Beatrice Valenzuela

Tea Time

2012-01-24T17:14:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite rituals is having tea. Sometimes with friends or alone- black tea with soy milk and honey.
Image by Nancy Neil.

Egg News

2012-01-21T23:44:00.000-08:00

We finally found the secret laying place where our Dominique and Polish chicken were laying in the neighbors garden. Sandunga, our Auracana (lays the blue shell eggs) gave it away when she too started laying there. I have to say, as the egg lover that I am it was very exhilarating to find such a stash.
To try and get them to lay again in their respected coops we placed other eggs in there to show them where to get cozy next. It worked!!

Shabu Shabu IKO IKO

2012-01-14T10:03:00.000-08:00

We had the great pleasure to have dinner at IKO IKO's Kristin and Shin's wonderful abode. They had an amazing lay out on the table and made for us home cooked Shabu Shabu. We sat back and let them do the prepping and serving of a soup that changed every 5 minutes. Dinner consisted of them adding different paper thin meat and vegetables into a delicious delicate broth. The table set up was so pleasing to the eye. There were little trays to everything- even our sake wooden cups. The wooden hinoki cups were soaked in water first and then sake was poured throughout the night. Our cups were not once empty. We also had rice on the side and a delicious ponzu sauce with freshly sliced shallots for dipping our mushroom and anything else. Shin had a special seaweed and sesame seed seasoning that his momma brings back from Japan when she visits and we absolutely loved it over our rice and noodles. I can't wait to experience this again. Maybe I'll give it a go and invite them for my version of Shabu Shabu!

Bean Bowl

2012-01-13T08:14:00.000-08:00

I love always having beans around. They are delicious and you can cook a big batch and store or freeze the rest. Some people like to soak them over night and dispose of the water before cooking. I like to cookhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif them in ox tail broth or water, salt and garlic/onion. For black beans I like to add a cup of red wine when they're simmering. Then for dinner garnish with queso fresco or feta, fresh sweet pea greens, tomatoes (this was from our last batch in the garden if you can believe it) and canned pickled jalapenos and carrots. In this case the jalapenos are store bought. I will be posting a recipe on how to pickle your own soon.

indigo

2011-11-29T21:53:00.001-08:00

I had the great pleasure to host an indigo dying workshop at my home taught by Britt Browne. She taught a group of us 11 ladies how to prepare a vat and properly dip our goods in the luscious indigo. We made magic!. It felt like we each possessed some kind of power.
*All of these beautiful pictures where taken by one of my extremely talented guests Jennifer Parry Dodge.

Eggs

2011-11-21T11:29:00.000-08:00

My daughter Astrid wakes me every morning around 8 am screaming "Lets go get my eggs, momma!". And 5 minutes later she adds "It's been 5 minutes. Wake up!" So I get up put a sweater on and go downstairs into the backyard and into the chicken coop.
These eggs are from two of our chickens. The smaller one is from Francisca the Dominique bantam (they are little chickens) and the larger one from Bonita our Polish. They are both delicious and very different in look and flavor. Francisca's eggs are small, creamy and the yolk is yellowish orange while Bonita's yolk's are the color of persimons. I have yet not tasted Bonita's eggs. Astrid won't share those. She's addicted to eggs.

breakfast

2011-11-13T20:17:00.000-08:00

I was watching a movie called Howl's Moving Castle with my little daughter Astrid and lover Ramsey when we watch a scene of the characters (all wizards in this case including a fire demon)eating bacon and eggs and we all decided we wanted that for breakfast. So we did! We cooked the bacon first, then the eggs in the bacon grease and enjoyed the most basic breakfast with red rice flour toast, herbed Greek feta (not in the movie), a latte and oj. Funny were my inspiration comes from lately. The movie is magical. I recommended if you want to watch something whimsical and stay cozy at home.

an ocean inside

2011-10-16T19:51:00.001-07:00

I had some friends over for dinner the other night and decided to get sturgeon caviar as a little appetizer. Grant showed up with a couple bottles of wine. One of the bottles was a Viognier. We had a bite of the caviar and then a sip of the Cold Heaven and all of a sudden there was an amazing taste of ocean in our mouths! It was like eating the most delicious oyster. It wasn't the same with the other wine. Try it and tell me what you think.

Cooking with Heather

2011-10-04T10:35:00.000-07:00

My dear fried Heather Taylor invited me to cook with her for one of her fantastic webisodes. We had so much fun making a salsa with nopales, pomegrate seeds and poblano peppers. Enjoy it!

LA in Bloom: Cooking with Bea from LAinBloom on Vimeo.

Tsi'ik

2011-09-28T22:31:00.000-07:00

Tsi'ik is a succulent dish we had the pleasure of trying multiple times in Valladolid, Yucatan. It is smoked pulled pork marinated in a special Mayan radish and sour orange sauce. Everyday when lunchtime comes around this is what I want to eat. And look at the beautiful mobile you can admire while eating there!

Tulum, Coba and Valladolid

2011-09-24T19:45:00.001-07:00

Chistorra

2011-09-24T19:11:00.000-07:00

We recently visited the magical Tulum, Quintana Roo. One of our best meals was at a place called Asadero. Everything is served grilled and has the most divine smoky flavors.
I specially loved the grilled chistorra with a side of Oaxacan melted cheese in a clay pot. This was served with warm tortillas and homemade salsas. You can find chistorra at Say Cheese in Silverlake.
Tonights dinner was accompanied by a glass of Smoked Baltic Porter found at Sunset Beer Company in Echo Park.

DOSA

2011-09-03T23:43:00.000-07:00

I love Dosa, 818 Broadway downtown LA. Every time I go there I feel a rush of inspiration.
photograph by Jyoti Mau

Mori Suchi

2011-09-03T23:22:00.000-07:00

We had the pleasure of having a dinner at Mori Sushi. The food was delightful. The ceramics were all made by the owner and they were fantastic. I was so inspired when I left there. I wanted to cook, make my own table ware and drink more sake!
This was sweet shrimp with caviar and other delicious bites.

Indian

2011-09-03T23:19:00.000-07:00

We had a delightful lunch at Al Noor. The best chicken tikka masala curry I've ever had.

Anchovie pizza

2011-09-03T23:16:00.000-07:00

Next time you try making pizza think of anchovies (boquerones), peppers, feta and manchego cheese and olive oil. You will be happy. I was!!

Weekend Breakfast

2011-09-03T23:06:00.000-07:00

A very simple yet delicious breakfast. Heirloom tomatoes dressed with olive oil, maldon's sea salt and freshly cracked pepper. *Hard boil eggs. Toast with avocado and fresh thyme. Black tea.
*hard boiled eggs- I like them to be creamy and not have the yolk turn into a powdery green substance.
Place eggs in water and turn up the heat. Turn-off heat at the first hard boil. Cover and let sit for 8 minutes. Remove and immediately rinse with ice cold water.
Eat outside.

apartment therapy

2011-09-02T19:50:00.000-07:00

Our house was features on Apartment Therapy last week. I made snacks for our guests photographer and art director. My favorite were the almonds covered in olive oil and cinnamon.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
*Warm the almonds in hot olive oil. Remove them from heat and then cover them in ground cinnamon and Maldon's sea salt. I might have added a pinch of brown sugar.
I also served Greek yogurt with olive oil, salt and za'atar next to a handful of pomegranate seeds, pickled cucumbers and bread on the side. We ate well. Check out our home tour!
photograph by Juan Enriquez

Fig margaritas

2011-08-19T21:54:00.000-07:00

I'm still on the fruit cocktail kick!
Mash up a couple figs, squeeze a half of a grapefruit, throw in a shot or two of tequila and a splash of sparkling water and ice. Add agave nectar if it's not sweet enough.
Enjoy with a big slice of goat cheese wrapped in fig leaves.
If you can't find this cheese at your market... make it!

Boil water with a pinch of salt.
Blanche the fig leaves (ask your neighbor or fig tree owner friend for these)for about 2 minutes. Soak in ice water immediately and then wrap around goat cheese.

tonight's dinner

2011-08-19T21:40:00.001-07:00

I don't always cook dinner. Sometimes I just assemble.
For tonight melon wrapped in prosciutto (La quercia) with the most buttery cheese (La tur) I could find. All from Cookbook in Echo Park . Simple satisfaction.

Aperol

2011-08-05T17:01:00.000-07:00

I just bought a bottle of Aperol. I've never really drank it before. Tonight I'm making my own version of negronis with it. For now I'm just having it with dry white wine, sparkling water and little lemon juice and a shot of Aperol.
*Just got back some art from the framer's. The footprints in maica are by one of my all time heroes Francisco Toledo from Oaxaca. I believe there are some left at Dosa 818. The color play painting on canvas is by my dear friend Hadley Holiday.

Summer Craft Fair

2011-07-29T21:18:00.001-07:00

We are hosting our 4th Craft Fair. This time it will take place in Angeleno Height under a giant fig tree!Please come and enjoy the weekend with us.
CRAFT FAIR
July 30 & 31 from 1-5pm
1461 Carroll Avenue
LA CA 90026

Lebanese coffee with cardamom (Kahwe Lebananieh)

2011-07-29T09:19:00.000-07:00

This morning was a little gray out and a bit cold so I decided a spiced coffee would be delightful. And it sure was!
Serves 2:

2 cups of water
4 heaping tbs of ground coffee
3 cardamom pods cracked not ground
1 tbs of sugar or more

Add the ingredients to a pot and let boil for 3 minutes stirring constantly.
Pass through a strainer before serving or let sit for a minute to let the grains sink to the bottom of the cup.
Enjoy!

Gjelena's grapefruit and trout salad

2011-07-26T12:42:00.000-07:00

I love Gjelena's for lunch in Venice beach. It's too far for us eastsiders though. So I've made my favorite salad. The recipe is from memory.

Serves 2:

1 grapefruit in segments with no skin
*I usually peel with a knife and cut out wedges following the skin lines.

2 big handfulls of baby letuce

1 avocado in slices

1 heaping tbls capers

1 filet of herbed smoked trout broken up in small pices
(michel cordon bleu inc. (213)766-0801)
*can be found at Cookbook in Echo Park

dress with the juice of 1 lemon, olive oil, maldons salt and pepper.

Giant greens on the grill

2011-07-18T17:44:00.000-07:00

I was so lucky my friend Mayumi forgot a giant bag of giant greens in my kitchen. So i ate them right away!
Brush olive oil on your grill. Then place on the grill for 2 min each side.
Drizzle olive oil, sqeeze fresh lemon juice. Add maldon's salt and pepper.
Great for a side dish or add to a great burger.

Mint & Verveine iced tea

2011-07-18T17:36:00.000-07:00

Steep black tea with fresh mint and verveine leaves. Then sweaten with honey or sugar. Add ice and enjoy.

bok choi with chipotle sauce and bacon

2011-07-18T17:32:00.000-07:00

bok choy fried in olive oil.
*chipotle sauce;
2 tbls of chipotle paste
the juice of one lemon
2 tbls of olive oil
sea salt

wild caught fish by Ramsey

2011-07-18T17:25:00.000-07:00

Ramsey went deep sea fishing and came home these. Then cooked them following Tulum's new Hartwood's recipe. They were perfect. I also made the habanero infused grapefruit margaritas. We drank those too fast and didn't get a picture.

Golden Beat salad with fennel

2011-07-18T17:20:00.000-07:00

Chipotle pickled carrots/cooked golden beats (approx 20 min) /fennel/parsley/lemon/olive oil/maldons sea salt and pepper

gertrude stein

2011-07-18T17:10:00.000-07:00

I was over at my friend's Mari Eastman's home and we made up this cocktail together. We were in conversation about Gertrude Stein so we named it after her.

Per cocktail:

1 shot of rum of your choice
2 shots of pineapple juice
2 muddled mint leaves
1 tbls of Saint Germain elderflower liquor
1/2 the juice from a lemon (in this case from Mari's tree)
a good pour of sparkling water
ice

home progress

2011-07-18T16:38:00.000-07:00

Here are some images taken by photographer Nancy Neil showing the huge project Ramsey and I have undertaken. Home sweet home.

tequila mojito with lemon zest sorbet

2011-06-12T19:17:00.000-07:00

6-7 mint leaves muddled
1 lime and its juice
1 tbs agave nectar
1 shot of good tequila
sparkling water
ice
1 heaping scoop of lemon zest sorbet
This was another delicious cocktail. I made a virgin one for my little Astrid and she absolutely loves shewing on mint leaves.

*next to it in the picture is a hand made incense burner I made to burn pinon.
It adds to the mood.

blackberry/citrus cocktail

2011-06-12T16:03:00.000-07:00

I love this cocktail! I just made it up today. The day was so beautiful and it deserved a good cocktail. The blackberries where perfect.
5-6 fresh or frozen blackberries
1 tbls meyer lemon juice
1/2 orange juice (in this case cara cara)
1 shot of tequila (in this case Don Julio Reposado)* please use something good. Stay away from cheap tequilas. They will make you feel ill.
1 tbls of elder flower liquor, Sait Germain de Pres.
1 tbls of agave nectar
sparkling water
ice

SALUD!

lamb stew

2011-05-14T22:37:00.000-07:00

I love my new kitchen! It's a dream come true. The other day I made a saffron rice stuffed lamb shoulder from one of the Moro books and had some left over. I used it to make a stew.

There was probably about half a pound left. I added beef broth from Cookbook, which is far superior from anything else one can find pre-made, three pinches of satar, 1 tspn of pimenton de la vera (spicy cayenne), 2 chipotle peppers (smoked jalapenos), 1 small can of tomatoes, salt and pepper. Then served it with quinoa pasta and Arugula. A little olive oil and lemon juice and voila!
If lamb is too strong a flavor try replacing it with beef. I think what makes this so good is the intensity of the meat flavors with the spices and the heat of the chipotle peppers.

Arugula salad

2011-04-10T15:54:00.000-07:00

Jeana Sohn came over a couple of months ago to do Closet Visit. I made her a salad that she really enjoyed and she requested I'd do a post on it.
Thank you Jeana!

arugula
burrata
preserved lemons
mushrooms
cucumber
sea salt
herbs de provence
sea salt
pepper
olive oil

Rancheros with mushrooms and bacon

2011-04-10T15:51:00.000-07:00

good breakfast- scramble and asparagus

2011-04-10T15:45:00.000-07:00

A friend asked me to share more breakfast ideas.
These are easy with cheese grated on top, avocado and chives. Salt and Pepper.
You can warm up your tortillas right on the stove's grill.

How to cook a wolf

2011-04-10T15:32:00.000-07:00

I joined a wonderful book club where we read food related books. We recently read How To Cook A Wolf by M. K. Fisher. I learned how to really stretch a meal so after making the kale and mushroom tacos I decided to make a broth with the scraps.

Water
Vegetable scraps (kale and mushroom stems, wilted chives and the stubby part of an onion)
a piece of too-hard-to-eat cheese
2 bay leaves
salt
pepper

Strained it, let it cool and use next time you make soup, rice or beans.

Then the next day I found that my little Astrid, who had been watching very closely, had made her own vegetable broth. I found it under the counter on a shelf. The one in the mug is her version.

Mushroom and Kale Tacos

2011-04-10T15:27:00.000-07:00

I had nothing in the fridge except for:

kale
mushroom
chives
onion
tortillas
cheddar cheese (a gift)
lemon

So I sauteed the vegetables sans stems and lightly fried the tortillas and voila!
They were so good I didn't even think to take a picture until after.

Sunday dinner

2011-01-30T20:37:00.000-08:00

I always do something very simple.
Tonight we had beet soup from cookbook which I garnished with Greek yogurt, mint leaves and a drizzle of olive oil. I had toasted bread with salted butter, slices of prosciutto, luques olives, humbolt fog and paired it with a bottle of 2009 Berger Gruner Veltliner from Austria.

beef stew with cavolo nero chips

2011-01-30T20:23:00.000-08:00

Stew:
(serves 4)
1/2 of beef stew meet
1 chopped small onion
1 liter of beef broth
1/2 cup dry red wine
20 sliced shitake mushrooms
1/2 tsp herbs de provence
2 bay leaves
1 ground clove
salt and pepper
olive oil

Cook onions in oil and brown meat. Add wine then 5 minutes later add broth let cook for three hours in medium to low heat. Add herbs, bay leaves, clove and sliced mushrooms. cook for another hour.
cavolo nero (kale) chips:
preheat oven at 400F
chop kale in 2 inch strips
drizzle olive oil until covered
cook until crispy about 5-8 minutes
sprinkle with sea salt

serve stew with rice then garnish with the cavolo nero chips and fresh parsley.

toast and humbolt fog with sage honey

2011-01-30T20:01:00.000-08:00

polenta blueberry pancakes eggs and bacon

2011-01-30T19:54:00.000-08:00

For pancakes:
(makes 8 4" pankakes)
1 egg
3 tbls of butter
2 tbls olive oil
1 1/2 cup of half & half
1 cup of glutten free flour
1 cup of polenta
blueberries

Cooking on a portable stove

2011-01-02T19:56:00.000-08:00

It has been so long since I last posted anything. It's because I've been cooking on a portable gas range and an electric mini oven. Everything I make has to be a one pot deal. I made a pumpkin soup using one that came from my boyfriend's dad's garden. I used:
1 small pumpkin
1/2 onion
3 tbsp of bacon lard
3 tbls olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground corriander
1/2 ground cinammon
1 litre chicken broth
1 tsp herbs de provence
1 heaping tblsp of honey
1 died serrano pepper
salt
fresh cracked pepper
greek yogurt

Chop pumpkin in big chunks and drizzle olive oil salt and herbs de provence. Cook for an hour on 325F.
Chop onion and cook in lard with spices and dried chili. Add broth then peeled pumpin.
cook until soft. Then blend with emersion blender. Add honey and simmer for 20 min.
Serve with a drizzle of greek yogurt and green leaves like arugula and toasted pine nuts.

lunch- the last tomato until next year

2010-10-26T21:49:00.000-07:00

Melon/jamon serrano/arugula/heirloom tomato with salt and olive oil

Sardinas

2010-10-26T21:44:00.000-07:00

Ask for them to cut the heads off and be gutted. Rinse and stuff with fresh thyme and garlic. Top with slices of lemon and drizzle olive oil. Salt and pepper. Broil for about 20 minutes. I liked to serve them with hard boiled quail eggs and white wine.

Cucumber salad

2010-10-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

Cucumber sliced longways (use a mandolin)/red quinoa cooked and cooled/mozzarella (from Cookbook)/pitted kalamata olives/olive oil and lemon juice/salt and pepper

Andrew's salad

2010-10-26T21:31:00.000-07:00

Hard boiled eggs/sauteed andouille sausage/chervil from the garden/grilled corn/cooked+peeled beets/lemon juice and olive oil/salt and pepper. Let me know if you have any questions.

Trout please!

2010-10-26T21:26:00.000-07:00

My loverman brought home fresh trout the last time he went fishing. I grilled it with a little olive oil and lemon juice, salt and pepper. Then served it with sliced cucumber from my garden. Drizzle a little more oil and white vinegar. Salt with Maldons sea salt.

Affogato

2010-10-26T21:23:00.000-07:00

Easy. Scoop your favorite ice cream (vanilla, chocolate, pistachio are my favorite for this) then pour your fresh brewed espresso shot. Eat immediately.

Rice Soup

2010-10-15T20:02:00.000-07:00

Another day of an almost empty fridge.
I was listening to pandora's Agustin Lara's playlist.
The most beautiful soup came out of such inspiring music. It was almost like I was channeling someone else. Cooking sometimes can be so meditative.
I made broth same as the soup below with onion, garlic, olive oil and two litters of water. Then added 1 cup of black and mahogany rice, 3 chopped potatoes, salt, pepper and let it simmer for 1 hour. Add a bay leaf for the last 10 minutes and the secret ingredient- 6 slices of duck prociutto (can substitute for any prociutto or pancetta). For the relish, finely chop 1 shallot and 1 habanero pepper (this was from my garden). Add 4 tbls of white vinegar and the juice of 2 lemons. Salt and let stand for 1/2 hour.
Serve soup with plenty fresh cilantro and a big scoop of the delicious habanero relish. I served it with iced lavender tea. It was delicious.

Fall soup

2010-10-14T10:17:00.001-07:00

It was raining outside and I had only a couple of things in the refrigerator. It smelled like wet earth outside and I was sipping on a glass of wine listening to Cielo Rojo. So being fall I decided to make a witches porridge and poison my lover man.
Sautee 2 cloves of garlic, 1/2 an onion and about 6-8 small portabella mushrooms in 2 tbls olive oil and 2 tbls of real butter. Once the mushroom are soft add 2 litters of water. Salt and let simmer for an hour. On a different pan sautee 6 asparagus cut in half at an angle, and 1 poblano pepper sliced longways in strips (discard stem and seeds) in olive oil.
Five minutes before you serve add 5 sprigs of thyme to the soup, fresh ground white pepper and the sauteed vegetables. Serve with a scoop of greek yogurt or cream fraiche and bread.

Prickly pears

2010-10-13T22:12:00.000-07:00

They are delicious and fun to eat. Never touch them with your bare hands because you will not be happy. Chop off ends using a fork and knife, then make an incision and peel off slowly. Refrigerate and enjoy with seeds (little pebbles) or puree and strain. It's very nice for drinks, jello or with ice cream. Get creative!!!

ice cream

2010-10-13T21:51:00.000-07:00

My love, Ramsey sculpted this beautiful handle for me. You can find kits to do yourself. I was very impressed and I absolutely love it. It's important to have tools you love. Have fun!

Beans and chorizo

2010-10-13T21:43:00.000-07:00

Boil canary beans in water for about 2 hours with 2 cloves of garlic and 1/4 onion and salt. If need to replenish liquid, add boiling water for more broth. The water WILL reduce so you will surely have to add more. Try to find freshly made chorizo. You can often find it at Latin American carnicerias (meat markets). Chop chorizo in 1 inch rinds. Serve beans with broth then add chorizo and drizzle a little of the beautiful red oil. Garnish with fresh herbs from your garden -such as cilantro. Enjoy with a Kumkuat-ita or tequila.

Tomatoes

2010-10-13T21:41:00.000-07:00

Little Roma tomatoes with chopped basil, olive oil, sea salt and pepper. Broil for 10-15 minutes. Easy and yummy.

Kumquat-itas

2010-10-13T21:33:00.000-07:00

3-4 Kumquats mashed up, 1 tangerine (may also be a clementine or orange) juice, 1-3 shots of tequila (such as Don Julio or Patron) *please use a good tequila, 2 tablespoons of agave nectar, 1/2 cup sparkling water.
A little Maldons sea salt on the rim. This is so refreshing. Here I'm recycling Diptyque candle glasses. Salud!

grilled shrimp

2010-08-12T23:39:00.000-07:00

Easy! Drizzle olive oil, lemon juice salt and pepper and save a little for dipping. Eat with your fingers.

Baby Food

2010-08-12T23:34:00.001-07:00

I like to feed Astrid, my little one, eggs in the morning. Soft scrambled with chive flowers, sea salt and a little pepper. They are good enough for me!

Shishito peppers

2010-08-12T23:26:00.001-07:00

Delicious! Make an incision along the side and stuff with your favorite cheese. In this case Gruyere. Then grill or fry about a minute per side until they blister.

2010-07-11T21:34:00.000-07:00

Squash and corn cooked in the oven with butter, salt and pink pepper from The Spice Station. Delicious!

Finger foods

2010-07-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

Ribs and corn.
Fresh rosemary from my garden, sea salt, olive oil and pepper. Cook ribs and corn together in the oven at 375. Flip after 20 min. Cook for a about 45-60min. No silver ware needed.

Small dinner

2010-07-11T08:28:00.000-07:00

Arugula tossed with lemon, olive olive, sea salt and pepper. Melon, cheese, prociutto, arcona almonds and red wine.

Squash Blossoms stuffed with cheese

2010-07-10T22:55:00.000-07:00

Remove stem. Shake out the pollen and stuff with a small piece of double-cream french cheese and a little piece of onion. Broil, salt and pepper. Serve it with sauteed snap peas and asparagus. Very delicious!

squash blossom

2010-05-30T21:51:00.000-07:00

I love eating flowers. Don't you? You can do so many things with squash blossoms. Here I sauteed them in a little olive oil with salt and pepper. Then fried garbanzo beans and threw them in the mix. All on a bed of fried rice (it was fried in duck fat). I found the duck fat at the Cheese Store in Silverlake.

shrimp and quinoa salad

2010-05-29T22:38:00.000-07:00

Marinate the shrimp in rice vinegar, the juice of one orange, olive oil, salt and pepper.
Then mix with quinoa and whatever delicious vegetable you have in the fridge. I chopped the chervil right before I served the salad. This was made for my brother Joe and my little Astrid.

tortilla meals

2010-05-29T22:29:00.000-07:00

I love tortillas. Blue corn or yellow. They could be so diverse. My dear friend Mari gave me this beautiful flowering cilantro that I used on everything. She got it at the Echo Park farmer's market.
The chive flowers, kale, and chervil are from my garden (the one outside my kitchen window).

Dried chile recipe

2010-05-29T22:19:00.000-07:00

Chile mobiles

2010-05-16T21:48:00.000-07:00

I made some chile mobiles for the craft sale we had last May 8th on the lawn. They included a recipe of how to make dried chile sauce and a little bell.

root vegetables

2010-05-02T22:42:00.000-07:00

I've been using root vegetables a lot lately. This salad was all raw ingredients.
White and red beats, white carrots, Fiji apple, green onion (all vegetables sliced with a mandoline)salt & peeper, Meyer lemon juice and olive oil dressing. Simple and very tasty. Recently I made a warm version with red quinoa and sauteed kale with the kumquat red chili jam as dressing.

Kumquat and red chili jam

2010-04-21T22:47:00.000-07:00

The other day a couple of friends stops by at different times and brought us offerings from their gardens. Anna brought Kumquats and Hadley brought red chilies. So I decided to make a jam. ingredients: about 20 kumquats and 5 small red chilies , 1/4 brown sugar, 1 cup of water, a pinch of salt, and three star anise. Cut in rounds discarding the ends boil with all other ingredients for an hour. Let cool and enjoy! we had it for dinner tonight with a roasted chicken.

Trip to Mexico City

2010-04-06T07:04:00.000-07:00

More Snacks

2010-04-06T06:38:00.000-07:00

Apples, triple cream cheese, sage honey and prosciutto. All from the farmer's market.

Peanut butter, banana, butter, sage honey sandwich

2010-04-06T06:08:00.000-07:00

Toasted glutten free bread with a lot of butter. Chunkie peanut butter, banana and sage honey.

open faced breakfast sandwich

2010-03-11T23:18:00.000-08:00

Rice bread with a lot of salted butter, soft scrambled eggs with leeks, fresh feta from Aliki's and oregano. Salt and Pepper. Favorite breakfast this week.

Date and Meyer lemon jam

2010-03-11T22:49:00.000-08:00

Inspired on a Lebanese recipe I came up with a very nice jam. About 40 pitted khadrawy dates (i think any kind would work), 2 cups water, 1 cup of brown sugar, 8 cloves, 1 Meyer lemon - everything from the farmer's market. Melt sugar in water over medium heat with cloves. Add dates and let simmer for an hour. Squeeze in the juice of the lemon and with a spoon scrape off the pulp and "white stuff" in the lemon. Julienne the peel and add to mixture. Let cool. I served it with Aliki's Greek Taverna strained sheep's yogurt, salted Arcona almonds and a sprig of fresh thyme. It was very good.

Rice and Fish Porridge with Salsa

2010-02-25T21:15:00.000-08:00

Porridge:
Sautee half an onion in olive oil until clear and add about 5 cups of water. Add a cup of rice of your choice, sea salt and pepper. Once it's almost cooked add chunks of fish (I used Chilean sea bass)let simmer. Lastly add two cups of snow peas and let it sit for a little while.
Salsa:
Julienne cut 1 red onion, 1 meyer lemon with peel and 3 serrano peppers. Add the juice of one lemon and 1 shot of tequila, salt and pepper. Serve over porridge.
*The next day I sauteed a cauliflower and added it because there was no more fish left in the porridge. This was very nice too.

C-shot

2010-02-19T22:21:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had the C-shot at Viet Noodle Bar? It's a concoction of sugar cane juice, cayenne, key lime juice and water. It's really delicious and very cleansing. If you feel like you're coming down with something-- drink this! I've been making my own. This one above had: key lime juice, water, cayenne, ginger and maple syrup (Caitlin's recipe). It was very good. I ended up going down to A market on Sunset and getting some freshly squeezed sugarcane juice and making the original C-shot with ginger. I'm addicted!

little dinner

2010-02-12T08:45:00.000-08:00

Ramsey and I wanted a little dinner. I made a honey dew melon and Persian cucumber salad. It had the zest and juice of one lemon, parsley from my garden, olive oil, sea salt and pepper. Then I made another little thing - sauteed shitake mushrooms with a scoop of creamy goat feta and jalapeno. For dessert a coconut roll date by Duvall (from the Hollywood farmer's market)

Leg of lamb stew

2010-02-03T20:56:00.000-08:00

The stew came out delicious. First I rubbed salt and pepper on the leg roast. I browned it in walnut oil, which is my favorite at the moment, about 2 minutes each side. Then added boiling water chopped carrots and potatoes. Salt, pepper and 2 bay leafs. Then I let it cook for 5 hours. Finally, I served it with a little rice, Mexican queso fresco and the delicious radish salsa. It was very nice!

Radishes

2010-02-01T21:24:00.000-08:00

There were too many radishes left over from the party. I couldn't bring myself to throw them away so I made a salsa with them. Added Serrano peppers, onion and cilantro (leftover from the party also) lemon juice, white vinegar, olive oil, sea salt and pepper. It's good by itself. I was eating it like a salad. I'm making a leg of lamb stew. I'm serving the radishes with it.

Happy birthday Astrid!

2010-01-31T22:39:00.000-08:00

My little girl turned one!

Husco German Auto Mobiles

2010-01-27T20:56:00.000-08:00

I found these beautiful mobiles at the car garage. Someone makes them out of recycled cans, corks, gulf balls and coat hangers. They
are so sparkly when they spin in the sun.

Container gardening

2010-01-23T18:42:00.000-08:00

This morning we took a gardening class with Marta. It took place downtown Los Angeles on the roof of a warehouse where she planted and tends to garden for a restaurant called Cube. Her company is called Homegrown Los Angeles. I took a canning class with her before and have one of her kitchen herb gardens in my kitchen. We traded it for a haircut. The class was wonderful. We learned about how to prepare the perfect potting soil and when to plant our winter and summer gardens. I can't wait to read her book. I will make a post on it when it's out. At the end of the class we each got to plant our own salad garden to take home.

Korean broth for a rainy day

2010-01-23T18:31:00.000-08:00

Ramsey, Astrid and I went to Hanbat Shul-Lung-Tang for dinner. They serve a beautiful broth with your choice of meet cut (I had the brisket, Ramsey had the mixed with flank, brisket and tripe). This is served with fresh green onions and you salt and pepper it to your taste. They also bring kimchi, plain white rice and a green tea that according to Ramsey tastes like rice and popcorn. Delicious!
4163 W. 5th St. LA, CA 90020

little cactus

2010-01-21T22:34:00.000-08:00

I found this little cactus on the ground when I was taking a walk in Elysian Park. So I picked it up and noticed it had a little sprout. A baby prickly! Now it's in my kitchen living in a little woven metal basket given to me by Caitlin. The little bird was a gift from Kristin at IKO IKO. It makes me so happy when I look at it.

purple soup

2010-01-19T22:53:00.000-08:00

Last night I made soup from red cauliflower and ox tail broth.
It had sauteed spinach, fresh cilantro from my kitchen herb garden, grated goat cheese and pomegranate seeds. For dessert, crepes with Mexican guava sauce (made the night before with cloves, cinnamon and brown sugar) and triple cream cream cheese. Astrid really liked it.

head basket

2010-01-17T20:00:00.000-08:00

Could it be possible to wear our basket or purse like this? Could this trend come back?

mobiles

2010-01-16T23:14:00.000-08:00

These are my creatures. I've been making these for ten years now. Shrimp, squirrels, slugs, mussels, oysters, crocodiles, turtles, clams, skunks, sting rays, monkeys, etc. I finally started making mobiles with them.

looking for a scale

2010-01-16T22:48:00.000-08:00

I'm starting to work on my first cook book and feel that I need a scale I could hang in my kitchen. One like the ones you can find at the market. Used preferably.