Restaurant Review: Pizzeria Ortica

Just in case anyone was wondering what my favorite food is...it is PIZZA! Not just any kind of Pizza. Pizza like in the picture below! I do not like thick, doughy pizza with too many things, too much cheese and no taste. I love Pizzeria Ortica's beautiful, bright sauce, the fresh cheese and the basil. The pizza part is really thin and the crust is a little thicker giving you something both to hold onto easily and to nibble on after eating the good part!

I really can't say enough good things about this place, but I will tell you that you must try the "Budino de Cioccolato". It is a semi-sweet chocolate homemade pudding with a salted caramel pudding layered on top and a dollop of whipped cream at the top of all of it. It is heavenly! It is something about all three different flavors melting in your mouth.

Last night my sister and I went here for dinner before going to see "Hair" at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Unfortunately, we had to run out to make it to our seats in time and I didn't get to have dessert. Sad!

I am always impressed with the quality of the shows at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. I think it is because it is so convenient and easy to walk to from South Coast Plaza or neighboring restaurants. It just makes for a fun, relaxing thing to do right here in Orange County!

Last night we saw "Hair" and I have to mention that this is the 3rd Theater Production my mom has taken my sister to with Full Frontal Nudity in it. It is so hilarious!
I will never understand how these actors get up and take off all their clothes in front of so many people, but to each their own I guess.


The costumes were really cool and looked like they were authentic from the 60s. The music is what I really loved. The orchestra was amazing and the best part is the whole orchestra was sitting in special places within the set. Usually you can just hear them, but we could actually see them! If you get a chance you should look up tickets for this theater, it is small, but they get some great productions off Broadway.

Craving Pasta

After Bridget and I's cooking class (if you can even call it that) on Sunday, I have been in the mood for pasta! This week I decided to pull out the big guns with my favorite "non-tomato sauce" pasta recipe. I love this recipe for Pasta Ponza because it is easy, tastes great, and you can use basically any vegetable in your fridge to make it. It calls for ingredients I usually have on hand all the time and tastes a lot better than plain old pasta.

I like to add the following things to the recipe, but it is also great in its original form. I just like to spice it up a little from time to time from the norm. I also always have a hard time coming up with other things to serve with pasta besides more carbs, so with these additions I feel like you are getting equal amounts of vegetables and pasta. My additions:

-Broccoli
-Cauliflower
-Mushrooms
-Green Olives sliced
-Zucchini

I have also tried:
-Chicken (Baked, chopped and added in with the cheese)
-Peppers
-Green Beans
-Corn
-Peas
-Crushed Red Pepper

Basically you can add as much as you want, but you need to increase the breadcrumbs to cover everything you put in the baking dish. I really reccomend you trying this one! I have never met anyone who doesn't like it.



One tip: follow the directions. I know this sounds elementary, but you need to use a pasta with ridges (for the sauce to stick) and you need to let the vegetable mixture cool for 5 minutes, otherwise it will become gummy.

Try it out and let me know what you think! Stay tuned for more Pasta to come this week...

We Love Breakfast!

Brian and I are both big fans of breakfast! Brian loves the food and I love a nice healthy breakfast to start the day off after a great workout! This morning I made French Toast with Maple-Apple compote before I set off for work. I really meant to make this on Sunday morning, but didn't get up early enough!

Sunday morning I went to a cooking class with Bridget at Williams Sonoma. We both went in thinking that we were going to learn how to make homemade pasta, but that isn't what happened. We learned how to make a basic bolognese and boil pasta. There were two highlights: First, when one of the ladies was naming off all the names of various pastas and she couldn't pronounce any of them. Secondly, when they were adding the ground beef and called it "hamburger". HAHAHAHAHA. It was ridic! Bridget and I are still laughing about this...

Back to my breakfast....

Apples Sauteing...

Finished Product!
Complete with a Lactose Free Latte for Brian with some fresh grated Nutmeg on top!

About 1 minute later!

Overall it was a good, tasty recipe. It was fairly simple to make. I say fairly because I was making it after my Morning Bootcamp and before work. When I am working on a time schedule and have a lot of dishes to clean it makes me a little frazzeled. Despite all the bowls and pans, this is a good one. The best part of it is that it uses a lot of things I usually have on hand anyway! Try it out and tell me what you think!

Note: I used about half the butter that it called for.
If you are going to do this, watch out for the apples or turn the temperature down a bit so you don't have to babysit them otherwise they will burn!

Perfect Weekend!

Sunday night we went up to Santa Monica in search of the perfect place to have Karen's Bridal Shower. My mom joined us and we had such fun time looking at all the hotels up there and having lunch! I wish I would have taken photos, but I forgot as I was starving!

On our way home we spent the rest of the day with our friends Scott and Kathryn in Marina del Rey. I am so happy that we have been making plans with them more frequently because I love hanging out with them! We went for drinks at this place overlooking the harbor and the sunset was just exquisite. This photo below really doesn't do it justice, but I tried.

What a perfect end to a great weekend! We ended the night watching the Golden Globes and getting take-out. I normally despise take-out, but since I was with two of my favorite people I didn't care! We had pizza...which is my favorite food and the only acceptable thing to get from take-out. All was good! Especially the company!

I just hate eating things out of plastic containers, nothing is ever the same as when you get it in the restaurant, and you miss the whole experience of eating in a restaurant! The whole idea of it just bothers me, it takes just as much time to order food and go pick it up as it does to make a nice healthy meal that you see exactly what is going into your food!

Restaurant Review: WASA

Whew! I have been out of touch with blogging lately! But, I am back! Last Saturday night we were lucky enough to have Karen and Andrew visit for the night. It was way too short and we don't get to see them enough, but I am grateful they made the stop to see us!

My dad told us about this new (well, new to us) Sushi restaurant called WASA. It is so close and in a center I frequent often and am kicking myself for not seeing it sooner. It was excellent! The fish was so fresh and they had a perfect balance between classic Japanese dishes and some more adventurous western twists.

We had the best time, as usual, and were also happy to have Liz and Matt join us. Lots of laughter, Saki Bombs and good food! If you live in the area you must try this place! Delish!

Miss Karen and Andrew already, but excited to see them soon for Karen's Bridal Shower in March! Watch out for more to come with these two...

Call the Fire Department!

I saw this recipe and thought it looked really interesting and had to try it! I have never made Flat Iron Steaks before, but I am up for trying anything once. It was very easy to make and really flavorful despite the tiny prep time.

Unfortunately, I was tired/wasn't reading properly/made a mistake and accidentally used Cayenne Pepper instead of Chili Powder. I swear it was like that show Man v. Food! SO SPICY. Now, Brian and I both love spicy food, but this was ridic. Thank god for the beautiful, and very refreshing Tomato Sauce that cooled the whole thing down.

This recipe for Chili-Espresso Rubbed Steaks with Warm Tomato Sauce was outstanding! I will definitely make this again...but the correct way!

I paired it with some Roasted Fingerling Potatoes and Baby Artichokes. They made a nice mild side dish to go with the robust meat. Unlike the meat, they took more time to prepare, but the rub does need to sit on the meat for 30 minutes so I did all the prep work while the meat was resting. The time worked out perfectly and everything was done at the right time.

Spice Rub

Excellent Warm Tomato Sauce

Finished meal! Even though I made a big mistake and made it super spicy, it was still really good and I can't wait to make it again.

Sweet and Spicy

I was so excited to have my sis over for dinner last night! I made one of Brian's favorite dishes: Chili-Garlic Glazed Salmon. My sis was far away in Boston for 5 years and I missed her so much while she was gone. I am thankful that I can see her often now and on a whim she can come over for dinner! This is a great recipe that you can make on the fly because most of the ingredients you can just keep in you pantry and pick up some salmon on the way home. It is the perfect combination of spicy and sweet to compliment the salmon.

I also made some Cucumber Salad that makes a perfect compliment to the asian influence in the main dish. I love the cool, refreshing taste of the cucumbers and rice vinegar. Best of all...it is so quick and easy!!

Cucumber Salad

2 large English Cucumbers sliced very thin

1/4 cup Rice Vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoon black sesame seeds

1/4 teaspoon fresh pepper

Combine all and serve! You can also add dill and thinly sliced Red Onion to change it up a bit.