Food Snapshots from the iPhone

I just can't stop eating!

Bouchon Bistro - Las Vegas, NV

Georgetown Cupcake - Los Angeles, CA

Snooze AM Eatery - San Diego, CA

Davanti Enoteca - Del Mar, CA

Lappert's Ice Cream - San Diego, CA

Brockton Villa - La Jolla, CA

"Naughty Burrito" Brockton Villa- La Jolla, CA

Monello - "Little Italy
 San Diego, CA

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Snapshots from the iPhone- Cute edition

Recent pictures from my iPhone...summer to now. With lots of pictures of Ava and some food and Joseph and his Angry Bird obsession. Life is good and life is happy.
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Saturday EAT-DAY: Los Angeles Edition!

Spent the weekend up in Los Angeles eating one of my favorite places and also trying new ones. Went to True Food Kitchen and decided to try everything different on the menu, with the exception of the Weekend Warrior Smoothie. Everything came out so tasty and just so well executed. Ava even got to try a little bit of the sweet potato hash! But from the picture, looks like she is diggin the Johnny Quinoa Cake (basically blueberrypancakes with red quinoa in the batter topped with greek yogurt and fresh blueberries).

Kale, apple juice, ginger, and some other healthy stuff.

Juicy burger and the whole wheat flax bun was a bonus!

Refreshing and doesn't taste bitter at all!

Scramble loaded with veggies served on top of a bed of sweet potato hash.

I love the thinness of this johnny cake and the crunch from the red quinoa.

Ava says, "ME WANT, ME WANT!!"

 After True Food Kitchen, we headed out to the Los Angeles Farmer's Market at Third and Fairfax. Lots of small eateries to try and little shops to buy things from. In addition, The Grove shopping plaza is literally right next to the Farmer's Market!! Double shop time!

Famous farmer's market in Los Angeles

Mendocino Farms, you are so awesome!!! I've read about their Kurobuta Banh Mi Sandwich (Kurabota is basically pork belly and banh mi is a Vietnamese French sub usually with pickled carrots and radishes topped with fresh cilantro and jalapeno). So the Kurobuta Banh Mi is Mendocino Farm's take on the real Banh Mi. What makes this one different? Instead of french bread they use a thin ciabatta bread and they press it in some kind of panini press. I'll have to admit, this totally beats out a regular banh mi sandwich. I'd say this is up there with burrata cheese (my other love).

Conveniently next to the Farmer's Market! Eater's paradise!

Yummmmy menu!

Great tasting Po Boy, only wished the french roll was toasted :/

I'M IN LOVE!!

 After being in heaven with the Kurobuta Banh Mi, we headed back to the farmer's market to try something in order to validate our parking. My mom saw this cute little coffee/pastry shop that had nice cute little desserts. The place Short Cake made such a pretty latte.

Pretty!!

It was such a great day in Los Angeles, granted it was a little on the hotter side but nonetheless it was fun eating and going to new places. Hopefully next weekend I'll be back for some more fun!

True Food Kitchen
395 Santa Monica Place
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 593-8300

Mendocino Farms
175 S. Fairfax Ave Suite B
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 934-4261

Short Cake
6333 W. 3rd St. Stall #316
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 761-7976


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NINE-TEN's Half Baked Chocolate Cake

Insane!

This dessert dish is based off the item my husband had at NINE-TEN restaurant in La Jolla, California. We ate here last year for San Diego Restaurant Week with our friends and was one of the dessert offerings. Not entirely sure what a half baked chocolate cake would taste like, my husband decided to give it a try. My friend's boyfriend also decided on the "HBCC" (Abbreviated version).

The consensus after tasting this at NINE-TEN was pretty much "OMG!!" kind of reaction. This cake is exactly what name is "Half-Baked Chocolate Cake". A year later, my husband still craves for it, as well as my friend. So I said, "find me the recipe and I will make it!"

Focus on the center..it is like a chocolate lava pit

You can find this recipe and Chef Jack Fisher showing you how to make the dessert from start to finish on YouTube here.

Recipe calls for:

9.5 oz of bittersweet chocolate 50-60%
5 oz unsalted butter
5 egg yolks
5 eggs
5 oz granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons flour

Put butter in saucepan to melt. Get all the eggs and sugar in the mixer to start whisking on medium. Once the butter is melted, add the chocolate chips to stir to combine. By then, the eggs should be ready to add the two tablespoons of flour. Add the butter/chocolate mix to the beaten eggs, stir to combine. Pour it in a deep baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. **This is where it can make or break for you with this dessert**

On my first attempt. I baked at 8.5 minutes with the "deep" dish I had. The cake came out like a regular chocolate cake. Granted, it was still delicious to eat with ice cream, but it wasn't "Half Baked". No gooey, ooozey, deliciousness.

Attempt #1..Not exactly half-baked..I blame the dish

On attempt #2, I decided to fill the bowl with double the amount and baked at about 10 minutes. So if you have a shallow bowl, reduce your bake time, deeper the bowl, go with the recipe time. Second attempt came out PERFECT! Add a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream and the dessert is heavenly.

Chocolate Lavaaaa Pit

Remember, the dish you use will make or break this dessert. Look for dessert bowls that are deep and can withstand high bake temperatures. This dessert is definitely a crowd pleaser. Enjoy! Pin It Now!

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Happy 4th at True Food Kitchen San Diego!!

The previous Sunday I planned with my friend to try out this new restaurant called True Food Kitchen down in Fashion Valley, San Diego. When I got there, they had a sign saying they were closed for employee training!! WHAT THE H-E-L-L! Ava was all dressed up ready to have brunch with the girls.

Excited and disappointed!! Boo!! Closed!! Too bad she really had no clue though!

So we ended up at Farmhouse Cafe instead (not bad at all mind you, but I was really looking forward to TFK). *Sad face, Sad face*. Fast forward 3 days and a day off from work, I thought let's give this a second go and I called ahead to make sure they were opened on July 4th!!

Let's go get our grub on Momma!

The menu at True Food Kitchen is created based on Dr. Weil's Anti-Inflammatory Diet and Food Pyramid. According to Dr. Weil: “Following an anti-inflammatory diet can help counteract the chronic inflammation that is a root cause of many serious diseases, including those that become more frequent as people age. It is a way of selecting and preparing foods based on science that can help people achieve and maintain optimum health over their lifetime.”

So let's eat!!

Definitely refreshing!

All their natural refresher juices are squeezed when order so everything is super fresh and you can definitely taste it. As if you were in your own kitchen making this drink.

Let's dig in!

The onion tart was sooo tasty!! The smoked garlic didn't have a strong taste of garlic at all which made me super happy because I get freaked out of big chunks of garlic no matter how you cook it. The black figs gave it a nice sweet taste to counterbalance the gorgonzola. I wanted more!!

Chunk-a-licious!

Mountain of gold here.

Gimme gimme!!

This "salad" might as well be put under the entree section cause this thing was HUGINORMOUS! The red and yellow watermelon cubes were at least 2.5"x2.5" big, not even kidding! This dish is actually really simple to make since there was no vinaigrette that was tossed with it. Just simple olive oil and some fresh pepper. The sweet watermelon and heirloom tomatoes made it the highlight of this dish.

Boring looking? Maybe yes.. Yucky tasting? Absolutely not!!

I've heard of spaghetti squash before, but all the times looking at recipes and pictures just grosses me out for some reason. After trying to decide what to choose for the entree, I decided on this since my mom was pushing for something different, or more like something we are both weirded out by. So spaghetti squash casserole it is!! I can't believe this thing is soo good. I would rather eat this anyday over real spaghetti! I wonder if I can trick Joseph into eating this!?! (I guess I can add that to my goal list). The dish itself was sweet and not acidic at all. Maybe it's because of the organic tomatoes? Either way, I think this was a really great choice.

No fuss dessert!

We were pretty full by dessert, but since we came all this way, we might as well try one of their desserts. This was the one that stood out since I've never had an olive oil cake. Neither has my mom so that was an easy decision. The cake had a nice almond taste. Overall, I truly like this restaurant, I love the concept, the food, the decor, and I can't wait to bring the "Hub" and try other dishes.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY from Forks and Kisses!

True Food Kitchen
Fashion Valley Mall
7007 Friars Rd, Ste 394
San Diego, CA 92108
P: 619.810.2929

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