Friday Food 05-23-24

I am still working on losing weight.  About fifty pounds since sometime last fall.   The only "rules" are eating less of everything and eating one cookie instead of five!  I have always had a "sweet tooth" and while I was growing up dessert was always part of the meal. To force me to eat something I didn't like (liver comes to mind) mom would threaten to withhold dessert. Usually worked!    Here are some pictures I have taken of delicious offerings at many different restaurants.  

A sample plate at Summit House in Fullerton.  Four diners, I took the creme brulee.

An unusual offering at a casual lunch spot.  They were all perfect, just missing a glass of milk. 

Cheesecake is always a good choice - if nothing else looks better!

Below the luscious top is equally delicious cake. 

One or two fillings are raspberry.  M-m-m-m!

At home, especially in the summer, I enjoy lactose free vanilla ice cream with berries or melted chocolate chips.  

In the summer when my meal is a fruit salad I restrain myself and don't have dessert.  

Now I have made myself hungry.  Guess I'll have a few chocolate chips to take the sweet tooth edge off.      

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Friday Food 01-05-2024

I do like sweets, dessert of some kind at every meal.  I almost never make dessert at home, but try to find great dessert places to eat out. .Of course, there is always ice cream or gelato in the freezer.  And chocolate chips to help satisfy those terrible cravings for just a little bit of sweetness.  

Paris Baguette is rather new in our area and now there are two!  Fortunately neither is on my regular errands route, but sometimes I will go out of my way.

Cake is okay and some restaurants serve fabulous varieties.

And there is usually some kind of cheesecakes on the menu at fancier places/

Not many desserts at Japanese restaurants, but some serve green tea ice cream with chocolate drizzle.

Some really high priced places have homemade ice cream with delicate cookies. 

Anytime I see Marionberry pie on the menu, I will have a piece.

This is a whole pie which I would need to share with a couple other people.  

Creme Brulee always hits the spot.  

Chocolates are nice, even when they are not See's.  

I can savor one piece or just pig out, I was born a chocolate lover. 

But my great downfall is a cookie.  As part of my self invented diet I repeat

"One cookie is better than five", but I don't always listen to myself.

Orange and chocolate is a divine combination.

Homemade are best and there are always some on the refreshment table at guild meetings.

Like this rich chocolate with pecans. 

This bar cookie was soooo  good.  A crust with chocolate frosting  and  chopped  almonds. 

A trio of cookies for Christmas  -  chocolate chip, cranberry, and nuts with frosting. 

Of course, KoKo is also a cookie lover, although it is a very rare treat for him.

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Friday Food 12-22-23

Neighbors very generously treat me and Pam, another neighbor widow, to dinner almost every month. And in December they chose Summit House which is probably the fanciest and, therefore, the  most expensive local restaurant.  It is incredibly well  decorated and there is a group of four carolers who stroll and sing.  Unfortunately, the place was so full and so noisy I couldn't hear much of anything.  But it was very festive, interesting to see the different people and what they were wearing (dressed up or not),  and the food is always excellent.  I chose the John Dory, one of their  specialties, and it was perfectly cooked and presented. Unfortunately, in my photo it looks a little like oatmeal with some green strings on it, so we will skip that.  

                           

After going through the lobby one is greeted  with this view of the open kitchen behind a display of the desserts on offer.  

Then along to the right is the about twelve foot heavily decorated Xmas tree. 

Leslie took this picture of her husband, Charles, and the two widows: Pam and Del.  

Here are hostess and host: Lesley and Charles Lipton.  

The desserts are mostly too much after the full plates we had for dinner.   This  offering  is  nice if everyone is willing to have just a couple bites of their choice, but Chuck likes  the trifle, and the ladies are inclined to share.  

So, we had the profiteroles - on individual plates.  So good and just enough.  Of course we ate every bite since the inside is vanilla ice cream so no dessert doggie bag.

It such a great treat!!!

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Out to Lunch 07-25-23

One more day of driving Julian to summer school.  I like doing it, but he gets out at Noon which puts a glich in the middle of my day.  It doesn't take long, about an  hour, and I don't really have anything else pressing. But  somehow if I stop working on a project I have a hard time getting back to it after I get home.  And it pretty much precludes going out to lunch, something I haven't done for a month.  So, today after I dropped him off, KoKo and I went to  lunch at one  of my favorite places - Fitness  Grill in Yorba Linda.  We sat on the patio which has fans so it wasn't unbearably hot.  Today was Taco Tuesday, something that a lot of restaurants here do.  Fitness has a special taco menu, I chose the  fried fish and the shredded  chicken.   Tasty!  And since It  wasn't really that much of a meal I ordered to Limoncello cake with white chocolate on top.  It is an attractive plating.  KoKo had the whipped cream and blueberries, and I left the strawberries which bother me.  .  

I had already taken a bite when I thought to take a picture.

It was very refreshing on such a hot day.

KoKo's  portion!

I did some putting away and had a little nap this afternoon.  We didn't go on our  evening walk until 8pm when the temp dropped to 85F - still too hot for me.

Anna, the young woman who has been my "Studio Assistant" this last month or so, came yesterday morning and helped me sort the 100+ 12X12s in TCQC and put them in the acid free storage boxes.  We changed the filing system to alphabetical by maker's last name.  They all fit into these four boxes.  Now I need to change the computer listing to the new system.  And I must find two more of these very large shopping bags.  It is much easier to move the boxes around when they have handles.  

Tomorrow is the last day I will drive for summer school, so I won't be seeing the boys much.  At the rate he is growing Emmanuel might be 7 feet tall by the time he starts high school in September!

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The first really hot day.

Today was the first really hot day this summer - 97F.  I realize that other parts of the country have bee excessively hot, but our temps have only been in the low 80s.  I  have  the whole house fan on to draw in some of the cooler night air.  I have  rarely seen the heat carry into the night hours, it always cools off 20 degrees or more. 

Cheesecake with whipped cream, chocolate, and  strawberries.

Green tea ice cream with chocolate drizzle at Ikiru.

Peach Ice Cream with black berries. 

I wish I had something cold and wicked like these, but I have to settle for....

Talenti Coffee Chocolate Chip Gelato

Which is pretty wonderful and what I have in the freezer.

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Friday Food 06-23-23

 If  you read my blog often or if you know me in-person, you know that I do love desserts.  Just look at me!   I especially enjoy the fancy, gooey, desserts served at restaurants.  Like the two just below.  I don't remember where I enjoyed these luscious treats, but they were tempting enough to take a picture.  

This variety of plating makes things more inviting - or so they think. 

One of my favorites is carrot cake and I sometimes drive to LBeach to pick up a cake aat Katella Deli.  I think their version is the very best. 

Cookies are an everyday mainstay.  These came from Cookie Elements a shop which sells only cookies made on the premises - sooo good.

This post was prompted by dinner out with neighbors.  We ordered one dessert, a chocolate/raspberry cake. It has five layers (I think) and the flavors differ on different days.  We were lucky tonight, it is the best flavor.  But we were also ravenous.  It was gone in a flash!

I have to remember to take a picture before attacking dessert!  Sorry. 

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Friday Food 12-16-22

It is a dessert time of year, isn't it?  So many pictures of desserts in my photo files.  I just went through and chose six.  Now I want to dig through the freezer and see if there is something sweet to eat before I go to bed.   Since the photo program Picasa disappeared I don't have captions on most pictures before that sad day.  But you can mostly tell what yummies these are.  

Three varieties of cookies from our local "Cookie Elements" shop.  Not as large or as expensive as Crumbl, but I like them better. 

A lovely looking and delicious dessert served to the Book Group one day. 

A chocolate cake topped with whipped cream at Il Vecchio in Pacific Grove.  Three ladies, three spoons, not a crumb left. 

Scoops of ice cream topped with blackberries and a mint leaf. 

"Take the gun, leave the Cannoli."

A great homemade cake topped with fresh strawberries...  and whipped cream on each slice. 

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Friday Food 02-11-22

As some of you know, I am fond of dessert.  Here is a selection of yummy meal endings I have enjoyed over the past 10 years.  Only five out of probably hundreds!

Cheese cake at Solare in Liberty Station, San Diego

Carrot cake  at a restaurant. 

A whole carrot cake from Katella Deli Bakery in Long Beach.  I think this is the very best carrot cake one can buy.  

Olallieberry pie at The Red House in Pacific Grove.  

And one of my most favorite desserts - a bowl of fresh raspberries with half and half.  These were from Oregon and required no sugar.    Sometimes I dream about them. 

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