It’s been a minute since I have been here, free time is a rarity around here. The last time I logged on I couldn’t find my blog and it’s been a thing, but here I am, hi! I think the last time we chatted was a handful of months ago, lots to catch up on.
This cookbook is full of mouth watering recipes. Her cooking speaks to my heart.
I made the broken noodle bolognese and it was amazing. Ate like a deconstructed lasagna but with less effort.
I also made a fettuccine Alfredo
We went roller skating.
For my birthday we ran off to the desert. We started at a winery in Julian which was better than I remembered. Then we met my brother at our hotel in Borrego Springs. We spend the night at the town bar Carlee’s listening to our local country band. Always a fun time. The next day my brother got us a driver to take us into Palm Springs.
We started with brunch at Bongo Johnny’s. Bottomless mimosa’s are always a good idea.
Shawna found us a speak easy hidden behind a wine shop.
PS Air bar was a unique experience.
If I am going to sit in an airplane seat for any period of time I want be in a different location when I leave it. This was a one and done place for us.
We ended the day at the casino playing Roulette.
Jenn met us at our hotel that evening and then we all went back to Carlee’s for another go round. We played pool and danced the night away.
We had a yummy breaky the next morning before heading home.
We went for margaritas for the March birthday girls.
This is a simple and delicious cake. Not too sweet with warm notes of cardamom, it’s definitely a good back pocket dish to pull out for your next gathering.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for the pan
2 cups all-purpose flour, extra for dusting the pan
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 ½ cups plus 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
3 large eggs
Grated zest of 5 mandarin oranges
2 Tbs of fresh mandarin orange juice
1 ¼ cups whole milk
2 tablespoons sifted confectioners’ sugar, for garnish
*candied orange slices for garnish is optional
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Grease a bundt cake pan with a little olive oil and dust with a bit of the flour, shaking out the excess.
In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 cups flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
In a large bowl, combine the 1 ½ cups granulated sugar, cardamom, and eggs. Using an electric hand mixer set on high, beat the mixture until thick and fluffy, about 5 minutes While the mixer is running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil and beat until incorporated. Reduce the speed to low and add half the orange zest, the orange juice, and milk. Beat until smooth.
Add the flour mixture to wet ingredients and mix on low just until you have a uniform batter.
Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the top with the remaining 2 tablespoons granulated sugar.
Bake the cake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the center is set.
Allow the cake to cool for 30 minutes in the pan,
Before serving, dust the cake with powdered sugar and sprinkle with orange zest or candied orange slices.
Woo you guys… we all got super sick around Christmas, it wasn’t fun.
We did manage to fit it some festivities closer to the new year.
Averi was (is) the only child that still believes, I will hold on to that for as long as I can. It’s like a toddler who wants to walk, just keep pushing them down, no need to speed up the growing.
We had our tree up all month, it really is a vibe…just makes the house happy.
You can see that we had the Era’s tour on in the background…not gonna lie, I’ve seen it three times.
Speaking of tours. I went to the SDFC Chrome ball tour supporters rally, so excited to have our own MLS team.
We had a small Christmas at ours with just the girls.
Then we spent a late Christmas in OC with the family. Good food, fun games, sunshine and the best people and doggies.
This is a delicious chicken salad Inspired by the Indonesian salad Gado Gado. It has crunchy veggies doused in a peanut butter-sesame dressing and topped with a coconut granola like topping. This has the salty-sweet-spicy-crunchy combo of flavors we are always looking for. It’s so good!
Preheat the oven to 325F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
Separate 1 egg. Place the white in a large bowl (save the yolk for another time) and vigorously whisk until fluffy, foamy, soft peaks form.
Add 3 TBSP brown sugar, 3 TSP toasted sesame oil, 1 TSP curry powder, 3/4 TSP salt and 1/4 TSP cayenne pepper. Whisk to incorporate.
Add 1 1/2 cups nuts, 1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut flakes, 2 TBSP sesame seeds and the zest of 1 lime. Fold with a rubber spatula until thoroughly coated.
Scrape the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and spread in an even layer. Transfer to the oven and bake, stirring halfway through, until the coconut is lightly golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool slightly, then use your hands to break it up into chunks.
Make the dressing
Finely grate a 1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger into a large bowl. Ad 1/3 cup coconut milk, 1/4 cup peanut butter, 1 TBSP vegetable oil, the juice of 1 lime, the remaining 1 Tsp toasted sesame oil, and the remaining 1 Tsp brown sugar. Whisk until smooth, salt to taste.
Make the salad
Chop, slice, julienne, trim, shave and/or dice 1 1/2 pounds of mixed crunchy vegetables. Add all of the veg to the bowl of dressing.
Coarsely chop the leaves and tender stems from 1 bunch of cilantro and add to the bowl.
Add 2 cups of packed chicken meat to the same bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Add a few handfuls of coconut crunch and toss to combine.
Divide salad into serving bowls/plates and top with more coconut crunch.
We took advantage of the extreme temps and low rates that Cabo had to offer at the end of summer. A favorite spot on our Mexican Riveria cruise, we thought exploring it more than a day sounded like a nice getaway. We chose a RIU resort and as beautiful as the grounds were, we didn’t love it and wouldn’t recommend it.
This was the view from the lobby bar, by far the best bar at the resort in terms of drink options, bartenders and service.
We hung out staring at this view until our room was ready. A few beers and tequila shots later we unpacked our luggage in our just ‘fine room’. The room seemed damp the entire week, and had a musty smell but it was extremely humid during our stay, maybe that is why.
Then we hit one of the two adults only pool. They both were smaller infinity pools with a swim up bar. It was so hot outside we were sweating with excitement to jump into some cool water. You guys ALL the pool water was warm and there wasn’t any shade, that was a tough pill to swallow.
But it was beautiful.
We found a couple of lounge chairs, pulled over an umbrella, walked down to the beach and bought two hats.
For dinner we ate at a fusion restaurant. I think we ordered a fish dish and a lamb dish which was obviously not memorable. Unfortunately none of the food or drinks for that matter, were great. The buffet which we hit up for breakfast had a lot of options but some of it was questionable after sitting out for hours.
The next morning we had some coffee and fruit sent up to our room and enjoyed our patio.
We spent a couple of our days in town. The beach in front of our resort (and most of the resorts nearby) wasn’t swimmable. I researched this before we booked and never saw that it was dangerous, so that was a real let down when we found that black flag waving. We took advantage of the ocean (which was cooler than the pool) down at Medano beach. Reachable by foot but way too hot for that, we took a short taxi ride to town. Our first stop was at the Sand Bar, a favorite of ours from our cruise stop to Cabo.
We also popped into Cabo Wabo for a drink.
A little window shopping and then a stop at another favorite of ours, The Monkey Bar.
A very small bar with a handful of stools, great margaritas and country music.
Then we walked by an even smaller bar, or so they claim.
Our resort had some questionable entertainment each night. Karaoke night was by far the most fun. I was a judge which I took very seriously.
I started having some stomach issues halfway through our stay. Luckily OTC meds helped enough and allowed me to enjoy the last few days.
We spent another day at the pool chatting up the people we had met. But the pools were sort of gross, and it gives me chills thinking back on it now. Older folks sitting in the pool at the bar for hours, never getting out to use the toilet. Questionable things floating in the corners of the warm pool water, ew.
On our final day we decided to stay out of the pool and head back into town.
After some souvenir shopping for the girls, we stopped at Uno Mas for a margarita, it’s another cute little bar outside the marina.
We ended up back at the Sandbar where we sat for hours eating the most delicious octopus and fried fish. Sipping cold Chardonnay and floating in the ocean.
Our last evening we walked to the steakhouse for dinner and then the lobby bar for a couple of espresso martini’s.
We both wound up feeling terrible by the time we were heading home and were sick for a good week later. I blame the buffet, the pools and one pool bartender.
Final thoughts; find a better resort to spend your money on.
Photos have been piling up and I always have the best intentions of posting them, I don’t know where the time goes.
Heading back to the summer…
Belmont Park and SD Fair fun.
Summer night meals.
Roasted snapper.
And…
Esquites, which was so good I made it multiple times in a week.
I used a couple of recipes but mainly this one. I made it with fresh corn and the frozen roasted corn from Trader Joes and they both worked, but….the fresh corn was obviously superior.
Caramelized onion and blue cheese tart.
Fun day on the Island with Uncle C and Aunt A Frankie and Tony.
Kaili and I spent 24 hours in LA for a BlackPink concert. We stopped in Dana Point to meet family for lunch and then continued through OC and LA traffic reaching our destination a handful of hours before the concert. We checked into The Biltmore, dropped our stuff in the room and took a tour of the hotel.
We had time before dinner to go explore our neighborhood which included Grand Central Market.
Had I known, I wouldn’t have made dinner reservations, which turned out to be a bust anyhow. On our way out we stumbled upon vendors selling their creations. We window shopped our way to a Starbucks. She got a drink and then we went back to the hotel where I got a drink AND we ordered dessert for after the show.
Not shown, a glass of chardonnay a piece of cheesecake and chocolate mousse.
We tucked our goodies into the hotel fridge and relaxed before our get ready time.
Once we were ready we ubured to dinner. As soon as we walked in I had a feeling I had made a mistake about our timing. There was only one waiter and a bunch of people with no food. He was honest and told us that the kitchen was backed up. I told him we were heading to Dodger Stadium and he suggested we just head straight there as traffic in and out is bad. Well shit…at that moment I wished we had eaten at the market. I called another car to come pick us up and we were heading to the stadium an hour and a half early. It did take a long time to get into the venue and by the time we were in line it was close to 8:00. Everything was packed, the line for food, merch, drinks and the bathroom. People everywhere. I realized that if we were to do this all over again we either get there super early and hang around inside the stadium or we arrive minutes before the show is to start.
Were are seats great, no. Were they expensive, also no. I won us tickets on a radio show so there was no complaining about our view.
I wasn’t able to get her a lightstick as I promised because the line was constant all night. She new every song and I think it’s safe to say she had a great time.
Do not show her that video, she was hell bent on me deleting it.
We left the concert a tad early to beat all the ride share traffic. Once back in our room we washed up, put on our jammies and ate dessert in bed.
Averi, fabulous and nine years old. She had a mermaid theme birthday and chose McDonalds for her dinner choice..She hasn’t changed much in that department. She is, much like me, an emotional mess, I wouldn’t be surprised if she gets her Big Girl before her older sister. But she is smart, sassy, funny and outgoing, the world is hers!
A couple of weeks ago we stumbled upon a farmers market where we stumbled upon ‘Crepe on a Stick.’ I thought “how clever” and ordered myself a guava and cheese on a stick. At that moment I forgot how good that combination of flavors is. Which brings me to this recipe. I recently made these for dinner, but they would be just as good in the morning with a cup of coffee.
Pastelillos de Guayaba
Ingredients
1 package puff pastry (2 sheets)
1 egg
7 oz. guava paste, cut into 16 ( 1/4 inch) slices
6 oz. sliced emmentaler cheese (Swiss or gruyere if you need a substitute) cut into 1/4 inch slices
Directions
Thaw your puff pastry.
Once your pastry has thawed, line a 12-by-17-inch baking sheet with 2 pieces of parchment paper. (The double layer helps to protect your pan when you’re cutting the puff pastry.)
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
Prepare your egg wash by whisking your egg and a splash of water.
Lay one layer of puff pastry on top of your parchment paper lined baking sheet. Make a 4-by-4 grid (give or take, this isn’t math) and put a piece of guava stacked with cheese on each square…space evenly.
Leave about 1 inch of space in between and top with the second puff pastry sheet.
Using a pizza cutter, slice the puff pastry into pieces, touching the top lightly to determine where to slice.
Use a fork to crimp all four edges twice on each side, then arrange them evenly on the baking sheet, leaving space between each. Brush the tops and edges lightly with the prepared egg wash and place baking sheet in the center of the oven.
Bake for 25 minutes or until pastelillos are beautifully golden brown, flaky and puffy.
Let rest for a few minutes or you will be biting into lava.
I am not a huge fan of ground beef, or burgers really. But, I recently had a lamb slider that was so good. I like lamb and I like gyros so that is what we have here. I did what I do and Googled about five different recipes and made it my own. So we have ground lamb, garlic salt, ground coriander and fresh mint for the meat. I slightly caramelized one sweet onion, bought Tzatziki from Trader Joes and grabbed some fresh arugula and brioche buns.
INGREDIENTS
1 lb. ground lamb.
1 clove garlic, minced
Pinch of garlic salt
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon ground Coriander
1 Tablespoon fresh mint, chopped
One sweet onion, sliced
Fresh arugula
Tzatziki
Hot sauce if you like it spicy. My preference with Gyros is Sriracha.
DIRECTIONS
Combine the lamb and the next five ingredients with a bowl. Your hands are the best tool for this. Form into four or five patties, depending on your preference,
Grill or pan fry the patties until cooked to your liking, I like mine medium rare.
Meanwhile, saute the onions in some olive oil until tender and starting to caramelized.
Spread the Tzatziki onto one of the brioche buns, add the onions and top with fresh arugula. Top all of that deliciousness with your lamb patty and voila~
The Art of Thyming 