Restaurant Week is Back!

Oh how I love Dine LA Restaurant Week! Its my chance to go to places like Craft and Spago without the anxiety of the final tab. What makes it so great is that it brings together over 150 of LA's best restaurants, offering special three-course menus at majorly discounted prices. Last year Nathan and Amie and I checked out Gordon Ramsay's London and the kitchen was definitely not closed that night! I still think about the Creme Fraiche and Quince Panna Cotta with gingerbread ice cream that they served for dessert. This year I am looking forward to sampling the menus at Mr. Chows in Beverly Hills and The Bazaar by Jose Andres. You can check out the list of participating restaurants here: http://discoverlosangeles.com/play/dining/restaurantweek/participating_restaurants.html and don't forget to make a reservation ASAP!
Final Word: Watch out for pricey cocktails that can quickly drive up the cost of your meal.

Dual Purpose Dishes

Picked up these two dishes at Target last weekend for a steal! The white tray was marked down from $12.99 to $3.24 and the cute little rose dish was originally $9.99 marked down to $2.49.

Once I got them home I was showing them off to a friend of mine when she asked: "What are you going to do with those?" I thought this was a good question and and a great subject for my next CC post - so here goes.
With items like this the possibilities are really endless. My first thought was to use them on my vanity to display things like perfume bottles and jewelry. You could also do something cute with your make-up and display your eye shadows nicely or even lip glosses, the colors of the make-up would pop perfectly against the white porcelain background of this long tray.

The small size of this dish is perfect for my jewelry but it would also work well in the bathroom as a soap dish or throw a tall candle on it and its a candle holder.

Last night I was headed to a wine and cheese party at a friend's house and these dishes were perfect vessels for what I was bringing along. I even used this green ice cream bowl I bought on clearance a few years ago for the nuts, it gave dynamic height to my food spray.

Final Word: Think off the plate and gets lots of milelage out of your everyday items!

Stefan's Small Plates

I returned to a renovated Stefan's last week after his very successful restaurant garage sale on a mission to try out his small plate menu. Small plates are a great way to sample a number of different items a chef has to offer without committing to an entire meal of it (or a large price tag). Stefan's small plate menu did not disappoint this thrifty foodie.

We started off with the Truffle Arancini with Lemon Aiol and all I can say is WOW! I could have eaten an entire plate of those tiny $3 cubes of goodness and been a happy girl but we decided to move on to some of the other dishes.

We tried these Kumamoto Oysters with Absinthe Jello and Fennel Vinaigrette ($3). They were pretty good but coming off the Arancini that practically melted in our mouths with that divine truffle oil, the oysters didn't really stand up. We also tried the hummus with grilled bread (who can really mess up hummus?) and the sweetbread schnitzel with potato salad which wasn't nearly as odd tasting as it sounds, it was actually pretty delightful. All these goodies were priced at $3 and we all left feeling satisfied, so much so that we didn't have room for dessert and I really wanted to try his lollipop trio. Remember when he made that on Top Chef? Well it is now a permanent fixture on his menu and I can't wait to taste it.

Final Word: You can check out the small plate menu at stefan's here: Stefan's Small Plates

Butterfly Kisses

Something I love about clearance shopping is that sometimes it can lead to a fun craft session (another one of my hobbies). There is something so rewarding about picking something up off the street that your neighbor threw out or buying some banged up piece of junk from goodwill or a garage sale and then completely transforming it into something fabulous. And you’re recycling too!!

The other day I was cruising the clearance section of Marshalls and I saw these butterfly pictures. I noticed that they were only $3 and that the butterfly design was actually engraved into the wood. I also noticed that they were complete eye sores; lots of scuffs, a couple chips and in a drab color. I passed by them and continued my browsing and actually left the store without them. Later that night I was still thinking about the butterflies and that is when it hit me that I could make them work for me and I already had a place in mind to hang them. The next day I rushed back to Marshalls on my lunch break and was relieved to find that they were still there, next I headed over to Michaels and picked up some paint. That night I dusted off my art supplies (from that short stint I did in design school) and got to work on them. I have to admit that I underestimated how many coats it would actually take to cover up all that hideous burgundy paint, if I had it to do over I for sure would have used a stripper first but after about eight coats of paint the burgundy was gone! Because the butterfly design is engraved in the wood it made it super easy to re-paint, it was like coloring in a coloring book – just stay in the lines. I didn’t want them to be exactly the same either because what is the fun in that? So I switched out the background and butterfly colors. I hung them in my dining room because it could use a little brightening up in there and I thought yellow would do just the trick! Very happy with the end result!

Final Word: With a little paint and a whole lot of TLC you can turn Junky into Funky!