Who's on Third?

Joan's on Third. This is my favorite place to have lunch while in Los Angeles. Not only is the food great--but I usually see famous people. I'll admit it, I'm a total sucker for celebrity. Although when I was in Los Angeles for the day (I hate commuting via airplane) on Monday, I didn't see anyone worthy--but I did have the most amazing Chinese Chicken salad. I also had a side of baby butter beans with fried garlic, organic olive oil, and parsley. Very tasty--but the salad overwhelmed them.

For dinner, my colleague and friend Leslie Ward, took me to Ciudad. I must admit, the company was much better than the food. I was unimpressed...

Off to Maryland at the end of the week. Looking forward to blue crabs, thrasher's french fries, and fractured prunes donuts. Sounds like the MD Diet Plate.

When Dinner is Disappointing...

and you made it. Today was a busy day--I went on a bike ride this morning over to Emeryville to go shopping at Trader Joe's and pick up a book at Border's (yes, a chain bookstore--the guilt--but they had sent me a 50% off coupon and that is hard to say no too). When I got home, Karen and I enjoyed the blue room (which is the spare bedroom in our house--it houses a spare bed and our desks)...and then I worked for most of the day. Until what we called dinner, which was anything but. I wanted to "use up" the miscellaneous food in the fridge that has been going bad. Always a bad decision. In the drawer I had week-old organic Chinese broccoli and green onions. I also had some outdated smoked tofu. While we snacked on the remaining chicken curry that was in the fridge, I stirfried the garlic, green onions, and tofu. I then took this concaction out of the pan and added some oil--and then sauteed the Chinese greens. I added a little chicken broth and some salt and better--and they were done. The unfortunate occurrence was in the other pan. Karen had some old Thai Kitchen (the WORST brand on the market) noodles, and I thought--hey, I'll just use them up. It'll be good to clear out the pantry. Bad move. I refused to use the sauce "packet" that comes with the noodles, so I made my own sauce with the Peanut Butter Company's fiery peanut butter and orange juice. Well, needless to say, the noodles were horrid. And then paired with the mediocre saute--it made for a very disappointing dinner. I hate that.

Happy Ramen

Tonight I had dinner with my friend Rachel--we've been friends since college so we're going on almost 17+ years now. We haven't seen each other in awhile, so it was nice to catch up over a steamy bowl of ramen. We went to Katanya in Albany--which is a bit of a shlep up San Pablo. It's worth the drive though (and thankfully my 20 year old car made it there AND back). I had a bowl of Chicken Teriyaki Ramen with egg and bok choy in a miso broth, while Rachel had a big bowl of ramen with little fried dumplings. It looked better than mine (ok, so I had ramen-envy)--anything fried has my undivided attention. But the dumplings were filled with pork, so I wasn't having any of it. We ordered a spicy tuna roll that didn't arrive until half way through our ramen. Rachel wouldn't have any part of it, so I was forced to eat the whole thing myself. I think my stomach is currently regretting the decision...as there are many grumblings going on. We ended up sitting there and blabbing until finally the restaurant was near empty and the waitstaff had cleared almost every table and was moving chairs around and bringing in the plants from out front. Ah, well...just proof a good friend and a good bowl of ramen can make you lose all track of time. Thanks Rachel...and Happy Birthday!

Wow...does time fly when you are eating...

Fried Chicken with mashed potatoes & green beans and biscuits at the bar at Watershed.

It's now June 8th (my brother David's birthday) and I haven't posted in ages. Think of all the food I've eaten since I last wrote. Hell, I've even been back to Atlanta twice to eat at Watershed, once even on their famed Tuesday Fried Chicken Night--and it was worth the five hour flight. I sat at the bar and ended up meeting the nicest man from Atlanta. He had just gone to the gym so that he could have the fried chicken without guilt. Me, I was sitting there stewing in guilt. Tonight I made a fierce Chicken curry with roasted eggplant. I wouldn't call the eggplant roasted, actually. I broiled it and it didn't have any of the flavor that is could have had (had I actually grilled or roasted them appropriately). It was still delicious, if I do say so myself. Hey--if you don't believe me--then ask Karen.