Heirloom Tomato and Watermelon Salad

Had this salad at Hungry Cat and loved it, so I tried to create a similar version. I’ve made it for great occasions like a picnic at the Hollywood Bowl and a BBQ. Normally, I prefer not to mix fruit with anything but who cares it’s simple, pure, and a tribute to the summer and local Farmer’s Market!




Watermelon ½ a big one or 1 small whole one


Heirloom Tomatoes 4 medium sized
(your choice, color is always a plus)


Mint, chiffonade cut 3 T


Red onion, thinly sliced ½ cup


Feta Cheese (French preferred) ½ cup or more if you please


Olive Oil ¼ cup


Red Wine Vinegar 1 T


Lemon juice 2 T


Salt and Pepper


1. Cut all tomato and watermelon into same size pieces, ½” x ½” in put in one bowl.




2. Add mint, red onion, feta cheese, olive oil, vinegar and lemon juice, mix gently until evenly incorporated.




3. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.




4. Serve chilled.

How Tu: Sear Steak

My new series on How To or Tu’s. Yes, a play on my last name, dork I am! Anyways, I’m going to try to post once a month and see how much response I get. It’s basically going to be highlighting favorite techniques and recipes. I’d love to hear comments and questions.




I’ve cooked Steak a million different ways but I found this to be the best ‘home’ cooked piece of meat ever. Everyone has to own a skillet or at least an oven friendly pan. Searing the meat is the most important step. So, why does a skillet work the best? Because of the infrastructure of the thing, insulation is the key! They are heavy and heat up fast…what every piece of meat needs. I used a Porterhouse in this case, the best of both worlds, lean but yet fat, a combination Filet Mignon and Sirloin.




Follow these steps and be careful with controlling the heat of your burners or electric stove:




1. Pick your out your pan as you please, in this case I used a Le Crueset skillet.




2. Salt and pepper your piece of meat, let sit out for at least 20 minutes. Salt activates meat, tends to bring out moisture and flavor.




3. Place pan on stove at high heat with oil (amount depends on you), just make sure it’s enough to coat the piece of steak




4. Put steak in and let sear for about 2-3 minutes on each side. You’re looking for a nice caramel color.




5. Once you’ve seared the meat, place pan with steak in a 375 preheated oven. Depending on thickness of steak, cook for about 13-15 minutes to reach a rare steak. A few extra minutes for medium and about 8-10 extra minutes for well done.




6. Once cooked to your likely, remove the piece of meat and let ‘rest’ for 5-10 minutes on a plate or cutting board. This allows for all the juices to regroup and for the steak retains its moisture.

Cape Cod

There are a few things you regret once you move to the West Coast. One of them is to marvel at the beautiful areas of the East Coast. Cape Cod was definitely on my list. So, when the chance arose to visit the ‘peninsula’ at a friend’s summer home, I jumped on the opportunity.





Taking the train from New York City to Boston was breath taking. I miss all the green, trees, woods, and serenity. The route also took us through the beach towns which were great. It really did feel like an east coast summer and took me back to my years of living on that side of the world.






Cape Cod was peaceful and full of awesome seafood. It was nice and relaxing but as always way too short. Lighthouses, Provincetown, New England cottages, I really took to the scenery. We tore through the local seafood and cooked lobsters and swordfish. One of the best meals was steamed clams and mussels with chourico sausage. We managed to fit in clam ‘belly’ strips and chowder as well. All and all, a seafood affair to remember.




Special thanks to the Toners and of course Sarah and Meg!

New York, July 4, 2009

Here we are again, my annual 4th of July to New York City. This year’s theme was ‘street eats’. I wanted to find the specialties of New York, the best of the best or shall we say trendiest and longest lined places in the city! My friends did great researching and we managed to eat about everything! From Gray Papaya dogs to a more upscale Porchetta Pork Sandwich, it was fun but unhealthy experience. We also hit some really good restaurants.







One of the best trips (eating wise) in a long time, everything was delicious. My favorite by far was Artichoke’s slice of Margarita pizza, I can’t tell you the last time I had a good slice was! And another favorite meal was dinner at a little Italian place called Celeste. We had the freshest Orata (fish) and Pasta Bolognese. The pizza had house made aged Tallegio and Speck to top it all off. Yum, sorry I have no pictures of that. Hope you enjoy the other pics! It was truly an amazing culinary journey of some of New York’s finest!







On day 1, we hit, in this order, by the way, there was 3 of us and a few more along the way:






Porchetta: 1 Pork Sandwich





Artichoke: Slice of Margaherita, Sicilian and Artichoke Spinach





W Hotel: 1 Drink each and bathroom break





Shack Shake: 2 Cheeseburgers and 2 Crinkle Fries





Other Room: 1 drinks each





DGDB (not street eats): Dinner and drinks




Day 2, was not so bad and we BBQ-ed for dinner (later post)




Hummus Place: 2 different kinds of Hummus, 3 grape leaves, 3 falafal balls(best ever)





Gray’s Papaya: 1 hot dog, only 2 bites taken




Day 3, really tapered down, cause this was with 6 other people





Market Place: Brunch





Grom: Varieties of Gelato





Joe’s Pizza: 1 slice, I had one bite





Rick’s Dumplings: 6 Chicken dumplings and 6 Pork Dumplings





Celeste: Dinner

Asian fused...

I was craving pot stickers one day and decided to create a recipe of my own . I had to prepare dinner for a friend’s birthday and pork was out of the question due to her dietary restrictions. Ground chicken didn’t sound appealing so I decided to go with turkey. They came out to be just as succulent as pork (after a little mind playing) with the addition of herbs and spices. It’s interesting how you can doctor up ground turkey to mimic anything you it to be. I like it!

I’m working on creating a full proof Tofu cake/burger and threw that into the mix at dinner. I always have a problem with these bad boys holding up, more egg, more rice not sure what the correct ratio is but I’m pretty close. One more time at the ‘lab’ and I’ll post up a recipe.

I tried a concoction of cold Peanut Sesame dressed noodles with swiss chard. That turned out good and this will be added to my repertoire for sure. All and all, a nice light meal for summer time.

Turkey Potstickers (makes between 30-40)

Ground Turkey 1 lb

Ginger, minced 2 T

Garlic, minced 3 T

Cilantro, chopped 2 T

Soy Sauce ¼ cup

Jalapeno, chopped 1 t

Lime juice 1 T

Green Onions, chopped 2 T

Sesame Oil 2 T

Salt and Pepper

Potsticker wrappers (Square in this case)

Egg for sealing

Chicken Broth




1. Mix all ingredients above together and evenly. After mixing you should taste test to see if you it needs adjusting on seasonings. Usually, I round up a tiny piece and sauté up!

2. Set up potsticker skins and bowl of water. Brush the whipped egg on ends.

3. Take about ½ - 1 T (depending on how big you want to make it) of turkey filling and place on skin.

4. Close by taking one pointed end that meets with opposite pointed end, now pull remaining pointed ends towards each other and squeeze all 4 points gently. It kind of look like an envelope. Hope that makes sense.

5. As you are making these, I would recommend putting the finished potstickers under a damp paper towel so it does not dry up.

6. Heat sauté pan to medium high heat with oil. Place 5-7 potstickers in pan (careful not to overcrowd).

7. Sear for about 30-45 seconds until nice carmelization sets on the bottom of potsticker.

8. Poor about 1 cup of chicken broth into pan and lower to low heat, cover with lid and cook for about 6-8 minutes.

9. Serve immediately with soy sauce or ponzu sauce!

Peanut Sesame Sauce

Peanut Butter 1 cup

Soy Sauce ½ cup

Water ½ cup or more for less creamy sauce

Hoisin Sauce ½ cup

Garlic, minced 1 T

Sesame Oil ¼ cup
Sesame seeds

1. Put all in sauce pan and whisk gently on medium low.

2. Cook for about 4-5 minutes, add water in if you’d like a not so chunky sauce.

3. Dress on noodles and cooked swiss chard, garnish with sesame seeds.