Author Archives: j

to hutch or not to hutch

homeless dishes: this is what happens when you give away your hutch before you’ve found its successor.

pretzels

m has been wantibng me to make pretzels for years. she’s been wanting me to make a lot of things for many years (sigh). i finally did it! although there’s a much more toxic, complicated way of boiling them in lye, i got away with baking soda and it spit white dust all over the stove and microwave.

see the one with liquid pooling in the print? that’s the one m brushed with butter. of course.

blogging

i am working on a separate website dedicated to my photography and web development. i’ve thought long and hard about which photos i want to feature and how i want to feature them, which topics i want to discuss, and how much i want to reveal on social media. this blog is virtually nonexistent by web definitions. the other one, not so much, eventually.

it took me 3 full days to decide on a minimalist wordpress theme that forgets itself enough to focus on the content and allow intuitive interaction with said content. i have a plan for photos: storytelling ones on the homepage, collections of other interesting ones, and whatever i want in blog posts. to add to that, i am tweeting (mostly about food but also about graphics, web dev, and typography) and i am posting photos to instagram that aren’t on the website at all. photo tweets can be of any quality or subject. photos on instagram have to be of moderate quality or be nostalgic or tell a story. i am ignoring facebook altogether. at work, i used to disseminate content automatically from blog posts to twitter and facebook, but it always bothered me that if i was truly following these sources, i would only find repetition and blah. so my goal is not necessarily to blog/tweet/post often but to blog/tweet/post meaningfully. (and still maintain a modicum of privacy if such a thing is possible.)

if you’ve followed someone like maria popova, you’ll know that real blogging takes time – lots of time. on this site, i spout whatever i want without much regard, but well-crafted words require thought, preparation, and drafts. at first, i was a little worried i wouldn’t have enough content, but i know that’s unfounded. my goal is not to tweet five times a minute or blog three times a day. my goal is simple: share relevant, curated content on a regular basis. if i were to follow me, i would like to discover a wide variety of images and ideas that form a cohesive whole. ok, now go forth and create!

date night: status kuo

: yuzu garlic bread

: squash side

: mac & cheese

: taiwanese sunday gravy

: rotisserie chicken

: brussels sprouts

we first saw this restaurant in january (of course i sent a photo to kl) so when the BBE popped up for chicken, gravy, and brussels sprouts, i nabbed it. we nearly missed the window but we remembered to go just 1 day before the promo expired. we also forgot to feed the parking meter but, fortunately, no ticket so luck was on our side all night. m’s favorite was the squash (even though she wanted the chinese broccoli) but then it became the gravy and then it became the salad. the yuzu garlic bread, not so much.

i’m trying to get back into the groove of taking photos in public. sorry about the awkwardly focused mac & cheese. it was my favorite dish so i will blame it on wanting to get to the eating.

potato chips and old people

j: you smell like potato chips.
m: because i ate them. it’s better than smelling like old people because i can’t say that i ate those.

(fair enough.)

tiny spoon tiny tupperware

life just doesn’t get any better than this.

avocado toast

m is on an avocado toast streak and she doesn’t even like avocados. after 2 other tastes, at corner door and superba food and bread respectively, m was in the mood to try it at home. she made a mustard vinaigrette with violet mustard and tossed it with the baby arugula. then she added mozzarella, radish slices, jalapeno slices, cilantro sprigs, and chunky avocado on a WF french loaf slice. lastly, we sprinkled black lava sea salt on the avocado and then again on the very top. total money.

green chorizo tacos

NYT recipe

INGREDIENTS
1 pound ground pork
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 tablespoon whole coriander seeds
⅛ teaspoon whole cumin seeds
½ teaspoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican
1 dried bay leaf
4 whole cloves
8 garlic cloves (do not peel)
2 Serrano chiles
1 poblano chile
¼ cup sherry vinegar
1 cup parsley leaves
1 tablespoon kosher salt

PREPARATION
Place the ground pork in a large bowl. Set a cast-iron skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add black peppercorns, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, oregano, bay leaf and cloves and toast briefly until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Remove from the heat, transfer to a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder. Add to the bowl with the ground pork.
Return the skillet to a high flame and heat for 5 minutes. Add garlic cloves, Serrano and poblano chiles and roast, turning them from time to time until softened slightly and blackened in spots, about 6 to 12 minutes, removing the pieces as they finish cooking. Set aside to cool at room temperature. Once garlic cloves are cool enough to handle, peel them and discard the skin. Wearing gloves if possible, remove the stems and seeds from the Serrano chiles. Remove the stems and seeds from the poblano chile, and peel away the charred skin.
In a blender, purée the roasted garlic cloves, Serrano and poblano chiles along with the sherry vinegar, parsley and kosher salt until smooth. Transfer to the bowl with the ground pork and spices.
Mix the chorizo with your (preferably gloved) hands until thoroughly combined. Transfer to a container and refrigerate until ready to use, or for up to 3 days. The chorizo can also be frozen in an airtight bag for up to 1 month.

multigrain pancakes

m woke up interested in multigrain pancakes and i found a food network recipe *and* i had all of the ingredients. how many times do you have all *13* ingredients? (not often. substitutions usually occur.) substitutions occurred anyway: the coach’s oats made it crunchy, i added extra lemon zest, i used whole grain white wheat flour instead of whole wheat flour, i used dark brown sugar instead of light (i had unopened light and just didn’t feel like opening it. i frequently substitute one for the other with impunity.), i used 2% milk, and i used coconut oil (in solid form as it’s 65 degrees in the house). and i folded it too much.

free santa monica parking

i spent an overcast morning taking photos of the “tornado” for work. i initially thought the overcast day was unfortunate but i had full sun yesterday so today’s clouds provided variety and an overcast sky is always a softbox so it could be much worse. maybe i’ll post some photos later since i have some artsy fartsy ones.

i just couldn’t resist taking a quick candid of our pip and the free parking i got oceanside(-ish) this morning because our car is *awesome*. and, yes, there’s a silver pip 2 cars ahead also getting free parking.