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Quick Breakfast

John and I get Starbucks every weekend before we do anything. Sometimes, we think it's better if we just have breakfast there. And honestly, I love Starbucks. I think in terms of consistency, they got it to the nail. And hey, if you don't like the drink, they will make it right for you.

I normally order their Americano, but ever since they launched their cold brew, I just couldn't go back. For now at least, I am enjoying the sweet notes of the drink with a strong punch to my face. Seriously, their cold brew is no joke. That stuff is pretty strong. If I don't drink water after, I will feel dehydrated and nauseous afterwards.

My favorite go to sandwich is always their Sausage & Cheddar Breakfast sandwich. It's hefty, and always does the trick to fill me up enough to get me going. Today, I wanted to go for their croissant breakfast sandwiches. I've had it a few times, but just wanted it today to switch it up a bit.

Double-Smoked Bacon, Cheddar & Egg Sandwich

Smokey bacon, melted cheese with a flaky croissant. So yummy and love how hot and crispy the croissant was. This sandwich not only filled me up afterwards, but it really made me feel satisfied.

Slow-Roasted Ham & Swiss Breakfast Sandwich

You just can't beat yummy ham with a nice nutty swiss heated together in a croissant. This was definitely a great way to start off our day.

One day, I will eat these sandwiches combined. Starbucks got the croissant game going strong. I need their super steroid oven to warm up sandwiches everyday in a snap.

Let me get something straight. I love Starbucks. 100% for it. But, I also love other coffee brands out there as well. But why I love Starbucks is their iconic trademark on their brand. They know what they are doing. When I was in Japan, I had to get Starbucks every morning. And luckily, there was one right downstairs of our Hotel. I told John if we were millionaires, I would want to have a big home, with a Starbucks inside.

And don't be one of those pretentious guppies telling me you hate Starbucks and how you love xyz so much better. I WILL DENY YOU.

Cheers,

Daisy

 

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Special Olympics - SOCAL - Pier Del Sol

I've been anticipating this years Pier Del Sol in Santa Monica after a wonderful time I had last year. Get ready, unbuckle your belts, because I'm sure you will gain 10 pounds just by looking at these photos.

Here's a little bio about Special Olympics from their website:

"The mission of Special Olympics Southern California is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.

Our vision is to provide sports and training programs for any individual with intellectual disabilities who chooses to participate, thereby improving their lives and the lives of everyone they touch."

-Special Olympics

Being as big of a foodie as I am, I was super stoked to see all the participating restaurants that will be there. Providence for one, shucked way over 100 oysters to serve the crowd. This year, I was hoping they would do the same. Why? Because it was the best oysters I've ever had.

Best oysters I've ever had!

4 oysters were served

Unfortunately, I was so excited that I didn't catch the names of the oysters... all 3 times I stopped by! But the clams, were extraordinary. I've never had such clean tasting clams with the most memorable snappy texture. It just pops in your mouth. The sauces that they were serving were impeccable as well. You would think cocktail sauce, horseradish, and mignonette sauce is the most simple things to serve with oysters. Like duh, how can you mess that up? Well... A LOT of places do. And once you've tried their sauces, especially their mignonette, then you will understand the excited booty dance that I was doing.

Hache LA

Hache LA were serving a nice refreshing non-alcoholic cocktail. Fresh strawberries with basil lemonade. Such a delightful cooler to ease of the terrible hot-humid weather that was hitting the pier. I was DRENCHED in sweat every time I stepped into the sun.

Bar Pintxo

Bar Pintxo served one of the best breakfast Paella I've had. I haven't had much either, but the saffron was so aromatic and distinct. There was a bit of socarrat in every bite which drove me bonkers! So delicious! With the creamy soft poached egg was to d-i-e for.

Speaking of delicious poached eggs, it seems like everyone was getting their egg game right.

Getting serious now.

Fishing with Dynamite served one of the best shrimp and grits I've ever had! John just came back from New Orleans a few months ago, and said this topped what he's had there. By the way, I'm not trying to sound obsessed... but the poached egg was STELLAR. The whites literally mushed off... like soft super soft custard.. glued to the ooey gooey yolk... there was nothing more heavenly.

Take a break and grab some fresh s'mores from Spago! My brothers girlfriend, Angela, is the Sous pastry chef that created this with her team for this lovely event. Though this was specially made for this event, I just want to say that their raspberry marshmallow was the best mother f'ing marsh s'mores muusshh I've had! It totally reminded me of the holidays, and y'all know how crazy I am about the holidays right now! BEAST! Think of raspberry covered chocolates. H-ea-v-e-n.

Via Alloro served a duck beat salad and a delicious creamy mushroom truffle soup. Their mushroom soup is something that I was looking forward to this year as well. Though the soup was cold... the mushrooms had a delicious aroma throughout. The truffles, however, did nothing for the soup. I was a bit underwhelmed this year. The duck beat salad was simple, refreshing, and balanced if you eat the dish together. The duck was slightly salty.

Hamasaku

This was AMAZING. Hamasaku did this sweet tofu wasanbon that was out of this world! I should've had more of this. It was their version of panna cotta, and I definitely enjoyed this a lot more. It was really thoughtful and well executed. Something so simple done right, gochisousama!

LA Prime

LA Prime did not disappoint with this New York cut steak. A beauty served with watercress, perfect mash and meat gravy. Is that sexy or what? I had 2 plates. (restaurant is located in Westin Bonaventure Hotel).

Mistral

Mistral was here last year and here again this year serving the same dish. I'm NOT complaining. This was their red wine braised short ribs, doused with a horseradish cream, on a garlic crouton. This was slayed! The horseradish cream was the perfect compliment to cut the richness of the beef. Need I say more? Just one bite folks!

Ok we are almost there. Are you getting hungry yet?

Comforting pesto penne from Terroni! I love, and pretty much am, obsessed with pasta at the moment. I loved the velvet olive oil that you can taste in the whole dish. So silky in the best way ever! I'm definitely going to pop my head in this restaurant in the near future!

Daily Grill

Daily Grill was serving up some blackened Ahi tuna. I was a bit skeptical by the simplicity of this dish. But the flavors? PACKED! This was SO delicious, and had gems hidden! There were artichokes, DELICIOUS artichokes. I think this dish was the underdog from the event. Who knew a simple salad like this could be so freaking decadent! I have to visit the Daily Grill AS WELL.

The Tripel

The Tripel created a simple refreshing ceviche served over taro chips. Great dish for this humidity. I never thought of using taro chips for ceviche... genius. Is it lower calories? A girl can only dream....

 

 

Angelini Osteria

Really? Angelini Osteria served prosciutto with persimmons. WHY. DOES. IT. TASTE. SO. GOOD. TOGETHER?! Persimmons is seasonal. So how am I going to eat this again? Why do this to me? WHY must you?! I hate simple dishes. Everyone tries to always overdo simple things that stands on it's own. Cantaloupe has nothing on this persimmon. Bravo!

Honary Chef goes to Alain Giraud, chef and owner of Maison Giraud. Serving up some pretty looking food that day. Their salad nicoise was simple and fresh. Again, another refreshing dish to cleanse this heat. And scoot over to grab a mini pain au chocolat, one of my favorite classic french pastries. Where's the coffee?!

Dandy Dons

Uhhh... yeah you gotta make your sundae from Dandy Don's. Don't forget your nuts and maraschino cherry.

Strand House Manhattan Beach

Strand House made this pretty awesome creation. What you see is a blueberry crumb cake, creme fraiche whip you see there, blueberry compote, and a cardamom injector. How fun is that?

Pinks

Uhhh... yeah this happened to. PINKS was serving up their whole links. No minis. No saving grace. You take the calories, and you run. You can feel bad later, but at this moment, I devour and I will slay.

It's now Tuesday, and I've been working out insanely from eating as much as I did. The hot humid weather didn't make me feel all that attractive either... but now, I feel a lot better. I am super stoked to come back again next year.

Now you tell me. $150 to help charity and to get all this food, is it worth it to you?

gochisousama,

Daiisies

 

 

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Holiday Cheer

2015 is almost over. Yes we are barely in October, but I'm already listening to Christmas songs on Pandora. The weather in Los Angeles hasn't been the greatest, and it really feels as if the fall spirit is gone. I need the holiday weather to happen now so all the fun stuff can fall into place. But of course, since I am already listening to Christmas songs, you can guess I'm already jumping ahead.

I made a pear tart the other day because there was finally rain... at least for 10 minutes or so. But I went on a cozy-comfort food-holiday cooking splurge.

Velveeta Mac n Cheese-Jalapeno-Bacon-Mapled

Recipe:

  • 1 Box of Velveeta shell cheddar Mac n Cheese
  • 1/2 a Jalapeno (depends on how spicy your Jalapeno is and how spicy you want it to be)
  • 5 strips of bacon. Because bacon is always good.

Preheat the oven at 400 degrees layering your bacon on a sheet pan (I line it with parchment). At 10-12 minutes, take a peek to see how your bacon is doing because all ovens are different. Once your bacon start crisping up, I take maple syrup and drizzle it on 2 strips of bacon. As it sizzles, remove the 3 bacon without the syrup and let it soak on some paper towels. The other 2 in the oven with the syrup, make sure to keep an eye on because it can burn quick. I sprinkled just a little kosher salt because I used low sodium bacon. Flipped the bacon and added a little more syrup with just a hint more salt.

I chopped up the 3 strips of bacon and mixed it into the Mac n Cheese with the Jalapenos. (The Mac is made standard according to the box). I got some panko bread crumbs, tossed it with the bacon fat and let the heat toast the crumbs before putting them on top of the dish. Layer your mapled bacon and there you go! comfort Mac Bacon Cheese Jalapeno something!

** So yummy. I don't recommend you sticking this into the fridge to preheat it in the oven because the cheese does dry out.

Chile/spiced rubbed chicken

Find the recipe HERE.

Basically, follow the recipe in the link, minus the honey and lemon.

I oiled a baking dish with 5 cloves of smashed garlic. A little salt was sprinkled as well. After patting dry and layering the chicken (about 2-3 pounds) I sprinkled the rub on top followed by some olive oil. Massage the rub and oil onto the skin.

The chicken was baked at 375 for 40-45 minutes and I will gradually increase the temperature to 400 at around 30-35 minutes (depends on your oven and chicken size). Don't be intimidated by the crust, it is just blackened and it is delicious.

A simple store bought coleslaw mix was served with this meal. I had hearts glowing all over my face.

Are you ready for the holidays? We wait the whole year for this! why not start early?

Let me know if you have any questions!

Happy COoking!

Daiisies

 

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Pear Tart

It's finally raining and cooling down out here in Los Angeles. Well I wouldn't really call it rain since it stopped for a few hours, but I am anticipating a lot heavy pours this year *fingers cross*. I've been almost indoors all day with the exception of getting some groceries. Cooking and baking becomes so enjoyable in this weather. I am loaded up with a lot of coffee to not get sucked into this hibernating weather. It's so tempting to grab my cat, Ford, and snuggle with him under the sheets. Yeah he will try to fight his way out, but sooner or later he gets tired and just lays there, and tells me he hates me and how much I smell like bacon.

I decided to bake today. Just to remind you guys, I am a terrible baker. To follow recipes step by step is such a task for me. I don't think I've ever made a sweet baked dish that came out exactly what I wanted, because I would miss a step.... or 6...

Tornado Pear Tart Recipe:

Crème pâtissière (sounds sexier than Pastry Cream):

  • 2 Cups of whole milk
  • 1/4 cup + 1/3 cups of sugar
  • 1 Egg + 2 Egg yolks
  • 1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
  • 2 Tablespoons of butter
  • 1/4 cup of flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon of Baking Powder

Heat the 2 cups of milk with the 1/4 cup of sugar on medium high heat and stir occasionally. In a separate mixing bowl, I mixed the eggs, 1/3 cup of sugar, a pinch of salt, and the 1/4 cups of flour (make sure to whisk until smooth).

When your milk starts to simmer, I removed it from the heat and ladle very slowly into the egg mixture while whisking at the same time. Because I'm paranoid, I slowly added about half the milk and whisking it like crazy before putting it back into the pot. I then put the pot back on the stove, but on medium low. The creme is whisked until it gets to a thick-gloopy consistency. Like this:

Crème pâtissière

When it gets to a thick yogurt consistency, I then add the 2 tablespoons of butter and the 1 teaspoon of Vanilla extract. Whisk again and pour it into a bowl with saran wrap on the cream so it does not form a layer. After the temperature drops a little, stick it into the fridge to cool before using.

Crust:

  • 1 Cup of flour
  • 1 stick of butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup of sugar
  • pinch of salt

With a food processor, I put all the dry ingredients and pulsed a few times to mix them evenly. Next I would drop the egg and pulse (you will notice the dough turns into little pebbles). I got the butter, chopped a few chunks, and pulsed it into the flour until it formed a dough. The dough is very soft and a little hard to work with, so I would kneed a little more flour (about 1/4 cup) before forming it into my tart pan.

My tart pan was buttered slightly. I layered the pastry cream on top followed by canned pears I drained and sliced.

SO. Since I suck at following the rules of baking, I totally forgot to pre-bake my stupid tart. Don't forget to do this. Freeze your crust for about 30 minutes so the dough can come back together (Basically fast chilling it). Take a fork and poke your crust a few times allowing steam to escape. After you bake your crust for about 10 minutes at 400 degrees, take it out to let it rest a bit before layering the cream.

About 1/2 the pastry cream goes into the tart. Layer the pears and let it bake for 40 minutes on 350.

Tornado Pear Tart

Ok I think I'm calling it a tornado because my kitchen was a mess afterwards. Since I didn't bake my crust first, I was kind of surprise that it was still passable. I actually roasted the tart in the oven for about 15 minutes, before switching it over to baking. Because when you roast, the heat generates more so from the bottom of the oven, which is what I needed since I'm anticipating the bottom of the crust will be the most difficult to cook.

I added a little sprinkle of sugar around the crust 5 minutes before removing it from the oven. Let it cool for about 15-20 minutes before removing it from the tin (HOT). Slice it and serve with some coffee or tea.

Please don't go nuts on me with the steps that I took to make this. I've already forgiven myself for the crust...

Happy baking!

Daiisies

 

 

 

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Baked French Toast

Hello Fall even though it feels like Summer in Asia. Seriously... Los Angeles needs to get it together! I can't stand it. I need to get toasty, and snuggly, and watch the rain pour from my window, while cooking something with cinnamon with the coffee brewing all day, with the coffee beans left out all night to perfume the living space.

That is what I call comfort living.

But no. We are heading into October with 90 something degree days, and rain in the forecast next Sunday? Oh joy! but what? It's still going to be in the 80s? What the hell am I supposed to do with that information? I went shopping recently ok? and bought a lot of cute snuggly coffee drinking looking clothes. So LA, I don't know what's up but you need to stop.

I'm in withdrawal from the cold. So this morning, I was up around 6AM (yes on a Sunday Funday), contemplating in bed about how I'm going to make my French Toast. I have a whole loaf of Brioche Bread that I bought from Fresh and Easy the other day (around $5), and a new Le Creuset casserole dish that I still need to break in. After much thought, I've decided to make baked french toast to kill all the birds you can think of with one slug.

Recipe:

  1.  8 Eggs - I use "Happy Eggs"
  2. 1 and a 1/4 cup of whole milk - I used Lactaid Milk.
  3. 3 tablespoons of sugar - granulated
  4. A pinch of salt
  5. 1/4 Teaspoon of nutmeg - I used pre-ground from Trader Joe's (I believe it was $1.99-$2.99)
  6. 1/4 Teaspoon of Cinnamon - also from Trader Joe's
  7. A teaspoon SPLASH of Vanilla Extract
  8. 1 Loaf of Brioche Bread

The loaf of bread I got was already pre-sliced. I had 3 layers of 4 making a total of 12 slices used. With everything else, I mixed in a large bowl before pouring in on top of the bread. It soaked up pretty quick and easy.

The oven was preheated at 325 with my Breville convectional oven (Click HERE the best thing you can buy). The french toast was baked for 40-45 minutes. The top may get a little dark due to the sugar, but once you top it with your syrup it will be ALL GOOD.

All Good in the Hood syrup.

Recipe:

  1. 1/2 a stick of butter
  2. 1/4 cup of light brown sugar
  3. 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
  4. 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
  5. pinch of salt
  6. 1/2 a cup of toasted pecans

Everything you see above minus the pecans, heat in the microwave until the butter has melted and your sugar is syrupy. Mix the sauce until everything has combined, then add the pecans and fold.

Baked French Toast with butter brown sugar pecan sauce

After drizzling the Pecan sauce, I drizzled a little of maple syrup (Aunt Jemima, Duh) to balance the dish (it helps).

Lastly, don't forget the BACON.

Bacon, you're a star!

This will definitely be a crowd pleaser. For a second, everything felt okay. I forgot about the weather, and all the errands that I needed to make (and it was a lot). The bacon, the sweet sauce with the nutmeg and cinnamon singing the holidays to me 'Tis the Season'. Enjoy this recipe with hot black coffee. You'll need something to wake you up right after.

As always, happy eating.

Daiisies

 

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