Pot Belly Pizza

I was invited to a belly dancing pot luck dinner up in the hippie dippy Topanga canyons nestled between Malibu and Santa Monica. I was totally game. The thought of showing my Irish colored, pot (lucked) belly was intriguing. 

But really. What does one bring to share? 
I considered my options...
It seemed like the kind of place to bring something vegan, something local, something that screamed quasi ethnic and uber healthy. Can't have too much roughage to induce pot bellies. Shouldn't be too rich or too spicy to induce GI problems...

I looked in my fridge for ingredients. Leftover Chicago style deep dish pizza? 
If anyone took a smell of that, leftovers or not, to hell with being vegan. 

Alas, driving the hour across town and up the canyon was just too much for me. Especially following a night of Masa deep dish pizza, beer and Italian pastries.

So what did I do instead you ask? Literally went through Travel + Leisure with a fine tooth comb. A guilty pleasure of mine. Leave me alone for hours. I will be happy as a clam. 
Unmotivated to drive around LA but literally scamming on dozens of restaurants from the comfort of my home. As if I could light this town on fire.

It all starts by going to CNN's website and finding some link that brings me right to T+L. I have to act like I stumbled upon it. I love you CNN but I'm really just using you to get to something better. I mean, food just sort of trumps news on SUV car crashes and the latest Obama discussion. I'll spend 10 minutes reading about how to elect a new pope but when push comes to shove, I really went on the sight to find "Best Desserts Around the World." 
That headline screams, "tell me more!!!"

This recent T+L romance went from "Best Brunches Around the World" to "Best Domestic Coffeehouses" to "LA Dining Guide" and then "LA Dining Guide" surely brings in a whole other element when I must check out the location + menu of each establishment. 
You can see how this might take longer than electing a new pope?
...or driving up to Topanga for that matter. 

The particularly fun part about T+L these days is that it's actually accessible. No offense St. Louis, I love you times one hundred, but you will hardly find a feature dining spot when you're up against the world. 
ie: Huckleberry in Santa Monica is pinned up against places in Bangkok to Timbuktu. And when the menu says something like...

Fried egg sandwich

with sunny side up eggs, Niman Ranch bacon,

Gruyère, arugula & aioli on country bread

and

Niman Ranch Maple-Bacon Biscuit 

..can you really argue? 
Really? With Maple-Bacon Biscuit? It's like going up against the pope himself. Holy. 
So you can see why STL may have it rough. I mean, I unknowningly frequent a "best" coffeehouse listed in the US.
 

So what do I do? Create email bucket lists. From A-nimal, the restaurant of the Top Chef winners, to Z. 

As the night grew on, so did my food cravings. This should be the warning label for T+L.

So did I go out you ask? God no. I couldn't even get up off the couch. Let alone belly dance. 

No, I invited some San Francisco company over. 

We looked in my fridge. Guess what was the only thing in there. 

Pizza + Beer.

My San Franciscoan had never had Chicago style pizza. 

un.heard.of. 

And let me tell you, this was like the best buttery cornmeal crust you could ever sink your teeth into. 

L+T may not have a warning label but I provided one. I warned said company, "Company, when you eat Chicago style deep dish pizza you are making a commitment to being uncomfortable. This is what happens: You will eat half a slice and say to yourself, "should I finish that off? Because I am Oh so full." And guess what? You inevitably do. Because you are powerless to that Chicago factor."

So we ate Masa California veggie Chicago style deep dish pizza with some San Francisco Mission Street pale ale in Los Angeles and had ourselves a combo meal of us and it and all things good. 

So I will take on the annual pot luck belly dancing extravaganza another night when I can "stomach" it. Which may not be ever. Especially considering my LA to Z dining plans.

That only-in-Chicago factor helps explain why the Windy City once again won the No. 1 spot for best pizza city, according to Travel + Leisure readers. This year’s America’s Favorite Cities survey—in which readers rank 35 cities for such enticements as luxury stores, live music, and good-looking locals—revealed voters’ reverence for Chicago’s deep-dish magic.

...Oh glorious confirmation. 

You have not let me down.

Single Servings

It's blatantly obvious at this very moment, more than ever, that I am a single, white female in her 20s. 

Looking in my fridge or asking my dinner recalls from the past week is proof as much. Without knowing me and just having this information alone, one could guess my age, gender, size, ethnicity, where I live and if I am single or married with about an 87.75% accuracy. 

Let's review...
One Day Last Week- A bowl of popcorn from scratch with parmesan cheese and celery with yogurt and chive dip.
Sunday- A half of a chicken sandwich with walnut pesto, tomatoes and cheese from the Hudson with about 3 pints of Stella and a a half a glass of $3 cab (funday Sunday anyone?) and later a walnut, nutmeg manhattan and bread pudding from Edendale. 
...As if the 3 pints weren't enough.
Monday- A glass of red wine, then out for carnitas taco and ceviche and later, plain tart mixed with mango Fro Yo topped with coconut, graham cracker and cookie dough.
Tuesday- The other half of my Hudson sandwich...
Wednesday- Steamed farmer's market broccoli topped with a homemade orange/ginger sauce paired with farmer's market tempeh eaten with some disposable chopsticks I found in my kitchen drawer that must have been left behind from my old roommate's old takeaway order, a glass of Coppola's white wine and later a Trader Joe's cookie and nighty night tea.
Thursday- Leftover "kung pow Tofu" from work...eaten out of the white styrofoam container and later topped off with nighty night tea and TJ's cookies.
Friday- Leftover mojito chicken and rice from work, again, eaten out of the styrofoam, farmer's market bread with natural peanut butter, white wine, some Charleston Chews and whoppers (see last post), a Larceny made manhattan, a pint of Allagash White and a hangover. 

When I write it out like this, it's utterly embarrassing. How does this not say single, 20 something year old, middle class, west coast city dwelling female...?
I promise this diet is atop spinning classes and Julian Michaels Body Shred workout classes. P.S. I've got a bone to pick with you, J. Michaels. No wonder I can't move today.

I'm either eating at like two yelp dollar sign restaurants Or I'm eating whatever I can find in my fridge or leftovers from free work lunch. 
And because I have this fantastic food perk at work, it really does nothing for my grocery shopping agenda.

As my roommate is off taking vacation, I have literally spent all day in my apartment either cleaning or lounging. The only noise I've heard today has been from the Mariachi music and construction happening in the lot next to mine, my clothes dryer, the occasional iPhone text message and the hum of the fridge. 

My day started slowly with aeropress made coffee and tri-colored quinoa cooked with slivered almonds, golden raisins, almond extract and cinnamon. 
..Now I sit here reviewing my taxes and eating chips out of a Von's plastic grocery bag...
Like my taxes even have to tell me "without dependents.."
The hardest part of my lunch/dinner today was opening up the salsa container without the gripper thing and trying to find the chips that would fit into the jar without breaking them in half first. 

And later on my Midwest and East coast friends are coming over to order Chicago style deep dish pizza and watch a Cheers marathon with me.
This is my life.