Gastronomy Blog by Cathy Chaplin

05 Dec 2010

Eat My Blog Winter 2010: Nourishing Our Community One Cookie (and Crack Pie) at a Time

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The Los Angeles food blogging community came together this past Saturday for the third annual Eat My Blog charity bake sale. Even though the weather conditions were downright wintry by southern California standards, the turnout was strong and we raised over $3,700 for the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank. It’s awe-inspiring to think that our humble baked goods have yielded over $12,000 between the three events [See: Eat My Blog Winter 2009 and Eat My Blog Summer 2010]. Yowsas!

Food insufficiency is a very real problem across the country, and I am incredibly proud that the money raised through Eat My Blog goes toward relieving the issue in our city. As long as I’ve got my merry band of baking bloggers, we’re gonna keep on nourishing our community one cookie at a time.

As always, Eat My Blog featured a killer array of baked goods. Here are some of the delicious and creative treats that lined the tables at Tender Greens. Clockwise from top left—pink piper Champagne cupcakes from The Cupcake Diary, walnut sea salt caramels from Diana Takes a Bite, bubblegum flavored marshmallows from Hungry Passport, and Maui Wowie cookies from Isabella’s Cookie Company.

Clockwise from top left—Idgie’s dog biscuits from Tien of Blogging LA, coconut jelly served in a fresh young coconut from Ravenous Couple, catnip cookies from The Catty Critic, and pinenut tarts from Life with a Whisk.

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03 Dec 2010

Frosted Cupcakery – Los Angeles (Hollywood)

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My cupcake obsession has been waning as of late. With gourmet doughnuts, bread pudding, and whoopie pies wrestling for my affections, cupcakes have taken a back seat. While I still think that they’re unrivaled in the cuteness department, I no longer feel that strong pull to sample every specimen that looks my way. Or so I thought…

Elina Shatkin, the latest addition to The Weekly‘s squad of discerning critics, recently penned a piece about Frosted Cupcakery‘s flavor of the month: Bacon Cornbread Cupcake. Her enthusiastic prose reignited my old friend Compulsion. I hadn’t felt strongly about a cupcake in months, but I had to try this bacon dotted, honey frosted cornbread cupcake—no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

The Astronomer and I dropped into Frosted ten minutes before closing two Saturdays ago. Since we couldn’t arrive any earlier, I made sure to call in and reserve a bacon cornbread cupcake. It was a good thing that I did, because the entire batch was sold out by the time we came in. Luckily, the gal who answered my call delivered as promised and there was one Flavor of the Month left with my name on it.

I decided to pick up three additional flavors since they looked so lovely behind the glass case ($2.95 each). We were meeting up with a group of friends for dinner at Pa-Ord Noodle soon after, so I knew these sweet treats would be appreciated.

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01 Dec 2010

Mezbaan Indian Cuisine – Pasadena

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When the Indian kids studying at Caltech are hungry for a taste of home, they head to Mezbaan Indian Cuisine in Old Pasadena. It’s hardly the closest Indian restaurant to campus, but the quality makes up for the longer trek, according to our friend Raga, a computer science grad student from Madras.

Raga introduced The Astronomer and me to his favorite spot a few Sundays ago. We came for the all-you-can-eat buffet, which is priced at $10.95 and includes champagne. The fun starts at noon and runs until 3 PM. Mezbaan also has a weekday buffet for $8.99 from 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM. For grad students living on a stipend, these buffets offer a lot of bang for very little buck. Ordering a la carte will come once PhDs are in hand. Or maybe not…

While we were filling up our plates at the steam tables, our really nice and attentive waiter dropped off a basket of warm and pliable naan. This was the first of two baskets we plowed through during our meal.

On our visit, Mezbaan offered three different condiments—mint chutney, tamarind chutney, and raita, a cooling yogurt sauce. Raga had a soft spot for the minty one, while I favored the sticky sweet tamarind one.

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