Kitchen Canary

Sunday, January 31, 2010


I took the most delightful cooking class up in Silverlake 2 Sundays ago. The company was called Spork and it was a Gluten-free AND vegan cooking class! If that isn't totally me then I just don't know...we made GF chocolate chip almond butter cookies, white bean and brown rice soup, and the beautiful polenta triangles with swiss chard and chickpea fritters you see above. It was a lovely little group of fun people and afterwards, we sat down to eat everything like a real family at the dining room table. Jenny Goldberg is one of the sisters that run the classes and she was funny, knowledgable and darling.


Another one of my fave cooking classes is at Simple Gourmet in Redondo. Melanie, the owner and instructor is super down to earth and makes everyone feel at home. Its a relaxed atmosphere and a lot of people bring wine to share. This week I went TWICE (crazy girl). 2 nights in a row.

The first night was one-pot meditterranean meals. I mean who doesn't love throwing everything into one pot? We made pasta fagioli, tomato bread soup and meatball tagine. Everything was delish. She even put out a fig and ricotta pizza for us to snack on when we arrived. BONUS.

Night 2 was Reducing White foods and featured apple cake made with whole wheat flour, the most insanely delicious poppy seed pancakes with citrus syrup, a super crunchy farro salad with fennel and yogurt and chicken and sweet potato curry over brown basmatic rice. I always walk away with great tips like the best way to cut and apple and who has the freshest produce in town. I love soups and stews in cold weather. Mmmmmm.

NYE

Friday, January 1, 2010



NYE was super fun this year.

It was all the usual spots we frequent but love and this time with a limo to haul us all around so it was supah special.

I had the pre-party with skinnygirl margaritas and cheese with my homemade black pepper parmesan crackers (Ina Garten's recipe), then Dan Tana's for steaks and martinis, then the 900 club.

I loved my hair extentions so much I think I cried when I took them out on Sunday.