Friday, July 17, 2009

Penguin's Frozen Yogurt

Hey! So this isn't Rachel, but her sis, Mariah. I just wanted to share with you all my favorite frozen yogurt shop! I like to think of myself as a fro yo connoisseur so to speak. If I was only allowed to eat one food for the rest of my life it would definitely be frozen yogurt, I would never get tired of it! I've tried every fro yo chain as well as many small family owned places. My favorite place in LA is Penguin's. The one I frequent is in La Canada but they have a couple others in the LA area. The reason why I love it sooo much is because it has the BEST kind of sugar free fro yo out there! It's so hard to find a sugar free option, let alone a tasty one! And its only a mere 8 calories an ounce!!! That means you could have a whole pint and it will only set you back 128 cals (if you do the correct math haha). The other reason I love this place is because their flavors actually taste like their descriptions! For example, the other day I got sugar free white cake batter and I could literally taste the flour in it haha! All the flavors are lovely and creamy. So if you're into the tart stuff this isnt the place for you. Penguin's also has great toppings.. an array of different fruits as well as yummy crushed cookie options, sprinkles, chopped candy bars, a variety of nuts, etc. Another great thing is they change all their flavors every 3 to 4 days so if you eat fro yo more than once a week (like me) you have lots of variety. In addition to fro yo, they also sell smoothies, parfaits, coffee, and ice cream. The prices are also relatively cheap compared to chains like Pinkberry and Yogurtland. The employees are also very nice and always smiling. The only downfall of this place (for some people) is that it's not self serve, which seems to be the new trend. However, I like the fact that it isn't self serve because I usually over load when I'm at a self serve shop and end up spending like $5 or $6 for just a regular size! So for myself (someone who doesn't have much self control when it comes to fro yo) a non self-serve place is best haha

Jeremy's Vegetarian Invention

Jeremy invented a new, quick dinner to make, and surprisingly, it's a vegetarian dish (gosh!). We wanted to make something easy, that wouldn't require a lot of dishes to wash afterward either. Here's the very basic recipe:

Rice
Salsa
Tofu
Egg(optional)
Vegetables (we used onions, shallots, and red bell peppers)

Start cooking the rice. Cut or dice the tofu however you like (I cut small rectangles) and whisk an egg in a bowl. You'll also want to prep the veggies by dicing them up. Add some olive oil to a pan (or a superduper cast iron skillet!). When it's hot, dip the tofu in the whisked egg--as you would bread for french toast--and fry it in the pan/skillet. Jeremy and I decided that we liked the tofu more soft than crispy, but cook it however you prefer. Once it's done, remove the tofu and keep it warm in the oven. (Just warm, don't bake it!) Then saute the diced onions, shallots, and red peppers. Once that's done, time to mix it all up. Add the rice, tofu, and vegetables to your plate and then pour salsa on top. Mix everything up and you have a tasty, and pretty healthy, meal.

Note: Jeremy and I used a lot of salsa, cause it was good. Real good. Also, I'm still rethinking about how I cooked the tofu. Keeping it the oven kept it warm, but might have dried it out a bit. I think next time I might cook the vegetables and tofu in the skillet together.

Try it and let us know how it turns out!

Saturday, July 11, 2009


you are looking at one of my favorite things to treat myself with:
Cherry Cokes from Bob's Big Boy in Burbank, CA

they are just the best...made the old-fashioned way with coke and cherry syrup and shaved ice!!

Friday, July 10, 2009

LA fare

So I know it's been forever since I put up a post. But I did move, take two work trips, have a job interview, go to LA, and am now looking for jobs on top of currently still working. I think that's fair, right?

Anyway, as I mentioned, I was back in good ol' Glendale for the Fourth of July weekend. I ate out for almost every meal. So I thought I'd give a little update on the places I ate and things I tried. I'd been to most of these restaurants before, but in case anyone hasn't, here's a little info.

Friday: Dinner - Blue Fish - Montrose
Mary and I headed to Blue Fish in Montrose for some yummy sushi. I thought the food was great, but the waiters DEFINITELY pushy. Don't come here anywhere near to closing time, cause they will rush the heck out of you (as well as confuse you in the process). But in terms of sushi, we tried new rolls. One was the Thai Shrimp roll, which was delicious.. It's basically like having Thai food in sushi form. The peanut butter inside was so good. We also had the Marilyn Mon-roll (hehe), which is basically a bunch of spicy fish--albacore, scallop, and something else, with pinkish sauce. I have no clue why it's called the Marilyn Mon-roll, except for maybe the pink sauce? We also had edameme for an appetizer and strawberry and coffee mochi for dessert. I highly recommend the latter.

Saturday: Lunch - Amici - Glendale Americana
For Fourth of July lunch we tried Amici, a new Italian restaurant at the Glendale Americana. We sat outside which I liked, and I thought the food here was great too. The waiters were the real deal--authentic Italian accents and lots of "appa fourth of july-ah." I had a salad with shrimp and blood orange, interesting combo but very good. I also had some mushroom pizza, and tried a bit of Ashley's "Amici" pizza. (I think that's what it was, right Ash?) Ashley's was interesting, but it didn't have any tomato sauce, so I think the mushroom pizza was the winner in my book. Both were Neopolitan-style, very thin crust with fresh ingredients.

Sunday: Lunch - Blue Fish (Again) - Montrose
So my cousin Melissa was in the mood for sushi, so I ended up going back to Blue Fish with her, my sister, and my dad. There's not really a need to post about this restaurant again, but just wanted to say that the Samurai roll was also good. And again, the waiters were very pushy because we came at the tail end of lunch time. So basically, only go right during the middle of the their business hours!

Sunday: Dinner - Frida's - Glendale Americana
Back at the Americana for dinner, my mom, sister, aunt, and I went to Frida's, a sort of upscale Mexican restaurant. They had a large Marachi band, which I thought was really good. (Apparently when my sister went with my dad a time before, my dad's song request was "a short one." Nice.) I ended up going with the soft fish tacos, which were made with tilapia and had pinapple in the salsa. It was definitely good, although, Mariah's dinner looked better. She started with a soup, which was basically vegetables, chicken, and a little rice. And then she had the ceviche-- I think she had the one with shrimp and avocado. I tried it and it was good. Oh I also got Sangria there, and they give you this HUGE drinking glass. I could feel a buzz coming on after only drinking half. They add vodka and a couple fruit juices. I prefer just wine and one juice, but if you'd like a large drink, I'd recommend it.

Okay, well I could discuss places I got drinks, dessert, and breakfast on Monday, but I'm running out of time, and I think this post is long enough! Enjoy. :)