sybil and the bacon donut

my 2 seconds of fame (at 1:19). and, i didn't even get a minute, much less 15.



no worries, fame won't change me.

the goal: kilimanjaro

i plan on going to summit kili soon so here are some things to look forward to. it seems ann curry took the machame route, the same one i plan on taking. eeks! must get my arse in gear for that daily "6 hours of stairmaster with a 20 pound backpack."

RIP coach newell

a sad day in the college basketball world.

may you rest in peace, coach.

eating at aunt kizzy's

after 24 hours in san francisco, i found myself back home in la la land. home and hungry.

i have heard much about aunt kizzy's back porch and how it was so good yadda yadda yadda. i have never eaten there primarily because i did not know where glencoe was. aunt kizzy's, however, moved from its former location on glencoe to washington boulevard where the killer shrimp used to be. so, because i knew exactly where the new location was, i went. finally.

let me begin with the corn bread. i really liked it. i don't know if it was the hunger (the last time i ate anything at that point was 16 hours before, i.e., dinner) or if it was truly good. but this i can tell you: it was warm, buttery, had a slight crunch on the outside and yummy soft goodness on the inside. i can also say that it was better than the corn bread at roscoe's chicken and waffles.



after consuming two cornbread, i ordered the 2 entrees, 2 sides of fried chicken and smothered pork chop, and sides of green beans and mac n cheese. perhaps i was satiated at this point but i found that the fried chicken at honey's kettle was juicier and crispier. aunt kizzy's chicken was crispy and juicy, just not as those from honey's kettle. the smothered pork chop was tender, although i have decided that i am not into anything smothered. that includes smothered potatoes or smothered me. the mac n cheese was also good but the green beans were a bit too buttery.



now d had the ribs. as i don't eat the cow, i didn't taste it. but d claims that it was really good. and i saw that the meat was falling off the bone. so it seemed good.



i was happy i went. but i probably won't be visiting aunt kizzy's anytime soon.

lesson learned? nothing smothered.

san francisco: a day in the life

i was up in sf during an unusually warm mid-november day. literally, one day. 24 hours. so, what to do?

9 am: after landing and checking in at the hotel, we immediately went to the saturday farmers' market at the ferry building. it cracked me up that there was a veggie valet.



10 am: tasting wines at the wine merchant at the ferry building. jason was our new friend. he had to be. we were there doing flights from 10 am till 11:30 am, and then again after lunch.



11:30 am: lunch. finally. at hog oyster island. or is it hog island oyster? still at the ferry building. we sat outside to enjoy the warm day.

this was the market salad with anchovies (or boquerones, as our server liked to call it).



kumamoto oysters



and of course, the star of the day, grilled cheese: i order it every. single. time. the bread was crispy outside. the inside was soft and full of melted cheese goodness from cowgirl creamery (next door). don't know the proportions but the cheeses were: mazzo secco, cave aged gruyere and fromage blanc. ummm. ummm. ummmm.



we saw other people order the crab and we decided we had to have it. sadly, i was not that excited with it. and i love crab. this particular dish was not warm and all the gooey goodness underneath that shell were all scraped off. the shell was cleaned out! the horror! note to self: stick with the grilled cheese.



our server bringing our third bottle of wine.



j and the vouvray.



2 pm: back at the wine merchant... these were three kinds of chocolates. don't remember where they were from. good with 2 bottles of red wine though...



8:45 pm: dinner time. this time at circolo in portrero hill. we started off with this tuna tartare. it was served with stale tasting chips. shame. however, the chunky tuna was good and i liked the seaweed salad bit.



this foie gras was ok...



this spinach salad was served with bits of swine. yep, those were pork, not croutons. brilliant!



this was my chilean seabass (i know, i know). i liked it nicely seared.



i am in love with crustacean's (in beverly hills) garlic noodles. and i measure every single bowl of garlic noodles to crustacean's. i really shouldn't. i always end up disappointed. and this was no exception. it wasn't garlicky enough and the noodles a bit soggy. but, it did it's purpose of soaking up the alcohol from my daytime festivities.



we brought our own cupcakes to circolo. these were from a place called kara's cupcakes. a lot of people rave about it. i don't know why. they were good enough, but nothing special. i had a chocolate chocolate (middle bottom) and a vanilla chocolate (bottom left). the icing in both weren't as sweet as magnolia bakery's (in nyc) or as rich as that ganache on the cupcakes from the now-defunct dainties (in la). but the cake themselves were light, which i liked.





so that was the end of 14 hours in sf. the rest of the time was spent dancing and sleeping. then, back to reality. home. sweet. home.

it's a new york state of mind

i recently went to nyc to celebrate my favorite holiday. no, not jrue holiday. halloween.

that being said, while nyc was supposed to be all fun, girl gotta eat. so here goes my gastronomic travel story.

ESCA

while i think pizzeria mozza in los angeles and b&b ristorante in las vegas are okay, i truly enjoy osteria mozza. but, more importantly, i love babbo in nyc. so, i thought, i love seafood and mario batali has been giving me some good eating, why not try esca? i did.... within three hours of landing in nyc.

i started off with their famed crudo. sashimi. the problem that i had with it was that all the fish tasted the same. i.e., all were dressed in sea salt, olive oil and lemon. what should have been a light, refreshing dish became a bit too much for me.



on the other hand, the crispy troutlings were good (that is, without having to drench it in the horseradish). i just liked how it was unapologetically fried without being greasy. if they served it the way it was, without any dressing, i would have been just as happy. i am happy to report that the poor fish was completely eaten - heads, tails and bones included.



i am a fan of octopus. and this grilled octopus with some really large white beans was no exception. i have found that batali's restaurants really do octopus well. i don't know why. but this was meaty and tender and served warm.



this blackfish, served with mushrooms and leeks, was bland. to be fair, my mom asked that it be "low sodium" to comply with her dietary restrictions. that being said, i did not enjoy this dish.




SPICE MARKET

after lunching with mom, the rest of my eats were with the gals. this jean-georges vongerichten joint in the meat packing district was bumping. it was crowded, and it took a while to get a seat even though we had reservations. as a consequence, the bar area was a popular spot. the drinks were nothing to write home about though. nonetheless, we met some interesting dudes who were bent on impressing us gals on how hip they were. really.

below was the seafood laksa with shrimp and scallop. as in one shrimp. and one scallop.



i have no memory of the name of this dish or how it tasted. that's sad.



this was the coconut sticky rice, which coconut flavor was subtle to none.



this was the chili garlic noodles with shrimp. i suppose it was tasty but for the fact that all garlic noodles have to be measured against crustacean's garlic noodles. with that in mind, this was average.



this dish was the snap peas. i don't really remember this dish either. how sad.




RESTO

prior to arriving to nyc, i heard much about this new-ish restaurant. it stood out because it was supposed to be swine heaven. which was always a plus for me. so off we were to lunch.

this was the belgian hangover pasta, which came with ham, gruyere and egg served sunny side up. i liked this dish. the ham was thick and the pasta was nice. just don't look at the bottom of the dish when you've scraped it off. yes, that's a lot of oil.

this was the grilled cheese with gruyere and pork belly. mmmm..... pork belly. the bread was soaked through with butter. but i was ok with that. definitely not for the diet conscious. unless, you are conscious that you are busting your diet. let's just say that those green things on the side of the plate were left untouched and the rest were cleaned off.



the fries below were average but what made it good was the sauce, which you can choose. ours was yogurt, cumin and garlic. those rich flavors went well with the fries.



the tete de cochon below was a special dish and was basically a spicy pulled pork. like the grilled cheese, the bread was soaked through with butter. i thought it was tasty although i enjoyed the grilled cheese better.



MAGNOLIA BAKERY

i like cupcakes. and i heard much about this cupcakery. but i don't get it. see, i am a big fan of dainties cupcakes in la. but alas, dainties is no longer. it disappeared. poof. gone. but i digress.

the cupcakes below from magnolia were of the chocolate variety, which i tried. the cupcake itself was light but i thought to be too grainy. the icing, on the other hand, was nice and creamy. don't get me wrong, it was good. still. i miss dainties.

BAR BOULUD

one of my girlfriends really wanted to try daniel boulud's restaurant. so off we went.

the cheese bread below was fluffy enough. but again, i saw and tasted it and i couldn't help but compare it to the bistro laurent tourondel empire's divine cheese puff heaven. my vote goes to blt. sorry boulud. for starters, i would serve it warm to piping hot. i would also make it fluffier.



ordering the pork belly below should not be a surprise to anyone who know me. that being said, this version was tasty and crunchy. but a bit too salty. i still enjoyed it though.



i ordered this special dish, which was basically baby sheep prepared as a sausage, grilled and skewered. i was assured by the server that it was fresh. i found it too gamey. and when i say gamey, i meant smelly. as an aside, i often wonder why sheep abroad is not gamey (i.e., smelly) but it almost always is in this country....



the chocolat noisette below might have been my favorite dish from bar boulud. the light chocolate sprinkled with hazelnuts had a perfect texture in the mouth. mmmmmm.... hazelnuts.

i ate more. as in at green bo in chinatown (very disappointing) and at miracle bar and grill in the village (good bar food). but i'm tired.

keep in mind though that although i may tire of writing, i can never tire of eating. if i ever do, pigs are flying.

what a historic moment

i gained 10 pounds in the last 3 weeks eating with simon and eating in nyc.

oh right, there's that other historic moment.

i am pleased.

i forgot how my palate tastes

on september 10, i went to a zocalo panel moderated by jonathan gold of la weekly. with him were several chefs, discussing, in effect, what is la food. octavio becerra was a panelist. he just opened palate food + wine in glendale. he predicted that glendale is the new culver city. hmmmm.....

so, on october 12, a few friends went to check it out. the staff was friendly. especially the french bartender who seemed to have a good time talking europe, cocktails, wine and politics with my british friend, simon.

we got started early. i remember thinking that the cheese plate was ok. nothing stood out.


i thought the butter, which was sprinkled with salt and thinly sliced beets (i think), was interesting and good but the bread... not so muc



one of the surprises i enjoyed at palate were the potted jars. i can't tell which is which now but one was pork and one was chicken. they were spiced perfectly and went well with the toasted bread.





being a swine lover, i was very excited to try the porkfolio, an assorted plate of cured meats. the problem with it was that it was just too dry.



like i said, i am a big fan of the swine. this was the pork belly, which was pretty good but did not have any crackling. but that's ok. belly fat is almost always a good thing.



the scallops were fine. i honestly don't remember it well so it must not have been that amazing. alternatively, it wasn't that horrid either.



this was the gnocchi. i remember that almost all my dining companions enjoyed this dish. it just didn't stand out for me.



the biggest disappointment was the special truffle dish. i can't even remember what was in the dish other than the truffle. it was memorable because the truffle was hard and tasteless.



i remember that this chocolate mousse was pretty good.



this pudding was also sweet and good.

ok, lesson: blog after eating.

but here are my immediate thoughts on whether glendale is the new culver city. ummmm.... no. it also doesn't help that there is nothing (other than a car dealership) within walking distance of palate. so while palate has some good food, and some not so good food, i doubt i will be trekking to glendale anytime soon.

finally, a win.

yes, wazzu was (is) at the bottom of the pac-10 barrel. but hey, a win is a win.

so much confidence, indeed, that bruin fans were doing the wave.... a lot... during the bruins' commanding 28-3 win. i wanted the wave to stop.



kevin craft seemed more confident. that's good. but my euphoria was (still is) tempered by the fact that, again, wazzu was (and still is) at the bottom of the barrel. we shall see what happens next week when ucla travels to oregon (who just got embarrassed by $c last night).

to be continued...

ooops, sorry

ok, i feel a bit remorseful for what i said after reading this.

good for coleman overcoming so much. and i am happy he is at ucla. i'd be happier though if he can hang on to the ball....