Music, Mammoth and Mono Lake

Since I worked through the holidays, I really felt I didn't have a break at all. This weekend certainly made up for it.

Friday night, Evan and I checked out Atwater Village Tavern (great margaritas, okay food), then Michael and I caught up at El Prado before going the Echoplex and seeing the Superhumanoids. I hadn't seen them perform in a minute, so it was great to rediscover their sound.

Evan had decided we were going to wake up before dawn to leave for Mammoth. So I threw some things in my bag (all useless, thank god for target) and we picked up Christable and Veronica. None of us had gotten more than two hours of sleep, and let me tell you, we no longer have the stamina of college students.


But once we got to Mammoth, it was amazing. I had decided to cook the entire weekend.

On the Menu:
Saturday brunch: mimosas, bacon and a Spanish Frittata with new potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, goat cheese, and red onion.
Saturday dinner: artisan pizza with pancetta, fried eggplant, pesto, pizza sauce, mozzarella, burrata, caramelized onions and heirloom tomatoes with a caesar salad with homemade croutons.
Sunday breakfast: orange-banana pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs.
Sunday dinner: ground beef tacos with sauteed kale and onions, pepperjack cheese and peach salsa
Sunday late night snack: sweet potato, pesto on herbed flatbread.
Monday breakfast: omelet with peppers, kale, potatoes, parmesan and goat cheese.

I was happy with the results, although some of my recipes still need tweaking (of course). Also I want to bake more.

So while everyone was skiing, Veronica, Sophie and I hiked. We did the Snowcreek Trail (Sophie loves ice and snow balls.) We also went to Mono Lake, which is this amazing salt lake with tufa rock formations. Absolutely gorgeous.

We went up to the main lodge to see the half-pipe invitationals (i don't even know what those are.) There was hot-tubbing, music, beer tasting, fooseballing, napping and movie-watching. Such an epic time with hilarious and fun people, including Vinson (Evan's friend from home who drove down from San Jose) and Lincoln (Evan's and my coworker.)

Although I need a bit of recovery time from my weekend, I was so grateful and relaxed the entire time. <3 p="">

Addicted. The Bread and Bacon Edition.

So now that I'm obsessed with baking French bread, (I've made six loaves in the last week), I've been experimenting with other things.

Last night, I made orange marmalade to go with fresh warm bread in honor of Mr. Breadman aka Grant Hartwell's visit. Just as I was nervous about baking, I've also been nervous about making jams/preserves, etc. But following through with some personal goals, I used a simple recipe and was quite happy with the results.

Orange Marmalade:
5 small oranges, cut in half, sliced thinly.
4 cups of water
2 cups sugar
roughly a teaspoon of cinnamon

I used a heavy pot and threw in the orange slices and water and brought to a boil. Boil until the fruit is tender. (If I could break the peel with the wooden spoon, it was pretty good.) Add sugar and cin, lower heat and stir until you get the consistency you're looking for. This took about 25 mins. Cool and spread generously on warm bread with butter.

This morning, Arianna and I took Sophie hiking and stopped by Highland Cafe for lattes. I drooled over someone's French toast and then realized I had leftover bread from last night. Done and Done.



Almond and Cinnamon French Toast
Egg mixture:
1 egg
Dash of milk
Cinn
Dash of almond extract

Stir up the egg mixture, heat up pan with a bit of veg oil. Slice French bread thinly and coat with egg mixture.
On medium heat, cook toast until golden brown on both sides. I threw on some sliced banana and some maple syrup for a quick breakfast.

But just in case you aren't in a sweets mood, I also made a legit "salad."

Warmed Winter Bacon Salad
Package of bacon
Two sweet potatoes
Package of shaved Brussels
Half of a red onion
Half package of Kale
a few oz of goat cheese
apple cider vinegar
salt/pepper to taste

This isn't healthy, but don't judge because you'll love it. (You can judge the fact we ate this with Scott's hot wings; my body is still recovering.)

Fry up bacon. Once crispy, throw in chopped and peeled sweet potato. Fry up till sweet potato is tender. Throwing in kale, cook until tender. Then throw in red onion and kale. Stir up, cook until tender. Add salt, pepper, and about a tablespoon or two of vinegar. Then stir in crumbled goat cheese. Inhale.

I'm getting back into my cooking mode, thank god. I just need to aim toward more healthy. But that'll be another post.

In other news, we did have a small house fire this past weekend. Everyone is okay but it was terrifying. Arianna and I were home when it happened and thank god for her sensitive nose and quick instincts. Because of the incident and for other reasons, I am bidding the Fig House adieu and headed toward a new place (at least temporarily) in... ATWATER! Its an adorable neighborhood with generous and amazing people. I am so excited to be a part of their community although I will miss the Fig House (even though I'll probably be dropping in a bit.)

Men in the Kitchen

I spent most of Sunday in bed watching Black Mirror, my new favorite show and catching up on lost sleep from nights in the hostel. On Sunday night, Almaz hosted Chef Matheus and Sous Chef Pablo in her kitchen. They whipped up a delicious, fresh Italian meal of artichokes, rice and a summer salad. Then we finished the night off with singing and dancing per usual.

Needless to say, I was a bit tired when I got home on Monday so I was overjoyed when Matheus opted to stay in and show me how to properly cook pasta and we watched NCIS till the wee hours.

Last night, I put the pasta skills to work and Almaz came over for a girls night of wine and gossip.

I love my friends.

Makeshift Salad Spinning

International Trips and Visitors

I'm headed off to Brussels tonight for seven weeks (!!!!). I have a layover in London and arrive in Brussels at 8pm tomorrow night. Let's not talk about how much I'm freaking out.

Funny enough, as my craving for Europe started growing, London came to me last month. :-)

Last month, I got the insane pleasure of seeing both of my London besties within a few days of each other.

When Maya arrived, we did a champagne brunch at my house (thank you bevmo's 5 cent wine sale). There were six of us girls total. I made a chorizo frittata, pancakes, bacon, and bruschetta and mojitos after we finished off the mimosas. Scott gave an impromptu concert and it was just an insanely lovely and fun day. and I love Maya.

Then the next weekend, I picked up Leiley and Elena from their Weho hotel and we hit up intelligenstia and then artisan house for bottomless mimosas (do we see a theme here?) The girls had never had bottomless mimosas (refills are slightly uncouth in the UK). However, we had an amazing brunch with V and then did some tanning on the roof. It felt like I had seen Leiley recently, not two years(!) ago. She's on a whirlwind American trip, but I hope we can catch up again when I visit London in August.