Joe’s Special

Who is Joe? I’ve no idea, nor does my mom who made this dish often throughout my childhood. I’ve occasionally seen it on restaurant menus, but usually as a breakfast scramble. My mom’s version is lighter on the eggs, heavier on the ground beef. We ate it for dinner. Guessipe 2 lbs ground beef 2…

Ahhh Comfort Food

My friend Heather threw a comfort food dinner party, which meant lots of dips and spreads, mac n cheese, grilled meats, and s’mores… it generally involved a lot of eating with your hands. And eventually progressed to sipping wine by her amazing fire pit. Sign me up! Dips and Spreads We started with an array…

Honey Spice Cornflake Crunch Chicken

I used to make this delicious spicy sweet chicken with skin-on bone-in chicken thighs, until one day I was in the mood to make them and happened to only have boneless skinless thighs on hand. One of the things I enjoyed about the dish was the crispness of the skin, so I decided to try…

Indian Independence Day

Every year my friend Seena throws an Indian Independence Day party. I feel so lucky to be invited, as it is in my opinion the best party of the year. Seena goes all out, asking everyone to wear Indian dress, giving bindis to all of the women, having a henna artist give tattoos throughout the…

Cambodian Kaw

My Cambodian friend introduced me to this dish of pork belly and eggs in a soy and caramelized sugar sauce, and it’s been a favorite of mine ever since. He gave me his mom’s recipe, but just like my family’s recipes (and I’m beginning to think all Asian families) it was more of a half-complete…

Mayura Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #42 Mayura, as you can see on the sign, is an Indian restaurant that specializes in Kerala cuisine. Kerala is a South Indian state. You can also see from the banner that Mayura has repeatedly madeĀ Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list. Located in something of a dumpy looking strip mall in Culver City,…

Treehouse Tastes

If you’ve never stayed in a treehouse, you should do it. Especially if you can go with someone who wants to cook for you! We had six lovely ladies on this weekend getaway, but Zakiya planned and prepared enough awesome home-cooked food for a small army. It also just so happened that the treehouse was…

Pizza Party II

Anthony made another batch of his homemade pizza dough and seriously amazing homemade pizza sauce, so it was time for another pizza party (drool over our pizzas from the last party here)! We’re hoping to make this an ongoing regular thing, though this may be the last one for a few months given that we’re…

Creamy Feta Red Pepper Vodka Pasta

Did you know there’s such a thing as creamy feta? I didn’t. But I bought it accidentally once, and have been a fan ever since. I happened to have some creamy feta when I got in the mood for vodka pasta, and decided to see if I could use it instead of cream, which I…

B-day Bites

Through the Cookbook Club, I have made some incredible friends. I am so grateful to have them in my life. And a nice bonus to having a bunch of chef friends… they can put together a pretty mean birthday feast šŸ™‚ This was a meal full of all of my favorite things – seafood, grilled…

Avocado Pasta

Did you know that Compton used to be a giant avocado grove? I didn’t. My friend lives there, and she has one of the remaining avocado trees. It is the most epic avocado tree I have ever seen. Huge, with giant incredibly delicious avocados to match. Every year around avocado season, I try to make…

Cinco de Mayo

I’ll take any reason to gather around food, especially if it’s themed. So Cinco de Mayo was as good an excuse as any to do a taco night. Considering that we started floating the idea around late Wednesday night for a Friday party, it came together quite nicely. We had five different taco fillings, and…