Frozen Chocolate Peanut Banana Bites and the Barneys New York Warehouse Sale

I've been on a chocolate kick lately; I had plenty of leftover chocolate chips from last week's chocolate chip cookies, so I made Frozen Chocolate Peanut Banana Bites inspired by this recipe from (never home)maker via thekitchn. I used regular chocolate chips, not vegan chocolate chips, left out the coconut and melted the chocolate and peanut butter over a double boiler. It was fully frozen in about 4 hours. They were great; a little salty sweet and chocolate-y and the frozen banana in the center really did taste like and feel ice cream with a faint banana flavor. Highly recommend making this for a simple quick dessert to satisfy a chocolate craving. In the future, I would use more chocolate and less peanut butter, maybe a little sprinkle of sea salt and some chopped toasted nuts on top.

N. and I hit up the Barney's New York Warehouse sale today at the LA Convention Center. So unlike me, but I came up pretty much empty-handed; all I bought were a pair of cool Earnest Sewn jeans for K which I was surprised to find. I was briefly tempted by a lovely Givenchy black sheer long sleeve layered chiffon dress, as well as a slinky asymmetrical black Alexander Wang dress, a cool black Rodarte x Opening Ceremony croc embossed skirt-all (hard to explain), and a 3.1 Phillip Lim giraffe print long-sleeve wool dress, and would have bought them at the right price but they were all still a little too expensive in my opinion. We also tried on a lot of fun stuff; Prada, Giambattista Valli, Lanvin, Stella McCartney, Balenciaga etc. Contemporary and shoes were only an extra 25% off, whereas designer was a more enticing 40% off. I didn't really see any shoes that I liked either. Fortunately, I didn't feel as obligated to buy something this time because we found metered parking so I avoided the ridiculous $12 parking charge for the Convention Center lot. It was a bit nervewracking however as I spent longer than expected at the sale and had to run out to put more quarters in the meter. I really hope they move the sale back to the Santa Monica airport next year!

Mid-August Farmer's Market Report and Meal

OT: still a big fan of the 35mm f/1.8g lens. I've been using it exclusively for the last couple of weeks; still need practice, but colors and textures are so sharp, I never touch up any images ever.

Today was one of those days of running around where I hit up pretty much all the markets in Santa Monica: the farmer's market, Co-op, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, my parent's house (where I picked some fresh tomatoes from the garden plus raided their never empty stash of garlic and ginger). Farmer's market currently is all about tomatoes, grapes, peppers and eggplants. Stone fruit is starting to wane and I saw quite a few stands with figs; may be time for another fig pizza soon. I bought some salad greens, red and yellow peppers, eggplants and bicolor corn. I couldn't find limes at any stands, so I went to the Co-op, which was also out of limes, but I ended up buying another bag of organic red grapes which were really good the first time and a bunch of vegan goods including some prepared Ethiopian food from Rahel's for my lunch. I then went to Trader Joe's, which finally had limes. After leaving Trader Joe's and my parents house, I realized I needed more cilantro and tomatoes, so I stopped by Whole Foods. Way too much running around! For dinner tonight, I made a shrimp and clam thai curry with seared tofu, eggplant and peppers from the morning's farmer's market. I basically followed this recipe, but added a little bit of white wine which always goes good with seafood and used an additional 2 cups of water instead of the 2nd can of light coconut milk (I realized too late that I only had 1 can in my pantry, although using my water to thin it out may actually be better). We paired the curry with a lovely crisp bottle of 2010 Denner Rose from our pass through Paso Robles in May.

Beer Tasting Trip to San Diego

On Saturday, we headed down to San Diego for a beer tasting tour of San Diego. We made it to The Bruery Provisions in Orange, Pizza Port in Carlsbad, Iron Fist Brewing in Vista, Lost Abbey in San Marcos and Stone Brewery in Escondido. We had originally planned to also hit up Alesmith, Ballast Point and Alpine, but that proved to be too aggressive of an itinerary and we headed back to LA after Stone as beer fatigue started to set in. Favorite overall was probably Iron Fist Brewing. Pizza Port was also really good, although the pizza itself wasn't that good. Stone was pretty but just felt way too commercialized and was way too busy; it took me about 20 minutes to order a beer and we originally wanted to get a table for dinner but they were all fully booked and not taking walkins for a couple of hours. All in all a great trip; we tried probably 15-20 beers in a variety of styles that we had never tried before. I was amazed at how many different beers each brewery made; before the trip, I had tried plenty of Bruery, Port Brewing and Lost Abbey beers, but I'd say that I was unfamiliar with the majority of the beers on the tasting list. We came home with a couple of bottles from the Bruery (unfortunately they didn't open for tastings until noon), a growler of Poor Man's IPA from Port Brewing and two bottles of the Velvet Glove from Iron Fist Brewing Co. We'll be back down to San Diego next weekend for Stone Brewing's 15th Anniversary party.

We got to the Bruery at 11am but unfortunately they weren't pouring until noon, so we just went shopping

Quick stop at the San Juan Capistrano Mission (we didn't actually go inside)

Pitcher of Great American Brown Ale. First beer of the day, perfect after a long car ride (traffic was terrible on the way down)

Bubonic Chronic (meh), Poor Man's IPA (really good), Whambo American Pale Ale (pretty good), Night Rider

The pizza at Pizza Port. Not great, very thick, Pizza Hut-ish pizza. Fine for eating with lots of beer though

Growler of Poor Man's IPA

Iron Fist and Lost Abbey were both in random warehouse areas which were all closed for the weekend except for the breweries which were packed. Lots of limo tours and shuttle buses, a bit of a frat party atmosphere

The Hired Hand (Saison), Gauntlet, Uprising and Velvet Glove

Witch's Wit (wheat beer), Red Barn (spiced saison), Lost & Found (I think), Road to Helles (German Lager), Serpent's Stout and a bottle of Framboise de Amorosa to take home

We took a tour of the facilities at Lost Abbey which was of interest to my brother who homebrews

Beer bottling equipment, converted from old wine bottling equipment

Nice indoor / outdoor dining area at Stone. Note: tables must be reserved in advance

Pretty gardens at Stone

Some sort of Belgian "biscotti": excellent

Stillwater / Mikkeler Two Gypsies: very good

The dogs came along with us on the trip

Frye Veronica Shortie Boots Review: A Summer to Fall Transition Piece

Frye Veronica Shortie in Full Grain Taupe Leather

It may be because of the June gloom-ish fog we've been having over the last couple of weeks with slightly cooler temperatures and the arrival of the fall collections in stores, but the transition to fall has been on my mind lately. Don't get me wrong, summer is still my favorite season by far; I'm just getting ready for fall. I've been in the mood for a pair of tough slouchy slightly grungy motorcycle-style work boots for awhile to slip on with dresses during the summer and leggings and skinny jeans in the fall / winter. After a lot of research, the Frye Veronica Shortie Boots seemed to fit the bill. I love the history of Frye; they are the oldest continually operating shoe company in the US, around since 1863 and got their start outfitting soldiers for the Civil War. They are known for quality and durability. I tried on a couple of pairs of Fryes at Bloomingdales and Nordstroms for fit and style, including the Frye Harness 12R Boot, the Frye Carmen Harness Short Boot and the Frye Veronica Slouch. I didn't want a heel and didn't like the curved up front and slippery sole of the Carmen Harness, and I couldn't even get my foot into the Harness 12R Boot (maybe my foot is too wide?), plus I didn't like the look of the squared off toe. The Frye Veronica Slouch was the most comfortable by far, but I didn't want such a tall boot, something more ankle to mid-calf for a slouchy effortless look. I found a pair Frye Veronica Shortie Boots on sale online at 6pm, the sale sister site of Zappos, in a neutral taupe full grain leather. I originally was looking for black, for more of the motorcycle look, plus I thought black might look better all beat up and worn in, but I couldn't pass up the sale price, especially for my first pair of Frye's. They arrived today thanks to free 2 day shipping (gotta love the Zappos / 6PM customer service), and I'm really excited about them. I really like the dusty worn in taupe color, the rounded toe and antiqued buckle detail, plus the leather is really soft and the construction seems to be of good quality. They need a little breaking in, but they are pretty comfortable already and slip on and off easily. (Update: ouch, I got bad blisters on heel from walking about 1 mile in the boots. I guess they need more breaking in!) In terms of sizing, I'm between a size 6.5 and 7 in most shoes and the Frye size 7 is snug but should break in fine in the front with the top part hopefully getting slouchier. The color is a little light which has me a little nervous; I definitely want them to have the broken in look without just looking dirty, so I hope they age well. I probably won't be riding the motorcycle with these boots for fear of oil and dirt stains, which is too bad because I didn't want to have to be delicate with these boots. I noticed that the leather would darken if I got drops of water on them, so I sprayed the boot with some Apple Garde Rain and Stain Repellent. I'm excited to start wearing them now and into the fall. I highly recommend checking out 6pm (and quickly before the free 2 day shipping ends tonight!)

After dinner walk with the dogs. Frye Veronica Shortie Boots with Pinky Otto dress (one of my fave NYC stores) and cheap Urban Outfitter sunglasses

Frye Veronica Shortie Boots in Full Grain Taupe with a Mango dress from Spain

I noticed that the boots were gaping a little too much around the calves in this picture so I've tightened the top buckle since

Picca Review: Artful Peruvian in a Beautiful Room

The dancing bull makes me smile, he's just so happy!

After hearing many raves from trusted bloggers and websites about Picca, which opened in June, I made a reservation for last Friday night for my family with my brother in town. I've heard a lot about Chef Ricardo Zarate; he was one of the Top New Chefs in 2011 by Food and Wine Magazine and was one of the co-owners of Test Kitchen which we visited twice, once for the now infamous Red Medicine and the other for Marcel Vigneron's pop-up. The restaurant is located right upstairs from the former Test Kitchen in a much nicer space. The space is gorgeous: light and airy feeling with lots of raw wood, soaring ceilings with a warm rustic modern feel. The open kitchen behind glass and lovely bar all contribute to a cohesive, fun and inviting room buzzing with energy.

The menu is a bit overwhelming; with so many choices and unfamiliar items, I just requested to have the chef select our dishes for us. It was a good way to try a balance of dishes from all parts of the menu. Next visit (and I definitely hope there will be a next time), I will actually be able to order for myself, but this was a good introduction to the menu. Every dish was carefully conceived, bursting with flavors (lots of new flavors to us) with interesting use of spices, sauces, garnishes and acids, and very pretty. The cocktails were also excellent, not too sweet with lots of fresh juices and ingredients. Service was very friendly and knowledgeable. The meal was a little expensive at about $75 per person before tip including 1-2 drinks; most of the items were around $10-15, but there were a couple of clear outliers including the special 32 oz ribeye at $72 and the uni and scallop tiradito at $32. They were both really good (uni scallop was my fave of the night) but I think next time we wouldn't order such expensive items ourselves and maybe wine instead of cocktails (as good as they were) and it will be much more reasonable. There's still plenty on the menu that I want to try.

Tuna Tartare with lemon soy dressing and wonton chips: fairly standard dish but all the ingredients were really fresh and the lemon really brightened this dish

Conchas a la parmesana: scallops, parmesan cheese, spinach, lemon sauce. A little rich, the cheese and sauce overwhelmed the scallops a bit

Steamed artichokes: fairly straightforward with a rich and spicy dipping sauce

Uni and scallop tiradito: my favorite dish of the day with the soft tender sweet scallops and the briny creamy sea urchin

Causa Sushi: snow crab with cucumber, avocado, huacaina sauce; shrimp with pickled cucumbers, yuzu kosho guacamole; albacore with garlic chip, ceviche sauce; spicy yellow tail with spicy mayo, green onions, wasabi tobiko. Perfect little bites; I liked the use of the finely mashed potato base in lieu of rice. I couldn't really discern the flavors of the fish with all the sauces and garnishes, but it was still good.

Ceviche crocante: halibut, leche de tigre, crispy calamari. The calamari was perfectly fried and a nice contrast to the cool, raw halibut

Ceviche mixto: mixed seafood, sweet potato, choclo. Loved the shrimp on this dish although I prefered the first ceviche overall for the fried calamari. I liked the use of these slightly spicy microgreens in many of the dishes.

Several skewers of anticuchos

L-R: Papa a la huancain: potato, quail egg, pancetta, chives; portobello mushrooms with mustard sauce, micro green salad; salmon with miso and pickled cucumbers. I really liked the mushrooms and the tender salmon, the potato was only ok

Black cod with miso anticucho, crispy sweet potato and corazon: beef heart with rocoto sauce. Black cod was pretty similar to the salmon, nice and tender. Beef heart was good although didn't really taste like heart

Arroz chaufa de mariscos: mixed seafood, peruvian fried rice, pickled radish. Delicious fried rice made different with Peruvian flavorings

32 oz ribeye: delicious dry rub with interesting chili spices cooked to a perfect medium rare with nice char and spices on the crust. Expensive at $72, but really good

Churros filled with custard and three dipping sauces: chocolate, orange and carob. My favorite was the chocolate, so delicious with the warm crunchy but soft churro oozing with cool custard!

Everything Nice: cachaca, fresh muddled strawberries, fresh lime juice, honey, cinnamon sugar, peach bitters. Delicious cocktail, like a strawberry caipairinha

Sabertooth: cachaca, muddled blueberries, apricot liquor, fresh lime juice and simple syrup. A little stronger than the "Everything Nice" which I preferred

Pisco Sour

 Picca
9575 West Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90035