Olvera Street & Philippe's

A few of my friends from college and I decided to get together today and since we are all from Los Angeles, it made sense to go on an L.A. adventure.  So, why not a trip down Olvera Street and lunch at Philippe's?  Sounds good to me. 

It marked my first trip on the Los Angeles metro.  I always bagged on our public transport system, but after conquering Barcelona, with Liz's help, I thought I would give it a shot.  You know, it turned out pretty well and I actually found other places I could stop off by using the metro.  Only problem is I would have to drive to a station or get dropped off.  There were a couple of moms with their kids on the train and  I heard them saying that they try to take the metro weekly on Saturdays out to breakfast, a new place each time.  Now that would be fun!  I even saw people in Northern California taking the train to different cities, biking or running, then taking it back.  A cheaper method and less hassle than driving for sure!

Arrival at the famous Union Station.  A quick and uneventful trip, much faster than driving and I happened to encounter some interesting individuals.   

What a selection!

I remember the coconut bar (red, white, and green) from when my mom brought it back from her annual 4th grade trip to Olvera Street.  I adore coconut, but this was just TOO much. 

Interesting forms of candy found at Olvera Street

Toasted coconut ball - even tastier after being put in the fridge.  

Pumpkin and sweet potato?  Apparently they are some of the best.

Pan Dulce

I had eaten at Philippe's once before.  It's one of the oldest restaurants in Los Angeles and is well-known for its continuous operation since 1908.  They also claim to be the inventor of the French Dip Sandwich.  The restaurant seems to be fashioned from an old apartment and is has a number of old-fashioned traditions such as wood shavings on the floor, rows of tables and stools for a number of people to eat at upstairs and downstairs, and historical newspaper articles adorning the walls. Even the form of payment remains cash only and once you place your cash on the little tray, the woman behind the counter runs it over to the sole cashier.  

Ordering from the old-fashioned menu on the wall...all customers packed into the building, standing in lines, on top of the sawdust on the floor.

They are known for their hot mustard sauce and oh my goodness, that mustard is HOT! I can handle it to a certain extent but at first taste, I was crying.  We all sampled the beef French dip ("freshly" dipped according to Philippe's - the top of the bun is dipped in au jus right before it is placed on the sandwich and handed to the customer) 

Next time, maybe the turkey or ham will get a chance, but for today, we experimented with beef, different cheeses, it was agreed that jack cheese versus American was the way to go, mustard, cole slaw, and potato salad. I think my cole slaw addition ($1.50) was a great pair to the semi-dry beef and lack of sauce for my taste) Jesus and Katie also picked up a slice of red velvet cake, which lacked the delicious cream cheese frosting but was still quite sweet. Iced tea and lemonade are quite popular drink options, beer and wine is sold, and all soda comes in a can.

Only in Southern California - forecast for  early January

A great day in Los Angeles. Finally getting to know where I live. Almost the new year!

Green Tea Latte?

Trying to start the new year off on the right foot, make my picky eating patterns even healthier than they are :) Just some different food explorations and changes.  I read article after article about food substitutions, recipes and so on, but time to put it all into play.  Happened to learn something about milk last night that was interesting.  I used to drink so much milk that I thought drinking skim would make it better off, calorie wise.  However, according to my aunt, the 1% or low fat is actually healthier with less sugar and an overall better nutritional value.  Essentially, with the 1%, I will be fuller faster and won't need to drink as much.  She recommended purchasing the organic low fat milk, so I will put that on my list for school shopping. Meghan will enjoy that trip to Trader Joe's :) Endless...

Anyways, started the day with some oatmeal, vanilla yogurt (will make the switch to greek in the next market cycle), blueberries, honey, and a few dried cranberries.  On our drive out of Mammoth towards Los Angeles, we stopped for a coffee at the Looney Bean coffee shop.  I prefer their coffee and products 10 to 1 and have much better products.  Because I wasn't such a fan of my warm vanilla latte from Starbucks the other day, I decided to experiment with a green tea latte (coffee free).  

I thought this was the "healthy" option but was sort of turned off by the taste.  Maybe not my cup of tea (pun indented), so I'll try another selection the next time we visit Mammoth Mountain.  Other tea latte options included: mango, coconut, and even bubble gum. 

I substituted my green tea disappointment with Trader Joe's unsweetened green tea and was much happier on the long drive home. 

For lunch?  Pumped up the day with lots of protein - egg/eggwhite scramble with turkey, salsa, tomatoes, and my uncle Kevin's homemade spicy seasoning.  Deeeelish.  Kept me running for the day as I purged my closets for the new year.  A very exhausting process, indeed!

Finished off the fabulous day with Meghan's chicken tacos.  Mom had put the chicken and Lawry's seasoning in the crock-pot to simmer for a few hours - the secret to taco SUCCESS! Juicy, tender chicken that falls apart and melts in your mouth.  Meghan's blue corn tortilla taco shells, and my very own guacamole.  Perfect with a side of college football.

Night Out at Z Grill

For our last night in Mammoth, we met up with our cousins and went out to dinner at Z Grill per their suggestion.  While the service was awful, but food was amazing. Located in the old Gomez's "A-frame" (if you know the area, you will know where I'm talking about...Gomez the Mexican restaurant)

Menu Website

A sort of homey style interior design - something you would expect in the mountains.  There were booths, tables and white chairs.  My expectations included a more gourmet form of a burger joint or barbecue restaurant.

Uncle Kevin's "Cali Burger" w/ potato salad - avocado, bacon, fried egg, lettuce on jalapeno/cheese bun

My kid's portion of BBQ pulled pork plate w/ side salad and sweet potato mash. Probably the best thing I have had in a long time.  The portion was perfect, price around $7.95 (I was able to make it past the 12 and under age limit), and the sweet sauce and mashed potatoes simply melted in my mouth.  There must have been a cinnamon seasoning or something of the liking to make the sweet potato mash as tasty as it was, but just think of Thanksgiving revisited.

M's Grilled Cheese w/ steak & side salad

Mom's Patty Melt (got to taste and it was quite tasty) w/ coleslaw

Aunt Katie's Soup & Salad combo - a Z salad w/ soup of the day (chili)

Overall, a decent priced meal, tasty for a day on the mountain, but wouldn't recommend their service.  Maybe it was a slow night? Who knows. If anything, I would come back just for the pulled pork and sweet potato mash.

Eggplant Round 1

For the family trip up to Mammoth Mountain and I thought I would try a new take on the "Fuelling Spaghetti."  For some reason, spaghetti always tastes better in the mountains, especially after a day of skiing.  I was fooling around with the vegetables and gave the eggplant a shot. 

According to most recipes, you are supposed to slice the eggplant, sprinkle some kosher salt on top and let it sit for at least 20 minutes and up to overnight.  

We were planning on having asparagus as well (one of my favorites!) so after the purple vegetable had time to sit, I threw it on the pan with some extra virgin olive oil and some Lawry's season salt.  Then, paired with the asparagus, I placed it in the oven, set it to broil on HIGH and left it there with the oven door open for about 10-12 minutes.  The end result was pretty tasty.  

I paired it with meat sauce, asparagus, and some Schat's cheesebread.  Next time I might attempt to broil it a little longer, to get rid of the chewy texture, but a great first attempt. 

Christmas Cinnamon Rolls

Every year on Christmas morning, we celebrate the morning with a round of cinnamon rolls.  Ok, we actually start the morning off with a family run through the town, soaking up the Southern California sun and semi-warm morning, but after a quick shower and dressing ourselves back in our Christmas jammies, we head to the living room to sit around the tree.

Running before hand and just once a year is worth the carb splurge.  Consider it a carbo-reloading.

When we were little, Mom would whip out the Pillsbury cinnamon rolls, but a few years ago, Meghan and I decided to take matters into our own hands.  The recipes started out simple with regular cinnamon rolls with white flour.  But as I found more and more recipes and my interest in healthier foods grew, we changed to wheat flour.  It's a process, but really, how healthy can cinnamon rolls get?

Slicing the buns and setting them to rise for another 45 minutes or so before baking begins

Another Christmas came and past and we made our delicious buns.  We woke up, mixed the dough and set the yeast to rise as we ran, then baked them as we jumped in the shower.  I think this year was the "healthiest" batch yet.  Quite a feat and actually a success taste wise as I got two thumbs up from both Madre and Meghan, both who are skeptical of some of my food alterations or substitutions.

Meghan humored me and allowed me to purchase the "Sugar Free" frosting, which actually tasted quite good.  A few times we have experimented with the powdered sugar recipe, but have never been satisfied.  Do you happen to know of a good homemade frosting?  

Just a little bubbly to celebrate the day

My dad grew up eating a butter streusel cake and refuses to try anything different, even homemade butter streusel cake, so we just let him be with his frozen breakfast.  So, since there were only three of us eating the rolls, Meghan and I decided to divide the recipe in half.  For convenience sake, I am including the full recipe.  Great for brunches, team breakfasts (cross country in my mind), or a large family. 

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls: 

Ingredients: 

Dough: 

- 1.5 packages dry yeast (about 3 1/4 teaspoons)

- 3/4 cup warm fat-free milk (*we choose to put it in the microwave for a minute or so)

- 1/4 cup warm water

- 1/4 cup butter, softened

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1.5 tsp fresh lemon juice

- 1 large egg

- 1 large egg white

- 2.5 cups wheat flour

- 1.5 cups white flour

- cooking spray 

Filling: 

- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar

- 1.5 tbsp ground cinnamon

- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

(raisins if desired...we run a picky kitchen so they were omitted)

Glaze: 

- As I mentioned we choose to go with the pre-packaged frosting (I thought sugar-free would be interesting but may not have been the healthier option...not sure - sometimes filled with more chemicals)

- 3/4 cup powdered sugar

- 3/4 tsp vanilla extract

- 5 tsp fat-free milk

Preparation:

1. To prepare dough, dissolve yeast in warm milk and 1/4 cup warm water in a large bowl, let stand 5 minutes or until foamy. 
2. Add butter and next 5 ingredients (through egg white); stir well. 
3. Add the dry ingredients slowly and stir until a soft dough forms
4. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (suggested time ~ 8 minutes); add enough of remaining 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, little bit at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands (dough will feel sticky). 
5. Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 1 hour or until doubled in size. (Gently press two fingers into dough. If indentation remains, dough has risen enough.) Punch dough down; roll into a 16 x 12-inch rectangle on a floured surface. Coat surface of dough with cooking spray.
6. FILLING: combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg; sprinkle over dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Roll up rectangle tightly, starting with a long edge, pressing firmly to eliminate air pockets; pinch seam to seal. Cut the dough into a number of rolls (depending on how many you would like to make). Place the rolls, cut sides up, in a 13 x 9-inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Cover and let rise 45 minutes or until doubled in size.
7. Preheat oven to 375°.
8. Uncover rolls. Bake at 375° for 22 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool in pan on a wire rack.
9. To prepare glaze, place powdered sugar and vanilla in a small bowl. Add 5 teaspoons milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, stirring to form a thick glaze. Drizzle glaze evenly over rolls

Merry Christmas

Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies

More festive treats...These are something that I had come across in the LATimes cooking section a few years ago. I gave it a whirl and we loved them.  While I lost that recipe, this one was just as good and possibly a bit simpler.

My only mistake this round was omitting the peppermint flavoring.  The last batch that I made a few years ago, I included the peppermint extract (similar to vanilla extract) and it made for a wonderful holiday treat.  These are just as festive with the red and white swirl, but simply taste like a butter cookie.

Tip: You can even make a little bit of peppermint frosting to place in between two delicious pinwheel cookies.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened 

1 cup sugar 

1 large egg 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt 

3/4 teaspoon red food coloring paste

Step-by-Step Process:
1. Beat butter at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until creamy; gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, beating until blended, scraping bowl as needed.

Dough will look like small pebbles, but don't worry, keep mixing.

2. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt; gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating at low speed until blended.

After adding all the wet ingredients, the batter will turn very creamy but will return to its pebble state once the flour or dry ingredients are added.  Again, just keep mixing :) 

3. Divide dough into 2 equal portions. Roll 1 portion of dough into a 12- x 8-inch rectangle on a piece of lightly floured plastic wrap.

Meghan playing the tunes as we bake away. She was in the process of whipping up dozens of the famous "Nancy" rolls for our holiday parties. Delish!

4. Blend red food coloring into the second half of the dough.  Blend until the dough has turned completely red. Roll red dough into a rectangle as directed in Step 3. Put the second dough on top of the first one and peel off the plastic wrap. Cut the dough down the middle to create two smaller rectangles.  Roll up each rectangle, jelly-roll fashion, starting at 1 long side, using bottom piece of plastic wrap as a guide. Wrap in plastic wrap, and freeze 4 hours or up to 1 month.

I didn't really go with an exact measurement of food coloring, I just threw some in and blended, adjusting as necessary

And it seems to have worked in my favor!

5. Preheat oven to 350°. Cut ends off each dough log, and discard. Cut dough into 1/4-inch-thick pieces, and place on parchment paper-lined baking sheets.

Frozen dough pre-slicing

Ready to be put in the oven

6. Bake at 350° for 6 to 7 minutes or until puffed and set; cool cookies on baking sheets 5 minutes. Remove to wire racks, and cool completely (about 30 minutes).

The finished product, delicious hot out of the oven, cooled for a few hours, or even frozen!  But that's just my crazy obsession with frozen treats. Merry Christmas!

Looking Forward to Lunches!

Look what I stumbled upon in Macy's today! Actually it was the lucky find of Megnan and we picked up a couple to take our lunches in style to school.  I won't have time to return to the house for lunch and have no desire to buy school food, so these will come in quite handy!

Best part is, it is a neat freak like me's dream - separated sections for different foods, different levels, a separated container for dressing so salad doesn't become soggy, two levels for yogurt or cereal so those too do not become soggy over time.  So much excitement from the food section :) I will have to show you later on how I put them to use!

7 Layer Bars for Christmas

Coconut has to be one of my new favorite foods and so of course I had to make something with coconut for our Christmas party as well as the little holiday gifts my mom was giving.   In Europe, I happened to indulge myself in a few too many gelato experiences.   Every time seemed to be about "the experience," and I didn't want to miss out on a single thing.  So, moving on, I happened to subconsciously order dark chocolate and coconut every time.   So, why not make something for the holidays with those two flavors?

This is a SUPER easy recipe and is quite a crowd pleaser.

7 Layers of Pure Bliss
Total Time: ~40
Servings: ~36 (depends on how you cut the bars)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1.5 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (or dark chocolate depending on your preference)
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup chopped walnuts (or substitute other nuts)
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/3 cups shredded coconut

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C for all those metric lovers)
2. Place butter in a 13x9" pan and melt it in the oven.  Swirl around to coat bottom and sides as it melts

Instead of using a food processor or even placing the crackers in a bag to crush them, I simply placed a few sheets in a bowl and used a avocado masher to do the job.

Worked out pretty well if you ask me. Less mess, less clean up.

 3. Spread crumbs evenly over the bottom of the pan.  Layer chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and nuts over crumbs.  Pour condensed milk over nuts. Sprinkle coconut over last layer (condensed milk)

Three more ingredients: chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, pecans (my substitution for walnuts because that is all we had in the house)

4. Bake until edges are golden brown, about 25 minutes. Let it cool

Tip: Before you cut the bars, let them cool out of the oven, then place them in the freezer to allow the ingredients to harden.  Otherwise, the condensed milk will help create a mush pit out of your beautiful bars.

There was a sweet crumb taste (very buttery of course) along with an interesting and intriguing mix of chocolate and butterscotch.  I know this seems very self-explanatory especially if you just look at the ingredients, but it's worth a test for the full effect.  I loved these bars room temperature or even better, FROZEN.  I tend to enjoy my desserts on the frozen side :)