Saddle Peak Lodge

My co-worker and I were invited to Saddle Peak Lodge to try their new chef's tasting menu. I wasn't sure what to expect as we drove through the winding roads of Malibu. My co-worker is a huge taxidermy fan, so imagine her delight when we entered the main dining room.

The building has been around for a hundred years. While my design taste leans towards midcentury modern, I'm kinda digging the rustic hunter's lodge look.

My co-worker had the Manhattan and I had a mojito. (Okay, I had a couple sips. It was STRONG!)

Tomato soup amuse bouche. It reminded me of the borsch I had as a child at the Hainanese-owned Russian restaurant in Singapore called Shashlik.

Smoked salmon blini with caviar. The blini was a little doughy but I liked it.

Albacore sashimi with Hawaiian papaya, red onion, cilantro, avocado, and orange-ginger puree. I don't really understand the puree. What do I do with it? Is it a sauce?

Mushroom agnolotti with truffled wild mushrooms, and Parmesan. This was soooo good. Simple, rich, and oh so tasty.

Rabbit roulade with bacon, mushrooms, apples, sage, and huckleberries. The bacon was great but the rabbit was a little dry.

Crispy Berkshire pork belly with carrot, daikon, cilantro, and mint. This was my favorite dish. The slaw was a nice balance to the wonderfully fatty pork belly.

New Zealand elk tenderloin with vanilla butternut squash, brandied cherries, cipollini onions, and mushrooms. I liked the elk, which was perfectly cooked. But the puree was confusing.

Cafe latte

Banana huckleberry croissant bread pudding with Tahitian vanilla ice cream. It's the first time I've had a croissant bread pudding, and I loved it! It's rich but not too sweet, and the huckleberries were a nice touch.

Peach beignets with crème anglaise.

419 Cold Canyon Road
Calabasas, CA 91302
(818) 222-3888
http://www.saddlepeaklodge.com/

Aladin Sweets & Market

My husband and I were watching "Ramsay's Best Restaurant: Indian" and had a serious craving for curries. There are many Northern Indian restaurants in L.A. but not too many Southern Indian spots, which is my preference. We found a Bangladesh spot (close enough!) near our house, so we decided to check it out. 

Aladin Sweets & Market is a South Asian market + restaurant. 

Curries average around $3 to $5 per dish! The total damage, with two drinks, is less than $20.

Shammi kabab (fried ground beef ball) and two Aloo Chop (mashed potato ball with diced carrots and peas, deep fried. They were fine but I probably wouldn't order them again. 

The addictive Ruhu (fish) curry with garlic, ginger, tomatoes, cilantro, and celery. It's sweet and spicy and savory. My favorite of the day. But be very careful when you eat this dish--lots of tiny, tiny fish bones. 

Biriyani with basmati fried rice and mutton. The rice is not as perfumy as the one at Jasmine Market, and I like this version so much more! Add a little chutney and you get a completely different flavor profile. 

Mutton curry; my husband's favorite. It's got quite a kick. 

The service was warm and prompt. And you can browse the market while you wait for your food. 

~Ray

Strawberry Banana Bread

1 cup butter, soften

2 cups sugar

2 frozen bananas, thawed

4 eggs

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

3 cups flour

4 cups diced strawberries

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add bananas, scrape down the side of the bowl with a spatula. Add eggs, one at a time. In a separate bowl, mix salt, baking soda, and flour. Add flour mixture to butter mixture. Stir until fully incorporated. Add strawberries. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake for 1 hour (or cupcake molds and bake for about 45 minutes), or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on rack before serving. 

~Ray

Seafood Village (Bi Feng Tang)

Seafood Village in Monterey Park is one of my all-time favorite Chinese restaurants in L.A. It's also one of the very few Teochew restaurants in SoCal, and the food reminds me of Chinese food in Singapore.  

Their house specialty crab is deep fried and piled on with garlic fried in butter. 

There's a light crust that coats the shell. Very tasty!

The beef with satay sauce was my husband's favorite dish of the night. 

I've been dying to try the oyster omelette and I was disappointed. It's a perfectly fine omelette but it's nothing like the Oh Chien you find in Singapore. It's just egg and oyster; nothing special. 
The omelette had plenty of oysters.

Green beans is the only vegetable my husband eats, so this is always a staple. 

My dad, a very discerning eater, really enjoyed the Yang Chow fried rice. The rice is nice and fluffy. 

~Ray

Prima Taste Curry Chicken

I love, love, love Prima Taste's Curry Chicken mix. It's so simple -- just add water, chicken and a couple russet potatoes. It's just the comfort food I need after a hard day at work.

 www.asiansupermarket365.com now carries Prima Mixes. 

~Ray

Sour Lemon Scones

My love affair with scones started around my secondary school years. One particular summer, my friends and I made daily treks to Padang, an open field in the middle of downtown Singapore, to watch an inter-regional softball tournament. We'd meet up at City Hall MRT in the morning, pick up breakfast -- scones for me -- and head to the field, where we sat and watched game after game until the sun went down. The field is sandwiched between two busy streets with bumper to bumper traffic, and it was always a crowd pleaser when a foul ball hit a passing public bus.  

I have very fond memories of that summer and those buttery, fluffy scones. 

Sour Lemon Scones

Yields: 12 scones

4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ginger

3 sticks unsalted butter, cubed and chilled

1 large egg

1 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup lemon zest

2 tablespoons raw sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and ginger. Whisk to combine. Add chilled butter and rub into the flour mixture. 

In a separate bowl, whisk egg, 3/4 cup buttermilk, and lemon zest. Slowly pour the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture. (The dough will be pretty wet.) Knead gently. Gather the dough onto a floured work surface. Separate the dough into two disks. Don't overwork the dough. 

Cut each disk into 6 wedges. Place on baking sheet. Brush each wedge with the remaining buttermilk and sprinkle with raw sugar. Bake in the oven (center rack) for 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer scones to cooking rack. These tastes great when served warm, with a cup of tea. 

I love these scones because they're mild and not super sweet. They're really easy to make and lasted about 3 days at my house. 

~Ray