Friday Pic

Hello faithful friends and fans! It's been a loong while since you've heard a peep from this cultural nomad. Once again, work is the guilty culprit. My time and energy was completely consumed by organizing an Italian wine week in Los Angeles, featuring only the native varietals of Italia.

After months, countless meetings and endless hours of work, our event (which took place from May 16-20, 2011) was a huge success and I can honestly say that I've walked away with great experiences, a decent knowledge of native Italian varietals, and a little crush on Italy. More on that later.

In the meantime, here is a picture from one of our events held during the week- a Northern Italy Fruili and Piemonte dinner at Culina. While I would like to claim credit for such a cool shot, this one was taken by a professional photographer.

Photo Credit: Maria Schriber

Happy Weekending!

BEST Broccoli Recipe

Have you ever found yourself sitting at work trying to get through the day only to find that the entire office smells like delicious broccoli? No? Well I have. That my friends, is the downside of working out of a home office- your afternoon is often interrupted by scrumptious smells wafting up from the kitchen below.

Inspired by that one said broccoli-ed afternoon, I went on a quest to find the exact recipe that my boss's wife was putting to test in their kitchen. Turns out, the recipe is a rather well known one by a rather famous chef- Heston Blumenthal.

After reading through the recipe, I am a little embarrassed to even call it such because it is so mind boggingly simple. I guess we should call it Chef Blumenthal's method for cooking broccoli. Whatever the case, this swift, high-heat method concentrates the flavor of the broccoli and yields the most delicious toasty broccoli ever. Trust me when I say this- once you've tried Chef Blumenthal's broccoli's recipe, you'll never go back to your old steamed stalwart.

Ingredients:
1 head of Broccoli
Salt and Pepper
EVOO
Butter

Directions:
1. Wash a head of broccoli and lop off all the florets so that they are approximately the same size. Peel the stalk of the broccoli and slice into thin coins (I did somewhere between 1/2 and 1/4 inch).

2. Add EVOO to a heavy bottomed pan (with a lid) and place over high heat until the oil starts to smoke. Dump in the broccoli into the smoking pan and cover it quickly with the lid. Cook for 2 minutes and please resist the urge to peek.

3. Take the lid off and season with salt and pepper. Put on oven mits and grab the handles of the pot to shake the broccoli around. Add a lump of butter ( I used a little less than a tablespoon since I'm not a huge fan of butter). Return pot the fire, cover and cook for another 2 minutes.

4. Test the done-ness of the broccoli and see if it is cooked enough for your liking. If its not, put the top back on and cook for a final 2 minutes. It should be scorched in some spots and still green in others.

5. Serve in bowl and don't be surprised when you gobble the whole head up in mere minutes!

Friday Pic: The Other City

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I last posted something here. I am not going to lie, I'm definitely finding it hard to keep this blog updated. Especially when I feel like my job is taking over my entire life! Thank God I'm blessed with a job that I actually enjoy and derive a lot of satisfaction from.

Anyhoo... while I spend this weekend recuperating (kinda not really since the BFF Meeks is in town) enjoy this picture of a beautiful row of town houses that caught my eye on my recent trip to the Big Apple.

Happy weekending-- it's good to be home.

Friday Pic: My City

Two thoughts, 1. I love the city I live in and 2. I wish I had a better camera.

So folks, another week has come and gone, and another Friday is upon us. Unfortunately, my work week doesn't end here as I head up to San Francisco to help out at the SF World Spirits Competition, work some events and then travel to New York to work more events. In total I will be gone from LA for well over a week. Phew.

I love my job? Happy weekending!

Apple Streusel Muffins

Food makes anything better- that is a fact. From stress to grief to anxiety to fear, food definitely makes everything better. It may not solve anything, but there is something about food that comforts and satisfies your soul.  Do I get an AMEN to that?

Based off of this fact, I baked a batch of Apple Streusel Muffins to take along with me to visit my dear friend Shannon who had surgery on her foot last week. I am proud to say that she devoured the muffins and her foot miraculously stopped hurting... well not quite but I'd like to think these muffins helped her along her journey to recovery.If anything, they told her I care.

Moist and massively impressive these muffins are even better than the ones you get along with your morning coffee at Starbucks. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups peeled and diced granny apples (I used about 2 to get 2 cups)
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup melted butter

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 12 cup muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray. Lightly dust the muffin cups with flour, shaking out the excess.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and diced apples. Gently toss to combine.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk brown sugar, buttermilk, vegetable oil, egg, and vanilla. Gently stir into the flour mixture until blended. Spoon batter into prepared tin, dividing evenly among muffin cups.

4. For the topping, mix together brown sugar, flour, cinnamon in a small bowl. Add the melted butter and toss with a fork until it resembles coarse crumbles. Sprinkle mixture over tops of muffins.

5. Bake for 23-35 minutes, until the muffins spring back when gently pressed. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan and placing on a wire rack.

Makes 12 muffins.

Recipe courtesy of Bite Me by Julie Albert & Lisa Gnat.

Belated Birthday Wishes

Hello Friendsies.

So I'm sorry that I lied about what I would be posting today... I was going to show you what I ate at Animal restaurant but the weekend turned out to be one of those fun but exhausting ones and blogging was the last thing on my mind. What did I do that was so fun yet exhausting?

Well I went down to OC to visit my Bro & Co., and to celebrate my dearest niece, Elsa's 2nd birthday!

For more details on the weekend, hop on over to Sarah's blog, where I'm expecting a full pictorial coverage of our celebrations! In the meantime, HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY little one. Aunty Nic loves you so much!! xoxo

Happy Monday everyone!

Friday Pic: A Sneak Peek

It's Fri-Fri-Friday! Can you tell I am just a tad excited! :)

Anyway, for this week's Friday pic, I though I would give you a sneak peek, a glimpse of what's to come, a little something to wet your appetite for Monday's post. Doesn't that look dee-licious?? It's from my dinner at Animal Restaurant and let me tell you it was good. Real good. So stayed tuned.

On another completely different note, one of my dearest friend's Shannon is having toe surgery today and I wanted all you good folks out there to put in a good word for her with God. While the surgery is not a life threatening one, Shannon informs me it is going to be a painful one. Furthermore, Shannon is going to be in a boot and out of commission for a while and this will not do for the I-can-do-it-myself-I-am-woman type of girl that Shannon is. So pray for a speedy recovery as well.

Thanks Y'all! Happy weekending!

Letters From Lauren

Hey-ho folks!

Happy almost almost almost the weekend! I do apologize for the silence this week. Like I've mentioned before, work has been wearing me out and the last thing I can think about when I get home at night is blogging.

I promise I will hunker down this weekend with my trusty ole Mac, so that come Monday you'll have something interesting to chew on.

For now, let me introduce you to Lauren. Lauren is a girl who loves letters. Lauren is a girl after my own heart in her love for letters. So join her on her journey as she attempts to write (and document) a letter a day in 2011.

Know someone would could benefit from receiving some snail mail? Email Lauren with some details about said friend and she'll take care of the rest!

Now how cool is that!

Image from Letters from Lauren

Friday Pics

Taken with my camera phone this morning:
Flowers from my dear sis-in-law and a snail mailed note from my darling nephew

It's another TGIF!

Work has been insane. My boss is on a 3 week personal vacation and this means I have twice the work load to deal with and also twice the exhaustion.

I might also add that I worked an event on Wednesday where I had to sit outside in the rain for 2 hours checking in consumers. And no- there were no umbrellas nor space heaters. It was miserable.

Needless to say, this week has been hard and I welcome Friday with open arms. TGIF

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Hello hello hello friends. How was your weekend?

It sure was cold here in Los Angeles and despite it being sunny in West LA, it was hailing and snowing in the Valley just 10 minutes from me. Freaky weather I tell you!

 
Like I mentioned on Friday, I spent Saturday with my Brosky and Co. in Pasadena at the Norton Simon Museum.

How Picasso gets this from....

this, I'll never know!

After getting our culture on, we headed back over the hill (and snow/slush) to my apartment where I cooked a semi-successful dinner of chicken rice. For dessert, Sarah brought over some very delicious Almond cookies dipped in dark chocolate and I had some leftover Sour Cream Coffee Cake that I had baked for a brunch last week.

After rebuffing the Almond Cookies for being too Almond-y, my nephew had a piece of the Coffee Cake and, in between mouthfuls of it, declared that I needed to give him the recipe for it!

As a wanna-be chef, there is nothing that makes me happier! So, my dear dear sweet Luca, here is the recipe for that Coffee Cake.

Ingredients
Streusel
1/2 cup pecan pieces
6 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Cake
2 cups sour cream
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons minced fresh orange zest
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 lb (or 2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10 inch Bundt pan.

2. Scatter the pecan pieces evenly around the bottom of the Bundt pan. Combine the brown sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the cinnamon, and the nutmeg into a small bowl. Sprinkle half the streusel mixture evenly over the pecans, reserve the rest.

3. Whisk sour cream, eggs, vanilla extract, and orange zest in a bowl. In another bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt and remaining cinnamon.

4. With an electric mixer on medium speed, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy and light. Pour in the sour cream mixture about 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the flour mixture, about a third at a time, stopping to scrape the bowl after each addition and beating until well combined. The batter will be THICK. Spoon about 1/3 of the batter into the Bundt pan. Leave the surface rather uneven and sprinkle in the remaining streusel mixture. Now spoon in the remaining batter and smooth the surface.

5. Bake on the oven's middle rack for 55 to 60 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool the cake for 10 mins in the pan. Then run a knife around the edges and remove from pan by inverting it. Finish cooling top side up on a baking rack. Cool for at least 10 mins before slicing.

Cake keeps well for several days when tightly covered.

Recipe from The Real American Breakfast by Cheryl Alters Jamison & Bill Jamison.

Friday Pics: Scanwiches

Hey ho friends! I'm so sorry for the blog silence this week (well I guess I did post on Monday, so at least it was not complete silence), but work this week has been kicking my flat Asian hinny. TGIF is all I can say.

Tonight, I am having dinner with my friend at Animal, a restaurant that I've been dying to try for some time now, so stay tuned for that post. Tomorrow, I'm spending the day exploring Old Town Pasadena with the Bro & Co. and I cannot wait to see my favorite munchkins.

But for now, before the week is up, let me share with you some sandwich food porn for this week's edition of Friday pics, courtesy of Scanwiches - a blog chronicling the deli delights all around New York City.

Enjoy and oh... you're drooling a little there, or at least I am. 

Monday Obsession

I'm so in love with the sweet yet sophisticated street-style of Olivia Palermo. There is just something about this chic New York trendsetter that captures my attention and evokes a little fashion envy within me. I would raid her closet in a heartbeat.

So when Tibi decided to team up Olivia for their latest collection, I couldn't have been more excited. With Tibi's clothes, Bobbi Brown makeup and stunning accessories, Olivia pulled together the perfect ensemble to inspire me and my closet! I'm obsessed.

Friday Pics: Colors, Textures & Shadows

Bobo

It seems inevitable that whenever I am in New York for the weekend, I just have to hit up a dining establishment for brunch. I fancy myself Carrie from SATC, weekend brunching with her ladies, all in fabulous outfits.

But reality is I'm not Carrie. NYC or not, I most likely do not have a fancy outfit on (it was freezing in New York this particular trip and the LA/Singapore girl in me chose warmth over fashion. Although I will say I did love my over the knee boots I had on) and I definitely am not having any of that Sex In The City. But fancy outfits and sex aside, I was having brunch! Brunch with my friends Shu and Keith, brunch at bobo restaurant and brunch in the City.

Source

Located in a beautiful old brownstone in Greenwich Village, we discovered bobo through some "interwebs" researching and made reservations to brunch there Saturday morning.

Upon entering the restaurant via the conspicuously unmarked basement entrance (Faux Speakeasy anyone,) we walked right into bobo's subterranean bar area. The brunch vibe there was cool and young, very New York.

As I glanced around the room checking out the scene, I found myself feeling pretty pleased to be "weekend brunching" with the cool kids. However, instead of seating us with the young-uns, our hostess lead us right up a flight of rickety stairs to the main dining room, where we were surrounded by two groups of older patrons. WHAT?? Did we just get seated in the "adults" only boring room? Did we not make the cut? Could they tell I was not a New Yorker??

So there we were, with the oldies in the upstairs intimate (and intimate it was, as I found myself sitting way too close to the next table) dining room, surrounded by tastefully rummaged knickknacks (glass-bead chandeliers, old black and white "family" photos and a pastiche of mismatched “antiques.”) and a large scale hexagonal bookshelf stocked with random volumes and hardcovers.

Despite the chic décor that is meant to evoke a bourgeois bohemian’s dinner party, I didn't care too much for the dark antiquated effect the room had. It made me feel like I was eating in a rundown dirty house. I guess I just don't get the boho bourgeois look and feel.   

That, or I am still sore that we didn't get seated downstairs with all the popular kids. 

Food wise, bobo is a self-proclaimed farm-to-table eatery, which I am always for. After glancing through the brunch menu, I ordered the soft scrambled eggs with tomatoes, potatoes and spicy pepita toasts.

The eggs were cooked to American perfection, and by that I mean that they were nice and dried out, the way Americans expect their scrambled eggs to be. I, on the other hand, have a more European take on scrambled eggs and like mine a little wetter.

That being said, I did appreciate the sweet and tangy tomatoes that were so juicy that it almost made no sense for it not to be summer outside. Additionally, the potatoes had such a lovely crisp and seasoning to them I couldn't help but chow down greedily.

However, my favorite thing from my plate were the pepita toasts. Served atop freshly baked bread from Balthazar (we asked), the pepita spread had a mouth-watering sweet/spicy combo that was refined yet hearty. The masterful combination of the nutty pepita spread and crusty yet chewy bread was relentlessly addictive.

I also have to give a small shout out to the side order of bacon that we ordered (because fat kids are harder to kidnap.) Thick cut, smokey and laden with bacon-tastiness, the bacon was cooked exactly the way I like it- crispy but not burned and most importantly not dripping with oil.

Details:
bobo
181 West 10th Street
New York, NY 10014
212- 488-2626

On This Day...

Good Monday and good Valentine's Day to you all!

While couples in love celebrate and marinate in the festivities that is Valentine's Day, let me inform you of something else that happened on this day back in 1895.

On Feb 14, 1895, Oscar Wilde's play The Importance of Being Earnest opened at St. James's Theatre in London. He wrote the first draft in just 21 days, the fastest he'd ever written anything.

The play tells the story of a man named Jack Worthing who, as a pillar in his community, is laden with social responsibilities. In an attempt to escape tiresome social obligations, Jack pretends to have a younger brother named Earnest, who leads a scandalous life in pursuit of pleasure and is always getting into trouble of a sort that requires Jack to rush grimly off to his assistance. Jack even pretends to be Earnest when that suits his purposes. 

At the same time, Jack's friend Algernon Moncrieff also begins impersonating the imaginary Earnest. When two women fall in love with Jack and Algernon, they both think they are in love with a man named Earnest. It comes out in the end that Jack and Algernon are themselves actually long-lost brothers.

Wilde said that The Importance of Being Earnest expressed his philosophy that "we should treat all the trivial things of life very seriously, and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality." To a friend he wrote that The Importance of Being Earnest was "a trivial play ... written by a butterfly for butterflies." 

But it was his greatest success.With witty dialogue and high farce, The Importance of Being Earnest is one of Wilde's most popular and endearing plays.

Wilde showed up at a rehearsal for the play a few days before the opening, wearing his trademark green carnation pinned onto a three-piece maroon suit. After watching the actors for a few minutes he said, "Yes, it is quite a good play. I remember I wrote one very like it myself, but it was even more brilliant than this."

Source

Gift Guide: Valentine's Day Gifts

1. Ruby Red Cuff Links
2. For that old fashion kind of Shave
3. So he'll always be on time for your dates
4. Who doesn't love a man in a pink shirt
5. A manly sketch book/journal
6. A gorgeous tie for a gorgeous man

Gift Guide: Valentine's Day Gifts

1. Perfect for the Espresso Lover
2. Heart Punchout skinny belt to add a little love to your jeans
3. Draw your sweetheart a relaxing bath using Jo Malone's Red Roses Bath Oil
4. Lovely flats in a sweet pink color
5. A simple and sweet handmade knot ring to express your love
6. I adore the red of these
7. Keep things personal with a diamond initial necklace

Valentine's Day Ecards

Good Tuesday fair folks! How was your weekend? I had a fairly eventful one, spending Friday evening killing and cooking 6 live crabs (I was so proud of myself for not getting too squeamish about it and for cooking a pretty bomb chili crab) and then spending the weekend itself chilling and celebrating the New Year with my favorite munchkins of all time- aka the niece and nephew.

Now that CNY has come and gone, I am already looking toward the next Hallmark holiday that we can celebrate... Valentine's Day!

Despite getting my heart broken before and despite being completely single, I am still a deep romantic at heart. However, even the romantic in me has to practice my gag reflex at the over usage of traditional sticky- sweet holiday romantic expression. "I wurve you"... "Be Mine"... "Let's grow old together"...

Enter Valentine's Day Ecards from someecards. Acerbic, true and so very hilarious, who wouldn't want to receive the sweet-ish sentiment of " I want to grow old and disgusting with you."

  

 And there's plenty more to choose from! Enjoy!