I’d say I just about fit that description! I mean, I did love Ubuntu. I’d read about the restaurant in the Times a few years ago and had had it on my must-eat list steadily since then. Finally, a reason to go emerged! We were invited upstate (as I like to call it) by some friends to do a photos hoot and after an exciting day of picture taking, it seemed all too perfect to go grab ourselves a plate of vegetables.

Ubuntu is a restaurant, garden, and yoga studio. And, while we didn’t go check out the garden or yoga, the restaurant itself provided for a very zenned out environment. And the food was just fabulous. I liked that, though they serve only vegetarian cuisine, it’s not really “about” that, per se. It’s more like going to a fun, sexy restaurant and the food just happens to be veg (or, vegan upon request). We started with Chickpeas in Romesco Sauce from the bar and then devoured a Carrot Salad that had been seasoned with ras el hanout, a spice I recently learned about while doing cookbook testing. It’s a gazillion sweet and savory spices all mixed into one – sort of like a curry. We carried on with a tangy pasta, a sweet corn steamed bun with burrata and an amazing yellow bean chili. We were on the fence with the chili but it ultimately ended up being one of the favorites of the evening. The crispy toasts afloat in the middle of the bowl did the trick

As if things weren’t going yummy enough.. when the dessert menu arrived, I had a mental break down – literally everything looked good. The best thing ended up being the corn pudding- Ambrosial! I could have dove into a swimming pool of the stuff. It was laced with popcorn which tasted like butterscotch and sweet peaches and blueberries from outside. Left a very very good taste in my mouth. I think a return visit is a must.

Ladies and gents, Joy and I have reunited for yet another bake out session.  This time we feast on Bread Pudding.

Bake Out with Jill & Joy EP02 from all things delicious on Vimeo.

I was making a pizza last week.  It had roasted potatoes on it and olive tapenade. I had a friend over and she really liked it. Then the next night I wanted more. The great thing about my thinking around pizza is that it’s relatively undefined. I think of pizza as flatbread with stuff on it, cut in either squares or triangles.

I had leftover chimichurri from something else I was working on and bought a bunch of meaty portabellas. I get the whole wheat Traders Joes dough. I sauteed the mushrooms and used the chimichurri in place of red sauce. Then I topped it with the mushrooms and added some caramelized onions at the last minute.

I highly recommend doing this. It all took about 10 minutes and it was absolutely delightful.

I used to do a section called What to Wear. It was my favorite section. But I got lazy taking pics of myself – it’s weird! However, for the most recent Bake Out shoots, I had to plan things out a bit…email around with Joy, etc and just to whet your appetite a tiny bit, I wanted to share an outfit… and reveal what we’ll be baking up next!

Here I am wearing a Tsumori Chisato balloon mini plus H&M shoes. … get stoked for BERRY PIE!

Joy and I have been busy baking out this week. We’ve got a few more episodes of our series… Here are some sneak peaks.

Not the same for anyone.

A few yummy pics from a house party we did a few weeks back.

Looking pretty good… Giving cred where cred is due.

Last night after driving 12 hours from a Memorial Day blowout crawfish boil in Park City, we finally got back to the LA area around 11:30p. Passing through the SGV, we decided to stop for some late night Chinese snacks at Dragon Mark, which I kept calling Snack Dragon.. a mexican late night place in NYC. We had a bevy of dumplings and pancakes. Favorites were veggie steamed dumplings and scallion pancake. We got two. All = perfect.

Joy the Baker and I launched our series today… Bake Out With Jill & Joy. Cooking Channel listen up! We mean… watch! It’s not even 9am here in LA and almost 1100 people have watched the video already. Bing bing bing bing!!!

Here’s the video… but head over to Joy’s blog to leave a comment.  You could win a spatula, whisk, or Culinista Kitchen Bundle! (you can leave a comment here too… but won’t get a prize) Oh la la! Happy Memorial Day Weekend! This week has been bananas!

Bake Out with Jill & Joy from all things delicious on Vimeo.