Posts Tagged ‘food’

Grain Bowl Obsession: Dream Bowl

Not sure what prompted me a few weeks ago to stop by Food on Pico.  Maybe it’s just that there was a parking spot. I was running errands during my lunch break and saw a parking spot right in front so I decided to run in and grab something to go so I could take […]


Mendl’s Courtesan Au Chocolat Experiment

The Grand Budapest Hotel is certainly on the list as a favorite Wes Anderson film (up there with Fantastic Mr. Fox,The Darjeeling Limited and Moonrise Kingdom).  There are just too many great ones to choose a real favorite.   Anyhow, I have been obsessed with the Courtesan Au Chocolate pastry from the film’s bakery Mendl’s […]


KCRW Pie Contest

I love pie.  Especially the filling.  I do love crust but only when it’s really good.  Making pie crust on the other hand is a whole other story.   It’s the Holy Grail for me. I took the Professional Baking course at the New School of Cooking in Culver City just for the pie crust part.  […]


Apple Thing & National Medjool Date Day

Who knew?  Of course the King of Fruit should have it’s own day.  Feb 4th.  Get ready!  It’s going to be HUGE! I love love medjool dates.  There’s nothing like a big fat fresh one!   Luckily, I live close to the Date Capital of the World in Coachella Valley.   There a many date […]


T-Giving Stuffing Waffles

I know this is late but I’ve been a little tied up.    Went to Meg and Lynnie’s for Thanksgiving.     Paula was coordinating the menu so I told her I could do some veggie things as per usual.    So I made what I normally make in this situation Tiny Furkey Legs with stuffing, […]


Guitar Cake

Meg and Diane decided to have a surprise birthday party for Paula.   Meg got her a really fancy Epiphone Les Paul electric guitar as a gift.  Wow.   Others got together and got Paula an amp.   Wow again!   Meg and Diane asked if I could make a guitar cake for the party. […]


Europea

Another successful trip to Cannes and London.  This time it was a bit funner because Janet got to go.   It was great watching her experience the flight, the locations and the experience.   First flight was great.  I don’t normally fly British Airways as it’s hugely expensive but Mick Fleetwood and Brad Pitt were on our […]


Marshmallows!

Ms. Stewart introduced me to these about 10 years ago and I’ve made these every winter since.   They’re pretty easy to make but you have to be very careful with the hot syrup.   They are great in hot chocolate especially if you use a bittersweet chocolate.  The bitter chocolate with the sweet marshmallow is a […]


Best of 2012

I’ve had a few days off after my traveling and running around with Katy.  I decided months ago that I would take this week off and just recover.   I’m traveling again in a few weeks so I know I need this rest.   I’ve been sleeping to 9:30 & 10am!   Crazy. Anyhoo, I […]


Broccoli Sub

Yep broccoli.   It’s soooo good.   I heard about it on Cooking channel.  They did a show on great sandwiches and went to No. 7 Sub in NYC.  A hipster dufusy place at the Ace Hotel in Manhattan.    SO when I went to NYC last month for a couple of days and had to go there. The place […]


BlueBerry Breakfast Bars

MMMMMM.   Blueberries are IN SEASON.   There were some beautiful specimens at the farmer’s market.  I went to the Beverly Hills one this past weekend because there was a Piesta going on.  I mean really?  I’m so THERE.   Except I was totally moving slow and I didnt get there until the very very end.   So I […]


800 Degrees

I’ve been watching the old Daphne’s Greek Food space for a while.  It was transforming but into what?   800 Degrees Pizza?   Sounds cool but will it be good?   Finally there were clues.   I saw this post of LA Eater and this one at LA Times and got excited.   I’ve never been to Umami burger but […]


Holiday

Ahhh, so nice to have a week and half off to just chillllllllll.    I took a day off from work just to be at home and chill.  So nice.  The next day I took a Virgin America flight to Dulles to visit the fam.   Love Virgin America.   The plane isnt huge, the seats are white, […]


Sweet Things

My personal collection of recipes, stories and photographs. Available at Blurb, Apple iBookstore, Amazon Kindle store                             Sweet Things (softcover) by Cathy Merenda | Make Your Own Book


Fig Cake

So I’m back from my trip.  Before I can settle down and get back to work I had to bake something.  Went to the farmer’s market today and the Figs were outrageous.  So beautiful!   Peaches too.  And tomatoes.  And avocados.  I can’t believe how lucky we are here in California to have such a bounty […]


Pizza Pizza

I love pizza.  Really good pizza.  What I consider “really good” is more like how they make it in Naples.  I think.  Been to Italy – Rome, Tuscany, Florence, etc.  But never been to Naples to eat the pizza but I think I would really, really like it.  So my favorites are, in no particular […]


Not So Sweet

Janet can’t eat sugar or carbs because it makes her blood sugar go up.  So today is her birthday and she can’t have any sweet!   As is the tradition in our department you get stuffed with food on your birthday.  That’s just the way we roll.   9am is breakfast, normally bagels or some other wheat […]


Farmer’s Market

I love, love, love going to farmer’s markets.  Especially in the summer when they are so abundant.  I am so lucky I live in Southern California where we have great fresh fruits and vegetables almost year round.  Grapes were there for the first time this year.   These are seedless.


Bottega Louie

Wow, Bottega Louie downtown is fantastic. It feels like an old world, New York/Italian style place. There’s a bakery and restaurant. Dave and I went the day after Thanksgiving. Of course downtown LA was not very busy on that day but lucky for us we parked right in front of Bottega Louie and had a […]


Girls Night Out

Dave & I taped “Girls Night Out” with Toney Pozek for GNAT-TV in Manchester, VT. I made four recipes from my book, “Sweet Things” in front of a live audience. Hot Chocolate, Granola, Pecan Sticky Buns and Savory Ricotta Tortes were enjoyed by the audience.  My sister Judy came along and helped with a ton of stuff.  The show […]


Budda’s Hand

Open hand. Got it from the BH farmer’s market today. Very fragrant. Wonder what I can make with it?


Is this good or bad?

ok, NYC used to have the best pizza on earth. I was actually looking forward to going there in 2 weeks. But with this news I’m not so sure there’s anything to go to NY for anymore, foodwise.Una Pizza Napoletana is CLOSED. Unbelievable. It was the leader of the pack in NY’s Neopolitan pizza influx. […]


noooooooo!

I just learned that my favourite weekend breakfast emporium, City Bakery, is closing it’s doors tomorrow at the Brentwood Country Mart. City Bakery is home of the famous pretzel croissant! Sweet, savory with lots of flaky whole wheat layers. They would always be warm. Let’s hope Maury Rubin finds another location so we can still […]


Peeps or Poops? | Homemade Peeps

Attempted to make homemade peeps. They taste way better than store bought.  Could color them with food coloring and flavor them with lemon or any other flavor.  Not “that” hard!   MARSHMALLOW PEEPS 4 envelopes unflavored gelatin 3 cups sugar 1 1/4 cups corn syrup 1/4 tsp salt 2 tsp vanilla extract 1 1/2 cups […]