What: A Lebanese feast (and birthday celebration for moi)

Where: Marouch

Eats: hummos, dolmas, tabbouleh, kibbeh, falafel, labneh, fattouch, fatayer…. basically, every Lebanese (and some Armenian) food you can think of- we ate it. And it was damn good. Serge- you’re the man!

Dranks:  NV German Gilabert cava, 2009 Moulin de Gassac Guilhem rosé, 2008 Chateau d’Oupia Les Heretiques (all carried in a case by me to the restaurant…with high heels and all.) Please note- yes, Chateau Musar was on the list at the restaurant. And yes, it was too expensive for our broke asses. Other than that- go to Marouch for the food….not the wine.

Photos: by dear friend (and hot sexy mama) Marisa of  Marisa Q Photography

Thanks to all my pretty and funny pals! Love you lots. And to the winemakers who so beautifully made the wine in which I imbibed. And to Matthew and Dustin at Covell for letting me close the place down post-dinner. If you haven’t been there yet people- get with the times! Go now.

All right- I promise not to bore you with anymore bday related posts. Birthday week officially over. Sad face.

Every month, Foodbuzz.com chooses 24 bloggers from their Featured Publisher network (see that ad in the right column of the screen?) to cook/prepare drinks/organize an event and write a blog post about it in 24 hours on the 24th day of the month. I decided to submit a proposal and I was one of the lucky 24 chosen. What was that proposal, you ask? Brunch. Not only brunch- possibly the best category of meal- but, brunch 2 ways; a traditional version and its modern twist counterpart. Along with two of my dearest friends and business partners, Joy and Rachel, we set out to make 3 courses with 2 versions of each course both paired with drinks. So…3 square(d) brunch.

After a week of rain, every. single. day. in Los Angeles (writing that sentence is even difficult), I woke up to hear birds chirping and to see- wait, what was that?- oh right… sunshine. Hallelujah. I don’t know about you, but a gorgeous day on a weekend screams eggs, toast, crispy pork products and a slight afternoon buzz. With a gaggle of friends and nothing but time, I think you’ve got yourself one perfect brunch. And by one perfect brunch, I mean this one.

For the classics, we decided to tackle potato latke with smoked salmon, french eggs en cocotte and doughnuts. The fun task was deciding how to reinvent these dishes and what “brunch” beverages would best complement all of them side by side.

First course: the latke. To oppose the classic potato latke with smoked salmon, chive and creme fraiche we prepared, Joy cooked up a mean zucchini pancake topped with Rachel’s darjeeling tea poached cod and a cumin creme fraiche. Many people said this was their favorite dish of the day. To pair with this course, I thought some bubbles would be the best way to get the meal going. The one drink almost synonymous with brunch is the mimosa. So, for the classic pairing, I chose an organic Spanish cava mixed with fresh squeezed heirloom orange (and a smidge of blood orange) juice. To go along with the delicious zucchini pancakes, I crafted what I call the limonosa; fresh meyer lemon juice, elderflower soda and one of my favorite proseccos. Really bright, floral and great with the zucchini and fish.

2nd course: eggs! Rachel chose eggs en cocotte for the classic side of the plate. She infused cream with shallots and thyme and added that to individual ramekins with a single egg. The spin on that, was an egg and creamy polenta combo served in a crispy prosciutto cup. Yum. And thus, the time had come for the ultimate brunch beverage: the Bloody Mary. Our standard (but dangerously good) version of the Bloody involved beef broth, celery seed, Cholula and a ton of horseradish among other fine ingredients. The modern twist was born from celery soda inspiration. Rachel had tried Dr. Brown’s Cel-ray soda once upon a time and declared it delicious. So to that, we simply added tomato and lemon juice to create our Bubbly Mary. The vodka used in both Marys was a delightful organic bottling from Minnesota’s Phillips Distilling. Fantastic label!

3rd course: the sweet stuff!  Joy put her outstanding baking skills to use and whipped up some mighty fine doughnuts. Doughnut holes, really, and when something is in bite-size form doesn’t that make it 10 times more face stuff-able and scrumptious? Yes, I agree. She made a traditional cinnamon sugar and a spiced sweet potato covered in powdered sugar. To pair with those delectable bites and to end the meal- coffee. Rachel “cooked” up some cold brew the night before steeping coffee grinds, cacao nibs and cardamom in water. It was filtered, blended with a touch of almond milk and put over ice. To accompany the sweet potato doughnuts, Joy made a hot chocolate of sorts infused with cinnamon and red chilies. Add a few pulls of espresso and some cream and you have yourself one hell of a drink. Most everyone at the table asked for seconds.

All in all, a seriously delightful day. I hope it inspires you to craft up your very own brunch extravaganza. For all of the drink recipes, see below. Cheers!

*A giant thank you to Molly and Tyler for letting us take over their lovely home (and de-luxe kitchen!)  And to all of our friends who came out to share a beautiful day of delicious food & drink with us: Katie, Abel, Soledad, Cris, Adam and Asher…and last but not least, our brunch mascot Willy.

Recipes

Each recipe makes roughly 6 servings

Mimosa

Pretty straightforward…

• Juice 8 medium-large oranges. I threw a blood orange into the mix. Get crazy and mix in half ruby red grapefruit, pomelo or tangerine.
• In each glass add 2 parts juice to 1 part sparkling wine. I used Barcino cava ($14 at Silverlake Wine)
• Garnish with citrus- mini kishus or Cutie clementines are fun.

Limonosa

• Juice 4 meyer lemons (meyer lemons are less tart than standard lemons)
• To each glass add 1 part lemon juice, 1 part Sweet Blossom elderflower soda and 2 parts sparkling wine. I used Sommariva prosecco ($14.75 at Silverlake Wine). Prosecco is a good one to use here because it naturally has really nice floral aromatics and a light lemony taste.
• Finish with a meyer lemon twist dropped into the glass

Bloody Mary by Rachel

• Base: 3 cups beef broth, 1 full container (3 cups) Pomi brand strained tomatoes
• 3 Tbsp worcestershire, 2 Tbsp horseradish, 1 1/2 tsp celery seed, 3 tsp each of salt and black pepper, Cholula or Tapatio (or your fav.) hot sauce to taste.
• 1 oz. vodka per glass
• Finish with a squeeze  of lemon and garnish with celery (and pickled okra- Rachel is a big fan)

Bubbly Mary by Rachel

• Base: 2/3 container of Pomi strained tomatoes, 2 cups water
• Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray celery soda (add to taste to each glass)
• 1 oz vodka per glass
• a squeeze of lemon juice in each glass over ice

Cold-Brewed Cacao Nib Coffee by Rachel

In a pitcher or jar add:

• 1 1/2 cups coffee grinds
• 5 cups water
• 1/2 cup cacao nibs
• 5 lightly crushed cardamom pods
• 2 Tbsp vanilla sugar (or any sugar you like)

Let it sit covered for at least 12 hours up to 24. Filter it twice by placing a coffee filter in a funnel over a clean jar and pouring the mixture through. Pour the strained liquid through the same filter and grinds a second time to fully extract flavor and remove any unwanted extra bits left in the coffee.

Add almond milk to taste and serve over ice

Mexican Chocolate Coffee by Joy

(made 8 espresso sized cups, with everyone getting seconds)