Last Minute Visitor

Found out a few days ago that my big brother is coming today to visit form Japan! I wish he told me a few weeks in advance, but nevertheless, I am excited to see him! Right now in Japan, Gold Week is going on. It's a week containing a few public holidays such as the Emperor's birthday, Greenery day, Constitution Memorial day, Children's Day, etc. hence many vacation during this week. I'd like to think that my brother is coming to visit his family because he misses us, but the reality is, he misses the infamous American fast food :P

This morning, after going to yoga, I decided to make French Toast since I had sourdough bread from Le Boudin bakery (pretty rare occasion). I also have a lot of banana to get rid of. So I decided to make French Toast with a banana instead of an egg! Not only was it one of the easiest things I've ever made, it was SCRUMPTIOUS! I gobbled it down in a flash. Surprise. Recently, my good Pentax camera's battery died and I caved in and bought an iPhone 4, the I'm trying out the new iPhone camera (The recipe is below.)

After sitting through 2 hours of lecture, I met up with my brother! My, did he gain weight! I sort of teased him about it (it's called karma. My brother called me fat my entire life. And I was never really fat!). Since it was lunch, we decided to head to downtown and eat at Phillipe's French Dip Sandwich shop. My brother has been dreaming of this place for weeks it seems. I've personally never heard of it, but it's supposedly one of the best sandwich shops in the whole of the US and also the original founder of the French dip sandwich!

Located in the outskirts of Chinatown, I ordered a lamb French dip, while my brother also got a lamb French dip AND a beef with swiss French Dip. The atmosphere reminded me of an old diner, which would make sense since it's been around since the 20's!

The sandwich literally melted in your mouth and the lamb had lots of flavor! I am definitely a fan of the French dip sandwich! For those of you unfamiliar with French dip, as I was until today, the bread used is a French roll dipped in the gravy of the roasts (that is freshly oven-roasted!). It is a must-eat before you die! So if you're in downtown LA, head over to Phillipe's (unless you're vegetarian/vegan), you won't be disappointed!

I remembered that my beloved Urth cafe opened a new coffee shop somewhere in downtown. Looked it up on my new iPhone and discovered that it's only a 6 min drive away. It's a really cute Urth Cafe, but I would have to say a really random location. This Urth attracts the business crowd, I think. Stuffed from eating our sandwich's like crazy, we only ordered coffee: I got the small Honey Vanilla latte and my brother got the Large Italian Cappuccino.

Checked into his room at the Hilton, I watched a rerun of Top Chef as he passed out. Jetlagged. We headed back to my school early (to beat traffic) since I had rehearsals to get through. The last stop for food for the day: Chipotle. Of course, my brother will get better stuff once he's in San Diego tomorrow, but the craving was too strong to hold off! Japan has a lot of good food, but when it comes to Mexican food, it's not the same. I don't think Japanese people really like spicy, and that's the component that seems to be missing (claims my brother, anyway). He got meat burrito of some type and I got a vegetarian bowl. Stuffed. No more food please :P

Although, it was a short visit, I got to catch up with my brother on many things, find out the situation in Japan, and also found out some interesting news which I won't post just yet! It was a fun day and couldn't have asked for more :)

Eggless French Toast

Ingredients:

Four slices of sourdough bread

1 ripe banana

1/2 cup of vanilla soy milk (I use Silk's Vanilla flavor)

grease for pan

Toppings:

1/2 cup of sliced strawberries

Agave Nectar

Anything you desire, really

Instructions:

1. Puree banana and soy milk in a blender. Pour into bowl.

2. Grease pan and heat on med-high.

3. Dip slices of bread into banana batter, soak up as much as possible. Bread will crumble easy so I did it two at a time (you can do four at a time if you're gonna cook them all together immediately).

4. Place on hot pan and fry for 3mins, or until browned on each side.

5. Place on plate and serve with strawberries and necar!

Divine.

Life Doesn't Go the Way You Plan It: Oatmeal Pancake

Woke up at 6am this morning togo for a run. Yeah, didn't happen. What did happen: oatmeal pancakes! I got this recipe from bicycle Built for Two - A Blog About Food, Healthy Living,… http://www.abicyclebuiltfor2.com/. Modified it for myself since I didn't want that much. I lovely start to the day! Enjoy!

Ingredients

1/4 cup oat flour (just process 1/4 cup of old fashion oatmeal in a food processor or blender)

1/2 cup cooked oatmeal (cook 1/4 cup old fashion oatmeal)

1/2 Whole Wheat Flour

1 Tbl sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 egg

1/2 cup milk (I used skim)

1 Tbl melted butter/margarine

Makes 2 serving of 4 small pancakes

Instructions:

1. Set large frying pan on stove and turn on high. When pan is heated, turn off heat and remove pan. Allow to completely cool.

2. In bowl, mix dry ingredients (oat flour, wheat flour, sugar, baking powder). In another bowl whisk together cooked oatmeal, egg, milk and butter. After whisking, transfer wet ingredients into bowl of dry ingredients. Mix well.

3. Reheat pan on med-high heat. Pour preferred amount of batter onto pan and let cook. After about 3-4min's, you should see the pancakes start to bubble. Flip and cook for another 3mins.

4. Serve and eat! I drizzled some honey and chopped toasted pecans on my pancakes. Agave nectar, cinnamon, peanut butter, berries, bananas, etc are also pretty yummers :) Bon appetite!

Sprungli Confectionary Shop in Zurich. BircherMuesli.

Yeah, so far Swiss food has not really appealed to me.... The prices aren't helping either (-_-) I am a sucker for oatmeal though and I just discovered muesli! I'm hooked! Apparently, Lindt's confectionary shop, Sprungli, is famouse for their Bircher Muesli. HAD to get it of course! Price is not an issue here :P With that, I got chamomille tea and a box of four Luxemburgerli (basically a lighter version of Parisian macarons).

The muesli was very refreshing! Perhaps I don't have enough Muesli experience to really talk about Muesli... But I love the texture of it and how light it was! The little bread that came with it was nothing to rave about, but carbs are always much appreciated :)

Muesli is basically a popular cereal containing uncooked oats, fruits and nuts. It's health food created by doctor Maximillian Bircher-Benner for his patients during the 1900's. Traditionally, it was originally eaten with orange juice instead of the milk/yogurt we see today.

Some health benefits listed on Wikipedia are:

• Muesli is packed with nutrients from fresh fruits and vegetables that can reduce the risk of cancer.
• The oat content of Muesli helps lower cholesterol concentration and the risk of atherosclerosis.
• Some of its nuts content like walnuts is rich in omega 3 fatty acids which is also good for the heart and development of the nervous system.
• The presence of manganese in Muesli along with low saturated fats keeps your heart safe.
• It reduces the risk of cancer and other age-related diseases.
• It lowers glycemic index which controls diabetes.
• Fulfills the daily fiber requirement: In this age of processed food, very few people are able to achieve their daily fiber requirement through regular meals. Muesli being a very rich source of dietary fiber - both soluble and insoluble - helps in lowering the blood cholesterol level. The soluble fiber (beta-glucans) in muesli helps in avoiding dramatic changes in blood sugar level. It also relives constipation by improving the bowel moment in the intestinal tract.
• The oats and nuts present in muesli constitute of a phytochemical known as lignans. This phytochemical agent helps in reducing the chances of breast cancer, ovarian cancer and prostate cancer.

Sounds pretty good to me!

The site also has the original Bircher-Benner Muesli recipe if any of ya'll are interested :)