stitches west 08 & sf visit

stitches west 08 & sf visit
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

who would have thought shopping for yarn would be so exhausting? we really had a relaxing weekend, flying in friday evening in time for one of nif's tasty vegan dinners. this time, it was rice noodles with spinach and tofu in a peanut sauce. i was too starved to think to take any photos, and don't remember the details other than that the sauce and everything else was good.

nif & i separated from our respective honeys on sat, which was for the best as the exploratorium was much more to their liking than a big knitting fair. we started out methodically from the left side of the market, and stopping into the booths that lured us with their yarn. a couple vendors, including cherry tree hill & malabrigo, were offering free yarn samples, which was awesome.

then we spied the huge booth of hand-dyed yarns by tess designs. i was immediately drawn to the shimmery silk/merino blend grey yarns. finding pricing proved a small challenge, as it was not on the individual hanks but in a printed brochure taped to the wall. i wasn't ready to splurge, so i continued to browse. then i spied shelves of merino lace yarn for a great price for the yardage ($10 for 500 yds) in lovely colors. the yarn was soft, and in so many great colors it was difficult to choose. luckily, there was a long queue of people waiting to pay, which gave us plenty of time to be neurotic about a number of things, including what to buy or not, how much, and should we wait and come back.

after an hour at the fair and completed first purchases at tess designs, it was time to get some sustenance before continuing. our bringing portabello sandwiches and fries for lunch turned out to be a great idea. (parking was limited, it was raining and how could we stand to be far from the yarn before we had our fill?)

after lunch, we decided to go directly to a few of the vendors that we didn't want to miss, in case we ran out of time, so we went to booths for habu textiles (i escaped with only one hank of bamboo yarn), lisa souza (we left reluctantly without buying anything as they didn't have the color we wanted--black purple--in the alpaca/silk blend. apparently, their inventory had been quickly depleted.), and carolina homespun (i found a good deal on malabrigo merino worsted in a lovely frosted grey but no replacement turned crochet hooks for the one that i sat on and broke).

by this point, i was confused as to where we were and which direction we should go, but we were on the opposite side of the L-shaped room, and made our way back slowly. i found a few things, including a silk/merino hand-dyed yarn from brooks farm, a kit for knitted & felted boots from pick up sticks that i've been eying for some time, and an angora/wool blend from toots le blanc & co. in retrospect, this last skein was a big splurge for the small amount of yardage, but we were wooed by the knitted cable hat made from the very soft & fuzzy yarn. we bought both yarn & pattern. i wanted to buy more of the chameleon colorworks soft laceweight merino yarn in their evolution line, but they were out, and only had it in a worsted. the pistachio discounted yarn and merino/tencel roving was luring nif with their softness, sheen, and who could resist pistachio?

by the time we arrived at the california cashmere company booth, we were tired and beyond broke. the yarn was incredibly soft, and actually reasonably priced for the yardage, but i resisted, and instead picked up a card (you can purchase their yarn online) for another day. the company is run by a husband and wife, and i really wanted to support their efforts (and walk away with some lovely yarn), but we were really exhausted. the rest was blur, but there was plenty of yarn fondling.

in addition to yarn, we also found some beautiful ribbon and vintage buttons at nifty thrifty dry goods booth, and some lovely japanese silk fabric. we managed to stay within our budgets (sort of). close anyways. seriously, with all the temptation, i did ok. it all fit into our already full luggage. the color choices this time seemed to stay within the families of grey and a seafoam to light chartreuse.

amazingly, we had energy reserves to make dinner on sat night, which included homemade fettucine (a miracle it didn't end up a big lump at the bottom of the pan) with tomatoes, roasted red bell peppers & pesto, hungarian mushroom soup, grilled asparagus and a mixed green salad. all good, and due to my hunger and knackeredness, no photos were taken to document, so you'll have to use your imagination.

our delayed flight led to coffee and vegan donuts (quite good and presumably healthier) at ritual coffee shop.

photo of my late father: progress

photo of my late father: progress
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

it's been a while since i moved beyond soldering, endless soldering on this project. i am about 2/3 the way through soldering leds, and wire wrapped one strand to check that outcome.

the low values are barely discernible in the light. i'll have to think some more on the lighting environment best suited for this.

elegant ribbed stockings

elegant ribbed stockings
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

knit in knitpicks' telemark, a sport weight yarn, these really were a fast knit and a perfect first cable project. admittedly, this was the second time casting on. i was worried about gauge and stretchiness as i was using an alpaca yarn and size 5,6,7 needles the first time. i moved down one needle size and used wool instead. they came out nice, and with the neutral color and leg coverage will probably get good use. great for the cool weather.

for the love of iphone

happy valentine's day!
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

i was completely surprised and pleased to open up a box that looked like a handmade stereo pinhole camera to find this. mike bought me an iphone! it was only the weekend before that i was drooling over the one my cousin--a guy who is barely in college--justin has. not that i really need a new phone, but i've had the same one since before mike and i started dating, and have been considering getting a new one.

at first, i felt guilty and nervous for accepting such an extravagant gift. even the protective case and plastic screen that i bought for it was ridiculously expensive (i dropped another $50 at the apple store for those. cheap plastic, did it really need to be that much? i felt gouged and my fears of imperfections on such a lovely phone manipulated.). that he got a deal on it and bought it off one of his co-workers did not really quell said nervousness. it seems like such a luxury beyond the utility of a mobile phone to have the internet at your fingertips always and among other things that i hope i put it to good use. i've since moved beyond some of the guilt into pleasure and am loving it. thanks mike.

p.s. the only downside (and surprise) is that safari moble doesn't have a flash player. what? i tried to watch a video, and was disappointed to instead see a little plugin icon in its place. there's some indication that it is eventual. still. this thing is made for video on the web, and a lot of video on the web is played through flash. how can it not support it?

happy valentine's day

happy valentine's day
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

so it would appear that my posts have been dominated by food and restaurant reviews, and i've been asked twice now at various food meetups if i have a food blog. my stumbling answer is something to the effect of "not exactly" or "my food blogging is not really structured." not sure what any of that means, but to attest to the somewhat randomness of my posts, here is something else--a heart i knit for my honey.

mmm....scones

currant scones
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

my first baking from the tartine cookbook which my friend nif gave me for my birthday. yes, that was some time ago, and i'm now getting around to making goodies from it. flipping through the recipes, i thought that this is some serious baking. many of them involve multiple steps of making tart crusts and fillings separately and requiring more counter space to roll out dough and a fancy mixer with various accoutrements. sometimes i'm kind of lazy, the amount of work required was daunting for someone who only bakes occasionally. not that i don't like to, but there's this frugality of time that comes with being an artist (or being me).

i do like spending the time to have make and enjoy a nice breakfast on the weekends, our time to relax a bit. the scone recipe didn't appear and turned out not to be trying at all, although i had to stop mid-baking and beg poor mike to go to the store for more butter. i underestimated the amount we actually had, and did not pick up more on our trip to the store the day before. two plus sticks of butter went into these, which made for some nice scones. the recipe mentioned the chunks of butter relating to flakiness. there was crispiness, but not the flakiness i had imagined. still good though.

my mis-shaping produced some skinny triangles which again i underestimated the expansion of. when the smoke from the burning butter at the bottom of the oven started coming out of the stove, mike quickly removed the battery from our smoke detector before auditory assault. the scones were fresh, warm buttery goodness. after sitting in a plastic container, they softened up (a bit too much for me) the next day, but i popped them into the toaster oven on level 3 setting which refreshed the crispiness and warmth.

providence

providence through my iphone
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

mike & i celebrated valentine's day (and found a great excuse) to try one of the highly raved places by chowhounders in LA—Providence. this restaurant topped chowhound's 2006 ultimate restaurant list (2007's list has yet to be tabulated), so when i considered a special epicurian experience for us, this place immediately came to mind.

i was interested in the five course tasting menu, which would give us a good sampling, but was not exorbitant (and outside of our recently strained budget) like the fifteen course chef's tasting menu (although that sounded tempting too) for our first meal there. although providence specializes in seafood, i was concerned about substituting one of the five (the veal medallions) for a fish dish. the waiter said it would not be an issue. rather than blabber too much (i'll leave that to the end), here is a summary dish by dish of our meal.

amuse bouche:
the amuse bouche consisted of three small delights. the first was a saffron syrup & fennel soup in a cute, miniature glass mug, with the warm soup layered on top of the saffron syrup. the creamy fennel was comforting, ending in a lovely saffron flavor.

the second delight, on the far left of the plate, was a gin + tonic gelee. highly unusual (for me), and interesting in texture and flavor. i squeezed the lime on top and ate it in one bite (as recommended). it was like eating a gin + tonic candy.

the last piece, served on a metal spoon on a piece of slate, was most curious—a mojito ravioli with a fragrant (and insanely cute) sprig of mint embedded in it. the ravioli burst in my mouth, and exploded the mojito liquid. on our drive back, we pondered the logistics of filling the extremely delicate glassine ravioli with liquid. my theory involved a syringe while mike's freezing the liquid and wrapping with ravioli.

big eye tuna, blood orange, green onion, tatsoi
the tuna was nicely seared and worked well with the blood orange flavors. most interesting were the crispy, nutty tatsoi balls. tuna was pretty standard, good quality.

nancy's down-east scallops (deer isle, maine) puree of tahitian squash, shiitake mushrooms, late harvest gewurztraminer
i'm probably biased, what with my love of scallops, but for me, this was the standout. the scallops were lightly browned, and the flavor was interesting and good. all the individual flavors were delicious, including the comforting tahitian squash (now i understand it's prominence as a winter staple) puree and shiitake mushrooms. there was a nice, slightly sweet and charred barbecue flavor to everything. lovely.

wild striped bass (virginia), artichokes, sun-dried tomato, black olive, celery
this, with its mediterranean flavors, was my second favorite dish. i love the concentration of flavor in the crispy part of the fish with the inside tender and soft. the little additions—artichokes, tomato, black olive, and celery leaf—were nice embellishments to a simply but well-prepared fish.

slow cooked icelandic char, roasted cauliflower, romanesco, cinnamon esouma
this was our substitution for the veal. the fish, reminiscent of salmon in color and flavor, was much more subtle. the crispy fried skin was the best part. i actually liked all the things that came with the fish better than the fish, including the flavorful roasted cauliflower florets. the cinnamon foam added an interesting flavor to the dish, and reminded me of the foam on cappuccinos.

chocolate, hedgehog mushroom ice cream, salted caramel
when we arrived at this, our last dish, i was satiated, but not overly stuffed, and sad to see the end of our delicious meal approaching. the chocolate was rich and thick. whatever mushroom was used to make the ice cream came out as a subtle nutty flavor that was incredibly enhanced with the gooey thick, salted caramel. i experienced how salt can coax the flavor from food.

petits fours: chocolate coffee macaroon, olive oil pate de fuis (?sp), almond truffle
those little things that they don't formally mention and enhance the meals really are special. all had really nice flavors, although the almond truffle was a tad on the dry side. i found the olive oil pate de fuis to be the most interesting in concept. it was like eating an olive oil candy, but not so sweet.

we definitely have to come back for one of the larger tasting menus, though we will probably move up to the full tasting menu, which includes nine courses, before going for the fifteen course chef's tasting menu. the entire experience was lovely, including the perfect dim but not too dim lighting, subtle sea references in the decor that included barnacle nipple looking things winding up the walls and ceiling and wild beaded tentacled candles on the table setting, lovely ceramic table pieces and simple but elegant silverware (the butter & salt came with the cutest little scoop). our waiter was responsive but not overbearing or chatty. when we arrived, we only had to wait a few minutes, which was a perfect opportunity for me to take some exerior photos.

speaking of photos, i was a retard and managed to forget my camera, but luckily had the new iphone mike gave me, and all the photos were taken with that. although somewhat out of focus, they came out amazingly well taken through a tiny lens on a camera phone.

overall, i felt really decadent for trying this, our biggest tasting, but the quantities were perfect so that we weren't obscenely full. i think someone with a bigger appetite should probably order the full tasting menu. people often complain and make fun of the small quantities you get at these so-called fine dining places, but i can appreciate and understand why they do this.

all the food was artfully placed, a pleasure to the eye to whet the appetite, and the quantities were perfect for tasting. i wonder if they prepare it so there aren't leftovers, as they may not be as good the next day. when i was first reflecting on this meal, i thought the flavors were subtle compared to eating ethnic food, but it is a totally different kind of experience. definitely not one where the flavor hits you on the head but a lovely one nonetheless. i thought that it was nice that equal attention was given to the little pieces that made up each fish dish as the fish itself.

la parolaccia

la parolaccia
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

this is one of our favorite local restaurants. we're so lucky to have good food within blocks of us. they recently expanded into another space, and added a wood-fire oven. we haven't tried the pizza yet, but mike wanted to go out somewhere local (and low key) on valentine's evening for a nice pasta dinner even though we had big plans for the weekend.

as always, the food was great, whether it be a simple saffron cream sauce or a flavorful tomato sauce with seafood.

frosted cupcakery

frosted cupcakery
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

some time ago, i heard mention of this cupcake shop off of second street in belmont shore, and wanted to go, but promptly forgot about it until valentine's day rolled around. the photos on their website made them too irresistible. i hardly needed an excuse. the thought of going by early did cross my mind, but i was working on some pinhole images, so the thought never materialized into action.

i finally went by around 1pm to find a slow-moving line of people out the door. fifteen minutes into the wait, another employee showed up (there was only one working the front), and things moved along a little faster. i began to worry when one of the women in front of me wanted to order a dozen cupcakes. then a man wanted three dozen (there were barely that many visible in the case). luckily, they limited his purchase to two dozen due to the occasion and that he obviously did not think to pre-order them. they had them wait to get more being frosted in the back. i only wanted four!

when the woman in front of me took the last red velvet cupcake, i tried not to panic, although the woman behind me cut in to ask about them before i could even say anything myself. luckily, they checked and and confirmed that they were making more. although she apologized, it was still annoying to have this pushy woman behind me jump in front of me to have them put her name down for six of the ones in back. i happily had them take my order, and would return in a couple hours to pick them up.

we've been stretching out our cupcake eating for the last couple days. they were totally worth the effort. i usually find myself not liking cupcakes as much as anticipated because the frosting is too damned sweet, but i love these for their buttercream and/or cream cheese frosting. i'm more of a rich than sweet dessert person. the red velvet WERE the best, and the strawberry with strawberry cream cheese was second choice, with chocolate chocolate being last. great for chocolate lovers, but it borderlined on being too sweet for me. i think they should use more butter and less sugar. lucky for me, mike gobbled up the leftovers from my half.

fo: pjs for mike

fo: pjs for mike
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

i feel like the slowest sewer, at least in terms of finishing a project. these pajamas i made for mike seemed to take forever. granted, i wanted them to be nice and fit. be still my impatience to make progress on my long list of future projects.

the fabric, a wood grain print by joel dewberry, seemed like the perfect choice for my nature boy, and the project, which was completed through a beginning sewing class i took at sew vac, was a learning process. mike desperately needed some pjs. it went mostly swimmingly except for the buttonholes at the end that had to be done a couple times. the only thing i would have change had i the skill and knowledge, would have been the collar, which makes the pjs look like scrubs, and the sleeves which seem poofy to me. again, since this is for mike, i don't have to fuss too much about it. he's perfectly content with the results, and has something to wear to bed that won't heat him up.

right now, i am working on a reversible handbag, pattern by amy butler. the timtex is proving to be a challenge. apparently, i need a walking foot for my machine. i'm not sure if they even have them for a cheap singer i bought at target.

arturo's puffy tacos

arturo's puffy tacos
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

i haven't had puffy tacos since i lived in texas. driving to whittier for the possibility of food reminiscent of texmex was a no brainer. the tacos are different--a bit harder shell and made of corn--than the ones i remember, but the flavor was good. i liked both the picatillo (ground beef) and carne asada (grilled steak) tacos i had. i was surprised that even the spanish rice, which is often not given that much attention to, was good and tomato-y. did i mention how difficult it's been to get texmex outside of texas?

dineLA: simon LA

dineLA: simon LA
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

my favorite meal during dineLA restaurant week was at simon LA, a last minute addition to our busy schedules. i had heard the kerry simon, the chef had been on iron chef, and the menu looked promising.

due to the limited seating and our large group, they put us in one of the private rooms towards the back of the restaurant which is inside the sofitel hotel. we arrived early, so sat for a bit chatting in their lounge, which was dark but brightly colored in warm hues. i found the decor of the lounge to be a bit trendy, but i liked the wooden screens with organic cutouts that broke up the space in the restaurant. being in the back room buffered us from any noise from the rest of the restaurant.

the highlight of the meal had to be the bread basket, which was filled with an assortment of goodies, including blue cheese squares of buttery, crunchy bread, cheesy flatbreads, and homestyle biscuits. for starters, mike and i shared the jumbo lump crab salad with hearts of palm, soybeans, pea shoots and grapefruit vinaigrette and the yellowtail carpaccio with cilantro mint and citrus vinaigrette. the salad was subtle and nice except for a few bits of raw onion that were a little strong for the rest of the salad. the yellowtail was fine, although there wasn't a lot of flavor like the yellowtail with bits of jalapeno that is served at ikko.

i really enjoyed my second course, which was a very tender and juicy braised beef short rib with baby broccolini and carrots. mike had the tandoori wild pacific salmon with black bean salad. i thought the fish was nicely cooked with a crunchy exterior and soft, moist interior. another woman in the group thought it was fishy and sent hers back for the ribs. although i liked the short ribs better, neither mike nor i found it fishy in any negative way, though by definition, it is fish.

since perusing the menu online, i was really looking forward to the red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing. it was fine, although not as fantastic as i had hoped for such a fine restaurant. the cake part could have been more moist. mike had this rich chocolate tart with lemon sorbet. i thought the combination of flavors in his dessert was fitting, as the light and tart lemon helped to break up the rich and thick chocolate tart on your tongue. not sure when, as we have a long list, but we will be back to try other things on the menu.

dineLA: the sky room

dineLA: the sky room
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

our last destination for dineLA was at the sky room, a place i've been curious about. the best part of our meal ended up being the live pianist playing old favorites from 70s/80s pop to cole porter jazz classics. the food was ok, but i found many of the dishes to be dry, like the kobe beef slider appetizer, which was more well done than the medium rare that i normally ask (i didn't think to state my preference and was not asked) and both our entrees, which included salmon for mike and a stuffed game hen for myself. the crab stuffed calamari was interesting, but not spectacular. desserts were huge, fine but not fabulous. we were hoping for a more historic architectural experience, but the place reminded me more of the 80s-what with the room being suffused by the pink neon glow from the lighting-than art deco. i wish i had thought to ask for a window seat when i made my reservation, because that would have been nice. this place seems more like a tourist attraction than one i would visit often.

dineLA: ford's filling station

dineLA: ford's filling station
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

i'm addicted. to eating. ok, so that's not really any news. sat, basking in the contentment from our nice dinner at table 8 the night before, i started going crazy in the cabeza thinking, i needed to take advantage of this dineLA thing to sample some new restos, even if it meant driving up to the big city (LA) on a weekday night.

i easily made a reservation for lunch on sun (since mike had to work this past weekend, poor thing) at ford's filling station. this place is packed during the week with people working in the area, and we tried going here one weekend evening when we were in the area, but the wait was 45 min. it was easy through open table and turned out to be a great idea.

for the starter, i had the butter leaf lettuce salad, roasted tomato, bacon, shaved eggs and sherry vinaigrette, which was tasty and huge. most of the servings were huge here. mike had the beet mache salad. there were a lot of beets in this salad. i liked my salad a little better, even though the beets and greens are my favorites for salads, perhaps due to the dressing be almost non-existent on the beet salad.

i had to ask what a porchetta sandwich on flatbread was--an italian ham--and liked it with the carmelized onions. it was strange that it came with a big salad, but i guess i had a double dose of salad with lunch. i could barely finish the one triangle of sandwich. the polenta cake, pearl onion, mixed mushroom, tomatoes and truffle mascarpone that i ordered for mike was the far better entree, even though the porchetta apparently won some awards. it was good, but was more like fancy ham to me. i liked the crispyness of the polenta, the buttery-ness of the mushrooms & tomatoes, and the contrasting sweet and tartness of the mascarpone topped with a frisee hairdo. i would definitely order this one again.

we shared desserts of vanilla bean creme brulee and apple crisp a la mode. the former was good but not memorable, and the apple crisp was not so crispy, and more mushy by the time i got it due to the melted ice cream. it was a nice and big lunch, well worth the $22 each for the 3 course prix fixe.

the service here was the best that we have received, from the hostess to the waitress full of smiles. our waiter at table 8 barely made eye contact with us the whole time. really weird. so it was nice not to feel snubbed that we were doing the dineLA thing and not ordering from the menu.

banh mi cho cu

banh mi cho cu
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

my little banh mi run did not end at banh mi & che cali on brookhurst & westminster. even though we don't really live that far, and i've driven further for good food, i am still lazy about making my way to little saigon as often as i like. i figured since i was in the neighborhood, i should stock up a little, so i also went to banh mi cho cu to have some comparison.

in the past, i've mostly had lee's, which is convenient, but now that i've tried the other ones, i think banh mi & che cali sandwiches are better. even better than those, at least when it comes to thit nuong (grilled pork), is the sandwich from banh mi cho cu. the meat is tender, juicy, and full of sweet and peppery spices. among the distinctive was the lemongrass, which isn't really discernible in sandwiches from the other places, and reminded me of my mom spending hours marinating, skewering and grilling meats first on this little mini outdoor grill before we bought a proper bbq grill and the care that goes into making such an everyday kind of food.

banh mi & che cali

banh mi & che cali
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

i managed to pick the worse time--the saturday before lunar new year--to brave the rude and ridiculousely bad vietnamese drivers in little saigon to get my banh mi fix. that morning, i had plans for brunch with friends michael & kimeng, and recent addition jack, at brodard (wow, i forgot how darn good those spring rolls there are), so afterward, thought i would go across the street to pick up some banh mis.

it took me an hour to drive across the street, maneuver drivers cutting me off, driving erratically, running stop signs and stealing parking spots, and finally find a spot behind the buildings, walk around, stand in line, wait for my banh mis and finally leave a happier camper.

dineLA: table 8

dineLA: table 8
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

our first dinner at table 8 was one of the better ones we've had through dineLA. the dark photographs on the website and that it was described as trendy gave me the impression it would be club-like and possibly loud, but i was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was a dark but inviting place, and noise level wasn't a problem.

we arrived early a few minutes early, so seated ourselves at the bar for a couple cocktails. i had a pear fizz which consisted of a pear liquor with ginger bits & ginger ale. it initially tasted like a pear jolly rancher, but as i had more sips, i could make out the spicy ginger bits. mike had the basil 8, which he said tasted like the winter caprese we had at angeli caffe the night before. it was in fact very basil-y, but light and refreshing.

it wasn't long before we were seated and made our selections from the dineLA menu. mike picked out (or rather i persuaded him to pick out) the baby broccolini with shrimp, which was an additional choice not advertised on the site. I selected the warm bucheron (which is a fried patty of goat cheese) with roasted balsamic onion soubise, flageolet beans, and herb salad. both were tasty, although we both thought the bucheron was more interesting. i roast baby broccolini often, and there wasn't anything particularly exotic about the preparation, although i'll have to try a butter sauce (theirs was good).

for our entrees, we had the pompano with lobster bisque, fingerling tomatoes and julienne fall veggies and new zealand salmon with golden beet risotto, red wine gastrique and horseradish gremolata. though both were cooked well, we both agreed the former was the more interesting of the two in terms of combinations of flavors. the bisque's sweetness went well with the sweet and salty veggies and potatoes. my only complaint was that the risotto on the salmon seemed a little to liquid-y.

we finished our meals with the tres leches and dulce de leche chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. this was my least favorite of the meal. neither desserts were memorable in flavor, and the bread/sponge cake soaked in milk (one of the leches) was weird for both of us. the food was good but not spectacular. our favorite was the pompano. with all the good food in LA, i'm not sure if we'll be back soon. note: we weren't particularly bothered by the lack of attention from our waiter, but it was weird that he hardly made eye contact or said anything to us the whole time.

we were waiting for our checks when the waiter brought out the entrees for the the people at the table next to us. poor mike opened his mouth and said to me, "do you want to take a picture of that too?" to which the guy next to mike said, "go ahead, do you want to?" to which, i reluctantly said, "yes." mike was mortified. i have to admit the devil made me say yes. if mike hadn't said anything in the first place, this "opportunity" would never have presented itself. as it did, i could only say "yes".

dineLA: angeli caffe

dineLA: angeli caffe
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

we joined the pleasure palate group on thursday for rustic italian dinner at angeli caffe. my mouth waters listening to good food on saturday mornings, but i had yet to go to evan kleinman's resto on Melrose. there were a few additional choices on the menu, which was nice.

i started with a winter caprese, one of the additions, while mike had the eggplant croquettes. not sure, if it was intentional, but i thought the croquettes were a little burnt-looking. they tasted good, but i would have liked them less baked. my caprese was nice, but not particularly special like the croquettes.

for the second course, i had the butternut squash fontina lasagna, and mike had the beet gnocchi with butter and sage. a couple people thought the pasta on the lasagna was mushy or too soft, but i quite liked it, and didn't find it unusual. the waiter said he thought it was soft because it was freshly made. the pool of cheese and cream was very tasty (and heavy). thank goodness i had mike to help me finish it.

the beet flavor in the gnocchi was very subtle. in fact, the dish was rather subtle. it wasn't bad, but i definitely preferred the lasagne. for dessert, i had the lemon berry tart, and mike had the tiramisu, which was hands down the best of the evening. the tart was, well, tart, but nice, with a shortbread crust, and fruity interior. the freshly unsweetened whipped cream was a perfect compliment to the tartness. all in all a good meal. i wasn't blown away, but if i lived in the neighborhood, this would be a resto i would frequent for the simple and delicious foods. the warm and cozy interiors as well as the food felt like home.

santouka

santouka
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

due to my part-time employment status, i've been trying to not spend as much money by bringing lunch, even though there is plenty of good and tempting food close to work. this past week was the last for sai, a dear co-worker, before he moves on to i hope bigger and better things. he and misty and i went to santouka (a cheap and delicious eat) for ramen on wed. i got the shio (salt) ramen, which was great. the broth was comforting and flavorful, and i love the little crunchy bamboo shoots.