London Eats

I'm back from the land of fish n chips, curries and Jamie Oliver! Here's a shot of one of the courses from lunch at 15. The bonus was that we had Matt Skinner as our sommelier -- who picked us out a very nice wine! What a cutie. To be quite honest, there were the cutest men working there. I had a nice starter with broad beans, toast and mozzarella. The cheese was so nice and creamy. Then I had the grilled ahi with ribbons of zucchini. And then an apricot marscapone tart. Yum! Other highlights was the massive Welsh breakfasts at the B&B we stayed at in Wales. Talk about protein loading! I think it will be salads for me for the next month.

More pie, please!

I saw Waitress over the weekend and loved, loved, loved it. Sure, there were lots of pies, but also really great characters, quirky dialogue and a lovingly full message about life. It leaves you happy and in an unjudging state (unusual for me). Meaning, people are complex and so are situations involving people. Oh, the pies looked to die for!

LONDON CALLING

This is my last entry for a little while, as I head over the pond for a little vacation. Will share some pics of some -- hopefully good meals. If anything, the Welsh breakfasts will rock!

The Green One

I took the kids to see Shrek the 3rd today. I laughed out loud many times. Maybe Donkey was a little more obnoxious than normal. Maybe the story was a little disjointed. Maybe....I think Puss in Boots was my favorite in this installment. He had all the best lines. And those kitten eyes. He accidentally switches bodies with Donkey and that was comedy!

Bon Bon's rating: ***

For dinner, I went to a friend's place. He made lasagna and a nice salad. I made dessert for the crew. It turned out quite good. I would like the share the Barefoot Contessa's recipe with you now. Enjoy!

Lemon Yogurt Cake

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt

1 1/3 cups sugar, divided 3 extra-large eggs

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons)

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the glaze: 1 cup confectioners' sugar 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it's all incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.
When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool.

For the glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar and lemon juice and pour over the cake.

Eat!

Collard Greens

I just learned something from Curtis Stone, another one of my chef crushes. Hmmm....Aussie, blond, surfing type. Chef! So he's making Southern Fried Chicken with collard greens and he says that they are one of the only veg that is packed full of protein! Didn't know that! Cooking shows are so educational. Edutainment! I need to find my own take home chef...

~bb

Jamie or Tony?

My friend Bob turned me on to Achewood, a comic with a varied cast of characters with their own blog. The author, Chris Onstad, is obviously a foodie and his characters often refer to his food affliction in their tales, including a whole series about bacon. One character, Téodor Orezscu, is a foodie extrodinaire, describing his search of fresh dill weed to complete his lobster rolls, and more tales as such. Or the Whole Foods girl with the attitude.

This hilarious photo montage is Teodor's doing. Can you spot a young Tony Blair among the smiling photos of my beloved Jamie Oliver?

I get to go to 15, Jamie's restaurant. I am sooooo excited. How cool is that? London here I come!

The Office!

Season finale!
Jim and his big boy haircut!!!
And Michael Scott selling his condo on EBAY!!!!

Jim loves Pam. It's enough to make you cry. I had one of those office crushes. He went away. He broke my heart. He came back. He broke my heart. We are now friends. The story continues....

I caught up on a few episodes to get to tonight. The streaker was hilarious. Beach party. Ha! Now one must wait the summer to see what happens.

Dinner: grilled some veg and bbq pork. Just whatever I had around. It was pretty good! Made potato salad to go with. I am the boss of my own grill!!
--bon bon

Catching up with Netflix

It's been awhile, but I finally managed to watch a couple of my Netflix movies. I've actually had a couple that I've been excited to see:

The Queen: the Helen Mirren-academy-award-winning-performance. It was good, but it didn't do that much for me. I just kept thinking that the real queen is not that busty....recommended snack: scones and tea.

Curse of the Golden Flower (or Man cheng jin dai huang jin jia): This was a way over the top epic story in the Shakespearean tragedy tradition that ended up working for me. The jealousy, back-stabbing, alliances, deceipt and all of that stuff that surrounds a noble Chinese family. I kept thinking that the Emperor was one handsome man. Then I realized it was Chow Yun Fat in a long wig and a beard. But still unmistakedly hot. Recommended snack: shu mai or a variety of dim sum items.

You can give either a try. What's in the queue next? KYLE XY. There was a preview for it before the Queen. It looks kind of sci-fi, family engrossing.

The Summer Movie Season Commences

I think it actually officially starts Memorial Day weekend, but Spiderman 3 opened last weekend, kicking it off early. I remember seeing the previews for the last year. So of course, me, the movie girl had to go see it. It was not bad. I've heard some not so flattering reviews, but it fulfilled the action-driven mood that prevails in summer blockbusters. Toby McGuire was cute and nerdy and Peter Parker -- and hilarious as the evil-laden "black Spiderman". Keep it real Toby! Plus he and Harry made up in the end, and that made me happy. I was tired of seeing Harry so vengefully crazy. He lost his memory for awhile from a bump on the head. It reminds me of an incident with an ex-boyfriend. People are much nicer when they can't remember stuff :)

--Bon Bon gives this *** (three stars for not bad. Plenty of room yet for movies yet to come....)

Mom's Day Eats

It's always a challenge to come up with something to make for family gatherings. All the ladies usually have it taken care of so there is not much left to do. So, here is my plan:

• Spanakopita - something more snacky since there is always an abundance of food. But it's elegant and looks kind of fancy. I also have phyllo in the freezer.

• Zucchini cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Yes, this is kind of random, but I have a bunch of zucchini to use and I've been meaning to do something with it all week.


• Chocolate-dipped fruit. I have strawberries and pineapple. Both which look and smell delicious. Plus, I have all that chocolate from the chocolate class at Oh! Chocolate. How many times can one use the word "chocolate" in a sentence?

C'est tout -- Bon Bon

Going To Pam's

Bonjour mes amis. Today is absolutely perfection. The weather is exquisite. Low 60's. Sunny, with a slight breezy. There is still a very slight nip in the air that makes you feel alive. It still feels clean, before the summer haze arrives.

Tonight I meet up with the gang to go to Pam's. Pam's is the lounge at Sea Garden restaurant in Bellevue. Perfect for happy hour, the drinks are strong and cheap and Pam is the best. Ok, so Pam's limes never look this green, but she's still the best! I'm ready -- this day is too nice and work is too boring.

I may have had too many beers at trivia last night because I've been nursing this headache since I got home last night. Oh, well. The gin should help that out, right?

Oh, the other bonus of Wednesday's at Pam's is that Biff Moss will be there. Tunes to soothe the soul....

Waiting For Jane

I just saw a preview for what might be the best movie ever. Becoming Jane is about the life of Jane Austen and how she may have been inspired to write the novels with the heroines that she did. Jane Austen became one of my favorite authors when in highschool, I took British Literature from Mr. DeGracia and we had to read Pride and Prejudice. I believe the paper I wrote is still one of my favorites. So, the icing on the cake? It stars my most recent favorite, James McAvoy. Last seen in The Last King of Scotland and the Chronicles of Narnia, I am so enamoured with him. I really just love saying "Mr. Tumnus". Even as a fawn, I recognized there was something special. Oh, apparently he has his own web site. Oh, beautiful Scotsman.

-- Bon Bon

Another Use for Baking Soda

Thank you Arm and Hammer! I've always had a hard time finding a convenient remedy around the house for puffy eyes. But I think I've found it! I'm not one to go out and buy something I won't use for anything else, like Preparation H -- people like supermodels swear by it. And cold compresses (even ice!) don't seem to do it for me. This morning I took matters into my own hands and mixed some baking soda with water, spread it on the affected area. Waited 15 minutes (while I ate my breakfast). I noticed something when I wiped it off. Then after being a work for an hour or 2, I could not even tell that my eyes had been puffy at all. I used the old theory that you can suck out bee venom with it, why not some puffiness around the eyes? Try it sometime and let me know how it goes.

Cinco de Mayo

Hola! Bon Bon here. Celebrated Cinco de Mayo in the non-traditional way with a BBQ and a poker game with the boys. The grillin' was good, although my game was not. I was first to go out, but did manage a few good hands. I'm afraid I'm too easy to read.

Pre-grilling activities included seeing the Namesake. It was more of an epic story of a family and how they came to be who there are -- uniquely bi-cultural and the trials of being a different culture than your parents. How can you begin to understand one another and meet each other's expectations? So many movies coming up to see.....I hope I can figure out a way to go see as many as possible. Previews for Waitress and In the Land of Women were very intriguing to me. Hope to be reviewing those soon.

Seattle's Best Pastries

Thanks to Seattle Magazine's restaurant issue last month, I have decided to pay homage to my French roots and highlight Cafe Besalu, located in beautiful Ballard. Just reading about it makes me want to go maintenant. Mmmm....pain au chocolat.

Lost Me

Did you catch last night's Lost? I was excited because last week's episode sucked me back in, but last night's left me feeling unsatisifed once again. It's become an every-other-week-thing. Is Jack trustworthy? Is Juliette really a mercenary only out for herself? I'm finding all the unanswered questions tedious and Ben a totally unfun villian. People speak in doubletalk that makes no sense. And soon, many may not even care. The only recent discovery of late of any interest to me is why Desmond calls everyone "brother".

On the other hand, I'm finding this week's Heroes, where we are taken 5 years into the future after the NY explosion, mind-boggling, disturbing, and engrossing. Has Hiro really become a hardened soul bleakened by the death of his friend, Ando? I CAN NOT wait to see how all of this pans out. Go Peter Petrelli! And did it not bother you that he ends up with Nikki/Jessica?

-- Bon Bon

Soup and a Baby with some help from Dave

I went to my friend's house -- she just had a baby so a few of us decided to bring over some dinner. Nora (the baby) was absolutely perfect. Dinner wasn't too bad either! I put together what's become one of my favorite quick, easy, tasty, healthy dishes. Cheers to Dave Lieberman of Food Network fame, for coming up with this one. The spices are what make this really tasty. I've made it few times now, and it's always a crowd pleaser. It even makes me like chick peas!

Moroccan Spiced Chickpea Soup
Recipe courtesy Dave Lieberman

Chickpeas seem to call out for Moroccan spices, so that's what they get here. I make this soup really chunky and hearty.

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for garnish

1 large onion, medium diced

6 to 8 cloves garlic, pressed

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 heaping teaspoon sweet paprika 1 (14.5-ounce) can chopped tomatoes

3 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed well

1 quart vegetable broth or reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 teaspoon sugar Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper

1 (5-ounce) package pre-washed baby spinach

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until the onions begin to turn translucent; lower heat if browning starts to occur. Add spices and saute a minute or so. Add tomatoes, chickpeas, broth, and sugar. Season with a couple pinches of salt and 10 grinds fresh pepper. Stir well. Chickpeas should be just covered with liquid. If level is shy, add some water so the chickpeas are just covered. Bring to a simmer, then lower heat to low and gently simmer for 45 minutes.

Remove soup from heat. Use a potato masher to mash up some of the chickpeas right in the pot. Stir in the spinach and let heat through until wilted, just a couple minutes. Season again, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Serve soup, drizzled lightly with extra-virgin olive oil, if desired.

--Bon Bon