Shaz by the Sea

My sister, Chrissy is visiting LA this week and all she wanted was a home cooked meal from her sis. After she hopped off her plane at LAX (with her dream and her cardigan), we went to the grocery store to pick up a few essentials. We decided on chicken and veggies -- but not just any old chicken and veggies. We opted for bacon wrapped chicken, stuffed with spinach and mozzerella cheese. We also cooked some brussels sprouts with bacon pieces and sweet potatoes with rosemary for our side dishes. It was a delish din that hit the spot. Here is a pic of me preppin the chicken breasts...slicing them open to stuff with the fresh spinach and shredded mozzerella cheese. I recommend a smaller opening to actually stuff the chicken, that way it stays more compact.   Chrissy did a FAB job wrapping the chicken breasts in the bacon slices we picked up at the meat counter. I was quite impressed.     Here I am placing the brussles sprouts in the oven while balancing the chicken in

Greetings!!   I am excited about this post because I am cooking one of my most favorite foods in the entire world -- eggplant.  My friend and I ventured to farmers market in Westwood on Thursday. It is located near the UCLA campus, so it's typically pretty busy. As soon as we arrived, there was a vendor with tons of bags of 3-4 pieces of eggplant for $3! I didn't think twice and immediately picked one up. I also grabbed some freshly made eggplant hummus from one of the vendors -- and also a bag of fresh basil for $1. I remembered I needed some fruit for the house, so I grabbed a couple green and purple plums and a few apples. They are all so fresh and delicious this season. I was also in search for some olive bread since I had the eggplant hummus, and although none of the vendors had any left, I found the last loaf at the bake shop on the same street. It's called Le Pain Quotidien and ironically, there is one next to my house in Marina del Rey.  Here's the website

Happy 29th birthday to John Lawlor Bosch!! The other night, I was craving some serious penne alla vodka, so Jim made a pit-stop at the grocery store to grab a few necessities. He picked up heavy cream and some turkey sausage. I had the penne pasta, vodka, marina sauce and some seasonings. I took a few pics of the process....here's how it went down: As I mentioned in my "Olive oil, Garlic and Wine" page tab, this is my typical start to my Italian dishes. This time, however, I used a little different order. To start, I tossed in some EVOO, garlic and some onions to the pan. I let those sit for a few minutes while I started boiling some water for the penne. I went with some mezze penne.   Instead of my usual "wine" ingredient next to get the sauce working, I remained in the booze category by choosing a Russian vodka. I always cook with whatever booze item I would actually drink. For example, don't cook with a plastic bottle of Gordon's vodka i

Holiday weekends....what is better than that!?  Three days away from the mayhem, the work, the drama and the early morning wakeups.  I had a visitor this weekend, my friend Abby from the east coast. She had a work trip planned the Tuesday after Columbus Day, so she stayed with us for a night. We watched the Red Sox, ordered Thai food and just relaxed. It was great. On Monday, we thought we should do something outside to work up a sweat a little bit. We decided on renting kayaks. When we arrived at the rental place, we aborted that plan and decided to rent a boat. It was awesome. With that, I wanted to keep you all posted on what I am into these days. 1. What I'm Watching:  Scandal and all Red Sox post season games... 2. What I'm Listening To:  "Pistol Annies" Pandora station - This band features Miranda Lambert and my favorite song is "Hell on Heels". The station also plays several Miranda country songs like "White Liar" and &

Jim just celebrated his 29th birthday on October 2nd.  He was in class until about 10PM that night, so my friends Sarah and Nicole came over for a girls night.  We made yet another spaghetti squash dinner with veggies and enjoyed an evening of #sobertober.  Sarah is running in the Big Sur Half Marathon next month, so she wants to refrain from drinking for the next 4-6 weeks.  Nicole and I are big supporters (and great friends) so we are joining her in sobertober. It has surprisingly been great. I feel refreshed and have a bit more energy than usual. I am quite enjoying myself. :) Instead of celebrating with Jim on 10/2, we decided to road trip down to Coronado (an island off San Diego -- think MV to Cape Cod). We left early Saturday morning and stayed one night.  It was simply gorgeous. We spent a ton of time outside going on runs and enjoying the view. We even stopped by the Stone IPA Brewery with some friends. We can't wait to go back!   The Marriott in Coro

I've been AWOL for the last few weeks, because I had to travel out of the country for work and then flew to Boston for a few festive occassions!  My Dad's birthday is 9/23 and my Mom's birthday is 9/24...and it was my mom's 60th birthday this year! We went to one of her favorite Chinese Food restaurants. She thought just myself, Jim, my Dad and her were going but turns out we invited the whole extended family! It was so fun. Here are a few pics of my trip back east. My mom and her sisters:   My mom blowing out the birthday candles with some help from Jason!!  And photobomb by my girl Kayla. ;)  Kelsie put 11 of these on my neck...she loved it.  We were best buds at dinner. It was nice to see my friends and family and also be home for the beginning of fall. Fall is the best season in Massachusetts because the weather is so gorgeous with the air so crisp and fresh, the leaves are changing -- and then there is of course apple picking and everything &qu