02/14/2007, Home.
Valentines Dinner
My first published dinner panorama from 2007, obviously running a bit behind! Lo and behold, it's Valentines Day already, which means a great excuse to pull out all the stops to make Julia melt!

This years dinner was a subset of my original plans... I steamed, marinated, and then grilled some garden vegetable tempeh, which was served with a roasted tomato and onion quinoa pilaf, and topped with a thick, tangy sauce of pineapple, garlic and ginger, garnished with red pepper strips, and accompanied by a perfect little pile of roasted golden beet rounds. Alongside, we had a plate of greens with marinated mixed beans, jicama, and cherry tomatoes, topped with a homemade avocado-lime "Caesar" dressing. And, as you can see in the picture, it wasn't complete without the heart-shaped red bell pepper pieces!

For dessert I made fresh fruit tarts, with Anjou pear, raspberry, and lime juice, baked in ramekins lined with a light flaky pastry, and served hot topped with yogurt.

My original plans called for 3 more courses, but it seemed excessive once I got into the process!
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12/04/2006, Home.
Serving Mama
Mom came over for dinner after a meeting in LA so we tossed a few things together and came out with an Indian feast - palak paneer, lentils in gravy, and spiced rice accompanied by yogurt, a medley of veggies and some (slightly out of place) fake chicken nuggets! On the side we had hot naan and a beautiful salad. Yes, we were hungry!
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11/14/2006, Home.
T’giving Trial Run
In the mood for some autumn comfort, I made a Quorn-brand turkey roast. What starts as a rather pale, dense log of indeterminate flesh-like substance transforms in the most perfect turlkey breast meat substitute. Seriously, dead-on with the taste and texture, even when cold and sliced for a nice leftovers sandwich. Anyhow, I whipped up some vegan stuffing, roasted an acorn squash, and served with a big mound of broccoli and a bit of cranberry preserves.
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11/13/2006, Home.
Spicy and Savory with a side of Antibiotic
The last of my fried rice was calling, so I fixed a spicy lentil gravy dusted with parmesan, some lightly carmelized curried carrots, brocolli with shallots, and more of those wonderful lemon herbed chicken satay from Yves. And as a garnish, penicillin for Julia and Amoxicillin for me!
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10/20/2006, Home
Busaba: It's Thai for "Woman"
Every great once in a while I have a dining experience that's nearly an epiphany. I've always considered myself a lover of Thai food and though I knew what was good, and frankly what Thai food was about. I've done high and low, fusion and folk Thai, and am pretty critical of Thai - it's almost always good on some level, but I want to be tickled with my Thai, not just sated. I'd been waiting to try Busaba, a completely vegetarian (and mostly vegan) Thai restaurant at La Brea and Melrose for a while. It's owned and operated by an all-female team of Thai food industry veterans who wanted to do something different. They have not only succeeded, they've really managed to blow me away. First, I've struggled with Thai since going vegetarian, as so many of my favorite dishes just didn't seem to be possible without chicken or shrimp. Boy was I wrong. Second, I thought I knew what to expect from something labeled Thai food. Wrong, way wrong, again! This was certainly among my favorite, if not simply my absolutely favorite, Thai food ever. We had a crispy rice salad I can still taste, a "duck" curry that was sweet, spicey and ducky, and just wonderful, and sizzling pra ram with tofu. There are so many things on their menu we have to try that we're going to be visiting the busaba for our Thai fix whenever the jones hits.
Oh, and "busaba" apparently means "woman" in thai.
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10/19/2006, India Sweets and Spices
Masala Dosa, Idli, Pakora, Samosa, Oh My!
We both have a dear place in our hearts for Indian food. Cheap, expensive, fast, slow, north, south, greasy or delicate, I almost always enjoy it. This place came with highly qualified recommendations, and after a few trips there it's obvious why. The food itself is a mixed bag - some is simply great... I love the sambar, a spicy lentil/tamarind soup, often served with idli, or as a side with virtually anything, for breakfast, lunch or dinner (or all three!). They also make a great masala dosa, but again, I don't think I've ever had a masala dosa (big crispy crepe stuffed with an aromatic potato/chickpea mash) I didn't just love. I remember Todd introducing me to masala dosa about 10 years ago, telling me it was basicallt the Indian hamburger, meaning cheap, fast, not entirely healthy, but filling and yummy. But what really sets this place apart is the truly awful service; I don't mean they are slow - though in fact the various items on your order typically arrive randomly spaced out, so you just have no hope of eating simultaneously with the rest of your party. What stands out with the service at this place is the supremely bitter, annoyed attitude of the husband and wife who own and operate the food line (the place is also a market). These people are serving nonstop to a packed house of grateful, friendly customers, and we tend to get nothing but grief and spite from the two behind the counter - have you seen the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld? Ok, you're getting warm.
So why do we go back? Well, for Julia it's the fact that we can get more purely vegetarian food than we can eat, and a mango lassi to share, for less than $12 for two people. Seriously, it's about the cheapest edible food in LA, and it's way better than the next best thing. On this night I got a masala dosa with sambar and Julia got a no. 3 special, which we shared along with maybe 1/3lb of pakora and a lassi. For $11.35. Another bonus? I think the owner's anger towards the customers tends to lead him to serve spicier food than he would normally to the gringos in the crowd, having no idea that for me when it comes to Indian food it's all about "no pain, no gain".
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10/18/2006, Home
Fillo Veggie Rolls and Soup
Today was a long one... after work I raced home and found a FedEx tag for Julia's birthday gift, so I ran downtown to the depot so I could suprise her when she got home. Once I got there I realized the packages were addressed to her, and sure enough FedEx initially refused to allow me to sign for them - especially since my driver's license still has my old address. I rumaged through the truck and found some paystubs and other documents with my name and address on them, and the nice FedEx clerk let my honest face take the goodies home... at this point it was just about 7pm, right when Julia tends to get out of class and only half a mile from USC where she's in grad school, so I tried to get ahold of her so we could meet for dinner at VeggieSoul, but that was a non-starter. So I radioed ahead to VeggieSoul for takeout, but they didn't have the vegetarian seafood gumbo I'd been dying to try, so I dropped by the shop figuring I'd get ahold of Julia or just pick it up and meet her at home. Not only were they short-staffed that night, the place was packed, so takeout was looking to take 30 minutes - foiled again! I ran home, blood sugar low and dropping, frustrated, and knowing there wasn't much in the fridge and I was low on time and patience. I got home, grabbed some fillo sheets out of the oven and made some little stuffed things - veggie meat crumble, artichoke heart, feta, corn, and who knows what else. Little Mediteranean egg rolls basically. Just as they were getting crisp Julia got home, so she opened her gifts, and then we sat down for a quick and very satisfying bite - fillo rolls and roasted tomato and red pepper soup with croutons. At this point we were both so exhausted and starved it could have been dog food and it would have tasted just as sweet. A few days later we had a leftover roll I had frozen and then reheated, so I can at least confirm that it was actually good!
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10/17/2006, Home
Mac and Cheese Night
Pasta and sharp cheese with red peppers, grilled carrots, broccoli, and Qorn cutlets. Simple and quick and just a little bad.
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10/16/2006, Home
Lotsa Pasta!
There is something so readily satisfying about pasta and tomatoes. Last night it was Julia's turn to cook, so she whipped up what I could only imagine as a pasta parfait - a bowl of alternating layers of pasta, cheese, a now third or fourth generation tomato sauce, and meatballs. A salad was provided just to make us feel a little better about the bowl full of starchy, doughy, cheesy goodness! Yowsa, thatsa lotsa pasta!
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