Weekend Eats

Before the UCLA vs. Standford game on Friday, I stopped into the pub at Beckham's for a pint of Guinness. To calm the nerves.

I joined Murph while he had his almost-daily skewers at Bar Celona - the beef this time. I tried a small bite. I did not enjoy it.

While watching the game with a half-dozen friends at 72 North, Bryce ordered a pizza with pepperoni, peppers and mushrooms, and he insisted I take a slice. So I took two.

Saturday was my friend Dave's birthday, so he had some friends over in the afternoon to watch football and hang out.

As often happens, Carla brought lots of cheeses: habanero cheese (it was definitely made with habanero - it was quite spicy), Red Dragon with mustard seed and ale, brie, and Humboldt Fog. All were very good.

Dave had asked me if I would make sliders for his birthday. I said sure. I used Taylor's ground beef, of course, and grilled it for a few minutes on each side, melting 4-year Grafton cheddar on it, with crispy, thick bacon. I wanted to use Sarah Lee's mini buns, but Target was out. So I went to Fresh & Easy to see if they had their mini buns. They did... but they were all stale. So I had to get King's Hawaiian rolls. Those are not my favorite - I do not like the way the sweet bread distracts from the quality of the beef - but everyone seemed to love the sliders, which I served with caramelized onions and whiskey barbecue sauce on the side.

(I made 35 of them during the course of the evening and they all disappeared.)

Alan made his fantastic red velvet cake and unlike last time, Murph wasn't around to steal all the frosting off the top.

I definitely miss Fresh & Easy. Sure, I like Trader Joe's more, but there were always a lot of standbys I enjoyed from F&E. As I mentioned, I went by there looking for buns, and decided to pick up an item I had not yet had: chicken lettuce wraps. 

After heating the chicken for three minutes in the microwave, I spooned it into the provided lettuce leaves. Well, the ones I could use: most of them were brown. (And I'd selected the freshest-looking package I could find.) But I still enjoyed these. No, they don't compare to the lettuce wraps at any decent Chinese restaurant, but for $3.99, they were not bad. I couldn't finish them by myself.

I definitely wanted to visit Fish King on this vacation, so Sunday afternoon I headed over there in the rain to pick up food for myself and my parents.

My parents said they were going to cook this swordfish steak tonight (when I won't be around) but it was so beautiful I had to take a picture anyway. 

I got one of Fish King's "lobster rolls" - a giant egg roll stuffed with lobster meat and veggies. I was going to reheat it for dinner, but looking at it when I got home, I decided to eat it right then. So good. 

I have always enjoyed Fish King's sushi, and this time was no exception: the spicy tuna in this "firecracker roll" wasn't spicy, but it was damn good.

I also had some of the smoked salmon (about half of this little piece). It was outstanding.

I hope you had a good weekend, too.