Brunch at Dan & Giselle's

Giving new meaning to the term, "Hostess with the Mostest," Giselle and Dan put together a spread worthy of greatness for Sunday brunch at their Los Feliz house last weekend. You want eggs? Giselle's got her fabulous goat cheese/sun dried tomato scramble. You want waffles? There's the lighter-than-air homemade variety with berries and whipped cream and whatever else you could possibly desire. Bagels? But of course! There's cream cheese, lox, tomatoes, capers and onions for those right there on the kitchen table. Coffee - with all the proper additions - is already brewed and ready for drinking.

I love these types of brunches because A) I can indulge in white-flour carbs (the best tasting kind!), because normally I eat sprouted wheat toast, and while it's good, nothing beats a big fat chewy bagel; B) Someone else is cooking and all I have to do is eat; C) it's fun to sit around on a lazy Sunday morning and chit chat with my friends.

So what did I eat, you ask? Ur...well...how about a bit of everything? I absolutely cannot refuse bagels with lox, a childhood favorite, with lots of raw onions and capers and easy cream cheese. And waffles...I hardly ever eat them as I don't own a waffle maker and those frozen ones are just bread formed into the shape of waffles. However, I eat mine with just a touch of syrup. Giselle, on the other hand...

...created this masterpiece of waffle/whipped cream/berry goodness. Looks delish, no?

Bagels from Noah's, which we all agreed are the best in California. Big, chewy and not too doughy, one of these will fill you up quite nicely for at least half a day.

LOX. A perfect food, in my opinion. Rich, high in protein, salty and lovely. The combo of salmon and cream cheese is better than P&B, if you ask me.

OH, I completely spaced on the BACON. Here's Dan cooking up some bacon in the broiler. He's looking mean here but is actually a super nice dude. Maybe he's getting splattered with bacon fat? In any case, the bacon was fab-u-lous. Even vegetarians crave bacon, or so I hear. I can understand why.

Here's Kai's well-balanced plate. You've got your fruit/veg with the berries, your dairy with the butter, your meat with the bacon, eggs for protein and the waffle for carbs.

Thanks to Dan & Giselle for an amazing brunch!

Mother's Day Brunch

As you may have guessed, I love cooking for other people. Since last August, I have been lucky enough to be the proud renter of a relatively large condo - complete with a formal dining area and a huge patio - so entertaining has never been more fun. So, for Mother's Day, I invited the gang over to my house for a Sunday morning brunch.

I wanted to keep it simple and fresh, and make use of all the fabulous produce I'd purchased the day before at the Pasadena Farmer's Market. I made two salads: one of sliced red and yellow tomatoes, sweet corn kernals and fresh basil, all drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette; the other a green salad with radishes, endives, cucumbers, carrots, aged parmesan slices and a lemon/garlic vinaigrette.

But the showstopper would have to be the la tarte à l’oignon, a beautifully simple yet luscious onion tart that I saw on Orangette a while back. Of it, Molly wrote, "Every onion comes into the world hoping to find its end in this tart." I believe the onions I used were quite happy to end up in this creamy, rich and deliciously savory tart, and we were happy to devour every last morsel. Thanks, Molly!

The tart; and the final plate - lots of color!

Though I normally do not have dessert in the middle of the day, I wanted to make something to mark this special occasion. Well, and I needed an excuse to make this lovely Lemon Pudding Cake that I saw in Food & Wine magazine the day before. AND it happens to be low-fat, so even more reason to indulge, right?

This cake is simply sugar, lemon juice, zest, skim milk, butter, eggs and a touch of flour, and the result is a moist, tangy, rich pudding cake that is sure to please just about anyone. The cake separates so that the center is like warm pudding. Served with blueberries, it's a tangy, citrusy delight of a dessert, and one that I will definitely be making again and again.

All in all it was a wonderful little party, and I was most grateful and happy to be able to host it at my place. Everything was easy to make, so I didn't spend a ton of time in the kitchen - it was like an episode of "Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello," which is definitely my idea of a great time!