Echo Park - Dinette

Despite my conflicted feelings about gentrification, I meandered down to Dinette in Echo Park for breakfast. My flexible schedule means I get to take advantage of food offerings and morning jaunts that I normally would not have.


Sophs and I picked up a latte and an amazing croque monsieur. MIND BLOWN.

Let's go over the reasons why I love this place:

1. The Croque Monsieur was comparable to the ones I'd get in Paris, perfectly toasted, great use of herbs, nicely done béchamel, and quality ingredients, and was served piping hot with a side salad. I impressed with the execution and the portion. Win. A must-try. Delicious.

2. The ambiance. Even the slightly irritated, tatted up, apron wearing barista was a good fit for the chipper industrial chic window cafe. The shiny, crisp display with an abundance of freshly made pastries was perfection.

3. The heating lamps. It actually fell below 65 today and walking down with Sophie, I had my doubts about how comfortable the outdoor seating situation would be. (They only have outdoor seating btw.) They have heating lamps. Stop. I can't even. I enjoyed my breakfast without frostbite.

They offer a range of hot breakfast items, sandwiches for lunch, and delicious looking pastries. I definitely recommend it for a quick bite to eat.

Afterwards, Sophs and I stopped at her favorite dog treat store, Blue Collar, to pick up a jerky treat, which she demolished before I even paid. They had been closed on our way down and she was quite disgruntled. Then we did a quick Elysian Park hike and here I am, doing some work/playing with the new instagram filters.

I Made the Best Meal of My Life

Like seriously.

I made a lemon-provence roast chicken, beet and apple salad with goat cheese mousse, caramelized onions and green beans, and freshly baked baguettes. And everything was surprisingly simple!

 I've been on this French kick for a bit. Reading all the French fashion blogs, dreaming about an apartment in Paris, and imagining Sophie prancing around cobblestone streets in a designer leather collar. Clearly, I need some help. With my new library card (like omg I haven't had one since 2000), I checked out Rachel Khoo's "My Little Paris Kitchen" and got to work. I had to do a bit of modifying, because of Jason's vegetarian tendencies (so bacon was out, damn him) and my mom was against turning on the oven in 85 degree heat. So how did I do it? The secrets are below:

Lemon/Herbs de Provence Roast Chicken:

- quality, organic, roast chicken -> rinse and pat dry
- make compound butter: 3-4 tablespoons butter (preferably organic), sea salt, pepper, lemon zest, lemon juice, and a hearty helping of herbs de provence. (Save some for the green beans).
- cut slits into chicken chicken and throw in pats of butters
- put salt and pepper in the cavity with leftover lemon remains
- then rub salt and pepper and herbs into skin
- let sit for an hour
- THE SECRET: the NuWave oven. Put chicken breast side down, and cook for 15 mins on high. Turn over and cook for 20 mins on high. Make sure juices run clear, then let rest for ten mins before serving.

Beet and Apple Salad with Goat Cheese Mousse:
- Goat Cheese mousse: 3.5 oz herbed goat cheese softened and blent with 2-3 tbsp milk until smooth; should be like pancake batter. Whip up 3-4 tbsp heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks. Fold milk mixture into whipping cream. Put in sandwich bag and chill in fridge until ready to use.
- roast a big beet (peeled and chopped) with salt, pepper and olive oil; let cool
- chop dessert apple
- throw those two ingredients with a herb salad
- make a vinaigrette [blend one clove garlic, red wine vinegar, olive oil, and one heavy tbsp of whole grain Dijon)
- drizzle that over salad
- Take out sandwich bag, clip off corner, and make little goat cheese poufs on salad.

Green Beans and Caramelized Onions:
- blanch a couple of cups of green beans (boiling water 2-3 minutes, ice water bath)
- caramelize an onion in olive oil
- throw in green beans
- THE SECRET: throw in compound butter from the chicken
- cook for about 15 minutes until flavors have melted into each other

French bread:
I did this recipe, but made smaller baguettes. THE SECRET: Then I threw it into our mini toaster over, for about 18 minutes. Everyone got a baby baguette (even Sophie)!



Overall, the meal was AMAZING, despite the fact I burned myself on a baguette. The flavors were so light. I realized that I tend to rely heavily on garlic as my flavor base. It was refreshing to have these light and delicate fragrances, which were new to my cooking, with our traditional Sunday roast. Most definitely making all these things again.

Road Trip with Mushck

For honeybun's birthday, I decided to take her for a lil roadtrip (which required quite a bit of driving). It was amazing to spend the time with my mom without any external pressures of school/kitchen remodeling. This was the first time we had taken a trip together and I hope it will be the first of many. My mom was an easy travel partner. As long as she had coffee and sunglasses and the promise of a cold lager and tasty food at the end of the day, she was golden.

On the itinerary:

Day 1: San Simeon, Cambria
The Morgan Hotel: We had ocean views and could hear the waves at night. Super clean, comfy, and accommodating. Would def go back.

Indigo Moon: We ordered the fig-olive tapenade brie crostini, pepper-seared ahi, blue crab cake, goat cheese and leek tart, and green salad. It was easily the best meal of the trip. Delicious, fresh, complex flavors and amazing cheese. I loved the brie (duh) and my mom was over the moon about the lightness of the tart.

Harmony Zin: tart and refreshing.

Day 2:
Moonstone Beach: pretty and foggy for our coffee run.

Linns: We got the benedict (standard.) But the raspberry lemon meringue pie was phenomenalllllll. I generally loathe meringue - they tend to be chewy. This was light and toasty and wonderful. And the raspberry was an amazing complement.

Grow: This is my heaven. A gorgeous well curated nursery with rare succulents. My mom and I collected 8 new types to add to her already impressive collection. Also the owner was a lovely man and so funny and great.

Firestone Brewery: We had a tasting of the 805 (my mom's fave, light), Pale 31, the DBA and UDBA. The UDBA was one of my fave beers ever. It's unfiltered and only served at the brewery. I couldn't get enough of it.

Figueroa Mountain Brewery: My mom got the pilsner and I got my Hoppy Poppy. We ate pretzels and mustard in the lovely beer garden and they played Ingrid Michaelson while we watched people play horseshoes. So lovely.

Hotel Capri: Tots wants to be Ace Hotel. Clean but a bit too modern for honeybun and I. Great location and views though.

Some Italian Restaurant: with amazing mushrooms and live music (Carole King anyone?)

Day 3: Ojai
Knead Baking Company: We got the breakfast cake with raspberry and candied orange. Fucking amazing. My mom loved the cheddar dill scone and we got the honey chocolate nut bars for Jas. A lil pricey but wonderfully flavorful and perfectly executed.

Ojai Roasting Company: I had the latte. The espresso was too light for me, but mellow. Mom's drip was great, although a lil burnt.

  

{Music} Charlie - Le Sapin

I love French Pop - obvs.

{Movie} Le Belle Personne

Stolen from BohoBeat: