FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Gourmet In LA

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We were home for less than two hours before heading back to Silver Lake for Dan of Gourmet in LA‘s birthday dinner at Umami Burger.

Pictured above is a surprisingly smiley Dan.  It was a Murphy’s Law kind of night, but that wasn’t enough to smoosh the birthday spirit.  Besides, we all had a heaping load of fun celebrating at Cafe Was on Saturday.

Luckily the “burgers” were yumtastic and served exactly as ordered.  #win

The sweet potato fries were delish as well.  Pretty sure the house ketchup was packing a little truffle oil and I’m so down with that!

And Ariel‘s first FoodFash appearance!

Followed by a little Ariel Visits Through The Years photo tour…

2007

2008

2009

2010

 

Silver Lake Extravaganza

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Ariel and I stumbled upon a shopping gem while walking back to the car after Silver Lake Jubilee last year.  I’ve been dreaming about that store for a solid ten months now, so a Silver Lake shopping extravaganza was the most appropriate present I could give myself for hiking Runyon every day since my arrival.

We scoped out the area (virtually) for a vegan cafe prior to getting our shop on.  Flore Vegan Cuisine it was!

I’ve had fairly solid kraut cravings lately, so ordering anything but the Tempeh Reuben wasn’t an option.  Ariel, afraid of what a vegan Reuben may taste like, ordered The Wrap.  Both sandwiches were served with a mondo side of greens.  I’m not sure either of us loved our meals, but it was nothing to complain about either.

The lemon poppy seed cupcake was brag-worthy.  Ariel ordered a second after tasting mine and the server tossed in a third to apologize for the wait.  Hooray for leftover cupcakes!

We headed next door to Pull My Daisy, Sarah’s favorite store.  Words can’t express how much I miss seeing that chickadee during my LA adventures!

Then it was off to find our gem!  Vintage, embroidered fish vest, anyone?

(I couldn’t resist trying on something that ridiculous!)

I Dodged Jet Lag!

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I arrived in LA last night, went to sleep at a normal LA weeknight time, woke up at a normal LA weekend time, and currently have the appropriate amount of energy for the current LA time.  I’m confused, but happy.

The rest of my first day went a little like this…  Geared up for free yoga at Runyon Canyon, found out yoga was cancelled, re-geared for hiking, and quickly remembered how the slightest bit of vertical cardio makes this Florida girl huff and puff like an 80 year old man.

The second we got back to the apartment, we were STARVING.  Luckily Matt and Steve were too, so we swooped them up and headed to 101 Coffee Shop.

Ariel and I split the Portobello Sandwich and Veggie Sandwich.  Both wins in my book, but I definitely preferred the Portobello.  Made a mental note to recreate basil mayo upon my return to T-Town…

Matt, who in my experience orders a salmon dish 3 out of 4 times, had the Grilled Tandori Salmon Sandwich.

And Steve had a classic pancake and egg breakfast with a side of bacon and Ray Bans.

My overall impression of 101 was…  I know I’ll end up here at least once per visit from this point forward.  It’s close, the food is good and dairy-free friendly, and the service was super.

Now on to 8 more days of repetitive, inside joke fun!  Hot Snookie, anyone?

(Hot Snookie = Vanessa Hudgens in Sucker Punch)

 

Spring Has Sprung

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Yoga in the park has to top the list of perfect ways to celebrate the arrival of spring.  There’s just something about doing sun salutations in the sun that seems oh so right.  And thanks to Happy Buddha Yoga Lounge and flawless Tampa weather, I get to experience this kind of right (almost) every Sunday.

A sunshiny, 80 degree practice = A crowd of shiny, happy people.

After practice, we headed across the street to Pizza Fusion to take advantage of my Living Social coupon.  At the risk of over-using the word ‘perfect’ in this post, Pizza Fusion was the perfect place for Chrissie, an urban planner, and me, the product of an urban planner, to have our post-yoga meal.

We shared the Farmers Market pizza on multigrain crust with soy cheese.  You could have just changed the name of this pizza to the Kristin Special, cause I wouldn’t have done one thing differently.

Besides having beyond clean plate club worthy pizzas, they are also the most socially responsible restaurant I have yet to encounter.  Hybrid delivery vehicles, giving customers discounts for bringing back pizza boxes, using either 100% recycled or 100% biodegradable everything?  Lucky for me I loved the pizza, but I have to think that even if I didn’t, I’d still return out of principle!