Our Week in Pics (Dec 7 – 13)

Lots of noms

Aug082020

What To Cook For Labor Day

We’ve got some delicious Labor Day inspired recipes coming out later this week, but today I’m excited to share some of my favorite picnic-themed recipes to inspire you for the upcoming holiday weekend. We did an array of research and came up with our best entries from our readers and past articles. Whether you are planning to start the summer fun with a picnic, meal delivery kit, barbecue or just a simple picnic with friends and family, we have put together the perfect menu ideas for Memorial Day 2020.

Jul052020

Introducing our Guide to Eating NOLA

Tomorrow, we’re going to unveil a new page on the blog… our guide to Eating NOLA. Since we first moved to New Orleans, about a year ago, we’ve eaten at nearly 150 different places. (Multiple locations of the same chains don’t count.) We’ve dined at some of the most popular spots, while we’ve also found some dives that have very little press. We’ve gone big, with four or five trips to Commander’s Palace. Also, we’ve gone small, with a birthday dinner at a tiny Chinese restaurant in Gretna. What will the guide look like?

Jul022020

Tomorrow on YouTube: Millennial Food Quiz

Recently, a Facebook friend shared the featured image on this post, which is a millennial food quiz. This friend lives in the New Orleans area and most of the people who commented on the post had relatively low scores, which I mention in tomorrow’s video. I can only imagine what the results for someone in Los Angeles or San Francisco would look like. My score wouldn’t have been nearly as high if we didn’t live in Hollywood for three years.

In tomorrow’s video, I go over the list one item at a time. I’ll also reveal if I know what it is, if I’ve eaten it, and where I’ve eaten it… if I remember. I know, this would’ve been a much better video if Alana and I recorded it together… maybe we’ll do a part two!

May262020

Easy S’mores, All Indoors

Happy Tuesday, or Wednesday depending on where you live in this big beautiful world.

If you’re currently experiencing summer, any anywhere near where we live in New Orleans, you’re probably being overrun by mosquitoes, Japanese beetles, and termites. It isn’t fun to spend time outside at night, even with all the fans and Citronella candles you can find in your barren-shelved grocery stores. Add the totally miserable stress of living during a very challenging time and being under quarantine doesn’t help one bit, as you earn to escape.

May142020

How to Improve Your Diet (And Your Relationship with Food)

We are what we eat, which is a simple way of saying that the food we eat directly impacts our health, our mood, and our physical shape. Having a healthy relationship with food means that we can get all the vitamins and nutrients that we need, in portion sizes that our bodies can process. Without this balance, our health and wellbeing can fall out of tandem, and we suffer as a result.

If you don’t naturally have a good relationship with your food, then it can feel like a challenge to reconfigure what you eat and how you feel about your meals, but with this guide, you can start your journey on the right track.

Apr062020

First Grocery Trip of the Quarantine Kitchen Challenge

Last Thursday, we announced a challenge that we were going to take part of during quarantine, where we’d push ourselves to use the food we already have at home. To summarize, we allowed ourselves two meals out (delivery or take-out a week, Monday through Sunday) and SIX grocery items for each of us, once every two weeks. Today was our first trip to the grocery in two weeks, and based on what we had at home and what we were craving, this is what we each decided to buy.

Apr022020

Corona Quarantine Kitchen Cupboard Challenge

What a mouthful! As we move into our fourth week of self-isolation, we can count the number of times we’ve left the house on one hand. Alana left once, to take Noke for a hike at a local trail that isn’t very heavily used. I’ve made a few trips to the grocery store to replenish our food supplies, although looking back at it, we were still living a little too luxuriously. I wouldn’t say that we were being careless, but we definitely didn’t need the groceries that I bought. While milk and yogurt certainly aren’t that much of a stretch, we think we could make it through this with less. Thus, the Corona Quarantine Kitchen Cupboard Challenge was born.

Feb122020

Built Bar: The Ultimate Unbiased Review

Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of it took me forever to publish this article. How long? Well, way back in late June of last year, Charles from Built Bar reached out to us and asked us to provide an honest review of their “fairly new” protein bar. They’re not fairly new anymore. Within a week, they arrived, but were completely melted into oblivion as our delivery driver left them in the sun. Logan from Built Bar quickly sent us another box and we grabbed them without any issues since Hurricane Barry protected them from the sun.

So, here is the honest review.

If you don’t like any of the protein bars you’ve ever eaten, you should buy THIS.

May072019

Dumpling Monster (WeHo, Los Angeles)

Head over to Dumpling Monster while you still can; soon there will be lines out the door and prices will increase! Years and years ago, we wrote one of the first reviews for Sunny Blue. Even though we don’t (and shouldn’t) take any credit for their success, when we first started going there, there weren’t any lines whatsoever. Once it got popular, there’d often be a thirty minute wait and eventually the quality even dipped a bit. The two founders opened another location in Culver City and were rarely at the Main Street Santa Monica location ever. We were thrilled for their success, but it lost the magic it once had.

Something similar might happen with Dumpling Monster. The prices are great and the food is both fresh and flavorful. Most dumpling spots are either dirty hole in the walls or really high-end spots with long waits, like the two in Century City Mall. This is the perfect middle ground. It is clean, well organized and easy to access. It isn’t very busy because the shop is hiding behind a pet boarding facility on Santa Monica Blvd, but once people discover this spot it will be busy.

We first tried it for delivery and were thrilled with the price and quality of the food. We decided to go into their physical location and found the overall experience equally exceptional. My only issue was that the crispy beef roll was served with a side of sriracha. Since their other dumpling dipping sauces are complex flavor profiles, this was disappointing. Fortunately, the roll itself was so good that it didn’t need sauce.

It is only a matter of time before their delivery wait times increase, their small seating area is packed and their prices go up. It is hard to predict if the quality goes up or down, but you should definitely try it sooner than later. Being on top of the game, or in front of the pack, helps you stay hungry and fit.