the best damn chocolate chip cookie.

I didn't think it was possible to surpass my Betty Crocker chocolate chip cookie recipe from the 1950's but alas I must surrender to Jacque Torres' recipe recently featured in the New York Times. It's unfair how richly deserving this recipe is of its championship-title, it's a heavy weight contender at best. After seeing it featured in three blogs I daily visit, I just knew I had to give it an old-fashioned try. While there isn't anything earth shatteringly different about the ingredients used in this recipe, the key lies in allowing the cookie dough to "rest" in the fridge for a period of 24-36 hours before baking. The dough develops its rich flavors and seemingly perfect consistency. Whoever said "good things come to those who wait" wasn't lying. As bruising as it was to my cookie ego, I confess it still the same, this is the best damn chocolate chip cookie I ever made! I will hold onto my cherished recipe from dear ol' Betty and I may test the waters and allow the dough to "rest" before baking those cookies once again, but until then this one is for keeps!

melt in your mouth, not in your hands

It was the last of my culinary journeys while back home. I saved it for last because it's probably my most favorite and most missed restaurant. Tatsuki is a favorite among sushi-goers in the Valley. Located in Woodland Hills, it's the kind of "hole-in-the-wall" place, you'd easily just drive on past, but it's corner holds some of the best sushi nuggets in all of L.A. Not to mention, it's certainly beyond reasonable. Let your eyes feast.....


Snow Tuna, yum yum.

Yellowtail, simply divine.

Extra spicy tuna cut roll - the "appetizer", something I always order first at Tatsuki. In fact, I don't even need to ask for it, they just know what I want.....priceless.

The mother of all sushi rolls, the dragon roll! Tuna, eel, avocado, shrimp, carrot, pea shoots, smelt eggs, schrachi (I realize I am butchering the spelling) sauce, eel sauce and a sweet sauce, which I'm not quite sure what they call it. It doesn't matter, as long as it's in my mouth!