Thursday, February 27, 2014

Girls Night In - The Recipe Edition

In retrospect, yesterday was a great day. I attended a phenomenal symposium put on by the LA County Bar Association and heard from experts on everything from lactation accommodation to how to work with transgender clients. After, Jacy and Ellie came over for dinner. It has been forever since we've hung out together, just us,without any pressure to go out. So I decided to try some new (and old) flavor combinations for dins.


On the menu:
Beer-battered eggplant fries with honey-mustard dipping sauce
Bite-sized caprese salad
Quinoa salad with parmesean, sautéed brussels and balsamic glazed roasted carrots


Beer-battered eggplant fries with honey-mustard dipping sauce



(Ingredients: eggplant, flour, beer, thyme, dijon, honey, veggie oil, seasoning)

Take one eggplant, peeled, quartered and then sliced, and then sprinkle with a bit of salt to get the excess water out.

Heat a sauce pan with about half-inch of oil (we're shallow-frying)

Mix flour and beer in a bowl with whatever herbage, seasoning you like. I did thyme and pepper. Just add enough beer to make the batter like a pancake batter consistency, kind of thick.

Dip the eggplant in the batter and fry a few slices at a time. Make sure the oil is hot, bc the eggplant can absorb a lot of oil. I actually found the eggplant cooked incredibly fast - just cook until a darker caramelly brown. Drain on napkins

Mix equal parts dijon and honey in a dipping bowl.

Put on platter. Inhale.

*These were a hit. Apparently Jacy doesn't even like eggplant, but she loved these. They had a crunchy outside and a wonderful, light consistency on the inside.

Bite-sized caprese salad

(Ingredients: small heirloom tomatoes, baby mozzarella balls, fresh basil leaves, seasoning, lemon juice, toothpicks)

*This is a fun twist on a classic appetizer inspired by Anthony

Cut small heirloom tomatoes in half. Stick on toothpick.
Take a leaf or half leave of basil, fold up Stick on toothpick.
Cut mozzarella ball in half. Stick on fork,
Make a billion.
Drizzle with good olive oil, balsamic, and some lemon juice.
Pepper. Salt.

Quinoa salad with parmesean, sautéed brussels and balsamic glazed roasted carrots
(Ingredients: quinoa, carrots, balsamic, honey, chili flake, brussels, olive oil, dijon, seasoning, grated parm, shredded brussels).

Make the carrots: grab a handful of carrots, rinse, then quarter. You want evenly cut pieces. Put in bowl, then toss with a dressing made of balsamic, honey, chili flakes, salt, olive oil and pepper. Roast in oven at 425 degrees until soft (about 25 mins).

Make quinoa: I use red quinoa. Place 1 c. quinoa in pot with 1.75 c. water. Drizzle a bit of olive oil, pepper, salt, and any other seasonings you like (i.e cayenne, italian, etc.) Bring to a boil uncovered. Turn down, simmer with lid. Cook for 12-14 mins. Fluff with fork.

Make the brussels Sautee brussels (half-package) in pan with olive oil until golden brown. Throw in the quinoa.

Throw carrots in quinoa along with a handful of grated parm.

Put salad on plate, drizzle with the same dressing as you used for the carrots. Feel free to add a little mustard here or whatever other flavors you like.



After all of this, I promptly fell asleep on the couch and my phone was hijacked by these three lovely creatures. I then crawled into my comfy bed, warmed up by Sophie, and listened to the rain all night. A very satisfactory night.













Tuesday, February 25, 2014

I Woke Up Like Dis.

It's a bit crushing when your day starts off superbly well (i.e. a sunrise trail run, breakfast with your housemate and then an inspiring Skype conversation) and then the day sort of blahs out. Like nothing actually bad, just a few awkward snippets hiccup in, and then you're feeling insecure and pathetic.


That was my day yesterday. Of course, it was nothing that some burrata and an early night couldn't fix, but this morning (aka 5:30am) I woke up with the distinct desire to get it together. Yoga. Kale and ginger juice. Three research assignments. Three strongly worded emails. Laundry. Personal statement drafting. And hopefully a hike before class. Boom.

That's all a bit a vague. It will suffice to say that I am missing the structure of being overwhelmingly busy on other peoples' schedules. Prioritizing things on my own is lovely on a good day but allows too much wallowing on a rough one.

Anyway, a few photos from last night and this morning:







Monday, February 24, 2014

Dinners for 12 Strangers!

I've written about being ridiculously proud of being a Bruin sporadically in the past. One of the best activities I have participated in has been Dinners for 12 Strangers. I haven't missed a dinner since 2007, have attended a Dinner in London and have had the opportunity to host my own the last two years with Anthony.


A Dinner for 12 Strangers is essentially a smattering of 12 individuals: students, alumni, faculty, grad students, etc. Someone signs up to host (i.e. me) and then invitations are sent out to students and others who would like to participate/eat home-cooked food. We had such a wonderfully energetic and fun group of students last night and Anthony and I planned and executed a rather delicious menu:


  • Bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with blue cheese
  • Caprese salad 
  • Quinoa Salad with roasted Brussels and sweet potatoes with a honey-lemon dressing
  • Cheese plate with brie, pecorino, prosciutto, salami and grapes
  • Various flatbreads with mozzarella and herbed goat cheese, andouille sausage, caramelized onions and thyme mushrooms with pesto and a vodka cream sauce
  • Lemon Bars
  • Chocolate and Vanilla Macarons 


This event allows students to interact with alumni, young and old, and become a part of the broader UCLA network. In addition, it allows psychotically enthusiastic alumni like myself to keep in touch with my youth. (Dude, I felt so old.) And I had guinea pigs for my new recipes (i.e. the quinoa salad.)

I had an amazing time and I hope the attendees did as well :)

GO BRUINS
P.S. How great is my sorority squat in that first photo? Be jealous.




Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Salad Nicoise and My Life in General

So I've been incredibly successful with this taking time for myself business.





Friday:
Met Ellie, Travis, Ivana and Arianna at the Satellite for The Peach Kings plus Two Boots after.




Saturday:
Hike at Griffith plus brunch at Home for a feast with Evan and Sophie
Music and Beach with Grant, Evan and Sophie



Sunday:
Hike with Jacy
Brunch (brioche with raspberry lavender brioche toast with almond butter at Sqirl) and thrifting with Ellie in Echo Park
Dinner with V, Grant and Matt and my mommy and aunt :)





Monday:

Matt and I did some stuff around the house. I went to Superking for the first time I ca't even deal, such amazing produce. So then I juiced and made an Amber version of a salad nicoise for Ellie, Evan, Matt and Patrick. Of course, we all had sweet teeth, so we got five slices of pie from House of Pies:

1. Peanut Butter Pie: great texture, but need at least a chocolate drizzle
2. Lemon Meringue: I'm never a huge fan of this business bc the curd is never real enough for me. Although this was one of their most popular pies, I didn't love it... or even like it that much.
3. Raspberry Marble Cheesecake: UM WINE. A perfect goddamn cheesecake
4. Dutch Apple: traditional pie with a crumble topping. Pretty good.
5. Chocolate Banana Cream Pie: My second favorite next to the cheesecake. Real chunks of fresh banana with the right ratio to the chocolate cream. Yum.


We were meant to go to the Echo to see two of our favorite bands, Kera and the Lesbians and Andrew Sheppard. But the food coma kicked in and we were half human, so we called it a night.

And then, finally, Ivana and Brooke came home from gallivanting about Big Sur at 3am. So happy to have my housemate home :) and we're cooking kale tofu ramen tonight and drinking organic beer.

Oh and I got my taxes done. Let's make it rain, mofos.





Recipe for Amber's Salad Nicoise (aka totally made up and not traditional):



Salad:
2/3 Package of quality small heirloom tomatoes (washed)
4 hard boiled eggs (sliced)
a couple of handfuls of sauteed green beans
six small new potatoes, parboiled whole in salted water, then quartered.
A head of butter lettuce, chopped.
- Assemble prettily on a plate

Salad dressing: 
one clove of garlic, minced
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
tbsp dijon
pepper
salt
some minced dill, basil, thyme (may a 1/2 tsp chopped each - like whatever)
two chopped up anchovies
a few capers
- mix up in a mason jar (duh) and then drizzle over salad.

Salmon
- two filets -> marinate in this for a hour:
1/2 can beer (light beer - i.e. heineken)
the juice of lemons
the same herbs as above
pepper
salt
some dijon
- pan fry salmon, so skin is crispy

Cream sauce:
Also take leftover marinade, place in sauce pan, through in a tbsp of flour, let thicken, add some half and half so its creamy (duh).

Place salmon on top of dress salad and put a dollop of the cream sauce and enjoy!

xx



Thursday, February 13, 2014

Bits of My Morning

I love my mornings. Whether its breakfasting, coffee-ing, hiking, blogging, etc., I love that that time is for me to center myself and get it together. The last two weeks, I have been slammed at work, so my mornings consisted of too much coffee at 5am and rushing to get everything done. But starting my day of like that sets me on edge, making me prone to over-caffeinated freakouts and naps. Now that those projects are somewhat under control, I can get back to my morning routine.

Today, I woke up at 6:15ish and then did some juicing. I had lovely tangelos from Lauren, so I mixed those with some fuji apples, ginger, and carrot. Then Sophie and I went on our intense hike in Griffith after I did a bit of editing. (The projects are under control, not done yet though :) ). Then I came home and made some breakfast: kale, egg white, red onion, peach salsa, avocado, pepper jack over a corn tortilla and a cup of tea.

Hopping in the shower, taking a green shot and getting to class soon, although I'm feeling far too relaxed to be bothered with trusts and wills.

A few bits from my morning today - (Warning: even though I'm a morning person, I'm still a bit groggy.)










Thursday, February 6, 2014

Life Lately

I meant to update my blog over the weekend and then I got food poisoning from chile relleno from Don Antonios in Santa Monica. Literally died.

But Veronica brought over my red gatorade and my favorite sour candy and after about 30 hours, I was back to normal. The weekend was amazing though.

Alene and I checked out Allumette for Dine LA on Thursday. I have to write a full review. It was really amazing. The dishes I was a bit wary of ended up being my favorite, i.e. fish over tapioca pudding. Then I met my old roomies and Evan at the Hermosillo for a catch up session and chocolate mousse.

Friday, Christable and I hit up Gillian's birthday at King Eddy's in DTLA - great hipster (cheap) bar and great to see G :) Then we went to the Satellite to see Vim Dicta and Hindu Pirates and meet up with Ellie and Travis. We played pool and drank tequila and ended up gorging on bourbon pecan pie at Brite Spot at 3am. And then as Christable described, Evan landed like an eagle and picked us up.


On Saturday morning, I made banana pancakes for a mimosa brunch for Cassi, Evan, Matt, Patrick, Ivana and Brooke. Lots of mimosas. Then Don Antonios happened (I'm still queasy thinking about it.) I still thought I could get it together, so Cassi, Christable and I checked out Hotel Cafe for Okapi Sun's set and then hit up Bootie LA. Bad idea. Hot sweaty bodies writhing around you and the smell of cheap alcohol will really catalyze your projectile vomiting due to food poisoning. 

I spent the entirety of Sunday in bed watching Netflix until Veronica saved me with my favorite sick food. Since then, I've been taking it easy and catching up on work, namely that UN petition, a motion, an opposition, proposition research, a scholarship app, law review stuff, etc.

And of course, I also did a girls date dinner with V at our fave place, Edendale. - oxtail au jus. I can't even. So good.

I picked up some stuff at the Americana last night and checked out Din Tai Fung with Aline  - phenomenal. Review coming later.

Add in a few hikes, including the two hour one with Tawsh and Matt this morning, ginger shots, and catching up on Oscar movies, I'm feeling pretty good about this week.


AND MANDZ IS COMING TO TOWN THIS WEEKEND. Plus dinner with my mom and some gardening, I am a happy camper.

The only thing I need now is some yoga to stretch out those post-sickness muscles.







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