Kids + Food

We babysat J's nieces over the long weekend. It was a great and funny and awesome experience -- they are really, really good kids and so much fun to be around. But wow. Let's just say that we have a newfound respect for their amazing parents, and all parents in general. Oh, and Baby J+E is going to be a longgggg way off.

Of course, children must be fed. We wanted to make sure they continued to eat healthy meals, but hey...we are Aunt E and Uncle J...and we were also there to spoil them with a little Love Fat.

Cookies
After making sure they'd eaten breakfast and a healthy lunch, we made some cookies. Meaning, Aunt E brought log of dough she had made well in advance, the girls shaped it into cookies. In the end, the only thing we needed to wash was a baking sheet and a bunch of little fingers - homemade without the mess.

Pizza

"Please decorate your own slice of pizza with whatever toppings you like while Aunt E and Uncle J sit very still and close their eyes for just one second. Thank you!"

Whose slice is whose?

A "happy" face, initials and a peace sign, and a "special design"

Cheetos
What is up with Cheetos? Why do kids love them?

"What would you like to eat?"
"I like Subway's!!!"
"Why do you like Subway?"
"Because..."
"Which sandwich do you like?"
"I don't know...I like the Cheetos!"

So as a treat, we went to the grocery store and let them pick a bag of chips to take to the beach.

They all picked Cheetos (Flamin' Hot, for the oldest). And because they weren't allowed to finish the entire bag in one sitting, we'd close up the bag and put it away for "next time." Well, "next time" couldn't come soon enough.

"Aunt E, where are my Cheetos? Are they in your bag?"
"Can you put them in the refrigerator with my name on it?"
"When can I eat Cheetos tomorrow? After lunch? But when after lunch? Like what time?"
"I'm done with my breakfast. Can I eat Cheetos now?"

And it went on and on.

We also learned that you get "spicy fingers" from eating Cheetos, even if you're eating the regular cheese flavor. We saw lots of spicy fingers this weekend!

Subway

Making healthy food at home is a lot of work. Luckily, we had confirmed that the girls really do like Subway, and not just because Cheetos grow on trees there. But what kind? And those sandwiches are so big...could they really handle them? We had no clue.

We ended up getting the wrong type of bread with the wrong fillings in the wrong size, as you can tell by the less-than-enthusiastic reception.

"I need to kneel on my chair and bend over to eat this"

"Uncle J, please take out the pickles [cucumbers]!"

But it wasn't anything that a bunch of napkins -- and the promise of more Cheetos -- didn't fix.

Frozen Yogurt
Don't you love it when you go to a self-serve frozen yogurt place and it ends up costing way less than you thought it would? Well, that will never happen when you take three girls to get frozen yogurt and let them pick their own flavors and toppings.

But it's all worth it...because how else can you stir your concoction into a soup and then drink it out of a Dixie cup? "It's like hot chocolate...but cold!"

Cheesecake Pops
As you may have deduced, all three girls have a major sweet tooth. So we had the ambitious undertaking to make cheesecake pops - yummy and impressive for even the most discerning tween. It was a little messy but a lot of fun.

Shape into little balls and roll in graham cracker crumbs

Cover with chocolate, nuts and sprinkles

Try to patiently wait as it all cools

Yum!

Then their parents came back, and we tried to sneak out before anyone could complain of tummy aches from eating too many pops or "tasting" the melted chocolate one too many times. Not that we'd let that happen under our watch...

A moment of sugar-induced silliness

Brazilian Pizza / Pho Pizza

What do cool people do when they get off work early the Friday of a long holiday weekend? Carbo-load, duh!

Brazilian Pizza
We checked out newly opened Bella Vista in Culver City for their dinnertime rodizio - basically, all-you-can-eat Brazilian pizza slices that you select from servers who wander around with different freshly baked pies.

We sat in the covered patio, where this guy was playing acoustic covers of Brazilian and American songs.

We wanted to try a little bit of everything, but even though the slices were mercifully small, we hadn't tried half of the many flavors offered by the time we were full.

Accessories

The pizzas definitely had a Brazilian twist to them. They all had the same thin crust and hardly any sauce. And there were seemingly authentic toppings such as a very creamy catupiry cheese, dried beef, hearts of palm and picanha, a churrascaria staple. There was even a beef stroganoff pizza, which was essentially just a crust with beef stroganoff on top, sprinkled with these tiny fried potato sticks. This was a bit rich for our blood, but seemed to be a big hit with most of the diners.

As though eating 100 slices of pizza for dinner wasn't enough, there was also pizza for dessert, God help us. The banana, cinnamon and mozzarella was just ok, but the chocolate and condensed milk was awesome.

Pho Pizza
Our visit inspired the idea to make a pho pizza. That's right. We're still working out the details, but it basically would have a hoisin- and Sriracha- infused sauce, anise-flavored beef or chicken, and bean sprouts, scallions, cilantro, onion and purple basil sprinkled on top. If When we make it, we'll let you know. And if someone else beats us to it...well, just remember that you heard it here first.

Hu Tieu Experiment

Sunday was a very disciplined day of staying at home and cleaning up our lil apartment, even though we could've made much better use of our time loitering at the Hollywood Farmers' Market or watching reruns on Bravo.

Staying in means cooking at home, and we were thinking about making pho, even though we didn't quite have all the ingredients.

Probably for some, hu tieu is very closely related to pho. For others, hu tieu is a carefully composed dish of various various meats and seafoods with fried shallots and a distinctly sweet broth.

For me, it's a catch-all for random odds and ends you have lying around. (Maybe I think this because my mom once told me never to order it at restaurants because they could just throw anything in there and I'd never know.) But it makes sense - don't you notice how pho is made from pretty much the same stuff, while hu tieu can vary drastically?

Anyway, my attempt at making hu tieu definitely followed the latter school of thought. Since we didn't have all the herbs and spices needed to make a proper pho, hu tieu was the next best thing


-E

A bunch of stuff (including two lobster tails unearthed from the freezer) + water = the stock

Sauteed lobster + sliced roast pork + shredded chicken breast = the protein. The rice noodles and scallions were what we would've normally used for pho. There are probably a bunch of other toppings we were supposed to add.

Accessories -- it benefitted from a squeeze of lemon and a little dollop of the chili garlic paste

Our wannabe hu tieu was pretty good, but don't take our word for it! Neither of us know what's really supposed to go in it, and what it's supposed to taste like. But not bad for a random ingredient use-up.

Blake's Place

We left work early on Friday to take care of some things, then raced to make our way down to OC before those dreaded red bands took over Google Maps. But it was more than just traffic that was motivating us...it was a chance to catch up with one of our very good friends, P.

Actually...who are we kidding? Let's not put on airs -- all we really wanted was a late lunch at Blake's Place. Blake's Place is simply the most amazing BBQ ever, which totally makes up for its location out in the middle of nowhere and its a aging bro-ish clientele.

Between the three of us, we ordered a rib plate (for P), a sandwich sampler plate (for J) and a sliced beef brisket plate (for E). What's really to die for, though, are the chicken wings. They're not breaded or baked -- they're smoked! So the outside has an amazing, slightly crispy char (made 100x better if you get the spicy apricot glaze) and the inside is super flavorful and moist.

We stuffed our faces and there was still plenty to take home. We'd suggest sharing a few different things if when you go so you can try a variety of Blake's delicious offerings, but we won't judge if you decide to get an order of wings just for yourself. We learned from P's quietly selfless act that true friends will order their own chicken wings, and stay out of yours.  

Warm-weather Food

It was really warm last night in our stuffy shoebox of an apartment, so we decided to McGuyver together some bun. You don't have to slave over a hot stove for too long to make it, and it's cool and refreshing. Because we're sooooo spontaneous and crazy, we added some rice paper wrappers, making our bun into cuon.

Ignore the sad-looking fish (pulled from the depths of the freezer) and wilting herbs (bought earlier in the week and languishing in the heat). Luckily, the nice thing about cuon is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and despite cutting a few corners, it still tasted good.

And because we're so klassy and tasteful, we accessorized with some scallion oil and peanuts. And real china! (But not cuz we wanted to -- the wrappers didn't fit on our usual paper plates...hehe.)

Pizza Night, Part 1 (?)

We have a feeling Pizza Night is going to be a common occurrence around here. All is takes is a frozen pizza from Trader Joe's, whatever toppings we can salvage from the fridge and our fave accoutrement (parm, speecy-spicy olive oil, parsley). 

We pulled a Pizza Margherita from the freezer tonight and topped it with some veggies, feta,  and ANCHOVY (that's right...embrace the anchovy). J contributed some frozen sweet potato fries (also from TJ's) and E made a salad...because it cancels out all the calories in the pizza and fries, right? 

Publish Post

Yikes! Here comes the newlywed 15...

Settling In

We're barely starting to get settled in, and have decided to cook at home as much as possible -- at an attempt to be more budget- and waistline- friendly. So far, we've been doing ok - but let's see how long this streak of steady and creative home cooking will really last!

I attempted to make Pad See Ew last night but wasn't too successful. I ended up getting too carried away with the veggies (Carrots in Pad See Ew? Sacrilege!) and the sauce was a little too sweet. But over all, it wasn't too bad of a beefy, brocolli-y, noodle-y stir-fry type of dish. 

I totally reneged on my VBW for the night...we had splurged on organic grass-fed beef and I couldn't help it!

And yes, that's a paper plate that you see below. Work and yoga kicked my @$$, so I was over it! 

- E

Honeymoon Food

We had a great time in the Mediterranean, much of which was spent eating. Here are some highlights:

Italy

We remember Rome for its ham/artichoke heart/olive/mushroom/egg pizza, this crazy delicious condiment (just olive oil and red pepper flake, we think) and eating gelato twice in one day. Shamelessly.

The blood orange juice in Sorrento was just amazing – but not to be outdone by Pizzeria Aurora, the best pizza EVER.

Messina offered hearty arancini (fried rice balls with a cheesy filling) and focaccia – which made a perfect midnight snack later on.

Greece

Athens had an incredibly cold and refreshing Greek salad and really good souvlaki.

Our simple yet amazing meal in Rhodes was cooked by a woman who ran a coffee shop from her front porch. The local wild boar souvlaki and fried cheese balls were to die for.

Turkey

Greece was a tough act to follow, and we got suckered into trying a really nasty yogurt/salt/water beverage, but we made up for it by pigging out on baklava. YUM!

Egypt

We got sick from a Nile cruise lunch in Cairo. To this day, our stomachs turn whenever we look at these photos.

Alexandria more than made up for it, though, with a super fresh seafood feast. We selected our freshly caught seafood downstairs, then went upstairs, where our food was brought once prepared.

Ok, this recap became slightly depressing, because we’re starting to crave all of it (except Cairo – ugh) but can get none of it. Guess we should start planning our next trip!

Until next time...