Food Maker, Chef, and Traveling Diner
This blog was to memorable not to post but it is a month late. Oh well better late than never! We’ve celebrated birthdays all month long and just about everywhere this summer, which always keeps me busy and on my toes thinking of new ideas …
My sister and brother-in-law are having another baby girl! News to some, but not to others and low and behold she’ll be joining us maybe this month. My sister’s due date is August 27th and secretly, I think my sister is going to try and …
My grandma is a very special woman. She’s such a loving, kind, strong and wonderful person and we were very happy to host her 80th birthday celebration for all of her friends and family. Granny has always been the talk of the town and never met someone she couldn’t charm or take a photograph of. Her personality is best displayed when she played Choco, the adorable little bear mascot for Children’s Hospital of Orange County. Her dancing and friendly waves along with blowing kisses to all the children, led her to be requested put on the suit well into her late 70s.
My sister, my brother and I spent countless hours with grandma when we were little. We’d get picked up and taken all the way out to Huntington Beach to stay with grandma for the weekend; some of my fondest memories as a little kid are feeding the ducks at the park, eating toast and tea for breakfast and having French bread and string cheese for snacks. I associate a lot of joyful activities with food as you can see. Grandma was never short on hugs and kisses or presents and spoiling and she’s passed down the fun to my little niece Maleeya. Grandma has the biggest heart and the attitude of someone half her age. Believe it or not, she still cruises out to Vegas in her Corolla on a whim and vacations whenever she can, all between traveling back and forth to come to visit all of us (over 100 miles away roundtrip).
Brandon and I put on a very special catering for all the guests and we were very happy with the outcome. Brandon was in charge of pastries and I helped him assemble some of them, while I took on the savory options, which he lent a big hand in helping with as well. My mom was assigned the snacks department and made our family’s favorite macaroni and potato salad, homemade beans for the chili and mini lemon cupcakes. My sister made the beautiful flower arrangements, all the gorgeous decorations and photo collages. My dad, brother, sister-in-law, brother-in-law and everyone else helped out so much to make this a beautiful, delicious, smooth event for everyone involved. I’m so glad I have this amazing family to call my own. I want to thank everyone who came, who helped, and who made this amazing event happen.
Happy 80th Birthday, Granny! We all love you so much!
Ruthie’s 80th Birthday Party Menu
Appetizers
Fruit Platter
Vegetable Platter
Chips and Dip
Salads
Macaroni Salad
Potato Salad
Baby Mixed Greens with Shredded Cucumber, Mozzarella Cheese, Diced Tomatoes, Pickled Red Onions and Blue Cheese Dressing
Entrées: Served Family-Style
Roasted Pulled Pork
Country Spiced Fried Chicken
Homemade Chili Beans
Sides
Mashed Potatoes and Chicken Gravy
Peanut Coleslaw with Red and Green Cabbage, Shredded Carrots, Green Onions and Asian Dressing
Roasted Corn on the Cob
Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Orange Honey Glaze and Marshmallows
Bread Basket
Corn Bread Muffins
Rolls
Dessert Bar
Lemon Meringue Pie
Banana Cream Pudding
Lemon Cupcakes
Cream Puffs
-cheers
unrivaledkitch
I’m so grateful to take time out to acknowledge some really amazing women in my life. Mother’s day is always a special occasion, especially now that my sister is a mother too. I was lucky enough to help make Mother’s Day cards for all of …
Some dinners at our table just turn into an experimental multitude of different dinner plates, especially if we have guests or if there is something my sister is craving and my brother-in-law doesn’t really prefer. I have no problem cooking different dinners for one meal …
I wrote this a while ago and realized it hadn’t been posted, their such beautiful memories I didn’t want them to stay on my computer. Enjoy!
I haven’t blogged in quite a while, but I’ve been writing a lot in notebooks and mental scratch paper because my words have been spent teaching and quieting down to prepare to teach. I’m loving the whole process, but sometimes I just need to make a fantastic meal and everything else falls into place. I’ve been quite busy—life’s comings and goings and all the other crazy business that comes with cooking and teaching yoga in Los Angeles, but I couldn’t be happier. My niece will be celebrating her 2nd birthday at the beginning of April so the thoughts for menu and preparations are working in my mind.
I had the great privilege of catering a sweet friend of mine’s (Lizzi) baby shower for her sweet new daughter Audrey, who is on the way. Her wonderful family and friends came together in a beautiful home in Lake Sherwood over food, drinks and anticipation of the families’ grandchild. Love definitely filled the whole occasion from the gorgeous photos to the intricate details of months of planning, it was a beautiful event and I’m so grateful Unrivaledkitch was able to partake in the festivities. Here are a couple of phone photos I was able to take from the event.
My sister celebrated her 30th birthday on 3/12. We had the family over for a huge lasagna party. And I’m not joking about “huge.” I spent about 5 hours making the perfect bolognese sauce with just the right amount of everything. A mental recipe that I’ve spent years crafting, but it makes it out for special occasions such as birthdays. I also made a very special creamy bechamel sauce with a hint of nutmeg and Parmesan cheese and layers of luscious meat and cheese sauce, over slowly baked pasta sheets and a touch of ricotta and mozzarella for an added richness. We had plenty left over and I think I probably had lasagna for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next couple of days, which was perfectly fine for me. We also had an antipasto salad and finished the meal off with my sister’s favorite, pistachio pie, made by my mom from years of birthday tradition. It was so nice to have everyone around the table to share such a special day with my sister!
Last week I had the great pleasure of sharing my cooking with a fellow yoga teacher. She contacted me after a bit of a scare taking on a 70-person baby shower—for anyone, it is a bit of a shocker. I prepared a delicious roasted vegetable salad with homemade balsamic vinaigrette for 70 people and she graciously picked it up from the yoga studio. I’m so grateful to be able to help take some of the pressure off of such a loving event.
![IMG_2471[1]](https://www.unrivaledkitch.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/IMG_24711.jpg)
![IMG_2476[1]](https://www.unrivaledkitch.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/IMG_24761.jpg)
I’m so appreciative of the opportunity to bring my food to my friends and family as well as extended acquaintances. I hope everyone is having a wonderful March! Though the time seems to be flying by, thanks for taking a moment with me to reflect on these special culinary events.
Cheers
-Unrivaledkitch
My niece just recently turned two on Monday, April 8th. I can’t believe she’s already two! It really goes by fast and I know that’s a very cliché thing to say, but it does. It feels like just yesterday that my sister told me she …
Pressed under an apartment building high-rise in Little Tokyo is Aburiya Toranoko, a Japanese restaurant scattered amongst countless others in the downtown L.A. region. I hadn’t heard much about this place before my sister gave me a bloomspot certificate for my Christmas present—she saw the …
The year flew by and I hope each and everyone of you had a great set of holidays. I’ll be catching up on my blogging in the next week so please stay tuned. Thank you for your support and a healthy and happy 2013 to you all from my Unrivaledkitch to yours!
I’ve been working on tamales every year around Christmas time for about five years. Tamales are a very traditional Mexican/Spanish dish that involves masa, which is dried corn mixed with fat, broth and spices, filled with meat, sauce and/or cheese and are made in corn husks and then steamed. This year I made around 400 tamales for various family and friends. It was a long process, but very fulfilling. This year I made numerous types ranging from roasted green chile and cheese tamales, tomatillo and roasted chicken, salsa Roja and roasted pork to salsa verde and beef. The process takes many hours of hard work and lots of love, which is why I always love the tradition of making tamales. The broth takes time to develop all the delicious flavors and the ratio of meat to masa is always something that can be worked on.
I also made pozole for my family for Christmas morning, both chicken and pork. Pozole is a delicious soup that’s made of roasted and slow-simmered parts of pork or chicken and is made with simmered chiles and Mexican corn or hominy. The soup is topped with fresh cabbage, cilantro, green onions, Mexican organo and some red pepper flakes to taste. Everyone always enjoys putting their favorite toppings on their Pozole. It’s something that we all look forward to eating on Christmas morning before we open our presents.
Christmas was a wonderful holiday for our family. Maleeya really did score with Santa—she must have been a really good girl this year. We all can’t wait for next year to see what is in store for us all. I’ve been increasing the number of tamales I make by at least 100 each year, so we’ll see what happens in 2013.
I hope you developed some delicious holiday traditions with your family this holiday season.
Happy Holidays to each and every one of you!
Thank you so much for supporting Unrivaledkitch!
Cheers
-Unrivaledkitch
I love this time of year! It’s so busy and crazy, but there is just so much love in the air that it makes all the craziness worthwhile. I just got back from an impromptu trip to Las Vegas with Brandon. Brandon’s family lives in …
