Breadmaking Again

Again, I attempt a bread-maker bread. This one tastes very good, but is filled with bad for you goodness with extra eggs, sugar and butter.  The texture is crisp and crusty on the outside and more flaky on the inside.  The recipe is close to the Brioche recipe that I make sometimes. It's OK to experiment.

Here is the recipe:

3 Cups of All Purpose Flour
1/3 Cup of Sugar (a bit less than this, really)
1 tsp Salt
3 Large Eggs
3/4-1 Stick of Unsalted Butter - Melted and Cooled
1 Cup Water
1 TBSP Yeast

Add these ingredients to the breadmaker.  Mine works Dry ingredients first, but some machines use the wet ingredients first. I add the yeast on top of the wet ingredients. Set to Basic or White Bread and push start.

Bread Machine Sandwich White Bread

I wanted a good sandwich breadmaker bread for lunch today.  I found a good Sweet Mexican bread recipe, but it seemed too sugary for a tuna sandwich.  I dialed back the sugar, added some yeast and it yielded a nice loaf with a thick crust, that sliced cleanly, and held together well for sandwiches.

Here's the recipe:

• 3 cups flour 
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tbsp sugar  
• 2 teaspoons yeast 
• 1 cup milk  
• 1/4 cup melted butter  
• 1 egg  

Layer the ingredients as your breadmaker suggests, mine uses dry ingredients first as listed.
Set to basic bread setting.

It was no Breadmaker Brioche, but I will surely make this one again.

Today's Food As Art link

I like this.

http://www.juxtapoz.com/Current/the-sandwich-artist

Philly in Vegas

We're visiting Mother of Food in Vegas for The Holidays. We are going to be driving a lot this holiday and we wanted to replace our weak battery before we headed to more remote parts, Since we are away from home and any socket wrenches, we decided to pay to have the battery professionally installed. We ended up at a Pep Boys. It was in an unfamiliar area and we were looking for a good sandwich place for lunch. After installing the new battery, the guys at Pep Boys pointed us in the direction of Geri's Olde Philidelphia.

What we found was a sparse no nonsense kind of place with pictures of Rocky on the wall and all kinds of authentic Philly treats. I split the chicken cheese steak pizza style with Mother of Food and Husband of Food got a steak and mushroom cheese steak. I was very happy with my pizza chicken steak sandwich, it was like chicken parm in the form of cheesesteak. We all shared sides of fries and onion rings, but after ordering, I noticed that we could have had corn nuggets, tater tots, or sweet potato fries. Mom cherrily ordered an egg cream in a wave of nostolgia.   The staff were all regular folks, happy to have egg cream drinking types in the joint.

Mom shared her egg cream with the uninitiated.

Later that night, we went out to try and see the Christmas lights at the Ethel M Chocolate factory, but the car didn't start. Turns out that the Guys at Pep Boys didn't tighten down the terminals. With a bit of work, Husband of food got the car started and had to take it back to Pep Boys to finish the job. They admitted to doing a sloppy job, not doing it right the first time. We would have been really mad, but they did recommend Geri's. So, my advice is do not go to Pep Boys for work on your car, but do take their recommendations on sandwich places.

Geri's Olde Philadelphia    

3430 East Tropicana Avenue, Las Vegas, NV

Tropicana Plaza

(702) 456-0864

One Lunch at Subway

The new Weight Watchers Points Plus system is a bit tough to get into if you have been in a long term relationship to the old system. Until I get used to the new values, I am stuck pounding out calculations on the little six dollar point calculator that WW sells, for every little thing. There is a dearth of information online about restaurants unless you have the weight watchers dining out guide. I was stuck running out to Subway the other day without the calculations. I did fine with a 6 inch Turkey sandwich and Broccoli Cheese soup, but I would have done even better with Chicken Noodle.

Here are a couple of Points Plus Values for some Subway lunches, in case you are stuck for calculations, too.

Ham Mini Sub 5 Points
Roast Beef Mini Sub 5 Points
Turkey Breast Mini Sub 5 Points
Veggie Delite Mini Sub 4 Points

6 Inch Turkey Sub with Veggies, Red Wine and no cheese 7 Points

6 Inch Black Forest Ham, no cheese 8 Points
6 Inch Roast Beef, No Cheese 8 Points
6 Inch Subway Club 8 Points
6 Inch Sweet Onion Terriaki 10 Points

Foot Long Veggie Delite 12 points
Foot Long Turkey 14 Points
Foot Long Turkey and Ham 15 Points

6 Inch Tuna, No Cheese 14 Points (the fat really jumps up on this one)

Want to add some cheese?
Provolone, Pepper Jack, or American are 1 point for two triangles.
Cheddar, Monterey Blend, or Swiss are 2 Points for two triangles.

Roasted Chicken Noodle Soup 2 Points
Tomato Garden Vegetable with Rotini 2 Points
Vegetable Beef Soup 3 Points
Broccoli Cheese Soup 5 points
Wild Rice with Chicken 6 Points

Here is a link to the Subway Nutrition site for more information.
http://www.subway.com/applications/nutritioninfo/index.aspx

Car Wash Tacos

The other day, I got my husband's car washed. It was a "pay it forward" type of situation as my car had been suprise-washed by my Father in Law just the other day. He's so nice, right? So I decided to do the same for Husband of Food.

Anyway, I was doing this over my lunch hour, so I decided to snag a couple of tacos at the car wash cafe.

I walked into the small lunchroom, overheated from the grill, and made my order at the Playa Vista Deli. I hunkered down at the window overlooking the cars being washed and I ate my lunch. Yeah, I know, I wasn't expecting much either, but holy guacamole, Batman, these were great tacos! The cook put great care into these $2.25 a piece treats and like a fine chef, inquired about my experience after I finished my meal. Did I mention that I was at a car wash? The tacos came on two soft tortillas with flavorful chicken, cabbage, cheese, and fresh avocado on top. I got the hot sauce on the side, which I liked because it tasted great, but on the side I could control the heat to my personal perfection.


If you need to wash your car on your lunch hour, you can do it at a place with some great tacos.


(The car wash was pretty good, too)




Playa Vista Deli (Attached to the Playa Vista Car Wash)

6920 S. Centinela Ave.
Culver City, CA 90230
(310)737-1013

Found on the Family of Food Map

Bento of the Sea

There is no fish in this lunch, but yet, it is all about fish.



Here is what is in this fish tank:
Goldfish Crackers
A fishlike Red Radish swimming in a "roe" of peas
Bologna, Turkey, and Cheese on Wheat Bread, hand carved to look like a fish.
This sandwich was a special request from the twins, "We want Turkey and Bologna."

I hope they ate it up like sharks.

Sorrento Italian Market

My five dollar lunch from Sorrento

I've mentioned Sorrento Italian Market before. This is an example of why I love them. For lunch I got a large turkey and provolone sub with Sorrento's delectable tomato sauce at the sandwich counter. That was $3.95. Near the checkout I picked up a bag of about 16 plums for a dollar. Delicious, nutritious, and cheap; what more could you want from a lunch?


Sorrento Italian Market
5518 Sepulveda Blvd
Culver City, CA 90230
(310) 391-7654

One is Pure Gold, The Other Not So Much

While in Las Vegas, The Family of Food loves to visit Lindo's Michoacan which we profiled before in the post entitled Ole.

Yesterday, we went back at an off hour for lunch with the twins. The meal was started with Lindo's tortilla chips, salsa, and bean dip. Then we were given soup which was quickly requisitioned by our toddlers for spoon in mouth practice. They need more work. The staff was kind and patient with our many spills and thrills. For our lunch, we had a combo platter with Chile Relleno, Chicken Enchilada, and Beef Taco and Fajitas de Gallina. I tried a small bite of the chicken enchilada, but for the most part the combo platter ended up in the the belly of my mate. He may have even licked the platter clean, which indicates it was probably pretty good. My fajitas were delicious. I shared them with the kids. The impressive thing about Lindo's is that the basic things are so good. The flour tortillas are some of the best I have ever had. The whole family was happy. The Lindo's experience is always golden.

Later we went to Planet Hollywood and grabbed some late night sandwiches at The Earl of Sandwich. The "Original" roast beef sandwich was decent for a fast food type of situation, but otherwise I was not impressed. My "All American" Turkey was below par. I wish I would have saved my appetite for the Lindo's leftovers.

Lindo's Michoacan
2655 East Desert Inn Rd.
Las vegas, Nv. 89121

A French Dip Into Our History

If you live in Los Angeles or have ever lived in Los Angeles, you may have heard rumor of a place downtown which claims to have invented the French Dip. If you live in Los Angeles and have heard of this place, but have never ventured out to find it, you are at a loss. This place exists and is called Phillipe the Original. In a town full of slick, small portioned, diet obsessed, celebrity chef'd, get the best table in the house to be seen at or better yet not seen at restaurants, Phillipe's is a breath of meat infused genuine old fashioned air.

An ancient counter is staffed by a just slightly less old collection of "Carvers" all wearing smart uniforms out of a thirties period movie complete with hats bobby pinned into their locks permanently curled with curlers set for decades at night, only this isn’t a movie and those uniforms just might be from the thirties, when these women might have first started working at Phillipe’s.

You order at the counter where the lines are numerous and sometimes still long. You can get a lemonade for seventy cents and coffee for ten. You can pick out of Five Different types of meat for your French Dip: roast beef, roast pork, leg of lamb, oven-roasted turkey, or ham. A full diner and breakfast menu is also available. For your first visit, unless you're a vegetarian, why get anything but the dip? Finish up your order with a side dish or a slice of pie and then pick a table. Much of the seating is shared, so get to know your fellow Angelenos. This place is a blast for people watching.

Make sure to try a bit of the Phillipe's Hot Mustard on your Sandwich. It will cure your cold if nothing else. Although they claim to prepare about 40 gallons of hot mustard two times a week, I have a theory that they just go around the corner to Chinatown to get Hot Chinese mustard and put it into deli jars. In any case, I liked it, and I'm not a huge mustard fan.

Before you leave, walk around a bit. Check out the memorabilia on the walls. There is an entire room dedicated to the Santa Fe Train Engine. This place is something authentically special in a town that manufactures special.

If you live in LA, and have never been to Phillipe the Original, it is not too late.


Phillipe the Original
1001 North Alameda Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Phone: (213)628-3781