Author Archives: Anne

Dinner For One #1 and Blogging By Mail

In an attempt to still stay active in the kitchen while J is away, I’ve decided to start a little series called “Dinner for One.” That way, at least I will force myself to actually cook something instead of heating up a frozen meals. I can’t promise that I’m going to make myself a four-course meal each night, but I definitely want to try and have a blog-worth meal and avoid the frozen stuff as much as possible!

Last night I was in the mood for some Japanese food so I decided to have a teishoku of sorts, minus the miso soup. I made some mugi-gohan (rice w/ barley), slow-simmered diakon in sweet dashi, and a tofu salad with wafu-yuzu dressing. I also had some seasoned canned mackerel and a seaweed salad that I picked up at Mitsuwa market:

The daikon is one of my favorites and so easy to make. It’s healthy, warming and delicious by itself or even with a little swipe of some spicy Chinese mustard (which I didn’t have, unfortunately!). I’ll post the recipe below.

In other news, I was a first-time participant in this month’s “Blogging By Mail” event hosted by Dispensing Happiness. We were asked if we wanted to ship internationally or domestically, as well as to send a list of anything we didn’t like foodwise. I ended up sending a package to sour times in Vancouver, Canada and received a package from Fallen Soufflé in North Carolina. Initially I was a bit confused because I just assumed that I’d be receiving something from someone outside of the USA since I shipped outside of the country. However, it certainly was a pleasant surprise when a box showed up at my doorstep containing a bunch of goodies but a nice note as well. Jennifer sent me some salt water taffy, barbeque sauce, coffee, apricot tea and Burt’s Bee’s lip balm from North Carolina, in addition to things that she and her husband had picked up on their travels: Nutella, Stroopies (waffle cookies w caramel), cherry jam, Walker’s Shortbread and chocolate. She was also kind enough to bake me some biscotti and send a jar of her homemade peach preserves- I can’t wait to try it on ice cream!!! So thank you, Jennifer, for sending such a thoughtful package. I’m already enjoying the stroopies and biscotti and am eager to try the barbeque sauce.

Here is the aforementioned recipe:

Simmered Daikon w/ Sweet Dashi:

1 medium daikon, peeled and sliced crosswise into 1-inch rounds
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup tsuyu (noodle dipping sauce made from katsuo)
1 TBS soy sauce
3 TBS sugar
1 TBS mirin
1TBS sake

In a medium saucepan, put daikon in single layer and cover with the 1 1/2 cups water. Bring to a boil. Add remaining ingredients and bring back to a boil, then turn heat down to medium-low. Cover saucepan with a drop-lid (or cut a round of foil that is just the size of the saucepan and put it directly onto the simmering liquid so it covers it) and simmer for 35 minutes. Serve with a bit of the liquid and hot mustard if desired.

Daikon recipes, Blogging By Mail

Five Things To Eat Before You Die

I’ve been tagged by Dylan of Eat, Drink & Be Merry for the “Five Things To Eat Before You Die” meme. It started with The Traveler’s Lunchbox and has spread like wildfire in the food blogging community. With so many great things to eat out there, how do you narrow it down to just five food that you think EVERYONE should eat before they die? It was hard, but I went with the foods that not only taste fantastic, but also created great memories for me. So here’s my list!

1) A freshly baked croissant from a bakery in France

I adore croissants. LOVE the little flaky pastries. But what they call croissants here in the US are certainly not even close to the light, buttery goodness that the French call by the same name (albeit with a much cooler accent). The so-called “croissants” here come in all weights and sizes. Some are chewy and dense (sacrilege!), others are crispy but flavorless. When I finally had one in Paris and another in Nice, I realized that the true croissant is almost weightless in it’s millions of buttery layers. In fact, you should be able to smoosh an entire one in your mouth with no problem (not that I’d ever do such a thing…..). There is no squishy or unbaked middle and tastes almost entirely of freshly churned butter. I wish I had one right now!

2) Freshly fried chips with Burnt Habanero Crème from Malo in Silverlake, CA

Malo is certainly not a traditional Mexican restaurant. It’s more like a hipstered-out version and serves all small plates-style Mexican food. Although most of the menu items are good, their freshly fried flour tortilla chips and burnt habanero crème will start an addiction. Unlike most Mexican restaurants, you must order the chips at Malo’s, but they’re WORTH every penny. The still-hot, slightly chewy and crunchy chips are the perfect vehicle for the smoky, spicy and decadently creamy “salsa.” I’m sure my arteries get pissed at me but I can’t NOT order these when I’m at Malo.

3) White rice

You see, us Japanese have this thing for rice. Even though I spent more than of my life here in California, I have that thing. When I was about fourteen and already Americanized, we went back to Japan to visit my grandparents. My sister and I asked our Japanese friends what their favorite food was. They said “gohan.” We said “Big Mac, or gohan?” and they said “gohan.” “Chocolate sundae or gohan?” and yet again, they said “gohan.” “Hot dogs, pizza and candy or gohan?” and they repeated robotically, “gohan.” Being the American kids we were, we thought they were out of their Japanese minds! Well, after seven years of living in Tokyo in my 20′s, I, too, have caught the gohan bug. Even though I grew up eating it, I don’t think I got that itch until living there again. I’m sure my fellow Asians would understand- I can’t go too long without rice. I can’t NOT eat rice if someone serves me stir fry, sashimi, Japanese pickles or anything seasoned with soy sauce. It’s automatic- take bite of soy sauce-seasoned food, take bite of rice. Take bite of katsu with tonkatsu sauce, take bite of rice. Give me a jar of furikake (a Japanese condiment meant to be sprinkled on rice) and I could eat an entire room full of rice.

4) Yogurt-flavored gelato

I had yogurt gelato for the first time when J and I went to Nice last summer. I instantly fell in love with the nostalgic flavor…it reminded me so much of the Japanese yogurt I grew up eating. Slightly tangy and not-too-sweet, it is the perfect snack on a hot day. I think J and I went back to the same gelato stand everyday for four days straight just to get another cone full of that gelato. I’ve never been able to find a yogurt-flavored gelato of that quality here in Los Angeles but the recent crop of healthy frozen yogurt places gives me hope.

5) A really great BLT sandwich.

I guess this sounds simple, but I think the flavor and texture combination of ripe, red tomatoes, crispy, salty bacon, fresh lettuce, creamy mayonnaise and great, white bread is perfect. Throw in a couple thin slices of creamy avocado and life doesn’t really get much better than that, now does it? Perch all of the ingredients on slices of lightly toasted brioche slathered with homemade mayo and you may just die and go to heaven. I’ve heard from numerous sources that this exact sandwich lives on the current lunch menu at Lucques, so I may just have to take a trip there, soon. Although I’ve never had their version, I have had great BLTs in my life and I do feel that it is the perfect sandwich when made with great ingredients.

I’m tagging Blue Lotus and Erin’s Kitchen if they haven’t already been.

Five Things to Eat Before You Die Meme

Lemony Crab Cakes

I used to order crab cakes at almost every restaurant until one day I realized that I’d had way too many mushy-with-too-much-filler-not-enough-crab nuggets than anyone should ever eat in a lifetime. My dad’s version will always be J and my favorite, but I had never really attempted my own version….until last night.

I hardly ever buy lump crabmeat due to the cost, but on my recent trip to Trader Joe’s I spied a big can of Byrd Premium Crabmeat in the refrigerated section that caught my eye. It wasn’t the jumbo lump crabmeat that you see at a Gelson’s or Whole Foods which come in a tub and hover around $30, but the large blue can did look promising and proclaimed that it was filled with fresh claw meat. When I found out that the one pounder cost $7.99, I was sold, and so was the can of crab……to me, of course;).

Last week I ended up using half the can to make a crab salad. Toshi, our regular sushi chef at Z Sushi, always makes a crab or tofu salad lightly dressed with the most insane yuzu/soy sauce dressing and I wanted to try and recreate it. I simply took a good quality wafu (Japanese) salad dressing and mixed in some yuzu kosho (yuzu pepper) and it came pretty darn close to Toshi’s. Drizzled over a bed of mixed spring greens piled high with crabmeat, it was a beautiful supper!

Back to last night. I had a 1/2 pound of crabmeat left so I decided to give crab cakes a go. I just sort of went with flavors that I’ve enjoyed in crab cakes in the past and they came out really well! I was very pleased since yesterday I was bemoaning the fact that I hadn’t really cooked in awhile, and it’s always nice to create a recipe of your own that tastes good. I served the crab cakes with a mixed green salad and a quick aioli made by combining some sweet/hot mustard, fresh dill, a splash of champagne vinegar, a spoonful of mayo and a drizzle of olive oil. They came out so well that next time, I’ll use the entire can of crab and make a few extra to freeze for a rainy day.

Tuna Toast’s Lemony Crab Cakes

1 lb of crabmeat- whatever kind you prefer but works really well with clawmeat- doesn’t have to be jumbo lump
1/2 cup diced green onion
1/3 cup chopped flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
grated zest of 2 lemons
2 eggs
2 TBS mayonnaise
3 TBS dijon mustard
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp white pepper
1/2 cup to 3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs, plus more for coating

1 TSB butter
1 TSB olive oil

In a large bowl combine crab meat, green onions, parsley and lemon zest- toss together and set aside. Mix remaining ingredients except panko breadcrumbs in a separate bowl and whisk until well combined. Gently fold mustard mixture into crab meat mixture, then add panko breadcrumbs until it’s not too dry but not too wet- just moist enough to form patties.

Take 1/4 cup of the crab mixture and gently and lightly form into balls- you don’t want to pack the meat tightly. Press down to form a patty, dredge in panko and set on a parchment covered sheet pan or plate. Repeat with remaining mixture, then chill in the refrigerator for at least one hour. (Can be made up to this point a day ahead).

In a large sauté pan, heat 1 TBS of butter with 1 TBS of olive oil and heat until hot but not smoking. Add the crab cakes- being careful not to overcrowd the pan- you will probably have to make these in two or three batches, depending on how large your pan is. Sautee for 3 minutes per side until both sides are golden brown.

Serve with your favorite cocktail sauce or aioli.

Crab cakes, Crab recipes

Lemon Blueberry Crumble Muffins and So Many Recipes, So Little Time!



Now that the weather’s cooled down a bit, I’ve decided to put my apron back on and roll up my sleeves in the kitchen again. I feel a bit guilty about not really having made much in the last couple of months and I just miss cooking in general.

I knew I wanted to make something for my coworkers and, after seeing an episode of Barefoot Contessa in which she makes a giant batch of blueberry muffins, felt inspired to do the same. I searched several cookbooks and finally settled on Martha Stewart’s Blueberry Muffin recipe, which I tweaked by using buttermilk instead of milk, adding a bunch of lemon zest and capping each muffin with a strudel topping. Spending a couple of hours in my kitchen surrounded by the sweet smell of blueberries and lemons made me feel whole again. As J sat in the living room watching football, I thought about how the end of summer is right around the corner. After all, what signals the coming of Autumn than NFL games on TV and something sweet baking in the oven?

When I was trying to figure out what to make, I ended up going through many of my cookbooks that I hadn’t looked at in awhile. There are so many recipes- in magazines, books and now all over the internet- sometimes I feel overwhelmed by it all. So many recipes, so little time. I wonder if my fellow cooks out there feel the same? I love nothing more than to sit on my sofa on a Sunday and flip through cookbooks daydreaming about creating the gorgeously photographed meals…..but once again- which ones to make first? Do I have all of the ingredients necessary or am I going to drop $50 just to purchase the six spices I don’t happen to have in my already overflowing spice cabinet? Does any of this make sense?! I don’t mean to sound like crazy woman but for some reason it struck me yesterday. Even if a recipe turns out extremely successfully, I probably won’t make it again for over a year (if at all!) since I’m always tempted by the glossy photos in this months Gourmet and have a long list of recipes I’ve yet to try. And who can forget all of the fabulous recipes posted by various bloggers? I admire food bloggers like Joe who not only make something new each day but actually document each and every meal. The Wednesday Chef is a wonderful account of someone who cooks everything from a NY Times or LA Times Food Section recipe. I wish I could be as organized!

I don’t know why I feel so anxious thinking about when to make what and will I ever have enough time to make gyoza with homemade skins or get around to buying cannele molds so that I can try and create the amazing little cakes that are a favorite of mine. I guess I should simply do what my dad does- ask myself, “What do I want to eat?” It’s quite easy, isn’t it? We’d have smothered chicken or lasagna if he was feeling comfort food, chicken stir fry with cilantro and cashews if he was feeling Chinese….I suppose if you have the ability to cook well, then you can certainly cook to please whatever taste you may be having at a particular moment. Of course pouring over cookbooks is a great education- there are foods out there that you’d love to eat that you didn’t even know existed until you saw it in a book. However, the easiest way to figure out which recipe to try or what to whip upis to just ask yourself what you want to eat, and go from there….which I’m going to make a concentrated effort on doing from now on.

Muffins

Happy Birthday J and KA-BA-LEI!!!

Happy Birthday J! (find J in this photo)

This comes a day late, but I wanted to give a shout out to my wonderful husband, J, and say Happy Birthday! Thanks for always eating everything I make and being such an encouragement for this blog, my job, my cooking….well, pretty much everything! Thanks for getting just as excited as I do when it comes to choosing where we will eat one night and what wine to drink the next. Even though you do not cook (and seriously, how could you? – the control freak that I am would probably not even allow anyone else to use my kitchen!). Thanks for the nights where we just order a thin crust basil-and-tomato pizza from Italiano’s or get a roast chicken from the supermarket and make it a meal with some eggplant hummus and wheat pita. It’s nice to know that I have a food partner in crime that is just as down with picking up a burrito from La Fuente as he is eating a three-course meal I made from recipes in the Sunday Suppers at Lucques cookbook. Happy Birthday!

Since things have been hectic with J being on tour, we didn’t really have a day off to celebrate. I decided to make him his favorite dessert- peach cobbler- as a present. He calls it “Ka-Ba-Lei” since his friend KT always calls it that- “I want peach ka-ba-lei! KA-BA-LEI!!!” Anyway, it was really easy and tasted lovely and sweet with a nice scoop of Soy Vanilla ice cream. I especially like that you can taste a bit of salt in these biscuits- it’s a nice contrast to the sweetness of the cobbler.

Bubbling, yummy cobbler

J Birthday Ka-Ba-Lei (adapted from Peach Cobbler recipe in Gourment, Sept 1999)

6 large peaches, cut into thin wedges (I left the peel on- it makes for a nice, reddish color)
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon cornstarch

For biscuit topping
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup cold buttermilk

Cook peaches:
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Toss peaches with sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch in a 2-qt. nonreactive baking dish and bake in middle of oven 10 minutes.

Make topping while peaches bake:
Put flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a food processor. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in buttermilk until just combined.

Remove peaches from oven and drop spoonfuls of topping over them. Bake in middle of oven until topping is golden, about 25 minutes. (Topping will spread as it bakes.)

The Los Angeles Wine & Food Festival

Thanks to Foodie Universe, I had a chance to attend the Los Angeles Wine & Food Festival last weekend. I was so excited when I won the tickets and pretty much decided right away to take my dad, who is a food and wine lover himself. So on Saturday, August 26th, he and I got in the car, stomachs empty and ready to get our wine-drinkin’ on!

After a stop in Koreatown where my Papa wanted to show me an awesome Korean market (can’t remember the name but it’s on Western…big, mall-type place w/ lots of Korean and Japanese foodstuff), we arrived at the LA Convention Center. After picking up our tickets, we walked into the hall and immediately saw a table full of stemless wine glasses, each emblazoned with the festival’s logo. Each attendee was informed that you take one glass and keep it with you to taste all of the various wines offered. Great idea!

We started on one end and, from where we could see, couldn’t really tell how many stalls there would be. At the beginning of the line, there were a few wine stalls and a couple of food ones. We sampled a bit of jumbo lump crab served in tiny martini glasses and tossed with cocktail sauce (yum!), then moved onto a cheese counter where I tried some chocolate goat cheese (so-so….I like my cheese salty, I think!) and a nugget of parmesan. It was hard to get much more because this was definitely the most popular stalls at the festival. We would soon find out why!

After we turned a corner, we tried some dark chocolate and a peanut butter truffle…..mmmmm. Of course in the meantime we sipped on various wines, sparkling wines and liquors. We were about 30 minutes in and having a grand ol time. I just wished I would have paced myself…………….because after those peanut butter truffles, the “food” part of the LA Wine & Food was done. We walked with our glasses to stall after stall of Central Coast pinot noirs, gleefully sipped on three different types of ruby port, was ecstatic to see the Korean raspberry wine that I had seen at the supermarket hours before and tried a bit of the Korean pomegranate wine that looked too pretty to pass up. Mind you- it isn’t like we drank more than a sip or two of each thing, but for anyone whose ever been wine tasting, you know how quickly those sips add up to glasses.

Even though I started feeling a bit woozy, I couldn’t possibly pass up the chance to try some Chai liquor, now could I? What’s that over there…..some sparkling red wine? Gimme! How about some fig vodka and some toffee liquor? Oh yes, let me just rinse out my glass before you pour me some. Thank goodness we ran into some nuts. Wait- I will clarify:

Now I’m not saying that 4 pistachios in a tiny box were going to sober me up, but they sure did taste great. Luckily we ran into some very nice girls who were so hungry that they had bought a hunk of cheese off of the one cheese company. They prepared a nice little plate of appetizers for us:

After we snacked, we hit a couple more wine stalls and then decided to call it a day. We got plenty of wine glasses, samples of various liquors and more pamphlets than you could shake a stick at. It was a “lovely way to spend a day,” as my Papa said. I totally agree. Although I must ask the organizers of the LA Wine & Food Festival- next year, could you include more food? Because I think it’s more like the LA Wine and Liquor and Spirits Festival. And I don’t know if you want a convention center full of drunk, hungry foodies. It could be dangerous!

Thanks again to Foodie Universe for the tickets- it was an amazing experience!!! You really made our weekend.

Roy’s Restaurant, Downtown Los Angeles

The other night, my dear J had a 20-hour stop back home in LA before going on to the next show in Oakland. I rushed home from work and we went through the “Where do you want to go to dinner?” debate until we both decided that we really wanted seafood. We really don’t know a lot of seafood-specific restaurants in town. Water Grill is great if you want to spend a grip, and places like McCormick & Schmidt’s just give me The Waz. (The Waz is a term that J made up- it’s that antsy, anxious feeling that kids get when their parents keep them at Target too long, or in church, etc). Since I wasn’t feeling sushi, I did a little online search on LATimes.com and came up with Roy’s.

Roy’s is a chain of high-end Asian Fusion restaurants started by chef Roy Yamaguchi. Although I had read about it a few times, I wasn’t too familiar with the restaurants and didn’t really know what to expect. After a quick glance at the few menu items listed on their website, we decided to take a chance. I have to admit, I was a bit worried that it may be a chain in the vein of Outback Steakhouse (read: on the expensive side but still bad, large food) but the website looked promising.

The Downtown location is quite nice- it’s on the corner of Figueroa and 8th and the floor-to-ceiling windows showcases a nice, street-level view of Staples Center and a few other buildings. It feels very urban, almost like New York. As we were looking through the menu, our waiter came over and asked if we wanted to order drinks. We were torn between two New Zealand sauvignon blancs so the waiter offered to let us taste both. He brought over those two and an additional glass that contained the one French sauvignon blanc they had. I have to admit, I was really impressed that he would offer and we actually ended up liking the French one best.

Everything on the menu sounded delicious, and our waiter explained a few items to us. We decided to share the Yellow Fin Ahi Poketini w/ Wasabi Aioli, Avocado and Tobiko Caviar which is one of their signature appetizers. Although the cynical side of me just wanted to roll my eyes at the kitschy name (Poketini??), the cheerful and helpful nature of our server made me think twice about it and I kept my eyeballs in check. When the beautiful martini glass piled high with sliced ahi and daikon sprouts arrived, I took off my Critical Cap and put it away for good. We both loved the fresh fish combined with a lovely crème fraiche that had just the right amount of wasabi mixed in- I could tasted a good bit of wasabi flavor but I didn’t burn all of my nose hairs off either. We were happy.

When it came to order my entree, I couldn’t decide between a Katsu-style Ono with Salmon Rice or the Green Curry Steamed Barramundi with Thai Black Rice. I knew I wanted the barramundi but I also wanted the salmon rice- what to do? I asked the waiter which one he recommended, and he said that he’d go for the barramundi and he would bring me a small dish of the salmon rice so I could try it. At this point I wouldn’t have cared if they served me mud pies- our waiter made the night! Ok, I may have cared about mud pies but you get the idea. J decided to go for a Roy’s combination plate which featured three of his signature dishes- the Hawaiian Style Misoyaki Butterfish w/ Sizzling Soy Vinaigrette, Hibachi Style Grilled Salmon w/
Japanese Vegetables and Citrus Ponzu Sauce and the Roy’s Original Hawaiian Blackened Island Ahi w/ Spicy Soy Mustard Butter.

J’s plate came and and it was a stunner. Each part of the trio came on a small, white plate along with a small plate of white rice and were artfully arranged on a large, wooden board. Everything tasted as good as it looked- the ahi with the spicy mustard butter was outstanding, and I loved the not-too-sweet teriyaki on his hibachi style salmon. Wow. My barramundi was perfectly cooked and I loved the green curry flavor- unfortunately the pool of pineapple tamarind sauce underneath it was a bit too fruity for me- but I generally don’t like fruity sauces so I probably shouldn’t have ordered it. If you like sweet/tart sauces, this is the dish for you. We both loved the salmon rice and agreed that we’d have to eat it again. At this point we were just both completely satisfied and frankly, surprised. I guess I’ve been living under a rock, but I just assumed that Roy’s, being a worldwide chain, would be all about huge portions dripping with too-heavy sauces. I was totally wrong- the food was beautifully presented and absolutely delicious.

Roy’s Original Hawaiian Blackened Island Ahi w/ Spicy Soy Mustard Butter

I have to give a quick shout out to Sergio, our waiter. He really made our experience wonderful, and it’s nice to see someone who takes so much pride in their work. He told us that he’s been with Roy’s for six years (Chicago and other locations- the downtown one is less than a year old) and that he really loves the food. He was gracious, patient and his recommendations were right on. So thank you Sergio- every restaurant should have a server like you!

Sergio- you rock!

We didn’t have room for dessert, but from what I could tell, they looked delicious. I’m really happy to say that I think J and I have found a new dinner destination. I highly recommend it.

Roy’s Restaurant
Address: 800 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90017
Phone: (213) 488-4994

“Life is Good”

I generally think that I have a good life. Except when I forget my camera and must use my awful camera-phone to snap photos…..but I digress. Actually, I know I have a great life. I have a family who I not only love but I also like, the best husband (ok, he’s family but I need to mention him separately!) on earth, my dear cat Cory (also family) who meows every time I sneeze as if to say “bless you” in kitty-speak, a job I adore and, of course, lots of great things to eat. Heaven only knows that there are too many people that aren’t lucky enough to even have a fraction of those things, and I think I am acutely aware of all that I have.

Aside from that ever-present realization, there are what I like to call “Life Is Good” moments. I’m not talking about those BIG moments like when you get a promotion at work or win a flat-screen TV at your office holiday party (yes, that actually happened!). I’m talking about those little moments when everything lines up in just the right way – maybe you’re sitting on the sofa eating a bowl of ice cream, flipping through the channels and you find that Rushmore just started on the American Movie Channel. Or it could be the time that you had a pot of beef stew braising in the oven and your entire house smelled like wine, garlic and meat….and then it started to sprinkle outside and you just thought, “Life is good.” Not to wax sentimental, but you know what I’m talking about.

Last night, as I sat in the courtyard at the beautiful Chateau Marmont, sipping a lovely glass of pinot grigio, I thought, “This is nice.” The sun was just starting to set and the last rays were softly peeking through the trees onto our table and the surrounding greenery. When the waiter brought over a large, white plate containing three perfectly round, golden brown risotto balls resting on a layer of paper thin prosciutto de parma, I thought, “Life is good.”

More blogging excuses…..

or excuses for NOT blogging. With J on tour, the Emmys this Sunday and forgetting to take my camera to the few restaurants I’ve been to lately, it just hasn’t been a good blogging period for me. I doubt you want to hear about my made-up supper of multigrain crackers topped with hummus, sliced tomatoes and red onions with a side of corn tossed with BBQ sauce!! Not exactly the uber gourmet, but again- since J is away, it’s just easier to toss together some half-assed meal than to “cook” for one. Work has also been crazy busy with Awards Show Season kicking into full gear. But I can promise you something- Saturday I will be attending an event that will be VERY blog-worthy, so please keep checking back. I hope to take lots of great photos and can’t wait to share my experience with you.

So thanks for being patient, and I hope you keep on reading!

-TAG

Summer Blogging Blues and “LLOYD!!!“

I guess I don’t really have the blues. But with friends in from out of town all last week and living solo since J is gone on tour, I just haven’t been cooking much. Which means I don’t have much to blog about. Or it means that everytime I’ve been out to eat, I’ve forgotten my beloved camera. I do want to apologize for the lack of posts and promise that I will try to get my butt back in the kitchen!

In the meantime, I wanted to share a photo that I took a work a couple of week’s back. I work for a cable network and we had to find a guest co-host for one of our shows. Guess who came and did a fantastic job for us?! LLOYD!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you’re an Entourage fan, you know exactly who I mean. Not only was Rex Lee (his real name) completely lacking in pretention, but he was as sweet, witty and funny as he is on the show. I asked him to make his signature dismayed look (the one he always uses on Ari whenever he gets insulted…which is always!) and he totally did. I cropped myself out of the photo but you can see a bit of my jacket.

Thanks Lloyd- you’re my favorite “Gaysian!”