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@foodversation
At 23, JK Rowling was broke. Tina Fey was working at the Y.M.C.A. Oprah had just gotten fired from her first job as a TV reporter and Walt Disney had declared bankruptcy.
Read This If You’re 23 And Lost by Heidi Priebe (via twentysomethingstate)
Cold mist by Félix Morlán González
Wow! It has been way to long since I've updated! I've been meaning to make French Onion Soup for quite a while and now and I finally did! I caramelized the onions in duck and bacon fat for over an hour! I think this made a huge difference in the overall flavor of the soup! A splash ;) of pinot noir and using an immersion blender could have helped as well. Overall this soup was probably one of the best things I've cooked in a long time. The flavors were rich, savory, and just so good! The melty cheese, homemade croutons all soaked up so much rich onion flavor!
Instagram!
Foodversation just got its own instagram! @food_versation check it out this week! I'm going to be posting a picture a day for launch week!
Fuel for your Flight
After going to LAX about twelve times in the past few months I realized something, I had never found good food near the airport! I can't explain how sad I feel sometimes before I fly when I have to pay twelve dollars for a sandwich in the airport that is mediocre in the most horrible of ways. Airport food is getting better thankfully! Shake Shack in JFK and Lemonade in LAX but if you're on a budget getting food around the airport to bring with you is a much better option! All of the places I went to are less than twenty minutes from LAX and well worth it!
I started my adventure with a late lunch at Mendocino Farms a local chain of gourmet sandwiches and salads that reminded me of a very upscale Panera. The salad I got was so amazing and worth the eleven dollars I paid for it! A huge mound of local Drake's Farm goat cheese crowned the mixture of greens and apples YUM. The bread that came with the salad was perfect for sopping up the extra dressing!
Next stop was Coffee Connection! This place was adorable! The coffee was just good not great but, THE ATMOSPHERE. I had a mexican mocha with an extra shot! I did appreciate all the different milk options when it came to my mocha.... almond milk... raises hand in praise. The building from what I gathered from other yelp reviews was a former Italian Restaurant. The brick arches and ivy hanging from the ceiling really made me feel so LA cool. I loved the comfy chairs and open windows as well! I proceeded to make my self at home for around two hours to people watch as I waited for my friends flight to land :D
Chocolate or something sweet is always necessary to get me through a long flight or to wait for delays in this case ;) Chocovivo was a great little find on my way back to the airport for pickup. A VERY small scale chocolate factory with an amazingly authentic Mexican theme. All their coco beans were ground on site and sourced from individual farms in Southern Mexico. I had a small chocolate tastings of three of their chocolates and they all had a great rich fruity flavor. I loved their "nutella" knock off so much I brought one home as a gift! The shop owners were fantastic and led me through their kitchen to use the restroom. I loved seeing them working hard to create such unique flavors and highlighting the different flavors within the coco beans!
Overall a very successful day I know exactly where to find my next meals when I find myself near LAX.
Wine Country! Living in Southern California has its benefits one of them be is living super close to an abundance of wineries :D I'm lucky enough to have memberships at two of these wineries Del Sol Winery and Wiens both located in Temecula. Sometimes there is nothing better than a monthly trip to the wineries for a picnic. Thanks to the bounty of Trader Joe's and my mother's great plating skills you can see what I get to experience! A lovely bottle of 2011 Mourvèdre from Del Sol paired deliciously with our savory snacks. The wine had a lovely herbaceous note that went well with the herbs in the goat cheese and bruschetta. The wine had a light enough body to not overpower the vegetables but still enough weight to stand up to the heavy flavors of the salamis. Temecula is always a great place to spend an afternoon and you will probably see another of these posts from Wiens coming soon :) I can't resist picnic pairings.
Southern night! The adventure of the traveling chef Brandon continued this week! I decided to to take a southern traditional dinner and put some Brandon flair in it! Also I paired the whole meal with Champagne because it is amazing! Some things came out great, somethings not so much. This dinner was a great way to show myself that even if certain parts of a meal don't turn out as wonderful as I had planned at least some parts will be amazing!
First Course- Black Bean and Bell Pepper Salad
This was probably my favorite course of the whole meal in all honesty! It turned out spectacular. It was also the simplest thing to make! Black Beans, Fresno peppers, Jalapeños, red onion, flat leaf parsley, all diced up and seasoned with some olive oil! The freshness of the peppers and the lightness of the flavors were perfect for this ninety degree fall SoCal is experiencing! Next time thanks to some recommendations I'm going to add Mango for some extra sweetness!
Main Course and Sides
I love fried chicken. This is fact. The fried chicken I have become slightly famous for in my circle of friends is very simple just a few ingredients and some heavy lovin. Lots of buttermilk and Frank's hot sauce in the batter is what makes this golden crispy heaven. I decided to switch things up this time and made a sriracha bbq sauce to go on top! Sweet,spicy,crispy,and salty all made my tongue a happy camper.
Sautèed Kale with Pancetta. Personally I'm not a fan of collard greens but, I had to make up something to replace them with! A southern meal is not complete without some greens! I pulled from my Italian background and used Pancetta instead of the traditional bacon grease to cook the greens! The Kale came out fantastic except for some extreme shrinkage which I hadn't planned for!
Sweet Potatoes with Honey-Maple Chili Sauce
Soooo quick history on the sweet potato. When I purchased these in the grocery they were labeled as yams! Lies!!! In the USA there are two main types of SWEET POTATOES sold in the stores the golden light colored ones and the orange,sweet, mashy ones. The USDA labels the orange ones Yams even though in fact they are not! Yams are something totally different! However, these potatoes came out super delicious! The sauce really was yummmm sweet and spicy with quite a kick! Using some heavy cream in the sauce smoothed out the flavors and added a nice richness.
Dessert
This is where the meal took a turn for the south ;) and not in a good way! I tried to make banana pudding from scratch..... it never set. So we decided as a group to rename it banana gazpacho. Even worse was the fact that I over beat my whipped cream and turned it into vanilla flavored butter :O. Either way even though as you can see from the photo it didn't come out as planned it was still pretty tasty.
Special Thanks to my dear friend Liz who can be seen at wordsasvisions and her family for allowing me to invade their house make a mess and cook dinner for them!
Where Have I Been! About me Updated....
New Job Life! I have a new J.O.B. with everybody's favorite fruit computer company! It's been treating me very well and a VERY new experience being back in the retail world!
Sometimes a splurge meal is a must. My sister's birthday is one of those occasions. The Playground in Santa Ana was on my list of places to try for a couple of years now but, I never had a good enough excuse to spend a mini fortune on a meal. Let me just say right of the bat it wasn't as expensive as I originally thought and it was DAMN WORTH IT. To start off from the time we checked in for our reservation to the time we left the service was amazing and so friendly! They break apart their menu into first,second,and eddie's deserted island. All the items are on the smaller side of portions but, perfect when your willing to order a few and share. Also, Playground changes their menu on a nightly basis according to what is fresh! I love that every time you eat their it could be a totally different menu!
First Course
Air Dried Wagyu Beef, Mexican Rice Cakes, Avocado Mousse, Tajin Broth, Cilantro, Radish...... We ordered this specifically because my sister is obsessed with Tajin ( a mexican seasoning brand) It was FANTASTIC and probably one of my favorite things we ate. The meat was extremely tender and flavorful the cool avocado mousse was the perfect compliment to the slightly spicy Mexican rice cakes.
Kurobuta Belly Steam Bun, Guacamole, Radish.... This course was simply yummy. The Japanese pork belly (Kurobuta) was super flavorful and slightly crispy this contrasted very well with the soft,airy,chewy, steam bun. It was probably the simplest savory thing we ate.
Second Course
Grilled Duck Breast, Brussel Sprouts Leaves, Charred Salt Roasted Baby Sweet Potatoes, Chipolte-Maple Purèe.... This was my main course and was so flavorful! The spicy, sweet sauce was dang delicious on top of the perfectly rare duck breast. I love when rich food is spicy because it cuts though the fat so well.
Uncle Lou's Fried Chicken... This is the one thing on the menu they won't take back if you don't like it. The letter they give you explains if you don't like this chicken you are just wrong. I laughed a little one I read it and then I tried the chicken. They are right. Its a crispy vinegary delight in your mouth. The chicken is SO JUICY! My sister is a fried chicken enthusiast and this was her favorite, she literally told me I'd have to learn how to make this chicken it was so good. I must replicate but, I don't think I ever could. Playground has this down way better than I ever could accomplish.
Dessert!
Melon Sorbet.... Damn like they froze a cantaloupe and put it in balls. It was delicious simply sweet and oh so fresh.
Black Mission Fig Sticky Toffee Pudding.... Sooo rich! The toffee was melted down into a carmel like sauce ohhhhhh yessss is all I could say as I spooned this into my gapping mouth.
Overall an amazing meal.
P.S. The cocktails were good too!
San Diego adventures! Even though I live about two hours from San Diego my brother lives there so I frequently visit! I love San Diego! It has such a great brewery/beer scene as well as amazing food! This feature is from Tiger! Tiger! a great beer bar in the North Park neighborhood. The beers were a little heavy in price but well worth it! I had a great imperial pumpkin ale from a brewery I unfortunately forgot to write down :O.... The food though was pretty dang awesome. They had a real wood fired pizza oven and an open kitchen which I absolutely love to see in food establishments, especially a bar! The food you see pictured above is a fantastic fatty delight, Sausage Poutine Fries. Let that sink in. Poutine with Sausage! What these fries lacked was more cheese curd but, the richness of the gravy made up for it! These fries made an excellent dinner, pairing with a slightly sweet beer. A special treat appears in this post to a semi-tipsy #SELFIE!
Drinks! Bourbon. Yum.
In the past year or so I've developed quite a taste for Bourbon. I take the distinction between Bourbon and Whiskey very seriously. Education tangent time everybody! Bourbon has to meet several different guidelines to be considered as such! Here's the basics.... thanks to Jimbeam.com
1) It must be made in the good ol' U.S.A.
2) It must be made with with a grain mix of at least 51% corn
3) aged in CHARRED white oak barrels for a min. of 2 years
4) NO additives (that's my job ;D)
Ok so now we all know the basics of Bourbon! Its sweeter than typical whiskeys and therefore amazing. My favorite is Bulleit. Its hipster I know but,sooo smooth. Anyway back to the drink! I decided to have a yummy whiskey cocktail thing I made up last night! A blackberry izze mixed with two shots of Bourbon it was fantastic! Im going to call it the Berry Bourbon Blast. Everybody should try this!
Dinner is served! GAH! This meal was one of the most exciting for me to make in a while! My first dinner for foodversation! I decided to spoil my brother and sister by making them a five course,seasonal,italian inspired, fantastic dinner! What did I make... pretty much everything that sounded good and fresh and hopefully a little creative!
First Course: App. Hour! - paired with a sauvignon blanc
Melon wrapped in prosciutto, a couple of different salamis, fresh mozzerella, bread drizzled with olive oil and balsamic, assorted olives.
Second Course : Salad
Heirloom tomatoes are one of my favorite foods so I decided to use the baby ones as a salad! Heirloom tomatoes with burrata cheese <-- If you haven't heard of or had burrata its really amazing! All mixed with some italian parsley, olive oil, and balsamic, a sprinkle of salt and pepper! It was so simple but so yummy the creaminess of the burrata pretty much made its own dressing!
Third Course: Pasta!
Even though my sister-in-law is gluten free I couldn't do italian without pasta! Thanks to Trader Joe's I was able to buy some gluten free brown rice based pasta. That pasta was a great base for my favorite roman speciality CARBONARA! I decided to highlight that even though SoCal doesn't feel like fall its the middle of September! I sautéed some butternut squash in with the pancetta and onions to add some fall flare! The squash along with the fried sage leaves really made the carbonara my favorite part of the meal!
Fourth Course: Meat. paired with a California Zinfandel
The meat course was something I learned about when I was studying Italian Cuisine, in Italy pasta isn't the main course more like a side dish or first course! Go figure! I made chicken coated in a mix of fresh herbs (sage and rosemary) and then made a pesto and wine sauce to go on top! Nothing says delicious like an aged parmesan shaving on top too!
Fifth Course: Dessert
I love desserts but sometimes they end up to sweet for me! This dessert was the perfect balance of sweet and rich! I made a whipped mascarpone cream with orange juice and a little orange zest! On top of that base I cut up some fresh strawberries and drizzled a delicious espresso balsamic that I had in my cabinet!
Overall this meal was just so much fun to create! I didn't use a single recipe! It felt so good to be creative and just come up with what sounded good! I love that I can turn a few bags of groceries into a family experience! This blog is a great excuse to make great food and connect with the people I love!
Special Thanks to Johnny and Jen for letting me invade their kitchen for the night and taking pictures before you were able to take bites!
Updates Coming Soon!
Tomorrow I'm cooking an entire meal for the blog!
Foodie Talk #1
Culture: "The customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group"- Oxford Dictionary
The best representation of culture I can think of is food. Food combines all of these things that define culture. Lets talk about American Food Culture just to start off with, "The Burger."
Burgers can be their own culture! Whoever thought of that! Burgers are eaten with the hands and served with fries this is a American custom. Burgers are presented as a layered meal; bun, produce, condiment, meat, bun if thats not an artistic meal display I don't know what is. In N Out is a great representation of a social institution dedicated to burgers anyone from the West Coast can tell you how important this place of burger worship is. The burger has spread from the USA to conquer the world its an achievement for our nation that you can go to any country and order the burger. People love burgers.
Did I make you hungry for a burger! I know I am!
Benchmark Brewing Company in San Diego does it right. Great environment blues and bluegrass playing in the background, cool wood tables, maps on the walls, light fixtures made of flashlights. Basic Hipster heaven. The beer was fantastic as well. San Diego is known as one of the best places for Craft Brewing in the U.S. this place is a reminder of why. Small places that make great beer sometimes are just as fun as bigger places like Stone. The Imperial I.P.A. made smiles appear on my face and my brothers. A nice bitter, resiny, hoppy, delicious beer. The rest of the tasters where pretty dang tasty too!
