The key to Thai Larb is the ground toasted rice, providing the flavor and texture that makes this refreshing and fulfilling ground meat salad. I used to order Larb when I went out for Thai food, until I learned that it’s so easy to make at home. It’s great for a main dish served as…
Tag: Rice
Greek Lemon Soup
Cookbook Club – The Silver Palate Cookbook Happy new year of Cookbook Club! Our first event of 2024 used the American classic Silver Palate cookbook series – The Silver Palate Cookbook, The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook, and The New Basics. To see our full first feast of the year, check out my Cookbook Club site. For…
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…
Spicy Spanish-Style Rice
Cookbook Club – Cinco de Mayo In honor of Cinco de Mayo, we did a Mexican themed Cookbook Club in May. We sourced recipes from three places – Joy of Cooking (2019 Edition), America’s Test Kitchen, and Chef John’s Food Wishes. Feast your eyes on the whole fiesta on my Cookbook Club site. For now…
Build Your Own Bowl
These “Build Your Own Bowl” restaurants have been popping up all over the place. We have an Asian-themed one near our local movie theater which we would occasionally patronize after seeing a movie… that is, until I decided it would be easy enough to re-create my favorite sauce flavors and build my own bowl at…
Soy-Ginger Dinner Scramble
Cookbook Club – Virtual Potluck Well, COVID-19 happened, and that made dinner parties impossible… almost. But we can’t let anything stand in the way of Cookbook Club, so we figured out how to do a virtual potluck. We provided some recipe options from Bon Appetit for “when there’s nothing in the fridge”, and then we…
Japanese Curry
When I was in Japan I had some fantastic curry, and was surprised to learn that many people use packaged Japanese curry roux (Golden, Vermont, and Java are a few popular brands), which they dress up with other ingredients to give the curry a rich, deep flavor. It’s so good! Usually Japanese curry has potatoes…
Sunny-Side Pulao
Cookbook Club – Aarti Paarti In October, we used Aarti Sequeira’s cookbook Aarti Paarti. In it, she simplifies traditional Indian recipes and techniques to make Indian flavors accessible for the US market. To find out how many of her Indian dishes translated, go to my Cookbook Club site. For now – my dish! What Sequeira…
Kimchi Fried Rice
I’m always tempted to get Kimchi Fried Rice when I see it on a menu, but then I remind myself how easy it is to make at home. It’s great for using up leftover rice, and all of the other ingredients are things I pretty much always have on hand. So it’s a perfect weeknight…
Kismet Restaurant Review
Gold Dig #66 On Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurant’s list, Kismet is referred to as a “neo-Middle Eastern bistro”. The all-day eatery (open 10am-11pm) has the sleek, modern feel recognizable in Jon and Vinny establishments. Located in Los Feliz, it was a long trek for me from the west side, but I talked a friend…
Drago Centro Restaurant Review
Gold Dig #61 Drago Centro is an Italian restaurant located downtown in City National Plaza. On Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list, he calls it one of “the most commanding restaurants downtown”. The large, glassed-in dining room has a high arched ceiling, an impressive tower of wines behind the bar, and a great view of…
Eat-Olympics 2018
This year was the 2018 Winter Olympics. The Olympics is a competition all about bringing people from around the world together. And what better way to bring people together and celebrate diverse cultures than through the window of food? So we had a party to watch the opening ceremony, and everyone brought food from a…