Heaven in Venice Beach

Woke up early this Sunday morning to hit up Intelligentsia on Abbott Kinney before the beach throngs arrived. I’m in heaven as I sit at the coffee bar looking down to the main floor sipping a fine cup of Burundi Ngogomo, watching the uber-hip baristas do their magic.

out of africa

Before I get into how I found out I was  making coffee the wrong way, I want to briefly mention two recent epiphanies. The first happened last weekend at my local java haunt, Beachside Coffee Bar.  I noticed they were pouring an intriguing Uganda Bugisu. In all my years of coffee drinking I can safely […]

the wrong way

After 32 years of drinking coffee, 25+ years of making my own in a conventional coffeemaker, and 4 days of roasting and brewing the suggested professional way, I realized I’ve been doing it all wrong. More later…

bean there, doing that

Can a person be in love with their kitchen gadgets?  Yes.  And I am.  Introducing my Hario manual coffee mill and Chemex drip brewer.  The grinder has ceramic conical burrs that don’t  generate potentially damaging heat to the beans and produces no annoying noises that you get with an electric grinder.  The brewer is not […]

elvers

A gift from a friend who knows what my culinary dream is…baby eels in Spain. Though this is to baby eel as krab is to crab, it’s the closest i’ll get to the real deal served at Asador Etxebarri in Spain. Can’t wait to cook it up.

the incredible edible

This morning I woke up with egg in my head.  They’ve actually been on my mind for the past few weekends. Last Sunday, I made a bacon and egg pizza.  My rolled out dough is getting better at being a little less amoeba-ish but still a far cry from being called a circle.  Nonetheless, the […]

naan better

If it’s possible to be hidden yet be brightly painted the color a Meyer lemon AND have a sign that reads, “Indian Cuisine and Pizza,” then you’ve got my new favorite “pizzeria” aptly named, Golden Gate Indian Cuisine and Pizza Restaurant.  I must’ve walked by dozens of times since I’ve moved to this neighborhood six […]

Domingo mañana

A lazy Sunday morning breakfast of sourdough French toast with caramelized bananas, toasted pecans and maple butter syrup.

Sabado Mañana

While listening to inspiring mariachi music, made fresh tortillas and slow cooked scrambled eggs for a lazy Saturday morning breakfast. Don’t think I could ever go back to store bought tortillas.

Bucket List 2.012

In retrospect, I’m a little disappointed in myself.  Since 2009, I’ve only been able to knock off four restaurants in my bucket list – Grey’s Papaya, Jean Georges, Alinea, and TRU.  Maybe I need to be more realistic.  If that’s the case, I will have to fill in the blanks with more attainable choices.  We’ll […]