I had been having a bunch of scallops lately when dining out, so I decided perhaps I should try to cook some on my own. I got these beautiful big scallops at Assi. I looked up a bunch of recipes, but it really seemed like just plain ol searing them with a little salt and pepper was the way to go. Well, it didn’t go so well. As you can see, there’s no sear. But damn it if I didn’t try. I followed all the rules: keep the scallops dry, have an extremely hot pan, a little bit of oil, don’t touch them when you put them on the pan. But did I get sear? Hell no. But it was still good nonetheless. But it would have been better with sear.
The pasta and the asparagus turned out nice too. The asparagus I just grilled with olive oil and salt and pepper. The linguine I tossed with garlic and shallots and olive oil. But next time, I’ll get my sear!

With leftover ham from thanksgiving and a pineapple that J had gotten from his mom, it seemed fitting to make some hawaiian pizzas. I typically like to get the dough in a bag from trader joe’s, but since he didn’t have a proper cookie sheet, I decided we should make pita pizzas instead.
Got some sauce from trader joe’s and got some whole wheat pitas. I actually would have preferred regular white pitas, but they didn’t have any. It was weird. But I got regular wheat ones and mini wheat ones for the occasion. I ended up using the regular sized pitas that night.
They turned out quite nice I have to say. It was so super easy and it’d been such a long time since I’d had hawaiian pizza, I wondered why I’d waited so long.
Later that week, I made some veggie hawaiian pizzas with the mini pitas. I missed the ham, but it was still good. Some of the easiest meals I’ve made in awhile.

For Saturday brunch/lunch, W really wanted tapas. Every time I ask her where she wants to go eat, she always says tapas. Well, this time, I was convinced to make her wish come true. So I made a reservation at Bar Ferdinand by sending an email. Mistake number one. When we got there, they were closed. Oops. So then we drove to Amada. They were closed too. So I didn’t bother trying to go to Tinto. I figured if Amada was closed then so would Tinto. So basically, what I learned is that you can’t get tapas on Saturday for brunch. Sunday, yes, but Saturday, no. Lesson learned. We were all starving after driving around and being disappointed, so we ended up at North 3rd because we’d driven past it and they had a big sign that said saturday and sunday brunch. We were sold.

I’d been to North 3rd before a couple of times to drink, but never to eat. But I’d always heard good things about the food so I was not worried. I’d always remembered their strange decor. Wouldn’t you know it, when they sat us, it was right under this giant painting of a pair of huge naked boobs. Seriously. And we were with my mom! But luckily, we all found this to be amusing. It was funny, all the ladies were facing the wall, so we had to keep constantly seeing these giant knockers, while the boys had their backs to the wall, so they couldn’t see the largest pair of painted boobs I’d ever seen in my life. Boo hoo to them.
Onto the food! Bro got the pigs in a blanket, which was breakfast sausage wrapped in a pancake. I’m not into breakfast sausage, but he’s always been into them. He also got some eggs and potatoes. We all got these potatoes and they were delicious. Cooked well, with plenty of onions and spices.
W got some kind of omelette. She said it was ok, but nothing special.
My mom got brioche french toast. She liked these a lot. She almost ate all four of these. Little lady, big appetite.
J got a breakfast special, which was 2 eggs your style, bacon, potatoes, and a side of fruit. Nothing to complain about these items.
And I went with the eggs benedict. It came with canadian bacon, and I love me some bacon from our northern neighbors. It sure wasn’t tapas, but it was certainly a fine breakfast. We were all stuffed, and it was quite painless on the wallet. The service was good too, and being the odd family that we are, we didn’t mind eating under a giant pair of boobs. It’s probably not for everyone.