Fun With Your Food

Okay this is my LAST California visit post (mostly because I’ve been back for two weeks).  How can you go to STONE Brewery and not post about it?  You can’t.

I didn’t realize how early you were supposed to show up for a brewery tour (2 hours!) and had to finagle my way in.  I mean, this brewery is 75 miles from my parents house and I didn’t want to have to wait another 2 hours!  Since it was only lil ole me they said it wouldn’t be a problem that I got there 15 minutes before the tour. But note that if you want to go in a group, get there EARLY.  There’s a store, a restaurant, and gardens to peruse while you wait.

We were treated to a 10 minute mini lecture about the ingredients that go into every beer.

A few steps away and BAM giant fermenting tanks. The white barrels were vigorously bubbling the whole time.  The shear size of this operation was amazing.

Beer ingredients + fermenting = these bottles that are ready to go out to stores!  The 20 minute tour ends in a tasting of  four of their beers. Did I mention the whole tour was free? Well worth a drive, right?

On Wednesdays this summer the brewery does a free showing  of  a film with discounted dinner items in their garden. This, like the tours, fills up and getting there early is a must for good seats.  The films are pretty good too. Office Space, The Big Lebowski, Army of Darkness…. you get the idea.

The vegetarian option for the Wednesday night that I was there looked great and a good price to boot!

I opted to have a fancy dinner with friends at the restaurant instead.

Garden fresh salad  with organic locally grown greens with a hop vinaigrette.

Tempeh Sheppard’s pie! Description on the menu-
Chock full of spiced tempeh, carrots, zucchini, corn and onions, topped with mashed potatoes and cheddar cheese. Served with a side salad. Boy, those tempeh shepherds sure knew how to eat, and they liked it spicy! (Can be made Vegan on request.)

I was very happy with what I ordered and would recommend it to anyone, vegetarian or not.

Dessert: Fresh Berry, Blue Cheese Jalapeño Cheesecake (description menu)
Luscious cheese cake with just a touch of Shaft Blue Cheese, beautiful local strawberries, and a whisper of jalapeno – enough to hint at warmth but not destroy the smooth goodness of this marvelous dessert. On the top are preserved jalapenos in a sweet syrup.

This was off for me.  There was just SO much going on flavor-wise I wasn’t sure what to make of it.  It wasn’t BAD at all it was… well, interesting.  I say try it and see what you think. I have friends who love it.

I would go back for appetizers, beer, a movie or just to hang out every time I visit home. MMmmm Stone Brewery.

Teddy

Spicy "Tuna" Roll

Besides farmers market extravaganzas while in California, I wanted to try as many completely new to me restaurants as possible.  Mitasie, a Vietnamese vegetarian spot with over 60 item choices,  was one of the first on the list.  I was lucky enough to have a few friends that LOVE it .  They helped me with my choices and we weren’t disappointed.

I did some research and Mitasie is not exactly a *new* restaurant.  It’s more a revamped one with an all new veggie menu (soon to list out which items are VEGAN on the menu). The owner was also our server and she was the nicest lil thing!  The service will definitely never let you down here.  She also knows the menu like the back of her hand (I believe she created it) so any questions were easily answered.

Our appetizer was my favorite dish of the whole meal- the Spicy “Tuna” Roll.  It had a mild kick and I’m not sure what was used to substitute tuna but it was spot on. This one will definitely be a repeat order for me.

Chickun Drumsticks

The texture of the drumsticks was satisfying, meaty and I think it’s cute that there is even a “bone”  to eat them off of.  The drumsticks were probably my runner up  item of the night.  My favorite part about all “Asian” eateries is the way they cook their vegetables.  They are rarely over done and have a nice crunch to them.  Can you tell they’re crunchy from this picture??    yum

Peppery Shrimp

1st off, AVOID EATING ALL THE JALAPENOS in this dish!  Not that I tried but I want it noted: Teddy did not recommend you to eat ALL of them. lol Again shrimp texture was correct but my only problem with this one is the SALT.  There was too much for my taste. Other than that, I <3 spicy and this dish doesn’t hold back on that.  I pushed myself to eat a few of the peppers but stopped out of fear of experiencing  repercussions later that night.

Garlic Noodles

I didn’t have much of these noodles so I feel ill equipped to fully review them.  They had shrimp in them too (less salty and, therefore, more enjoyable). I would try this one again too, if only to make a full assessment of it.

okay, one restaurant down only a MILLION more to go haha

Teddy

I’ve spent that last two weeks in Southern California taking advantage of vast farmers markets, visiting friends/family, trying new restaurants, sitting on beaches- you know, typical vacation activities.  These are all the things I’ve missed the  most since moving to Austin. We all know I LOVE Austin but not one of it’s farmers markets can compare in size and variety to California. Sorry it’s just a fact.  This visit I went to the Santa Monica Farmers Market.  It’s been around 30+ years and I had never been once.   It was about time right?

My uncle works a few blocks away from the market so I was able to have lunch with my family after shopping as well. I was joined by my mom, my uncle, my grandma and my friend Stacy.

Welcome to the photo montage of my trip to the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market!

As soon as we walked it people started to throw samples at us (okay not THROW).  Stacy and I was starving. Thank god for samples.  This nectarine was juicy enough to require a napkin and it still dribbled down my chin a little.

I bought a 3 pack of organic strawberries.  Whenever I can get cheap organic strawberries I jump on it. Come to think of it, I’ve eaten a LOT of strawberries this year. (see my strawberry picking adventure)

Loquats= apple/apricot like Chinese fruit.  These ones looked less than ripe but just seeing them was exciting for this foodie nerd!

You can’t go to California without eating artichokes.  I mean, we provide over 90% of them to the rest of the country. It’s the best place to get the freshest artichokes in the states.  Heck my neighbor even has some growing in this front yard haha.

Patriotic berries.  I sampled the white raspberries (again, YAY samples) but passed on purchasing.

Cherries are everywhere here. You can’t escape them but why would you want to?

I’ve never cooked with fresh garbanzos before. I can’t recall seeing them fresh before either actually.

I nabbed one to see and taste the bean inside. It was very…. green tasting and starchy. It’s probably better when cooked.

There are at least 50 additional pictures from this farmers market trip alone.  It’s definitely still not fun for me to drive to LA but the food makes it worth a once a month drive for sure. I also went to farmers markets that were closer to home. (I’ll post photos of those later)

Now I’m off to make a menu for my grad party with my SoCal friends and enjoy the rest of my vacation.

Teddy