let your dogs, eat my blog

the 4th installment of eat my blog will be taking place this saturday at pita jungle in pasadena. i'm super excited to be a part of the eat my blog planning committee for a second year in the row and will be baking as well...though you will have to be a four-legged pooch to actually appreciate what i'm making.

i got this idea from tien who baked dog biscuits for emb last year. genius. seriously, we should allow our dogs to stuff face too!! and for a good cause to boot! since i have 3 furry doggies of my own, i really wanted to honor all the four legged friends out there with these pumkin peanut butter dog biscuits.

not trying to sell them too hard *ahem,* but let's just say that after giving my three dogs a taste of the test biscuits i baked, my biggest/tallest dog promptly climbed the counter the following day to steal the rest. a$$hole.

"let me just have a bite of the leg...."

"please?"

i think your dogs will like them too! hope to see you there!!

UPDATE: eat my blog raised $4,323.86!

foraging at forage

it's not tough to forage for food in silverlake. just about everywhere you turn, there is a place that will suit your eating needs: raw, sustainable, meaty, sweet, healthy, deadly, alcoholic....this place has a lot of good stuff. LOTS. so no fear for us when we walked charlie around the neighborhood and our stomaches started grumbling. all we had to do was pick a spot that will allow a smelly dog to sit by us.

my sis heard about forage and their pork belly sammich so when she uttered ppooooooork beeeeeeeeellly, i was immediately sold. holy crap pork belly done well is freakin' awesome and i want something freakin' awesome in my piehole.

as you enter forage, you are 1) met with tons of patrons on a saturday afternoon and 2) 80% of the folks ordering the p belly sammich. i joined that 80% and awaited my turn to get impressed.

the daily quiche also seemed pretty popular and so were the ample vegetarian sides.

while we waited for the orders to come to us, charlie sniffed a few drive by butts. man there's a lot of 4 legged animals roaming about. i love it!

my friend ordered a medium sized jidori chicken which came with a piece of dark meat and a piece of chicken breast ($12) with a medium side of fingerling potato salad with arugula pesto and pine nuts ($6.75). though the chicken was moist and flavorful and the skin was crackly, it was nothing special. my friend was a bit disappointed and eyeballed my pork belly sammich the whole time until i decided to share.

and here, my friends, is the pork belly sammich ($9.50) with slices of pork belly, cabbage, fennel, tomato, and a green garlic aioli in a crusty baguette. i opted to change my side of soup for a side of farro, sugar snap peas, snow peas, and english peas for an extra charge ($1.50).

man this sammich was rather fantastic. the bread was crusty and buttery. the pork belly slices had a good char to it and the viscous nature of its fat was tamed by the tart cabbage and fennel slaw that went on top of it. this combination allowed my lucky piehole to enjoy the amalgam of rich savory pork belly flavors without a mouthful of grease. DELICIOUS. i'm so glad my sis and i followed the other 80% of their customers and ordered this. the farro side also added a nice minty ruffage to my meal.

it was indeed a delicious lunch at:

Forage
3823 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(323) 663-6885
http://www.foragela.com/

price: $$
verdict: omg, i love it!

say cheese....cheese!

based on the sheer number of doggy doo doo that you see littered around silverlake, it is clear that silverlakers enjoy the company of their four legged friends (HOWEVER, does not enjoy picking up doo doo. *insert rant* please don't have your dog doo on my newly planted japanese maple tree and just leave it there. your dog's ass hole is the size of a baseball and baseball sized doo doo comes out of it. i don't want to pick it up for you no mo!).

after a long walk with charlie around the hood and the reservoir, i ended up at the coffee table. but to my shock and amazement, i found out dogs were not allowed in their patio area. that made me very hungry and extremely sad because the smells that emitted from their kitchen were amazing. for a second, i contemplated ditching charlie to grab some of their grub. but god slapped me across my face and i knew that was a vile, vile thought so we kept walking until we came across the say cheese cafe which allowed my four legged companion to sit with me whilst i fed me belly.

"mommy, don't ever think about ditching me for a sammich cuz i'll chew through your favorite shoes like last time! better recognize!"

sitting outside while watching the horrific weekend traffic jam that unfolds at the trader joe's/gelsons junction is rather painful. why o' why do people insist on making left turns into a packed up, trader joe's sardine tin parking lot and then subsequently jam up everybody else's drive? then honking, honking, honking as i sipped my ice tea. the best was when a car drove by with some old school hip hop bumping out of their stereo system. charlie couldn't take it and scrambled around my chair in confusion. ahhh, to live and dine in l.a. a la tupac.

the menu at the say cheese cafe consists mainly of sammiches and salads with a few breakfast items during restricted brunching hours. i decided on the rivoli because hot pressed sammiches are generally pretty yummy. boy was i right! this sammich consisted of grilled chicken, roasted eggplant, sun dried tomato tapenade, and parmesean on ciabatinna, but when i had ordered it, they ran out of the ciabatinna so i had wheat bread instead. methinks just as good. their sammiches came with a side of salad with a light balsamic vinaigrette.

look at the chunks of chicken and roasted eggplant! yummmy!

my friend had the red cow sammich which consisted of roast beef, capers, tomato, and aoli on wheat bread as well. this sammich is normally served on a baguette, but they were out. i don't know if that would have made any difference because the flavors were just plain bland. i wouldn't ever order this, and i don't suggest you do either.

pretty to look at, but meh in da mouth.

they also have a great cheese store that sells all kinds of cheeses, olives, wines, etc....next time, i'm coming back for the rivoli sammich AND i'm taking home a slice or two of artisan cheese. i'm also glad it's a dog friendly cafe cuz it just don't make no sense to have a cafe in silverlake and not invite the dogs. it really doesn't.

Say Cheese Cafe
2800 Hyperion Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 665-0545
http://www.saycheeselosangeles.com/

price: $$
verdict: tasty, try it!

for the dogs...literally

The Park Bench Cafe
17732 Goldenwest St
Huntington Beach, CA 92647
(714) 842-0775
http://www.parkbenchcafe.com/

price: $$
verdict: hells no!

thank you sweet buddha for a much needed three day weekend! woot! an extra day meant extra playing time with my doo doo head charlie so off we went with our friend to the huntington dog beach for some water romping and ass sniffing...er, for him, not me. i don't like smelling any bitches' ass.

everybody and their bitches' momma must have had the same idea because the beach was hella crowded! it was hard not to come into accidental contact with a snout or a hairy man arm....even worse, a hairy wet man's arm. ewww.....

i had fun doggy watching and chit chatting, but i can't say the same for charlie. he practically had to be dragged through the water which he hates. he's also very skittish and ran away from everything...even chihuahuas...but of course after they run away, he would run after them and bark like he's da shit. man, that boy fronts too much. then it was time to grub. i found a place nearby that also catered to four legged yaps yaps which seemed perfect for my charlie day today.

their doggy menu. get the woof out! awesome!

human food, NOT so awesome. i ordered a tuna melt on sour dough bread with a side of pasta salad. holy shit, what the fuck did i put into my mouth?! that was disgusting!! the pasta salad tasted like pasta that was not drained well which meant a watery oily mix with 99 cent store sliced salami and old cheese. it was BAD. ugh. don't let the picture fool you. you know we've all been fooled by things that looked decent before.

my friend's guacamole burger was JUST as DISGUSTING. the meat patty tasted like it was boiled in water and then dumped on flimsy buns with no seasoning whatsoever. mid bite, the burger crumbled. all i could do was shake my head...ick.

on the other hand, charlie was thrilled with his peanut butter doggy snack. it looked cute right?

"grrr....i want my cookie mommy"

"please mommy? i'm being very patient here..."

"mmm, grrr...yes, i love to eat so much!" *burp*

unlike charlie who likes to eat his doo doo, plastic, and paper, i DID NOT enjoy my meal here at park bench cafe. the food was literally for the dogs. ill.