Butterscotch Budino & L.A. (part one)

My sister made this delicious butterscotch budino a couple weeks ago for Sunday night family dinner.  I flew in from S.F. that night, and so didn't help at all, but it was so good I thought I should post it anyway.  It's a pretty famous recipe, from Nancy Silverton of La Brea Bakery and Mozza fame, and it made the blog rounds a couple of years ago.  I think you can stumble upon the recipe relatively easily via google, but I linked to the James Beard Foundation version, because of anyone I think you can trust them to get it right.

Megan's version:


It's made up of a butterscotch pudding, then a salted caramel layer, and finally whipped cream on top.  Actually, I take that back, I did help!  After dinner I helped make the salted caramel and the whipped cream.  I just didn't help with the pudding.  Also, Megan skipped the rosemary-pine nut cookies, in order to make it more manageable, and while we didn't miss them that night, Megs and I had them when we went to Pizzeria Mozza in L.A., and they were delicious.



Here is the one from Pizzeria Mozza:


While the recipe itself is brilliance, Megan's version was way better than the one we had at the source.  Maybe we just got a bad batch, but the texture was all wrong.

However, we still had a lovely dinner on Friday night, including the most delicious arugula salad either of us had ever had, but which I didn't manage to get a picture of, and then the salami pizza and clam pizzette.

Salami Pizza:


Ipswich Clam Pizzette:

(Does Ipswich Clams make anyone else think of Stardust?  No?  Just me? -
Victoria: "Well I can't exactly say no after he's gone all the way to Ipswich.")

Overall we had a totally delightful weekend in L.A., all from Megan winning the pie contest at Wieden.  Guest-post on the actual, trip-winning pie to come from Megan.

We also had the totally amazing Original Umami Burger at the location inside Fred Segal in Santa Monica.  The Original was so good that I think we're going to try and recreate it at some point.



Umami - The Original:


Fred Segal:

{Sunglasses: Michael Kors; Button-Down Shirt: J. Crew (old, similar here); Striped Shirt: J. Crew (old, similar here); Jeans: J. Crew (old, similar here); Watch: Michael Kors; Sneakers: Converse}

After a little sustenance, we spent Friday afternoon at the Getty.  It was lovely.  The views are amazing if you get a clear day.



More L.A. thoughts to come, this post is just getting too long.