if you had to reduce our new regimen down to two things we have done to make changes-they would be taking walks (in this case the Hollywood walk of fame) and correcting portion size (we were eating terribly large portion sizes). So, while this wasn’t too strenous, unless you count navigating the hoards of people, it was a way to combat the tacos and pizza. I mean, who isn’t star struck in LA?
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| fried zucchini flowers |
mario batali. I kind of struggle with him. I don’t know what it is exactly, the crocs, the red hair, the attitude. I feel like he really knows the food of Italy but is a know it all at the same time. Maybe, as in most things, it’s just me. The undisputed fact is that he does have restaurants in LA. So, based on glowing comments of published food writers and sorely missing decent pizza crust we made a reservation to eat at Pizzeria Mozza. It is in Hollywood off of Melrose so added to our forays over packed highways. We took the groom to be with us and were seated in a side room panelled with bookshelves filled with old tomes and bottles of wine-taking me into what I vaguely felt could be a old road house set someplace in a European winter. In our run down of the menu we saw ricotta filled deep fried squash blossoms. We have seen them all over food television and had a real desire to give them a try. They had a mildly earthy flavor that I couldn’t place as zucchini. It was interesting but didn’t leave me wanting them on any kind of daily basis.
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| A bit dark but I didn’t feel right using the flash |
The pizza however -divine. We ordered three, a funghi and fontina, a pepperoni and fresno chile and a bacon, potato and egg. I judiciously sampled my way through all three. The pepperoni and fresno is the kind of pizza you crave. The dough was amazing-crusty and thin but still with a chew. The pepperoni for flavor and mouth feel along with the heat of the chile. I could eat it weekly so it is a good thing it is a couple thousand miles for takeout. The funghi was loaded with several varieties of mushrooms but the Bacon, potato and egg was a glory with a raw egg just beginning to cook on top of crisped porky bacon and thinly sliced potatoes. Amazingly oozy and satisfying in the way only an egg can be. If this is the real food of Italy, and of Mario Batali, my respect has been gained.
we went to the Los Angeles area last week for a wedding of a lifelong friend of Z. He was one of two ‘best men’ which is to say that unsurprisingly Joel did not play favorites. We figured that while in LA we had better try food that we can’t get at home. Our reward for getting up at 3am to catch our flight was to have lunch at the Border Grill Stop. Border Grill Stop is a teeny tiny lunch spot carved out of what could easily be a coffee bar or bus stop and is the brainchild of Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger (recentely of Top Chef Masters) and was right in downtown LA amid the skyscrapers. It was kind of incredible what they produced out of this little spot. We had some amazing tacos on soft corn tortillas. I had a potato rajas and a citrus chicken taco along with a spinach empanada. They came with the most incredible green sauce that was super bright and if I could replicate it I would do it today and eat it on eggs daily. I have a recent and new abiding love of this type of mexican style cooking. Z had the daily special of lamb tacos with beans and rice. We capped it off with some yummy churro tots and a side of barely sweetened cinnamon spiked whipping cream. It was a highly auspicious start to our trip.
I have never really been one for resolutions. Any vague thoughts of resolving to do anything I didn’t ‘have’ to do get quickly laid by as I get busy in one way or another. Work gets busy. It is hot outside. Time runs out. You know how it goes.
The last year both dragged and flew by. Busy at both work and home I feel as though I missed a lot of moments. I am hoping to grab hold of this year a little bit better. I miss the will to blog and hope it has returned. I never meant to do much more than keep track of myself and was swimming along until I got caught by a fierce rip current.
We are working through some lifestyle changes now, really attacking eating healthy and getting some exercise. It wasn’t a New Year’s resolution but a mid December decision. I missed a few sweets and second helpings throughout the holidays but find I am ok with that. I managed to deliver all excess baked goods to the break room at work and that seemed to work well. I missed a few gin and tonics through the season but found the one I had tasted more like Christmas than ever. I am determined to still love food and culture and the foodie culture though so we will see how the two mingle together. Nicely I hope.
Working through decorating our home too. That has been fun if not slow. I am trying to fill it only with things I really love which both slows and heightens the process. I’d like to get the rooms we live in finished in this year if I can.
Resolutions? Not really. Life lived well? I hope so.
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| our future kitchen – can you imagine it? |
when we first stepped into the house with the realtor it didn’t have a lot going for it. Firstly, the homeowner was sitting on the sofa watching us. Singsonging ‘Awwwwkwaaard’ We tried to see through the clutter and enormous amounts of personal belongings. I never saw so many small appliances. It was New Years Eve and between the Mickey Mouse decorated Christmas tree and huge amounts of gifts and clutter it was hard to feel the bones of the house. We quickly walked through and left noting a sleeping form in the master as we passed through the curtained room, peering into the burned out light of the laundry room. As we drove away down the road I had some serious misgivings about it. I couldn’t figure out what to make of it. Five minutes later I asked, ‘Can we try to get her out and take a slower walk through? I just really want to get a look at that house.’ We were able to get back in, took a long walk through taking snapshots. An hour later and we put an offer on the house. Who need it would take five months to close? Here is a first shot of the kitchen.
My Urban Pantry 