Finger Lickin' Good

So yesterday I finally wrangled enough people together to go with me and eat Ethiopian food. I have to say, it was pretty tasty. It reminded me a lot of indian food which I loveeee, but even more authentic as you are forced to eat it with your hands. Literally, no utensils or plates. Just one giant platter where they put all of your food on and a plate of some injera (sour spongy bread, which is supposedly very crumpet like according to one of my friends). The whole place smelled like incense, was covered in crazy paintings and decorations, and attached to a market next door. Said friend proceeded to buy some crazy old chocolate bar that we had never heard of. I, myself, resisted from buying a shady bag labeled "hops" in hopes of starting my own brewery.

After Ethiopian we stopped by MILK. MILK is probably my favorite dessert place other than Yogurtland. I had me the usual blue velvet cake, ice cream, and a few cookies too. They have THE best cookies. I'm a little obsessed with now trying to find a recipe to replicate them.

The OD of sugar before bed was a horrible idea. I woke up feeling like shiite and honestly felt like I've been on a glucose crash all day. Luckily it was a slow day, but I'm struggling to get through it.

I think I shall try to go home and chef it tonight.

Grand Slam Victory!

Stephanie won Top Chef!!!

...which means that I win (my private competition) the reality grand slam! Four out of four baby!

I am most proud of this one because I picked Steph from Episode 2 of the season. Even though I technically chose Whitney before ANTM even aired, I mainly picked her because I knew Tyra wanted to demonstrate affirmative action and pick a plus size model to eventually win. But with Steph, it was all blind faith and determination. She rules!

Yayyyyyyyy!

Note: Cooked twice this week, and gotta say, totally enjoying it.

Feed Me Seymour!

I had a great weekend of awesome food.

Started out at the crack ass of dawn with a trip to a Greenland Korean Market to buy about 9 pounds of marinated meat. You would think 9 pounds of meat is a lot for six people, but we pretty much tore that right up. We flamed all of it on my sexy grill beast and bought a bunch of the Korean sides, chap chae, lettuce wraps, the works.

Then I got to enjoy the remains of the nail biter that was the PHX v SA game. Almost had a heart attack for about an hour, but man oh man, it was so freaking sweet in the end. I was on my knees Brandi Chastain style (well, I kept my shirt on, not my pants though). My euphoria needed to be celebrated, sooo...

...headed to Pink Taco for their 2 for 1 happy hour. Got wasted by 7PM (Sauza ain't half bad) and headed to MILK for dessert. God, I love Milk.

Then on Sunday, I finally got to try Father's Office, after a multitude of people have repeatedly been telling me to go. Sadly the one in Culver City (my backyard), opens TODAY, so we had to schlep the extra 7 miles or whatever to Santa Monica. I have to say, the food there is damn good. The drink there is even better (I love beer). We feasted on the Bleu Cheese burgers, Spanish mushrooms, regular and sweet potato fries, and lamb skewers. I'm totally psyched about the one in Culver City opening.

Speaking of food, I found many other Rachael Ray haters in the food blogging universe. One girl even found her all time favorite RR recipe for this culinary delight.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_28744,00.html

Hilarious.

Lies, I Tell You, All Lies!

So I was browsing FoodTV.com today, looking for recipes for the anticipation of all of the upcoming cooking I am going to be doing (yeah, right), and I stumble upon this delicious looking recipe for hash by Rachael Ray. In fact, it was from one of her four bajillion shows on the Food Network, 30 Minute Meals, perhaps the most famous of them all since it is catered towards the average person with little to no time for cooking on their hands.

Now I actually like Rachael Ray and think she's a brilliant entrepreneur, but I find the 30 Minute Meals thing to be kind of full of crap. First of all, it doesn't account for having all of the items on hand or the hideous aftermath of cleaning up and washing and drying all of the dishes. Not to mention, the average person does not chop at lightening quick pace (without losing their fingers), or have industrial stoves and ovens that are hotter than the center of the sun.

Soooooooo, I'm kind of a hater. And guess what I found on the website.

Cowboy Hash and Eggs, Texas Toast and Salsa
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Hmmmmm, regardless of being North Pole Campus, I'm pretty sure that if you add that up it equals to THIRTY-FIVE MINUTES.

35 minutes! NOT 30. Three. Five.

So, being the ass that I am, I continue browsing hoping to find another FALSE recipe to add to my pocket for ammunition, and no more than 3 minutes later do I find...

Turkey Sweet Potato Shepard's Pie and Cran-applesauce Sundaes
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ok, now this is just getting ridiculous. Unless Rachael expects you to prep the food one night, starve your ass and fast for the deliciousness of tomorrow that is to come, the title of the show is OBVIOUSLY misleading. Plus, since when did an hour of cooking become easy. Nice try, Rachael. Nice try.

A while back a friend of mine and I were arguing over whether or not Rachael fakes the cooking on her show because the majority of her more complex dishes appear to require more than 30 minutes (Ok, even I can pack a picnic basket of pre-made food in half an hour). Like I said before, and I'll say it again...

The woman pulls out.

Nigella Ella Ella, Eh Eh Eh!

I got to meet Nigella Lawson today!

For those who don't know, Nigella is a British chef whose show I watch religiously. Her first show, "Nigella Bites," practically transformed the way cooking shows were filmed. She was here in LA doing a book signing at the Williams and Sonoma in Pasadena and I waited 45 minutes to get my copy signed.

Her new book is titled "Nigella Express" and for once, it actually looks like I can make some of the items in them. "Express," however, is somewhat of a misnomer as there was a recipe for Roast Duck (the chinese way with the little buns and sauce) which took 5.5 hours. Regardless, it does look much easier than her other books as most of the items appear to be more common than the "rare Afghani root found 3 inches in moist soil on untrotted territory," so it looks promising.

Anyway, Nigella is the bomb, and as expected was extremely poised and as graceful as can be. I'm going to try and not let her book collect dust on my shelf as all my others do.