oops, cookies are almost all gone...

hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season! i’ve been a busy lil bear — going to holiday parties and spending time with family and friends. of course, consuming lots of yummy food is part of the holidays. i got this cookie box from a friend with homemade cookies, isn’t it so nice? i meant to share my cookies, but they were so yummy i almost ate them all by myself.

wishing you all a spectacular new year – may 2010 bring you lots of happiness, success & prosperity!

oh so tasty: frozen yogurt with fruit toppings

who else is addicted to frozen yogurt?! it’s one of my favorite snacks, but grabbing to too often does add up…so now i would like to share some good news: until Dec. 11, print out & bring this coupon for a buy-one-get-one-free deal. woohoo!

…with vanilla ice cream! it was soo yummy, i ate the whole thing all by myself. here are the before & after photos:

before: the cake was all warm & melty inside, and the vanilla ice cream nice and cold

chocolate lava cake

after: it looks like a big mushed up melted mess now, but oh so yummy. i think i may have had a lil too much

chocolate lava cake...after i inhaled it

lookie what i got to try - blueberry beer!

i’m usually not a fan of beer, but this one tasted like blueberries, yum. and the bottle is awfully cute…

it’s dineLA restaurant week ! a great opportunity to check out restaurants in the los angeles area for a discount, and possibly find new favorites i had lunch at vinoteque on melrose yesterday and was pleased with the delicious food. it’s a cute lil place with both garden and indoor seating. my dear friend and i sat outside, right next to an herb garden! the service was attentive, although a bit slow in bringing out each course. we each ordered something different so we could share. everything tasted amazing, and i especially loved the mascarpone panna cotta. i would definitely go again!

and now, i present to you the delicious food!

appetizers:

lamb meatballs

melt-in-your-mouth gnocchi!

entrees:

pork belly blt sandwich (with breaded halibut, yum!)

salmon with spinach and sunchoke sauce

us bears really like fish, and both the halibut in the sammich and salmon were mighty yummy

desserts:

strawberry mascarpone panna cotta, nom nom nom!

pineapple carpaccio (the melting blobs on top are mango and raspberry sorbet!)

yummy! 3 kinds of chocolate from ikea: hazelnut, milk, and dark

i love going to ikea to browse furniture and home goods, and what makes a visit to ikea even better is the fact that they sell food to satisfy my munchies after i’ve spent hours walking around the huge warehouse. i usually always grab a hot dog and soda, but on my most recent visit i spotted chocolate! i am a little bear that LOVES chocolate. so i bought one of each: hazelnut, milk, and dark chocolates. yummy!

do you guys like going to ikea, and do you ever buy food there? if so, what are your favorites?

finally, here are my photos from my camping trip over the weekend at the lower kern river. i had so much fun relaxing and am so excited to share my photos! i took sooo many pictures and i hope you guys will go through them all to see my adventures and yummy eats

we stayed at hobo campground on the lower kern river, and pretty much all the campsites have river access…how cool is that? our particular site had giant boulders submerged in the river which turned out to be awesome places to sit and dangle your feet in the river. the weather was hot but the river had cool breezes and was perfect for lounging around and reading. i didn’t bring my fishing pole, but our neighbors seemed to have good luck. i saw lots of fishies jumping in the river, and duckies cruising by.

on the road! ...are we there yet?

driving through Bakersfield, we're getting closer!

i got to take a picture w/ smokey the bear! he's so much bigger than i am...can you see me?

grilled chicken kabobs with pineapple, bell pepper, and onion for dinner the first night

there was chicken leftover from the kabobs, so i made a salad with tomatoes and a balsamic vinaigrette dressing

yum! a breakfast scramble of eggs, jalapeno sausage, onion, and bell pepper

time for a hike!

taking a break to relax by the river. it's so peaceful here!

spaghetti by the campfire. nom nom nom

...along with some wine! i am a content bear =)

doing some rock climbing while enjoying the kern river

nice peaceful spot along the kern river...i'm not ready to go home!

the weekend passed much too quickly…i definitely wanna go back to camp again. i heard there are some natural hot springs in the area so exploring those are on my to-do list when i return. who wants to come with me?

]]> http://www.boxybear.com/me-eating-food/camping-on-the-kern-river/feed/ 9 http://www.boxybear.com/me-eating-food/how-to-make-simmered-kabocha/ http://www.boxybear.com/me-eating-food/how-to-make-simmered-kabocha/#comments Sat, 05 Sep 2009 22:10:28 +0000 boxy http://www.boxybear.com/?p=178

what should I do with this kabocha?

a few days ago, i received a kabocha squash (a Japansese version of winder squash), and i had no idea what to do with it. thank goodness for the internet! i googled and found many recipes for preparing this tasty and nutritious squash/pumpkin, and chose to go with a simmered kabocha recipe found on champuru.net . i didn’t have all the proper ingredients on hand so i made a few substitutions, but my simmered kabocha came out nicely, if i do say so myself!

ingredients:

1 lb kabocha
3/4 cup dashi stock (i substituted with chicken broth)
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce

1. wash and scrub the entire kabocha well because we will leave the skin on. carefully cut the kabocha into 1-inch cubes…this may take you awhile since the uncooked kabocha is pretty hard and tough to cut through.

kabocha is tough to cut!

removing the seeds

2. Place all ingredients except kabocha into a pan and bring to a boil. Add kabocha to pan.

gently stirring the simmering kabocha

3. Lower heat and simmer until liquid is nearly gone.

4. And it’s done!

my finished kabocha!

Me in front of The Annenberg Space for Photography

i’ve been hearing about The Annenberg Space for Photography and today i finally gave it a visit! The Space is located in the Century City neighborhood of Los Angeles, and is a gallery of digital and print photography. Admission is free!

The current exhibit is the Pictures of the Year International (until November 1), which showcases the winning photojournalism images. Four themes are exhibited: China (Olympics, Earthquake, Three Gorges Dam), global conflict, the human condition, and the U.S. presidential election & the economy. I must say that the images are very moving, and at times disturbing and disgusting. Although not pleasant, the images convey to us what is going on in different parts of the world that we sometimes only read about, and seeing the photos allows us to better understand those social issues. I highly recommend giving the Space a visit!

happy at happy hour at palomino! yummy

after visiting the Space, i stopped by the happy hour at Palomino for some munchies! they have an awesome happy hour, and my favorite items there are the raspberry mojito, calamari, and Roma style rotisserie chicken pizza. during happy hour, they have drink specials for $4, and half off lots of appetizers (calamari is $6, all pizzas $5). boxy bear loves happy hours, especially ones with great deals and big portions! seems like there are lots of fans of happy hour at Palomino, just check out the reviews on yelp!