Fall Risotto

It totally feels like fall here in Santa Monica; first day of school for the kids at the school across the street was last Monday and the weather has been cool and overcast.  Feeling in the mood for fall, I made a three mushroom risotto last night based on a dish that our family friend made a few weeks ago.  It's a pretty straight forward dish; just takes a lot of attention as risottos do.

To prep:

• Minced 5 cloves of garlic and a handful of marjoram leaves pulled off the stems (2-3 TB)
• Cleaned, removed stems and sliced 1/2 lb of crimini mushrooms, 1/2 lb of white mushrooms and 1/4 lb of shiitake mushrooms

I heated a good amount of olive oil (~3-5 TB) in the 5 quart Le Creuset oval french oven over medium heat and then:

• Cooked the garlic and marjoram for about a minute until fragrant but before the garlic burned
• Sauteed the mushrooms until they released all their water and all the water evaporated, about 10 minutes.  When the mushrooms were done, I took them out of the pot with a slotted spoon and into a separate bowl

While the mushrooms were sauteing, I chopped 1 leek (I had a leftover leek) and 1 small onion.  After I removed the finished mushrooms from the Le Creuset pot, over the same medium heat and with the leftover olive oil, I:

• Sauteed the onions and leeks until softened, about 8 minutes
• Meanwhile, in a separate pot, heated up 1 box of low sodium chicken broth (~ 4 cups) and 1 cup of water
• To the Le Creuset pot, added 1.5 cups of arborio rice (I just use the Trader Joes brand) and stir around for 1-2 minutes until all coated with oil
• Added 2/3 cups of white wine and stir around until mostly absorbed
• Then ladled 2 ladlefuls of chicken broth into the rice mixture at a time, until the broth was absorbed, and then adding more ladles
• After about 15 minutes, added the mushroom and garlic mixture to the risotto.  Salt and pepper liberally to taste
• Risotto took about 25 minutes to finish and I pretty much used all the chicken broth.  I like my risotto just a teeny bit al dente and definitely not mushy.  When the risotto is finished, turned off the heat and add 1/3 cup of marscapone cheese, about 1/3 cup of grated parmigiano reggiano, and sprinkled on some minced chives.  Also added a little truffle salt for extra flavor

The risotto was delicious: rich, creamy and lots of earthy mushroom flavor and just a hint of truffle.  It was a nice and comforting fall dish.  We had it alongside a simple arugula, grilled zucchini salad with almonds and dried cranberries and some heirloom tomatoes with burrata and basil as light and fresh accompaniments to the heavier risotto.

Umami Burger: Stick to the Classics

Earth Burger on the left, Truffle Burger on the right

Yesterday, we went to Umami Burger for lunch again and ordered the Umami Burger, Earth Burger and Truffle Burger.  I still like the Umami Burger and Earth Burger the best; the Truffle Burger was dominated by gooey, bland cheese and actually didn't have that indulgent truffle taste.  Actually, the truffle taste in the Earth Burger from the white soy and truffle aioli is much more pronounced and ethereal.  Despite being a veggie burger, I'm starting to prefer the Earth Burger to the Umami Burger; I've ordered the Earth Burger over the Umami Burger the last several times I've been to Umami.  I usually get the Kombu Meal #2 with the Earth Burger, market salad and green tea, for $16.  Not the cheapest lunch, but really tasty.  I like the market salad a lot; it is filled with all sorts of different greens from daikon sprouts to mung bean sprouts, and the dressing is tangy and different; it's a good contrast with a rich burger.

Umami Burger at Fred Segal

500 Broadway

Santa Monica, CA  90401

(310) 451-1300

More Rich Beer

Capping off an eventful labor day weekend with a bachelorette party Friday night starting with a pre-party at the SLS Hotel, dinner at Bodega and dancing at My House, followed by the Disneyland 5K on Saturday and then a BBQ at our place Saturday night with some friends from Portland, followed by a bridal shower at the Hotel Erwin on Sunday (cool spot for rooftop drinks on the beach), Rich brought over more interesting beers for us to taste on Monday before heading over to a BBQ at Mel's.  We tried the Karl Strauss' 21st Anniversary Ale Brewed with Zinfandel grape juice and Weihenstephaner's Hefe Weissbier.  I really enjoyed the Hefe Weissbier; I've always liked hefeweizens / wheat beers, and this was definitely one of my favorite ones that I've ever tasted: refreshing, way too easy to drink and not too cloyingly sweet like some wheat beers occasionally are.  It had just enough citrus notes to keep it interesting but not too much to weigh it down.  It claims to be the world's oldest brewery, founded in 1047, which is just hard to even conceive.  I also found the Karl Strauss to be very interesting.  I could definitely taste the zin mid-palate and it was full of rather unusual flavors (hard to pinpoint the exact flavors) in beer.  It would definitely pair well with food; I could see it going well with food with a bit of acid / vinegar, maybe food like Spanish tapas.  All in all, a great labor day weekend.

Cora's Coffee Shoppe: Good Brunch for 2 in SM

After the Disneyland 5K, we stopped at Cora's Coffee Shoppe on Ocean Blvd in Santa Monica for some breakfast.  Originally, we wanted to go to San Gabriel for dim sum at Sea Harbour or soup dumplings at Din Tai Fung, but at 8am in the morning, nothing was open yet.  It's surprising how many things are closed at 8am on a Saturday; we're not usually up that early.  We decided on Cora's because 1) several friends have recommended it, 2) we drive by it often and there's always a huge line, and 3) I had a 30% off Blackboard Eats coupon.  The space is tiny but quite charming: a small tunnel under trellises with lots of vines.  The menu is actually quite long and interesting; one of the more extensive breakfast / brunch menus that I've seen around.  Most items are between $9-$15, which is average for brunch.  We ordered the Cora's Egg Benedict, which was made with smoked salmon, spinach florentine and soft boiled eggs and the egg and proscuitto panino.

I liked the Eggs Benedict a lot; it totally hit the spot and was really tasty (although I've rarely met a Benedict that I haven't liked).  I particularly liked the spinach which was creamy and delicious and the salmon was a nice, salty, silky counterpoint.  The egg and proscuitto panino wasn't anything special; more just like a regular sandwich with some proscuitto and greens and tomatoes.  I'm not sure why it was called a panino, it wasn't pressed or grilled in any way.  The egg was also barely noticeable.  We also had a side of bacon, which wasn't as crisp as I like my bacon, and some coffee and grapefruit juice.  It was a nice meal, made even better with the 30% off coupon.  We don't usually go out for brunch as we generally prefer to make our brunch at home and relax and eat outside by the pool, but this was nice for a quick fix; just not sure how often we will be back.

Cora's Coffee Shoppe
1802 Ocean Avenue
Santa Monica, CA  90401
(310) 451-9562

Disneyland 5K

Stopping to take a pic with "A Bug's Life" in California Adventure

After a late night last night with a bachelorette party in Hollywood, K and I ran the Disneyland 5K at 7am this morning.  I totally loved it, it was so much fun running through Disneyland, my favorite place in the world, and it was also great to run through California Adventure, which I had never visited before (I just love Disneyland too much and given the choice, I always choose Disneyland).  We also got to run through some of the "backstage" parts of Disneyland and California Adventure; it was really cool to see what it looks like behind the scenes!  The run was so much fun; there were a bunch of castmembers cheering us on, characters to take pictures with and fun music.  My only disappointment was that I could have run faster; we ended up doing 9ish minute miles because I paced myself during the first half and we stopped / slowed down to take pictures, but I finished the race with plenty of energy left over (despite partying the night before and only having about 2.5 hours of sleep), but it's motivated me to maybe try a 10K next!

Getting ready to run with my favorite running top: Lululemon Energy SL

We're starting: Goofy, Donald, Mickey and Minnie cheering us on

Dapper Dan's serenading on Main Street

Running through backstage

Going into Toontown

Fantasyland and Teacups

Clearly not running fast enough

Headed through Sleeping Beauty's Castle and to California Adventure

Mile 2 completed, no sweat

Mickey and Minnie at the finish line; I think Minnie liked my Minnie Ears

I ran with my beloved Minnie Ears the entire 3.1 miles and was dressed entirely in my favorite Lululemon running outfit: the Run:Energy SL in lime and Run:Zoom Knee Shorts.  I particularly love the Lululemon Energy SL: it is so lightweight, cool and comfortable and I like the flattering ruching on the back; I would totally pick up more if it weren't sold out already.  It's not great for yoga as it is a bit loose fitting and also rides up during spin, but it's perfect for running.

Lululemon Define

Occasionally, there's a glitch on the Lululemon website and they misprice an item for a few hours, generally as they are uploading new items to the website.  Recently, it happened where they mispriced the Scuba hoodie at $29, when it normally goes for $128.  If you place the order during the misprice, they will honor the lower price.  Last week, they accidentally mispriced the Define jacket in Lolo purple.  It wasn't as big of a mispricing, but the Define jacket is one of their staple items that never go on sale, particularly in my size, so I went ahead and ordered it.  I love this jacket; it is by far my favorite Lululemon jacket that I own.  It is quite fitted and you can't wear more than a tank top underneath it, but it is very flattering on (pictures don't do it justice) and is perfect for the cooler temps at night and in the morning in Southern California. 

I also picked up a Cool Racerback in Oasis.  Cool Racerbacks are by far my favorite Lululemon tops for yoga as they are long, fitted, light and great at moisture-wicking.  I've found that I don't like tanks with built-in support; I find that tanks where you can wear you own support to be much more comfortable.  I could definitely buy a whole rainbow of these tanks.

Pinches Tacos: Tacos with an Ocean View

After our last Pop Physique class and some shopping at the new Santa Monica Place, Jen and I stopped for lunch at the Pinches Tacos in the food court on the third level.  Pinches Tacos first opened in Hollywood, and now has four locations including Culver City and Birmingham, Alabama (??). I thought that the selection of tacos were good and the prices reasonable, similar to Tacomiendo or Tacos Por Favor, which are considered pretty authentic taco shops.  I ordered the lengua, adobada, and carnitas tacos with chips, rice and beans, for $8.95, which isn't bad.  They also top each taco with its own specific salsa and vegetables, as opposed to at other places, where they basically give you meat in a tortilla.  Can't beat the ocean view!  There wasn't that much else in the food court that looked appealing; a pizza place and two Japanese places, although prices seemed reasonable; cheaper than the Century City mall food court.  I have to say, while I like the design of the mall a lot and a lot of the stores there, the department stores are much smaller than the same department stores at the other local malls (ie. Westside Pavilion and Century City), which is disappointing because the selection is also much more limited.  Even the Barney's Co-op is smaller than the Co-ops in Manhattan, and the real estate in Manhattan is even more pricey! I was hoping that Santa Monica Place could be a replacement for those other malls, which are a little further of a drive, but unfortunately, I don't think it's going to be the case.


Pinches Tacos
395 Santa Monica Place
Santa Monica, CA  90401