Pumpkin Cheesecake Love
At the last Thanksgiving meal, the most delicious dessert appeared – pumpkin cheesecake! Emily, Dan’s sister in law, baked it for this occasion. It was light, the right amount of tang, all in all perfection. Not to mention, excellent piping job (only her 2nd time)!
Post Thanksgiving food heaven. I think I died after eating that.
Friendsgiving
I love Thanksgiving! It’s one of my favorite holidays (surprise, surprise) because it consists of great food and good quality family time. What’s even better than Thanksgiving, is Friendsgiving! Swap out real family for urban family and things just got even better.
This year, I had TWO Friendsgivings to go to back to back…food coma weekend! I unfortunately did not take a picture of the first event to compare but I did take a picture of the second one. Basically the same: turkey leg (yep! I always eat the leg), mashed potatoes & gravy, stuffing, roll and the rest of the fixins.
Mmm…so good!
Second Friendsgiving boasted a deep fried turkey which is always deliciously moist! Plus, makes for great photo ops…
Good friends + good food = GREAT TIMES!
Pleasant Afternoon at Bogle Vineyards
I belong to one of my favorite local wineries wine club, the Bogle Bandwagon. Bogle produces consistantly good wine at an affordable price point. Swung by today to pick up my quarterly shipment of wine and of course, you have to taste once you’re there.
Bogle has a small but nice grounds that make it perfect for a picnic on the lawn or drinking a bottle with friends on the deck. Today we enjoyed a bottle of their 2005 Estate Cab Sav – delicious! What was really sweet was that one of the tasting room attendants brought us a nice chunk of the Brie and crackers to enjoy our wine with. The Brie was topped with a red pepper and ancho jam. Mmm…
Me so…thirsty??
I went to Logan’s Roadhouse to meet some of my friends for drinks. I had never been to LR before so I was a bit apprehensive since it gives off and Applebee’s aura. Upon arrival, it looked like I thought it would, very country and there were peanut shells all over the ground.
Personally, not a fan of throwing peanut shells on the ground (I even feel guilty at ballparks!) so it took a while before I dropped a shell on the ground.
But the main event was to drink a Logan’s Top Shelf Tea which came in a giant beer stein a la Woodstocks/Davis. It was surprisingly strong AND cheap.
Who knew??!
Gunthers Ice Cream…so good!
Just ate a magical banana split from Gunther’s…so good! Went the traditional route with vanilla, chocolate and strawberry with all the fixings. The quality of Gunther’s ice cream is outstanding. I normally don’t like strawberry ice cream but with the hunks of strawberries in it…in love.
Tasty!
Nicaraguan Eats
This past Sunday the family and I ate at Oye Managua at 30th and Mission in the city. Mmm mmmm mmmmm! It’s not like I don’t eat Nicaraguan food on a regular basis but sometimes it’s nice to give mom a break from the kitchen.
Upon arrival, I found the decor to be rather random and amusing (read: sea life on the walls). But it did feel like being in Nicaragua with the fact that everyone in there was Nicaraguense and the way the tables were set – plastic over the table cloths, serraded knives, placemats, etc. It was like home!
When I opened the menu, I squealed! They had some of my fave dishes like mondongo and nacatamales. What is mondongo you ask? It’s a bowl of awesomeness. It’s a very flavorful soup with tripe, tendon, yucca, veggies and of course, the slice of corn cob. I hadn’t had mondongo in a looooong time because no one wants to make it. You bet I ordered it!
My aunt ordered the nacatamal (think giant tamale, but WAY better) which was excellent.
[Tangent on why nacatamales are better than tamales....nacatamales are 1) larger than a regular, Mexican or even Salvadorean style tamale 2) there's more going on inside: achiote marinated pork, rice, olive, raisin, a little potato, slice of tomato and a giant chunk of pork fat to keep it all most. 3) Since they are steamed in plantain leaf, the masa is everso moist...and yes, the pork fat helps too. A completely satisfying meal in one package!]
My mom ordered the special which was Bajo (or vaho) which is meat cooked with yucca and green plantains in plantain leaves…SO good! It can be eaten with rice and the typical cabbage slaw of Nicaraguan cuisine. My dad ordered the grilled pork plate which came with rice, slaw and queso frito.
We also started with an order of tajadas, fried green plantains, and of course the queso frito. Don’t be scared of the fried cheese, there are much “scarier” items in American food. It’s a hard cheese that is fried…salty and delicious.
The staff was fun and it felt very comfortable being there although I’m sure some of the folks were like, “Where did you people come from?!”
Nicaragua is a very diverse place!
Yogurtagogo Delivery!
As we all know, yogurt has swept the nation again…(anyone remember the yogurt blitz of the late 80’s, early 90’s?) and Sacramento is no exception: multiple Big Spoons, Mochii, Top This Yogurt, Yummy Yogurt Cafe, etc. And these are just the downtown ones!!! There are countless others in the outlying areas.
However, my personal favorite is Yogurtagogo on 19th and L Streets. I think they have the best quality of yogurt and the appropriate types of toppings (the candy store of Big Spoon does not appeal to my palette) – fresh fruit, nuts, granola, mochi and of course, some fun stuff like cereal or chocolate chips. Beyond the quality of the products, they also understand BRANDING.
Hands down they have the best branding, to the point when they first opened I asked if the business was a chain (note: meant this as a positive comment because of how good everything looks. They took it as a complement) and not a mom and pop shop (which they are).
I love that they think outside of the box with their marketing and promotions. Consistently have events going on, active social media users AND a mobile delivery putt putt (see below). Today for example, they gave away ten free cups of yogurt to the first ten people to respond on Twitter.
Yep, yours truly was one of the lucky ten!
Within minutes, my yogurt arrived! I ran downstairs and there was Eric, with the cool Yogurtagogo putt putt. Sampled their new orange creamsicle flavor (which I normally hate) but it was quite good. In the end, I chose the pumpkin flavor with almonds and granola for my toppings. Mmm. It was a huge container!!! More than what I would normally get at the store…awesome!
Thanks Yogurtagogo!!!
Perfect Saturday Morning
Sorry loyal readers for not updating in a long time!!!
This morning was a perfect morning to take a stroll to one of my fave local coffee spots, Chocolate Fish, on 3rd and Q Streets. Excellent coffee and fun staff makes for a good time.
Get the Flat White, a short latte, speciality from New Zeland. DO NOT ADD ANYTHING TO IT. You’d ruin it’s great balance of espresso and foam. Plus, great latte art! Enjoy with a bite of their apricot rugelach. Mmm…
Wednesday = Cookin dinner for friends
Wednesday as of today, has officially become “Karla Cooks Dinner for her Friends at Dom’s House” (yes, the title needs work). One of Dom’s fave dishes that I make is a very Americanized chow mein dish w/ thick noodles. Tonight I made that and every time it’s different but evokes the same feeling of familiarity and love.
PIE! Pt. 2
Since I still have a lot of dough left (and a secondary pie mold…there was a sale!) today I made apple pies!!! My mom has a sick love for Mickey D’d apple pies so here’s to a “healthier” version!
