Fried Taro!? - Wat Dong Moon Lek in Silverlake gets to the root of my lust.

The other night Jamie and I went to the fabulous Wat Dong Moon Lek in Silverlake (say that 3 times fast and tell me you aren't just a little inspired to wash your mouth out with soap)... and got FRIED F**KING TARO ROOT!!

I'm sorry to scream, I just, I just lost my head for a minute. He ordered it on a whim after (unbeknownst to him) I eyeballed it with lustful curiosity on the menu...

When the crispy pile arrived I knew it was going to be good, but I couldn't help but say "it looks like crab".

Not the best comment upon arrival, to be sure.

And even though the furthur I looked into the flakey, fried strips of taro that began to look like weird fake meat, or real meat or something I didn't really know I wanted to eat, I was still terribly thrilled to chomp down on them as quickly as possible. Correction: drizzle them with the ground peanut topped sex-juice that thai restaurants give you to dip stuff in, THEN chomp down.

As we ate, I remember us both kind of looking at each other like 'WHOA', and the further we didn't comprehend how it was so good, the more good it got. EUH!

I can describe it sort of like a savory, dense, chewy but light, pastry-like crunchy flakey greasy (good greasy) conncoction of potato/poi-ish tasting, sweet, rooty hybrid.

Now say that 3 times fast... :P'''

Wat Dong Moon Lek
4356 Fountain Ave,
Los Angeles, CA 90029
Neighborhood: Silver Lake

Rocco's Bakery - Jordan Almonds - Jamie's Treat

Last year I visited my friend Rachel in New York (author of these faboo books) and discovered something quite divinely by accident at a bakery called Rocco's.

HOMEMADE JORDAN ALMONDS.

For those who don't know, Jordan almonds are candy-shell coated almonds. mmmHM, das right.



My dad used to eat these at the movies, and I thought they were totally weird. "Ew", said my child's brain. Oh foolish child's brain, thank god your palate has grown because I adore these things now. Although I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that I've only had the handcrafted ones from Rocco's, not the kind you'd get in a box at a movie theater. What can I say, I'm a sucker for authentic candy!

Case in point: the shell on these babies is thick and crunchy, but also somehow slightly chewy and just so f**ing glossy and beautiful. You can't get that mass produced, ya just can't.

But how do I have these almonds now, you ask, given that I do not live in New York? Jamie, the boy I'm dating went to New York a couple weeks ago and I casually mentioned that if he were nearby, maybe he could bring some home for me. The next day he made a special point to buy me a big pastry box full of them.

*Swoon*.

I've been addicted ever since...

Oh, to the almonds as well. Ba-Boom CHING!

Pasticceria Rocco
243 Bleecker
New York, NY 10014

Parsley Pesto Passion!

The incredible creature I'm dating loves plants, and has many lovely herbs thriving on his apartment balcony. What better way to restart a bit of Sexy Food blogging then to talk about the gloriously rich and sexy PARSLEY PESTO I made the other night, with fresh Italian parsley from my gloriously sexy, parsley-providing loverman? Even if you don't have one of those, I promise you this parsley pesto is easier to find, and almost as sexy. Yes.

Apparently his neighbor urged him to buy a little parsley plant despite the fact he wasn't so keen on the stuff, to which it then promptly thrived with no more attention from said neighbor. Leaving me, then, the chance to prune it! Or rather, to harvest it while saying my hellos. We got to know each other quite well and I left that day with a big ziploc bag full of fresh, deep green stems of lightly pungent, flat leaf parsley. AND a generous handful of bright, tiny tomatoes, on their tiny curling vines from my beau's beautifully bountiful tomato plant.

After a day of wondering what to do with it all, I stumbled across a recipe in my fabulous "Beard on Pasta" book - literally flipping the book open to a Parsley Pesto and tomato recipe. HUZZAH!

The BEST thing about pesto, I have discovered now for good - is that it's the EASIEST thing to make on the fly, provided you have the herb you need - parsley, basil, etc. Everything is pretty cheap and easy to keep all the time, but the result is a very special and brightly flavored meal that you just normally don't remember you can eat all the time. (I did have to splurge on the parmesan cheese. Fluffy lovely parmasean cheese like freshly shaved iced - worth the $5 and 15 minute walk in the late afternoon heat it took to buy it).

Here is the recipe I used for the Pesto, taking liberties with how much parsley I used (I had one of those big ziploc freezer bags full of it and used it all! And it came out perfect. So I think that was more than "4-5 bunches". I had Italian parsley though, so maybe it's less strong then regular parsley).

Pasta with Parsley Pesto

4-5 bunches parsley, stems removed
3 large cloves garlic
1 cup whole walnuts
1 cup olive oil
1.5 tsp. salt
3/4 cup parmesan cheese (I used Woodstock Farms organic grated)

Combine all ingredients in a food processor (or blender). Process the ingredients until you have a well-blended pesto.

Cook your noodles, then toss with olive oil and put a dollop (or a volcano, like I did) of the pesto on top.

TA-DAH!



My pesto came out a rich forest green, deliciously thick and dense. BLARG! DROOL! HEAVEN! I was completely floored with joy.

Not only that, the recipe included a little side dish recipe for melted 'dill butter' poured over cherry tomatoes. Well, I didn't have any dill, but I threw the top half of my double boiler onto the boiling pasta pot, melted some butter with roughly cracked black pepper and poured the mix over my little halved baby tomatoes and it was RESPLENDENT!



Yes, it was.

The bright, just-picked colors, the balance between the sweet, buttery warmth of the warmed, tangy tomatoes and the sharp, rich, nutty taste of the pesto was just too much to handle. I ate so much.



Then, I spread the cold, thick leftover pesto on one side of my toasted egg sandwich the next day for a self-congratulatory leftover meal! (fried egg, mayo, sharp chedder cheese, the pesto and soft, sweet egg bread from the farmer's market. Uh, yes please).




Ingredients well spent!

Come Hither Cakes - Dot's Cupcake Lust and Other East Side Treasures

I haven't blogged in sooooo long, it only figures that an orgasmic muffin-mound mouthful of incrediblicious chocolate cake stuffed with whipped cream from Dot's Cupcakes in Pasadena would be the thing to break me out of my stupor: Nothing short of divine, folks. I'm sure I'm really late on the band wagon here, I mean, cucpakes for god sakes. Still...

I went to Dot's for the first time last week after a sunny day rooftop-pool lounge with the magical blond duo Laure and Trevor, and bought 3 mini cupcakes - the likes of which survived about a 30 minute lifespan. And only so long because I had to savor some of them on the way home, careful not to spill over the sidwalk. The cake at Dot's is moist and dense but still very light and springy, somehow! After watching Laure bury her face in the big (normal size) cupcakes, I vowed next time I went there I would get myself at least two of those and go ape-shit on their fluffy, fresh, compact pastry asses. Sorry for the profanity, they're just that good.



Well that time has come and today I got two big ones: Strawberry Lemon and "Hostess" - the chocoalte bomb devil mistress-pie foodie version of an old school Hostess cupcake. I stuffed that thing in my face while waiting for the light to turn green on the way home, and finished the rest of it off with a glass of milk as soon as I got home! I also bought a tasty looking pumpkin and cream cheese mini cupcake to save along with the strawberry lemon one for later on.



The carnage was nothing short of heavenly. It fell apart at the last bite, the frosting yielding, the cream inside melting a bit with the top and sides of the whole luscious mess. The chocolate was dark but not too dark, evolving all over the tongue, with the tightest crumb I've ever had; a devil's food cake done classic but still gourmet. Familiar but heightned. Yet still very much in reach of the memory of a real Hostess cupcake.



Before Dot's woo-ed me back into cupcake land, there have been a few other highlights on the east side of Los Angeles, that I now call my home.

First were these gorgeous things from The Coffee Table - a little cafe near friend's Jordan and Vivien's place, with the most intense, juicy and lovely peach cupcakes (the one in front) that you could imagine.




That's frosting that would stop anyone's heart. Very fresh and bright, I remember that flavor. Not to mention how cute and pretty they look. MM!







Second was the absurdly beautifully tasting caramel cupcake at Lark Cake Shop in Silverlake.



HOLY COW!! I went with Jordan, Vivien AND Laure (I'm seeing a theme of accomplices here...) and we did it right. I dont' remember anything, however, besides that caramel cupcake. Or perhaps it was "burnt caramel"... I think it was. It didn't look like it would be so amazing but it was long standing the best cupcake in LA for me by far. Such a painfully true and wonderful caramel flavor, light and buttery cake...though I think Dot's Hostess has now taken the lead. At least until I get myself over to Susie's Cakes in Calabasas! From what I remember they have by far the best Red Velvet around! But that's for another post... :P'''

Blue Bottle Coffee - Dream Cloud Coffee Land in San Fran

photo by niallkennedy from flickr.com

The first time I went to Blue Bottle I was just off the plane to visit my sister in SF, and abandoned my "no caffeine after 4" rule for a Blue Bottle "New Orleans style" iced coffee made with chicory and streaming down the edges of it's tall cold glass with white milk, stretching like fallen clouds. It was so cool inside, minimal yet comfortable, with tan, blond wood, stainless steel and cool, bright, open and lovely washes of light from outside blanching the entire room from the giant windows that covered most of the walls. I was so impressed and pleased with Blue Bottle that it's become a quick must-visit for coffee every time I've been to San Francisco since And what's better, my sister's made a habit of buying me their slightly expensive but lust-provoking pounds of fresh organic coffee beans for any occasion that warrants a gift.


Here's a shot from their downtown location where they use the trendy, everywhere-emerging siphons!

Best of all the last trip I went on we had Blue Bottle coffee out of it's original location, a garage off an alley in Hayes valley! Now we're talking! The best coffee I love in SF matched with the coolest concept, the most joyful foodie idea that exists to mankind: the "I just started this amazing gourmet thing in my garage and look how it's grown!?" dream - how totally fucking cool. That's really want it amounts to. We had coffee from Blue Bottle everyday I was in SF just this last weekend, and I'm sure the idea of just grabbing a cup out back in the alley way, chatting with fellow line-waiters and petting puppies that passed by with their owners on their morning promenade, was at least 50% of why I was so much more intensely obsessed and in love with Blue Bottle this time around. (Not to mention their label is so neat. Makes me want to cut potato stencil's and dip them in paint like I did in kindergarten).



Blue Bottle always joyfully reminds me that the "high end concept" of new and emerging coffee trends (the Siphon, single brewed coffees, etc) can marry the simple, unstressed and nonthreatening reality of a fun, creative business started by real people. It makes me feel happy, as pretty much any stimulant should! :D

To visit the "coffee kiosk" (in the garage) go here:
315 Linden St, San Francisco, CA‎

Los Angeles Chocolate Salon - OR - How I Found Hope Again in a Scary World of Politics and a Broken Heart

In the lonely days of post-breakup blues it's difficult, if not altogether insulting, to imagine ever being happy again. But when I stumbled upon a goddamned Los Angeles CHOCOLATE CONVENTION website, all at once a heady glow of unmentionable hope bloomed inside my brain. Chocolate is of course infamous for providing unsustainable but ever so deeply profound levels of lustful contentment and joy, so I might as well TRY. Right? At least I have chocolate, it never fails. I've been getting so worn out by reading about poltics too I just about forgot what it was like to feel alive again.

The Pasadena Convention center will hold the "Los Angeles Luxury Chocolate Salon" on October 5th so no need to bring your heroin, porn or Matt Bellamy videos: the $17.50-$20 ticket will include plenty of free samples of lust and visual stimulation of the dark, melting, milky, and all around perfect creature that is chocolate. I feel somewhat stupid even trying to describe why this is a good thing to go to a chocolate convention! The photos speak for themselves for sure on this one. One glance at the website and I just about (say it with me) had a baby. A little "gourmet", "artisan" one.

When checking out the site make sure to watch the video under the "tasting and salon" section. An endearingly corny but tremendously charming mini trailer for a chocolate documentary. I dont' think I've felt this bonded to my fellow man in a long time. (It also reminded me of Monty Python's "Man on the Street" segments while being utterly sincere and sweetly exposing the true vulnerability that chocolate inspires in us all.

Take a gander at some beautiful photos while you're at it to get in the mood for Feelgood Town. Just searching for them gave me a big smile and, let's be honest, a bit of a thrill. As any good food photo should.


photo by sonicwalker on Flickr.com


photo by ayalan on Flickr.com


photo by bonnie shulman on Flickr.com


See you at the Chocolate Salon! I'll be the lady in the corner clutching a piece of chocolate and looking stoned. And smudged.

Things-That-Look-Like-Food Club presents - "Give us it"

Soap again!!

My dad sent me some fabulous little X-mas gifts, and when I opened up these lovelies from
Ella Cris and placed them side by side I had a strange urge to chomp down with all massive, joy-lit delight. Gladly I didn't, I mean, it's still soap, but how gorgeous can you be?

I imagined some swirly tops of blue lavender whip cream and a thick honey comb wedge of butter on the side. yesh.

Leda's Bake Shop - Food Lover's Haven

There's a great place in Sherman Oaks called Leda's bakeshop, with the best brownies scones and cupcakes in the valley, pretty much hands down. As much as I know I adore food, I'm always surprised at my obsession for the naked parts, or just baked forms, of pastries, cakes and cookies...

THE BROWNIE

Every time they make these I find myself falling into a trance as they crunchy-crunch *SLLLICE* the thick chocolate wedge with the big serrated knife. mmmm, momma loves you freshly just barely baked gooey walnut brownie innards.


THE COLD BUTTER CHUNKS

They scoop ALOT of cookies, (you can see them working just behind the glass windows) and they're pretty cute, all lined up in rows, though just like any normal cookie would look. BUT, when a slab of cold, shiny butter exposes itself like this in one of the cookie dough balls, I swear to god I could have a baby. And name it OMG I F**KING LOVE BUTTER.


THE DULCE

They also make homemade ducle de leche, and I'm still amazed at how easy it is (*boil a can of sweetened condensed milk, taking care to keep it submerged at ALL times, for 4-5 hours. Das' it!)

And then it looks like that.


ya.

Go check them out! yumm

Things-That-Look-Like-Food Club presents: "Shove it in My Mouth"

Ok, I know it's not real food, but that doesn't mean it's not hot as F**K or that I don't want to eat it. (ahem).

But seriously, one look at these amazingly crafted soaps from Mollycoddle's shop on Etsy.com and you'll forgive the impostors. www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=62537

Sometimes you just have to come right out and say it: Yes, I will eat that soap, thank you.

Gourmet Magazine - warming the cockels of the stomach.

Taking a break from the oozy-sexiness and easing into the sweet, lovely and to-die-for, I decided to share with all of you the most gorgeous spread of holiday delicacies this side of Santa's kitchen. (hyuck)
I fortunately have a subscription to Gourmet magazine and this month it was one doozy after another...

Gimme a BANG!












Gimme a BOOM!


Gimme a BABYHOTMAMMA!!












just Gimme Gimme Gimme!













MM!
sex is always better when you're in love.

visit http://www.epicurious.com/gourmet/ for more of these delectable photos and their recipes.

Um... do me now

A few years ago my sister and I visited my dad and went to Boston. I remember there was something about a "Paul Revere" and maybe a "Freedom Trail" and like, history, birth of the country or something, and then there was - MIKE'S PASTRY!

Maybe it was just the fact that we'd been walking for hours and had seen about 3 people carrying the bakery's tightly wrapped, white boxes, (God's will my child) but there was something holy and deeply, deeply seductive about that crowded, steamy room, that wide cupped cappuccino, and oh yes... that cannoli.

Now I remember why.



http://www.mikespastry.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc

Something Special at Specialtys - the joy of a smashy sandwich

I was searching through some older photos of food when I came across this gem. It's one of my favorites not only because it's a sticky stick, 'muh bread's stickin' to much mouf' type o' sandwich, but because it's from one of my near and dear SF haunts, Specialty's Cafe and Bakery. They bake all their bread fresh, and make amazing, giant wobbly shaped cookies that are enough to send your throat shivering from the sugar halfway to China and back.

My heart WAS, in fact, left in SF, so I am particularly biased when it comes to the cities eateries, but I ask you, is there anything sexier than this sandwich right now? (and what's sexier than that bread? that smashed bread? that smashed, warm, freshly oven-ed bread?.... that's right, NOTHING)


Oh! I think I feel my heart beating a little bit stronger! sigh, swoon, shoooooooo (faint)

specialtys.com

WHITE GOLD HONEY

White soft and batter-textured bliss, white pretty incandescence lost on melting, melting tongue. It took me twice to swallow, pretty sugar paste, it took me twice to bleed that brooding pearl straight down my slowly melting throat. Soothe me once from the tip of your plastic spoon, and here I am...
Three cheers for raw, unheated honey!! 3 cheers for purest pure and sexiest of truly sexy sex!

Available at Whole Foods

www.whitegoldhoney.com/

and www.pancakeshop.com/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=WG-01

Pad Thai Me Up Thai Me Down

The other day we got thai food where the local singer smiled at us from the stage and sang 'Hey Jude' as a personal request. I went classic white person and got Pad Thai.
It was only afterwards, while eating the left overs with some cabbage that I was somehow overtaken by a force as yet unseen since the days of Dexter chi chi. Meaning, I don't think I've taken this many pictures of something other than my cat. ever.

As I passed my roving camera eye over the peaks and valleys of this burst of crunch and color, I saw every new angle as some beautiful, sick, twisted noodle work of art.

Dirty and pretty.
Plain and glorious. Half eaten, half reverred.
Honestly I don't know what came over me.

Playboy, Eat Your Heart Out

If food is sex, this is porn.

The Many Wonders of Toast

Oh how I love a little swath of mayonnaise/God nectar on some grilled cheese with onion




And the time I accidentally threaded gold with my honey and peanut butter snack



In Santa Cruz I used to stack piles of Sun Maid raisin bread on top of one another for a midnight party snack, buttering feverishly all it's nooks and crannies, until a big, strong knife came and sliced right through the batch. *CRUNCH*

OMG! "I'm toast, let me just be perfect and amazing and gorgeous and crunchy."

I am currently obsessed with Rudi's Organic Sourdough Bread for making some of the best toast I have ever had: dense, tightly woven, cake-like, with a light and crispy, solid toast finish. (no sagging!)

(Wow, I sound like Paddington Bear and Alton Brown all rolled into one.)

A Healthy Breakfast

*sigh*