Taylor's Automatic Refresher {San Francisco, CA}

While at the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market, we decided to do lunch as well. What better place to dine than a place filled to the brim with the best seasonal and fresh produce in the city. But rather than eating from a vendor, we stopped by at Taylor's Automatic Refresher, a burger joint named one of the best in the country by Gourmet Magazine.

B & I shared a Wisconsin Sourdough, a burger with grilled mushrooms, bacon, cheddar cheese, mayo and BBQ on grilled sourdough bread. It was juicy and full of all-American flavor. And the sweet potato fries we had on the side complemented the burger really well, but then again, sweet potato fries complement everything well! The only major disappointment was the size of the burger, it was much tinier than I had expected but oh well...

Egg Salad Sandwiches

School has started and that means my lunches these days are predominately filled with sandwiches and granola bars, not that I'm complaining. Sandwiches can be just as exciting as any other lunch, especially when it's egg salad! Simple, good for you, and creamy deliciousness. 

A huge part of making a good egg salad is making sure the foundations are well set, and this means using perfectly boiled eggs. Don't scoff! Boiling eggs correctly takes more than just being able to boil a pot of water. No my friends, it takes skill. Thankfully, I've included a little lesson on how to boil the perfect egg, with help from the internet of course. Never will you encounter a gray, over-boiled egg again!

Egg Salad Sandwiches

Yields: 2 servings

4 slices of whole wheat bread, toasted

6 hard boiled eggs, shelled

2-3 tbsn. mayonnaise

1 celery stalk, washed and diced

salt and pepper, to taste

To boil eggs perfectly, according to eHow.com, lay the eggs in a large saucepan and cover in water till it just covers the eggs. On high, bring the water to a boil and let it boil for three minute. After three minutes, remove from the heat and cover with a lid. Let sit for eight minutes. Then drain the pot and run the eggs under cold water. Once cool enough to handle, gently remove the shells.

Roughly chop the eggs. I like to remove half of the egg yolks so that it is a little healthier, but keep or remove the egg yolks to your liking. In a medium bowl, combine the eggs and mayonnaise. Mash with a fork until a consistency of your liking. Then add the celery, salt, and pepper. Smear on some nicely toasted bread and enjoy!

Easy Almond Croissants

My sister is a waitress at an excellent but highly overpriced restaurant named Zov's in Tustin, CA. She always gushes about their amazing almond croissants and we decided we'd try them out. They are so incredibly easy considering you don't even have to bake the croissants yourself. Just stuff them, bake them, and devour them. Everyone scarfed them down within minutes tops, something I've never personally seen before.

Easy Almond Croissants

Yields: 12 Croissants

12 croissants (I use the Costco packs)

A large bag of slivered almonds

For the Almond Cream:

3 sticks of butter

1 1/2 lbs. almond paste

3/4 cup of ground almonds

6 eggs

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. almond extract

For the orange simple syrup:

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup orange juice

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Slice the croissants in half horizontally, set aside. In a food processor, cream together the butter and almond paste. The add the eggs in one by one. Then add the almond extract and finally, the ground almonds and flour. Mix well and make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl. In a small saucepan, combine all ingredients for the simple syrup. Bring to a simmer and make sure all of the sugar is dissolved. Turn off heat and set aside.

To assemble to croissants, take the halved croissants and use a pastry brush to brush the simple syrup on the insides. Then spread a good amount of the almond mixture on each side and close. Spread a thin layer of the almond mixture on the tops of the croissants and dip in the slivered almonds. Repeat until done. Place on a large baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 10 - 15 minutes. 

A Day at the Swap Meet

On a lazy Saturday like this past one, B and I decided to go to the OCC Swap Meet. It's not so much that we want to find something but rather, we hope that something will find us. Swap Meets are either hits or misses, and when you're not looking for anything, that's when the best things find you, and boy did it find us!  I don't particularly like this whole summer during the winter kind of weather, especially when it cuts into my boot-wearing, scarf-tossing, cold weather days. But that's Southern California, and I'll have to get used to it. So you can understand how finding a treasure like hot pink strawberry juice made my day all better. Honestly the hot pink kind of turned me off at first sight, making me think to myself, what the hell is in this stuff? But I gave it a try and was pleasantly surprised. It was simply sweet with pure strawberry flavor and was the perfect accompaniment to spicy, creamy Mexican corn. I like mine best with everything on it: hot sauce, butter, mayonnaise, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.

The variety of juices offered on a hot day:

All smothered and such:

B cleaned it, and he cleaned it well:

Matzo Ball Soup

My parents have left my sister and I home to starve to death. While they have jetted off to Vietnam for a month, my sister and I have been testing our hands in the kitchen. And as it turns out, our hands aren't too bad. 

I've been ravaging the local food blogs for some recipes that I could try - a combination of affordable, easy, comforting, and delicious. So where else to look but my sacred Smitten Kitchen? That's where I found this amazing Matzo Ball Soup recipe and just about another gazillion good eats. This soup was so incredibly easy and simple. If you're looking for an alternative to the traditional Chicken Noodle Soup, this has got to be it. On a cold day, it's all that you're looking for. 

Matzo Ball Soup (modified from Smitten Kitchen)

Yields: about 5-8 servings

For the matzo balls:

1/2 cup matzo meal

2 eggs, slightly beaten

2 tbsn. vegetable oil

2 tbsn. chicken broth or seltzer water

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

For the soup:

4 stalks of celery,  diced

4 carrots, diced

6 cans of low sodium chicken broth

To make the balls, combine all of the ingredients until well mixed. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to let the meal absorb the liquid. In a large pot, bring the chicken stock to a boil. Add the carrots and celery, cook until soft, about 8 - 12 minutes. Sieve the vegetables out and place in a separate dish. Wet your hands and form 1-inch balls with the matzo mixture, drop into the boiling water. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook the balls for about 25 - 35 minutes. Drop the vegetables back in, serve a big bowl for yourself and enjoy on a cold winter day!

Bokeh Obsessed

With my Canon 30D, I also decided to buy a 50mm lens (mainly for the fact that it was the only other lens I could afford at this point in time). I wouldn't let the price fool you, it is a great lens. It works very well in low light and give you lots and lots of Bokeh. It's a simple and modest lens but that's what I like about it. There's not too much fuss but its gives unbelievable pictures. But let's move on to my obsession with Bokeh. If you don't know what that is, Wikipedia defines Bokeh as a word derived from the Japanese that is "a photographic term referring to the appearance of out-of-focus areas of an image produced by a camera lens."

And if words failed to explain what Bokeh is, here are some of my favorite Bokeh images that I found while wandering on Flickr:

"Golden Days" by moaan

"Bubble Blizzard Bokeh" by betie bet

"The Wishing Bokeh Fountain" by krashingmotions

"Cosmo & Bokeh = Love" by .kels. (a little busy)

"Mad Crazy Bokeh Tree" by Kristybee

Ikea {Costa Mesa, CA}

After my first day of school after a glorious Winter break, B and I were kinda exhausted from first-day-back-to-school-boring-lectures. We wanted food and we wanted it bad. For some reason, I find that after a long day of brain usage, I always tend to get hungrier than usual, and since our daydreams of non-school-non-responsibilities-non-work have not yet completely eluded us, we decided to wander aimlessly in the long and winding pathways of Ikea. I love Ikea, if not for their cheap furniture and perfectly arranged living spaces, then for their juicy Swedish Meatball plates and $1.99 weekly breakfasts. It's definitely not gourmet but it does the trick, especially when smothered in lakes of creamy gravy. Lingonberry juice is always a must too, good thing they make concentrate take home-able, how else would I be able to survive? Did I mention that I love Ikea?

I left my heart in San Francisco

A few pictures from my recent trip to SF:

Tofu with Ground Pork and Shrimp

This is one of my most favorite tofu recipes ever. I've been such a pest to my mother in the kitchen lately; messing up her perfectly cleaned kitchen and bothering her with endless questions on her food. I have a feeling that she secretly loves it and since it's to my benefit, it's a win-win situation. This tofu is sweet from the juicy tomatoes but salty from the ground pork and I've never gotten bored of it after 20 years!

Tofu with Ground Pork and Shrimp

Yields: 8 - 10 servings

24 oz. ground pork

8 oz. ground shrimp

1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsn. sugar

4-5 tbsn. fish sauce (depending on how salty you like it)

2 packages of extra firm tofu, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces

vegetable oil

6 large roma tomatoes, chopped into 1 in. pieces 

2 large onion, wedged and broken up

4 tbsn. of ketchup, to your liking

2 tbsn. oyster sauce, to your liking

1/3 cup of chopped parsley

Directions:

In a deep pan pour the oil in until it reaches a height of about 1 centimeter. Heat the pan on medium high until oil is hot. Lay the tofu in carefully and cover the pan and let cook until crispy, about 5 minutes. Carefully turn the tofu on its other side and cook until brown and crispy. Once done, take out let cool and then slice into 1 inch cubes. Set aside.

In a large bowl combine the ground pork, ground shrimp, pepper, fish sauce, and sugar. Mix well. Heat a large pan on medium high. Add the meat mixture and break up while cooking. About 5 - 10 minutes later, add the diced tofu, tomatoes, and onion. Cook for another 10 - 15 minutes or until all well cooked and onions are soft. Next, add the ketchup and oyster sauce. Add more of each to your own taste. Mix well and let meld for another 3 - 5 minutes. Once everything is all cooked, serve hot and top with the chopped parsley. 

Milk {Los Angeles, CA}

I love the holiday season and all of its charming bliss. Usually I like to stroll down neighborhoods with a large display of Christmas lights at least once. This year we (me and some friends) decided we would try something new and go to the Griffith Park Light Festival. It was a total bust. Never will I ever do that again! It was basically a long, freezing walk with a mediocre, extremely boring light display. But time spent with friends is never wasted and I definitely had a light at the end of the tunnel waiting for me: Milk.

Milk is a charming little restaurant/ cafe on Beverly that is known for its wonderful sundaes, odd blue velvet cake, and tasty sandwiches.

1. The Media Noche is one of their most popular sandwiches. It feautures pulled pork, ham, manchego cheese, pickles, and roasted garlic mayo. This knocked me out! It was warm, crispy, and had so much flavor.

2. The Blondie: features a white chocolate blondie, vanilla ice cream, butterscotch, and pecan praline. I've never personally had a blondie before but I vow to myself from now on, to always have one any chance I can possibly get. And topped with pecan praline? It really couldn't get any better.

3. Frozen Yogurt Sundae: buttermilk waffles, ice cream, caramelized apples, and caramel sauce. This one was ginormous and the apples were actually fresh rather than that canned nastyness. It was warm, crispy, and melty!