Happy Monday, my dears. I don’t know about you, but yesterday I was all out of sorts. It may have had something to do with the previous evening’s antics which included almost being killed by a flying little person while Chris Brown celebrated his birthday mere inches away… but more on that later never. Only in LA… I digress. When I get out of sorts like that, a few things have been known to help: Watching old Audrey Hepburn films, reading a new book, and baking.

Which brings us to this Finnish Pancake. I’d first spotted this recipe on Pinterest (are you on Pinterest? So addictive. You can find me here under bussbuss). It looked so pretty and tasty and simple, I couldn’t resist trying it. I had most of the ingredients on hand and just had to pick up some berries at Whole Foods across the street. I would have gone with raspberries (as the recipe suggests) or blueberries (my favorite), but at $7/pint (when did prices get so insane?), the on-sale strawberries it was.

Back home, I gathered my ingredients and then not-so-quickly realized that I was missing a few things. Like a measuring cup. And measuring spoons. And a baking dish. And a mixing bowl. Not to mention parchment paper. Oh, and a microwave in which to melt the butter (turns out you can just use the stovetop, but you knew that, right?). I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but baking is one of those finicky things where precise measurements tend to matter.

Ah well, I figured how much can you mess up flour, milk, butter and sugar?

In lieu of a baking dish, I used an 8 1/2-inch stainless steel pan lined with foil, and just kind of eyeballed the ingredients and hoped for the best. The recipe warned not to make it “too thick,” but I’d already poured the entire mixture into my smaller-than-suggested pan.

There was no turning back. And in LA, you fake it ’til you make it, right? And by make it, I mean make your Finnish Baked Pancake.

As the aromas began to waft from the kitchen, I wondered if I had made a mistake. Shouldn’t I have just skipped back over to the store to buy a measuring cup (ours, along with most of our cooking supplies, still sits in storage)? Why didn’t I just pony up the extra few bucks for the raspberries or blueberries? How did I almost have my teeth knocked out by a flying little person? That would have made it quite difficult to eat — and eating is one of my favorite pastimes.

Fortunately, luck was on my side. In the end, because I inadvertently made the pancake too thick, I ended up baking it for twice the cooking time (about 40-50 minutes). And you know what? It was good. Rather than being more like a Dutch or Finnish pancake (think funnel cake), the results were more like a quiche: eggy and thick and gooey and warm. With the strawberries, it felt like a breakfast version of Strawberry Shortcake. In fact, it would make a great brunch dish, served alongside some bubbly.

Sometimes happy accidents work out. And sometimes they involve painful hangovers and flying little people and Chris Brown. If that’s the case, make this instead. And take a long shower.

You can find the original recipe for Finnish Baked Raspberry Pancake here or try what I made using the recipe below:

Finnish Baked Strawberry Pancake

2 cups milk

2 eggs

1 cup flour

1/4 cup melted butter

2 Tbsp sugar

A pinch of salt

½ tsp vanilla

Topping:  fresh strawberries and some sugar

Pre-heat oven to 400 F. Using a wooden spoon, quickly mix everything in a bowl (except the strawberries and sugar for topping) until well combined (about 2 mins). (If you find yourself without a mixing bowl and a microwave, do what I did and melt your butter in a large pot. Once melted, remove the pot from the heat and then use that as your bowl. As Martha would say, it’s one less dish to dirty.) Pour the mixture into an oven-safe skillet (mine was 8 1/2 inches) or baking dish lined with parchment paper or foil (rub the foil with butter first to prevent sticking – though mine still did stick some). Sprinkle some sliced strawberries and sugar on top. Bake for about 40 min or until brown. Remove from oven and add a few more sliced strawberries and a sprinkle of sugar on top. Eat at once! (This does reheat nicely the next day, too. But go ahead and eat it all now – you never know when you might come this close to the end.)

[Photos by BussBuss taken with Instagram]

Food, Instagram #bussbuss #live

What’s for dinner? It’s a constant question in our household and one that normally ends with takeout. In an attempt to cook more, I’m always on the hunt for ideas on what to make for dinner. You too? So when I spotted this recipe, I was sold. And then I remembered this recipe, too. I decided to combine them in a way that best worked for us. Be warned: This is a hearty dish, best served when craving comfort food.

Spaghetti With Gruyere, Bacon & Egg  (serves 2)

- Add 1/2 lb. spaghetti & a pinch of salt to boiling water. Cook according to package directions.

- Fry 2 strips of bacon in a pan. Once crispy, remove from pan and place on paper towel. Tear cut bacon into bacon bits.  Add bacon to pasta.

- Fry 2 eggs. Cover and set aside.

- Drain pasta, reserving a cup or two of pasta water. Return pasta to pot and add in grated gruyere while stirring (add some of the pasta water to help melt the cheese).

- Place pasta into individual serving bowls, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with coarse sea salt and pepper to taste, and top with egg. Add a few slices of shaved gruyere, if you’re so inclined.

Enjoy!

Food, Instagram, The Blog #bussbuss #live

Yesterday we kicked off our Summer Entertaining Series with The Best Guacamole Ever. Today, let’s talk margaritas! When we were living in Palm Springs, we had a grapefruit tree in our backyard. And an orange tree, too. It truly was a dream come true. Especially when we realized we had a bottle of tequila (tequila!). Combined with an aversion to going to the grocery store and just the right mix of laziness and ingenuity, this is how Fred Baby invented the recipe for The Best Grapefruit Margaritas. I hope you love these as much as we do!

Here’s what you’ll need: (serves 2)

1 ruby red grapefruit, halved, with the juice squeezed into a bowl

3 shots of tequila

2 shots of orange juice (if you have a fresh oranges, use them; otherwise orange juice from the carton will do the trick)

1 heavy sprinkle of coarse sea salt

How to make the best grapefruit margaritas:

1. Over a shaker filled halfway with ice, add the juice of one grapefruit. Add orange juice, tequila and salt. Shake like a Polaroid picture. Shake it. Shake it.

2. Salt the rim of your glass. (You can do this by running a slice of a lime around the rim of your glass or dunking the rim of the glass into a saucer of water. After, dip the rim into a saucer of coarse sea salt.) Fill each glass halfway with ice.

3. Pour mixture from shaker into each glass and voila, the best margaritas ever!

Pairs extremely well with The Best Guacamole Ever. Enjoy!

p.s. Speaking of Palm Springs, yesterday we escaped cold and gray LA for some much needed Vitamin D and are here soaking up the sun as we speak (er, type)! You can follow our instant updates on Instagram, or simpy tune in here to BussBuss where you can now see all of our pictures posted live as they’re happening in our blog feed. I’m excited to be able to share special moments from the day right in the moment, whether we’re home in LA or off on an adventure on the road or abroad. I love staying connected with you! I hope you enjoy this new feature, too. Be sure to let us know what you think in the comments xx.

 [Photo by Fred Baby, whose photos you can now see on Instagram here!]

Food, Home, The Blog, The DailyBuss

Good morning, darlings! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. We’re back from South America and no sooner landed in Los Angeles and were on our way up to San Francisco to celebrate Easter with family. I thought I’d share a few highlights from Easter weekend to kick off the week. I hope you enjoy and I’m so happy to be back so we can catch up. I’ve truly missed you.

Above: Easter brunch in my sister-in-law’s garden. She made insanely delicious Eggs Benedict; I was in charge of table decorations, hence the Peeps-on-a-stick centerpiece! (Remember these cupcakes on a stick?); We drank too much champagne and ate too many jelly beans and soaked up the sunshine — it was perfect.

We also dyed Easter eggs and I was surprised when my S-I-L made two simple incisions into her round carrot cake and created this bunny cake (a trick she learned from my M-I-L)! I was in charge of decorating Sir Hopsalot with lemon cream cheese frosting and Easter candies. It was so much fun, I’m already brainstorming what he can wear next year…

After a much needed champagne nap, we went on a little neighborhood walk around Pacific Heights. The views from the Lyon Street Steps are some of the best in the city, and in the years since we lived here, they’ve added rows and rows of cherry blossom trees, which make it that much more breathtaking. (Yes, these are the same stairs that I used to climb when I was attempting to get into shape, and in which I was famously passed on the stairs by a miniature dachshund. Touche, hot dog, touche.)

We also walked by the Full House house (Cut. It. Out.), and Patrick Blanc’s Living Wall. We ended the night at our favorite restaurant in the world, Gamine, a tiny neighborhood French bistro that serves up the best burgers you’ve ever tasted.

Over the weekend, we were so lucky to have friends generously invite us over for amazing meals at their homes. While I didn’t get photos of our first dinner in town (Maryland crab cakes and burrata – my fave), I did happen to snap a photo of our friends’ gorgeous Easter garden (I have major house and garden envy!).

The next night, our friend (who also officiated our wedding!) made an Easter dinner feast, which included lamb, salad, purple potatoes and these bright pea pesto crostini (which felt so perfect for the spring-y occasion). He also made homemade ice cream. Flavors included Aztec Chocolate, Coffee, and Malted Milk (with Whoppers!). It was by far the best ice cream I’ve ever had, so much so that we’re trying to convince him to sell it. And I’m voting for him to name the company Surpricecream. (Surprisecream?) p.s. The oatmeal is from La Boulange - the healthiest thing I’ve had in ages. Delicious, too!

It was a wonderful Easter weekend and now I’m off to walk (and shop) it off xx!

[All photos by BussBuss and created with Instagram, which was just bought by Facebook for $1 billion. (!!!) I've been saying that Instagram is the new Facebook (and Twitter) for awhile now (someone feel free to reimburse me for that trend forecasting knowledge ). But one billion dollars (she says with her pinky to her lip), wowzers. My next Facebook acquisition prediction: Pinterest! You're welcome, America.]

Food, The Blog, Travel

Every time I go home, my Mom makes her Famous Chocolate Fudge Cake. It’s so delicious (the frosting tastes like fudge!) and always reminds me of my childhood. If you want to bake your valentine a treat, Mom has generously shared her recpe with us.

Mom’s Famous Chocolate Fudge Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease & flour a 13″ x 9″ pan

In a mixing bowl,  combine:

2 Cups flour
2 Cups sugar

Bring to boil:

2 sticks butter or margarine (16 Tbsp or 1 Cup)
4 Tbsp cocoa
1 Cup water

Once brought to a boil, pour over flour & sugar mixture and combine.

Next, combine:
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 Cup sour milk (see below)

*Sour milk: In a 1/2 Cup measuring cup, add 1/4 Cup evaporated milk & 1/4 Cup hot water, then 2 tsp white or cider vinegar to curdle; Set the 1/2 cup measuring cup into a 1 cup measuring cup filled with hot water to help it curdle. Then, add 1 tsp of baking soda to the sour milk mix. (Note: The mixture will foam up and possibly over so be over your bowl when you do this part!)

Pour mixture into pan and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

 *Note: The cake doesn’t rise much, so not to worry when it doesn’t!

Icing:

In a mixing bowl:

Pour in a 1 lb. box of confectioner’s (powdwered) sugar

Bring to a boil:

1 stick of butter (8 Tbsp or 1/2 Cup)

4 Tbsp cocoa

1/3 Cup milk

Once brought to a boil, pour over confectioner’s sugar and add:

 1 tsp vanilla

Mix to combine.

Pour over cake and enjoy!

*Note: Icing will not be thick; just pour it over the cake and then let your favorite person lick the beaters and the bowl (my favorite part!).

Thanks, Mamala xx!

Do you have a favorite family recipe? I’d love to know what it is!

[I hate a recipe without photos. Apologies, I've been sick for days and unable to bake, but will get one up ASAP. For now, Lucy will have to do. This is one of my favorite I Love Lucy episodes ever. Yours, too?]

Food, The Blog