I Heart You

The American Heart Association loves you, and wants you to love your heart.  It isn't easy being healthy.  I'm working on it.  Perpetually working on it.  It's something I work on every other day.   Seriously, most of us want to live longer, healthier, fuller lives, but we don't want to sacrifice flavor. We want to eat real food.  We don't want to drink protein shakes every day.  This updated 9th edition of The New American Heart Association Cookbook is for you.

There's over 100 revised recipes with easy cheats like egg substitutes in your (avgolemono) Greek egg and lemon soup.  Cooking spray instead of tablespoons of oil.  Spice rubs to reduce salt, butter and fat.

The American Heart Association has taken the guess work out of our calorie count, sodium intakes, fiber, cholesterol.  A lot of us "estimate" these figures and figure well, if it's kale or resembles kale, I'm safe, it's healthy.  But when someone near and dear is sick, and under strict doctor's orders, keeping track of all these facts and figures can be a matter of life and death.

I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for this honest review, but know a lot of people who would benefit from these recipes.  I only wish there were more photos as we eat with our eyes, and photographs would only enhance our desire to cook and eat more mindfully.

Connie & Ted & Rob & Monica: An L.A. Story

Connie & Ted's may be most famous for their lobster rolls, but for me, the steamers are the main attraction. Steamers are ubiquitous on the east coast, but hard to find on the west coast because they break easily and don't transport well. So I always start with the steamers. This visit, the steamers were much better than my last visit. Only one or two were bad.

We went for dineLA week because the menu looked fine, and we knew we'd be hungry after Constellations. We were seated next to another couple Rob and Monica, and started bonding over beer. Connie & Ted's offers a fine list of craft beers, and the more variety, the more indecision. Thus spake Rob, who asked us what beers did we decide on, and how would we describe the taste. We offered Rob a taste which surprised all four of us.

You sure?
Oh wait. Do you have cooties?
Rob almost did a spittake in my beer, and warned me no more jokes for my own good.

After tasting our beers, Rob chose the puffed rice Japanese beer, and yes, offered us a taste in return.

Turns out it was Rob and Monica's first time to Connie & Ted's. We had a wonderful conversation over excellent food. We could've been in a Raymond Chandler short story ( a good one of course,) or a Steve Martin movie as we were trading L.A. stories, what brought us there, where we've eaten. Rob enjoyed his surf and turf. Monica opted for the lobster roll just like me. I started with the oysters, Monica started with the salad. My DH got the grilled sea bass, and the calamari with arugula. Our meals ended with the creamsicle and sickening sweet blondie.

I can't wait for my next platter of steamers, and to run into Rob and Monica again.

Don't touch my steamers

Calamari and arugua

Warm lobster roll

Seabass is the star, but

the pickled vegetables provided a nice crunch and contrast.

Regressing to childhood.

Four out of five dentists would disapprove.  

Domo Arigato, RBTA Highland Park

From the moment you walk in, you know you are in for a treat.  The space is small, narrow and tight, but the visual contrast whets your appetite.  The tiles at the front of the restaurant are diagonal, the overhead lighting is zigzagged, and the counter area tiles were installed straight on.  Your eye is never bored, and either is your palate.

Every dish is beautifully presented.  The hamachi crudo looked as if it was swimming in a pool of soy sauce and ponzu, but the hamachi was not soaked or drenched.  I wasn't sure if I should order chicken liver pate in a Japanese izakaya restaurant, but luckily I was overruled.
The chicken liver pate was delicious, creamy and smooth, but like many restaurants, the ratio of bread to pate is a little off.  You need more grilled bread which they will willingly provide for an extra charge.  The blue prawns covered with uni tasted sublime.  Very delicate flavor, hard to eat in one bite and hold together.  Added bonus: the soy sauce concoction that the blue prawns sit in is finger-licking good.  The red miso ribeye skewer special (three chunks to a skewer) was tender, melted in your mouth like butter.  The New York steak was a little bit too chewy.  The diver scallops are served with crunchy rice pearls on top which add a wonderful, fun texture.  They look like white chocolate pearls, at first.  The scoop of frisee provides a crisp contrast and bite.  We polished off everything on that plate.

We ordered the unagi fried rice over the uni pasta because it reminded me of the days when Gyu-Kaku offered unagi bibimbap and how much I loved the ground pork Saboro bowls that Silverlake Ramen once offered.

The unagi fried rice comes last, and it was comforting.   My tastebuds popped with delight when I saw chunks of unagi in the rice, instead of unagi shredded to blend in. We ate slowly to savor the pillowy soft goodness.

Service was friendly and attentive.  They serve cucumber water, very refreshing.  Wish the water glasses were bigger so you didn't have to ask for constant refills.  We didn't have a long wait and nabbed a table near the window.  Groups that arrived after us had more of a wait but there is bench outside.

My advice is to pace yourself for a couple reasons.  The table area is small, not much room for a lot of small plates and drinks.  The staff does drop by regularly to clear.  Second, the plates add up quickly.  Lastly, watch how much you drink as there is a tattoo parlor and an eyebrow threading place cross the street, ready to show you the new you!