Finish off the Fridge

Posted on May 24, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

Today I am blogging to you from the living room of Carolyn’s house. Boston has been so awesome, but I haven’t had that much blogging time, so here come a TON of updates.

The night before I left I knew that I had to eat any perishable food in my fridge. However, I was up to the challenge. Dinner was…

an entire red pepper with hummus AND…

a fistful of roasted brussel sprouts AND

Buffalo mozzarella with roasted tomato and basil. It was so good. Everyone here knows how I feel about roasting and home grown basil. Plus, how can you not love buffalo mozzarella? You can’t.

Then I packed and got ready to jet off to Boston… Izzy knew I was leaving and was not happy about it.

See the look of disgust? And then, I was gone…

2010 Food and Wine Classic Give Away

Posted on May 20, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

Hey readers! There is a chance for you to win two tickets to the 2010 Food and Wine Classic in Aspen, plus a $500 gift card. The event is taking place is Aspen, Colorado from June 18th – June 20th and will feature cooking demonstrations, wine tastings, and wine tastings. This event looks amazing! The cooking demonstrations feature caviar (a favorite leftcoastcontessa luxury) and Giada De Laurentiis. Also, wine tastings! Who doesn’t like a wine tasting!

In order to enter go to Plastics Make it Possible^SM and comment on the page by answering the question: How do you use plastics to create your favorite foods or memorable parties?

If you can also answer the question on Left Coast Contessa. I’m interested to see people’s answers. Make sure to be creative, it would be awesome if people included videos and pictures.

The contest runs until 11:59 p.m. MT on June 3. The winner will be announced on June 4 at www.plasticsmakeitpossible.com/2010/05/aspen-challenge. Please see the contest rules and restrictions here for more details.

Also, you can find more information about Plastics Make it Possible on Twitter and Facebook!

Good luck everyone!!

The Happiest Place on Earth

Posted on May 18, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

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

Posted on May 18, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

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…

Posted on May 16, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

“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

Posted on May 16, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

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

Posted on May 16, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

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

Posted on May 15, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

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

Posted on May 14, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

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 🙂 ).