Alpine Village

A few weeks ago, Trav and I ventured out to find "Alpine Village", a German compound of shops that is a popular destination for Oktoberfest. I had visions of a huge bierhall and steins and bratwurst...but on a Saturday afternoon, all we found were little old Germans teetering through the parking lot into the market.

We wandered around the market/deli/bakery for quite a while, marveling at the thousands of products that reminded me of Europe. We were planning on having a German feast that night, so we ended up with quite a bit.

From the butcher: Weisswurst, knackwurst, rauchwurst and leberwurst.
From the bakery: a slice of poppy seed cake
From the grocery: pickles, mustard (bavarian and dusseldorf), sauerkraut, creamed herring, tinned octopus, bacalhau, and herring, and plum butter (kind of like apple butter).

All told, it wasn't that expensive for all of our goodies! Plus, we figured this was probably a one-shot deal, given the location and general feel of the place. It's right next to a big freeway in a not-so-nice part of town.

When we got home we boiled the wurst, sliced up rauchwurst (like a smoky chorizo), and opened the jar of creamed herring. Trav grilled the wurst and warmed up hotdog buns, and we spread out our goodies on the table. We also made a warm potato salad that was delicious!

Our dinner wasn't quite as good as we had hoped. The rauchwurst was to die for, but the Bavarian mustard was too sweet, and the other wurst fell short of our expectations. Nothing compares to the food in the "old country", but at least it came close. Hopefully next time we eat a spread like this, it will be in a tiny gasthaus somewhere in Deutschland!

Great cookbooks!

Hello!

Trav and I have been cooking up some scrumptious food lately. I thought I would share some new recipes we have used that have turned out great.

When Trav and I first started dating, I gifted him a copy of How to Cook Everything by one of my favorite foodies, Mark Bittman. I refer to this book as "the Bible", because it's that good! It's a great recipe book with all kinds of simple recipes from how to make hard boiled eggs to couscous. The only problem is that Bittman was a big fan of ingredients like butter, cream, salt, and bacon. We LOVE all of these ingredients, but we are trying to make sure they aren't our go-to staples. We are in luck, because the library got copies of his two new cookbooks "The Food Matters Cookbook" and "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" which take the Bible's recipes and make them a little more vegetable and fruit-centered and take out some of the animal products.

This last weekend I woke up craving cornbread and waffles. I started leafing through the Food Matters Cookbook and immediately found a recipe for "Anadama Waffles" which are based off of a popular bread made on the East Coast. There was an option to add frozen corn, so we had a perfect recipe, and since my Christmas present was a Belgian waffle maker, we were set! (This was the first batch of waffles I made with my new iron, sans corn)



I don't want to violate copyright and post the recipe, but it is on page 283, and if anyone wants it, I would be happy to email you!

It's a really unique taste, and I would imagine if you were from New England, you might find it to be familiar. We liked the mix of sweet and savory from the corn kernels and the molasses and applesauce.

We also made a banana pancake recipe from the How to Cook Everything Vegetarian this morning, and it was excellent! We modified it a little bit by adding vanilla and some extra baking powder and some whole wheat flour.

Overall, both cookbooks are easy to use, have delicious creative recipes, and I would love to invest in copies of both when I have to return them to the library in a few weeks.

To read Mark Bittman's posts on the New York Times website, click here

Besides breakfast foods, we also made turkey gyoza (asian potstickers) last week based on a recipe from a friend. They are a little bit time consuming, but we made extra to freeze so we could enjoy them again. We used turkey instead of pork because we had stocked up on it during a recent sale. You couldn't even tell the difference, I promise!

Gyoza (adapted from our friend Alicia's recipe)

1 package of gyoza skins (use a cup or small bowl and a knife to make circles)
3/4 lb. ground turkey (or pork)
4-5 green cabbage leaves, boiled
1 green onion, chopped
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 tbsp chopped garlic
2 tbsp sesame seed oil
1 tbsp mirin (sweet rice wine)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp salt

Dipping Sauce:
Soy Sauce
Rice Vinegar
Chili garlic paste

Boil the cabbage leaves. Drain and chop the leaves. Drain well by pressing on them with your hands. In a large bowl, mix the meat, green onion, chopped cabbage with salt, soy sauce, Sake, and sesame seed oil. Put the mixture (about a teaspoon worth) in the center of the gyoza skin and put water around the edge of the skin. Close the skin (don't forget to pinch the edge of the skin the way you see in restaurants; this keeps the edge from separating while cooking). Heat a frying pan, add oil, arrange the gyoza and brown the bottom. Add water (enough to cover 1/3 of the height of the gyoza). Cover and cook until the water is gone. Take the lid off and cook a little longer to make them crisp. Dip the gyoza in a mixture of vinegar, soy sauce and chili garlic paste.


(Travis making gyoza)


(Pretty little gyoza all in a row, ready to cook!)

Happy Cooking!

E&T

Cookies (and flowers!)

So, I'm laid up in bed on a Saturday night with an aching back, Travis is out of town until tomorrow. What to do?

Post a cookie recipe!

I'm on a bit of a New Years health kick...Trying out some different foods, increasing my fruit and veggie quotient. Who knows if it'll last, but I'm sure it can't hurt!

Has anyone noticed how expensive peanut butter has gotten? I read that there had been some kind of "peanut crisis" this year and that organic peanuts will be MIA for a while due to crop failure. Why does this matter? Well, we have one small tub of peanut butter in the fridge, and I decided it would be a waste to make cookies with it.

So what else could I make cookies with? I am allergic to chocolate, oats, nuts, coconut, so my cookie options are always limited.

After some internet sleuthing, I found an interesting recipe for Tahini cookies. We bought a big tub of tahini this summer to make babaganoush (highly reccomended!) and since then it has been sitting in our fridge, unopened. In light of the peanut crisis, I figured these cookies would make a good substitute to that fatty, creamy cookie I was craving.

The recipe is as follows, my additions/changes are in bold:

Source: http://dairyfreecooking.about.com/od/cookies/r/tahini_cookies_recipe.htm

TAHINI COOKIES

Makes about 32 cookies
Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1 cup raw tahini
1/2 cup agave nectar (I used honey)
1/4 cup lemon juice (I used a meyer lemon, which is sweeter)
1/2 t. vanilla
White granulated sugar, for sprinkling (I prefer unrefined cane sugar)(skipped this step!)

I also added raisins for some sweetness and texture. It worked great!

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Set out two large ungreased baking sheets.

2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the egg yolks, tahini, agave nectar, lemon juice, and vanilla using an electric hand mixer. Beat until well combined. Gradually add the dry ingredient to the wet, mixing until forming a very thick, crumbly dough. Use your hands to form the dough into 1" balls, placing them on the sheet and flattening them slightly with your fingers as you work. Sprinkle the tops with the white granulated sugar. Bake for about 16 minutes, or until the tops are cracked and the bottoms are golden brown.

*These cookies will get harder as they cool. I recommend underbaking them a little bit and then cooling them on a rack! I also made a half recipe, since it makes 2 full trays of cookies.

Overall, it was a pretty solid cookie. The texture was good, they were sweet enough, not bitter from the tahini, and great for dunking.




(I visited the South Coast Botanic Garden on Tuesday...these two flower shots were my favorites. Obviously they are copyrighted...my property :) )

2011 A Year in Review!

First post since May? Wow, how time has flown by!

I figured since I recapped 2010, it would be fun to do the same for 2011.

In January, we returned from our holiday vacation in Colorado and started back at work. I ended up in the ER with an asthma attack one night after inhaling cooking spray at work, and ended up getting pneumonia. It kind of put a damper on the rest of the month!

We started February with a quick weekend trip to visit Travis' family in Palmdale. I spent the day with his Grandma and Aunt, and that night we got dinner all together with his cousins and Uncle. The next weekend we went to Vegas for the first time as 21+ visitors, and we had a great Valentine's weekend. We ate at good restaurants, hiked up and down the Strip, saw Cirque de Soleil, and checked out the nightlife at Studio54. A couple weeks later my friend Clare came out to visit and we took a day trip down to Disneyland (sans Travis) and showed her around Redondo a bit.

(in front of the Bellagio fountains in vegas!)


In March I started teaching Portuguese on the side, was tutoring Spanish at night, working at the bakery, and decided to pick up another part time job at a chiropractor's office. I got into Middlebury college for a summer Portuguese program and needed the extra money!

Trav and I visited the South Coast Botanic Garden, which used to be a landfill but is now a spectacular getaway on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. That night we drove to visit Aleta and Wes in Silverlake and got dressed up and headed to the Edison in downtown L.A., an old power plant turned into a 1920s style speakeasy bar. We crashed at their house that night after some spicy cocktails!

In April we took a quick trip to Colorado for the weekend to see Trav's nephew, Evan. He was originally set to be born after the holidays, but came early on Christmas instead. We still took a little trip to see him and catch up with family. At the end of the month, Travis' parents came out to visit for my birthday weekend/Easter and we had a brunch at our house to celebrate. We drank traditional Ramus Fizzes, "kipped" eggs, and enjoyed time with family.

May was mostly work, but we spent the first weekend in Rancho Bernardo for my birthday. We got a deal on a stay at the Rancho Bernardo Inn and took a limo wine tasting at three local vineyards. It was excellent!

In June I quit my jobs and prepared to leave for Middlebury, VT for the summer.



I stopped over in Colorado for a week to see friends and family first. Trav headed to Colorado for a long stay over the 4th of July weekend and spent time with his parents at a lake doing all kinds of water sports. I immersed myself in Brazilian Portuguese and was taking three classes, teaching yoga, dancing samba, playing tennis, singing and in general having an amazing time. While I was gone, Trav went to his cousin Sarah's wedding and we did our best to talk every night.
(enjoying Vermont in the summertime with my hallmate, Raquel)

In August, I finished classes, packed up my dorm, and Travis flew to pick me up in Middlebury. He rented a car and we spent the next week traveling around the east coast on a food/drink tour of sorts. We spent the first day wandering around tiny Middlebury, visited the Otter Creek Brewery, and then that night we drove to Burlington.

Burlington is very reminiscent of Boulder and parts of it's downtown mall were built by the same designer as Pearl st. The next morning we visited a wonderful breakfast bakery and picked up some goodies to bring to his Aunt Cassie in Montreal. We spent most of the day driving across the border to Canada, but made time to stop at the Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory. We finally made it to Cassie's house that evening. It was my first time in French Canada and it was not what I had imagined. Such a big city!

Cassie took us to a lovely dinner the first night at a Greek seafood place, and the next day we wandered around the city by ourselves. I think the best part was Chinatown. That night we went to a Portuguese fusion restaurant that had excellent Caldo Verde soup. The next morning was our last and we packed up our little purple Yaris and said farewell to Cassie and her terrier, Lucy. (Trav goofing around in Montreal) We crossed the border back to the U.S. and headed through Vermont to Maine. The drive was beautiful and green and took us past the Stowe ski resort which vaguely resembled Switzerland.

We got to Portland, Maine that evening and checked in to our hotel. Portland was right on the water, beautiful, small, and a foodie's paradise. We ate at a restaurant called "Duck Fat" which is well-known in the foodie world, visited Shipyard brewery, went to the top of an old lighthouse, visited bakeries, tasted mead at a meadery, and in general loved it.
(the lighthouse)

Next stop was Boston and we again packed up the Yaris and headed into the unknown. We had made the decision to keep our car going in to Boston so we could maybe take a day trip to Martha's vineyard. Unbeknownst to us, driving in Boston is a hellish nightmare involving overlapping tunnels and one way streets. We had our route to the hotel pulled up on the GPS and trav's iPhone as we slowly crawled in the traffic into the city, but halfway there, we lost signal in a tunnel and were left with no clue as to where we were! A paper map would have been a godsend! After 25 minutes driving around one way streets in Chinatown, we finally found the entrance to our hotel parking lot, and decided we would not be venturing out with the car again until we left for the airport. This would have been great had we not been paying both the rental car fee AND an exorbitant fee to park in the garage. We lost a couple hundred dollars on that silly mistake. Besides the drama, Boston was interesting and a mix of people and old and new. I was amazed at the sheer population density, even coming from L.A. People seem to just live stacked on top of one another. We didn't have much time to explore (Trav wanted to visit Cambridge...) but we walked the Freedom Trail one day and went to dinner with a couple of friends in Little Italy that night. All in all, it was a quick trip, but we hit some excellent spots along the way!

(on the Freedom Trail in Boston)

When we flew back to Redondo in late August, I was ready for a break and we both had to readjust to living together. In early September we were invited by a friend I met over the summer to come stay for a night at his parents' beach house in Ventura. They were excellent hosts and we enjoyed a walk on the beach, read and played games, and had a fantastic dinner at a tiny wine and cheese shop in town. It was a nice getaway.
Later in September we had Trav's little sister Stacy come and visit...she's always fun to have around! We also visited the L.A. County Fair in Pomona for the first time. Fried twinkies are not good...

(on the ferris wheel)

October was full of job interviews and researching grad school programs, neither of which was very fruitful. I turned down a job because I would have been making less than I spent on gas! Luckily amongst all the disappointment I started volunteering as a Garden Angel with the Beach Cities Health District. I join a few other ladies every week to tend to the elementary school gardens and occasionally talk to the kids about planting and veggies. It's a pretty sweet gig! Trav and I also picked up tennis rackets and started playing on the courts at the local high school. I played over the summer at Middlebury, but neither of us is very good. I love it, though.

November Trav started traveling for work. We knew way in advance, but it was hard to be apart, nonetheless, especially after a summer apart! I did my best to keep busy and got to see my dad and sister for a couple days while he was out visiting. We both ended up in Colorado for Thanksgiving last minute and enjoyed some R&R in Parker before heading back to L.A.

In December Trav traveled again for a couple weeks before Xmas and I spent my time baking and getting christmas cards sent out. We both flew to Colorado a couple days after the big storm and caught some great weather. We caught up with a ton of friends and family, and I think we are slowly learning how to use our time efficiently and see family as much as possible.


(baby Evan is one year old now!)

Trav left again for (hopefully!) the last time this morning, and will be back mid-January. In the meantime, I will be looking for work, Spring Cleaning, and hosting my friend Clare again.

Here's hoping 2012 will be a great year!

XOXO

E & T

Belated birthday celebrations and Summer prep

(Trav and I at the Rancho Bernardo Inn for my birthday last weekend)

Wheeeee! We are keeping so busy lately!

I came to the realization that we have been spending so much time working lately that we haven't seen many friends in months! How sad.

That being said, I think we are enjoying each others' company a lot lately, even if it's just the little things like having a nice, home-cooked meal together or going for a bike ride on the Strand.

This weekend was full of fun! Friday was Travis' day off, so he went for a nice, long bike ride and I went to work at the bakery for most of the day. When I came home I had an interview with a Brazilian woman on skype for Middlebury this summer. It was an hour-long interview to record my speaking ability pre-program and to place me in an appropriate language level for the summer. She finished our interview by telling me I would most likely be placed in level 4, the top level that is offered! She also gave me some more details as to how the program is run, and it sounds amazing! I may even have the opportunity to take some grad-level courses!

After the interview I met up with our neighbor Jess for a belated birthday happy hour at the pier. I have missed her tremendously the last few months while she has been prepping her students for AP exams, and I have been working and doing the same with my Spanish Lang student. It was nice to have a girls' night out!

Saturday Trav and I woke up bright and early and braved the cold mist outside to get breakfast nearby at the Wildflower café. Trav found a 50% off coupon through some online sleuthing and we had an excellent half price feast!

After breakfast we hung out at home for a bit and then headed out again for lunch at Mitsuwa market, a big asian grocery/bookstore/china shop with a very popular food court. We got big udon bowls for cheap and stocked up on a few pantry items that we can't find elsewhere.

We followed Mitsuwa up with a lovely bike ride to Hermosa beach, and I faced my fear of riding on the street! Only one person tried to run me off the road, surprisingly. And I am probably the only person in a hundred mile radius to wear a bike helmet while on a cruiser bike. Pshaw, what do I care? Trav has been riding pretty long distance (as far as Marina del Rey) on his roadbike, and is much more skilled on a bike than I am at this point.

We finished the night up with a homemade dinner of margaritas and jalapeño popper grilled cheese sandwiches. The first bite of mine nearly killed me, however, due to the heat of the peppers! I scrambled to the fridge and pulled out the milk the second I realized I couldn't swallow and my mouth was on fire! I took out the peppers and finished the rest, but it was a pretty painful dinner.

Today I worked an extra shift at the bakery and Trav caught up on some housecleaning. Another lovely dinner of pear gorgonzola pizza followed by homemade limoncello and we are ready for the week...maybe!

Well, that's the latest on us...we have an exciting summer ahead, but for now we will just be work work working and trying to fit in some good food and friends where we can.

love to all!

E & T

p.s. maybe I can convince T to write the next blog post since he has recently switched projects and has some fun travel for work coming up...but I'll let him tell you all about it!

Spring has sprung!

(I never get sick of this view!!!)
Hi everybody!

After a few months' hiatus I decided an update was in order! We have both been keeping extremely busy; Trav with a project at work that is nearing its end, and me with various part-time jobs, and now two part-time jobs that give me full-time hrs!

We have had a great few months catching up with family both here and in Colorado. We have seen Wes and Aleta quite a few times, and we made a quick trip out to Palmdale to see Trav's family and catch up, and we also went to Colorado and had a nice birthday celebration/baby visit with Ryan and Shannon.

A few weeks ago we visited the South Coast Botanic Gardens for a little time in the outdoors and later that night went out downtown with Aleta and Wes and a couple of their friends to "The Edison" a 1920's speak-easy inspired bar in what used to be L.A.'s first power plant. For some reason I didn't take any pictures at the Edison, but here are some from the botanic garden (built on top of a landfill!!!)






A few weeks later and spring is in full-swing here!!! The flowers are blooming, we are getting fresh asparagus, strawberries, etc in our CSA box every couple of weeks, and the beach was packed this weekend as the weather was gorgeous. I have started a little "garden" with some herbs, and I've been very excited to see their growth as the days are getting longer and longer.




I also am very excited that Trav has a bike (a road bike he got for cheap on Craigslist) and I finally got my own this week!!! It's a pink cruiser bike, and pretty big, but a beauty. I plan on giving it a nice tune-up and maybe adding a basket and a light before I take it out for a spin. Very exciting!



We are going to celebrate Easter this weekend with a nice brunch on Sunday with friends, and it will be the first time we really have any group of people over. Belated housewarming? We'll also be starting my birthday celebration early with a trip to the beach on Saturday. Should be a great time.

Well, that's the news for now. We'll be keeping busy with our bikes and the beach, friends and family, work and play, and I'll be crafting and baking for Easter! Hope everyone is enjoying the new growth of spring, wherever you may be!

(crafting supplies and decorations! A holiday necessity!)

love,

E & T

A New Year!

Dear blogosphere,

We have returned from our 10 day sojourn in Colorado for the holidays! It is a new year, and with that must come a reflection upon the year behind us. This was meant to be a Christmas letter, but one thing led to another and I never sent it, so for those of you who might be curious what the heck we were up to this year, enjoy!


A year in Review (2010)

-In March we flew to California to look for a place to live and ended up signing a lease for an apartment in Redondo Beach.
(house-hunting!)

-I ran my first 5k in March and Trav followed suit as we both ran the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in San Diego in November. Us, runners?


(after the first 5k in March, San Diego was a breeze! Post-race photo with Kristina and fellow Engineer Matt)

-We both graduated from CU in May; Trav with his Masters in Aerospace Engineering, and me with a BA in Spanish and Portuguese language and culture


-To celebrate graduation, we made an impromptu trip to Miami (South Beach and Key West specifically) and enjoyed delicious cuban and haitian food...yum!

(catching up with my Semester at Sea family in South Beach)

-I was in my first wedding as a bridesmaid Memorial Day weekend.


-In June we embarked on a 33 day trip through mainland Greece and the greek islands. It was quite the adventure, and a beautiful country.

(Santorini)

(Trav in front of an ancient Greek theatre)

-At the end of our trip in Greece we hiked the Samarian Gorge in Crete..only 16 km of uneven rocky terrain!


-In July we packed up all of our things and moved to Redondo Beach, part of the South Bay of Los Angeles. We live next to the beach and enjoy listening to the waves from our balcony.

-In August we drove 6 hours to June Lake and spend a weekend with Trav's family fishing, eating, and enjoying the mountains. They were a sight for sore (and homesick) eyes!


-In September we were visited by a few friends from Boulder and spent the weekend at the Getty Center, Getty Vila, and getting ice cream in Malibu.

-In October Trav and I both got to go home for the weekend, me for my first American Translators Association Conference and him for some R&R!

-In November we both worked hard, cooked and baked, and visited the L.A. Auto show.

-In December we headed home to Colorado for the holidays and enjoyed warm weather, visits with friends, and even got a little taste of winter with a snowstorm. After ten days of R&R we are back in Redondo, which feels a little bit more like home each time we return. Also, we were surprised when Trav's sister-in-law went into labor early and we got to meet the baby early! Congrats, Ryan and Shannon!
(Trav holding baby Evan, his first nephew!)

It was a year full of adventure and travel, and we are both so blessed to be able to do/see so much cool stuff! This year we are planning on making a little trip to Vegas to see what the fuss is all about, maybe a trip to the Big Apple so trav can experience the rush of Times Square, and in the fall we hope to make it back to Europe to see some of my family in Germany, and hopefully visit my "family" in Lisbon after almost two years. Other plans? We shall see!

Love to you all,

E&T