Cream Soda

Despite Cream Soda not being the most popular of soda flavors, my boyfriend and I love it. We have been on a quest for several years to find the best Cream Soda, buying it anytime we find a brand we haven’t tried yet. Then it occurred to us to try making it ourselves. Not to…

Passion Fruit Soda

With all of the rain we’ve gotten this year, the passion fruit vines are fruiting a second abundant crop! And while processing all this incredible passion fruit, I discovered something fantastic… after straining out the seeds, if you store the passion fruit juice in a container in the fridge for a few days, the pulp…

Aztec Chocolate

Cookbook Club – Tasting History After many months of missing Cookbook Club because well, life happens and schedules get busy, I was ecstatic to make it to the October event! We used Max Miller’s Tasting History, which he started as a YouTube channel – sharing historical recipes from around the world so successfully that he…

Horchata

An ice cold horchata on a hot day is so refreshing! But it’s not available everywhere, so why not make it myself? I started asking my Mexican friends (thank goodness I live in California!), and found that there are many variations in ratios, types of milk, sugar vs sweetened condensed milk, etc. and every family…

Mango Milk Tea

Boba Milk Tea has become such a popular trend. This may be an unpopular sentiment, but… I actually prefer the milk tea without the boba. So I figured out how to make my favorite one – mango milk tea – at home, which is much more convenient and saves money. Now it’s my daily afternoon…

Medicine Ball Tea

Medicine Ball Tea was a customer-created Starbucks “secret menu” item that developed such a cult following they eventually put it on the regular menu as Honey Citrus Mint Tea. Lots of people swear by its medicinal properties for alleviating cold and flu symptoms. My boyfriend had talked repeatedly about how delicious and healing the tea…

Iced Coffee

My dad told me he had been adding cinnamon to his coffee grounds when he makes coffee, and it opened my eyes to the wonders of flavoring coffee before you brew it rather than just adding the flavoring afterward. It better infuses the flavor, plus you don’t get the grittiness of the spices floating around…

Connie and Ted’s Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #63 Connie and Ted’s is the big place with the swooping ceiling on a main stretch of West Hollywood that on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list, he calls a “clam shack”. Inside is an open kitchen and a bar. Outside is a fantastic patio, which unfortunately looks out onto the parking lot…

Salazar Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #57 I think Salazar might be the only spot on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list that he specifically notes for its website, which might seem odd until you check it out for yourself. I won’t even try to describe it, as it’s best if you just experience the awesomeness yourself. My first…

Mango Lassi

I was introduced to Mango Lassi five years ago by my friend Seena. She throws an Indian Independence Day party every summer – complete with catered Indian food, dancers, henna tattoo artist, photo booth, bindis for all the women, and everyone required to wear Indian dress. Best. Party. Ever. Beer and wine is abundant, but…