Two Rhinos Take Southern California





Salmon Cobb salad with the freshest avocado and lots of bacon at Nickel Diner in downtown L.A...So good a neighboring table asked for the same custom-made thing



Fruit salad from Cafe 222...I had to put a little healthy into the vacation

Peanut butter and banana stuffed french toast at Cafe 222 in San Diego aka Bobby Flay's "Best Thing I Ever Ate" breakfast...The guy has good taste

My sister's Mexican Scramble at Cafe 222...Pretty but my french toast wins


 Last weekend, I spent a wonderful weekend with my one, only, and favorite sister Rhino in her CA stomping grounds and San Diego.  We caught a Dodgers game, beached and tanned, and of course wined and dined.  Unfortunately, I did not snap a picture of my multiple watermelon mojitos at a

Fish tacos from Coyote Grill in Laguna

The view from Coyote Grill...AWESOME!!

delightful birthday cook out.  Maybe, I'll just have to make them sometime instead.....




Fish tostada from Coyote Grill in Laguna



Polenta antipasti at some Italian restaurant in San Diego...better than the entree



Spaghetti bolognese at same Italian restaurant= only okay




Enjoying a Mary Todd and a Lincoln Mule at the Lincoln Room...Represent yo!



We finished the night with a hot fudge sundae at Ghiradelli's in San Diego...*Drool*

Eggs funghi at Little Dom's in L.A.....roasted mushrooms, eggs with hollandaise sauce, all over grilled bread...What's better? Homemade blueberry jam!!




Fried potatoes at Little Dom's...Brilliant use of garlic



When Life Gives the Rhino Lemons, She Makes Lemon-Herb Quinoa

As my friends know, I am a summer lover who somehow got birthed in the rotten month of February.  I savor  a good ninety degree day and any excuse to eat outside while it's nice and hot out.  So, when I got invited to a BK/Double K cook out over the Fourth of July weekend, I just had to go.

Since I knew the cook out hosts favored healthier fare, I pulled some quinoa out of my cabinet, juiced some leftover lemons from the past week's TND, and made food.com's (the reincarnated recipezaar's) lemon-herb quinoa.  However, by its lonesome, the lemon-herb quinoa seemed a bit bland for the Rhino's taste, so I also added sauteed onions and squash, chickpeas, and a very goodly amount of feta.  I'd say it was a good call on my part.  Guests praised the salad's fresh and healthy taste, the hosts kept some of the super grain for later munching, and I took home just enough for a Wednesday at work dinner.  I'd say that's some well-squeezed lemon....and a pretty awesome way to spend one's Sunday. 

Thanks for hosting BK and KK.  The grilled food tasted great, but the company and canine entertainment was even better ( :

When Rhino Gets Mad, She Makes Oreo Pie!!!



layer #1

Without running as an emotional release,

the Rhino must work out her frustations in the kitchen.  Last week, Rhino felt some MAJOR frustration and decided to not only make truffled deviled eggs for a friend's Saturday cookout but to also make FROZEN OREO PIE.  What not to love about this pie?  It's got an oreo crust, a coat of hot fudge painting over that, an oreo pudding and cool whip center, and lots of crumbled oreo mixed throughout just for good measure.  Plus, it allowed me to not only pat the top of the hot fudge to open it up, but I also got to smash package after package of oreos.  Sweet all-around.






Finished truffled deviled eggs

Those at the cookout agreed. While I played cornhole and mosquitoes feasted on the backs of my legs, they demolished the pie and the truffled deviled eggs in record time leaving only cookie crumbs and scattered chives behind.  I'd say that's a great use of excess anger and a pretty fun Saturday night (mosquitoes aside).

PS- It's gotta be kismet that the frozen oreo pie came from Lynn's Kitchen Adventures. 

The Cake Curse is Broken: Celebrating Andrea with Salads and a Strawberry Dream Cake

Why does Andrea equal AWESOME?  She's sweet, patient enough to deal with slews of tots on a daily basis, and she makes some KILLER drinks.  So, for her birthday, Rhino decided to salute her sangria making skills and superb character with a TND.  Andrea wanted entrees with lots of veggies with a little meat in the mix, so Rhino made the Bidens' (yes, those Bidens) caprese salad and a crab and avocado salad also from Food Network Magazine.   Sorry, Biden family, though your recipe yielded lots of food, it lacked a certain amount of flavor.  Luckily, the crab and avocado salad made up for the pasta salad's deficit.  The astute Andrea quickly assimilated the salads for ultimate texture and flavor.  Yes, she's a smart cookie too.  

Of course, a birthday dinner isn't a birthday dinner without a cake, so I made a fancy schancy strawberry dream cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting for dessert.  Given my flooded tres leches cake catastrophe and the brown velvet oopsie, the strawberry dream seemed rather nebulous.  However, I nailed the strawberry syrup step, aced the baking and, most importantly, read the directions in advance.  My friends and I all agreed that I broke the cake curse at last.  Hurrah!! And an even bigger hurrah to Andrea for being her kick ass self ( :

An Oldie but a Goodie

I love my Dad.  He's super smart (fo serious) and occasionally makes a good joke.  However, to say that he is a creature of habit would be a huge understatement.  So, it came as no surprise when he asked me to make him veghead chili for Father's Day (ever since I introduced him to it a couple years ago, he makes it nearly every week for himself and Mama Rhino).

I cannot say that I love the chili as much as Papa Rhino, but it's a solid dish and really easy to make.  I first made it back in my Hyde Park days as a rookie cook and continued to fix it up at solid intervals because of the aforementioned reasons and its innate cheapness.  In the last couple of years, Rhino concentrated more on trying out new recipes and less on revisiting old favorites, and the veghead chili fell by the wayside.  Together with some of Cat Cora's Southern cornbread, it made for a simple and tasty Father's Day dinner and for many many leftovers.  And hey, with inflation all over the place, it might be wise to start making this more again (I told you that my Dad was a smartie).

Rhino Restaurant Reviews courtesy of Yelp

Recent reviews by Lynn N.

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Rachel's Birthday TND= Springtime Pasta and Brown Velvet Cake

Rhino's friend Rachel tends to be pretty opinionated (a pretty kick-ass quality).  So, it came as a little bit of a surprise when she did not give any suggestions for her birthday dinner.  Luckily, Rhino likes recipe foraging and, after much searching through blogs, websites, and other foodie forums, she found a winner. Spinach-ricotta pesto pasta with crisp proscuitto and asparagus.  Seasonally-appropriate and Rachel-approved!!

To ease game day TND work, I prepped the spinach-ricotta pesto sauce ahead of time.  It turned out perfectly.  I cannot say the same for the Rachel-requested red velvet cake.  Coming off my tres leches failure, I really wanted the cake to be a rousing success.  My red velvet comeback started out well....up until the red part.  Only at that juncture did I realize that a tablespoon of red food coloring is A LOT of food coloring.  After emptying my red vial, my yellow vial, and my blue vial (purple velvet cake anyone?), the batter turned an ugly swamp green.  Wondering how to remedy the situation, I peered into my cupboard and saw more red food coloring.  D'OH!!

Thankfully, my friends accept cake of all colors.  They also make AH-MAZING white wine sangria and bring delicious bread and spicy pimento cheese dip for TND feasts.  They're pretty good conversationalists too.

In the end, Rhino succeeded in her first asparagus attempt in cooking and in making a cream cheese frosted brown velvet cake.  More importantly, she succeeded in making a Rachel-worthy TND.  I'll call that a success even if I cannot say the same thing about my cake.