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)

I have been hearing about this place called Galco’s in Los Angeles for a while now. Actually, the shop’s full name is Galco’s Soda Pop Stop. And why I didn’t get in my car and race to the neighborhood of Highland Park upon first being told about it is beyond me.  The other day I finally got my act together and made the trek to the mecca of soda.

Stepping through the doors, I immediately became the child version of myself. There were huge wall length containers of every kind of candy you can think of. Candy you didn’t even think was made anymore. And the sodas. Something like 4 full aisles of the stuff from every corner of the globe. Owner John Nese has been doing the Galco shuffle since he was a stock boy as a child. Back then, it was a regular neighborhood grocery run by his father. Now, he keeps the shelves full with almost 500 different sodas and supports smaller companies that bottle their soda without any of the yucky stuff (syrups, preservatives and fake sugars.) And the bottle collection doesn’t stop at soda, John has a great looking aisle of beer too. The grown up version of myself was very excited about that.

For me, the sodas served as endless inspiration. I was there to get a few things for an upcoming event and also get ingredients to test out a few cocktail recipes. It was really hard for me to walk away from Galco’s without a cart full of goodies. I could’ve easily spent $50 (on soda!) but, I managed to resist the temptation and walked away with just 3 interesting bottles.

• First up: Plantation Style Mint Julep soda from Natrona Bottle Co. in Pennsylvania. I am a Kentucky girl, so if you put mint julep on a label I am going to want to try it. Upon first gulp, it too closely resembled mouthwash to my taste buds. Upon second gulp, definitely borderline diluted fizzy mouthwash. Didn’t really want to go back for a third.  The mint was just a tad too synthetic spearmint.
• The next bottle fared far better. The Sweet Blossom Elderflower soda rocked my world. It was like St Germain’s little baby sister in a cotton candy pink dress on easter. Delicate, floral and sweet without being too much of any of those things. It is made by Global Beverge Enterprises in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.- kind of an unfortunately generic corporate sounding name for such a great company but nevertheless, they also make a Caribbean Mabi refresco, a Rose and a Jasmine soda. Yum.
• Lastly, in spirit of my day full of Pinot, I had to try Vignette Wine Country Soda’s pinot noir. What a great way to be able to taste just the juice and let the pure pinot noir fruit stand on its own. It was delightful and a full on fizzy raspberry explosion. Way better than a glass of Welch’s.

It took a couple of years to get my butt to Galco’s, but it will definitely not take me anywhere near as long to return. I’ve got a lot more gulping to do. 497 more bottles worth.