Shaz by the Sea

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 h...

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...