Let's Wander Out to the Pasture and Graze - Dine and Dish no. 6

Since I couldn't invite everyone around the world to my little tapas party last month (the airlines tickets would have put me over my credit card limit and besides, my apartment is pretty small), Dine and Dish was the best way to throw a virtual party of small plates. Now let's do a little bit of Amazing Graze-ing.

(Photos above in order from left to right, with credit to each respective blog, of course.)

First up, new guest at the table, Kate of Pie in the Sky goes for perfect little petit fours, teeny tiny sandwiches, and tea at Lady Mendl's Tea Salon, with my favorite line of her day, "Do I look like a hobbit to you?!"

On the other side of the world in Singapore's Foodie Paradise, we get to try a popiah at Good Chance Popiah, complete with step-by-step illustrated instructions on how to roll one!

Another new guest in our delicious dishing session, Chef Girl Paige goes out to Earl's for Girls' Night. No better way to graze than with your BFFs!

The Happy Sorceress takes her family to Ginza for sushi, and Stephanie does pretty well with finding vegetarian things for herself, with things like tempura, kappa maki, and the most beautiful inarizushi I've seen this year.

Oh, my favorite glutton, Augustus Gloop who, this time, grabs chopsticks instead of a fork! Off our little AG goes to zen out with, of all things, yum cha at Zilver. No cacophonous clang, no chaotic din, no surly service, just gorgeous photos of har gow and siu mai.

Pam of Daily Gluttony extols the tiny izakaya plates at Musha in Santa Monica, but makes me laugh bemoaning how the tabletop was too small to fit them all! Best looking dish of the night is the risotto scooped right out a wheel of Parm.

Up in Cleveland, Stuart shares six little dishes at a restaurant that wins the prize for cutest name ever, The Flying Fig. (I love Figs.) Scallops, gnocchi, carpaccio...and ends with a molten chocolate cake.

Oh, it's Valentine's Day for Cat and her playmate of Chocolate and Sage. Instead of jetting off to Torino for romantic Italian food, they keep it real with a 10-course dinner at Valentino in Santa Monica.

They made me wait, but was it ever worth it. The always riotous Chopper and Mrs. D of Belly Timber! are off to Fong Chong for Chinese. Personally, I think they go there just so they can say "Fong Chong" out loud. LOL!

Say "Culinarily Curious" five times fast, then if you're not too tongue tied, you can go to Nibblers Eatery, a wine bar in the East Bay for cheesecake fritter with a guava coulis. Yes, you read right. Cheesecake fritters. Brilliant.

Always fashionable, and this time a little fashionably late (though I forgive her because she calls me a peach), Rachael takes a night off from her own Fresh Approach Cooking and dances off to uber-hip Cha Cha Cha in LA's Silverlake for spicy Caribbean tapas, and of course, sangria.

So, here we are now, at the very end of the table, and 'tis your humble hostess Twinkie, with a raging hangover from way too much ume shu, a massive food coma after eating skewer after skewer off the robata grill at Shin Sen Gumi in Torrance, and slightly traumatized after plucking up a chicken heart with her chopsticks.

Thank you to everyone who came to this 6th delicious dishing session of a party! (And thank you for your patience!) It was great fun, and I'm certainly looking forward to the next one. Who knows where we'll make our next reservation...

tags :: food : and drink : restaurants : reviews : events : dine and dish : los angeles