Category Archives: cooking

Bludso’s BBQ

Posted by francesz in cooking, drinks, food, los angeles

Bludso’s BBQ opened up a location around the corner from me and I was there last week for their opening day. About 20 other BBQ loving people were lined up when they opened on President’s Day.

They serve all their meat by the pound (or by links) and we had a pound of ribs and 1/4 pound of brisket, which was way too much for 2 girls lol. For sides we had Potato Salad, Collard Greens and Mac N Cheese.

You have your choice of hot vs. regular BBQ sauce. I like spicy but not too spicy so I chose the regular sauce. Everything was cooked to perfection. They also serve a large selection of cocktails including mint julep on tap. I’m not quite sure what that means but they are STRONG. Their jackpot cocktail is also delicious.

bludso

Dates.

Posted by francesz in baking, cooking, food

Proscuitto Wrapped Dates. So easy to make and so delicious! Recipe below.

proscuitto

ingredients:

pack of proscuitto

dates

almonds (or other nut if you prefer)

1. Remove the pits from the dates and replace with an almond, close up neatly.

2. Cut proscuitto into thin date – width slices.

3. Wrap proscuitto around each date

4. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes, until proscuitto is crispy

Don’t eat them all in one sitting! :)

Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding

Posted by francesz in baking, cooking, dessert

One of my favorite restaurants in LA, Chaya has the BEST Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding. I found a recipe here and it turned out pretty delicious!! It’s ridiculously easy to make. It’s even better the next day if you put it in the microwave for 30 seconds.

croissant

Ingredients
  • Unsalted butter for the baking dish
  • 6  large egg yolks
  • 2  cups  whole milk
  • 1  cup  heavy cream
  • 1  cup  granulated sugar
  • 1  teaspoon  pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2  teaspoon  kosher salt
  • 1/2  teaspoon  ground nutmeg
  • 6  croissants, cut into 1-inch pieces (about 1 pound)
  • 4  ounces  bittersweet chocolate, cut into chunks

Directions

  1. Heat oven to 375° F. Butter an 8-inch square or other shallow 2-quart baking dish.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, salt, and nutmeg. Add the croissants and chocolate and mix to combine.
  3. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish and bake until set and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

recipe source

Gifts for the person that has everything.

Posted by francesz in all things pretty, baking, cooking, gifts

I find it difficult and slightly impossible to shop for some people in my family. What do you buy for someone that has everything?! Especially for the ones that aren’t materialistic?

I found some cute stuff online (pinterest, fab.com, williams-sonoma, uncommongoods.com)

Cooking is always a great gift, especially during the holidays when there’s soooo much more food allowed than normal. I love to bake and these reindeer cookies are just adorable.

The herb wreath from Williams-Sonoma is both beautiful and useful. It’s made from bay leaf, sage, rosemary and oregano! The pet pillows from fab.com (they have cats too!) for pet lovers. I loved the f-bomb paperweight- something that most people would LOVE but don’t have!

What do you buy for your impossible-to-shop-for friends and family?

holiday