FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

A FoodFash Best

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I had no idea how much goodness I was getting myself into tonight.  I had some leftover dip ingredients and frozen salmon fillets and thought “why not?”.  If you follow me on Instagram, surely you could sense my hesitation when I posted this picture.  But boy was I wrong!

FoodFash Salmon Cakes (yields 1 – 425 calorie serving)

6 oz. salmon fillet, thawed

1/2 small avocado (the 99 cent size)

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/4 cup fresh parsley

2 green onions, chopped

salt to taste

nonfat plain Greek yogurt for garnish

In a food processor, puree avocado, lemon juice, and half of the salmon fillet.  Add the onions, parsley, salt, and remaining salmon and pulse a few times until all of the ingredients are mixed, but the salmon is still chunky (see below).

Heat frying pan over medium heat.  Spray with olive oil (or a high heat oil may work better).  Remove all of the salmon mix and form into a patty with your hands.  Cook patty for 4 to 5 minutes on each side, flipping gently so the salmon cake stays in tact.  If a small piece breaks off, gently form back together with the spatula.  Dollop with Greek yogurt and serve.

I’m going to try my hardest to use a word other than wow to explain what was going through my mind as I ate every last bite.  The tartness of the lemon, the slight texture of the chunk salmon, the crunch of the green onion, the coolness of the Greek yogurt…  It all came together more perfectly than I ever could have imagined.  And the avocado?  The avocado just did it’s little glue-like thing in the background.

Seafood Solo-ness

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I struggle to find a real difference between conferences and sorority rush: lots of smiling, lots of forced conversation, you selling you, them selling them. Exhaustion.

I headed to Flemings on my way back to the hotel to decompress.  Most of the time I find comfort in take-out and pj’s, but tonight?  Well tonight, I was sucked in like a magnet to fancy food and cocktails.

I ordered The Stiletto (blackberries and gin) and Seared Ahi Tuna off of the happy hour menu and then (this is where the splurging comes in) ventured to the small plates menu for the Lobster Tempura.  It was total seafood overkill, but I went for it.

P.S. Fried lobster may as well be fried shrimp.  Not impressed.

P.P.S.  I heard a quote today that stuck with me – “survival is the new success”. At a point in my life where I’m trying to be less focused on being the best, having the most, all of those -st, -st, -st things, I took a liking to this quote.

What are your thoughts on “survival is the new success”?  Too pessimistic? Deceivingly optimistic?

Overdue Introduction

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Ariel.  Baily.  This is your introduction.

When Baily moved from Tampa to LA in January, I introduced her to Ariel via Facebook.  But a big city, conflicting schedules, and a missing link (me!) made it tough for an official introduction.

The three of us finally met up last night for dinner at a fancy shmancy restaurant near my downtown hotel.  A fancy shmancy Water Grill with a 50 percent discount since Baily is a supervisor at Ocean Avenue (a relative of Water Grill).

We let Baily do her expert ordering thing and ended up with quite the spread: The Grand Iced Shellfish Platter, Diver Scallops, Rock Fish, and Fromage Blanc Cheesecake.

The platter allowed us to sample a huge portion of the raw bar menu, which was phenomenal.  I have a whole new appreciation for oysters with stats beyond the traditional oysters on the half shell that I order at local dives back home.  And both main course dishes were loaded with exotic mushrooms, making the entire table pleased with our selections.

And the cheesecake?  Yum.  The dessert, in its entirety, was prepared in-house and you could totally tell.  The vanilla bean ice cream was the best ice cream I have ever had the pleasure of trying.  No joke.

Even though I’m looking forward to being home and getting back into my routine… I’m really enjoying being the total foodie that I used to be, even if it’s only a temporary thing.

Beach Day: Left Coast Edition

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In all of the gazillion LA trips I’ve made over the past few years, can you believe I’ve never done a beach day?!  Yeah, neither can I.  But today that changed as we headed to Ariel’s favorite seafood spot, Malibu Seafood.

At first sight, it reminded me of a souped up Crab Shack.

But when our food arrived, I realized Malibu Seafood is in a league of its own. EVERY single thing we ordered was fantastic.  From fish sandwiches to fish tacos to ceviche to lump crab…  All yum!  And each table was outfitted with malt vinegar and Tapitio, which made for an even happier Kristin.

And then we headed out, full bellied, for some cave exploration.

We were in awe of the rocky goodness – so beautiful!!!

When it came time to brave the rising tide to get to the other side, we sent the boys out first.  If they made it unharmed, we’d follow.

The caves were amazing!  If only there was a way to bring your beach gear with you without soaking it, we could have hung out on the cave side a while longer.  And overall, it ended up being a pretty easy exploration.  So easy, that on our way back I announced to the group how much easier I thought our return was going and instantly ate it.  Luckily, my whoop whoop backwards dive only resulted in a scraped up toe.  I’m still confused, but thankful, of how that happened.