I really love eggs benedict. This is usually what I order for breakfast when we eat out. As someone who cooks, I am not easily pleased when it comes to food so I try to only order what I cannot cook at home myself.
This was one of them.
Last night at Trader Joe's, I found ready to use Hollandaise sauce. I didn't feel like attempting to make this from scratch so I heard church bells when I saw this. So, this morning, I came up with my own version of Eggs Benedict.
I used hash browns instead of biscuits. These were from Trader Joe's too (yes, we love Trader Joe's!) I fried two of them then cooked two over easy/fried organic eggs. You can poach the eggs but you can also fry the egg in low heat to get the same effect minus the mess. Put the eggs on top of the hash browns, one on each. Then spoon over the Hollandaise sauce on top of the eggs. I also added crumbled feta cheese (optional) and rosemary (for some color) and slices of french bread, freshly baked. You can use any bread you want or for an even heavier breakfast, you can have it with french toast or pancakes.
Trader Joe's Hollandaise sauce was tangy. I was not used to hollandaise being citrusy but it's a good contrast for the richness of the hash browns and eggs.
My son only goes to school every Monday. So, every Monday, my mister and I go out to have breakfast so that's what we did after dropping our son off at school.
Today, this was breakfast. It was special because it was at my favorite restaurant, Bottega Louie in downtown L.A.
We had beignets and coffee. I had Smoked salmon eggs benedict and my mr. had something with prosciutto and soft boiled egg/toast.
Beignets with raspberry compote, good but you can live without it. The salmon eggs benedict on the other hand was life changing.
It wasn't packed like it is during lunch and dinner. I like it this way. It gets really loud there when there's a lot of people. And when I say really loud, I mean crazy loud that it's impossible to have a normal conversation or to even hear yourself think.
It was a good breakfast. I wish I could eat there everyday.
My good friend suggested that we do a cleansing diet. We were feeling a bit heavy and clothes didn't fit right.
I also would often hide in sweaters and pajamas because I hated looking at my missing curves. I stayed on the couch and just watched movies all day. I was devouring cupcakes from the moment I open my eyes and even finding myself in the kitchen with a plate full of rice and meat at 12 midnight before heading to bed. I can no longer count how many times I've had sleepless nights with a terrible heartburn. Buffets here and there. Milk Tea boba every afternoon. What was I doing to myself? I ate like a man. No, I ate like three men. Food had become my friend and then my enemy. I realized it has got to stop.
So for three days now, I've only been eating fruits and veggies. I've never eaten anything with a lot of color before except for cake with sprinkles or cupcakes with pretty frosting (it's amazing that I don't salivate while typing those). Although, I was once a vegetarian for a short while, that was different because I mostly ate veggie dogs and cheese. This time, all I ate were fruits, veggies and drank black coffee and water. Absolutely no sugar, except for natural sugars found in fruits. We bought so many fruits and veggies that there was no place to eat on at our dining table. Our fridge was full too and so was our kitchen counter. We spent around $160 for everything, not even half of what we would have usually spent on junk and meat. My 15 year old twin daughters joined me but gave up on day 2 but I stuck with it. I am now on Day 3. This cleansing diet is supposed to be for one whole week. I believe I will finish it with flying colors, I swear I deserve a golden medal. I feel so good that I might keep eating healthier and eating smaller, frequent meals instead of big, frequent meals.
I've never consumed this much fruits and veggies in my life. I've even finished a dozen mangoes in just 1 1/2 days by making mango/orange smoothies using only mango and 100% OJ. I hated mango. I hated fruits but I think that has changed. I think I just fell in love.
There are many changes that I feel and changes that I see. I never took my weight so I don't know how much I lost. I know it's not much but I do feel lighter inside. My skin is also smoother and I'm a lot calmer, less hyper, less anxious. I feel awesome. And most of all, I lost my sugar cravings and junk cravings. I could watch 'best thing I ever ate' all day and not feel like a starving wolf staring at it's prey. My hair feels different, not dry like before and I slept better at nights too. So I guess, after this one week plan, like I said I will eat better. I don't ever want to feel like how I felt before this.
The best cupcakes I've ever had in my life. We used to drive so far just to get cupcakes, little did I know that the best ones are only a few minutes away from our house! I have tried their cupcakes before but it didn't blow my mind but this time it was just crazy good! The frosting was so light and not overtly sweet and these cupcakes are gigantic!
Here, are pictures I took from my son's picture day and pizza party in school.
(click to enlarge photos)
And an Alice in Wonderland painting I did for my daughter. She drew it and I painted it. I have not painted in many years! So I apologize for the imperfectness (hehe, is there even such a word? If not then there should be). I used to paint but there are many forms of art that came between us.
I am currently Spring cleaning. It is liberating to let go of stuff we don't need and use. There is still so much to do here, I'm thinking of painting the walls and moving things around.
Sometimes, change can do us good.
Still busy around here. Like I mentioned in the last post, my nieces and nephew are here for a two week vacation from Vancouver. We've been running around town, eating like there's no tomorrow and hanging out with people we love.
I honestly think I gained around 10 lbs. from the past week alone. My mom has been cooking a feast and I just can't stop myself.
Look at my dessert plate above. One of the two plates I had that day.
Let me just say, it was worth the extra pounds! It was just Divine (yes with a capital D)
I promise to do some yoga, pilates or something that does not involve a lot of sweating.
And I am crossing my fingers that I lose this extra baggage (and a little more) sooner than I expect.
My nieces and nephew are here from Vancouver for 2 weeks. That means a lot of home cooked meals and lots of going out. I was planning to eat healthier and lose weight but I guess that has to wait for now.
Look at this ice cream sundae. How can you say no to that?
I love it when they visit. How I wish they didn't live so far away and I wish my sister came with them but she couldn't.
Have a happy Monday!
Here are some photos of desserts (and pretty things) I took for a client. She makes the best cake pops I've ever had in my life and not to mention, the prettiest ever!
I should've taken more photos of these sweets but they disappeared way too fast!
I made this last week without following a specific recipe (which I often do). It turned out so good so I'm sharing the recipe with you.
The veggies I used were all organic. Organic veggies are much sweeter, tastier than those found in supermarkets. We try our best to eat an all organic diet, it's not easy but we try.
Organic green beans
organic baby carrots
organic cherry tomatoes
turkey meatballs from Trader Joe's
Lots of minced garlic
worcestershire sauce
sea salt
butter
First, I sauteed the meatballs in about a tsp. of butter then after a while, I added 2 tablespoons of minced garlic
(I buy the ones in the jar)
Then added the carrots and the green beans, then the cherry tomatoes
I didn't cook the veggies too much.
I added worcestershire sauce to taste
and some sea salt then served it over warm rice.
Even my kids loved this so much. I'm sure you'll love it too. It's even good to eat it by itself minus the rice.
Enjoy!
Bottega LouieI've been obsessed with Bottega Louie for a few years now. Everything is so good over there. I love taking photos of everything and eating everything.I've blogged about Bottega Louie for so many times in my old blog. Find some of them by clicking on the numbers below.1,2,3,4All images below are my own, please link back to this blog if in any case you want to use the photos I've probably tried almost everything on the menu and every macaron flavor unless they come up with new ones which they seem to do every season. I don't think I'll ever get tired of going there. I'm pretty fortunate to be only around 10-15 minutes away (minus the rush hour traffic) from Bottega Louie.
I'm a happy girl.
What I recommend you try from the restaurant are the ones I always get. I have a bad habit of getting the same thing at restaurants. I'm very difficult to please when it comes to food so trust me if I say it's good then It's really good.
When you visit, try the
porkchop
mussels
short ribs
Bianco pizza
my ultimate favorite the portobello fries! Can never get wrong with that!
for dessert, the le grand macaron
then after your meal, drop by the macaron section to take home the best macarons I've had in the entire Los Angeles area.
What I don't like about the place is that it gets sooo loud. It's impossible to have a decent conversation there even if they are sitting near you. I blame the architecture and the design. Very high ceilings and all marble walls and floors are really just throwing all the noise of people up, down all around then back at you. It's quite crazy specially that it's always, always packed but you know what, that doesnt stop me from going there at all. The price is also very affordable compared to other places in L.A. The macarons are always pricey as anywhere else but still lower than those in Paulette and other places plus the packaging are to die for. Divine! It's our own Laduree! No need to go to Paris. or maybe for now. Of course I'd still choose Laduree any day but Bottega Louie will do for now.
Breakfast 6:30am
I made chocolate chip french toasts.
While eating I made these for my girl's closest friends
Marshmallow sticks. Aren't they so pretty?
Made these rings out of pipe cleaners
9:am
I blew balloons then after a dozen, I felt dizzy! Good thing I found a pump and I got to finish blowing up 40 red and white balloons!!! Then impatiently waited for this little guy to wake up...
11-ish
He finally wakes up. He loved it! The first thing he said? "but pink is for girls Mama"
Then my mr. gave me $$. so romantic right? hehe So I've decided to do a tea party with my girls, so after picking them up from school we went to a parisian bakery.
We bought boxes and boxes of treats!
Then passed by In and out. They had burgers. I didn't eat.
Here are some of what we bought.
Our Valentine tea party!
Not only pretty but so good too!
I finally got to buy Shiseido.
The perfect make-up for Asian skin
Dinner
8pm
We went to Chinatown to eat. We had fried rice, crispy noodles, calamari, fried chicken, broccolli and sweet and sour pork.I ate like I'm not already stuffed.
Waiting at the restaurant for food on Valentine's Day was dreadful. We waited on our table for an hour. Food orders were messed up, the servers were going crazy, they even forgot to put salt on the calamari and didn't do anything about it when we complained and hot tea came when some of us are about to choke. It was chaotic but we completely understand.
Happy Valentines Day! A day late but I hope you had a blast. How was it?
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