Let Freedom Ring.

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The rumors are true: I survived the California Bar exam and am now a free woman!

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At the Getty.

I have so much to say about the bar exam. I plan to sit down, reflect and write something thoughtful and potentially useful. However in the meantime I will say this: easily the most challenging thing I have ever done. I would gladly run another marathon before I would retake the California Bar Exam. Three days, 6 hours a day is a long time to be thinking intensely about the law. I think I broke my brain last week. Despite this I stayed calm, cool and collected. There were no tears, meltdowns or panic attacks. Having my mom here helped a lot. I could have probably done it without her but it would have been much more painful.

Overall, I am very happy the exam is over and I am beyond ready to start the next chapter in my life.

Immediately following the exam I got martinis with mom. She bankrolled several rounds of drink and onion rings at Tavern. Random people in the bar were congratulating me. It was amazing. After not eating all day (or really, much all week) and my tolerance of alcohol gone to nothing the past two months three martinis put me more or less under the table and I was in bed sleeping by 10:30 pm like a Grandma.

For my first day of freedom I decided that I wanted brunch at Clementine…

Followed by shopping in Santa Monica. I haven’t blogged about it but due to some combination of stress, yoga, and just eating less I have managed to lose a pant size and two shirt sizes since graduation. I’m not sure if the reduction in stress will lead to weight gain but in the meantime I was in dire need of clothing that actually fits. I got new jeans, a belt and a bikini plus some smaller shirts. I like wearing pants that aren’t baggy.

Then we hit the Getty. I’ve been dying to check out their special exhibit on Herb Ritts.

I’ve loved Ritts’ work for years. I remember first seeing his photos in my Mom’s Vanity Fair Hollywood coffee table book when I was young. When I was 13 I started to read Vogue and Vanity Fair. Many of Ritts’ photos have appeared in both magazines.

The exhibit was mostly made up of celebrity portraits, fashion photography, nudes and some of his commercial work. Lots of the photos were in black and white and are iconic.

I really love this one:

 

 

 

 

 

 

and this one:

Everything is so luxe and glamorous. I want to live in that world. The exhibit is around until August 26th so check it out while you still can.

After we strolled the gardens, had a fantastic dinner at Tavern (twice in two days!) and then I went out with friends.

Being done with the bar didn’t really hit me fully until yesterday when I was enjoying my day off without guilt that I should be doing something else. Next week is going to be all about cooking, the farmers market, yoga and catching up with all my classmates. Cannot wait.

Thanks for all the comments, texts, tweets, and facebook posts. It really kept me going over the days of the exam. Ya’ll are the best!  

the bar exam is in 48 hours…

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What better time to redesign Left Coast Contessa?

I’m back after weeks of radio silence with a short PSA. Apologies for being a dead beat blogger. Like I said before, my life is boring and after the 4th of July I started pulling 12 hour study days. This is something I hope never to do ever in my life again.

Anyways.

I felt like I needed a little blog over haul. I’m starting a new chapter in my life with the bar exam ending and I felt like I should mature up LCC a little bit too. Its still a bit of a work in progress but I’ve gotten a lot done in the past 48 hours. You’ll notice a new theme and tagline (since the old one became obsolete with my law school graduation). I’ve updated my contact info and my about me page. I also updated the recipe archive for the first time in over a year.

You’ll also notice that I deleted posts about weigh loss and will be shifting my content away from “healthy living” canned content. I want to incorporate more personal narrative, posts like the recent one I wrote about Ina, and general “lifestyle” posts. I’ll always write about food, fitness, whatever but I want to vary my content a bit and give myself the freedom to see where it goes.

I’d love to know what you all think of it. If there is anything you totally love and never want me to stop writing about lemme know. If there is something you’d like to see more of lemme know. I’m open to suggestions.

I’m off for an afternoon of shopping, gossiping and fried chicken eating (at FARM SHOP! I can barely handle the anticipation) with my mother who is in town to organize me, whip me into shape and feed me a steady stream of cupcakes during the bar exam. Hopefully after the exam ends on Thursday regular blogging will recommence! Until then, thanks for all the positive comments regarding the bar exam. You readers are the best.

xo Katherine

How do I love Ina? Let me count the ways.

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Thanks to Lynn’s facebook I stumbled onto this gem of an article today.

Obviously, this makes me want to travel to the Hamptons with the hope that Ina will take me in, feed me a diet of solely consisting of her chicken chili and cart me around to all the best spots in Montauk. No? Not possible? Creepy and weird? Fine. At least she gives me something to aspire to. I need to break down some of the hidden and not so hidden gems in the article.

1) My mom eats the same breakfast as Ina and my dad wakes up at the same time as Jeffrey. Does this mean that I grew up with the North Suburban Chicago version of Ina? Discuss.

2) She eats a lobster roll at lunch because she “doesn’t like fancy food”. I’m not one to turn down fancy food (if offered and paid for of course) but I like her attitude. Also, I like that a meal with lobster isn’t automatically considered fancy to her. And by like it I mean that I find it equal parts bemusing and charming.

3) I can’t really get behind all of her gardening. Remember that time I was going to grow basil for like a week after I moved to LA and the plant automatically died and started decaying on my balcony of my old apartment? Yeah. Different strokes for different folks.

4) Weekly massages. Nuf said.

5) She thought she was boring so decided to stop being boring and did something about it. I love that she basically had a stereotypical male mid life crisis where she bought a sports car.

6) Despite the fact that she is THE barefoot contessa she and Jeffrey eat two of their three meals out at restaurants. I can totally get behind this as I am a well documented restaurant addict.

7) 60 Minutes is dullsville but she also watches The Newsroom. I now have an image of Ina and I in her what I’m sure is fabulous living room, wearing terry cloth robes and slippers post-massage. We’d sip tea, eat cookies for dessert and watch Newsroom together. It would be sort of like when Tom and Donna have treat yo self day on Parks and Rec but it would happen weekly. I’ll just quietly sit in the corner and quietly check my twitter during 60 minutes. Don’t even worry about me.

Overall, completely obsessed. Now that I have indulged myself with a little escapism I need to get back to California community property.

23 more days.

Back by popular request.

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Gee whiz guys, I’m so flattered!

I know. I was blogless in June. This has not happened since, well December 2009 before I started this blog. In my defense I’ve had my hands a bit full over here.

Don’t let Izzy’s docile stare fool you, she is not amused with the lack of attention she’s getting.

***

At the end of May I started my bar prep class with BarBri. The class is every day from 9-1. After class we have homework, around 5-8 hours daily. The most overwhelming part of the process is the sheer amount of material I need to learn: contracts, criminal law, criminal procedure, torts, property, civil procedure, California civil procedure, remedies, evidence, agency and partnerships, corporations, community property, professional responsibility, federal evidence, California evidence, constitutional law, and wills and trusts. Some of the information has flooded back along with some amazing 1L memories and other bits and pieces have come back more slowly. Some of the topics are brand new. No surprise that I had no interest in taking corporations in law school yet I managed a large number of classes involving constitutional law. Yes, I still find boardrooms and stocks boring and affirmative action sexy. This will never change.

The process thus far has been long and tedious. I’ve been putting a lot of energy into keeping mental inventory of my adrenaline and anxiety while staying motivated and positive. The standard for passing the California bar exam is actually a failing score. The perfectionist in me still hates seeing anything less than the personal standard of acceptable I’ve more or less arbitrarily set for myself. However I’ve mostly been happy and focused on staying positive. In the past week I’ve really harnessed my adrenaline and I’m starting to actually feel excited to take the exam. Obviously, the feeling waxes and wanes but I’m feeling like I will soon be ready to take this exam out.

The last exam related thing I’ll say is that there is a big analogy to be had about marathon running and bar exam taking but I’m going to explore that more thoroughly another time.

***

In terms of food, my eats have been super dull recently. A lot of the stress I’ve experienced has been internalized and my appetite has been suppressed. I’ve been eating lots of KIND bars, Greek yogurt with granola (homemade sent from my mom!), take out from Subway, Lemonade, and Whole Foods. I’ve cooked salmon precisely once. I’ve cooked orzo precisely once. I’ve had more ramen and mac and cheese than I am comfortable admitting to. Despite this, the new jeans I bought the week after graduation are super loose. Go figure.

I did go to an amazing food truck fest with my fabulous friend David over the weekend. No photos made it out (I know!) but I ate at the Lime Truck, White Rabbit Truck, Ludo Truck, and Boba Tea Truck. The food was amazing. We had Wagyu beef foie gras cheese steak (getting in the foie before the ban started today) and carnitas fries at Lime Truck. Fried chicken was sampled at the Ludo truck and it was as tender and juicy as ever. No surprise there. We split a pork belly burrito at White Rabbit truck and got a taro bubble tea. It was a meat extravaganza and totally what I needed after a long study day. No photos as I mentioned but enjoy this vintage image of the fantastic fried chicken from Ludo truck:

Delicious!

I’ve resolved to make more of an effort with my eating and cooking in the next few weeks.

In terms of working out, that has been the biggest shift. I’ve been hitting yoga way more than I used to. I’m up to three or four times a week with long walks and periodic short runs in between to expel my extra energy. I super miss zumba and I will probably track down a class in the next few weeks since I am no longer able to use the UCLA gym. Farewell 18 year old weight lifters bathed in Axe body spray. I will not miss you.

I’ve been going to mostly heated vinyasa flow classes or “detox flow” classes where the heat is jacked up to around 90 degrees and I look like someone threw me in the ocean at the end of class. I love that feeling of lying on the mat at the end of class completely spent. Yoga has strengthened my arms and core and I think it’s partially responsible for my appetite suppression. Running distance makes you hungry. Very true story. The yoga is helping with the random hip stiffness (it band stiffness? Who knows?) and eventually I will ease back into running more regularly.

***

That is about all I have to report. What can I say? My life is boring right now. Things like discussing the merits of doing essays over multiple choice problems or the relative attractiveness of Chief Justice Roberts as compared to the other Supreme Court justices are about as exciting as its going to get at any given time. Sad I know.

24 more days.

Juris Doctored

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Hey everyone. It’s been a busy week over here.

For starters, this happened:

Hooded and ready to go.

Last Friday my law school career officially ended with my law school graduation. I’m not sure I really have the words to describe the experience yet. Hands down, it was the greatest day of my life. Nerd alert: I’ve wanted to go to graduate school for as long as I can remember. Even when I was experimenting with other career tracks (including but not limited to psychiatrist, industrial organizational psychologist, social psychologist- sensing a theme there?) I knew I wanted a graduate degree. I’ve been working towards that moment for years, at least since the beginning of undergrad even though at the time I didn’t know I would be earning a juris doctor.

The day started with Clementine (scramble with American cheese, bacon, roasted tomato and avocado) and spent time beautifying and getting ready for the ceremony.

Ironically my graduations have become less formal as I’ve moved up the educational ladder. Blame it on my public high school that required us to wear white dresses and be escorted by boys while carrying a single red rose. The burgeoning feminist in me was slightly outraged at the time, and still kinda is. This graduation was awesome because it was super laid back. We leisurely walked in, got to sit with our friends and there was lots of cheering and yelling. The ceremony was long and we were sitting in the sun and I got a head ache half way through which was in no way related to the activities the night before so it kind of felt like a minor struggle, much like my whole law school experience.

What made the ceremony awesome was sitting with my favorite law school people.

See how sunny it was?

Before I knew it I was hooded and they presented us as Doctors of Law! It was a great moment I will never forget.

After photos and parents meeting parents my gang headed to an epic 2 hour dinner at Tavern. I was too busy being carried around on a metaphorical lily pad to take photos. I had two glasses of prosecco to ease the headache, artichoke with burrata and prosciutto, and duck confeit for dinner. For dessert I had a snickers bar because it’s what Barack would order.

Overall it was, like I said, the best day of my life. Thank you to everyone who sent me well wishes etc in the past week. I might not have replied to everyone but I read them all and they made my special day even more special.

My family was in town until Wednesday and we spent the rest of the time brunching, getting awkward tan lines at a Dodgers game, seeing Avengers, hiking in Runyon, shopping, and sipping Blue Bottle coffee in LA.

I have the rest of the week off and Monday I start my Bar Exam Prep Class. The bar exam is the end of July. I’m not sure what this means for LCC. Obviously, my focus needs to be on the exam. LCC has always been part of my life and I feel like blogging balances out my life and I need it for sanity sake. So that’s what I’m up to.

Also, I have made a decision regarding my fitness and running. I was diligently training for the Pasadena Half this weekend. I was doing well on my long runs and was feeling well. However, over the past few weeks I’ve been having some it band issues. Over spring break my left it band did something really funky which I never got into on the blog. I rebounded but with finals and then end of law school I fell off completing long runs and this further aggravated my right hip. I did a surprisingly speedy 8 miler a week ago. About 7 miles in my hip was really sore and the feeling stuck around for about a week. That said, I don’t want to hurt myself more and I will not be running this weekend. I really do want to best my half marathon PR but now just isn’t the right time. I’m going to keep running short distances throughout the bar (maybe a 10k or 5k thrown in there) and I’m going to dig into yoga more and give my body a little rest. I’ve been to yoga twice this week and I am really pushing my practice. It just feels good and I think it’s what my wants right now.

OK! So! With that, thank you AGAIN for all the love you all sent in the past week. Law school graduation is something I will never forget. If you want to read more about my law school career check out what I wrote about my law school experience.

The ends not near, it’s here.

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On top of the mountain. Get it?

So last Wednesday I took my final law school exam and as we speak I am editing the final paragraphs of my Clinical Project. I will be completely and totally finished with everything associated with law school this evening. I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting on my law school experience over the past few weeks and going through the normal graduation associated emotions: happiness at ending, pride in my accomplishment, apprehension about the future, and sadness to see several of my closest buddies moving away.

To be completely honest, law school was really tough for me. My 1L year was by far the most challenging for me in my personal life and it was equally challenging in my academic life. With my chaotic personal life it took me longer to adjust to law school than I wanted to. I’d always been a fantastic, near-perfect student and it was really hard for me not to do well immediately. I was very hard on myself for not being the perfect law student and I felt like I was failing at everything in my life.

Half way though first year I began running and started this blog. I am so thankful that I did. Left Coast Contessa gave me an outlet during 1L and something to focus on outside of school. I got healthier and more confident. I stayed in touch with my amazing support network of friends from undergrad. I was fortunate to have two fantastic summers at fulfilling jobs that I loved with excellent mentors to remind me why I went to law school. I eventually got a handle on classes and discovered that it’s totally acceptable to not be 100% perfect at school.

I think the biggest lesson that law school taught me was not to be so hard on myself. Law school also forced me to explore my identity outside being an overachiever. I’m probably the only person you know to have gone to law school and become more calm and less stressed out. Law school taught me that it’s ok to be an average student. In fact, after law school my ability to do great on an issue spotting examination really won’t matter. Law school confirmed for me that I get the most out of my work when it surrounds social justice. I discovered just how much I love that moment when I’m really able to connect and help someone improve their life.

Law school also taught me how special my undergraduate experience was. Simmons College really is one of a kind. Probably because I went straight from undergrad to law school I was acutely aware of the differences between the two schools. Simmons prepared me for law school because it made me the woman I am today. Simmons gave me self-assurance, confidence and transformed me from a girl into a woman. The friends I made at Simmons carried me though graduate school and were supportive sounding boards. Simmons nurtured me and I cannot imagine going to law school without the experience of Simmons. Frequently while at law school I would think about Simmons and the community there. It will always be special to me and there really is nowhere on earth like it.

Law school has also given me some fantastic friendships that I am very thankful for. I feel like I’ve been through a war with these people and no matter what we will always have that bond. I’ve also had the privilege to sit in classrooms filled with some of the most intelligent people I will ever meet. I am still blown away by my classmates on a routine basis. I feel lucky to be included in the same class as them.

There hasn’t been a day where I drive to school down Sunset Blvd and I don’t pinch myself. Graduating from UCLA Law is very honestly something that I could not have imagined in my wildest fantasy for my life. I remember looking at the prospectus on a bench in the Prudential Center in Boston on a warm June day in 2008 thinking “this is a pipe dream”. I remember driving by entrance to UCLA on Sunset when I was on my first trip to LA in August of 2006 thinking “I want to go to graduate school there”. The privilege of going to UCLA Law has not been lost on me and I would not be here without the teachers and advocates throughout school who made sure I got the help I needed to perform to my full potential. I would not be here without the mentor I had in undergrad who helped me network into internships, assistantships and fellowships. I would not be here without my fantastically supportive parents who literally would have done anything to help me succeed to my full potential. I would likely not be here without the absurd amount of economic and racial privilege that helped me go to superior public school and allowed me to not worry about financials during school (yeah I worked hard but I’m graduating with a specialization in critical race theory- I need to acknowledge that privilege has lead to many of the opportunities I’ve had).

These are the thoughts that I’ve been turning over in my mind over the past few weeks. My family arrives on Thursday. Graduation is on Friday and I cannot wait to walk across the stage, get my hood and become a Juris Doctor. Thank you so much, reader, for following me for the past 2.5 years on this blog. Like I said above, this blog really helped me navigate the waters of law school and it’s nice to know that there were people following along on the journey.

Why eat food when you can wear it: My avocado facial

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I am a frequent reader of xojane.com. I was a HUGE fan of Jane Magazine back in the day. I don’t read many “woman’s magazines” but I always loved Jane. Since Jane is no longer I have become an avid reader of xojane.com. It’s not the same as Jane but I read it daily. I still don’t read “woman’s magazines”. I can’t stand Elle or Cosmo. I refuse to read them. I’m not sorry that I’m not sorry. I still read Vogue though but that doesn’t count because I’ve never seen an article in Vogue titled “101 ways to change  your man” (Seriously women WHYYYYY are you consuming that crap).

Anyways, back to the main point. Yesterday while I was perusing xojane I ran across this article about doing an avocado facial. Pat Cleveland does it and I want to too!

Here’s the deal: I love avocado but I have a thing about day old avocado. It starts to get brown no matter how I wrap it and then the magic is gone. Anyways, I have an avocado and my last law school final on Wednesday. Obviously after 1 hour of intense studying I was looking for something else to do besides study. Clearly the time had come for me to schemer my face with avocado.

Per the articles suggestion I took 1/2 an avocado which I wasn’t planning on eating and smudged it around in a bowl until it was it was mashed down a bit. Then I applied it to my face liberally.

I was going to study more while waiting for it to dry, see the Criminal Procedure Examples and Explanations in the back ground.

Instead I took photos of myself with avocado on face and tweeted about it.

After a while the avocado started to tighten like the article advised. I went and washed it off- in the kitchen for the record.

After I inspected my face in the mirror and applied a layer of bb cream. I’ve been obsessed with bb cream since February. BB Cream is part moisturizer, acne cream, with SPF and anti aging crap. It’s also tinted and I’ve been wearing it in lieu of foundation for a while now. I’ve seen an improvement in my skin over the long term and instantly when I apply it. In fact, when my Mom was recently in LA she called out how amazing my skin looked and I was only wearing bb cream. Anyways. My point is that bb cream is awesome and you should buy it immediately. I use Garnier, light/medium shade, and its available at CVS in the skincare aisle. I wasn’t wearing any other makeup because I was feeling lazy.

I have to say, there will be more avocado facials at my apartment. I was quite pleased with the results:

And again, instead of reading I took photos.

I would say that my skin feels softer, looks cleaner and had more of a glow to it.

Yay avocado facials!

My last day of school was last Tuesday and I have my FINAL law school final on Wednesday. Can you stand the excitement? I will for sure be doing an avocado facial the morning before graduation (which is May 11th!) At some point I will blog a real meal and not just about fruit I apply to my face.

Bacon, Leek and Scallion Pizza inspired by Pizzeria Mozza

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It’s a well known fact: I love pizza. While some have strong Chicago vs. New York opinions, I will pretty much enjoy any pizza as long as it’s well made. OK, that is a bit of a lie. Chicago pizza is boss. If you have a good, crispy yet thick crust and the right sauce and inspired cheese and delicious toppings Chicago pizza is the best. I don’t want to hear your arguments. It’s like my feeling on equal marriage, access to birth control and dirty gin martinis: you will never change my mind.

LA pizza is a bit of a disappointment. I really enjoy the pizza at Masa in Echo Park. Probably because the owner of the restaurant is from Chicago and he and I have had a very intense discussion of Walker Brothers Pancake House. I also hear 800 degrees in Westwood is awesome (of course, opening right before I graduate) and I plan to hit it up over finals. However my favorite pizza place in LA is probably Mozza. I blogged it before but the waiter told me to “put away my camera” so I don’t really photograph my food there anymore.

HOWEVER, I was back at Mozza with my mom during spring break. We sat at the counter overlooking the pizza oven and was able to watch all the pies being made. The recipes are available from the Mozza cookbook so I don’t feel that bad blogging it. Obviously we jumped at the opportunity to order the Bacon, Leek and scallion pizza. I watched them make the pie and then I diligently attempted to recreate it. While not a total match I think I did a pretty good job.

Ingredients

Pizza dough (if you have the Mozza cookbook you can make Nancy Silverton’s dough. I used whole foods dough)

4 slices of bacon

Goat cheese

1 leek

3 scallions

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 tablespoon of butter

Instructions

Pre heat the oven to 425. I let the dough sit out for 10 minutes to warm up and loosen. Then I used flour to spread it out and brushed the sides with extra virgin olive oil. I set it aside.

Then I took a pan and over low heat melted the butter. I also sliced the leek. The leek that I bought was legitimately longer than my arm. Fact: the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market is awesome. Please note my attempt to document the size of the leek below. I sautéed the leek over low heat until cooked though. Then I put them down on the dough as a base.

Then I sliced the scallions at an angle and scattered them over the leeks. I crumbled the goat cheese loosely over the top of the pie (as you can see, with space in between the cheese). I scatted sea salt and pepper over the top of the pie.

Finally I topped raw bacon on top of the pizza and popped it in the oven for about 10 minutes, until the crust is crispy.

Delicious! My only qualm or thing I would improve in the future is that the goat cheese at Mozza is more spreadable, clearly higher quality than whatever Trader Joe’s has to offer cheap and is used on the base AND on top of the pizza. Otherwise, this was a great pizza. Pizza is my go-to easy dinner and I plan to make this again. I especially loved how I could just throw the bacon on raw and it cooked all the way though by the time my pizza was done cooking. Highly recommended!

In other news!

  • Today was my last day of school ever! I started this blog at a time when I felt law school would last forever. It’s amazing to me that it’s all over. It is very anti-climactic in a weird way. I have one exam and some clinical program edits to make and then it’s done forever. I have more thoughts which I may or may not blog here later depending on their content.
  • I started a second blog. Basically I wanted to have a home for my political, race, gender, and popular culture. It will be progressive and critical, you have been warned. I’ve recently really wanted an outlet for those thoughts a little deeper than twitter and LCC didn’t seem like the right place.

Plan Check

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I’ve made a really obvious recent discovery: The LA Times website has an entire section devoted to food on the Westside! How did I not figure this out sooner? Obviously, the second I figured out that this section of the site existed I read all the entries that have been posted in the past year.

In one of the more recent entries there was a description of Plan Check, a new gastropub in the Sawtelle area in Los Angeles. For those not familiar, Sawtelle is basically referred to as Little Osaka. The area is near the 405 and boasts tons of delicious restaurants featuring Asian food, specifically lots of Japanese food. There are two Japanese grocery stores and shops. I have come here in the past for noodles, sushi, and boba tea.

Plan Check popped up on some of the twitter feeds of foodies in LA I respect so it obviously shot to the top of my “must try” list. Obviously I enlisted my friend Kelly to check it out with me. She was in the second she heard that the former executive chef from Umami Burger was behind this bar.

Kelly and I went early on a Wednesday and had no issues getting in. We immediately plopped down in a booth and interrogated the drink menu. I decided on a Little Osaka Sour, which is a whiskey sour with sake!

I’ve probably been ruined by living in cities but $9 doesn’t seem that bad for a special cocktail. This drink was similar to a traditional whiskey sour and it was strong! I got my $9 worth.

Kelly had this one night only drink that I forgot the name of but it was pretty.

Kelly is more or less my dining soul mate. We like all the same things and we both like to split our dishes to maximize the food we get to try.

We started with the beet salad with whipped goat cheese, spinach and balsamic vinegar because, you know, whipped goat cheese.

Whipped goat cheese is the food of the gods. I highly recommend this dish. It reminded me of summer and it was light. Plus did I mention the whipped goat cheese? Yep. Delicious way to start the meal.

Kelly and I wanted to try one of the burgers and one of the entrees. I am not a huge fan of eggs but I took a chance and ordered the Chef’s Favorite burger. The burger is cheese two ways, bacon two ways, ketchup leather, sunny fried egg, hot sauce. Behold!

I feel like that parmesan crisp on top is a dead giveaway from Umami. This was delicious! I was quite pleased. It wasn’t overly eggy or hot saucey. It was super baconey and cheesy. These aren’t words but don’t worry about it. I would order this again. Once we cut into the egg the yoke went everywhere which I really liked. I would order this again.

We also tried the fried chicken.

Crispy skin, gravy and yams. This was also quite good. The skin was crispy and the meat was very moist. Note that when you order the fried chicken there is also a fried chicken sandwich which I want to try when I go back.

I gleaned from yelp that the fries aren’t that great but the veggie chips are delicious so that’s what we ordered as a side. They came with guac and were delicious. Perfect size for sharing.

For dessert there was only one thing we wanted to try: house made donuts.

I was overcome with excitement when they came out to the table and I ate them before I got a picture. Whoops.

Cinnamon sugar deliciousness.

I would totally come back to Plan Check. It’s near where I live, has great drinks and enough menu options that I want to have again, or try for the first time. I didn’t have one but there is a great local beer list for those who want beer and there are several other cocktails I still want to try. Definitely will be making a return trip to Plan Check!

In other news: I have a week and a half left of law school class. Who let that happen?! I also was a beast on my 10 mile run yesterday finishing it in an hour and 33 mins. The last time I ran ten miles nearly that quickly was in the Rock n Roll San Diego 1/2. Not sure I’ll be able to bust my PR in Pasadena next month but fingers crossed. These training times bode well.

Penne with Winter Greens, Potato and Cheese

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One of my favorite gifts from last Christmas was the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market Cook Book. As I’ve blogged, I hit up the SaMoFM weekly so this book was perfect for me. Not only does the book give a brief recap of how the market came to be. Then the book launches into recipes with ingredients you can purchase at the market and notes which season the recipes are for. That is probably my favorite feature of the book. I like to try to eat seasonally. For starters, it’s less expensive and I also love marking the changes in season based on what I eat.

These last few weeks the spring food has been coming in. That means fava beans and asparagus! I’ll try and contain myself.

Anyways, with spring coming in I decided to make one of my favorite winter recipes one last time for the season. This recipe has it all: potatoes, pasta and cheese. All of my favorites!

This recipe is quick and a good way to incorporate a lot of greens. I’ll be totally honest. I’m kinda like a child in that I want my green covered in cheese. What can you do? At least I’m eating them.

Penne with Winter Green, Potatoes, and Cheese

Ingredients

1/2 red onion, chopped

1/8 cup olive oil

1 bunch winter greens (swiss chard, kale or the like- I just threw in spinach this time because it’s all I had)

1 glove of garlic, chopped

1/4 lb brown penne pasta

1/2 lb waxy potatoes

1/8 lb gouda cheese

Sea salt and pepper

Instructions

Bring pot of salted water to a boil.

Chop your onion and garlic. In a large skillet heat the olive oil to medium heat. Add the onions and sauté over medium heat until translucent.

Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 min. While the onions are cooking, wash the greens and roughly chop them.

Add the greens and some salt and pepper to the onions and garlic. Stir in.

Reduce heat to low and let the greens cook until they are tender, about 10 mins. Add water as needed.

Meanwhile, the water in the pot will be boiling. Add the pasta and potatoes. I like to chop the potatoes in half before I cook them. Cook until the pasta is al dente and the potato has been cooked through. Drain the pasta and retain 1 cup of pasta water.

Incorporate the pasta and potato into the greens mix and grate on the cheese. Turn off the heat and mix until the cheese is melted.

And serve!

This is delicious and one of my winter main stays. I’ll miss it over the summer although maybe I can recreate it for summer somehow. There isn’t a sauce but who needs sauce when you have so much cheese! As I mentioned above I like this because it’s a good way to sneak in a bunch of greens into my diet.

I have an awesome restaurant review coming up later this week from an LA hot spot that I checked out last week! Get pumped!