Vintage Hollywood Photo Tour

Held at a private home in Pacific Palisades tonight, Vintage Hollywood raised funds to support charitable organizations that work to promote the health and well-being of Southern California’s diverse community. There were dozens of wine purveyors and food vendors. My favorites included Mozza, Akasha, and Waterloo. Take a look at some of the highlights…

Burrata with pesto from Mozza

Waterloo’s amazing ass foie gras

@ariannala talking to hot ass Waterloo dude

Valerie Confections

simplethings cutie pies: banana cream and apricot

simplethings’ salted caramel cutie pies

Brunch at FarmShop

Before approaching FarmShop in the Brentwood Country Mart, one has to expect a fight for a parking spot and a crowd of shi shi Brentwoodites. This is the yoga, small dog walking crowd. Luckily for us, we got there at 10:30 a.m., before the crowds rolled in. I ordered the classic omelette and my closest childhood friend ordered the salmon plate. I asked for my omelette with mushrooms and avocado instead of lobster because usually it’s too chewy for me, unless it comes whole as a 3 lb lobster steamed to perfection. The mushrooms on the omelette were much better than your average baby bellas. I could eat a whole bowl of those suckers on their own.

Plating presentations were pretty and the side salad and beet salads were tasty and not overly vinegary. The croissant was a bit buttery, every bite added 10 more points to my cholesterol. But that didn’t stop me from finishing. The eggs were AMAZING. So fluffy and soft.

We also ordered the strawberry muffin which was good, nothing spectacular though. I still long for the almond croissant at Breadbar. But as far as breakfast goes, this was a damn fine one.

Best girl in the world

Mother’s Day Brunch at Dominicks

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I’ve heard about Dominick’s from many different people over the years, and despite living only ten minutes away I’ve never been until today. My sister and I took our mom there for Mother’s Day and she loved the New York-feel and yummy food.

We ordered the smoked salmon with poached eggs over herb waffles. So good, but warning, comes in very small portions. My sister got the eggs bruschetta, which she loved but said she could have ordered three of them. After eating, we were still hungry so asked for the ricotta blueberry pancakes and fruit platter. Overall we were very satisfied, but still a bit hungry. Next time we’ll just eat for five. And next time, hopefully, they won’t be out of hot chocolate.

Thai-style Pho and More at The Rustic Spoon in NoHo

We were craving pho, but not willing to drive 30 minutes or more to get out of North Hollywood. After some googling we decided on The Rustic Spoon, a quaint Thai-fusion restaurant in NoHo. It’s a cute little place with friendly waiters and a Christmas light-lined patio. The pho wasn’t traditional Vietnamese, because we were at a Thai restaurant, duh, but it hit our craving. My date didn’t like the addition of cilantro, but I love it pretty much on anything.

We also ordered pad see ew and curry noodles, both filling. We were in noodle heaven. The curry noodles had a nice spicy kick, but I would have preferred another noodle other than udon … something thinner perhaps. The service was kind of slow, but I’d definitely go back. I keep telling myself it’s because they make each dish from scratch. The drink selection is a perk: We ordered a bloody lychee and herbal tea which had creative presentations. For Thai food though it’s not cheap. Our bill came out to $40, pre-tip. But we saved a few bucks on gas.

Froyo-Freaks, Bigg Chill New Topping Alert!

Bigg Chill, where all my extra cash ends up, has new toppings! Yey! I’m a huge fan of cookie dough, but usually yogurt shops only sell the dried out, hard, flavorless kinds because they can’t sell anything with real raw egg (right?). But now there’s vegan cookie dough that looks and almost tastes like the real thing. It’s gooey like cookie dough and the chocolate chips are great, the only difference is it’s a bit more grainy… not sure why. But I ate every single glob of it. I needed it after eating sushi laced with glass. But that’s another blog.

There’s also strawberry and mango boba, but I’m not ready to dive into that bag yet. I like boba in Thai iced tea … maybe next time.

Cooking Under the Stasi: Passover Desserts

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I did it while the orthodox master (aka “the beast”) was at temple. Evidently on Pesach you can’t cook for the same night you’re eating, but yesterday I didn’t have time to make the desserts. So, we waited. We tiptoed around the cupboard to find the kosher for Passover (icky) ingredients. We washed each dish promptly after use.

The cookies turned out a bit grainy because of the matzoh meal, but the brownies are pretty damn good… from an LA Times recipe… ground almonds, melted dark chocolate, sugar, potato starch, eggs, you get my drift.

Thankfully the food police didn’t catch us… well, not just yet.

I Just Gave Birth to a Passover Feast: It’s not a Goy

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I have no energy to write an actual post right now. Just made 13 pounds of chicken tagine for passover. And hashem only knows what else. Here is a peek into my Passover seder. Made meat-stuffed peppers, matzoh ball soup, gifiltah fish, beets, spinach, ribs, roast… Can’t think… My family better appreciate this shiznit. More to come!!!!