Passion Fruit Pudding Cake

My boss has a big bounty of a garden and he generously brings in lots of different kinds of fruits. One of these fruits in which he brings surplus of is passion fruit! Passion fruit is such a treat because it’s not very common. The abundant amount of rain Southern California has received lately has helped more fruit, well, come to fruit. Passion fruit has a certain tropical flavor. It also absolutely looks like an alien fruit: it has a purple shell and inside, there are a bunch of green slime covered seeds. Sounds appetizing, right? Well, it’s actually super tasty and they’re only about 15 calories a pop!

My boss had brought in a large amount this time and I had quite a few sitting in my fridge. I didn’t want them to go bad, so I looked up passion fruit recipes and found this one. I altered it a little to have less sugar. A passion fruit pudding cake…full of moisture and flavor without being too sweet. Those who know me know that I’m not a huge cake fan, but this recipe is a cross between a pudding and a cake so I like it. It may look a little intimidating, but it’s quite simple to do. I’ve already baked it twice because it’s so delicious. It’s perfect for a guilt-free dessert because it’s so light, but also hits the spot because of its flavor and texture.

Mar062017

Our Weekend in Pictures

Some yummy eats

Mar012017

Plan Check Review

Plan Check has a few locations and I’ve only been to this one, although I have been here multiple times. Since I worked across the street, I would take my staff here for meetings/lunches AND since we knew how to navigate Sawtelle so well, we never had to wait for a table. I also know how long the wait can be because I could see the line from outside my window, so my first bit of advice is… try to time your visit… if you can.

Whenever you go to a hipster-gastropub/New American joint like this, you have to know that you’ll be paying a lot for small portions. If you’re surprised by that when you arrive, I apologize for your ignorance of the LA food scene. So again, coming here is about managing expectations and being strategic. My staff would fill up on fries so they don’t leave hungry.

Image source

Feb272017

Week or So in Pics – Sick Noke, Oscars, Universal, and No Meals Eaten Out!

Valentine’s Day was special–starting off with Sibyl Sophia Floral Design flowers, delivered to me at work!

Feb242017

Doing Dessert at Home

We saw a really funny meme the other night. It showed someone’s meals logged throughout the day and the first 4-5 were all super healthy. The final one was a pint of ice cream and chocolate chips cookies and it’s sad, but true. We think that more people can relate to that than you might initially think, because it’s extremely hard to fight your sweet tooth the whole day.

Feb212017

Stove to Oven Apple Crumble Dessert

One night, after a delicious supper of leftovers, Hungry and I were craving something else. We had a fridge full of goodies so the world was our oyster. What did we want for dessert? More than just a square of chocolate. What about making something? What about pairing Hungry’s cooking skills with Fit’s baking skills? Yes! Sounds like the right way to go. We had plenty of apples and I always like to add a topping, so we created an apple crumble dessert! This recipe was so fun, but also relatively un-intimidating and simple to do: we cooked on the stove and then baked to finish it in the oven. If you can, grab a partner to make this lovely dessert with you in the kitchen!

Feb192017

Mutari: Serious Hot Chocolate in Santa Cruz, CA

Recently, we went on an amazing road trip up the California coast. Mutari is a little hot chocolate joint we visited in Santa Cruz, California. We stopped by to escape a rainy Santa Cruz night after dinner and before returning to our hotel on our trip up the coast. It was an experience. I’ll get straight to the point that I did not love their chocolate. But I loved their passion and it made everything taste a little better.

Feb182017

Super-Powered Oatmeal Recipe

Even if you have a regular 9-5 office job, you still need to find something to get you through the day. And forget just getting through the day, why not power through the day?! Thus I bring to you….super-powered oatmeal: a recipe to give you a happy belly and charge you with energy for the day. It’s really quite simple and I use what ingredients I have in my pantry. It doesn’t take long and I find it’s a lovely way to start the day. Cooking is a form of creativity and creativity itself often lends energy to the creator. I like to cook this simple oatmeal recipe while sipping on fresh cold lemon water and a cup of tea. If you’re wary of cooking breakfast, this is a good recipe to start with: it’s hard to screw up.

Feb152017

Tsujita (Yelp Review)

3 stars given on Yelp

Having worked a few buildings over for two and a half years, I saw the lines outside of Tsujita, a ramen eatery on Sawtelle. I knew it was heavily hyped because of its presence on Gold’s 101 List multiple times. I think he even claimed it was the best ramen in LA. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case the only time I visited.

Image source

Feb132017

Simple, Healthy Cranberry Sauce

We still have five more weeks of winter here in the northern hemisphere. While that might not mean a whole lot for us Californians (though we have been getting lots of wonderful rain!), it means most of the country is shivering each day. Well, I have a little warm comfort for you! Although you may associate cranberry sauce just with the holidays, I’m here to tell you it’s a great companion all the way through the winter (and beyond)! You can have it cold or hot, but cranberry sauce can add a certain something to whatever you’re eating. I could put cranberry sauce on nearly anything. However, I don’t like the super sweet jellied stuff, so if that’s what you’re into, this is not the droid you’re looking for. This recipe has much less sugar than most so it maintains its beautiful tartness. I’ve also added some orange zest to brighten it up even more.