I'm so behind!

So this blogthing if you will has become a tad bit overwhelming since I'm hardly ever in front of a computer for that long or I'm just checking my myspace or facebook... sad isn't it? I feel the need to make an outline now just to get organized. Oy. A few things has happened since Boho. Edward and I had strawberry shortcakes to korean tacos, to truffle mousse at a cemetary. Exciting yeah?
Two weeks ago, Edward and I attended the 26th annual Strawberry festival in Oxnard. I've been to it a number of times and every year it gets bigger and oh so crowded but this year I think I've learned, it's best to go on Sunday in the late afternoon. By then the crowds are gone and parking isn't a nightmare (we took a shuttle) and you have a few good hours of stuffing your face with fair food. They had strawberry shortcakes, funnel cakes, strawberry pizza, wine, beer, margaritas and chocolate dipped strawberries just to name a few yummy items. I must have lost my mojo this year but a shortcake, bbq steak sandwhich and some garlic fries got me so full. And usually that's just a beginning. It's something you definitely wanna check out if you're ever in the area in May.

Fast forward to Memorial weekend, Edward and I had plans to eat korean bbq from the Kogi truck and have a picnic at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery while watching Dazed and Confused. I'm sure you're already confused- korean tacos?! Picnic at the cemetery?! We may be oddballs but these are two experiences that everyone will enjoy and must experience this summer in L.A!
First off let me explain what the Koji trucks are. They're two catering trucks that serve korean style tacos, the cool part of it all is that they never really sit in one place, except for one truck maybe. But wherever they plan on being they give you a heads up and then twitter their exact location a couple hrs prior to being there. They planned on being on Reseda and Devonshire around 9-9:30pm, we got there around 8:30pm and a lined had already formed and we were about 40 heads deep. The truck arrived shortly after and cars were following behind them! If you never had a taco truck experience this is one worth going to. The guys working were friendly and well organized. The menu is short and simple,
which makes choosing a lot easier. We opted to try one of each taco and a korean quesadilla.

The wait was about an hour and by that time I was hungry and moody. It would be a perfect ending stating that by the time I had my food I was back to my normal self but no I was tired and sleep sounded so good. Food was tasty though and it makes me want to experiment with korean bbq this summer. Perhaps a korean hamburger which I had yesterday... More on that later.

In the summer, a group that calls themselves Cinespia, organizes movies to be played on Saturdays at the Hollywood Cemetery. Check out the link at http://cinespia.org. And seriously, it's not that eerie as it sounds, though we watched Dazed and Confused so it lessens the scariness atmosphere. Usually they play older movies and/or twlight-ish movies and I don't mean the vampire series. The cool part is you get to bring food and alcohol to this shin dig. Normally I don't get excited over alcohol unless I'm baking with it but it's refreshing to do something out of the ordinary. So for our picnic, I was pressed for time so I bought gouda and brie cheese, crackers, truffle mousse, soppresseta and salami as finger foods. Bought some store bought chicken kabobs at my work, Whole Foods (PLUG!) and also Brianna's Blush Wine dressing that paired AMAZINGLY well with my spinach, strawberry and avocado salad, sprinkled with some goat cheese.

 

It serves about 6-8 people 

A bag and a half of spinach ( I had leftovers I wanted to use up)

1lb of strawberries

2 avocados

1/4 of goat cheese

Drizzle with Brianna's Blush Wines dressing. It totally is a summer salad that is light and sweet. That is it for now. Enjoy!

Oreo pic and Boho

After posting my first blog I was in a hurry and didn't realize that I didn't post the actual recipe I had used for my oreos or my whoopie, though I don't think I need to for the whoopie... So here's the gluten free oreos- (original recipe from Deb of Smittenkitchen.com)

For the chocolate wafers:

1 1/4 cups Bob's Red Mill all-purpose gluten free baking flour

1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa (I used Valrhona)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons room-temperature butter

1 large egg (omit if you want it to be vegan)

For the filling:

1/4 cup room-temperature butter

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven for 375F

Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt and sugar in a food processor.

Pulse then add the butter (include the egg if you don't care for vegan)

Pulse some more until it forms into one huge lump of goodness

I used a small cookie scooper to make my portions and just flattened them down a bit with my hands.

Bake for 9 min.

Let it set on the pan and finish cooling on a cooling rack.

For the filling cream the butter and shortening together then gradually add vanilla and sugar.

It was really hot when I made it so the filling wasn't as thick as before. Just add more sugar if you want a thicker consistency.

Pipe or spoon filling onto your wafers and yay for homemade oreos!

Moving forward, this weekend was filled with fun times. Edward and I ended up in Hollywood this past week to see Angels and Demons at the Arclight, we had dinner at Boho, which was on the corner of Ivar and Sunset. Boho is a gastropub with a trendy but comfy feel. Apparently they get their decor from second hand stores. We started off with a Charcuterie Plate

which consisted of whiskey chicken liver mousse, rabbit and pork rillette, cured ham, salami, wild boar pate. It was quite tasty though I don't know what parts of the animals we ate. Our waiter offered us more bread when he saw that we had leftover meat which was observant and cool. I had a pulled pork pizza with bbq sauce, smoked mozzarella and roasted shallots. Edward had a pizza called Kalbi- Korean bbq shortribs, chili paste, kimchee, fontina cheese,
scallions. According to the waiter that and the Charcuterie was a "good choice". The kalbi was a delicious and different spin on pizza. Crust was thin and crisp so if you're expecting a thick crust sorry! The movie was gonna start soon so we didn't have time for dessert, though the chocolate cake bread pudding sounded amazing! Will it be a repeat place? Don't see why not, though I don't recommend going on "date night" since trying to find parking was painful and ended up paying 10 bucks to park across the street in a grimy lot. But that's Hollywood!

Just the beginning.

I've decided to create a blog just to keep all the recipes I've tried in one spot for referencing. By creating a blog though I just can't post recipes and not go into details of my baking adventures, it might even save others from boredom of me talking about it so much. Along with posting recipes, I figure why not add restaurants and places I've eaten at and give it a review... So for the few who read my blog, I hope it keeps you entertained. Any input, ideas you give me would be gladly welcomed. And with that, enjoy!

So last Friday night in talking with some friends I was inspired to do some gluten free desserts. So today I'll be creating some oreos and whoopie pies that are celiac friendly. The oreo recipe I've found on smittenkitchen and the whoopie pie from epicurious. 

Oh the joys, hope and disappointment in baking. Well, the oreos came out well. But the whoopie pies... notsomuch. So I replaced both recipes with gluten free flour instead of all-purpose, that I think went well. On the back of the gluten flour it said to use xanthum gum in addition to the flour for it to bind. And that's where I think it went downhill from there. I made the oreos first and it's funny how I forgot the xanthum... and an egg, but it turned out fine. It would have been a vegan cookie if I had substituted the regular butter for the vegan butter, but that's just a side note. Forward to the next day where I had high hopes for my whoopie pies, making sure I didn't forget the ingredients this time around. I wish I had. The whoopie pies came out fine looking, but the aftertaste of it was a weird, dry and bitter. Not adjectives that you would want to describe yummy whoopies. And I blame it on the xanthum. So it's back to the drawing board. Both had cream cheese filling. Though for the whoopies I had added some creme fraiche that I had made previously, I wanted a more fluffly feel to them since I didn't use marshmallow fluff. 

Well, that's enough baking for the week. A minor setback but the baking must go on! Pics will be posted soon I hope. Looking forward to the Strawberry Festival this Sunday, so I'll be posting about that as well. Happy weekend and eating!