Friday, October 31, 2008

We all scream for ice cream!



So - I've been waiting to buy this book for a looong time now but haven't been able to due to time constraints or lack of a coupon. When I first bought my ice cream maker, I was in Williams-Sonoma. I'm a little uncomfortable around sales people because I have a problem with saying "no thanks" and so when the girl looks at my ice cream maker and says, "there's a recipe book that's really great that you might want to buy..." I should've paid attention to what she was saying but I kind of just wrote her off. (sorry 'bout that lady!) I just wanted to take my ice cream maker and run out of there! Anyway, I did manage to remember the title...well, sorta. I remember there was the word "scoop" in the title. Not surprisingly, that didn't help much. Then I remembered that the book cover was BLUE. Well, that narrowed it down a bit. Then I went over to visit a friend last weekend and low and behold, there was the exact book I saw in Williams-Sonoma sitting on the top of a stack of several ice cream recipe books. (Someone in this house loves ice cream...) If this isn't a sign that I'm supposed to get this book, I don't know what else is. Come to find out - it's one of the top rated ice cream recipe books on the internet right now, yes! So by the end of this week, I will have my book by David Lebovitz which has grown into somewhat of an obsession to me just because it has eluded me for so long.

So I owe an apology to Miss Williams-Sonoma for trying to offer me something really useful and I just blew it. My apologies!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Passion Fruit Ice Cream with Macadamia Nuts

Oh how I LOOOOVE my new toy!

The MachineMachine assembly part 2

This Cuisinart ice cream maker is just the most awesomest thing! When I first got this toy, I was so intent on making Olive Oil ice cream after having a taste of it at The Dining Room at the Langham hotel in Pasadena, CA. However, when I finally had the time to make some ice cream - I found out at the last minute that I needed "fruity" olive oil...well, I didn't have it and I wasn't about to go out to get it. So...whaddya know, I'd been waiting to make some kind of dessert with some Passion Fruit Concentrate I had bought on a cook's shopping spree with fellow foodie & cupcake queen but never thought about making ice cream with it.


I was so excited to use the Passion Fruit that all thoughts of Olive Oil ice cream were soon extinguished. I looked up a few recipes on the Internet and combining those recipes with ones that came with the machine, I was able to come up with something that might just work.

Passion Fruit Ice Cream
And work it did - took some to work to test on guinea pig co-workers and they absolutely LOVED it!




I can't believe it! My first try at this ice cream thing and it's a big hit. Hmm, what to make next?!

Prepping Macadamias



Well, I haven't forgotten about Olive Oil ice cream but I'm not sure how this will top the Passion Fruit really if you ask me.

All done!Extraction time...

This one came out pretty awesome. The tanginess of the Passion Fruit plays really really well with the creaminess of the ice cream. Yum yum yum!
If you're in the mood for commentary and more pics, check out the whole set here.

Link to recipe for Passion Fruit Macadamia Nut Ice Cream

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Randomness...

note: open all links in a new window or you will be irritated as heck reading this post by continually pressing your back button.

I need this to make this!

Looks just like a McDonald's deep fried apple pie.

*sigh* I haven't even started working with my new ice cream maker (I want to make this!) and I'm already distracted to try something else...talk about attention deficit disorder. =( Which reminds me, I need to buy this soon, maybe tomorrow.

*This post is what happens when you keep clicking on too many websites when originally looking for just one thing. I was just looking for an olive oil ice cream recipe when all the craziness above happened.*

Monday, October 27, 2008

Just in the area...

Don't you hate it when you really don't need to buy something but you just do because you're "in the area"? I was in the Cerritos, CA area the other day and picked up some L&L Barbecue for my husband's dinner by the mall when I saw Goldilocks. (A Filipino establishment) I just HAD to pick up some ensaymadas! Those things are the bomb! Bread topped with sweet butter and...cheese! yes, you heard me right. And it's a glorious combination!

I first had ensaymada back in Hawaii as a kid from Zippy's bakeries across the island. Unfortunately they don't carry the said ensaymada anymore. It was a little twisted bread loaf topped with sugar and buttah! It was almost like eating bread and sugar sandwiches as kids! Goldilocks version is a bit different and I might actually like it better because of the use of a brioche type of bread and the addition of cheese. The "brioche" is not your typical brioche, it's a little lighter - but it works.

You should give it a try. And now Goldilocks sells them in smaller versions in prepackaged bags of 12! I LOVE it! These new versions look like they are just the "muffin tops" off the original. Elaine from Seinfeld would absolutely die for these. (or sue Goldilocks for taking her idea) Either way, it was just perfect for me because I like them with less bread and more buttah! MMMmmm, yum-e...

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Papadakis Taverna

Opa! *glass crashing!*

Took a drive down to San Pedro the other week to have dinner with the girls at Papadakis Taverna, a lively and festive Greek restaurant nestled in downtown San Pedro. I went there to, of course, see good friends and catch up on times but also to have LAMB...yum-e. I've been in a rack of lamb phase for the past few months and it wasn't dying down. So I was excited to get to have lamb again, but this time I was going to try something different. Instead of the rack, I was thinking about trying the filet, or "filetto" as the girls liked to call it. Excited and hungry - we opened our menus and to the girls astonishment...no filetto! There was a rukus, but soon one of the girls called the waiter over and asked about the missing filetto and he said, "ofcourse, we can do filetto if you like. It's just what we have on the menu without the bone." Elated again, the girls all ordered filetto, with two exceptions. One ordered the steak (which turned out to be huge!) and I ordered the lamb WITH the bone. From my Dad's teaching, any meat with the bone on will tend to be juicier and if you order medium rare, you're more likely to get medium rare with the bone in than with the bone out. But I digress...

There's nothing that catches your attention like fire...yes, I said "fire"...but I mean this in a good way. Our tastebuds were greeted first by Flaming Cheese! And we mean FLAME...that thing must've flamed up a few feet! makes the whole restaurant go "whoah!" everytime. :) Mmm, it was very good. But I think things always taste better when presented to you flambed. AND...this was on the house! Mmmm, a very nice way to start the evening!
The flaming cheese!

On our tables were plates of Toasted Bread served up with yogurt sauce. Oh, this hit the spot too! The sauce was so refreshing! And that bread just looked so fantastic with those grill marks and the yellowish tinge of butter/olive oil.
Toasted Bread with yogurt sauce

Next was my favorite! I love Avgolemono Soup...LOVE it! (Greek Egg-lemon soup) And I was looking forward to this almost as much as the lamb since I can't always get this soup everywhere I can get lamb...so this was nice.
Lemon Egg Soup

We were then served up a very nice house salad...just look at all that cheese!
House Salad

Here's the famed filetto we'd been talking about. Some of the girls had not eaten here in many years and filetto had become in their heads something of a fantasy:
Filet of Lamb

Then came the lamb - here's mine with the bone (not as appetizing a picture as the filetto, but believe me, it was good!):
Filet of Lamb with the bone
It was really good lamb - though, I think I'm still a rack of lamb kinda girl...but that's just a matter of choice. And the entertainment is surely entertaining. The owner and the wait staff get together and do some traditional greek dancing and boy do they entertain! They of course targeted our table since it was filled with 7 women...my girlfriend was an easy target. I'd tell you the story, but then she'd kill me from embarrassment. They also had belly dancing and the woman entertainer was really good! She's also a jazz singer come to find out. This place was just full of talent. All in all it was fun and worth the visit...if not just for the very polite and friendly/fun atmostphere.


Nothing like Baklava at a Greek restaurant! Served alongside Walnut cake and raspberries:
Dessert!

We also had some raspeberries alongside some plain old vanilla ice cream:
Raspberries and Ice Cream

Now this impressed me...free apertifs for everyone! I LOVED this because I just love dessert wine - well one that isn't too syrupy and this was juuuuust right. :) Such a nice way to end the evening - on something that was compliments of the house.
Dessert Wine Apertif

As for the evening, I had a great time! Lots of laughs and entertainment. The entertainment isn't something you normally get with your dinner. Neither is complimentary flaming cheese or apertifs. My one disappointment...not getting to see Mr. Papadakis break any glasses which I heard he often does. But come to find out, it might have been our fault since during on of the dances, Mr. Papadakis (it has been told) sometimes picks up a glass from a guests' table and then flings his head back and throws the glass behind him onto the floor...but apparently, my girlfriend picked up her glass right before he was going to do it so Mr. P just continued on. haha, oh well - but I did actually hear some glass crashing...but it was an inadvertent one from the kitchen. These people know how to have fun and they know how to serve their food AND they know how to entertain. Sorry to hear that they may be selling off their business soon. Hopefully we get to eat there again before that ever happens. I don't think anyone can dance quite like the owner Mr. Papadakis can...

Papadakis Taverna
301 West 6th Street
San Pedro, California 90731-3317
(310) 548-1186

p.s. For you USC fans, the Papadakis family are BIG USC supporters...and here's why. Go Trojans!