The Counter

Tommy actually got home at a decent time tonight so we went out for a casual dinner. We decided to go to The Counter on Lake. We first experienced the Counter up north a few years ago and were super excited that one opened up here in Pasadena. Overall, it's a good burger joint. The customer service at this location however is really great. They're very accommodating with little ones and are just darn right nice. I made a funky burger tonight...blue cheese, buffalo sauce, and bacon. I love their deep fried pickle chips though. I could eat those all night. And their 50/50 of fries and onion rings are yum.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Tomorrow we are celebrating the January/February birthdays with the family. I have decided to make carrot cake cupcakes. (They're my brother-in-law's other favorite dessert.) I love this recipe because you can do it all in one bowl and you can mix it all by hand. No stand mixer or hand beater necessary. Such an easy clean up. This is yet another fail proof recipe if you're making a cake and NOT cupcakes. It's moist and delicious and it has the perfect balance of cinnamon-not too much but just enough to get the essence of it without being overpowered by it. It's classically topped off with a cream cheese frosting. I thought I could just convert them into cupcakes and it was an EPIC FAILURE. They spread up and and out and it was just a huge mound of cake. I managed to flip them out-almost in one huge mass and cut away the edges, but it just wasn't pretty. So I decided to make the actual cake instead and give out the cupcakes as snacks. I used this recipe, and you can just put it all in a 9x13 dish, but I like to do it in 2 round 9 inch pans with frosting in between, on top and all around.

Ingredients

* 4 eggs
* 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
* 1 3/4 cups white sugar
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 3 cups grated carrots
* 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts-preferably toasted first

Cream Cheese Frosting
* 2 sticks of butter, softened
* 2 packages of cream cheese, softened (16 oz.)
* 3 cups confectioners' sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9x13 inch pan or 2-9 inch round pans.
2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix together all of the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.) Stir in carrots. Fold in nuts. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let it cool in the pan(s) for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
4. For the frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Frost the cooled cake.

It's Taco Time at the Wongs

We remember so well what it was like at the beginning with a newborn. It was not easy. Tommy and I ordered take out every day for the first 3 months...cooking was out of the question. I didn't have the energy for it. Alan and Lu make it look easy, and they probably don't need me to bring dinner over to them, but I do it anyways! Tonight was taco night. I went to the local Mexican market and bought carne asada and marinated chicken. We packed the typical condiments, lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, cilantro, cheese, sour cream, onions, and avocado salsa (from Trader joe's-I've never seen it before, but it was good!) For dessert I baked Ina Garten's pear clafouti from her Barefoot in Paris cookbook. She called for Bartlett pears, but I used bosc pears which was a fine alternate. Clafouti is like a custard filled with fruit. Usually cherry, but you could virtually do any fall/winter fruit. It's a very simple recipe and it's easy to assemble. I love the way the pears peek out of the top of the batter. I was only able to capture the clafouti before I baked it. We were pressed for time and before I knew it, the clafouti was baked and we were out the door. The Wong's had vanilla ice cream and it was just what we needed to go with the clafouti.
At the Wong's I was able to hold Boppy (10 weeks) as she slept in my arms. I could just kiss her all night. It's the sweetest thing.

Key Lime Pie

It was my brother-in-law's birthday and one of his favorite desserts is key lime pie so I decided to make it for him. This is a wonderful recipe and it's so easy to make. I cheated a little bit and bought a pre-made crust and I didn't use key limes. I have a lime tree in my backyard so I used those instead. My limes look yellow...and they are yellow, but they're not lemons, they're limes. Really! I'm almost afraid to list the recipe because it shows how easy it was to make. This recipe is from allrecipes.com and it received tons of rave reviews. It's no wonder-it's a fail proof recipe and when you use a star tip to pipe out the whipped cream, it's worthy of a few aahs.

Key Lime Pie
Ingredients

* 1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust
* 3 cups sweetened condensed milk (about 2 cans)
* 1/2 cup sour cream
* 3/4 cup key lime juice (about 25-35 limes depending on their size)
* 1 tablespoon grated lime zest

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, combine condensed milk, sour cream, lime juice, and lime rind.
Mix well and pour into graham cracker crust.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 5 to 8 minutes, until tiny pinhole bubbles burst on the surface of pie. DO NOT BROWN! Chill pie thoroughly before serving. Garnish with lime slices and whipped cream if desired.

Gerlach's Grill

It's a totally unassuming place. It's next to a liquor store and it's so small that you can barely even see it. There's a tiny window and a tiny little patio-you wouldn't know what it was unless you knew what it was. It was written up in the LA Times several years ago and we've been loyal customers ever since. They serve a different array of food, from kebabs, to Mexican food, but it's their fresh seafood that draws a crowd. We usually order their calamari, maybe a falafel here and there, but always the fish tacos. Their fish is super fresh. The taco plate is served with 3 tacos, hummus, greek salad and one pita bread. Delicious!

The Alcove

The Alcove is a great little place on Hillhurst Ave. in Los Angeles- a street that's studded with little eateries. We went to celebrate my brother in law's birthday. We've been to the Alcove a few times and I am reminded of why we go back again and again. It's a charming place with a great outdoor seating area-surrounded by trees and greenery. Here, you order at the counter and then you sit wherever you please. The counter is filled with baked goods like red velvet cupcakes, blue velvet cupcakes, bread puddings, cookies and cakes galore. I couldn't resist but to order the bread pudding-one of my all time favorite desserts. They described it as a french toast with chocolate chips, but a thousand times better. I was sold. They serve it warm with two dollops of whipped cream on the side. I thought it was a little orange zest heavy, but I'm just not a huge fan of orange in my chocolate goods. I know-they go hand in hand, but it's just not for me. The chilaquiles was good, but their beans looked grey. We enjoyed the beautiful weather, the good food and watching the cousins play together.
Happy birthday, part 1, Chris!

Orecchiette

Orecchiete means ears in Italian. They're pasta shells that look like little ears and I love them. I found this version at Mario's Deli in Glendale. They're "grandi" so they're a little bigger than the usual. I used them for a marinara pasta and they're perfect when they're cooked al dente. We topped it with Italian parsley and shaved parmesean cheese, a garlic baguette on the side and a glass of red wine (my first glass in months!) What a great way to end the day.