CaliPoutine

Last Saturday, we took Julie's dad( who was visiting from Milwaukee) on a walking tour of Santa Monica. It wasnt just any walking tour, it was a "foodie" walking tour from a company called SixTaste. We have taken 2 previous tours, one of downtown LA and another of Hollywood. We absolutely loved them. I grew up in Santa Monica so I thought there wasnt much I could learn, but I did learn a lot. The tour guide took us to a British Tea House, where we sampled these pot pie things? I cant remember the name. One is filled with chicken and mushrooms, the other was filled with a chicken curry. We went back today so I could get them and throw them in the freezer. I didnt realize that Santa Monica has the highest number of British expats in LA County. I guess it makes sense, there are a lot of British pubs in Santa Monica as well. They also make a lot of little British pastries. They have a tea room attatched to the store. The store sells all the British foods you could ever want. I recognized a lot of items from Canada.

It was really filling up as we left. Next stop, Santa Monica. It was a really overcast day today. You can barely see the ocean. Santa Monica Pier.

First we went to Clementine for lunch. This place is very popular and gets really busy. Its a favorite haunt of celebs too. A few months ago, I saw Barbara Hershey and family there. We got here around 11:40, so no line. By the time we left, there was a really long line. We both got the lunch specials. Half a sandwich, soup and a drink( or cookie) for 9.75. I got a medium soup so mine was 1.00 more. J had half a BLT with applewood smoked bacon and heirloom tomatoes on country white bread. The soup is chicken pozole. I love their soups, very balanced and not oversalted. I had smoked turkey with herby sauce, iceberg and white cheddar. I subbed cheese for the heirloom tomatoes. I'm not a raw tomato fan. The soup was butternut squash. It was slightly sweet. I get a horrible rash when I cut up butternut squash( and its hard for me to cut with my arthritis), so I order the soup when I see it. They have really tasty baked goods. This cracked me up. I bought a sour cream bluberry muffin because it was voted best blueberry muffin by LA Magazine. I'll have it for breakfast tomorrow. They sell a lot of ready made soups and other entrees.

We're back. It only took us 30 min to get to W. LA, but over an hour to get home. There was an accident on the 405 and traffic was horrendous. First up is my upright frostfree freezer. When I moved back, I really missed having an extra freezer. We have a side by side fridge in the kitchen and it barely holds anything. About 6 months ago, we bought a freezer for the garage. I knew I didnt want a chest freezer because I was constantly losing things inside and it was so cold on my hands. I hated defrosting it too. As you can see, I dont have a problem filling it up. I made some corn chowder( Cook's Illustrated) when corn was 5 for 1.00. I made some Lentil soup yesterday too.

Sorry CaliPoutine I will get out of your way now.. just one last thing... always ask for a double dip (or some au jus on the side)... the lamb legs go into the ovens very early (like 4 AM or so)... they are their best early in the day (11 AM is a good time if you can lunch early) Also their biscuits are pretty good... I don't know what their coffee prices are now but back when my dad still worked there it was 10 cents a cup (for a drinkable cup of Yuban).. yup 10 cents and that was in the current century. No dip for me. I dont eat beef and the au jus is beef.

I use Peter Rhienharts recipe. I use High Gluten flour too. I also make the bagels a lot smaller, I usually get 8 from a half batch. I blew out my first kitchen aid from making those bagels all the time. The dough is very stiff. I just bought a 50lb bag of high gluten flour from Restaurant Depot, so if you ever want to try those bagels, let me know. I'll never go thru that much flour. The tofu was great, it was sorta melty in the middle.

Breakfast. I ran out and got us bagels. In my case, a bialy. I scoop out the inside and use light cream cheese. Julie doesnt like anything on her bagels, no cream cheese, no butter( except on my homemade bagels). She also likes her bagels warmed in the microwave. You have no idea how much that kills me to do. I went to a local place, I usually go to Western Bagel( a chain), if I dont have time to make my own. Morning iced, I got my undergrad at CSULB. Here is my ice. I LOVE this ice cube tray. I bought it in Ontario and I have yet to find more here. Ive searched thrift stores high and low. It makes the best ice. The cubes are solid and they last for hours and hours. I use filtered water( Julie calls it my princess ice". We have an icemaker, but I much prefer this ice. We are off to Santa Monica/WLA. See ya later.

Dinner Tonight. I bought these ready made cheese pizzas at whole foods. Buy 1, get 1 free, so 5.00 for 2. I cooked some onions, mushrooms and chicken sausage( from Sprouts, a grocery store). I added that to the pizza. I made a quick cucumber salad too.

We went to Cousin's for lunch. Its a local place that isnt a chain. They make a salad that Jules really likes. I wanted to eat somewhere else, but a relationship is all about compromise( cough, cough). We shared the salad and an order of fries. We brought our own drinks because this places serves Pepsi and we prefer coke products( diet for me, regular for J). The salad is served with a parmesean dressing. I dont know why they call it parmesean, because I couldnt taste that flavor at all. The lettuce was wet, so the dressing pooled in the bottom of the bowl. The fries were good though.

I love maple syrup too. The bowl and plate are Fiestaware( new). I have a little collection of the new Fiesta. When we renovate our kitchen, we want to make one of our kitchen cabinets glass front to show it off. Never been to Ojai, its on my list

Whats on the Thanksgiving menu?

Hi Jenni, I never ate poutine, it was just a nickname given to me by my ex. I miss this fantastic restaurant, The Only on King in London, ON. The food was so freaking good. There isnt anything else I can think of. I do miss a few things from Michigan, I was only 62 miles from the Michigan border and I went at least 1x a week.

Breakfast. I was craving pancakes, Julie wanted oatmeal. I bought this mix from Opensky.com. I had a 20.00 credit that I couldnt let go to waste. In addition to this mix, I got 2 bottles of syrup and a choc. chip cookie mix and a brownie mix. I dont bake from mixes, but the ingredients are all natural so I'll use the latter 2 for J's work. Today, its just regular rolled oats. The blueberries are for my pancakes. J is drinking non fat milk. Here is my wirehair dachshund, Harley enjoying the plate. You can see the Cairn, Bella in the background.

Todays iced coffee and the view from my balcony. We are currently discussing what we want to do for breakfast. I have a meet and greet at 1:30 for the Santa Clarita Valley Cooking and dining group on meetup.org. The group has been dormant for awhile and someone just took over the leadership. I need to bring an appetizer or something. I have some cookie dough and already baked 7 layer bars in the freezer so I might just put together a cookie platter.

No pig, no worries. I dont eat that much pork I wish I would have known you were here, I could have given you some restaurant recommendations and had you over for a meal. Or you could have cooked for me, Santa Clarita is sorely lacking in Chinese food( a constant craving of mine). I usually satisfy my craving for that when I go to Long Beach. Last time was my first time trying Thai food with my aunt and uncle. We usually go to a Chinese restaurant in Garden Grove. I've never eaten at that particular Marie Callender's, but I know exactly where it is. Did you notice the plethora of chain restarants here? It's not that there are not independent restaurants too, its just that for the most part, they suck. I was sitting here thinking about what independent restaurants we frequent, and I can only think of one Mexican place. I might take you up on your offer. I do miss that mustard and they dont ship to the US. I can have it shipped to your house before you come to Cali. Oh and there is an awesome Jewish bakery in Tarzana if you're into that. They make the BEST Rye bread.

Dinner tonight was at Thai BBQ in Cerritos( a neighboring town to Long Beach). My aunt and uncle ordered 4 appetizers. Chicken satay, beef satay, fried tofu and calamari. After the apps, we got pad thai, crispy duck and veggie fried rice. I brought home the leftover fried rice and chicken for Jules. Those are the only 2 dishes(from what was leftover) she would eat and she questioned me up and down if there was fish in the rice. She wont eat seafood. Did I mention she is a very picky eater? All that food came to $66.17.

Happy New Year to you too. I'll post pics of the dogs on Friday ( there will be either 7 or 9 of them, depending on if I'm watching my aunts friends 2 dogs). Feeding time is hilarious with that many dogs.

randi- are you on any injectible meds for the psoriatic arthritis? johnnybird has the condition as well but his physician didn't say anything to him about beef. is it possible since i source locally raised organic it makes a difference? can we see the ocean? how about fresh dates - fruits not people!? I'm on an IV medication( Remicade). I'll be going to the hospital for my infusion on Wednesday. They serve me lunch while I'm getting the drugs. I'll post pics of that( the lunch, not the medication. LOL).

I had a PB&J for lunch too( minus the crusts). I use Jif PB and Bonne Maman Strawberry Jam. I had a glass of skim milk too. I'm off to make the loooonnnnggg drive to Long Beach.

It was weird to be back at first. I felt like I was on an extended vacation. Now, it feels like I never left.I'm living in a very different place than before. I was close to the ocean and the weather was very mild. Here, its freaking hot. Some days I feel like I'm living on the surface on the sun. I did pick up the metric system, but it took awhile . I do like the imperial system( is that the correct term?) better. I guess its all what you're used to. There are a lot of things I miss about living in Ontario. I miss all the great yard sale bargains I'd find, I miss doing canning,I miss eG member Pookie( my first friend in Ontario, I met her thru my first foodblog), I miss the cheap prices on the great produce( I miss Ontario strawberries),I miss the honor system on the side of the road, I miss Kozliks mustards and I miss my niece. I guess I'll pick up some mustard when I return to Toronto in 2014 for the Legal Conference we just attended in Vegas.

You can find the Tervis tumblers at Bed, Bath and Beyond. We love them and have turned more than a few people on to them. They also have different lids, straws and other sizes. I tried the coconut creamer because it was on sale and I had a coupon. Ive tried the fat free half and half, I didnt care for it.

Here is the inside of the Coconut Crack Cake. I've made the cake numerous times, but only for special occasions. It weighs close to 6lbs. The last time I made it, was for my sister's 40th bday in 2010. I got the recipe from Brooks Hamaker, eG member Mayhaw Man. If you love coconut, you have to make this cake. I used the Leon's custard picture for a teaser because Julie is originally from Milwaukee. She introduced me to Leon's and I love it. So unlike any other ice cream. Julie's first job just happened to be at Leon's too. The burrito is a BREAKFAST Burrito from The Coffee Cup cafe in Long Beach. Its my favorite breakfast burrito. I get it with egg beaters. It also comes with brown rice, black beans and chicken. So, not as unhealthy as it looks, but I'm sure it still has a million calories. I usually skip lunch when I eat it for breakfast.

Here is my coffee deal. Nothing fancy. I make a pot the night before so it can chill. It lasts about 3 days. I'm currently using The Coffee Bean coffee. They donated numerous pallets of it to Julie's base( Julie is also in the airforce reserves). She brought home a few bags of regular and more than a few bags of decaf. Its already ground. Since I doctor it up so much, it probably really doesnt matter what kind of coffee I use. I mixed the regular half and half with the coconut creamer. I wanted to see if it makes a difference( it did). I drink out of Tervis Tumblers. We own a lot of them. They are double insulated, made in the USA and are virtually unbreakable. Because of my arthritis, I drop things a lot.

FYI, I'm not fasting today for health reasons. I started my day with an iced coffee. I only started drinking coffee about 2yrs ago. My ex always had leftover coffee in the pot, so instead of throwing it out, I asked her to throw it in the fridge. After adding some half and half and splenda and ice, I liked it. I switched to sugar free vanilla syrup and now I use a combination of sugar free caramel and vanilla. I get the syrup from Amazon on a subscribe and save program. I get a delivery every 3 months. I only like my coffee iced. I've never liked hot drinks, even while living in the frozen north. I grew up in Florida and California so maybe thats why Yesterday, I made a pot of irish oatmeal. I had mine with truvia and almond butter. Julie had brown sugar and bananna. Julie had to work today, so she heated up the leftover oatmeal for her breakfast since she leaves at 5:30am. Last night, I made her a PB&J. She takes the same sandwich every single day. Its easy to eat in the police car and requires no refridgeration. And, she loves it. She takes a bunch of snacks too, nuts, fruit, pretzels, and lots of water. She works in the San Fernando Valley and it gets really, really hot.

We went to the Farmer's Market last Sunday and we were still seeing peaches, plums and nectarines. Strawberries too. I tried samples of all and wasnt impressed. The market still had corn and other summer veggies, along with apples and squash.