wonton boogie

Why my life is amazing?? My mom is a caterer....DUH! This means I am her guinea pig on everything she makes. I am the official taste tester. The final yay or nay on what goes out. The mind behind it all. It's a glorious job and I love it. If anyone tries taking my job over (brothers, dad, etc.) then there will be problems, but for now my Mom comes to me. Today she was making pork & shrimp dumplings and I was her #1 sous chef. After spending hours folding wontons, we cooked up a few (fried & boiled) to see if our hard work paid off and oh did it ever! 

I can't stop eating them, it's kind of sick...
Recipe from Use Real Butter [Boulder, Co]

Shabbat Shalom!

Prayer after prayer. Candle lighting after candle lighting. Challah cutting after challah cutting. Every Friday night was the same. Then I went off to college and I was released from my role of reading the Friday night prayers and I have to admit I was prettyyyy happy. Now, home on break, I'm back up in this tradition. For some reason I did not mind as much because there was this incredible Shabbat dinner spread prepared by my very own mamacita & it was delicious as always. 

Yummy!

Shabbat Candle

String Bean & Walnut Spread

Roasted Tomatoes

White Bead Spread

Pigs in Puff Pastry

Potatoes

Bruschetta

Chicken Cutlet

Apple Galette

TGiving

One month later... so my style, I know... but here are some pictures from my Thanksgiving feast. What am I grateful for you ask? Obvs I'm grateful for food... What else is there to be grateful for? I guess family too, but like ehhhh ;)

Nothing too fabulous, but just the basic Thanksgiving necessities...
And I have to introduce my new (as of Summer '11) puppy Bella. She's a beauty!

Forbes 30 Under 30

Forbes just released their 30 under 30 in the Food & Wine industry. As I browsed the list looking for a potential future husband I thought to myself about the possibility of me one day being on this list. I have 9 years left to make my mark in the industry before I am shunned from this list. There's no doubt that I won't be making moves come graduation in May, but regardless a new goal has been set. You will see my name on Forbes 30 under 30: Food & Wine edition one day, so keep an eye out.

Cafe Aion

Waking up at 8:30am and not being able to fall back asleep was shitty, but it did lead me to one thing...BREAKFAST FOOD! I'm never ever up early enough to go out for breakfast and it depresses me because I love me a good stack of pancakes. I texted my friend and immediately we were out and about deciding where to go for breakfast. We stopped off at a local eatery ,Snooze, but the wait was 25 minute & we weren't trying to stand in a cramped store front waiting to be seated, so we decided to hit up Cafe Aion. Esquire Magazine listed Cafe Aion on their "Where to Eat in Colorado Right Now" list and for a good reason. Tucked away on "The Hill" in Boulder, Cafe Aion is a cute, warm, welcoming, and quaint restaurant.

Our meal overall was damn tasty. I woke up craving an omelet, but ended my morning with polenta & poached eggs and I was not disappointed. Our meal was perfection. It wasn't the typical greasy breakfast food found in diners back home. It was a delicious gourmet breakfast and it hit the spot!

French Pressed Coffee

Veggie Benedict w/ Tomatoes & Hollandaise

Anson Mills Polenta w/ Poached Eggs & Tomato Ragu

Gilt Groupe Goodness

This is AMAZING! If only I had $10,000 to spare...

Graduation/Birthday/Hanukkah gift anyone??

Rubirosa

Cozy Italian restaurants warm my heart & soul and relax me more then a massage could. I love the intimacy of these type of restaurants and Rubirosa hit the nail on the head. Dim lighting, wooden furniture and great music, Rubirosa makes for a wonderful dining experience. The food ain't to shabby either. After going back and forth with my family on what we wanted to order we finally settled. We started with the baked clams and their special for that evening: brussel sprouts with soppressata. I thought, ew I just had brussel sprouts the other day at thanksgiving, like how many brussel sprouts can one eat in a week, but let me tell you YUMMM!! These brussel sprouts were perfection. Tiny in size, they were easy to pop in your mouth and the flavors were MmMm so good! The soppressata just added an extra deliciousness and took these b.sprouts to the next level. For the main part of our meal we got half a vodka pizza and half a fresco pizza with meatballs. The crust was as thin as you can get and had the perfect amount of crispiness. Both the vodka and fresco pizza were savory and scrumptious. Top it off with a bottle of red wine and you have yourself a great meal. 

Red Wine <3

Brussel Sprouts w/ Soppressata

Pizza

We all scream for ice cream!

Some may know Holsten's from the last episode of The Sopranos, but I know Holsten's from the many stories my parents have told me about growing up on Holsten's and their homemade ice cream. After going to two movie theatres to only find that everything was sold out, we decided to be spontaneous and go to Holsten's for a little (well deserved) ice cream sundae. Never having been to Holsten's I really did not know what to think of the place. We walked into an old school restaurant with wooden booths and stuffed animals set up on the walls. I had no clue what to order, so on recommendation of my dad I had a chocolate soda with vanilla ice cream. Confused by what my dad had just ordered for me, he told me this was his go to order when he was younger. Chocolate syrup mixed with seltzer topped off with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and a cherry on top. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint. My mom ordered a piece of apple pie with cinnamon ice cream and my dad got a marshmallow sundae with coffee chip ice cream. I'm pretty sure we scarfed everything down in seconds. You got to love a good ice cream feast. 

Marshmallow Sundae

Chocolate Soda

Apple Pie w/ Cinnamon Ice Cream

I'm actually pretty happy the movie was sold out. Being home with both my parents and having those spontaneous moments makes me oh so happy. 

Occupy BLT

To be honest, I'm really not too knowledgeable on the whole Occupy Wall Street drama. I know there's like something about the 1% and the 99%. There's protests involved and a lot of home made posters, but one thing I do know is that regardless of what percent you are, everyone needs to enjoy a meal at one of Laurent Tourondel's restaurants. The BLT empire has blown up over the years and it is for a good reason. Laurent Tourondel's food is amazing! I'm a huge fan of his LT Burger in Sag Harbor, NY and his restaurants in New York are just as good, if not better. Luckily both the 1% and the 99% can get a taste of BLT...BLT Steak is offering a burger for both the rich and the not so rich. Only offered at their DC location, you can either get a Kobe burger with foie gras or a CAB burger patty on Wonder Bread. Uhmmm, I think I'm going to have to go with the Kobe, but at least everyone has the opportunity to enjoy a good burger! 

Truffle Love

Let's play a game. This dish costs 20 euros (27 USD) in Italy.  How much would it cost here in the States?