Marina del Ray

The marina at Marina del Ray is a phenomenon that has a story-book quality. Everywhere one looks, there is another beautiful sight to photograph.  We arrived right before the sunset and took a little stroll along the dock.

As we were looking for a place to eat, we ran into a very pleasant surprise... my favorite restaurant from twenty years ago, Shanghai Reds, was right there on our path...

A Perfect Sunday - Breakfast

It was Sunday, a bright and beautiful day, we were in LA, our only concern where to have brunch this morning.  After not much deliberation at all, we decided to go to the Grove for breakfast, only a ten minute walk from where we were staying.
Farm of Beverly Hills is Wendy's favorite restaurant there, with good reason.  Not only does it have excellent food but it is also in the middle of the Grove, right by the fountain.

The first thing that came out, with our coffee, was a wonderful coffee cake muffin that we devoured in five minutes and asked for more.  This is so fantastic that I can go back there everyday just for that muffin... it is also the best accompaniment for coffee.

Corned Beef & Potatoes

Mehmet ordered the Corned Beef & Potatoes that we all wanted in the end.  It was a great sandwich - a perfect combination.

California Omlet

Wendy and I decided to share a California Omlet.  It was good but I am not sure if I would order it again.

Belgian Waffle

I can only assume how good Murat's Belgian Waffle was, since it was finished within an heartbeat.

Farm of Beverly Hills turned out to be the best idea for a weekend breakfast.  I would definitely recommend it for a sweet break to anyone who might be shopping, sightseeing or just hanging out at the Grove where parking is a breeze with lots of shops and attractions to spend a pleasant time relaxing.

One of the Top Ten Restaurants in the World According to the New York Times

My brother's wife, Wendy, is originally from Taiwan, and since she knows of Murat's preference for dumplings, she wanted to take us to the Dumpling House that has been lauded as 'One of the Worlds' Top Ten Restaurants' by the New York Times.  She explained to us that the original Din Tai Fung was very close to their house in Taipei and they used to go there for dumpling very frequently until the New York Times article turned it into a major attraction and the wait became unacceptable.  Honestly the wait at this branch in Arcadia, California was quite ridiculous as well but we were already there and Prometheus was sound asleep so our curiosity won over our common sense and we waited.  

We were in Arcadia because earlier we went to visit the campus of California Institute of Technology - 'Caltech' - a dream school if there ever was one. Arcadia and Pasadena are 15 minutes from each other and since we were already 40 minutes out of LA, we thought to get as much as possible in for this area.

After driving around Pasadena till the sunset. we picked up Wendy and Pro and headed to the Dumpling House.  The crowd outside the restaurant was a little disconcerting but Wendy insisted we had to try this, so we put our name on the 45 minute waiting list.  Inside the restaurant was a madhouse, there was so much activity it was impossible to follow the food leaving the kitchen and going to the tables.  With Wendy's intervention, we were seated at a table in half an hour.  On our table was a small checklist of the foods that were available.  We were lucky to have Wendy with us because basically we went with her suggestions and it turned out to be perfect.

XIAOLONGBAO (Taiwanese small steamed buns)

The specialty of the house xiaolongbao, is different than a Chinese Dumpling because the bun is much thinner and there is a great juice that accompanies the pork filling.  You are suppose to eat these by putting them in a Chinese spoon and then topping them with their special vinegar.  There is no easy way to eat these in my opinion since you have to be able to pick up the dumplings with chopsticks out of a spoon, bite into them without burning your tongue with the hot juices gushing out and dip it again into the vinegar back in the spoon.  But it is worth every bit of the struggle.  I especially liked the fact that it was so juicy and not so doughy.  

Shrimp Dumpling

These were my favorites, you got a mouthful of shrimp.  I prefer these to the pork dumplings but I am a seafood person.  

Besides the dumplings we ordered some other items from the menu/list.  One given at any Chinese Restaurant with my husband is Hot and Sour Soup.  He absolutely has to try it wherever he goes.  Although, I don't think he has met a hot and sour soup he hasn't liked, he said the soup here was really excellent.

Hot and Sour Soup

When I was staying with Wendy after she had Prometheus, she fixed me up a wonderful dish with rice cakes, chicken and vegetables.  I loved it , so when she saw that they had a dish with rice cakes on the menu she suggested we order it.  I devoured the whole thing almost by myself.  Rice cakes have a very interesting texture that goes very well in a dish such as these where they don't dominate but help to emphasize the flavors of the other ingredients.  I liked it so much, I tried to make some at home but was not successful.  I think I need to find a restaurant on the East coast that has them on their menu so that I could go there to eat them whenever I got the craving.

Shanghai Rice cake with Pork

Mostly the rice cakes can be seen in this photo, they resemble bamboo shoots in appearance when first seen in a dish.

SESAME NOODLES

Sesame noodles are my brothers favorite and I was surprised to realize I had never tried them before.  This is a cold dish with a sauce that reminded me of tahini, (not very surprising since tahini is sesame paste.)  This is a dish that should be tried in small doses because although it is very tasty, I think it is also a very strong dish.

Everything we tried was excellent and it was worth the wait.  

Din Tai Fung Dumpling House

1108 S. Baldwin Ave

Arcadia, CA 91007

Tel  626-574-7068

http://www.dintaifungusa.com/

More Good Times, GoodEats...

Today, we got a bit of a late start.  After Murat came back from taking the SAT's and Wendy came home from work, we went out for brunch at one of Wendy and Cenk's favorite haunts in LA - 'Little Next Door.'
This Place was amazing, a French bistro. with great food, authentic atmosphere and outdoor dining...
People watching is also a big plus in this wonderful LA eatery.

All three of us ordered the French Onion Soup which was just perfect...

The Nicoise Salad with fresh vegetables and real tuna steaks was delicious.

The Roast Beef French Dip Sandwich with Horse Radish Mustard Dip

(I highly recommend this, it was delightful)

Creme Brulee was to die for...

Little next door DELI-CAFE

http://www.thelittledoor.com/lndhome.html#

8142 West 3rd St.

LA, CA 90048

Tel :  323-951-1010

Fax:  323-951-0700

Deli-Cafe Hours:

Monday - Thursday                  Friday - Sunday

11AM - 11PM                          8AM -11PM

Road Trip to San Luis Obispo

I have always had this romantic notion of taking a road trip... driving seems like a very liberating venture since the  direction, duration and manner of the trip is completely up to the your whims. Schedules, departure times, destinations... completely irrelevant.  But, this is not a very ideal situation when one partner's idea of a road trip is to get from point A to point B.  Luckily, I can be very creative...

We were visiting Los Angeles... our son was interested in studying engineering... Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is reputed to have one of the best programs in mechanical and aeronautical engineering and we could drive out there in only three and a half hours... It should not come as a big surprise that today, we had an appointment at the Engineering College in Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo at two o'clock.  

We got on the road around 9.00am supplied with pastries from the cafe around the corner for breakfast.  

In about an hour and forty minutes we passed by Santa Barbara, I really wanted to stop by and show Mehmet around since I think this is one of the most beautiful places I have seen on this coast but we had an appointment to catch, besides... he was asleep in the back anyway...  A very pleasant surprise was in store for us though; the GPS took us onto CR 154 which is a two lane road through the valleys and mountains of Santa Barbara.  It was such a beautiful, winding road with incredible vistas opening up with each corner turned.  All around us campers were on the road in their jeeps with their tents latched onto their roofs.

I was so enjoying the view that at first I didn't realize we were low on gas.  But once I saw the fuel gage, I decided to turn this into an opportunity to explore.  We were going through major camp country and when I saw a sign for fuel right next to a sign for a campsite, I knew I just had to follow that path.  As we turned off the road, we came up to an entrance gate where the ranger on duty asked us what we needed.  When we inquired about gas, she just gave us a pass and pointed us in the right direction.  After that we found ourselves in the middle of a wonderful campsite right next to what I later realized was Lake Cachuma.

 We refilled and got some drinks and snacks from the General Store and were back on the road once again.

            

After driving 198 miles on the 'El Camino Real' for about 3 and a half hours, we were finally on the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus.  

Murat was advised that one of the things he should do when visiting a school was to try the food there, so we headed to the first cafeteria we could find.  It was the Market at Cal Poly, a supermarket/cafeteria with quite bad food but we were famished and just dealt with it.  

After Murat visited the engineering school and was properly impressed with their wind tunnel, we were back on the road again.  

    

We found ourselves in the middle of the weekend rush hour traffic and had to stop at Santa Barbara for a little snack break.  Oh, it was such a hardship... 

Watching the sunset over the pacific ocean was great and catching the reflections on store windows was a lot of fun.

After lingering for as long as we could, we went back on the road and were pleasantly surprised to find that traffic was finally moving. 

By the time we got back to Los Angeles, it was dark and we were hungry once again and took this opportunity to introduce Mehmet to another LA classic...Hot dogs at  Pink's...

Pink's serves the most interesting hot dogs, maybe, anywhere... But one of the most interesting parts of the experience was the long unending line we had to wait in for almost 40 minutes; it is like this even at 2 o'clock in the morning.  This was definitely the right way to end this wonderful day.

http://www.pinkshollywood.com/index.htm

Pink's Hot Dogs

709 N. La Brea Ave (Melrose Avenue)

Los Angeles, CA 90038

(323) 931 - 4223

                      

End of Another Journey...

My trip to visit my brother's family is almost over... I go back to New Jersey, my real life, tomorrow.  I have been here for nine days and I don't know where the time has gone.  Basically I spent most of my time sitting at home and watching my nephew while he slept, fed and p...ed.  This whole week has had a very calming effect on me; previously, I never would've believed that I could've sat still without any major activity for this long.  This has been the antidote to my hectic, boisterous summer in Bodrum but the predominant essence underlying both trips have been the element of family, connecting and creating memories.  I will probably treasure this week among the most precious in my life, the week I spent bonding with my newborn nephew.

Another great coincidence was Cenk's absence due to business in New York; Wendy and I had a wonderful time at home taking care of the baby, outside taking the baby on our daily outings to the Grove or the museum.  As it turns out, Cenk and Wendy's apartment is five minutes from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, otherwise known as LACMA.  This was an opportunity I couldn't pass up even in my most serene state of mind.  Most people who know me wouldn't be surprised that I found my way either to the museum itself or to the park surrounding it at least four to five times this past week.  It was inevitable...

We did get the opportunity to spend one Saturday with Cenk before he left and it ended up being a lovely day that began with breakfast at home and then later on a trip to the Grove, an outdoor shopping center located next to the Farmer's Market, which is almost across the street from their apartment complex.

The Grove was delightful; we sat outside by the fountain at 'the Farm of Beverly Hills'.  The coffee was great and the light fare we enjoyed was delicious.  Cenk opted for a cheese plate, I had Huevos Rancheros, basted eggs on a crisp corn tortilla with a ranchero sauce topped with cheese and avocado and Wendy had chicken fingers - her classic choice for this particular restaurant, I am told. 

I concluded my meal with a piece of cheese and some candied pecans and caramelized pears from Cenk's Cheese Plate.

This was my colorful 'Huevos Rancheros' which was innovative and surprising.

The Farm of Bevelry Hills at the Grove

http://www.thefarmofbeverlyhills.com/the_grove.shtml

189 the Grove Drive

Los Angeles, CA 90036

(323) 525-1699

For Cenk's last dinner before he left, I prepared some of his favorites including 'Torn Borek with Cheese' which is  sort of a Turkish version of a cheese soufflé.  This was very impressive when it came out of the oven and they told me it tasted as good as it looked; I had to be satisfied with their declaration since I couldn't judge for myself (it is definitely not gluten-free.)

 'Torn Borek with Cheese'

6 Flour Tortillas Shredded into small pieces

5 beaten eggs 

1 cup milk

2 cups shredded cheese (Mozarella or Mixed Mexican Cheese)

1/4 cup melted margarine

Mix all ingredients together and pour in a greased oven proof dish.  Leave in the refrigerator overnight.  Bake in 350 degree oven for about one hour. Serve immediately.

For this past week, I played the part of the elderly aunt come to help out... I don't know when my life changed so much or when I changed so much that I am happy and content in this role.  I am still surprised at myself and haven't quite figured out the reason for this transformation... or maybe I have... That sweet smell, those trusting, smiling eyes, those heart melting cooing sounds... there is almost nothing I won't do, no role I am not willing to play to be able to hold him as he sleeps peacefully in my arms.

The Fourth Birthday Candle

Last night, I celebrated my birthday for the fourth and final time for this year.  All four of my mini celebrations were noteworthy and memorable but this one was doubly so since it was also my nephew's one month celebration.  Everything worked out incredibly nicely and we went out to dinner at a fabulous restaurant on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood where everything was absolutely perfect... really, no exaggeration ... at all.

Cravings is a restaurant owned by a Turkish chef Ibrahim Oztok that we had dined at on one of our prior visits to LA; it had left me with a favorable impression but this time the experience was just unforgettable.  I have been on a gluten-free diet since the beginning of the year and this can be most challenging when eating out.  As I have been doing for the past seven months, first thing I did was to ask our waiter if he could  possibly help me out to find something suitable from the menu.  He just gave me an assessing look and uttered what I most wanted to hear- "I think you can pretty much have anything you want on the menu but give me a minute, I'll go and check" leaving me gaping in his wake.  He came back to confirm his original bold statement and I went on a heavenly eating spree.

Before anything else, I chose my entrée, Crab Ravioli in a light lobster cream sauce and then proceeded to consider my other options.   I was pretty much like a kid at a candy store running through the menu forward and backward trying to find the most unattainable.  I finally decided I was craving for soup; I asked our assured waiter what kind of soup it was and he said it was a fantastic Chicken Curry Soup.  I was also informed that I couldn't have the rolls in the bread basket since they were made of wheat and only the Ciabatta was gluten-free.  I was so excited, I could've jumped up to kiss him on both cheeks... I refrained... we went on with our dinner.  From that point on every single thing we had was amazing...

Chicken Curry soup that was both delicious and light at the same time.  The little vegetables that could be discerned in the soup added a fresh and healthy edge to the already incredible taste.  I could go back there just to have this soup again.

My brother and Wendy ordered the Steamed Spicy Manila Clams in a white wine sauce with scallions, garlic and fresh herbs.  This was so good that we even finished off the sauce right down to the last drop ( dipping our ciabatta's into it... mmm.. mmm)      

My Crab Ravioli in light lobster cream sauce.  I always prefer pasta with a cream sauce and this one was one of the best I ever had.  The ravioli was more similar to Chinese Dumplings than the ravioli we are used to and this made it even more interesting; it was a savory mouthful with a delicate sauce to complement it to perfect harmony.

The Chicken Parmiggiana served  with fettuccine in a tomatoes sauce.  This is usually served with a Parmesan cream sauce but Wendy ordered it this way and was very happy with her choice.

 

This was Cenk's Traditional Lasagna which he said was good but would rate it third after our two incredible entrées.
I got so carried away with the food that I just realized I didn't mention anything about the restaurant... it is a first-rate Mediterranean restaurant with outdoor dining which is always a plus especially in a place like LA where you have near perfect weather year-round.   The service was exceptional; all three of us asked for water in a different way and our glasses were always filled properly.  It seemed like he knew what we might need one second before we thought of it ourselves.   The service made the whole dining experience all the more enjoyable.

Everything we dined on was so fabulous that I had to ask the waiter to recommend a desert for me. He didn't even blink when he said the Chocolate mouse meringue cake was incredible ... I didn't think twice.  Just around the time we were finishing  up our dinner, Prometheus decided to wake from his nap and demanded to be noticed, so we took our cake home with us.   Right before calling it a day we lit two candles, one for me and the other for Prometheus; Wendy and I blew out the candles together and went on to finish the heavenly concoction with delight.  It was the perfect ending for what had to be one of the most wonderful days... holding my little nephew, having a lively, stimulating conversation with my brother and his wife, indulging in one of the most unforgettable meals of the year and all of this as only one quarter of my birthday celebrations .. what more could a girl ask for???

CRAVINGS RESTAURANT
http://www.cravingsrestaurant.com/
8653 SUNSET BOULEVARD,
WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA 90069
TEL:  (310) 652-6104

Dibeklihan - An Amazing Art Village..

I am very lucky to have a wonderfully artistic cousin, Ozlem, that I grew up with who is always on the lookout for interesting places, to spend our little, stolen moments together.  We were fortunate to be in Bodrum at the same time this year and found one evening to runaway together, leaving behind our husbands and families to enjoy amusing and gratifying conversation amongst wonderful works of art and antiques at a fantasy palace...

Dibekli Han is on the way to Yalikavak from the Turgutreis road (turn right by Kipa); there is a small sign that says Yakakoy on the left close to the beginning of the road before the descdend into Yalikavak through the hills.
As far as I understand it, this has been the genius project of an architect couple from Izmir as a reaction to Bodrum being overrun by developers and the paparazzi culture.  What a way to protest...
It consists of a series of buildings, which are on small alleys and streets named after famous Turkish artists, including several art galleries, a flea market, shops selling different handicrafts and even a little museum, all full of artifacts from all over Anatolia.  The presentation of the artworks and the items for sale even the sidewalks are so creative that I tripped a couple of times from not looking where I was going.  The works on view were just as amazing as the place itself and the accompanying musics were so perfect.  My particular favorite was the sculpture exhibit on the open courtyard of Artist Erdinc Bakla - http://www.erdincbakla.com/English/

There is also a restaurant on premises Dibek Sofrasi that serves local Aegean and Anatolian dishes that seemed to be very popular.  Tables were hard to get and we didn't have time to linger; the food presentation was worthy of the rest of the place and there was suppose to be live music two or three nights a week.

Dinner is not the only option since they have a coffee house in the courtyard that served the most flagrant and appetizing cakes and cookies.
We had to leave before we could partake any of their offerings and be satisfied with feeding our souls but this place is on the top of my to-do list for next year.
Another exciting development is that my cousin's husband Mehmet of one of my favorite blogs http://mehmetuyargil.blogspot.com/ is suppose to have an exhibition of his photographs there next May; who knows maybe I will get a chance to catch that.  I think I will put this on my wishlist right now.

An Amazing Village of Art that Satisfies All the Senses (check out their website)

DIBEKLIHAN
Yakakoy Cilek Caddesi,
Ortakent, BODRUM
Tel:  0532 527 7649