FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Hello Santa Monica!

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This trip has been a bit of a whirlwind tour of LA county. After my final day in conference land, I hopped in a cab and headed to Santa Monica.

I met Callahan at his office where we did a quick exchange of hugs for keys. I downloaded the mapquest app, looked for a lunch spot on Urban Spoon, and was on my way – true iTourist style.

I had been meaning to try Real Food Daily for quite some time and, by chance, it was the first restaurant that Urban Spoon suggested. Fate? I think so!

I ordered the VLT wrap sans T with a pressed salad and a Russian tea cookie for dessert. Everything was stellar, including the location. I’m totally crushing on Santa Monica right now!

Post-Weekend Recovery

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After a weekend full of splurging in every arena possible, I was in dire need of Runyon and some healthy eats.

Nathan and I hiked the canyon in the foggiest (smoggiest?) weather ever and then headed to M Cafe for the healthy eats.

I started with a juice made of lemon, wheat grass, ginger, and another ingredient that escapes my mind.  I really enjoyed the tartness of the lemon and the ridiculous amounts of nutrients I knew I was getting with the wheat grass.

Then I moved on to the wild salmon and asparagus sandwich on multi-grain toast with a side of kale with spicy peanut dressing.  I loved how thin the toast was and how they added asparagus to a sammy.  It was a perfect, post-hike meal.

And look at that!  My sandwich and I even smiled at each other before I took my first bite.

I’ll be in downtown LA til Friday if you have any metro accessible restaurant suggestions!

Friend Finds

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One of the best things about blogging is the frequency in which my friends and family suggest new recipes.  It happens almost daily and I enjoy it, well, almost daily.

Earlier this week, Lex told me that she found the best, most perfected tofu recipe ever.  Naturally, I wanted to try it.  And when I read through it, I realized how closely it resembled my favorite tofu dish at Urban Thai.

Since I used a tofu press rather than the paper towel method, my tofu was much less moist than I imagine the recipe intended.  I didn’t get as much sizzle as I had expected while reading.

And before I get to the good stuff, my only beef with this recipe is that it didn’t tell you how long it should take for the tofu to brown.  It seemed like it was taking forever, I grew impatient to the power of ten, and gave up with barely browned tofu.

But onto the good stuff, I’m confident that once I grow a little more patient and find the perfect marinade, this technique will be my go-to tofu recipe.  Dry fried is where it’s at!

Have you ever dry fried tofu?  Favorite marinade recipe??

Fried That!

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Remember that chicken fried tempeh that was on the menu at Jackson 20? Well…. I tried my best to recreate it.

And although I don’t have anything to compare it to because I didn’t actually taste it, I’m fairly certain I succeeded.

Because my version was A-mazing!

FoodFash Chicken Fried Tempeh

(yields 2-3 servings)

1 cup all purpose flour

2 tablespoons pepper

3 tablespoons garlic salt
2 eggs
2 tablespoons hot sauce (I used Crystal)
1 – 8 ounce package of tempeh
1/4 cup sunflower oil

Mix flour, salt and pepper in a small bowl.  In another small bowl, mix eggs and hot sauce.  Heat sunflower oil in a cast iron pot over medium heat.  Cut tempeh into 1-inch slices, dip in egg mix, then flour mix, and set into heated oil.  Watch carefully and flip when browned.  When both sides are crispy, place the fried tempeh on a paper towel and let cool for a few minutes.

It’s been a loooooong time since I’ve had fried chicken.  But I do remember fried that tasted so good that I couldn’t help but eat all the spare fried pieces I could find.  This combo of hot sauce, pepper, and garlic salt turned my fried into exactly that.

I don’t plan on making this often, but it’s good to know that I’m capable of turning a southern staple into something sinfully veggielicious!

Have you successfully fried anything lately?