Dark Chocolate Hobnobs: My favorite cookies just arrived from the UK!

I’m generally in love with all things British, so it isn’t surprising when my British friends introduced me to my favorite cookie of all time… which comes from England.

Meet, McVities Dark Chocolate Hobnobs

mcvities-dark-chocolate-hob-nobs

After I had one on our trip to Maine, I immediately went online to see where I could get some more of these shipped to me ASAP. And I found them on Amazon, AND in dark chocolate (the one I tried was milk chocolate, which is not as good as dark choco IMHO). Even the description was adorably British: Continue reading “Dark Chocolate Hobnobs: My favorite cookies just arrived from the UK!”

Bites, bears, and Badmaash-ups: The Best of The Taste 2016

The Best of The Taste 2016

What happens when you buy a weekend pass to the LA Times’ The Taste food festival? You gorge yourself on some of the best things you’ve ever tasted from some of the best restaurants LA has to offer morning and night.

We spent three dinner times, and two brunch times strolling through ALL the booths of 2016’s Taste of LA, and here’s our roundup of the very best bites…


Top 10: Savory

1. Baldoria‘s Chicken and waffle taco

2. Badmaash + Guisados‘ Carnitas/Vindaloo Mash-up

3. Aqui es Texcoco‘s Lamb barbacoa taco

4. Maple Block Meat Co‘s Brisket

5. Halal Guys‘ Gyro + chicken bowl

6. The Cannibal‘s Pork Pate Chaud

7. MB Post‘s Veal Liver Ragu Toast

8. Public School‘s PBJ slider

9. Chichen Itza‘s Beef and Pork Salbutes

10. Dog Haus‘ “Tiny Swiney” Pork Belly Hot Dog


Top 6: Sweets:

1. Ensaymada Project’s Ensaymadas

2. Jeni’s Black Cat Espresso Ice Cream

3. Hinoki and the Bird‘s Smore Ice Cream Sandwich

4. Kavalan Whiskey‘s Bear Cake

5. MB Post‘s “The Elvis”

6. LaMill‘s Warm Brioche Donuts
https://www.instagram.com/p/BCLvKHVkjF6/?tagged=lamill


Honorable Mentions:

Spring‘s Vegan Ceviche

https://www.instagram.com/p/BJ8gZ0cgsDZ/?tagged=veganceviche&hl=en

Little Pine‘s Broccoli Aroncini

118 Degrees’ Pistachio Pesto with Zucchini Noodles

10e‘s Lamb Chop

Belcampo Meat Co.‘s Beef Tartare

Taco Maria‘s Tostadita de Ceviche

Simbal‘s Chili Grilled Pork Ribs

https://www.instagram.com/p/BJ91bsYDlbn/?tagged=tastela

Terrine‘s Country Terrine

Knead & Co. Pasta Bar‘s Meatballs and Polenta

Lalibela‘s Sambusa

Herringbone‘s Ono Sashimi

Manhattan House‘s Heirloom Tomato and Burrata Toast

Anyone else go to The Taste? What were YOUR top dishes?

6 dessert mashups that make life worth living

I have a sweet spot for stuff that are two things at the same time — like seaplanes and labradoodles — which means desserts that combine two awesome things absolutely make my life worth living.

If you’re in the LA/OC area, these are the six dessert mashups that you absolutely need to try…

The “Pie scream sandwich”


Play Provisions in Playa del Ray has a dessert that is two pie crusts, filled with bourbon-soaked blackberries, sandwiching vanilla ice cream. I made the same face as that dolphin when I saw it.

The Puffle


The Puffle at Cauldron Ice Cream is a blend of an ice cream cone, puff pastry, and a waffle. AND, when you order the S’more puffle, you add yet one other dessert into the mix!

Cereal-covered Ice Cream Macaroon Sandwich


One of the best/worst things to ever happen to me was moving within walking distance of Milk and their ice cream macaroon sandwiches. When they started covering them with cereal, I started coveting them daily.

Mochilato


Mochilato is gelato-filled mochi, and Mikawaya in Little Tokyo has several flavors of these delightful little balls of awesome. While you’re there, try their pomegranate chip ice cream too.

Warm Brioche Donut Holes

https://www.instagram.com/p/BIS4UIVhYuO/?taken-by=lamillcoffee
Not brioche, not yet a donut… These are fluffier and airier than regular donut holes. And, paired with La Mill Coffee‘s Madagascar vanilla cream, you’ll just about lose your damn mind.

Sprinkles Sundae


Do you sometimes feel like having a cupcake, but it’s also kind of hot outside, so you feel like having ice cream too? Sprinkles to the freaking rescue with either their Sprinkles sundae — ice cream between a cupcake top and bottom — or their Sprinkles Shake — two scoops of ice cream blended with a cupcake.

Spotted: Adorable reindeer cupcakes for Christmas!

Adorable mini reindeer cupcake is adorable!
Adorable mini reindeer cupcake is adorable!

I ran into these mini reindeer cupcakes the other day at an outdoor market in Usaquen, Colombia, and I totally fell in love. Not only were they adorable, the combo of sweet and salty was delicious. You should totally make these mini reindeer cupcakes for Christmas, or to bring to your next holiday party!

Here’s what you’ll need:

* Cupcake mix (these were vanilla)
* Frosting (the frosting was a really light and airy chocolate)
* Chocolate sprinkles
* Mini pretzels
* Candy eyeballs
* Red candy beads

Photo by @whatsmikeeatingnow
Photo by @whatsmikeeatingnow

As my one friend said when she saw them on the ‘ol Instagram account… “Spotted: My next Pinterest fail.” But I have faith in all y’all. I think you can make these pretty damn easily!