I have this not-so-secret obsession with Kitchen Supplies.  Yes, with a capital “K” and “S”. Most of my travels revolve around what I can pick up that is local and unique to shove into my overly crammed kitchen.  Imagine my surprise and pleasure when I was lucky enough to be invited to a KitchenAid Lunch hosted by my friends, Todd & Diane of White on Rice Couple.

Most of my Kitchen Electronics are from KitchenAid. I researched the hell out of the benefits of owning a stand mixer because it was such a big expense and took up so much counter space.  Ultimately, I decided that it was worth every inch of counter space that it took up just to have my hands free.  I try to use my mixer enough to have justified the purchase of it so imagine my surprise when I found out that they had a juicer attachment for my KitchenAid Stand Mixer. I’ve been wanting a juicer but I just didn’t have room for anything that served only one function.  I spent the greater part of the party juicing and having a blast.  I started dreaming of all the fresh cocktails I could make with that thing.  Except I really suck at mixing drinks.  I kinda hoped that Alex [who makes some awesome drinks] would spontaneously offer to make me a margarita or something.

For those of you who have gone to a party hosted by Todd & Diane, you know that you will be well fed and you’ll have a blast.  The people they invite to their parties are always interesting and engaging; the food that they serve is fresh and flavorful; and the atmosphere is always hopping.  It’s the kind of party that hosts/hostesses try to achieve. I was thrilled when I received an invitation to party with Todd & Diane and their guests for a KitchenAid gathering.  We even had Rachel from KitchenAid who flew all the way out from New York to attend.

If you’ve never been to a blogger event before, one of the funniest thing is watching the mass of people above break out their cameras at the same time and turn into paparazzi.  Loser that I am, I missed the shot because I was too busy being a paparazzi.   You can’t blame me for that, though. I mean, how many of you used to watch Cristina Ferrare on the Home Show? I absolutely adored her on there.  Can I tell you she’s even greater in person?  She makes the most amazing chocolate chip cookies and this smashed yukon potatoes that I still dream about. Alex, her daughter on the right, is the master mixologist and super Gluten-Free chef, who made this cucumber and zucchini carpaccio that was so fresh and tasty.

After a wonderful lunch that consisted of an amazing Vietnamese Chicken Salad of which I may have indulged in 3 or 4 servings, Joy The Baker share with us her amazing Swiss Cream Recipe [that I could not stop eating straight up sans cupcake].

But I have to say the best part of the day for me was when I won this hot little KitchenAid 13 cup Food Processor.  I shed a few tears of joy when I heard my name called…right before I knocked people out of my way to grab the box.  I’ve got so much to make and so little free time to play with it.  Thank you so much, Rachel, Todd, & Diane.

It may be better to give than to receive but I won’t complain if I receive when I give! Passports with Purpose is an annual travel bloggers’ fundraiser. Started in 2009, the annual fundraiser has raised nearly $100,000.  The goal for 2011 is $80,000 to help build TWO libraries in Zambia [sandwiched in between Zimbabwe, Angola, and Malawi in Africa] through a partnership with Room to Read.

What personal stake do I have in this, you ask?  From the moment I learned to read, I’ve had a passion for books.  I’ve stayed up all night in elementary school just so I could finish a book, much to my parents horror.  I was one of those kids who used to read under my covers with a flashlight.  Nothing would give me greater joy than to give that opportunity to a child who would not have otherwise had that chance.

So what can you do?? Visit the Passport with Purpose donation page, look through the list of prizes, make a $10 donation for each entry on your prize of choice.  Fundraising is from November 30 – December 16.  Winners will be selected on December 23rd. For more information, please visit the Passport with Purpose Rules page.

Eh hemmm…A few items that I would love to get, in case you wanted to submit an entry for me for Christmas!

Marquis Los Cabos, Hosted by Nancy Brown [3 night stay, dinner for 2, shopping gift card]

I’ve been to the Marquis.  What a wonderful hotel…I love the fact that they’ll bring you coffee and a basket of pastries in the morning in a little cubby hole right by your door.  The resort has a stunning view of the Pacific and if you time your trip right, you can watch the whales migrate right from the pool deck!  Can’t you imagine yourself on that pool deck above just sipping a margarita?

Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn, Hosted by The Traveling Philospher [2 night stay, bottle of wine]

I love the Fairmont Hotels.  I love their service and I love how they spoil me rotten.  The Sonoma Mission Inn is perfectly located between the Russian River Valley, Healdsburg, and Napa.  Located near downtown Sonoma, you can take a bike out and ride to the area wineries.

Stay in Budapest with Town Hall Apartments, Hosted by Inspiring Travellers [5 night stay for up to 4 people & more!]

I went to Budapest back in 2006 for a few short days.  I don’t feel like I did that city justice in that amount of time. We barely went to see the Bastion, the baths [Széchenyi Spa], and the Great Market Hall and had to leave. I’d love to go back and have another visit.

I was going to put up a picture of the resorts but I just like the sea turtle that hangs out at the Fairmont.

Stay on The Big Island, Hosted by Wanderlust & Lipstick [3 nights at the Hilton Waikoloa Village & 2 nights at the Fairmont Orchid]

I love the Big Island. I just unwind the minute I get off the plane.  You can visit volcanoes, an observatory, waterfalls, snorkel, flumin’ da ditch, or just lay out on the beach and do nothing.

The Hilton Waikoloa Village is a huge resort equipped with enough to keep you occupied for a week!  Swim with dolphins, spa, shop or eat.  It’s all there on property.

One of my most favorite hotels is the Fairmont Orchid.  When I walk into the lobby, I always say that I feel like I’m coming home [ok, not MY home but someone's home].  You have a stunning view of the ocean the minute you walk in.  If you go during whale watching season, I’ve heard that you can see whales breaching from the beach. I’ve never actually seen it myself since I was always working and never had enough time to sit and watch the ocean.  The beach area is in a protected cove safe for children to play in.  Be warned, sea turtles do hang out in that cove and it is against state law to touch them. So if you think you’re standing on a smooth rock and it suddenly starts to move, the odds are that it’s a sea turtle.  Not that it happened to me.  Because that would’ve been illegal.

I wish I had a picture of the Carousel Bar located at the Monteleone. Beautiful - must visit!

Hotel Monteleone New Orleans, Hosted by A Travelers Library [3 night stay]

I love New Orleans. I love the people, I love the city, and I love the food.  The first time I went to New Orleans I stayed at the lovely Hotel Monteleone.  The sales manager took me out for my first Hurricane….and my last. There’s more to New Orleans than Bourbon Street.  There’s the garden district, the mansions, and did I mention the wonderful food??

There are TONS of other things you can bid on.  For a complete list of available items, please click here.  What are you waiting for?? Go check out what’s available!

I can’t lie. The only reason I like going to a state fair is to see all the crazy food options.  Things that I would never eat or make on my own.  Things that are just inconceivable to me.

Take Deep Fried Twinkies for instance:

I just can’t fathom how fat upon fat could be a good thing. Oh wait.  Right.  Mouthfuls of deliciousness.

As I walked on, I stumbled across this vendor that had Donut Burgers, Fried Mac & Cheese, Pork Parfaits, and the Blooming Onions.

I saw someone coming out the the Donut Burger and felt compelled to ask him if I could please take a picture of it.

Sadly, we were very boring and stuck with the Blooming Onion.  Not so sadly, it was very tasty!

An old friend of mine used to tout the wonders of the fried Pickle.  I’m still not sure what the magic behind it is.  I’m not crazy about the warm cuke.

Thankfully, I was saved from most of these things by friends in twitterland advising me against jumping into the madness of Fair Food.  Although , if there were a pie eating contest, I can’t say that I wouldn’t have signed up for it.

The theme of #FriFotos is “Lights”.  The first thing I thought of was the Las Vegas Strip, trite I know.  I can’t help myself.  I took this photo from Marriott’s Grand Chateau when I was on my way to Black Mountain Ranch.  It was just before sunrise using my iPhone.  I love how surreal this looks.

Just a quickie post for you this Labor Day Weekend. I had the pleasure of attending one of the Taste of Los Angeles events, thanks to the generosity of Xoia Vietnamese Eats and Ravenous Couple! The Taco Tequila Tryst’s host was Roy Choi of the OG Kogi BBQ Taco Truck fame.  He was at the gate, warmly greeting people and thanking everyone for attending.  It was a well attended event, but the lines went so fast, it just gave me enough time to psych myself up to down another taco.

There were so many tacos to choose from. I had a hard time deciding on which ones to eat! I honestly thought that I would be able to eat a sample from every single vendor. I knew I was in trouble at taco #3.  That’s when I belatedly started a plan of attack with my friend, Aya, whom I had invited to join me on this taco extravaganza! The idea was that we would start splitting the tacos.  That strategy worked for another 3 tacos.  I’m sure it didn’t help that we were also drinking Dark & Stormy’s, margaritas, tequilas, and various wines along with all of our taco bites.

There was an amazing array of various tacos – from Pho Beef Tacos [Xoia Eats] to Goat Tacos! I loved the creativity of all the vendors, especially the ones who made handmade tortillas [always my favorite!].  Some vendors, like Mission Cantina also served other items like mole [yummm] and margaritas [holy hell, I must go to this restaurant to consume more of this sweet nectar].

My favorite, by far, was the one sponsored by Fiji Water* – a Pig Cheek taco with Hoisin Liquid Queso, covered in an amazing Green Tomato Salsa.  The chef that created this tasty bite was Chef Steven Fretz, currently the Executive Chef for Curtis Stone Catering, formerly of Michael Mina XIV.  As I had stuffed the taco down my gullet and licked up the plate from any remaining salsa, I had to stop myself from saying or doing anything to further embarrass myself so I wisely left the area.  I’m crossing my eyes, fingers, and toes in hopes that I can score the recipe for this amazing Green Tomato Salsa.

The Taste continues on today through Monday [tonight's Street Eats looks like a total winner!].

Tickets are still available at: http://events.latimes.com/taste/

*Disclaimer: Although Fiji Water is a subsidiary of the company that I work for, my thoughts/opinions were my own. Having said my little disclaimer, I’m pretty darn proud of them for scoring Chef Fretz.

When I was a girl growing up, my parents loved to torture take us on long, long road trips around the Western United States.  My mom was always great about making sure that we had a ton of food for our long journey.  The selection ranged from teriyaki chicken, to potstickers, to the ever satisfying omusubi.

On our road trip to our Colorado Dude Ranch experience, Carrie suggested that we bring homemade and healthy food with us instead of stopping off for JUNK FOOD.  Don’t get me wrong, I normally always stop off for junk food…I live for junk food but I thought how fun it’d be to try something different and eat healthy!

The Salmon Yaki Musubi is perfect – a portable, gluten free, protein filled, whole grain treat. I have to admit that I probably ate 5 of those things before I even hit Las Vegas.  I don’t even want to know how many calories that translates into.  I keep telling myself that it’s healthier since I use brown rice instead of white rice.

On the trip I had made it without the “Yaki” [grilled] part of the musubi because I was running behind. But my favorite is to have a bit of crunchy shoyu rice around the rice ball.For recipe & how to instructions on how to make the onigiri, please visit Just Hungry’s Tutorial on how to make a musubi.  For this recipe, I used 4 cups of brown medium grain rice with about a one-third to half cup more water than instructed to make it a bit stickier.

I set up my mise en place so that it went from water to salt to my salmon filling.

I dip my hand in the water, salt it, then place a clump of rice in the palm of my hand.  Then I place the Salmon filling into the rice, then cover it up with some additional rice.  Cupping my two hands together, I form a triangle shape out of the rice ball.

In a lightly oiled heated non stick pan, I lightly brush soy sauce on the sides of the rice ball and grill until slightly crisp.  Wrap with seaweed and enjoy!

Marble.  Softer than a baby’s butt.  Hard enough to withstand the test of time.  Slick when wet [this description will be important in a bit].  I’ve never been in a country who used more marble than they do in Greece.  Beautiful material to work with when it is in your kitchen.  Not so beautiful when you are wearing shoes with very little traction. This is what happens [to me. because i am the most graceless person EVER]:

I posted this photo on facebook. My brother told my mother, who called me to tell me to stop drinking so much so I would stop falling.

All joking aside, marble is a natural resource in Greece with quarries in nearly all parts of the country, so it’s no wonder why it was so heavily used.  The old Olympic Stadium called the Panathenaic Stadium, was one of the largest examples of marble usages that I saw upon the first 3 hours of my arrival into Athens.  It is the only stadium of its kind built only of marble, seating 45,000 – 50,000 spectators, and hosted the very first modern Olympics in 1896. The stadium is now owned by the Hellenic Olympic Committee, used for only for special occasions ranging from sporting events  [2004 Olympic Archery & Marathon] to a music venue for R.E.M., The Clash, Depeche Mode, Culture Club, and The Cure.

Just around the corner sits Zeus’ Temple.  As little as there was left of the original structure, it was still an impressive structure.  The size and magnitude of the columns made me wonder how they managed to stack the columns, one round slice at a time.  Yes, I know they had slaves doing it, but it was just so perfectly aligned [at one point] that I couldn’t see how they could nudge it into alignment.  I can hear it now, “a little to the left…no, no…the right…back, just a skosh…”

The Parthenon at the Acroplis gave me the most slippage worry [not just marble paths but pebble fields, too].  I had a bad feeling that I was going to go slipping and sliding everywhere.  I gingerly and carefully walked through the Acropolis and stood still in awe of the massive Doric structure, built using approximately 13,400 stones.  The thing that I found so amazing was how the Greek architects knew to build the structure curved to give it a visual appearance of being straight!  That curved structure also helped it withstand thousands of years.  As you can see from the rigging, restoration projects are currently underway to maintain and bring the Acropolis back to beauty.

Closest station for these sites is the Akropoli Station.

On Saturday, May 14 over 40 bloggers from the Los Angeles area will come together to donate their time, money, and baked goods towards a common goal of raising funds to fight childhood hunger. It’s a great charity and very worthy of support.  But quite frankly, that’s not the only reason why I’m going.

There will be a host of wonderful people who will pass through BLD Restaurant – people who have become near and dear to my heart over the past year since the last Bake Sale. I feel so lucky to have them in my life.  But that’s still not the only reason I’m going.

Let’s face it.  Over 40 food bloggers/chefs.  Baked goods.  Over 40 different opportunities to try some tasty, fabulous treats that I only dream about and drool over on the internet will all be in one location.  And the pricing is ridiculously reasonable.  Treats that someone [Gaby, organizer of the National Food Blogger Bake Sale Extraordinaire!] will have to physically restrain me from devouring.  This is your chance to sample some of LA’s best treats while helping a worthy cause!!

Where: BLD Restaurant, 7450 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036

When: Saturday, May 14, 11:30am – 2:00pm

I hope to see you there!!!

What?? Can’t make it??  Please consider donating to this worthy cause!! Donate now.

Not in the Los Angeles area??  Go to the Share our Strength website to find a bake sale near you!