Fancy LA eats + IOWA awesomeness 5000

I went to LA recently and it was fabulous. I know, I know, you're thinking 'Lauren all you're going to talk about is how you and Justin Timberlake ran into each other and fell in love', well don't worry, I won't bore you with stories about how I hung out with my hollywood BFFs (I did not), or how JT fell in love with me (status pending).

Actually While I was there I stayed on the Anaheim side which means that instead of fancy cars and designer clothes I saw a lot of Disneyworld fanny packs and scrunched 80s tourist socks. You know the kind I'm referring to. That's right Dad, the ones I weaned you off of earlier this year.

I digress. I love traveling for work because I can order fabulous food that I would not have the resources or know how to make at home. Below was a once beautifully presented tower of fruit and seafood (mango, avocado, crab) from M&S grill. I remembered to take the picture post first bite. Just use your imagination. It tasted absolutely glorious.
I also ordered the red velvet cupcake because any slight reference to Steel Magnolias and the armadillo cake gets points in my book.

So I was in LA for a trade show and generally speaking trade show food is continental breakfast at the comfort-inn level in quality so pictures are not generally necessary. But there, out of the blue, came another installment of : ADVENTURES IN NEW FRUIT. I was intrigued. Apparently that fruit with the Encino man hairdo is called a Rambutan (similar to a lychee?) It was the same texture as a grape, with little to no flavor and with tons of work to get to the edible part.

It was gloriously sunny and perfect weather the entire time I was there. Ahh palm trees, so vacation-esque.

One of John's old roomies and friends from college lives in the area so we grabbed dinner one night at a fun Sushi place in downtown Fullerton.

Yummmm...... Sushi......

Except when they load it up with mayo-like substances. Dude, that ruins the flavor.

Although the majority of the rolls were DEE LISH, this one tasted like crab salad on top of the roll. Both hard to eat and kind of bland. Not my scene.

This was my date for the evening. Jackson, aren't you happy that I've showed the world such a completely flattering photo of you eating? It reminds me of the time I went to a sushi place for a first date. TERRIBLE idea. Not only is my hand tremor not conducive to graceful chopstick usage, but they make rolls the size of your fist, and you don't have much choice but to shove the whole thing in your mouth and hope you don't displace your jaw.

Soon after my return to the Show Me State, I left for the annual Carroll Sister's weekend. My mom and her SIX SISTERS have been having an annual sister's weekend every year since I was in junior high. The date and location changes, the jokes and the people are generally the same. a winning combo. This year there were 7 sisters + 4 nieces + 2 aunts + 2 sisters-in-law.

My godmother/aunt/summertime roomie hosted this year and made it so fabulous!

There was a murder mystery the first night. My character was Cinderella (Beth to her friends) which meant that I got to bring out my MORP dress from college. MORP = prom backwards, which we used as an 80s theme. Mom has been trying to get me to throw this out for years (as, obviously, I've been storing it at her house). By the grace of god it fit and if it wasn't so uncomfortable to sit down in it I'd wear it all the time.

What is a weekend together if not ALL about food! We had lots of healthy options this year, go us! (and go Aunt Anne for coordinating it!)

Other highlights of the trip include: Yoga, taught by yours truly (mostly stretching, but it counts), water color lessons, decoupage art time, a HILARIOUS talent show where I played the spoons. As usual, my great Aunt Marilyn steals the show and I even videoed but I couldn't get it to post here so just imagine Betty white dancing to NOW that's what I call music 2010.

We went to a charming house on a charming street in a charming town (star's hollow, anyone?) that a Russian family had converted into a restaurant. I suppose there is a reason that the Russians aren't known for their culinary skills (or healthy eating, yikes), but the ambiance and the company made it a thousand times better than any chain restaurant we could have gone to. Below were our Russian eats.
A potato salad in a kaiser bun that had Beet eyes that stared at me. Plus a cream of mushroom soup that was SO SO SO GOOD. I'm pretty sure it was heavy cream with mushroom flavor, but I'm not complaining.

I got the vegetarian option and am so glad I did. I hadn't had acorn squash in forever! It had honey, brown sugar, butter and cheese on it. I picked around the cheese as the squash was plenty flavorful with out it. Also the asparagus came wrapped in a puff pastry, cute and delicious! That other thing was a combination of four cheeses and was uber heavy. Lots of flavor but after a couple of bites I literally had to get up and walk around the block.

Can't wait for next year's Wisconsin adventure!!

In other news, I have been playing Words with Friends like it's going out of style. I play John, my brother, my cousins, my college buds, and John's sister. I freaking love it. I also documented my highest scoring game to date, where I got nearly 600 points. Nerdy scrabble high five!

Also last week I made Jenna's (of Eat Live Run) Vegan Lentil Loaf and it was SOOOOO GOOD. Even John begrudgingly approved. It made an awesome weeknight meal in the following days too.
Two thumbs up!

Currently it is 85 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, my calendar is chalk full of fun stuff going on and I am happy as a clam. YAY summer!

Endless hugs, 7 varieties of cheesy potatoes, and BFFs

I had been delaying any major cooking activities (grocery trips, etc.) over the last weekend as I waited by the phone for the news that was a long time coming. In my glorious, fun, loud, and wonderful family (I speak of them often, hi aunts!) we lost our Matriach to cancer this week. A lady who never smoked and was otherwise a picture of health got lung cancer. Go figure. My Grandma was pretty amazing for a multitude of reasons including but not limited to: raising 11 children (much of the time as a single parent), having more stamps in her passport from interesting places (the middle east, asia, you name it) than anyone I've ever known, being totally mellow/zen/yoda-esque, and finding a wonderful balance between strong faith and liberalism (what woman in her eighties is that delicate combo?). She was awesome.
A few months back my dad urged my siblings and I to write about my Grandma, as a gift to my mother. As it turned out, we read what we had written at the services. Kudos to my brother and sister for both being funny and sentimental, and prompting many more hugs. My Aunts and Uncles did a great job making everything so meaningful and personal (special shout out to my own mama!). The church ladies did an excellent job in providing the world's largest varieties of casseroles. No kidding, there had to be 7 types of cheesy potatoes... how could you stay bummed?

Sister was happy about all of the dessert varieties

Our family tree..... leaves = grandma's descendents including great-grandkids. Holy big family.

How great do they look? Beauteous and vintage. Little did they know at the time the impact they would have on so many lives.

Love you Grandma! In addition to the church food, we had plenty of other unhealthy comfort food at our disposal. Oh that's right. We tri-ed some. With AE dip... life changing.

After 2938749832749872398947239874 hugs later (although you can never, ever have too many), I drove the SIX HOURS home and got in around 10pm last night. Weary traveler that I was, I was a hot mess getting up to my apartment. Someone in the elevator even had to help me with all of my saddlebags. So you can imagine my delight when I opened the door and saw this waiting for me:

With a wonderful note (I knew giving her a key to my place was a smart move)

...so I checked my fridge:

Goodies!

And as I blissfully munched on a dark chocolate covered strawberry, I couldn't help but notice all of the little notes around the place:

She is correct, my new table IS sweet. Pictures to come. Hey, even Bubba got in on the action (like that is a surprise):

and an Animaniacs quote that had me smiling while I brushed my teeth this morning :)

Thanks Emily, way to turn this frown upside down! In related news, my college roommie and BFF Nickie will be arriving for the weekend in just a few short hours. Quality time with friends makes EVERYTHING better, I'm convinced. Plus we'll be doing some cooking this weekend :) stay tuned!

233 Years of Awesomeness

Happy Birthday America (okay technically that's 2 days belated).... I was celebrating our nation's birth in true americana style... the only thing missing was the gorgeous weather (very present on July 3rd and 5th.. go figure) Friday we spent 6 brief hours in the car to get to fam in Iowa. We went to dinner theater featuring best of Monty Python. How great is that?

They had cake. And Booze. And encouraged people to sing 'always look on the bright side of life' and there was whistling involved, which is not my forte. I end up doing a lot of spitting. Over cake. boo for that.

On the fourth we got to Judge the parade!! The town has 600ish people (is that a good estimate, family?) and the turn-out was undoubtedly hampered by the subzero temperatures. Seriously despite checking my iphone every 5 minutes for weather conditions I failed to adequately pack for the forecasted gloomy weather. What i brought was a sundress and sandals. What i SHOULD have brought was sweatpants tucked into rain boots. And puff paint, obviously, to decorate the sweatpants in all of their 4th of July glory.

It was still really fun though. Minus when Dad did this (he was just kidding though)

My sister, John (in a poncho... pause for laughter..) and I as my uncle gives us instructions on how to judge the float entries.

In a fierce pro and con deliberating session. Judging floats isn't easy, you know.

Discussing the float with the goat on it (there was one with chickens too!) ... I think we gave it 2nd place in its category. John found it hilarious that they were holding he umbrella over the goat..... considering I had requested that he hold the umbrella over me all morning.

The night ended with watching a big fireworks display over the Mississippi River. It was perfect :) !

On to the eats! This week I found a recipe for a california roll salad. It was MUCHO interesting (or should that be reserved for mexican entries?) how about it was most interesting? Anyway it had:

• torn nori strips
• sesame seeds
• imitation crab meat (i know, i know, it's super processed)
• avocado
• cucumbers
• lettuce
• Jasmine rice (i know, i know, it's white and not the healthier option either)
• soy sauce/ginger/rice wine vinegar

the recipe had some sort of combo for the salad dressing, but it looked/smelled weird when I attempted it (through no fault of the recipe i'm sure)... but i thought this was creative and yummy. Just like the 'ole california roll and it satisfied my sushi craving for days!

Next up for my interesting eats last week was this little Ellie Krieger gem from her cookbook. The Shrimp/Tomato Bake had:

• shrimp
• diced tomatoes
• feta
• onion
• seasonings

Just how I like it, a SHORT ingredient list! Actually this was pretty good, John even liked it (gasp!) We had it served over orzo and had big crusty sourdough bread and corn on the cob with it too.. YUMM.

I hope everyone had a FABULOUS 4th of July!