BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Best may seem like an overstatement, but these are really good. Normally, I don't just crave chocolate chip cookies, but these are great. The recipe is from Epicurious, via Carla Rollins.

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 sticks of butter, melted and slightly cooled

1 and 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

1 cup white granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 and 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and make sure that your rack is in the middle.

Next, mix together flour, salt, and baking soda in a little bowl. Set it aside. Get a big bowl and mix together the melted and cooled off butter with both the sugars. Use an electric mixer to beat the sugars and the butter together until it is really light and fluffy. It will also get lighter in color too. Then, add in the eggs, one at a time. The original recipe said to use only part of the first egg, but then, I didn't really feel like wasting part of the egg, so I just put it all in after beating it lightly. So then you mix all the eggs in, and then you add in all the vanilla. Mix that well, and then slowly mix in the flour mixture. Don't mix it all too much. Then stir in by hand all the chocolate chips.

So when you go to put them on your greased cookie sheet, make the cookies really small. Because they WILL expand to become MONSTER cookies! But, if you are in the mood for only one cookie, and would like to make it a good one, well then, go ahead and make it regular size and then it will come out and be the size of your hand. So delicious...

Cook them for 15 minutes, ish, but watch them cause a couple trays came out a little too crispy.

UMAMI BURGER

Umami Burger is a much hyped burger joint with several locations around LA. After a failed attempt to go to Santa Monica Umami Burger with a group of 8, we decided to take a smaller part of 4 to the new location in the Valley. So, we arrived at 6:30 and got awesome street parking on Ventura Blvd. Others might not be so lucky, but it works for now. After putting in our name, we were told that the wait would be approx. 30 ish minutes. My clever friend pointed out that we should go next door to the Mexican cantina there, which I reccommend for anyone who is waiting for Umami Burger there before 7pm, as they have a great happy hour margarita deal, and they give you really tasty chips. The other place is called Mexicali Cocina Cantina. They also have some sort of Monday deal which I think I might go back and try.

So finally, we get into Umami Burger. Problem #1: table situation. The chairs facing the booths are cute, they look like red king chairs, so the two men in the group felt like big men, all sitting in their throne chairs. However, for the ladies sitting on the benches, there was really no way to get up from the table besides making your friend next to you get up from her seat, if you were unlucky enough to sit next to the side of the table that was about 2.5 inches away from the neighbors' table. Problem.

So we order the Dirty Shirley cocktail. Like a shirley temple, but for adults. Bubble Up, Cherry Vodka. Okay, fairly good drink. Bubble Up is some sort of fake vintage soda, but just as bad for you as Seven Up, so I don't really know why they use it at Umami Burger other than the fact that it is probably more expensive. We order the Onion Rings, Sweet Potato Fries, and twice fried potatoes. For the main, I get the Umami Burger, portabella version. The best was the onion rings. They were really good, but I mean, they're deep fried onions! You have to really try to mess those up, so whatever there. Not the best I've had, ever. Sweet potato fries were a bust. They covered them in brown sugar. Made them way too sweet. There was about a quarter cup of brown sugar left in the dish after all the fries were gone. The twice fried potatoes looked bad but were actually good. But, there isn't really that much that was notable. The burger definitely has a different taste. Good. Solid burger but, I don't know. No one's jaw was dropping to the floor here about how AWESOME they were. I think the whole business is overhyped.

NIZAM INDIAN

We went for the lunch buffet. At $7.95 per person, its around $2 less than the other indian buffets on Westwood and the surrounding area. There seem to be a lot of them around here. However, you kinda get what you pay for. Usually we go to New India Grill, which is always really really good. The food here was good, but there was less variety, and their spicy pickled veggies were not quite spicy enough for my liking. New India Grill usually has these whole garlic chunks in it that are sooo good. Also, the naan situation. At New India, we usually get like 3 baskets of naan because while I love like actual indian dishes, I love naan even more, especially when I get to have unlimited amounts of it. At Nizam, they give you one basket, and then it costs more for extra, so I think. The waiter was a little unclear. I mean, they gave us a second basket and I asked him if it was extra, and he said yes. And then I said nevermind then, but then they didn't charge us. I just don't like having to give up any naan. I think we will stick to New India. Also, there was a more limited variety of dishes than there usually are at New India. I think we decided that next time we will try Jaipur, which is across the street from Nizam.

MALIBU WINES

BF and I went to Malibu wines last weekend to do a wine tasting. Its beautiful there! We were luckily able to sample all their wines at the outdoor tasting room. It was very crowded on this Sunday, so it was difficult to find a place at the counter to sample wines. However, once we were able to, it was really a delicious experience. We got to try their sweet orange Muscat, which was very light and refreshing, but we ended up coming home with a bottle of the Saddle Rock 2005 cabernet. If you buy a bottle of their wine, bring some snacks and some good friends, this is a really pretty place to sit and chat in the sunshine, sitting around their rustic tables. The drive up is really pretty too, and you get to drive on PCH all the way home if you live on the westside. Something everyone should do once in a while when they need a break from the normal weekend routine.

THE ANGELENO and GOOD CHOCOLATE

We tried out the Angeleno at Sunset and the 405 this weekend. Not bad! Ordered the Margarita form there. Salted, it was fairly good but of course, no Las Perlas in creativity or anything, just standard white person margarita thing. The best thing about the Skyview bar at the Angeleno was the view, of course! It was really a beautiful lounge and you are really only going there for the experience, rather than the food or the drinks, although they are really good. I would check it out for sure if you are in the area.

Now, for chocolate! BF and I have a chocolate phase going on right now, which has manifesting in buying new Theo chocolate bars every time we go to Whole Foods. But now they are on sale, so who are we to resist! The one we tried this time is the Spicy Chili one. MMMM! The spice sneaks up on you, for sure. At first you think you are just enjoying some delicious dark chocolate, but then, boom! Your mouth is on fire, but just for a second. Then you reach for more chocolate...

(they're also vegan and fair trade. No guilt whatsoever here)

Theo's Website

AMANDINE CAFE

This morning BF and I went to Amandine to grab a cute breakfast and do some studying before finals. Amandine is a great cafe to go to, as they have really yummy omelets, refills on coffee, and a bajillion outlets. As I have to take my Mac Book everywhere to study, this is a great bonus. Its always really frustrating when you can't plug in your laptop anywhere at a cafe, or there are 3 outlets and you battle with your neighbors for control. We enjoyed the vegetable omelet, the florentine omelet, and the tarte rouge. So beautiful! You will be wow'ed by their beautiful display case upon entering the cafe, and the charming vines that grow all over the outside. This is a great cafe to study with a friend at, or to catch up with a girlfriend. They have a good selection of delicious pastries, and I will bet that you can't leave without taking one home for later.

Amandine Cafe: 12225 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025