Monthly Archives: September 2010

Boozy Dark Chocolate Orange Chunk Cookies

Posted on by

1

A few weeks ago I had a thought. I love cocktails. I love chocolate. I love orange. Why haven’t I combined all three yet? I had no good answer. So I promptly came up with this cookie recipe.

I gathered my ingredients and started by combining flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl. First things first, measure out the flour and sift it with a whisk. The whisking breaks up any of the flour that is clumping. 2 and a quarter cups!Make sure that the flour is even!

Once you have the flour, add the salt (teaspoon).

And baking powder.

Mix the three and set it aside.

Now you must must must brown the butter! Two sticks please!

Drool. Combine with brown sugar (1 cup) and mix well.

Then add a half cup of granulated sugar.

Next add two eggs, vanilla, and Contreau (the booze!)

Mix again until they are fully combined.

Now combine the flour mixture in three parts.

Make sure that it is mixed well.

Once it is well mixed, zest an orange and combine to the mixture. I zest using a micoplane, which is the best kitchen utensil ever. Although some, I hear are partial to the spoon-hula (right Committee ladies?)

After zesting the orange take two Ghirardelli bars (dark chocolate), break them up with a knife and combine.

Mix it up, put some saran around it and pop it in the fridge for several hours. Go on a run or something because you will be eating a ton of cookies in the very near future.

After the dough is sufficiently cold take it out. Pre heat the oven to 350 and get those cookies on the pan!

Bake these puppies for 10-12 mins. Enjoy the scent and pretty soon, out they come!

Chewy, delicious, and fragrant. Orange, dark chocolate fantasticness!

They didn’t last long. These are the ultimate Left Coast Contessa cookies. Boozy, rich, and chocolaty.

One last time, make sure you vote for me at Project Food Blog. Only one day left!

Advertisement

New Sensation

Posted on by

0

I have a new favorite lunch this week.

Confession: I’ve had it twice this week already.

Introducing: apple, brie and prosciutto flat top.

Of course all the lovely toppings are sitting on a slice of sesame Ezekiel bread. The apples are organic from the farmers market and are of the honey crisp variety. Honey crisps are by FAR my favorites. So crispy and delicious! I like to toast the bread and then let the brie melt onto the bread. Holy melted goodness!

I don’t post my lunch very often because I tend to latch onto one thing and eat it several times over a week meaning that lunch tends to be a bit boring (unless of course I hit a lunch truck!). I also tend to make double portions of dinner and save half for lunch. Obviously this flat top is the flavor of the week.

In other news: I came home from school and promptly ran a little over 5 miles. For those that are keeping track, that’s a little over 14 miles in three days. I am a running beast this week!

Also, don’t forget to vote on Project Food Blog for me! Tomorrow (9/22 is the last day to vote!)

Running 9 and Feeling Fine

Posted on by

2

Source

Happy Sunday. Today I went for an amazing 9 mile run. I was a bit worried leaving the house because my 8 mile run wasn’t my favorite but I rocked 9 miles. The only minuses were some cramps at mile 4 and 5. The entire second half was pretty much uphill and I ran the second half FASTER than I ran the first half. Thank you “Power” for coming on as I charged up a hill.

Pre run I snacked on this lovely platter which included apple with Cinn, bagel chips and fancy pants brie from Cookbook in Echo Park, plus carrots and pretzel thins with hummus.

As I was running I thought about how wonderful running truly is. I was in a terrible mood before I went out on my run but afterwords I felt almost amazing. Running is my aspirin and my prozac. I literally don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t run. Running makes life melt away around me and I love it for that. I think I’m running towards solutions and mental wellness. What are you running towards?

Scenes from Saturday Morning

Posted on by

0

Yesterday I finally went back to the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market for the first time since the iphone fiasco. I bought my fruits and veggies and just took some pictures. I was there early and it was pretty empty which was nice.

Yesterday wasn’t as productive as I hoped so I am off to Coffee Bean for hours and will be running 9 miles later. Hope you have a relaxing Sunday.

Friday Night In

Posted on by

0

Last Friday the “committee” (Catie, Leanna, Emily, and I) decided that we were ready for a night in after several weekends going out. I drove to the Glendale girls, made dinner and enjoyed some adult beverages. The day before we ex-nayed pizza which is my making dinner in a group go to. Instead we opted for quesadillas.

I made both traditional chicken, cheddar, onion, pepper and tomato quesadillas and “avaunt guard” quesadillas which had goat cheese and prosciutto (because I have an addiction).

Finished product! Canola is the key to getting the tortilla crispy.

These were so delicious and crispy. I love the warm melt-ey goat cheese. Emily said that these were magical, and I happen to agree.

We also made adult drinks using the Constitution shot glass that Emily got from the Nixon Presidential Library. It’s ironic ;).

We also had some of this…

Ladies night calls for peach flavored Andre! We talked and shared stories.

We also broke into this:

After reading Eat, Live, Run’s blog update Friday afternoon I *knew* I had to make these “lazy girl blondies”. I came back from a run around 5 and it took 10 mins to mix these bad boys. They bake for 30 mins and I literally pulled them out of the oven and took them into the car.

They were chewy and delicious. Eat, Live, Run will never steer your wrong, in my opinion.

So that was that. We talked, watched old episodes of “The O.C.”, and played games. Nothing bonds a group of girls like getting tipsy on some peach Andre! Hope you’re all having a happy weekend.

Bagels and Old Pasadena

Posted on by

9

Today was an adventure.

I was dispatched to a bagel shop in the westlake/silver lake area on behalf of a student org that I’m apart of. This is not close to where I live (at 3:30 it took an hour), but I had a task to complete.

Lets just say that this excursion culminated with me pushing a broken shopping cart with twenty dozen bagels a block and a half through a residential neighborhood with a German Shepard barking at me. Only in my life. I will say that once the task was complete I was treated to a free bagel. Brooklyn Bagel Co. has pretty good bagels compared to what I’ve had else where in LA.

I will admit to going to Noah’s and Panera to get my bagel fix, but Brooklyn Bagels has the real deal bagels. It would have been wrong to turn down a bagel. Right? I went for onion with low fat cream cheese.

Not only was the smell in Brooklyn Bagels intoxicating, but the bagel was damn good. I hadn’t had anything to eat since lunch and it was nearly 5. We all know that is the “Katherine gets angry from lack of food danger zone”.

After picking up the bagels I discovered that I had to drive them to Pasadena. I was a little worried about the traffic back west. I was unsure about getting to Pasadena. Overall I was worried. But I arrived at my destination to discover that I was in Old Pasadena!

There was a metered parking spot waiting for me near both a cupcake shop AND JCrew. I am not one to question a gift like this from the heavens. I quickly ditched the bagels and went shopping! Old Pasadena is so cute. Lots of little shops and some big chains including Kate Spade (!). Is it weird that my career goal is to wear Kate Spade shoes to work everyday? I didn’t think so. I was only there for an hour and will have to spend more time exploring Old Pasadena in the future.

First stop, cupcake shop, Dot’s Cupcakes. I am never one to ignore a cupcake shop sitting right in front of me.

Because I had just thrown down a bagel, I got a mini cupcake. When I saw that they had chocolate with caramel and pink salt I knew exactly what to order. I have a documented obsession with salted caramel.

Rich and delish! I really like how the salty caramel was complimented by the dark, spongy chocolate. Plus, a mini cupcake is the perfect size if the treat is rich. I would definitely go back to Dots in the future.

Then I went to JCrew.

If loving JCrew is wrong, I don’t want to be right. Don’t worry M&D, I only bought a sale tank top.

Today’s lesson? You never know where a simple task will take you! Hope you all have a happy Friday!

Ready, Set, Blog! Project Food Blog Challange 1

Posted on by

7

Welcome to Left Coast Contessa! My name is Katherine. I’m a 23 year old law student cultivating a healthy lifestyle and exploring Los Angeles.

The first challenge for Project Food Blog, a blogging competition hosted by Foodbuzz, is to introduce my blog and describe what defines me as a blogger. This has made me to think, who am I as a blogger?

Well, my food philosophy is simple: I love delicious, delectable indulgences crafted from clean, local ingredients.

I enjoy sipping cocktails,

putting together pizzas,

indulging in dessert,

reviewing restaurants,

exploring my surroundings,

all while studying for my law degree.

Food blogging is my escape from everyday.

I enjoy cooking with luxurious ingredients but I live on a federally funded student loan budget.

I believe in wine


and cupcakes like I believe in voting: early and often.

I am your average 23 year old student. I like to make special, extravagant recipes while accommodating my student budget. I don’t have a lot of time or money, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be special or that it has to be frozen.

Vote for me starting September 20th!

Project Food Blog!

Posted on by

0

Exciting blog news! I have the privilege of participating in Foodbuzz’s Project Food Blog. Project Food Blog is a competition for Foodbuzz’s featured publishers. We are going to be put through a series of challenges which will be judged by a panel of judges, other bloggers and YOU!

The first round is happening this week. Stay glued to Left Coast Contessa to see my first Project Food Blog entry and get a link where you can vote for me. Only 400 of 1,831 bloggers will advance to round two, so I will need your vote! You can learn more about project food blog here. Stay tuned!

Study Night

Posted on by

3

Nothing goes with hours upon hours of reading like salted caramel macaroons from Tavern.

Last weekend was so busy I had no time to read ahead. Normally, I work ahead on the weekends so on Monday and Tuesday I only have to read half of an assignment. Reading for law school is hard. Generally assignments will only be 15 to 20 pages but they will be dense, the court will not spell out why it did what it did and it will take longer than an hour to read. Suddenly you’ve been reading for hours. Your head is spinning and attention waning. After reading one paragraph you realize that you have no idea what the court was saying and you have to read it over and over again. Obviously after reading from 3 til almost 6 I needed a change of scenery. Since my birthday dinner a month ago I have wanted to go back to Tavern and sample their goodies without the impediment of stomach flu. I was not disappointed.

Decaf Iced Non Fat Latte, the perfect thing to accompany a salted caramel macaroon. I think the salted caramel macaroon is my new favorite thing of all time. It melts in your mouth, is salty and the caramel is rich. You can’t have just one.

The food at Tavern is some of the best I’ve had in LA. The Larder, which is next to the restaurant and bar, is light and airy. There was no one around at 6 when I arrived. It gave me the final push I needed to get through the reading I had to do. I will be back to the Larder soon, perhaps to sample their lunch menu!