So Super Baked Carrot French Fries

You know what's better than French fries? Putting carrots in a French fry outfit and tricking yourself into thinking that you're eating French fries.

I learned about this awesome little recipe from Geri's blog, and it looked easy enough. I'm still at a "3-5 ingredients, 3-5 steps" level of recipe proficiency. Watch, one day I'll be slow roasting whole pork shoulders and pickling my own kimchee! But baby steps, people. Anyway, my roomie Louise and I tried baking some carrots other night!

I've decided that musical selection is very important for cooking. For my Boursin chicken, I was cooking to Prince; these carrots were made to Lex Luger instrumentals.

Tyga "Lap Dance"! UHHHHHH!



SO SUPER BAKED CARROT FRENCH FRIES

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
6-8 Carrots

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Then...Ree-ree-ree! Sharpen your knife like so.Cut the carrots thinly into 2" sections.
Toss the carrot slices in a bowl with the extra virgin olive oil and salt.
The recipe says to lay the carrots out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I will do that next time, but this time we improvised with a pizza stone baking thingy thing lined with aluminum foil. I KNOW ITS GHETTO, SHUT UP.
Bake for 18-22 minutes, and then pull those suckers out and season with more salt. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce or don't. I like my fries plain!

Son of a Gun!

Is now open for lunch on the weekdayyyssss! I SAID HELL YEAH. HELL YEAH. And it's not all shitshow-ish during the day like it is for dinner. Their fried chicken sandwich is to die for. Not to mention their lobster rolls and shrimp toast. Plus any place where you get to drink water out of mason jars gets automatic cool points.

Another tip: Son of a Gun stays open super late on the weekends, which makes it a good gourmet alternative to your typical tacos, dirty dogs, diners.

Son Of A Gun
8370 W. 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(323) 782-9033

So Super Boursin, Pancetta, and Mushroom Stuffed Chicken

One of my new year's resolutions is to stop playing around and learn how to cook ONCE AND FOR ALL. What that means is that if I'm going to learn how to cook, you're all coming with me. I'm going to document this culinary journey whether you like it or not. I'm making my friends cook with me, and I'm forcing people to eat what I make. Are we clear? Good, let's continue. :)

I've been prowling around the internet looking for recipes...some of my favorite fashion haunts like Because I'm Addicted and Milk and Mode have strong culinary content, and I've made some new discoveries like So Delushious (Okay how cute is Chrissy Teigen, I mean really.)

Since I'm always either in the middle of breaking one diet or about to start a new one, I've been looking at low-carb recipes, and I found a good recipe for stuffed chicken on the aforementioned So Delushious blog of Chrissy Teigen. I modified it a bit, replacing the bacon strips with pancetta and diced mushrooms. Also this recipe yields 4 servings instead of 2. Check out my recipe below, and be sure to check out Chrissy's here.

So Super Boursin, Pancetta, and Mushroom Stuffed Chicken

Ingredients:
4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 pkg. Boursin cheese
1 pkg. Pancetta
8 slices prosciutto
10-12 crimini mushrooms
1 lemon, juiced
Salt and pepper
2 cups chicken stock
10-12 cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Other stuff needed:
1 Deep pan
Metal spatula or meat tenderizer
Saran wrap

So. First, pour yourself a glass a wine, because we're about to cook and we need to get through this.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Now lightly oil the bottom of a deep pan. Okay. Onto the chicken. Rinse the chicken breasts, then place one piece of the chicken breast on top of a piece of Saran wrap. Cover it with another piece of Saran wrap and pound it lightly with the back of a metal spatula to make it super thin and flat. Repeat with the remaining chicken breasts. Once that's done, spread the Boursin cheese generously onto the chicken breasts. Sprinkle pancetta and mushrooms over the Boursin cheese.
Now, roll from the short side in. Wrap two pieces of prosciutto around each chicken roll, making sure not to overlap too much. Place into lightly greased pan. Season with lemon, salt and pepper. Check out my sous chef in action! Lemoning (yes I've decided this is a verb) the chicken rolls! From my experience cooking (all 5 minutes of it), I've found that it's helpful to have a capable sous chef. It also helps if he/she is really cute.
Okay good! Almost there! Pour the chicken stock into the bottom of the pan and drop in your cherry tomatoes. Place the pan on the middle rack and bake for 55 minutes.
Spoon the stock over the chicken every 10-15 minutes.
And 55 minutes later, boom. Check these bad boys out!
The chicken, while low in carbs, is pretty hearty, so I think it's best served with veggies. I made a spinach/arugula salad to go with it.
We did it! The chicken tasted good and we're all still alive! Yayyyy more adventures to come soon.

Miss Lily's

Go and whatever you do, get the cod fritters. Life-changing.

Miss Lily's
132 West Houston Street
New York, NY 10012

Cafe Gratitude

The "I am whole." One big bowl of goodness gracious.

The "I am magical." Veggie burger.

I love meat as much as the next carnivore, but I get down with vegan cuisine on a regular basis. Cafe Gratitude is heaven for vegans. If yoga was a meal, it would be this place. All dishes are named with affirmations, and your server gives you a quote of the day after you place your order. It's very "LA zen" of them, and I LOVE IT.

Cafe Gratitude
639 Larchmont Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90004

Fonuts

I'm still unsure about the fonuts revolution. Try it for yourself, and tell me what you think.

Fonuts
8104 West 3rd St.
Los Angeles, CA 90048

Mother Dough Pizza

This neapolitan pizza spot opened up in Silverlake earlier this year, an awesome addition to the neighborhood. There are only 5 or 6 pizzas to choose from that are all amazing. And the limited choices are perfect for the indecisive folk like myself.

NY Off Duty

Summer Clouds

La Birerria

Ceiling at Hotel Delmano

Oysters at the Dressler

Desserts at the Dressler

Daily Affirmations

Bruschetta at Rubirosa

The Sunset view from the Rivington rooftop

Clae Footwear's 10 Year Anniversary party

Lobster Roll at BLT Fish

Commissary

Last week, I DJ'ed at Commissary, my go-to coffee joint when I'm mid-city. During my 7p-10p set, they served treats like Cool Haus mint chip ice cream topped with a shot of espresso, as well as pork sliders from the Flat Iron Truck. The coffee kept flowing, and I was bouncing off the walls by the end of the evening.

If you're in the Fairfax/Melrose area, definitely stop by. They brew amazing coffee brands like Coava, Victrola, and Sightglass. My favorite drink there is the iced Cubano. Hopefully we'll be doing more DJ evenings soooooon. If you follow me on Twitter or sign up for my email list, you'll be the first to know!

Summer

Salad pizza from Abbot's Pizza

My sister's homemade shrimp skewers

Summer fooooooooooodz from the Father's Day dinner my sister, mom, and I put together. My dad is a master gardener, so we felt there was no better way to show dad appreciation than to set up a dinner in his garden and admire his craft. It was the best.

Happy summer!

Le Dauphin

"J'ai deux amours" - Madeleine Peyroux (An Education soundtrack)

The main objective whilst in Paris was to experience Le Chateaubriand, Inaki Aizpitarte's gastronomic eatery that is so highly applauded by foodies and chefs all around the world. Prior to our departure, we set our alarm clocks for 6am every morning in an attempt to call the reservationist as soon as the restaurant opened. What we got as a result was a long voicemail message on the other end of the line saying that Le Chateaubriand would be closed for renovation for the entire week that we'd be there. ...WHAT?!?!?!?!

Enter Le Dauphin. Le Dauphin is Aizpitarte's sister restaurant next door to Le Chateaubriand. While men hammered away at the construction zone that was Le Chateaubriand, we noshed on a light and delicious prix-fixe lunch next door at the modern minimally decorated Le Dauphin. Very delicious, but hopefully next time we'll be able to try Le Chateaubriand.

Le vin

Rouget, Pois chiche, fenouil & olive noire de Kalamata

Gigot d'agneau, pois chiche, fenouil & olive noire de Kalamata

Foie de veau, tabouleh de celeri, & pommes

Maquereau, betterave, & graines

The French and I really see eye to eye on dessert. All of my favorite things.

1. Coffee

2. Cheese and butter and bread for dessert. Hell yes.

3. Strawberries and creme fraiche.

Fin.