Cheese Ball

im a seasonal eater. not seasonal in a whats-growing-in-my-garden kind of way, but definitely Starbucks red cup kind of way. i admit, i only go to Starbucks during the holidays cause i love sipping from that red cup. to me, it means the holidays. Something else that gets me into the holidays is seeing that Hickory Farms station at your local mall. CHEESE BALLS!!! see, i dont really love cheese. i get easy cheese on my pizzas, pick it out of my paninis and scrape it off my nachos. for me to get excited about CHEESE, it must mean its good stuff. Whats not to love about sharp buttery cheddar cheese rolled in smokey chopped almonds? i salivate at the sight of a Hickory Farms cheese ball. its kinda gross, but its really not. its just one of my many indulgences during the holidays!

Hickory Farms Sharp Cheese Ball with Almonds ($5.99)

Toasted Wheat Crackers ($3.49)

Ketchup Chips

My father, THE sweetest man in the whole world. He asked me what's up and I said I want a snack. He goes in the kitchen for a bit and comes out with a plate of fresh sliced potato chips and ketchup. I luuurve my father! he's pretty crazy which is probably where I get it from. it was very nice of him to feed his fat kid!

Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies

A great way to use up leftover halloween candy! Peanut butter anything is automatically homey to me so whenever you have friends coming over, you can't go wrong with some peanut butter and chocolate. Perfect bite size cookies with yummy melted chocolate = smiles all around!

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
4 tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar, for rolling dough
30-36 mini pb cups (or hershey's kisses) unwrapped and chilled until use

1) Preheat oven to 350, cream peanut butter and butter until smooth in electric mixer. Add brown sugar, beat til combined. Add eggs and vanilla, beat til incorporated

2) In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt. Use low speed and gradually beat in flour mixture in two batches.

3) Scoop off dough by the tablespoon; roll into balls and roll into plated sugar coating completely. Place 2 inches apart on a nonstick insulated baking sheet.

4) Bake for 7 minutes, remove from oven, press chocolates in center of each cookie. Return to oven continue baking until cookies are golden brown, about 6 minutes more. Let cool at least 10 minutes on baking sheet before transferring cookies to cooling rack and cool completely.


Note: I used a commercial silver baking sheet for half of the cookies and a ghetto dark metal baking sheet for the other half. Needless to say, the silver baking sheet cookies turned out better. Use the silver!

Recipe by Martha Stewart

Christmas!

Its going down this holiday season! I pick up every single Martha Stewart mag and totally super excited about this one. Especially because I'm thinking about baked goods as gifts to friends and fam this year. I'm really glad she put her gingerbread house recipe in this issue cause jasons mom made it for me last year and it was the best recipe ever. I might even have a pic of it somewhere (its a hello kitty gingerbread house, of course).

Ahh! Can't wait to cellophane and ribbon up some yummy holiday treats :) !

Palate

i love date nights. i love date nights especially when i don't have to choose the restaurant. I'm definitely the worst picker ever. i always want a little bit of this, a lot of that, dessert from this one place and omg where was that place with the awesome drink? I really should live in a food court. Jason has to deal with a lot of my spaz so he usually has a place in mind when he asks me to dinner. "What about that one place we used to pass by in Glendale? Plate? Taste?" Palate, i say and i think its funny that when we used to hole up in nearby Eagle Rock we'd drive by ALL THE TIME and never think twice to go. Now that we've moved out of the vicinity, we go back. Obviously i was intrigued, given that Palate is also a wine bar.

I was a tad too overwhelmed by the copious amount of wine that was being offered on the wine list that i freaked out and ordered a "chinese democracy cocktail" instead. Why the freak out, i dont know. just thought a lychee vodka drink would be a good starter. Jason went with his classic extra dirty vodka martini. ice cold please.

For the appetizer, you really can't go wrong with the Porkfolio, a series of smoked meats (prosciutto, salami etc.) that went exceptionally well with my now acquired Savignon Blanc. It comes with homemade crisps which were light, crunchy, airy and perfectly matched the flavorful meats.

Porkfolio

$12

(pardon the terrible photos, it was a dark place and it was embarrassing to whip out my swarovski encrusted 3d hello kittyfied blackberry of a phone. with flash nonetheless)

Moving on the the mains:

I decided early on i'd love the Black Cod with braised celery (omg, YUM), garlic confit, sweet potato (yum) in oyster mushroom vinaigrette (a little tangy on its own, but when coupled with the other elements of the dish it was a perfect bite).

$17

Jason's dish was also great. Day boat scallops with calamari, brussels sprouts, hazelnuts and guava. Hazelnuts and guava were def interesting but whatever the sauce was on that plate, it was moneeey.

$18

Too bad we had a movie to catch cause i would have loved to try their desserts here. i can imagine me and my girlfriends coming here for wine, dessert and girl talk.

Good job, palate i'll be back for more.

Menu Updated Weekly

www.palatefoodwine.com

Korean BBQ

All you can eat, fattie! Yeeaaaah boy!!

Daylight Savings Breakfast

I figured we gained an hour so I should probably put a little bit more effort in making breakfast. Tough task, given it was all hallows eve last night and didn't get out of costume and in bed til 4am.

Ugh woke up at 10 hungry hungry hungry. Dug out my good ol all-clad waffle maker, my 1/2 can of Bellegem belgium waffle mix from Williams-Somoma ($9.50), some Trader Joes Premium Vanilla Ice Cream ($3?) and a clam shell full of strawberries. Time - 15 minutes. Priceless.