This entry is long overdue especially since school has
already started and I’ll be writing about what happened this past summer. I
guess I should start out with what I’ve baked! I mentioned in my last entry
about making cream puffs—which were probably my favorite goodies to bake this
summer—and in addition to the cream puffs I also got to make lemon bars
(personally requested by my coworkers during my last week at my internship with
MovieMaker Magazine). I’ve made lemon
bars before but I wasn’t fully satisfied with the recipe I used. Although
everything tasted and looked fine, the lemon bars had an eggy smell (weird, I
know). So this time around I took out one egg (using three instead of four) and
juiced an extra lemon. I also added lemon zest into my crust for extra lemony
goodness. I was afraid I over-killed the bars with lemons, but all my friends
and coworkers dug them and I couldn’t stop at just one helping of these bars.
I also was feeling super nostalgic this summer and wanted to
fly back to London ASAP. Sadly, no flying for me for a while, so I had to bring
London to LA. I made English scones! I bought Double Devon Cream (sadly you
can’t get clotted cream in the States—which has 4% more fat than Double Devon
and is much more creamy) from World Market (also known as Cost Plus) and
generously spread the cream on my scone and added strawberry jam on top. And of
course I had to have a pot of tea with it! The recipe I used required me to
convert measurements from grams into cups (many countries actually use grams
instead of cup measurement—the US just likes to be a rebel and use its own
measurement… i.e. inches, feet and Fahrenheit), but it wasn’t that hard thanks
to good ol’ Google.
This summer I also got the privilege to dig into some tasty restaurant food. When I was driving down to San Diego, I stopped by to visit my friend in
Long Beach and we had Moroccan food at a restaurant called, “Asha.” Pretty
tasty. It actually reminded me a lot of Lebanese food and made me miss Comptoir Libanais in London. My friend
and I shared the Baba Ghanouj for appetizer and I had Kafta with Roasted
Tomatoes for my entrée. Baba Ghanouj is made of eggplant, garlic, lemon juice,
and tahini. It reminds me of humus, but has much more delicate and subtle
taste. The appetizer comes with pita bread that you dip into the Baba Ghanouj.
As for my entrée, I kind of chose it based on the fact that it had a pouched
egg. I don’t know what it is about pouched eggs that I find so enticing. Maybe
it’s because I haven’t mastered it yet. It’s a lot harder to cook than it
looks. I remember when I was younger I was afraid to eat pouched eggs and
because it seemed raw and runny like snot. Now, I think it’s wonderfully creamy
and delicate (cooked and seasoned well of course). The Kafta was delicious and
had this sour taste to it that I love. I've realized, as I’ve grown older I have learned to
appreciate sour-tasting food like olive and artichokes.
Moving on, I went to Olvera Street with some people from my
church and we had taquitos at Cielito Lindo. I’m not a huge taquito fan, but
what made their taquitos the bomb was their green avocado sauce. It’s very
subtle, so you don’t really notice the sauce until it’s gone and you realize
that the dish was so good because of that green sauce. We also went to Mr. Churro and had churros filled with various sweet goodies. Mine was filled with
condensed milk while some of my friends had custard, caramel and apple jam. If
it wasn’t for the $15 parking, I would consider going to Olvera Street much
more often.
I got to go to a tea tasting at Chado with my friend Cristin
(who’s been on this blog once or twice) in Pasadena a couple weeks back. She
bought a Living Social deal and we got to learn about and try various teas. On
top of that, we had scones and got to bring some tea home (all part of the
package deal). I think the total came out to be around $24 and it was
originally somewhere around $75. I’ve been to Chado before so I wasn’t really
surprised that they serve great food and tea, but their prices can get a
little steep. I enjoyed the tea tasting experience and I thought it was fun
learning about tea history. I would have had a better time if there weren’t
loud obnoxious people sitting next to me (“Ugh… I need sugar and milk with
this”—it’s a tea tasting for goodness sake! Show some respect for the tea) but
that’s not the restaurant’s fault.
And lastly, I want to talk to you about Street Food Cinema.
I saved the best for last! I found out about Street Food Cinema from Simon
Pegg’s tweet because they were having a double feature—Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz—in honor of World’s End.
Luckily, they were having this event at Exposition Park, near USC. On top of
having a fun outdoor movie showing, there was going to be a band playing and a
whole bunch of food trucks! And did I mention this was only $10? I
couldn’t miss it. I love events that bring the community together and I
honestly don’t feel like LA has many of these kind of events. Something like
this would definitely happen in London all the time though. I didn’t get there
that early before the screening, and there were a LOT of people, but I managed
to snag a pretty good spot near the front. I also bought some hot wings at CJ’s
Wings, which were so-so (it came with a slice of bread, which I thought was a
bit weird, but it may be a Southern thing). Nevertheless, it was fun and I’m
glad I wasn’t there alone (Cristin to the rescue!). Next time though, I will
bring a sweater and not wear shorts. It may be summer, but it does get colder
at night.
And so ends my summer of food adventures. I realize that
this past summer will be my last summer of being a kind of a kid. There’s more
gravity of responsibilities lying ahead and I’m a bit anxious, but also
extremely excited. We’ll see where God takes me and how He’ll use me this year.
I probably will go out and eat and bake this school year (who am I kidding? I
will definitely bake! I’ve already made more scones and some cookies today for
tomorrow’s afternoon tea I’m having with my study abroad friends), but I must
admit my focus will be more concentrated on theatre and applying to
conservatories this year so I probably won’t blog as much as I use to. Good bye
for now!
*Oh, and y’all haven’t heard the song, “Summer is Over” by John
McLaughlin ft. Sarah Bareilles, GET ON IT!