PCH - Winning

On our way back from Outside Lands, Evan and I took a detour down the coast with stops at Pfeiffer Beach and Point Lobos. It was Evan's first time properly traveling down PCH, so we stopped at River Inn and Big Sur Bakery for some treats. I highly recommend the Roast Beef Sandwich and the iced Americano at the Big Sur Bakery. I literally have not had a sandwich that good since ever and I generally don't even like roast beef that much. That sandwich and the views all day made a rather long drive a relaxing sojourn into nature's bounty.

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

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.

  

Two Birthdays and a Wedding

So last week was crayyyyy.

On Tuesday, Benny, Scott, and Grant came over for an early birthday celebration for Bobes and I. Pizza, beer and far too much fun was had by all.

The next day, I did a glorious dinner with Alene, Aline and Seda at Church and State. We ordered mussels, the charcuterie plate, mac and cheese, a flatbread, steak/frites, lavender honey goat cheese, and market veg plus the salted caramel chocolate tarte and the pot de creme. Yum.

Then I drove up to Santa Cruz and partied it up with Kat (the most lovely host ever), Nika and German, Aimee and Danny, Megan and Molly, Alicia and Conner, and the old/new Wanzer crew: Emil, Raj and Rameet. There was dog beaching, whiskey-drinking, crepe-making and burger-eating. It was wonderful. After Rob gave me the best surprise by showing up at Wanzer on Friday, we hit The Red. So funnnnnnn

Then on Saturday, after recovering with coffee and a walk with Emil, I went to Megan and Mark's crazy gorgeous wedding at Nestldown. It was a fairy-tale, intimate wedding in the redwoods. Megan looked ethereal - I can't even describe it. I was so grateful to be there that day. And then I caught the bouquet. Crazy times.

I hit up the city and met Rob and Eric at their apt. I took it easy, because the next day we did bottomless mimosas at Pasion with Alexandra and Carrie. Then we went to Golden Gate Park for the afternoon while Sophie stole toys from small children. We ordered a ton of Chinese and watched Zero-Dark-Thirty. Phenomenal day with phenomenal people.

So now I'm in a crunch with school and life. More updates on that later.

much love

- A

Weekend of Freedom

My work and school schedule starts today, which means 8am - 10pm days. So this past weekend, between doing laundry, an ortho appt, cleaning the house (new bar/pantry organization - wooo), and doing my reading as well as some work, I found time to go to the beach on Friday, have tacos and beer with Grant on Friday (love him), hang out with my mommy, do brunch with my housemate, and hit up a concert at the Greek last night. I don't really follow Gavin DeGraw or Colbie Caillat anymore, but Ellie's friend got us backstage and Gavin said I was amazing, so maybe I'll have to start listening again :-)

The only sore points of my weekend was that my a/c broke and figuring out my finances - roughhhhh times lol.

Some snapshots over the last three days:

New vintage dress:

 Pancakes on Friday:

Malibu beach day:

 Astro Diner Night on Saturday - yum hot chocolate

 Reflections at Auntie Em's for brunch:

 Glam Shots - Driving to the Greek:

 Drinks galore - backstage: