I am feeling a little guilty since today is my baby’s 11th birthday and I am on my way to IFBC in Seattle. It is bad enough that he started middle school 3 days ago and thinks that he it all grown up, sometimes, but now I’m going to miss his birthday. Dad was in charge of the birthday party planning and that put the fear of god into him. He went about making other plans. A man’s weekend. Dad is packing up the boys and heading to the Salmon River in Riggins, Idaho for a weekend of white-water rafting, camping and beer drinking man time. No mom allowed. I guess I will just have to deal with it, I hope Salumi and Delancey can help me 
You can either go big or go home.
That is what Andreas was thinking as we were waltzing through the side streets of Burbank, California. We checked into our fantastic little motel, yes, I said motel (that’s a story for another post), and headed out for a self-guided walking tour. Everywhere we went people apologized for the heat wave, but it felt like home to us. This is southern California, isn’t it suppose to be hot in July?
News Flash: boys get hungry often.
Our eldest boy had been at a nerd camp at Cal Lutheran for 3 weeks and we had flown down a day before we were to pick him up. The youngest, pictured above, had been missing his brother something terrible. We were all dying to get the boys back together. I for one was a little tired of playing Star Wars, I am not so good with a light saber! With the mindset of keeping the high-maintenance boy happy we were out for a walk. That is when we happened upon a bottle store and my husband had to pop in, just in case, his favorite rum, that is not sold stateside, might be waiting for him. No such luck. Big surprise. That is when it happened.
That is when Big Boy waved us in. He has been standing there since 1949. That is a long time to hold up that burger. I think it was my husband, hoping for a little of the Americana nostalgia that he missed out on growing up in southern Africa, who steered us towards this big beauty. As a child his parents NEVER took them to any kind of burger joint. They only ate at proper restaurants, not that there were any drive-ins in southern Africa. Time to make up for lost time and burgers?
We had the greatest waitress, straight out of Alice, I swear. I know this isn’t Mel’s diner, but the name badge on our waitress’s declared Flo to be her name (she was even chewing gum). It was perfect! The food was just as you might expect, but it was the whole experience that made it remarkable. I cautioned the men not to eat too much, we were meeting our friends 100Miles, MyLastBite, and ClimbingLA for dinner later at Canele. They devoured a Big Boy Burger, a kid’s burger, fries, milkshakes and an order of not quite done onion rings. We had our fill and headed back out into the blistering sunshine…
Happy Birthday to my BIG BOY, Andreas 
BOB’s BIG BOY
4211 W Riverside Dr
Burbank, CA 91505
(818) 843-9334
macerated strawberries and almond milk
As a child I was the weird one, I did not like ice cream. If it was take it or leave it, I usually left it. I tended to prefer sherbet over it’s creamier, heavier cousin. The only times that I remember getting an option was at Grandma’s house. I hated going to grandma’s as a kid. She wasn’t the fun grandmotherly type. We did not stay up all night eating Cheetos and doing things that my mother would not have approved. We went to bed on time, ate proper meals, and were disciplined as needed, were forced to eat all of our over-cooked carrots, and we had to stay in the shallow end of the pool, etc, etc.
My grandmother went to one term of nursing school, so she knew things, medical things. One day, my youngest brother was way too thirsty, according to her. He must have diabetes, she thought. It just so happens that she had a home test kit. She made this reluctantly little sh*t of a boy go pee in a cup. Surprisingly he did it without too much fuss and when she read the test she about had a coronary. According to her “scientific” test, he was nearly dead.
Grandma made one serious fault in her test, she ran outside while he was peeing. He had filled the glass with lemonade, not pee. Teach grandma to test her medical knowledge on those damn kids!
But grandma always had sherbet and ice cream.
I assume if sorbet was something that I had been introduced to as a child I would have loved it. I consider this version here to be somewhere between a sorbet and a sherbet. I think that almond milk is lovely in here and the absence of eggs is even more delightful!
after being blitzed in the food processor
A few weeks ago I found this recipe featured on David Lebovitz‘s blog. I also had a half flat of beautiful wild strawberries I was trying to use up before they went south. This turned out so well that I made two batches and then moved into other fruits. Today I’m making a lemon verbena, peach combo that tastes refreshingly delicious. Keep your eyes peeled for that post.
baby new potato salad with artisan bacon
You cannot get more local than your backyard. There is nothing better than the vegetables that you dig out of your own dirt. The farmer’s market finds are close, but till fall shy of the flavor of something that you’ve grown. It is amazing that there is anything growing in my backyard this year. The chaotic weather is one reason, the other is that we have been on the go since the start of “summer vacation.” It has been a wild and crazy ride thus far and we are only half way through it.
We are installing a kids cook dinner night, at the request of the kiddos. This is to be the first installment. The menu was created by Andreas, a 10 year old boy who loves good food. This is his meal. He helped with the meal preparations, the plating and the photographs.
just so worth it
Think outside the mayonnaise jar for this vinaigrette based version. You won’t be disappointed. If you can get your hands on some local artisan smoked pork belly (bacon) go for it!
for the baby new potato salad recipe –>
lusciously lemony
If you are looking for the “perfect” make-ahead recipe for the long holiday weekend coming up I have just the thing for you.
I made this cake on Tuesday and have left it on the counter, uncovered, for 2 days. It is still moist, and better than the first day I made it. Which might have something to do with the overly lemon syrup I soaked the cake with, just maybe. At first taste of this cake it screams SUMMER! The fact that it is a keeper is just a bonus for the long-weekend camping trip you have coming up. Those cupcakes you made might be tasty now, but come Saturday they will either be a memory or dried out. Make this now, for something new and fresh to bring out for the 4th festivities, or the next day when you will be tied up with packing, cleanup and recuperation.
If you are into lemon, this is the snack cake for you! It is super rich and lemony so just a teeny bite is satisfying. It is dense with a brownie like texture, not really what I expected with a lemon cake, but it is oh-so-good. [click to read full article --->]
