Doing Breakfast Right

Mr. Tooth and I went on a much needed getaway a month ago. The freelance life can leave you weary and turned upside down. Am I hungry? Am I tired? What do I do with myself when I'm not working? When we realized we would have an overlapping week off we hit the road and headed north to Paso Robles. 

Paso Robles is the best. Yes, the best. It's a three hour drive from LA and it doesn't require any fancy clothes or a huge budget. Mr. Tooth suggested that we stay at B&B. He's brilliant! Someone else makes us delicious breakfast and we don't have to leave the premises? Sold.

Our Inn Keeper, Amber, was just lovely. Our two days with her were relaxing and very centering. And she made us granola. Home-made granola. I hadn't thought about granola in years. I'm not much of a cold cereal fan. (Except Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and that is for VERY special occasions.) But this granola she made, so coconut-y, so crisp, so not-too-sweet. I was inspired. 

And so I made some for myself today. 

Casa del Tooth is filled with the warm, toasty scent of oats and almonds and of course, coconut. I used this recipe but modified it by using coconut oil and less sugar. I plan to enjoy my granola with some kefir (the Champagne of Dairy hahahahaha) to balance out the sweetness. Viva desayuno!

Weeknight Dinner- Savory Pancakes

I'm experimenting with quick weeknight meals. I usually get home from work by 8pm and I'm famished. Mr. Tooth doesn't cook - he prefers baking which is AOK with me. (Brown butter chocolate chip cookies anyone? This is why I married him.)

I decided to make korean savory pancakes for our Tuesday night dinner. I figured it would be fast and relatively healthy. I had a bunch of random farmers market goodies that I wanted to use up too. 

My recipe made four 8" pancakes, enough to have some leftovers for tomorrow's lunch. 

UMAMI TOOTH'S SAVORY PANCAKES

2 cups shredded, finely diced, or chiffonaded veggies (I used a combo of mushrooms, summer squash, mustard greens and carrots)

1 bunch green onions cut into two inch lengths, whites and greens included. 

1/2 cup kimchi chopped

5 large raw shrimp, chopped

Batter: 2 eggs, 1 cup flour, 1.5 cups water, mixed until smooth. 

Preheat a nonstick skillet over medium heat and add a glug of your favorite neutral oil. 

Mix the veggies and shrimp into the batter and add about 1 1/2 cups to the hot skillet. Spread around until the batter coats the bottom of the pan. Cook each side over medium heat until lightly browned - about 2-3 minutes per side.  Repeat until you have used up your batter. 

So good!

(Bruce wanted the shrimp all to himself)

Running!

I signed up for a 5K back in January with my buddy Brian. I was not a runner. Never had been. I love hiking, walking, spinning, weight lifting... It turns out I really love running. At least the racing part! I tried another 5k and then I was hooked.

I've got a 10K Mudrun in two weeks and a half marathon in August. My goal is to finish the half in under 2.5 hours. 

This new "hobby" allows me to discover new parts of Greater Los Angeles and my own neighborhood. It's really amazing to go at human speed in this car city. I see so much.