Monthly Archives: May 2010

The Happiest Place on Earth

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Today, David and I went to Disneyland. I went to Disneyland on my birthday last August (because I was able to get in for free) and I had been to Disneyland and Disney World on several occasions. David hadn’t been to Disneyland since 1995!

After a long trip on the freeway we arrived!!! Monday at Disneyland + it was overcast. There was almost no one there. Literally we walked right onto Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Haunted Mansion with no wait. We also went to the pirate island (which was Swiss Family Robinson at one time- sadly no more). We only had to wait for 10 mins to get on the runaway train, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, It’s a Small World, and we waited 20 for the Matterhorn and  Space Mountain. After a few rides we got lunch. We ate at the Orleans Cafe, a lovely recommendation from Ms. Catie Shea who is a Disneyland aficionado.

My goal for this trip was to be healthy. There was a ton of walking all day which was good. I had ratatouille for lunch:

I could have made a worse choice. Disneyland has HUGE portions, but this was corn, tomato, asparagus and a mixture or zucchini, squash, eggplant and onion. There was a bit of cheese on top, and of course, whatever they cook this in adds calories. Overall, it was pretty good. David had a three cheese Monti Cristo, which is where healthy eating kinda died. I had a solid portion of his which was more desserty than anything. Luckily, I let it go and enjoyed the park. Sometimes, you eat unhealthy things. Crap happens. We enjoyed the park:

And then I snacked on pineapple “whip” from the tiki room fruit stand, which was the only snack I had in park!

Tomorrow David goes home to Chicago, and I will go to yoga. I ran on Saturday (2.5 ish miles with stair running). I’ve had two full days off minus some serious walking. Every day for the past three my feet have killed me after walking. I am excited to go to yoga and then Boston on Wednesday, which we all know will include some serious walking and health, right Carolyn?

Buffalo Mozzarella

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I am having a love affair with Buffalo Mozzarella. Who says a 22 year old grad student can’t indulge? I picked some up at the Cheese Store of Silverlake on Sunday.

mmmm. Buffalo Mozzarella is made from water buffalo milk and is generally creamier tasting then regular mozzarella. I got a small ball because I have to consume it before I travel to Boston on Wednesday.

I used it Sunday to make tomato basil pasta with basil. This is a recipe I made a lot last summer because its easy and also basil, mozzarella and tomatoes are so flavorful and summery together.

So I roasted cherry tomatoes, cut up some basil and mozzarella. I cooked brown pasta and then combined all the ingredients with a little EVO.

mmmm always gooooood.

This was a perfect dinner to cap off a day of site seeing with Joe and David. We had brunch at Local in Silverlake and then saw the Hollywood sign:

And then we got SUPER touristy and went to the Madame Tussauds to look at the celebs:

Shenanigans.

A year ago today…

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“Welcome to the tribe, and what a glorious tribe it is. We are tiny, but we are everywhere” -Gwen Ifill, Simmons College Commencement 2009

I graduated from college!

I cannot believe that it has been a year. The week I graduated was also the week I moved out on my own and the week I was accepted to UCLA School of Law. Crazy, huh? Who knew 7 days could change your life so much? A lot happened that week and a lot has happened to my friends and I this year. Honestly, the first year post grad has been pretty hard on all of my friends in different ways. Luckily, Simmons sisters stick together. I can’t wait to go back next week and see my friends!

Abbott's Habit

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Today while David and I were kicking around Venice we stopped to have lunch at Abbott’s Habit, a cafe on Abbott Kinney. Whenever I walk by Abbott’s Habit there are always throngs of people outside so I was excited to try it. To drink I had a Moroccan Mint Tea (and clearly I had Pirates Booty as a side dish).

For the main course David and I both got 1/2 sandwich because we wanted to be hungry for snacks later. I tried the Bobo Chicken Sandwich which consisted of Chicken, melted cheese, pesto mayo, roasted red peppers, spinach, tomato, and red onion on a french roll. It was too good, and the portion was HUGE despite being a half:

It was gooooood. Then we hung out at the boardwalk, the canals and then Santa Monica:

And look what we saw:

A sea lion!!! Tomorrow we head to the east side for brunch with our cousin. Can’t wait!

Abbott’s Habit

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Today while David and I were kicking around Venice we stopped to have lunch at Abbott’s Habit, a cafe on Abbott Kinney. Whenever I walk by Abbott’s Habit there are always throngs of people outside so I was excited to try it. To drink I had a Moroccan Mint Tea (and clearly I had Pirates Booty as a side dish).

For the main course David and I both got 1/2 sandwich because we wanted to be hungry for snacks later. I tried the Bobo Chicken Sandwich which consisted of Chicken, melted cheese, pesto mayo, roasted red peppers, spinach, tomato, and red onion on a french roll. It was too good, and the portion was HUGE despite being a half:

It was gooooood. Then we hung out at the boardwalk, the canals and then Santa Monica:

And look what we saw:

A sea lion!!! Tomorrow we head to the east side for brunch with our cousin. Can’t wait!

Out and About

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Whew. What a busy day. David is here and I spent the day showing him the city.  First we hit up Coffee Bean and I introduced David to Stan’s Doughnuts.

I had chocolate covered orange crisp and David had the Simpson’s doughnut:

Then I showed off UCLA campus and then we hit up Urth Cafe for brunch. I had a farmer’s salad which was truly delish…

After that we went to the Grove and the Arclight Hollywood where we saw “Exit Through the Gift Shop” which was very excellent. I was excited for the movie but it was way better than I anticipated and I would recommend this movie to everyone. Banksy is pretty funny. Then we went home and played with Izzy…

Before dinner at Angelino’s. So yummy! Of course I had gnocchi in pink sauce. After David wanted a doppio espresso, he is a coffee lover!

Tomorrow we will hit up Santa Monica and Venice! Can’t wait!

David Days

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Tonight my younger bro is arriving in LA. I am very excited. Today has mostly consisted of cleaning the house, baking brownies, and going to yoga. For breakfast I went old school with some Greek Yogurt but I was out of my Spice House Saigon Cinnamon! Good thing I stocked up at the Spice Station in Silverlake…

In my yogurt I had honey, Saigon Cinnamon, and orange flavored dried cranberries.

Then I went to yoga and after yoga I ran off to a hair cut, and this was the result (please forgive the emo style myspace picture)

I really like the cut! Micheal at Capelli Lounge in Westwood always does SUCH a great job! This cut is very similar to my past cuts from him but there are less layers on the bottom of the hair and my bangs are longer than usual. I got my brows done yesterday and I am feeling very pretty! (also, kind of dying over how thin my face looks 🙂 ).

Creamy Fettuccine with Leeks, Corn and Arugula

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Now that classes and finals are over I’ve really been able to get into my cooking! Tonight I tried a recipe from my new Real Simple. I love Real Simple, I know that might questionably age me about 10 years, but there are so many great tips and they always have good recipes that aren’t too complicated or too time consuming. It’s a great resource. So tonight I made Creamy Fettuccine with Leeks, Corn and Arugula.

First, I boiled the pasta. I used some flat leftover pasta that I happened to have. I suppose this calls for fettuccine but whatevs.

Tip: when I cook pasta I always boil the water and then prep the ingredients when the pasta is cooking. Then, after I finished cooking the pasta I drain it and use the same pot of the sauce. Thus, I only have one pot to clean when I’m done and I am more in control cutting my ingredients and don’t feel rushed about adding them.

While I cooked the pasta I chopped leeks.

Chopped garlic and measured out corn. I also measured out the liquids for the sauce. The recipe calls for a combo of white wine and heavy cream.

Generally, I like to keep a red and a white wine on hand. I also don’t buy “cooking” wines. I like to keep the wine selection simple and fairly inexpensive (hi Trader Joe’s!) I like red wine so I generally use what ever I have around the house, but I am not as fond of white wine for drinking purposes. I just have a dry wine on hand for situations like today where I’m making a sauce.

As you can see, the recipe doesn’t call for much. It calls for slightly less heavy cream.

At this point I drained the pasta and started the sauce. I put in a dollop of EVO in the pan and put in the leeks and garlic. After the leeks and garlic are tender (like 3 mins) I added the wine and the corn.

Yum! Mix it in and let the wine reduce! Then add heavy cream, cheese, salt, and pepper.

The thing about cheese: I think Ralph’s over charges for cheese. I’m sorry, I don’t have $10.00 to pay for perorino I’m only going to use once. I cannot wait til I can afford it normally. And also, why do they have to charge so much when Trader’s charges less? There must be a reasonable explanation for it, like quality. I don’t care though, I just want a single serving of expensive cheese. How hard does that have to be? Instead I used this which only cost me $2.38. It was a more than adequate replacement.

And then I folded in a handful of arugula. It looked like this when I was done:

Delish! It was so nice to put on the apron and chill with some dinner. Another cool thing about Real Simple? They publish calorie counts. This meal had 596 calories, which is right around where I like to be for dinner. See, you can have fettuccine with not too many calories, its all about portion control.

Tomorrow my little brother, David, is coming to LA so there will be some fun updates.