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!