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

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="">

What I've Been Up To

Folk music at Footsies. Baking Chocolate Chip Cookies. Watching Puppies. Hiking. Hipster Wine. New restaurants. First Aid Kit at the Fonda (AMAZING). Homemade Pumpkin Thyme Mac and Cheese via Spoon Fork Bacon. Scary Movies. Argo (go see it - so good - love Ben). Lots of work. Planning for our Halloween Party. Getting over strep throat (gross.) Runs around the Reservoir. New Boots. Work. More Work. Some More Work. Superhumanoids artist in residency at the Echo. Delicious Maple Custard Pie from the Pie Hole. Pumpkin Beers (love Rogue and Dogfish's Punkin). 

Other news:

- Sophie had her last big medical treatment, which was a hernia operation. The doctor called me at 10am and told me the surgery had gone well and to pick her up at 3. I went at 2:30 (of course), and her doctor said at 10:05am she was ready to send Sophie home bc she already had so much energy. <3 baby="baby" bear.="bear." my="my" nbsp="nbsp" span="span">

- Eager to try new recipes: Butternut Squash Skillet. Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Maple-Chai Glaze. 

- After getting sick this past weekend, I'm re-prioritizing my health. Since Sophie got her shots, we'e been doing a lot of hikes, runs and walks. But I want to reintegrate some yoga and eat better. :-)

- School is great. Work is amazing. But I need to be more forward-focused.

xoxo