CaliPoutine

lunch today. Local Mexican place. First up chips and salsa. I'm not a fan of chips( I know!!), I'd much rather have warm tortillas. I got the lunch special, a chicken enchilada ranchera style( comes with sour cream and guac). I got double rice, I'm not in love with their beans. Kinda pasty. I much prefer black beans. Julie gets the same thing every single time. A cheese enchilada. Both entrees were 7.95 each. I currently have some ground turkey sloppy joes simmering on the stove.

Thanks for reminding me about the swap meet. I think we will check it out. If you're free on Friday and would like to join us, let me know. I'll call this afternoon for a reservation. Now I have to go check out Dale's diner.

The knife looks like a laguiole.

Cant forget my morning iced. We're going out to a local Mexican place( not a chain) for lunch. Not sure whats on the dinner menu yet. I have to pick up some buttermilk for the boob cake, so dinner might come from Trader Joe's. Some of you might remember that I'm diabetic. I'm currently participating in a clinical trial for a drug that is already on the market, combined with insulin. I have to be careful regarding carb intake so as not to have too high or too low of a blood sugar. I only take the injection at night. Previously, I was on Byetta. Byetta prolongs gastric emptying so you stay full longer. When I first started Byetta years ago, I was so nauseous that I didnt eat much and lost 35 lbs within 4 months. This new drug makes me feel full too, but I'm not at the full dose yet. We are heading to Long Beach tomorrow for the weekend(we're dogsitting). I think I'm going to make a reservation @ At Last cafe. An awesome restaurant that has been featured on Diners, Drive Inns and Dives. Saturday night we're using a groupon for an Italian place in Belmont Shore. I might do some baking while I'm at my aunts, she has a great kitchen for cooking/baking.

Dinner last night. I picked up this baked chicken breast and some mashed and corn. This was around 5.00. The chicken was dry. The dogs were happy In hindsight, I should have just picked up some salad. That meal had too many carbs for me. My blood sugar was higher this morning than it has been all week. Breakfast today. Julie had cherrios( she's off today) and I had 2 scrambled eggs with a laughing cow light cheese wedge. I also had 2 small pieces of onion rye( from the freezer)with light cream cheese. The bread is from Bea's Bakery in Tarzana. When I have a craving for rye, thats where I go. They have really good Black and White cookies too. Julie is addicted to those. I'm glad we live about 30 miles from Bea's.

Any Kitchen Nightmare fans? Julie and I and our friends are going to be on in 2 weeks. The episode is Burger Kitchen. I can't wait to see how it was edited, because the food wasnt that bad( we went before the restaurant had the Gordon makeover). We did have some issues, so I'm sure we'll be on the episode. The cameras were in our face a lot.

Yes, the rice and spinach were leftover. I was going to make a quiche with a rice crust( a recipe from a Culinary Mystery Novel), but I didnt get to it. The rice is nutty and chewy. Similar to brown, but with a bit stronger flavor. I cant remember the last time I used it. I was looking for brown in the pantry and I came across that. Make sure you use a 20% off coupon for Bed, Bath and Beyond. Those cups range in price from 14.00-19.00. That quiche with rice crust sounds lovely. Which culinary mystery? I love them. I'm certainly enjoying your blog. It is reminding me of all the things I miss since moving up here. It was so easy to jaunt over the hill to Santa Monica and West L.A. (and points further south and east) when I lived in the valley. Now it takes most of a day for a round trip. Sigh! The quiche is from Crunch Time( by Diane Mott Davidson). Its called florentine quiche and has cottage cheese instead of half and half. Julie wont eat it, so I was going to make half a recipe. I just didnt get around to it. Sometimes it takes most of the day for me to get to Santa Monica too. On Monday, there was a car accident and it took almost an hour an a half to get home. If I can leave the westside by 2pm, I'm usually home in 30-45min. Next time you're in my neck of the woods, let me know and we can have lunch.

Lunch today was at the hospital. I figured if they're going to bill my insurance company 100 grand for my treatment, I might as well eat the lunch. Oh, yeah, thats another thing I miss from Ontario. Free health care. I could chose from meatloaf or chicken alfredo( with peas and carrots). I could also chose something from the grill. I got a turkey burger with cheese and fries. They gave me dessert, I had 1 bite. It was so rich, it was not a cake, rather a very dense mouse. Later on, I ordered a fruit plate. It looks a lot better than it tasted. The melon was hard as a rock. Its 100F today, really hot and I'm exhausted. I stopped at Whole Foods on my way home and got a piece of baked chicken and some sides from the hot bar. On Wednesday, the hot bar and the salad bar are 5.99lb( regular 7.99). Julie is having dinner at the station tonight.

Yes, the rice and spinach were leftover. I was going to make a quiche with a rice crust( a recipe from a Culinary Mystery Novel), but I didnt get to it. The rice is nutty and chewy. Similar to brown, but with a bit stronger flavor. I cant remember the last time I used it. I was looking for brown in the pantry and I came across that. Make sure you use a 20% off coupon for Bed, Bath and Beyond. Those cups range in price from 14.00-19.00.

Breakfast. My version of Migas. Torn corn tortillas, eggs( in my case, 1 whole egg, 2 whites), red onion, black japonica rice, spinach and some leftover chicken. Also topped with some "authentic Mexican cheese"( a blend from Sargento). It looks like crap, but it was good. Lots of protein, so It will keep me full for awhile. When I do it again, I'll leave out the spinach. Too strong. Today is Officer appreciation day at Julie's station. Local businesses bring in food for all the officers. Breakfast, Lunch and dinner. I asked her to take some pics. She said she thinks one of the businesses might be Outback( chain steak house restaurant).

Hi Peter, The fish tacos served out here are mostly deep fried( mahi mahi or halibut) in a soft corn tortilla( usually two tortillas, one on top of another, not fried), with shredded cabbage, a white sauce and a squeeze of lime. Sometimes they add salsa. The very first fish tacos I ever tried were from The Reel Inn( used to be on 3rd street promenade and one in Malibu). They added cheese to the tortilla, which they melted and grilled the fish. I cant remember much else about it, except that I loved them. There is a fast food chain out here called Rubios. On Tuesday, their fish tacos are 1.50. They used to be 1.00, then 1.25. I can't stand them. The tortillas is hard and the fish looks like a fish stick.

I love Nut Goodies, but they are only sold in Minnesota. I couldnt even find them in the neighboring state of Wisconsin.

Dinner tonight. I pan seared some chicken cutlets for J's salad. She enjoyed the salad a lot, she said it tasted just like the restaurant. I did use their dressing.

Those traditional Thanksgiving dinners I made for the Seniors were my most popular meals. The first time, I didnt make turnip and I heard about it. If I could have cooked a Thanksgiving meal, each time, I would have probably had 100 diners. Its a lot of work though, cooking for 50. I had to do the turkeys the day before since oven space was always at a premium.

Funny, I just wrote in my foodblog that I couldnt find corn tortillas where I lived in Ontario. Do you have them in Burlington? The avocado looks nice. Is it from Mexico?

I went to Santa Monica High School. I remember walking to Tommy's on Pico for lunch sometimes. Everytime we go back to Santa Monica, I see another restaurant I want to try. Yesterday, I saw 3 places that I put on my list. Good Memory. We ebayed a lot. My ex would go out yard saleing( sp?) and I'd list and ship from Michigan. A lot of the items were sold were vintage kitchen items. For instance, we sold a vintage le crueset pate terrine, a vintage Le Creuset hot chocolate pot, various copper pots and those metal ice cube trays. Those ice cube trays were the start of our ebaying. I dont sell anymore, I dont have the time and I cant find those great bargains at yard sales/thrift stores/rummage sales anymore. Most of the people we sold to were in California. The last time I went yard saleing, I bought a vintage armetal platter for 2.00. I ended up keeping it because I left so many of my kitchen servingware back in Canada.

Lunch today I had the chicken mushroom pastry thingy from The Tudor House. I forgot to mention that they cost 3.25. It was very flaky, made me wonder if it is made with lard. I had some knudsen cottage cheese on the side. I was very, very thirsty a couple hours after eating this. Dinner tonight is a repeat of last night for me. I'm making Julie a copycat of the salad we had the other day. I went to Sprouts today and bought Organic romaine hearts( a package of 3 for 1.50). I also got organic celery for 1.50. Everyone says that groceries are so expensive in California, but I havent really found that to be true. Maybe I just know how to shop. Morning iced. I told you, I have a lot of those tumblers. I remembered another thing I miss from Ontario. Liberte yogurt. I can find it here at Whole Foods, but not the big canisters and not the lowfat variety.

Thanks Kim, I was a bit weary about blogging again because of the change in my relationship and culinary life. Funny you mention the kitchen. When I told my mom I wanted out of my marriage, she said " but you have such a great kitchen". I said " Mom, I cant stay in a bad marriage for the kitchen". I know we will redo our kitchen here within the next 5 months so its all good. Love is grand : )

Shelby, I hate raw tomatoes, I never eat salsa( unless its mango salsa) so tell your hubby you dont have to have salsa with fish. Can you get corn tortillas where you live? A fish and chips shop opened on the corner in my former town in Ontario. I bought some of the fried halibut, brought it home and made fish tacos out of it( with corn tortillas that I brought back on a previous visit to Cali). I brought one up to the shop so the owner could try it, but he just didnt get it at all. LOL. I couldnt even buy corn tortillas in Exeter, I think most ppl who dont know about them or havent been exposed to them, prefer flour. We have quite a few Mexican markets here that make their own tortillas, I could eat them warm out of the package and be very happy. My catering days are long over. I only did it in Ontario out of necessity. I have psoriatic arthritis and its really hard on my joints to be cooking non-stop. The arthritis is the reason I went back to college and law school, because I couldnt cook anymore. I do still bake a few times a month. For instance, I baked my aunt and uncle an anniversary cake last month, I baked a few things for Rosh Hashana and I'm going to bake a cake this week for a "cakewalk". Anyone ever make a "boob" cake? Whenever we go to my aunts for dinner or to a potluck, I always bring a few things. I belong to a few foodie groups and I'm throwing a big retirement party for Julie next month. She's also in the airforce reserves and she is retiring from that after 27yrs. All those things satisfy my cooking needs. Oh, I also bake stuff for Julie's work a lot. Cops will eat anything, as long as they know where it came from. LOL.

Breakfast today was the sour cream blueberry muffin from Clementine. I dont know why this muffin was voted best blueberry muffin in LA. It had no discernable blueberry flavor and was a tad greasy. My Jordan Marsh Big Blues are so much better. I had some non fat milk too. Ignore the peanut butter, that was for my doxies morning medicine. Julie had the muffin from Rockenwagner and she said it was dry. My cooking life has really changed since I've moved back to Cali. In Ontario, my small town had 3 fast food restaurants( Subway, McDonalds and KFC). There were a few other restaurants, but nothing that I thought was worth spending the money on. If we wanted to go out to a nice restaurant, we had a 40 min drive to London. So, I cooked every night and I cooked a lot. I also baked a lot for my ex to take to work. I baked as a side business and I did some personal cheffing and catering on the side. As you can see, the kitchen here is very small and inefficient. A couple years before I left Ontario, we redid out kitchen and it was a dream to cook in. I do try to cook dinner a few nights a week. Mostly the nights when Julie is working. She is usually home by 7pm and is exhausted after 12hrs so I'm not going to make her go out for dinner. Last night, she grilled a turkey burger( from Costco) and had it on a La Brea bakery sourdough roll. She had some coleslaw too. I'm not sure what she'll have tonight, maybe the same thing. I'm going to make those fish tacos again.

EatNopales- I didnt know that, thanks for telling me. The first fish tacos I ever had( years and years ago at The Reel Inn) were grilled. Thats how I fell in love with them. ChefCrash I made the quick pickled onions with garlic, salt, pepper, and red wine vinegar. I let them sit at room temp for an hour. The chowder pieces are the best deal. I got sea bass, swordfish, halibut and wahoo. I could have had albacore and salmon too. I think I might make those tacos again for dinner, they were yummy.

I also love traditional fish tacos where the fish is fried. I have a huge fear of frying, I've tried it numerous times and I just think its better left to the profesionals. So far, the best fish taco I've had in Cali has been at Mijita in San Francisco( at the Ferry Plaza ). Julie has lived in this condo since 1994. About 10yrs ago, she had the cabinets refinished. Its definitely time for a remodel. Did I mention that my kitchen is the size of a postage stamp? Its really small and very inefficient. Its also falling apart. There are doors missing from cabinets and there are doors that dont close( hence the painters tape). I'm only including this pic because we are currently gathering quotes for a full remodel. We're also having the kitchen extended out into the dining room. It will be bigger and way more efficient. We recently bought a new oven, over the range microwave and dishwasher. All we'll need to buy is a new fridge. We have a cabinetmaker coming on Friday morning to firm up his quote and design. I'm not sure I want to tackle this project before the bar exam. The turn around time for the cabinets is only 2 weeks though, but we need a lot more work such as lighting and painting and tile, etc.

Here are the goodies we bought today. We shared the cookie for dessert. Here is the best bargain at Santa Monica Seafood. Chowder pieces for 5.99lb. I dont like salmon or tuna so I I request that they not include that. I sprinkled some penzey's southwest seasoning on them and J grilled them for me. I made fish tacos. I *love* fish tacos. I know these are not traditional, but they are still delicious. I always have corn tortillas in my freezer. I warm them in a skillet. I picked up some coleslaw at Santa Monica Seafood too and made a quick pickled red onion.

Next stop, Santa Monica Seafood. Its been around since 1939, but not in its current location. Sometime while I was away, they moved to a bigger location and added a cafe/oyster bar. The seafood here is amazing.

We walked back to Rockenwagner bakery. This is the view down 3rd street promenade. 3rd street promendate is kinda sentimental for me. Julie and I went on our first date at this AMC movie theater 18yrs ago. This was another stop on the walking tour. We tasted 4 things from here. This bakery is known for their soft pretzels. They are authentic because they are boiled in Lye. We bought a soft pretzel, a muffin for Julie and a double chocolate chip cookie( pics to come later) Its time for dinner.