Sat, Aug 2 - more Dengue Fever!

11.01am - made a bunch of Indian digestive fennel mix this morning, which really involved nothing other than roasting fennel seeds and sesame seeds and mixing them with some pre-toasted lentils and fennel candy. At home.13.36h - home-made tortilla espanola and bell-peppers w/ some leftover chili, at home

15.29h - fresh-squeezed orange juice w/ hibiscus tea. I had vague hopes it would end up looking like a campari-orange, but no such luck. Still tasty, though. At home.

16.03h - Ritesh was out and about today, so I had all the time in the world to keep puttering around the kitchen. This is my first 'gateau fondant au chocolat', which is the French version of a molten or flourless chocolate cake. I was going to make this for Nadya's birthday dinner next Saturday at our house, but Nady likes to eat healthy, so I started getting second thoughts. This cake is pure decadence, and if it melts in your mouth the way it does, it's because it consists of nothing other than butter, sugar, eggs and chocolate. So I've come up with a healthier idea for Nady, and made this one just because.

16.04h - the NYT and I, cozy as we were on the couch, really enjoyed it, though. At home.

19.05h - some more tortilla espanola and stewed bell peppers, at home.

21.32h - Spanish tapas at Cobras & Matadors, with Ritesh. This is his red and my rosado, plus some olives and cinnamon-almonds with a smoky sauce.

21.45h - sauteed mushrooms w/ sage and marcona almonds, at Cobras & Matadors, with Ritesh.

21.49h - crispy lentils with jamon serrano and mint, at Cobras & Matadors, with Ritesh

21.53h - this is Cobras & Matadors' tortilla, made with manchego cheese and served with truffle oil. Sadly, not that great. The manchego made the egg very dry, and the truffle oil - I don't know. Nothing like the truffle at JiRaffe...

22.15h - Some more Cambodian rock, this time at the El Rey Theater - Dengue Fever are back home from their European tour!

22.26h - some Southern Comfort during the warm up act for Dengue Fever, at the El Rey, with Ritesh

and here's a snippet of Chhom Nimol and Dengue Fever. I'm an idiot - I should have recorded the whole song...

Wed, July 23 - tortilla española

8.15am - cereal, walnuts, seeds, coconut rice milk, at home11.32am - a peach, cherries, and a mini-sandwich w/ German beetroot syrup, at work

14.44h - some pineapple and another sandwich, this one w/ turkey, tomatoes and basil aoli, back at work after acupuncture by the beach in Santa Monica. I so deserve extra credit for going back to work after that...

19.40h - taste-testing two different olive oils - Italian on the left, Spanish on the right, at home. As you can guess by the looks of it, the Italian one had a much better, deeper taste. But I used the Spanish one anyway to fry the potatoes and onions for the quintessential Spanish omelette, the tortilla española (which has nothing to do with Mexican-style tortillas)

20.25h - ta da! Turned out great, if not entirely even around the edges. But I did manage to flip it over as you should, without the whole thing falling to pieces, so I was pleased. And the smell alone brought back so many memories... I was an au pair in Madrid the summer before going off to university in England, and this tortilla was one of my main staples. Every bar in Spain sells it, every family makes it, it's ubiquitous. That was the summer I discovered olive oil, and Spanish-style potato chips - there was a little mom-n-pop store on my street (Calle Altamirano, if you're heading over there) that sold nothing other than paper bags bursting with freshly fried potato chips, made with nothing other than olive oil and salt. Quite the revelation for someone raised on German paprika chips and sunflower seed oil...

20.33h - bocadillo de tortilla (potato omelette sandwich) w/ salad, at home, with Ritesh. In Spain, this tortilla sandwich would not be open-faced, but this bread was just too doughy. It tasted decent enough though, and Ritesh liked it, which set me off planning future trips to Spain, so Ritesh can taste the original ...