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By Adrianna, June 21, 2010

Growing up, I was a total tomboy who had to be bribed with candy to wear dresses, or fancy shoes, or anything remotely girly. And even now, I wouldn’t consider myself a super girly-girl. But every now and then, I totally give in and embrace it.  Case in point: Thursday night a friend scored tickets to the Twilight premiere, and yes I’m going. I have this weird love/hate thing with the Twilight series and am sort of excited to laugh my way through the movie.  I’ll be doing what any normal person would do at the premiere:  tweeting pictures, of course.  So if I end up getting tackled by some security dude, I’ll just blame it on all of you…

Back to cupcakes…these things taste down-right pretty;  they’re baby pink, paired with cream cheese frosting, and topped with shredded coconut. Try them. Embrace your girliness for gosh sakes, even if you’re a dude. Trust me–they’re worth it.

Here are a few other girly things I’m loving right now…

Continue reading 'Pink Lady Cupcakes'»

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By Caroline, May 17, 2010

Okay, I know what you’re thinking. Enough with the strawberries, right? Sorry folks, it has been a truly outrageous season for strawberries, and I can’t help but buy a full crate of them every week. I’ve debated as to whether it’s possible for me to be sick of strawberries, and the definite answer is that no, it isn’t. I can eat them every day, with every meal.

However, I can only cook so many recipes at a time before I start to lose my steam. My original plan with this week’s crop of berries was to bake up a strawberry pie. However, when I started thinking about making the piecrust and the pie filling on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon, I lost momentum. So I made a crostata. A crostata is kind of like a lazy person’s pie, so we got along really well. It’s a simple dough that doesn’t require much kneading or shaping, and the filling is just berries tossed in a sugar and topped with a jam glaze. Seriously easy. And the best part? I prepped and baked this whole thing up in just under 2 hours and still had the rest of my Saturday afternoon to lay by the pool. Continue reading 'Strawberry Crostata'»

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By Caroline, April 21, 2010

I want to apologize in advance for my less-than stellar photos on this post. I’m not normally a photo-taking person; I don’t carry cameras with me to parties or in my purse, and when I do take photos for our lovely blog, it requires that I eliminate all distractions so I can give it my complete attention. So, when I decided to document what foodie spots Chase and I took his mother and stepfather to on their recent visit, I often realized that I had completely forgotten about the bulky, heavy camera in my purse until everything at the table had been eaten, or until we had left the restaurant completely. Still, lack of photos aside, if you ever come to LA for a weekend I’ve got some good suggestions of things to eat.

For their first meal we took Chase’s parents to Aroma for breakfast. Aroma is amazing, and it is “sooo LA.” Why is that you ask?

Because it’s a restaurant that relies on year-round outdoor seating.

Because the food is fresh, homemade and delicious.

Because their iced coffee is outrageously good.

Oh, and see that woman fussing over her dog? There’s always a few of those there. Always.

Now, when it comes to ethnic food, LA has a lot to offer.  You can barely pass a street corner without seeing a Thai or sushi restaurant. For parents that are fans of both, you gotta hit up Gindi Thai in Burbank. They have phenomenal pad thai and their green curry was blessed by the gods. They also have sushi rolls like The Sun, which includes apple, avocado and spicy tuna wrapped up in a roll, and is then topped with baked lobster. I know, it isn’t even fair. I wish I had a photo, but again, I’m  a bad blogger and am often too distracted by food to remember silly things like photos. Never, ever, ever have I heard someone complain about something they ate at Gindi. If they did, I would be seriously worried about the condition of their taste buds. Continue reading 'Fresh Strawberry Salad + What to Feed Your Future Mother-In-Law'»

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By Adrianna, April 19, 2010

The first thing I ever learned how to cook was French toast.  If I remember clearly, I learned how to make this when I was jumping on my parents bed…as they were sleeping.  And in an attempt to get just 15 more minutes of shut-eye, my dad suggested that I make French toast.  I stopped jumping.  He explained.  I listened.  And then ran to the kitchen.

I imagine I was probably wearing my huuuge Tasmanian Devil t-shirt I always slept in. And I probably pulled one of those country-style chairs we had in the dining room, and positioned it up against the counter so I could reach. I’m also gonna assume that I made a gigantic mess.  I think I was pretty good at that back then.  And I’m positive that when I was all done and my parents ate it, they smiled and said it was good because they sorta had to.  You don’t really tell your eight-year-old kid their French toast is gross.

This recipe is waaay different.  I’ve grown up…not sure if you’ve noticed.

For one, my eight-year-old version of French toast had egg shells in it.  I’ll bet on that. I wasn’t a good egg cracker.  And I’m also guessing it had waaaay too much cinnamon and vanilla extract.  I didn’t understand moderation. More was better. And it was on typical, wheat sandwich bread. This one, however, is on beautiful brioche. And instead of a typical egg/milk mixture, I’ve made a little custard, creme brulee style, to dip the Brioche in prior to frying.  I’ve also topped it with mascerated strawberries–I’ll explain later…

This is what I like to call my redemption French toast.

What was the first thing you learned how to cook?

Continue reading 'Custard French Toast with Macerated Strawberries'»

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By Caroline, April 16, 2010

A few months ago Adrianna and I attended a picnic hosted by fellow LA food blogger Joy the Baker. There were a hay bales on a rooftop. There were cupcakes. There were other fun food bloggers. There was Joy in an adorable pink dress. Overall, it was a good time.

So, when Adrianna and I heard that Joy was now part of On The Lamb, and would be popping up all over LA with more fun events, we got a little excited. When we heard the three lovely ladies would be at the fabulous Surfas, cooking up some strawberry recipes, we were salivating. Strawberries? Surfas? Free Samples? Where do we sign up?

I wish I had some photos of the demo to show you, but to be honest, we were a little too engrossed in what they were cooking to think of anything else, including taking photos. That, and we were a bit distracted by the woman next to us who thought it appropriate to talk on her cell phone during the demo. To the woman next to us – you were very nice, but please don’t distract me from the culinary goodness going on next time, okay? It might get ugly.

Despite unavoidable distractions, we still took a lot away from this demo. First off, I learned how to properly remove the top of a strawberry. See, you use a paring knife to simply cut out the white part, leaving all of the juicy red berry behind. I know, right? Simple things just seem like magic to me. Continue reading 'Strawberry Balsamic Basil Spritzer'»

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By Adrianna, July 10, 2009

When I was kid, the only thing my mom trusted me with in the kitchen was the salad.  So every night, right before dinner was to be served, I was asked to come in the kitchen and make this bland, boring salad.  I’d reluctantly tear up the lettuce, cut a tomato and cucumber and it’d be done—it was the easiest chore I had to do, but that memory has resulted in me being a non-salad eater. People love salads—me? Not so much. When I go to a restaurant, the salad section is usually not even an option for me, unless it’s a caprese salad, which isn’t really even a salad, it’s more like a cold appetizer. So I’m scarred for life—no salads for me…until…my trip to Raleigh, NC last month where I tried this incredible salad at Firebirds.

Continue reading 'Grilled Shrimp & Strawberry Salad'»

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By Caroline, May 21, 2009

When I was in elementary school my mother made me French toast for the first time. For 2 months straight after I refused to eat anything else for breakfast. I would get up for school every morning and happily cover every square inch of delicious toast in powdered sugar and then devour it before the sugar had time to dissolve in the butter from the bread. I’m in my 20s now and have discovered stuffed French toast. It’s basically like eating a hot, melting cheese Danish, and what can beat that?

Continue reading 'Strawberries and Cream Stuffed French Toast'»