision): Palm's Thai Restaurant.

How Many Cookbooks Do You Own?

Seems to me every blogger who gets asked that questions admits to owning dozens if not hundreds of cookbooks, containing more recipes than they could ever hope to make in their lifetime.

Me? I have two. One of which you see above. I bought this book just this past spring, which means for the first six months or so after I left my parents' home for good, I only had ONE cookbook (another vegetarian book).