Must Eat: Malibu Seafood, Malibu, CA

After a day of hiking, J and I usually treat ourselves to something good to eat. After hiking the Mishe Mokwa trail to Sandstone Peak, we were exhausted and starving so we decided to stop at Malibu Seafood on PCH.  This is a laid back, no frills, oceanside seafood spot. We ordered the fish and chips based on the rave reviews on yelp, and were not disappointed. 

Hike: Mishe Mokwa Trail to Sandstone Peak

A few weeks ago, my friend Monica came to visit us.  We wanted to take her somewhere special, so we took her hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains.  We've been meaning to do this trail for awhile but it is a little farther out than the trails we usually do (Solstice Canyon, Temescal Canyon - see prior posts in the "Hike" category for more info).  It was awesome! The drive up the PCH (gorgeous ocean views) and through the winding mountain roads was spectacular in itself.  It was a 6 mile moderately strenuous hike that took us about 3 hours.  The views were absolutely breathtaking!  As an added perk, we stopped by Malibu Seafood (review to come) and Grom Gelato on the way home.  This is probably our favorite hike so far!  

Cook: Zinfandel-Braised Beef Short Ribs with Rosemary-Parsnip Mashed Potatoes

We wanted to cook a hearty fall meal so we searched epicurious.com's recipe database and settled on this one.  For those of you who have been following this blog, we paired this main course with the radicchio fennel arugula salad, and finished it off with the caramel apple tart dessert.  J made the short ribs as I prepared the salad and the dessert. Don't be intimidated by the gourmet sound of this recipe, it was actually pretty simple. However, you do need to plan ahead because it needs to simmer for a few hours. 

Must Eat: Ramen Yamadaya Culver City

We love Ramen. It one of our favorite comfort foods. We got hooked on ramen at Momofuku noodle bar and Ippudo in NYC and have been searching for a good ramen spot in LA since we moved out here in 2010.  Granted, we'd probably have more luck if we drove down to Torrance, and we still need to make the pilgrimage out to Daikokuya downtown - but during the week, we just want to go somewhere convenient and close to home on the West Side.  We were pretty psyched when we found a new Ramen shop not to far in Culver City!

The tricky part is finding a place that doesn't put a ton of MSG in their broth. MSG gives me a headache and makes me dizzy - which kind of ruins the fun of eating.  True story - when I went to local favorite Santouka Ramen, the broth had so much MSG I almost passed out after eating it!  At Yamadaya, the broth was rich and flavorful and delicious - as far as I could tell either very little or no MSG!

Cook: Radicchio, Fennel, and Arugula Salad with Roquefort and Walnuts Recipe

This is a winning recipe that J and I tried recently from epicurious.  The flavors and textures come together nicely in this delicate and complex salad.  It is important to slice the fennel as thin as possible with a sharp knife - this is probably the most time consuming step - but is worth the effort! Alternately, you could use a mandoline, but we don't have one.  :)

Ingredients:

• 6 cups shredded radicchio (about 3/4 pound)
• 2 cups thinly sliced fennel bulb* (paper-thin)
• 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted, cooled and chopped
• 2/3 cup crumbled Roquefort (about 3 oz) / (you can substitute other blue cheese)
• 6 cups arugula, (pre-washed and dried, we used packaged baby arugula)

For Dressing

• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon white-wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
• 1/3 cup olive oil

Bake: Caramel Apple Tart

The other night, J and I invited our new friends Jorge and Angelica over for dinner. We decided to challenge ourselves by cooking up a new menu - from start to finish - everything we made was something we had never tried before. J masterfully created a delightful short rib main course, and together we created an incredibly complex yet comforting arugula, radicchio, fennel, blue cheese and walnut salad (those recipes will be posted soon, so keep coming back and checking the blog!) For dessert, I made this caramel apple tart which is a recipe from Susan Spungen.

Fall is my favorite season.  Being a native New Englander, I find the changing colors of the leaves and the cool and crisp air incredibly romantic and beautiful. People who aren't form the Northeast may find the idea of leaf peeping silly, but I don't find it silly at all. When I look out at a landscape awash in red, gold, and flame orange - a magical feeling comes over me and I think to myself, lucky lucky me. Life is so full of beauty.

Must Eat: Si Laa, Los Angeles, CA

One recent fall evening, before heading out to an event at the museum (LACMA), we decided to get some thai food.  I found the highest rated Thai restaurant in mid-city using yelp, Si Laa on Robertson Blvd.  When we sat down, our waitress came and asked us if it was our first visit. It was, so she  recommend some dishes.  Everything was spot on and delicious. I really loved this meal. This is what we tried.  I would eat it all again and am already looking forward to my return trip!