Foodie Friday - Jinky's

So, I know, I blipped for the entire month of April. No blog posts, no music, no movies, no spices - how have you coped?!

Well, I'm back. I'm still in the depths of preparation for my thesis production, 'PAINS OF YOUTH', but I'm certainly over the hump and likely able to blog more.

Off for lunch with a friend I haven't seen for months - another casualty of this directing life! - at Jinky's cafe in Santa Monica. Yes, I will be having Chili Fries.

How are you?

Foodie Friday - The Rustic Stone

I seem to love any restaurant with the word 'Rustic' in the title. The latest resident of the corner of George's St and Exchequer St in Dublin 2 is The Rustic Stone, a venture into hearty and heart-healthy cooking by Dylan McGrath.

I had the minestrone to start, which was magnificent, bolstered by really delicious chorizo and some filigree cheese around the wooden bowl in which it came. Then I had the pasta pesto, which came with MORE cheese, but was also delicious - the black olives were a great touch. Deciding to be decadent, I had the chocolate soup for dessert - literally on the very brink of being 'too much' - but not quite ;)

Good wine, nice ambience, great service, excellent food. A replacement for Gruel? Not quite. Or, at least, not yet. But definitely worth a visit.

Foodie Friday - Il Caffe di Napoli

We took my dad out for a nice dinner last night (after his team was beaten in rugby) - at Caffe di Napoli on Westland Row in Dublin.

I had the most indulgent thing I think I've eaten in a very long time - a steak served with a delicious sauce (its base was balsamic vinegar) and then topped - get this - with pate! Waaay too luxurious to be even remotely healthy. But delicious.

And so filling that I don't think any of us had any room for dessert! (Although I sent Aidan and Orla home with a box each of chocolate pretzels ;)

Foodie Friday - Butler's Hot Chocolate

After my pontificating yesterday about giving up Chocolate, I was thinking about all the kinds of chocolate that I love, and would therefore miss. I'm no particular fan of chocolate soup, or any chocolate involvement in savoury items - although the mole negro at Monte Alban in Santa Monica is tremendous.

I was pretty much raised on drinking chocolate, mind you. It was a ritual in our house that at least two of us would have a cup of drinking chocolate (NOT cocoa) every night before bed. In France, on our camping holidays, my parents would often adjourn to the bar after putting us to sleep, where my mother would always have 'un chocolat chaud'. Last summer, in Samos, I had a very lovely cup of it, in the little dining area of a lovely cheapo hotel, much to the bemusement of the smiling Greek lady who prepared it for me.

I am looking forward to visiting Butler's Chocolate cafe in Dublin while I'm home - they make it quite beautifully. Somehow, though, I always associate their plush styrofoam cups with travel - probably because the two outlets of their franchise that I frequent the most are the ones in Heuston Station and Dublin Airport!

UPDATE (March 17th) - Orla and I had a delicious pair of hot chocolates, and a pear muffin, of all things, on our day of fun meandering around the city centre. Mission accomplished!

Foodie Friday - Kebabs vs Burritos

The true star of the Fast Food scene in Dublin has to be AbreKEBABra - "where the food is only magic". I won't comment further, apart from stating that I have never eaten there. And likely never will. That said, here is photographic evidence that Ireland's finest - Colin Farrell and Keith Duffy - both have been there. At least once.

What is it with mankind and the obsession to roll up rough-chopped meat in bread, pittas, kebabs etc? Don't get me wrong, it's delicious on occasion, but why would anyone think it a good idea to eat such things on a stomach already filled with Beer???

What do I know.

There are no such kebab chains in LA, unfortunately. But we do have Chipotle - which, I learned recently - is worth something like $4BILLION to the young fella who set it up, comparatively recently, with a loan from his dad. Maybe someone should tell the magicians of Abrakebabra that they should think bigger?!

Foodie Fridays - Shamrock Shakes

Well, to be sure, tis the season for everything Oirish again. Begorrah.

(The US seems to relish Paddywhackery far more than was ever evident in Dublin, be Jaysus...)

However, nothing at all says St. Patrick's Day to me like the reappearance of commercials and posters for Shamrock Shakes at McDonalds. Can there be anything better than a mint-flavoured sugary milkshake to wash down your burger and fries?

What I didn't know - and I must thank the ever-brilliant Michael K of dListed for this - is that the Shamrock Shake actually has a MASCOT. His name is Uncle O'Grimacey. Apparently he even had his own commercials, in the dim-and-distant past. Thanks to the glorious interweb, I can share this with you...

March 17th is actually my father's birthday. So it tends to be more about him than about greenery, snake-banishing and hardcore drinking at my house!

Foodie Friday - Novel Cafe

Lots of fun meals this week - two of them took place at Novel Cafe in Westwood. This has been something of a home-away-from-home for me throughout my time in UCLA. It's never particularly noisy (mainly because there isn't enough room in there for it to get too bad) - and they have good, hearty food and a really friendly staff. To cap it off, however - their main wall is covered in bookshelves full of totally random books FOR SALE!

So of course I love it.

Today's meal was a pretty great carbonara with Daniel Mahler (yes, he's related to the composer) in advance of Carmelites opening night. I think I'm going to have to try to cook a carbonara at home one of these days. Maybe with capers.

While Novel's coffees aren't exactly inspiring, their food is often just right. Particularly, their pastas, sandwiches and burgers! But in 30 months or so I've seen or tried just about everything on the menu, and really you can't go wrong.

Foodie Friday - SUR, West Hollywood

It was one of my lovely flatmates' birthday last Saturday, so we went out for dinner in Sur, a restaurant and bar in WeHo. It has the dubious claim to fame of being the domain of one of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. (The English one, with the dogs and the ex-live-in-Cedric). The whole place is quite impossibly LA - white linen everywhere, chandeliers, FAR too many mirrors for an eatery - unless, of course the clientele are more likely to look at themselves than actually eat anything... - random ethnic art. Think Buddha-Bar, via Marrakech, via Paris...

There were rose petals and flickering candles throughout, and when a bizarre party of young Asian people with one dodgy-looking white dude stayed at 'our' table too long, they swiftly magicked up a new one for us, out on the non-patio patio area. We all squeezed in and started perusing the ENORMOUS menus. A very nice bottle of prosecco came quickly, but water was rather harder to come by. For all that, the staff were very good to us. A legion of gym-prepped, beautiful people who make up in beauty what they lack in smarts.

I ordered the lamb, which was amazingly prepared and presented. For some reason I thought I'd be virtuous so I didn't actually get fries with it - I had broccoli and mashed potatoes - but it was all really good. For dessert a display of delicious cupcakes and a flare had been prepared for the birthday boy. Very chic, obviously. Less chic - but far more LA - is the fact that during our meal that doyenne of class, sophistication and erudition, Snooki de JerseyShore, showed up for dinner. Like many of the clientele in this rather dark, low-lit emporium, she never took her sunglasses off.

Afterwards we went to a rather famous club up the street. All of our party were carded, with the exception of the birthday boy and yours truly, who were waved in with a bored nod from the bouncer. Obviously we are now over the hill.

Happy Birthday!

Foodie Friday - Cafe Leon

Sometime early in 2007 I was introduced to Cafe Léon in Dublin by an inveterate tea-drinker, and fell instantly in love. Seemingly overnight, there were three of them- all within spitting distance of each other between Exchequer Street and Dame Lane. Their tea was good (in those posh silken teabags) and every hot drink came to your table accompanied by a little pyramid of Toblerone. Who wouldn't love that?

Of course, their largest venue also had a proper dinner menu (along with a sinfully indulgent array of pastries and cakes) - and was wonderful. Their croques, salads and particularly their Boeuf Bourgignon still make my mouth water.

Sadly, this yuppie heaven was a true bubble of fat as the Celtic tiger cooked in its own grease- by 2008 it was always jammed with the kind of people one originally went there to avoid, and the last time I was home in Dublin they were all gone. Mais à ne pas oublier!

Foodie Friday - Anne Burrell

I LOVE the way Anne Burrell cooks. Although I fear she uses too much salt. Like, WAY too much. But her Italian recipes are so delicious-looking, and her attention to detail and flavour are so enthusiastic, I'm a fan. Flavour action! Garlic destiny! Thank you for coming bowl! Etc.

Foodie Friday - UNAGI!

Monica took me to a sushi restaurant in the Valley some time ago, called Katsyua - it is her favourite place. We all tend to be a little wary of such things, thinking "Oh yeah, sure, your favourite will be just fine for you, but it can't compare to MY favourite..." and so on. Monica WINS. Hands down.

It's a nice small place, you'd never notice it if you weren't looking for it, and the interior is bright. The staff are actually Japanese (don't ask me why, but it's a big deal for me at a Japanese restaurant!) and the green tea comes fast.

I put myself completely in Monica's hands, and she insisted I try some eel and the house specialty, something called rock shrimp. This shrimp comes in a big pile on a plate, slathered in a tomatoey-mayonnaisey-secret sauce. Incredibly good.

BUT the revelation of the night - and what I have happily taken with me for life! - was her insistence on the unagi. I have seen a variety of eels - both electric and not - in my life, and I think they have the lot of being among the most hideous-looking creatures in creation. Needless to say, I had little desire to eat them. I was wrong - clearly their ugliness is compensated in their deliciousness.

I've had unagi nearly every time I've eaten sushi since. (It's cooked - this helps.)

At a rather dingy Japanese restaurant this week I was served a horrifically badly-proportioned order of it, and the eel flesh was cut in such a way that I could see the texture of its insides and even the curvature of the dead animal's body. I honestly thought I would gag on it. But I managed - and it didn't taste bad at all. (Note to US American sushi-preparers - less is more. No, really. Small portions = delicate, appealing, appropriate and better. Thank you.)

Foodie Friday - Profeta Coffee

Ok so, this isn't strictly 'food', but it's the culinary establishment that I've been to more often, I think, than ANYWHERE ELSE in LA. (And that includes Jerry's Deli. Where I hadn't been for many months before the horrific Hepatitis scare before Christmas - and to which I certainly won't be rushing anytime ever again...)

Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce you to the wonder of Profeta in Westwood. I won't tell you where it is, because I don't want this amazing secret to become toooo well-known. But try it. Their coffee is a little bit of bliss in a cup. Every single time. (It helps that your beverage is prepared by two baristas, that their coffee is fresh ground, that they use whole milk, and that their small but fabulous selection of pastries and treats is uniformly delicious.)

So go! Try them out. And when you've had ten drinks, your eleventh is free.

(Oh, and the staff are impossibly cool, as is the music they play.)

A New Look!

Well Hello!

I'm sorry I didn't make it into 2011 with a blogpost, but I managed to pick up a cold between 8pm and midnight on New Year's Eve (or possibly a strong allergic reaction to cats, but I doubt that) and so I've spent much of the year so far in bed, medicated.

Regardless, I am HERE, and happy to announce that, as one of my New Year Resolutions, I have decided to blog every single day for 2011. Even if it means that I wind up posting digests if/when I'm away from computer access. Just a little something every day.

In the hope of focusing my posts this year, I'm proud to be telling y'all that every day will have a different 'theme' this year, and they're gonna be something like this...

Spice Sundays

In my new career as a foodie, I'll be trying out a new spice every week - or re-examining one - and trying to cook something with it. Mild to wild...!

Movie Mondays

I watch a lot of movies. Some of them are so weird you may never have heard of them, but I'll be happily introducing what wonders I come across as we go through the fifty-two weeks of this new year.

Tune Tuesdays

Likewise I go through a bunch of music. Maybe it'll be an album, a song, a piece of classical music or maybe even an artist that I wanna talk about.

Wild Card Wednesdays

Just you wait and see!

30-Mad-Thursdays

I'm going to turn 30 on July 11, a little less than 200 days from now. As has become quite a popular blogger meme, I have put together my list of '30 before 30' - admittedly later in the game than some enterprising souls! Stay tuned as every week I let you know how I'm progressing. (Although I am cagey about posting the whole list. It's handwritten and posted on my wall above my desk - I'm gonna do it, but I probably won't post it until the big day!)

Foodie Fridays

As well as my own experiments and adventures in the kitchen, I'll be sharing food adventures and tastings in Los Angeles. Despite my status as a cash-starved graduate student, I manage to get around a bit here in LA, and there are lots of fun places I've discovered that I'm gonna tell y'all about. (And failing that I'll just comment on whatever madness is going on on the Food Network....!)

Seasonal Saturdays

This blog's title comes from the Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, who wrote so many pithy entries documenting life in the Japanese court. Another favourite of mine is Liza Dalby's truly beautiful 'East Wind Melts the Ice' (buy it here) - a book that guides through the seasons of the Japanese (and, indeed, Northern Californian) year. As an homage, I am hoping, every week, to note something special - or note-worthy - of the time of the year, so that the daily beauty, the ordinary plenty, of 2011 does not go unnoticed.

Are you excited?

Stay tuned, add me to your RSS feed, leave comments, get in touch, let me know if even one single soul out there is reading any more!

(I'm gonna be posting regardless. But I hope you'll be coming along for the ride!)