The Weekend Post

It's been awhile since my last post and if you're a new reader I'd like to say welcome and thank you and if you're subscribed I'd like to say I'm very humbled and thankful that anyone would want to stay updated on what I have to say.

I kind of took a break from makeup and thinking about makeup this weekend and ended up having a very delicious weekend indeed. Saturday I ended up going to Villains over in downtown LA located in the arts district where they had all you can eat spit roasted lamb which was delicious.

I sent my mom this picture and she asked who's dog it was and she was calling PETA. I couldn't stop laughing.

After that we headed to little Tokyo for the Nisei week festivities and to watch the World Gyoza Eating Competition. I've only seen one other food completion and that was last year at the Rib Fest in Reno, Nevada. After seeing that I wasn't up for eating any ribs because it was disgusting. I reluctantly watched because my boyfriend and his friend wanted to see it. Oh the things I do in the name of love!

Afterwards we headed to one of my favorite coffee shops called Cafe Demitasse. I hadn't been to in awhile and I'm always excited to go because the menu is always changing and they're always trying new flavors and ways of serving coffee.

ahhh..mysignature "I spilled my coffee on the way to the table" picture of my tasty coffee here. 

I got the orange thyme and cardamom latte because I'm honestly addicted to thyme. Thyme is my absolute favorite and really shined and showed the flavor profile well. The orange was not detectable but really brought out the flavor of thyme even more while the cardamom gave it a nice savory profile. It really reminded me of fall and made me want to make a whole roasted chicken for dinner. It was definitely a far cry from the cookie cutter Starbucks concoctions I've grown to dislike.

Sunday morning we hit the Alhambra farmers market just so I could see what was fresh so I could plan dinner this week. I found the most flavorful little tomatoes, cucumbers, tomatillos, celery, a bunch of rainbow colored carrots and some beautiful looking peaches for snacking on during the week. I've made it tradition to pick up some flowers and decided on the dyed sunflowers that reminded me of a beautiful sunset.

Afterwards we headed to Buster's coffee shop in South Pasadena in hopes of them having slices of strawberry rhubarb pie available but sadly they didn't. It's a shame because I really don't crave sweets so I guess I'll have to hold out and see if any other bakeries have it. So instead of having coffee over at Buster's we went across the street to try a brand new bakery that opened up called La Monarcha which translates to 'The Monarch' from Spanish. They had a lot of traditional Mexican pan ducle and cakes along with a couple twists to these classic bakery treats.

look how beautiful

And a closer look at the cake. the dulce de leche was very homemade tasting. 

I ended up getting the cafe con leche which is just steamed milk with regular brewed coffee and shared a slice of dulce de leche cake. I normally hate cake because of the heavy frosting dumped on top but the frosting was light, airy and not too sweet.

These were so cute and I have never seen this variety so I just had to have them. I decided it would be a good idea to marinade them and serve them on top of my fried polenta. 

This was the first time I put something inside the polenta mix. I had gone to the hatch chile roasting at the local grocery store and decided it would taste great like this. 

 I have made fried polenta many times before and decided the hatch chiles I got last weekend the polenta would be a great vehicle for them. Its common to find a jalapeno cornbread in restaurants but since I always seem to make my cornbread too dry I decided this would be easier for me to accomplish. Somehow the polenta didn't set overnight and it was way too mushy. I think what went wrong was I dint account for the extra moisture in the chiles. So I just heated the polenta mix in my frying pan and served it with the tomatoes I marinated.

Yes, I do think it looks out of place to have crumbled bacon on top but it tastes really good. 

The citrus flavor from the marinated tomatoes cut the spiciness of the chiles and the cilantro added a fresh bright taste. I added a sprinkle of queso fresco as well because it thought it needed a creamy aspect to the flavors. Even though I failed I feel as though the flavors were all there and complimented each other.

My farmers market haul in the pot. 

 I decided to cut down on my work in the kitchen during the week by making my tomatillo sauce in advance. I wanted to grill the veggies but instead I sauteed them all together before putting them in the blender. I really love making this sauce because it adds flavor without the fat. My favorite way to use it isd to sear some chicken in a pan, slice it up and then add a little of this and some low sodium chicken broth and simmer it until tender. I then make tacos or burritos out of the stewed meat. I think it's heaven on earth.

The finished sauce. 

After I cook the veggies until tender I throw them in a blender and add some fresh lime zest, fresh lime juice and fresh cilantro and blend until smooth. The flavors are great and the fresh lime juice and cilantro really add that extra somethin' somethin' if you know what I mean. I might want to do a separate recipe post on this because this holds a special place in my heart and kitchen because my grandma really loved this stuff when she couldn't eat a lot of things. Over the years I have perfected it and have decided that it might be worth sharing my knowledge with you.

Sunday afternoon cocktails. 

 I finished off my food filled weekend with my favorite, gin cocktails. I used Bombay Sapphire, St Germain, fresh lime juice, muddled cucumbers and mint finished off with a splash of soda on top and garnished it really cute. It was perfectly sweet and sour with a nice freshness coming from the flavor of the cucumber and mint. 

Hopefully you all had a wonderful weekend as well filled with wonderful edible things. I tried a couple new things and overall can't wait to have another weekend like this.