Gastronomy Blog by Cathy Chaplin

25 Nov 2011

Eat My Blog: Winter 2011 Edition

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We’re baaaaack! The fourth installment of the Eat My Blog charity bake sale will take place at Pita Jungle in Old Pasadena (43 East Colorado Boulevard) on Saturday, December 10 from 10 AM to 4 PM.

To make this upcoming event even bigger and better than before, we’ve recruited 50+ bakers who will be cranking out over 2,000 baked goods. Expect to see lemon-lavender madeleines from Hungry Passport, Yoda green tea Oreos from Just Jenn Recipes, malted milk cookie tarts from Nosh with Me, and sesame doughnut pops from Ravenous Couple at the event. All items will be priced between $1 and $4, with all proceeds benefiting the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank.

The Eat My Blog tables will also be lined with special donations from local chefs, restaurants, and businesses including Xoia, Sotto, Isabella’s Cookies, Border Grill, M.B. Post, XT Patisserie, Farmshop, Cake Monkey, Crème Caramel LA, Good Girl Dinette, Rivera, Magnolia Bakery, SQUIRL, The Market on Holly, and The Daily Dose.

You can read about our past events here:

Coming to the event? Let us know on our Facebook event page and invite your friends too. I hope to see you there!

See below for the full list of participating bloggers…
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Restaurant Review

22 Nov 2011

The Pie Hole – Los Angeles (Downtown)

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My sweets-obsessed friend Nastassia and I have been dying to try The Pie Hole ever since it opened for business a little over a month ago. After several weeks of pining and planning, our schedules finally meshed perfectly this past Friday. It was time to have our pie and eat it too.

Rebecca Grasley and Matthew Heffner, a mother and son team, are the passionate pie slingers behind the cafe. All of the pies served here are made using Ms. Grasley’s recipes. She’s been baking for over fifty years and has won the best pie award at the New Jersey State Fair seven years in a row.

The recipes are executed by head pastry chef Adrianna Sullivan, who has worked in of some of the city’s best restaurants including Providence, Nickel Diner, and M.B. Post.

Nastassia and I arrived at the restaurant just before noon and headed straight for the pie counter. We each ordered a sweet one and a savory one. I was hoping for a slice of the chocolate peanut butter pie that Elina Shatkin wrote about in The Weekly, but alas, it was unavailable on this visit. Shucks.

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Now Closed

20 Nov 2011

Lucky Noodle King – San Gabriel

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Of all the regional Chinese cuisines represented in the San Gabriel Valley, The Astronomer and I are least familiar with the dishes from Sichuan. The specialties from this region are famous for their tongue numbing peppercorns and mountains of dried chilies, and while The Astronomer and I love spicy foods, sweating through an entire meal can be an intimidating affair.

Still, we can’t resist a great food adventure now and again. Feeling hungry and daring one Saturday night, we headed to Lucky Noodle King for a late dinner. The crowd was minimal at this time, just a family of four in the corner and a group of flip-flop sporting fellas in the center.

The restaurant’s walls were painted a fiery shade of red with ornamental chilies hanging here and there. Clearly, a sign of good things to come.

While we perused the menu, the restaurant’s lone and lovely waitress brought over a plate of peanuts and shredded cabbage for us to snack on. The cabbage tasted of sesame oil and Sichuan peppercorns with a kick that had a way of lingering.

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