Author Archives: j

turkey and sundried tomato

  • 3 1/2 lbs ground turkey
  • 3 TBSP chopped garlic cloves
  • 1/3 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup white wine (i omitted)
  • 2 TBSP fennel seed
  • 1 tsp red pepper flakes (i tripled)
  • 4 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 TBSP pepper
  • 1 tsp sugar (i omitted)

Add the ingredients to the ground turkey in a large bowl or plastic tub and blend thoroughly with your hands. Fry a small patty until done and taste for salt, pepper, and seasonings. Divide and wrap tightly in plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate/freeze for later use. can be used in pasta sauce, tuscan bean soup, pizza, appetizers, or with beans.

homemade soda

KL + MC bought us a sodastream for xmas. a red sodastream. it looks like a ferrari of carbonated goodness on our counter. i love pellegrino but i don’t love hauling the boxes of glass bottles from costco to home and then to the recycling center. and i don’t love trying to get my CRV back. and i like that they’re glass bottles, but it’s still individual packaging. so the sodastream was on our to-buy list and now we have one.

the package comes with 12 soda flavors and 3 water essence flavors. i will update as i work my way through them.

  • orange – blech. tastes like cough syrup. m thinks it’s ok. she drank most of it.
  • pete’s choice (who is pete?) – like dr. pepper (1.1.11 @ 11.11am: tastes like fake dr pepper, like the safeway kind. a bit too sweet.)
  • fountain mist – like mtn dew (my favorite so far, but if i drink too much, it just tastes like fake sugar)
  • root beer – (very good. also my favorite)
  • lemon-lime – like sprite (not sweet enough. mediocre. not heinous)
  • energy – like red bull (omg…we threw it away.)
  • diet cola
  • diet pete’s choice – good. not too sweet. mediocre. not heinous but probably won’t get it again.
  • diet cran-raspberry – probably my least favorite. tastes like cough syrup.
  • diet root beer – didn’t add all the syrup. Not too fake tasting. might like diet flavors better than full sugar ones.
  • diet lemon-lime – ok. probably second favorite after fountain mist
  • diet pink grapefruit – like fresca (didn’t like it. m liked orange better.)

 

  • orange
  • berry (1.1.11: kinda tastes like bubble gum. i added too much. too sweet. i’m not sure i’m fond of the essence flavors. will have to try again with less flavor)
  • lemon-lime (i like this one. good flavor. not too fake tasting.)

i think i may want to try the real cola (good. tastes like generic cola. make sure to add a full capful), grape, cream soda, ginger ale, (they have tonic, too!), lemonade, and the mint flavor essence someday.

now the only thing we need is to import some minerals from the italian mountains and we can really have pellegrino. (ooooooohhhh, i just realized we can make homemade floats…)

happy new year!

we went out to dinner at hatfield’s last night and besides being overly stuffed on 5 (8 really, the servers came to our table 8 times) courses, none of us walked away unhappy. here is the breakdown (the final menu was slightly different), notice how the menu gradually intensifies. this and aoc are our favorite places now. (also, m had an amazing gin martini, and it wasn’t even made with hendricks gin.)

  • Flight of Passed Hors d’Oeuvres: curry tuna tartare, zucchini fritter w/ raita (they spelled it riata…), something on toasted brioche crouton
  • Chilled poached Scallop, crushed citrus, horseradish cream
  • Warm crab and buckwheat crepe, pickled beets, radish
  • Black Cod “En Croute”
  • Kabocha squash agnolotti, pork confit, maple-mushroom broth
  • Roasted Pekin Duck breast, oven dried pear, caramelized endive, fried sage (OMG, the pear…)
  • Pork Belly, sweet and sour cabbage, crispy spaetzle, grainy mustard jus, mitsuba
  • Venison loin, cherry balsamic, sunchoke gratin, maitake mushrooms
  • Prime New York steak, creamy swiss chard, potato puree, ginger aromatic sauce
  • Lime Panna Cotta
  • Caramelized goat milk Cheesecake, marinated citrus, grapefruit lillet sorbet and dehydrated pineapple slice (the stuff macro food shots are made of – i love translucence!)
  • Chocolate caramel semifreddo, peanut chew, bitter chocolate sorbet
  • Petit fours

surprisingly, there was no lamb dish of any kind. the lamb chop is their signature dish and the next time i go, that is what i am ordering. my favorite was the duck and the venison. it is too close to call because the venison was so perfect, but i was so full by that time, that i couldn’t fully appreciate it. i also had a virgin mojito to ring in the new year – feeling adventuresome and reckless!

hatfield’s | 6703 melrose ave la ca 90038 | 323.935.2977

New year’s resolutions

Should i make resolutions for the new year? This year was a biggie. There’s a lot i can resolve to do since i’m so far behind. Do my stretches. Get on my bike. Conquer drupal. Redesign this blog. Draw something and write something each at least 3x a week. Write one short story (oooohh, that’s a bold one). Take more pictures. Video blog once a week. Learn how to cook a new dish once a week. Go to the beach once a month. Ok, i could keep going but i’ll probably turn this into a huge to-do list and then chastise myself when i don’t complete it so perhaps i should just resolve to be gentle with myself and look forward to learning and doing and eating new things in the new year.

Traffic

It used to be like this: Los Angelenos would disappear between xmas and the new year. Those who stuck around (why would you leave? How could the weather get any better?) got the freeways all to themselves. I was convinced my theory still held true until i reached the 110 today. Traffic around downtown. And those poor souls travelling east on the 10. Stuck in their usual morass. But for a few hours today, and 5 out of 6 (405, 101, 134, 210, 10 west) freeways, i zoomed nicely along enjoying the scenery and the space.

power outage

the power just went out. completely out. fortunately, i am on my way out the door so i’m not too worried. i don’t have to sit in the cold apartment trying not to open the refrigerator door. i’ll be back tonight and everything will be fine. not! i returned at 17.30 to find there was still no power and now i had a shivering, scared doggie meeting me at the door wondering why the christmas tree lights aren’t on and why would i abandon her like that? i gathered all the candles i own and retrieved our trusty oversized maglite flashlight from the car and went about trying to figure out how to do the things i normally do. and then i realized: OMG. my starter is in the fridge along with all of our homemade chicken, veggie, and fish stock. and there’s the pork shoulder from oregon, and…the list goes on and on. immediately, i call the only people i know who live close, and, as an added bonus, never keep anything in their fridge: kl + mc. i rush all of our important foodstuffs over to their house. aaaaahhhh, crisis averted…and then, an hour later, i proceeded to step in dog doo (not my own dog’s) because all the streetlamps were out on the block. grrrrrr arrrggghhhh…

Wafers

I love wafers of all kinds: kit kat, quadritini, those pink n yellow n brown ones that taste super sweet and fake, torcik wedlowski. I’m not really obsessed with the fake wafer you get at church but that’s because it has all sorts of symbolism attached to it. My favorite wafer of all time, though, is the oblaten in its original flavor. They are perfect wih a cappuccino.

Poquito mas 2

Here is the rest of the salsa bar: the orange one that looks like marmalade is a medium spicy. I’m not a super taster-i can’t place the flavor. But i’d get it again. It’s not vinegary. The middle is bland, watery pico de gallo. The last is much better pico de gallo, just a hint of spiciness.

True love…

…is making homemade veggie broth and standing at the sink for 3 hours picking tiny worms out of porcini mushrooms so my honey can have her favorite soup at xmas-time.