back-blogging CALI! .homemade.2.

in this post, i'm recording some of the foods that were made in la villa. mmhmm, la villa 802 in pelican hill. ha!

1. in collaboration with costco. . ..
(l > r) my mom cooking up the pasta bolognese > auntie christine searing the costco steak > anita dissecting the costco roast chicken > the dissected and re-assembled costco chicken > costso cherry tomatoes + burata cheese



accompanied by red wine, beers, diet coke, and diet lipton green tea. delish!

back-blogging CALI! .homemade.1.

oh come on, how can i not share my food adventures when i was in the bay area. that's just wrong, no? ok. . ... first the home-cooking.

in chronological order -

1. by chef nielson. eaters: r. rhee & v cheung
(l > r)world best pizza dough from arizmendi, the sister comapny of cheeseboard! >chef nielson at work. heeheeheeeee. i think she's peeling the shrimps. > my personal fave: artichokes from the ferry building farmers' market. > the fancy decadent shrimp + artichoke pizza. simply delicious.



our snack: pan tomate (simply rub the slices of freshly grilled country bread or baguette with fresh tomato, olive oil and garlic. a bit like bruschetta, but not as messy!)


2. by chef caohuu. eaters: r rhee + v. cheung
open-face croque monsieur - ciabatta topped with grilled sweet onions, asparagus, garlic, ham and cheese, topped with some chilli powder. (please note my ice cold blue moon beer. so refreshing! ahhhhhhhhhh.)



thank you so very much chefs! exquisite! :D

what happened in NH!

doughie, i'm documenting the deliciousness that eventually reached my belly at the graduation party of eamonn, at his house in Alstead, NH. the house was so cute and gorgeous in the woods. they set up a big tent and the festivity took place there. oh and besides the food and happiness, there were so many animals - 9 cats, 2 dogs, 20+ finches, 1 rabbit, 15+ fish ... adorable! and of course, the plantings were beautiful. that is perhaps why eamonn is the rock star of our class. it was so much fun, even though it rained the whole time.

so here. . .

the prep table in the kitchen

the desserts (r to l) - strawberry shortcake; chocolate cake from burdick's (!!) and homemade trifle (by eamonn's fiance's aunt) in the back.

korean bbq - kalbi and pork belly!! (these totally kicked all the other bbq items' asses. heehe. smelled so good, and they were so flavorful, obvi! our korean classmates brought them to the party. thanks to them!! yumms.)

we stayed overnight (the two little cats cuddled with me on the couch). then took a hike in the mountain. that concluded our brief yet wonderful stay in the town of alstead!

memorable breakfasts

doughie,

these are some of thegourmet breakfasts i've had in the past two weeks. *noms* not too many or fancy. but def memorable.

these were from the road trip with my dad. on our way out of moab, UT @jail house cafe, moab, ut


multi-grain waffles with whipped cream and berries! apparently, it's the most popular item on the menu since its opening!


my dad ordered a mexican scramble with chorizo and potatoes. he LOVED it. pretty delicious, i must admit. but i liked my waffles more.


this is from a place that my classmate justin took zena and i too on our outing to jamaica plain a couple of days ago! zena and i ordered carrot and oatmeal pancakes (hers had walnuts, and mine didn't! DUH!) and justin ordered a breakfast special (forgot the name), which had polenta, potatoes, avocado salsa and tofu or something. i was too busy savoring my pancakes. it was SO good AND it was my first time have carrot pancakes. mmMMM!!!




as a bonus, i'm also posting a few pics of the forest hills cemetery, which was very beautiful, and we saw e.e. cummings grave. zena has the pic (we secretly took the pic, because apparently we weren't allowed to take pictures there, except for the lake. silliness!) i love the picture with zena and justin. it's like a scene from a movie :D




ok... more later!!

Blueberries & Bi bim bap!

Breadie!

My three favorite foods for the week:

Edible Arrangements gift for my aunt (grandma's sister) 's birthday party on Saturday - the favorite of this little boy was the chocolate covered pineapple daisy! That's my cousin's 3.5 year old son and his Australian dad, Andy.


Bibimbap from supposedly the best bibimbap place in Koreatown (called Jeon Ju). It was just perfect. I took the picture after I mixed it up, it looked much prettier before I got so excited and just started stirring! I went there with Rachel, my good friend from UCLA grad school :) SO yummy, it really was good bibimbap!


Blueberries. From Costco. Favorite snack of the week. I think I've eaten around 2 pounds of these delicious berries over the last 5 days. They're so good now! So sweet!


Miss you, can't wait to see you here!!

Berkeley!

Berkeley was when when first started to have breakfasts & brunches together... Soon, we were exploring all the food tastes of Berkeley & SF. Here are some highlights from my most recent weekend in the Bay Area:

San Francisco Farmer's Market (Ferry Building)
I love to wander here, wish I had discovered the market sooner...


Some beautiful Rainier cherries I bought for William & me:


Bread from Della Fattoria, a wood-firing bakery in Petaluma famous for their Meyer Lemon Rosemary bread (which you KNOW I bought :)


Macarons from Miette (I've yet to have a macaron that compares with Japan's, but the one from LA Burdick's definitely was one that I liked a lot!) I didn't buy any, just looked... I like the jars!


Look at the cute cheese boxes at Cowgirl Creamery, my fave for cheese:


We ate Korean food (the pickles were SO good!!) after going to Hiking Yoga throughout the city, before an AMAZING performance of Peter Pan at Embarcadero!


Who ever heard of this!? There's a market in Oakland called the Food Mill with all sorts of interesting stuff (never been there before!)


$1 Naan from our favorite Naan n Curry


And my favorite, the Cheeseboard... Here is a cherry corn scone & a HUGE chocolate thing:

Half-eaten scone...

I love breakfast there... *sigh* If I could eat at the Cheeseboard every morning, I would...

William & I visited the Berkeley Steam Trains, thought you might like to see it :) They're up in the hills among the redwoods, so cute! (the trains, not me)


I wish you could have been there Breadie, we would have eaten so much good stuff together! Miss you and am thinking of you!

scones make one happy!

mmmHMMM that's right! just look for yourself.



ingesta: cinnamon twist + whole wheat cranberry ginger scone. at the Biscuit, Somerville, MA.