UNEARTHED

Pinkberry Love

As most theaters are, our local one is a little not so secret hub of cool things to do and great places to relax and spend an evening... from the $1 bookstore which is always fun to browse, to the smattering of restaurants ranging from a crepe maker to a Johnny Rockets, and chocolatiers just up the street, it's a perfect sampler of Big City within the confines of a neatly manicured little Los Angeles suburb, complete with mini lights strewn throughout the trees. It's the main drag, and really comes alive especially during the summer months where you find yourself needing to maneuver your car like a Hollywood stunt driver in order to get a parking spot. Our theater is tucked away in this enclave of coolness and late one Sunday night after a movie we walked out into the still warm valley air where a sweet pink and green glow so inviting it was almost supernatural caught our eye. We've noticed the Pinkberry here before, but never really gave it much though, it was just another place crowded with college kids in skinny jeans and way too long sideswept bangs. But this night it was empty, in fact, we had the entire area to ourselves which was surreal but absolutely awesome. We headed over for a sweet yogurt nightcap ( Live cultures? What?! ) and fell in love immediately! Frozen yogurt that tastes like actual yogurt and not processed artificial flavors? Yes please! We left with some salted caramel and pomegranate buried under fresh mangos and strawberries and couldn't have been happier.

So cut to a few weeks later, and Pinkberry has been haunting us something fierce. It was just too good. I decide to brave the literally impossible parking which is literally, impossible. But not before a quick Google to find their number and hours. Because seriously, if I ran out half a tank of gas and nearly clip a studio exec ( the odds are good on that one, trust me )who was cutting off some soccer mom in order to get a parking spot - only to find them closed, well... it would not be pretty! But what? Google? Do my eyes deceive me? Are you really suggesting I search the word 'Delivery' after Pinkberry? Oh shush! Thats crazytalk! A Pinkberry that delivers? I really doubt that one sir!

Lo and behold, this impossibly located Pinkberry delivers! (Cue the ray of sunshine and hallelujah chorus.) The yogurt gods are surely rewarding me for a childhood spent on the westside paying my dues at Penguins and The Big Chill. Now, I get to avoid the throngs of too-cool-for-school hipsters beckoned like moths to a flame by the enormous Urban Outfitters store over there AND we all get to have yogurt! Life is grand, folks. A relatively painless phone call and a half hour later we're all enjoying a little tangy mango, pomegranate, and watermelon perfection. Delivered, however, by a painfully apathetic hipster complete with tiny pants and unwashed hair.

Whatever. You can't win em all. At least the universe has a sense of humor.

xoxo

 

 

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Shrimp Cocktail Time!

   We're still whittling away at the massive amount of delicious seafood shipped over from Seattle and on this week's menu was shrimp cocktail! The shrimp looked so beautiful all gathered together, their incredible peachy color accented by their intense miniature blueberry eyes. I didn't find it disgusting or creepy until the actual work of peeling the shrimp began. My son  - the seafood connoisseur! - took the reigns on this one and was peeling shrimp lightning speed while I couldn't help but sit there and try to contain my inner freak-out at the carnage. I never realized how much work peeling shrimp was! Holy cow! It was a great experience, and tons of fun for my little guy, but I'm throwing cocktail shrimp in with the calamari category: strictly restaurant fare only from now on! So not worth the endless plucking of legs and small scale decapitations for the joy of a little shrimp cocktail! Not even kidding. Although they were indeed gorgeous looking... oh well, first time for everything!

xoxo

My little man prepping the sea critters for peeling. So sad for them, so delicious for us!

(Shrively fingers!)

Our first taste of the bounty - absolutely delicious.

Pretty much all of them were brimming with beautiful roe! I tried to convince my son to let me prepare it for him ( THAT I could do! ) but he definitely wasn't having it. Pretty cool to see and experience nonetheless.

Lunchtime!

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CHOWDER!

Only a day after our delicious Pike Place Fish Market care package arrived, we were surprised with yet another cold boxed shipment landing on the front porch! This time, however, we were delighted to find soup! But not just any soup - CHOWDER!

I have loved clam chowder my entire life, it has always been my most favorite soup, and I will never turn down a cup. I was tortured to see photos of Gina enjoying chowder in bread bowls in Seattle with the caption of "best clam chowder EVER"! So seeing some make it's way to my front door was absolute bliss, sublime happiness at it's best! She had sent us not only beloved chowder, but an AMAZING seafood bisque, AND sourdough bread bowls! I was giddy. I couldn't wait to sample it, and it was completely delicious. We all had a lovely soup lunch and were so grateful for the thoughtfulness and kindness of G.

I didn't snap any photos of the assembled masterpieces - soup and bread in culinary harmony - because honestly, it was devoured excitedly in one of the most fun home lunches we've had in forever, but trust me, it was beautiful! if this is what happens when she heads out of town solo, I've definitely got to find more places for her to go!

xoxo

A Surprise From Pike Place Fish Market

   Before the medical drama of late, we were living pretty easily, enjoying a bounty of seafood sent over by G while in Seattle! It all began with a fairly random sounding text message which consisted solely of "whats your favorite fish". And that was it! She had mentioned that she was going to visit the zoo, the Space Needle, and the Seattle Aquarium, so I assumed she had reached the aquarium leg of her daytripping and was trying to pick out some horrendous souvenir t-shirt or oversized plush animal! Apparently they were shopping the Pike Place Fish Market and were curating a delicious care package of fish to be overnighted to me here in LA!

I had no idea, and was beyond amazed and thrilled when the delivery guy drove up early the next morning and dropped off a huge box form the market! It was like Christmas in July, no exaggeration. The boys were ecstatic and couldn't wait to see what was inside, especially my older guy, who has had a serious soft spot for seafood (and especially sushi!) every since he was around 3 or 4. The look of excitement and awe on his face as we opened the package was incredible. He literally jumped for joy at each new item we pulled out from under the packed ice - there was an entire salmon, bright and gorgeous and surreal in it's color, a whole crab, clams, mussels, shrimp, squid, and sauces too! I think it was the happiest I'd seen him all summer!

Everything looked incredible. It was all so fresh and beautiful, and smelled like the ocean. That first night we prepared the salmon. We cleaned it and gave it a sea salt and minced garlic rub and baked it in the oven. It was hands down the best salmon I've ever had in my entire life. The garlic cooked down to a sweet and savory relish and was tempered perfectly by the mild sea salt. Absolutely delicious! I still can't get over the color too - a rich, intense reddish orange, so bright it didn't even look real! It tasted buttery and light, and didn't smell at all like fish - it was moist and watery and just slightly salty smelling, just like a rinsed down version of the sea. It was amazing. That salmon fed us for three days and we were sad when we finally finished it all! But what incredible meals we shared for those three days.

Just incredible color, I've never seen salmon like it, and now I'm not sure regular market salmon will ever make me happy again. I'm ruined!

As the salmon was dwindling we decided to try our hand at some homemade calamari. It seemed simple enough, and I opted to give it a go without any real practice or much thought. I had never cleaned or cooked squid before, but from a quick googling of how to prepare it the task seemed simple enough. Ahhh, famous last words! The professional chef in the web video we found made it all look like a moments worth of work, followed by a sumptuous, delectable reward. While the reward was indeed mouthwateringly good, the effort it took to get to that place was astronomical!

My son helped clean the squid, which was honestly insane! I'm going to chalk it up to my inexperience, but cleaning these things was the most time consuming and bizarre event I've ever participated in. Nothing cleaned as well as it should have, as well as our pro chef virtual instructor made us believe it would, and we were quickly elbow deep in filmy squid vertebrae, unclassifiable jelly like substances, little pinching beaks (which delighted the kids beyond words!) and ruptured ink sacs! It was a beautiful mess, but when a 30 minute prep time turned into 2 hours I was pretty close to chucking these poor creatures and heading to Olive Garden for some nice, mess free restaurant calamari!

We stuck it out though, and in the end, it was delicious. We cleaned our squid meticulously, and it all looked wonderful. We also created our own flour batter, seasoned with thyme and a hint of garlic, just a touch of oregano... and a few minutes in the pan with some virgin olive oil and viola! We had a mini homemade calamari feast. Despite the trouble it took to get everything to plate, I can't say I'd never do it again. It was nice spending time with the kids creating a shared meal, where everybody took part in it from beginning to end. I know I'll never forget this culinary adventure and I doubt the kids will either!

Cleaned and ready to go! It really looked amazing at this point, and I definitely developed a new appreciation for the dish.

This was definitely an adventure, but it's awesome to have had the pleasure to give it a try! Not sure what we'll do with the rest of our amazing care package... I guess I'll have to look up some recipes for mussels and clams! Looks like more kitchen experimenting awaits!

xoxo

 

 

Mmmm, Pizza Pie!

Look what I made? Homemade pizza!

   I LOVE love love pizza, and decided to give a homemade version a try recently. I've made this before, with just mozzarella and spaghetti sauce, but this time busted out the fancy moves with some old fashioned marinara and some Jarlsberg cheese mixed with a bit of grated parmesan. It sounds like an unusual marriage of cheeses but it was awesome! Oh! And the dough was whole wheat! Doesn't get much better than that. Definitely adding this version into regular rotation in the UNEARTHED household!

xoxo

Dinner at Litchfield's

   During our most recent AZ adventure we decided to try out The Wigwam's house restaurant Litchfields. Although I've previously been a guest at The Wigwam, I never made an effort to take the time to actually dine there. Looking back, that was one of the poorest decisions I've ever made while traveling! Litchfield's is spectacular. Their motto is 'farm to table' and a majority of their offerings are organic and locally grown. The menu seemed sparse at first, but oh how they have under-represented everything! We ordered a cheese platter because I have a deep and abiding love of cheese. The menu simply stated: Cheese platter - goat, sheep, cow"... I expected some samplings of cheese and perhaps some breads or crackers, but what came was a bowl full of sesame honey, three delicious and generous offerings of cheese, pomegranate seeds, toasted wafers and a handful of walnuts! It was amazing!

The entire meal was surprisingly incredible as well, right down to the perfectly prepared and delectable creme brulee. If you ever find yourself anywhere near the Litchfield Park area of Arizona and are jonesing for some mind blowingly good food, make a bee-line for Litchfield's. This was without a doubt one of the most incredible meals I've ever had, and can't wait to make the trip back again!

Also really loved the open kitchen. You could watch your entire meal being prepared over open fire right there in front of you. Just gorgeous.

We came at suck a beautiful time of day too - the sun was still bright but about to start setting. It felt so beautiful streaming in the windows like it did. Just everything about this experience was wonderful.

Rose petal martini I think this was! All I know is that is was good enough to prompt a re-order when this one was gone. The flavor was light and definitively rosey, but without being too pungent or perfume-y as many rose flavored things tend to be.

Aaaahhhhh...... delicious fresh bread.

The infamous cheese platter! Which will forever set the bar for cheese platters to come!

This was a delicious offering: chopped steak with wild mushrooms and mash. Holy smokes was this good. We also ordered lamb chuletas but I failed to get a decent photo, so you'll have to take our word for it when we say that those were simply beautiful and equally delicious.

And a side of baked sweet potatoes - my favorite!

Creme Brulee fit for a king.

We finished up our meal and took a stroll around the restaurant. there are photographs everywhere from the first days of Litchfield Park, all the original settlers, businessmen, cowboys and tourists through the years. I rather enjoyed just taking a few long moments to appreciate the history of the place. 

There were also leather bound photo albums filled with years and years worth of old original black and white photographs! These were amazing! Definitely worth seeking out.

All in all it was an incredibly wonderful evening - an impromptu pit stop that made for a truly memorable experience.

 

Cupcake Time

  

   It's a gloomy Saturday morning in Los Angeles. It's been raining and overcast all week, but somehow the clouds seem heavier and darker today. It makes me quiet and contemplative. It also makes for a completely perfect excuse to eat a cupcake in bed.

White cake with dark chocolate filling and a cream cheese icing with toasted coconut. From the local cupcake shop. So good. I wish more gloomy days came with cupcakes.

Gordon Ramsay, eat your heart out

My foray into experimental cooking has been quite rewarding, particularly in the case of this delectable pork roast I made the other night! G decided to venture on a day trip into the land of enormous paper towels and unusually large meats more familiarly known as Costco and this twine-bound cut was among the bounty she returned with. Neither of us had ever roasted a pork loin before, and upon scouring Google for a satisfying if not mouth watering recipe but coming up with nil, I took it upon myself to turn this army's worth of meat into something amazing.

We happened to have a bottle of Sangria the size of which would shock Dionysus himself and with that, some cranberry juice, fresh lemons and garlic I managed to create an utterly unique culinary adventure! 

As odd as those ingredients sound together it was actually quite delicious. I'd post the recipe, but it was admittedly a bit haphazard in it's spontaneity...

Freshly minced garlic. Along with sea salt and garlic salt, this made up the rub.

Fresh lemons for some zest.

Sangria and cranberry juice mixture for the soak - it smelled amazing! The light scent of wine soaked up into the meat and the sweet tang from the cranberry juice just made it perfect.

Tada! Sweet and savory pork loin with candied yams and home made ambrosia salad! Not to bad for some recipe-less spontaneous cooking!

Winter Dinner Experiments Vol.1

    The chill that is passing through Los Angeles this winter has instilled in me the desire to fill my home with delicious aromas and the warmth that emanates from an oven filled with delectable culinary concoctions. Perhaps it's the extra time being spent indoors around family, the longer nights, or just the nostalgic comfort that comes with walking into a room that smells like freshly baked pie, but either way I am very much in the mood to cook!

I really should cook more often, but a roaring oven doesn't quite entice me when it's nearing 100F outside and a cool, blue pool can be seen from the oven range! So I'm taking advantage of this favorable cooking weather while I can and am whipping up some old school deliciousness, one comfort food at a time!

1st experiment of the season? Beef Stroganoff! I found an old recipe in my ancient recipe stash, tweaked it a bit, and it came out AMAZING. Behold the photographic evidence:

This was the very first time I had attempted to make this dish, and everything was made completely from scratch. Which was actually surprisingly easy. It's totally going on the official household dinner roster!

I really wish I could accurately relay how incredibly mouthwatering the kitchen and dining room smelled on the evening this was cooked! It was beyond! Everyone ate heartily and I'm already pondering the second incarnation of our now infamous stroganoff. One word - portobellos!