Vegetable Lentil Soup

The collard greens and red chard at Whole Foods looked too good to pass up. I knew I'd figure out something to do with them later.

The vegetable lentil soup was awesome!

Emmetaler and Portobello Boreg

Book club is tonight! This month's selection is Catcher in the Rye, in honor of J.D. Salinger's recent passing. I'm looking forward to good company and good food. We're supposed to bring something inspired by the book. I love thinking up dishes that fit the criteria, like today's Emmetaler and Portobello Boreg. I'm sure Holden would rather eat my version than the boring old regular Swiss cheese sandwiches he talked about in the book.

My mother prepares a tray of boreg for just about every family gathering. Since before I could remember, Mom would ask me to help her put it together. I would layer and butter filo dough one sheet at a time into a baking tray. Once half a standard package of filo was used, I would add jack cheese. Then, I would layer and butter the remaining filo dough, paying special attention to the last piece which had to look perfect sitting on top. The last step for me was to carefully cut the boreg into squares right before Mom beat an egg with some milk and poured it over the top.


For this batch, I'm substituting the jack cheese for Emmentaler to make it more like a Swiss cheese sandwich. Since I can never leave well enough alone, I'm using half the butter Mom does (adding olive oil to make up the difference), and including sauteed portobellos in with the cheese. Hope it tastes as good as it looks.

How To Train Your Dragon

My mother is always calling me to ask a question. Usually, the conversation ends with me agreeing to help her with some random thing around the house or putting a letter together for her office. That's okay, though. She's always there when I need help with Zuzu and the cats.

When my Mom called a few days ago to ask me a question, the last thing I expected was to get free passes to a press screening of How To Train Your Dragon, but that's what happened. We didn't think we could make it, though, because Andrew had already started back at work. Since the run wasn't in full swing yet, Andrew's boss, Ryan, let him leave a little early so he could attend. We invited our friends, Varoujan and Allison, to use our two additional passes.


How To Train Your Dragon revolves around Hiccup, a misfit viking living on the island of Berk where fighting dragons is just what you do. I have to admit the story is a bit predictable and left me with some unanswered questions, but the stunning visuals more than make up for that. The movement in Stoick the Vast's beard was mesmerizing, and I was glued to the screen during the dragon flight scenes. All in all, it was the most fun I'd had at the movies in a long time.

We then walked over to Umami Burger down the street for dinner. Andrew ordered the Umami Burger, and I got the vegetarian version. Andrew's burger was nice and pink inside, just the way he likes it. The onion rings and sweet potato fries were delicious, too. I'll definitely go back.

Love the Harvest Grain Blend

It's amazing how time-consuming it is to set up showings for clients. Tools created for the real estate agent are pretty bad, and everything takes at least five times as long as it should. I needed to break for a bite to eat and blogging.

For lunch, I had had some bok choy with Trader Joe's Harvest Grain Blend. The bok choy was stir-fried with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. I pretty much followed the instructions for the Harvest Grain Blend, but added some dried shiitake mushrooms and one packet of vegetable broth concentrate. Oh yeah, and a little soy sauce.


It was a good counterbalance to my breakfast of bread and Nutella. Okay, Nutella isn't that bad and the bread was Whole Foods Organic Wheat Batard and I only had a very little bit, but it was still nice to get some veggies in me. I had to keep it light, though, since we'll probably be eating out after our sneak preview of How To Train Your Dragon. Review coming soon.

Walking to Porto's

Andrew and I did our semi-regular eight and a half mile walk around Burbank today. We started at our house, walked up to the Chandler Bike Path which we took to the end, and walked back on Magnolia Boulevard right by Porto's. Lesley came along for the exercise and for lunch at Porto's.

It did start to drizzle, and Andrew came prepared. He did look a little silly walking Zuzu in his shorts and sunglasses while holding an umbrella, though. Lesley and I braved the rain without anything more than light jackets.

On this visit to Porto's, I had a feta sandwich on crusty french bread with tomatoes, basil, and olive oil dressing. Lesley went with the feta sandwich as well and was quite surprised at what she got for under four dollars.

Andrew had a hard time deciding on an item from the list of meaty options and finally settled on the Pan con Lechon, a Roasted Pork Sandwich. He also had a Pastel de Chorizo, a Spanish-style empanada filled with pork, which we'd never seen at the Burbank location before.

Porto's has an extensive selection of sweet pastries and cakes. As always, I got a pineapple empanada. The cheese rolls are a must for first timers like Lesley, so we all got at least one.

Lesley also got something even I had never tried before, the triple chocolate mousse. Oh my! It was so delicious that it might now be my favorite thing on the menu... at least, until the next time I try something new. It's all that good.

My First Risotto

We had mushroom risotto tonight. It's too bad that so many people think it's difficult to prepare. It was actually quite easy.


I sauteed some onions then added the risotto. A little white wine, some mushrooms, and the rest was easy. As the liquid was absorbed, I added vegetable broth one ladle at a time for about 20 minutes.

The risotto was served with stir-fried Chinese broccoli along with chicken for Andrew and salmon for me. Delicious!

My Aching Calves!

The planning stage started the night before last. Audrey wanted to take a break yesterday from showings to get a bite to eat and hang out at the beach. While we were working out the details, Andrew was making plans to do the Santa Monica stairs after work with some of his friends.

It all went off without a hitch! I was able to get all my followups for work done in the morning. Audrey and I had lunch at The Griddle and then headed for Santa Monica for a walk on the pier and sand. I was then dropped off at a Starbuck's where I got through about a third of my book before Andrew came to pick me up so we could go to the stairs.

Andrew and I did four loops down a set of stairs and up another. We estimated it to be about 50 flights. Even though I spent 30 minutes on the stair machine at the gym just a few days ago without any ill effects, my legs really felt the workout last night. They were shaking after only one loop, and my calves are quite sore this morning.

I plan to go back tomorrow, so I'll be doing some stretches on the reformer today. It's a long drive in traffic but well worth it.