Turkey Ice Cream? Thanksgiving Flavors from Portland's Salt and Straw,Now at Joan's on Third

Portland's Salt & Straw small batch ice creams aren't sold anywhere else outside of Portland - other than our very own Joan's On Third, that is! Joan had long been searching for the right ice cream to serve at Joan's On Third, and when they tried Salt & Straw they knew that was the one. They somehow managed to convince cousins Kim and Tyler Malek to partner up.

Now, not only can you try this farm-to-cone goodness in town, you can also try their fun Thanksgiving flavors. Co-owner Tyler Malek has really gone all the way this year, creating a whole "Thanksgiving dinner" with ice cream.

The first, is the sweet potato and candied pecan ice cream with gooey marshmallow fluff! If you like sweet potato you will love this.

There's "apple cranberry stuffing." This was a celery ice cream with apple cranberry bread pudding.

The celery ice cream is lightly sweet, a perfect vehicle for the bread pudding inside. This was paired with Lanson Brut Champagne.

Read more »

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Planned Parenthood's Cocktail Pairing at The Corner Door

Planned Parenthood is one of the more controversial nonprofit organizations, sadly. Each year, PPLA Food Fare receives their share of anti-abortion protesters in front of their event, even though the majority of PPLA's services (97%) include cancer screenings, STD treatments and testings, and contraceptive services.

PPLA Food Fare is the organization's biggest fundraiser of the year. It started 34 years ago with a simple cooking demo from Julia Child but now draws 1500 attendees to partake in good food and wine from over 100 vendors (see my recap of the 2011 Food Fare). The Food Fare is returning to Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on Thursday March 7th. There are two sessions. The daytime session rungs from 10:30am-2pm ($150) and the evening session, which usually have more restaurants participating than the daytime one, runs from 6:30-9:30pm ($225). You can buy tickets on their website or by calling (213) 284-3200x3700.

There are many great restaurants participating including Angelini Osteria, Drago Centro, the new Hart and The Hunter, Joe's Restaurant, and The Corner Door. Libations will be offered by The Beer Chicks, La Fenetre Winery, and more. To promote the PPLA Food Fare, I was invited to a cocktail paired meal at The Corner Door in Culver City. This new restaurant has become a very popular destination in Culver City, with waits up to an hour for a table at dinner time.

The chef at The Corner Door is Luke Reyes, who moved from from Massachussetts to work for Ludo Lefebvre. Since then he had been Chef de Cuisine at Gorbals, then Michael Mina, and most recently, Tasting Kitchen.

Behind the bar program is Beau du Bois. Beau has opened a few bars in the LA area, including MB Post.

The restaurant doesn't want to call itself gastropub because the term has been misused in LA lately. Instead, they emphasize that they offer a "laid back", ingredient driven menu.

olives and rosemary

Bread is made in house, including the foccacia with olive, red onion, rosemary

We started our pairing with Lettuces and Avocado, Bayley Hazen blue cheese, watermelon radish, peppercorn.

The salad has a citrus dressing and was paired with King's Assassin (gin, blanc sweet vermouth, Salers, Cocchi Americano, Cointreau).

The King's Assassin is a play on Negroni with a light, bright, vegetal quality from the Salers, which pairs well with the citrus in the salad. This cocktail is nicely balanced, strong but easy to drink.

Read more »

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Peanut Butter Ice Cream

This girl got an ice cream maker for Christmas!

From my love. He knows me so well. Well actually I just gave him a list of everything I wanted and where to get it so I did make it pretty easy for him. But still, he knows me so well :) 

I HAD to get started with some ice cream recipes as soon as I got it. I ordered some ice cream cookbooks, The Perfect Scoop and Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book.  Then I had PJ pick out the first recipe I'd make in my brand new PINK Cuisinart ice cream maker.

He chose.... drum roll please....

Peanut Butter Ice Cream!

 Ok then, I got this.

The recipe was easy enough. No eggs, very basic. Anyone can do it, really. Who knew ice cream could be this easy??


















I was in total awe when I checked after about 10 minutes in the ice cream maker and it was already the consistency of ice cream. Those things are magic, I tell you.

I need to learn the art of ice cream scooping though. With time, friends, with time.
 

 





















Peanut Butter Ice Cream
from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

• 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 and 2/3 cups half-and-half
• Pinch of salt
• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

Puree the peanut butter, sugar, half-and-half, salt, and vanilla in a blender or food processor until smooth.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions

Printable Recipe

More ice cream recipes coming your way soon!!

Linking up here.

Peace, and bacon grease!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

September's Secret Recipe Club - Butterfinger Ice Cream Pie

Time for another month of the Secret Recipe Club.

I was so excited when I learned I was assigned to Kate's blog, A Spoonful of Thyme. I've already been following her blog for a long time now, since my early days of blogging, and have been in awe of her amazing recipes and beautiful photos for some time. I already had a list of her recipes on my recipe list that I wanted to try, so it wasn't easy to find and choose one. Kahlua Bars. Savory Cheese and Chive Bread. And her pumpkin dishes! And this isn't even the beginning. Ultimately, her Butterfinger pie won me over. Simple, genius, and delicious.

I love that this pie only requires 4 ingredients and is literally so easy to put together. You can make your own homemade graham cracker crust, but I opted for the simple store-bought version. That's part of what I love about this "recipe". 

Butterfinger Ice Cream Pie
from A Spoonful of Thyme 

• 1 (9-inch) graham cracker crust
• 1 quart vanilla ice cream
• 3 (2.1 oz) Butterfinger candy bars, coarsely crushed
• chocolate sauce

Soften ice cream and evenly mix in crushed candy, saving some for topping.  Spread evenly in graham cracker crust and freeze.  To serve top with a drizzle of chocolate sauce and a sprinkle of Butterfingers crumbs.

Printable Recipe

Check out my other Secret Recipe Club posts too!

Peace, and bacon grease!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Grom is Awesome

I've found it. The best gelateria in LA, Grom. Yes, it's a "chain" (from Italy) but this is no Piccomolo.

Grom opened in Torino in 2003 to great success and expanded to shops abroad starting from New York City in 2007. Now it has finally come to LA in a shopping center in Malibu.

Entering the store, you will notice the pictures of produce hanging on the wall that say where they come from (seasonal fruits, almonds from Avola, pistachios from Syria, chocolates from Venezuela or Colombia). Taste some of the 30 flavors of the day and you will be confounded by the selection. They're just all. so. good.

The consistency is dense and creamy, and the flavors of the ingredients come out strong. There's none of those sweet red stuff that only vaguely taste like strawberries. Each of the fruit sorbets tasted like biting into a cold version of the fruit itself, the dark chocolate is rich and intense (they also have an extra dark chocolate one, which we didn't dare try). I may have to do a side by side tasting of their pistachio against Bulgarini, but at the moment I am actually leaning towards Grom. Overall: Excellence.

The only con for me is its location, all the way in Malibu. On the other hand, they are open until 11 pm on weekends, so you can make the drive at night traffic-free. I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Tweet


Grom Gelateria
3886 Cross Creek Rd
Malibu, CA 90265
(310) 456-9797
http://www.grom.it/eng/index.php

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

City Tavern (Culver City, CA)

The newly opened City Tavern in Culver City may be known for having self-serve taps on the tables, but that is certainly not what they are all about. With more than 20 craft beers on tap, I'm glad they serve taster-size portions. Telegrahp, Lost Abbey, Eagle Rock Brewery, and many more. My friend and I shared tasters along the way, "pairing" them with our food with the help of our knowledgeable waitress.

The dinner started strong with some fresh Carlsbad Luna Oysters with vodka mignonette and fresh horseradish ($15)

Instead of champagne, we had the oysters along with some crisp Julian Hard Cider!

Read more »

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

How to Blind Date at The Market

You meet for coffee at the newly opened The Market at the Santa Monica Place. It's bright and spacious. Maybe you meet at Groundworks or get some Austrian coffee from Rockenwagner and chat over pretzels and danishes.

Rockenwagner Bakery

You want to spend more time with her so you ask if she wants to have dinner at The Curious Palate. You find out she loves craft beers and has good taste in food and you think it's awesome. After dinner maybe you take her for some ice cream at N'Ice Cream or ice cream sandwiches from Beachy Cream. Maybe you share a chewy chocolate chip cookie right out of the oven from the Cookie Guru.

Sample-bearing girls from Beachy Cream

Fresh chocolate chip cookies from Cookie Guru

You want to impress her so you decide to take cooking classes at the Gourmandise School of Sweets and Savories. You buy a bottle of wine at Venokado, some cheese and cured meat (maybe one of those truffled ham?) from Norcino Salumeria Cheese Bar and invite her over for a romantic dinner.

Classroom at Gourmandise

Your anniversary rolls around and you ask her to meet you at the place you first met. You get to The Market 15 minutes early and buy some beautiful flowers at Magical Blooms, some truffles and macarons at L'Artisan du Chocolat and you're all set. It's a one-stop-shop.

Macarons at L'Artisan du Chocolat

Orchids at Magical Blooms

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Scoops Westside is in Business (Congrats!)

Fellow blogger Mattatouille's project, Scoops Westside, is finally in business! The second extension of the famed Scoops ice cream opened its doors on December 1st in a little strip mall in Palms, just down the street from Chego!, serving Tai's beloved ice cream along with Intelligentsia coffee and tea.

Read more »

reade more... Résuméabuiyad