The Game Ended...

So Karen and I were playing a game that involved not going to the store and only eating what we had here in the house--in the fridge, freezer, and pantry. It was adventurous and fun to start--grilled cheese sandwiches with organic tomato soup. We then had spaghetti with turkey tomato sauce. We ended up eating that for three nights straight without tiring of it. We seriously cleaned out the freezer and then last night I made the mistake of only cooking out of the fridge and mostly the pantry--and what a mistake that was.

It's amazing how a bad meal can ruin an evening and one's mood. I was excited when I got home to go into the kitchen to do some digging around and come up with a menu. It was slim pickings--I noticed I have far too many sauces/condiments and not enough items of substance. So here is what I came up with...(you can see how horrid it looks). I called it TRIO with a side of spuds:

Tofu-Egg Salad on toasted english muffins
Hummus on semi-stale rice cakes
Aged Gouda on not so fresh crackers
Trade Joe's Scalloped Potatoes.

Wow did that meal suck. Karen wouldn't even eat more than a bit of the tofu-egg salad, and I don't blame her. Somehow the silken tofu was just a bit too silken...She was a trooper though and didn't complain too much. Although I know she went to bed hungry. Poor thing. I love to cook because I love to feed Karen. I love to make her happy and she is always so appreciative. Even though I made this meal with love, it's clear that 90% of a meal's strength is in the ingredients. Although I'm sure that Mario or some other great chef would actually have pulled this off. Well, maybe I just need practice. There is indeed more crap clogging up my cupboard. There's always tomorrow...

Los Angeles

I was back in Los Angeles last Friday & Saturday, and it amazes me that every trip I go on is orchestrated around food. What makes me most excited about traveling is knowing where I am going to eat and where I might be eating. This trip was no exception. I landed in LA early on Friday morning--didn't have to be at my sales conference until 1:30--and I hopped in my rental car and immediately drove over to Joan's on Third. OK, so I made a pitstop at Jet Rag to look for some new used clothes--and then went to Joan's. It's more crowded than ever...and more delicious. I love that it is like a European market with all of the cheeses, breads, and condiments you can buy--and a long counter filled with fresh meats, salads, and desserts. I ended up getting the Trio Plate, which is three salads served on a bed of field greens. I chose the beet salad, edamame salad, and was talked into the Szechuan string beans by the nice guy helping me. By "talked into" I mean he handed me a small taster of the beans and I was sold. I washed it all down with an iced tea (which they refill for free) and a hunk of fresh french bread.

Then I had to go to my sales meeting. Thankfully, they had donuts and other goodies to keep the Reps amped and the afternoon passed quickly (mostly because I was talking for three hours straight).

After the meeting, one of my local Reps took me to a Japanese restaurant that she and her family love. I walked in and all of the staff do the typical Japanese greeting--they all call out and it's very welcoming and actually cracks me up. I sat down at our reserved table and waited for the others to arrive. We ordered the most amazing Sake (I wrote it down somewhere!), and then Leslie ordered most of the dishes that arrived at the table. I was in heaven, as a lot of the food reminded me of the food I'd had in Japan--the homemade tofu in Kyoto, the izikaya in Tokyo, and the sashimi at a small restaurant near the Tjukiji Fish Market. The restuarant's name was YABU, and they have two locations in LA. We ate quite a bit that night--ginko nuts, iced tofu, chawan-mushi, egglant, spicy tuna salad, and more. Leslie and I then headed over to the Beverly Hills Hotel to have a drink at the Polo Lounge. We had Hangar 1 Mandarin vodka with a splash of cran. Sooooo good.