Epic Fail....and I mean Epic

So I hate to say anything about restaurants that I really didn't enjoy.  I guess it goes back to mom always preaching about "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."  Or was that just my southern upbringing?  There are just too many great places to eat to focus on the bad ones.  Anyways, I feel my due diligence to inform you of this epic fail.

Let me start off with, perhaps I am spoiled.  Perhaps mexican food is simply different here.  But in my quest to replicate all the restaurants I loved in Atlanta, I have YET to find a great mexican restaurant.  And this one was the worst one so far.  There is no way that I will step foot near this place again.

The place that I am referring to is Mucho Mas in Burbank/NoHo.  Now if you are surprised that I didn't like it, trust me, I am equally surprised at the amazing ratings the place has on websites like yelp.  While the decor is cute, and its a fairly large place, we rarely saw our server.  It took forever to finally order, but when he was around, he was very pleasant to us.

I ordered two very basic mexican foods, a combo plate with a chile relleno and an enchilada.  Both came out swimming in a pool of refried beans and the red sauce that usually comes with enchiladas.  Everything kind of congealed on the plate when it was cooling, and the effect wasn't pretty.  Not to mention the breading around chile relleno tasted stale when I bit into it.  The portions were huge, but only because the plate was ladled with way too much rice and beans.  The flavor of the enchilada was nice, but there was so much sauce slathered on that it made it hard to enjoy.  Neither my husband or myself ended up finishing our dishes.  I don't think I made it half way through.

But I will say this.  My meal came with a tortilla soup, and it was extremely tasty.  Lots of veggies, cheese and chips in a delicious broth.  When this came out first I was so excited for my meal.  Needless to say, I was sorely disappointed once our plates arrived.

So now I need your help foodies.  For those of you who live in LA, can you PLEASE suggest a great mexican place to try?  We are really looking for a place that has some type of Queso Blanco dip, and freshly made salsa.  I would love your suggestions.  For those of you in Atlanta, be thankful for La Parilla!

Until next time,

Guten Appetit

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Oh October.  Easily my favorite part of the year.  And for several reasons.  Finally the air starts to cool and the leaves turn, which I haven't really noticed a lot of in Los Angeles, but maybe soon right??  I hear the seasons here turn a little later than they do on the east coast.  Second, Halloween, which is my absolutely favorite holiday of the year.  I love the pumpkins and witches and scary movies all over TV. Also, its my birth month!  Yes, happy birthday to me this coming Tuesday!  I'm excited to check out Miru 8691 for my birthday dinner.  Who wouldn't want to go after seeing their episode of Crave on the Food Network!!  I can't wait to tell you all about it on Wednesday.

But my favorite part of October is that all of a sudden the food starts to change.  We start craving richer flavors and warmer dishes.  I know for me, on the first cold day of fall I want to pull my crock pot out of summer retirement and make a huge serving of Taco Soup or Chili.  Not to mention all of the amazing fall desserts that start to come out.

My favorite of all of these is pumpkin cheesecake.  I found this recipe from Paula Deen and wanted to share it with you.  It actually won a recipe cook-off that one of my friend's moms puts on every year around this time.  Such a great alternative to traditional pumpkin pie, which might be another reason I love it so much.  I love traditional recipes that you can tweak a little and make into something just as tasy, but just a little different.

Ingredients

Crust:

• 1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 stick melted salted butter

***Or I cheat and use store bought crust, taste the same to me and so much easier!***

Filling:

• 3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 (15-ounce) can pureed pumpkin
• 3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For crust:

In medium bowl, combine crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Add melted butter. Press down flat into a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside.  ***Or like I said above, use a store bought one...either way***

For filling:

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar and the spices. Add flour and vanilla. Beat together until well combined.

Pour into crust. Spread out evenly and place oven for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours.

One tip, put this in a water bath when cooking.  I've attached a link below describing this technique in case you aren't familiar.  I sure wasn't and the first time I tried this the cheesecake cracked and didn't look too appealing.  Don't get me wrong, it was TASTY!  but not cute to look at.  So if that is important to you, check out the water bath technique.  

http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/tools-and-techniques/what-is-a-water-bath.htm

Check out this recipe, I KNOW you will love it.  What other things do you enjoy adding pumpkin to?  I'm just now starting to enjoy the flavor and texture of pumpkin and would like to try it in other things.  

Until next time!

Guten Appetit!