Nap Time!

I'm taking advantage of morning nap time (which began this morning at 7:45 since the little monkey is slightly jet lagged and was up at 5:45 with Grandma and Grandpa!) to bring you this little summertime treat. Growing up, we always celebrated birthdays at The North Woods Inn. For those of you who live in the Southern California area, it is the crazy looking restaurant in La Mirada off the 5 with snow on the roof. While it looks rather kitchy, the food is fantastic! The restaurant is decorated with tasteful taxidermy animals (gross), old hunting rifles, snow shoes, cabin-worthy paintings, etc. It is reminiscent of an old school winter retreat in the mountains. Anyfood, every meal begins with their signature salads: the red cabbage salad and the white lettuce salad and TO DIE FOR cheese bread. I sometimes wonder if we merely go for the starters and just stay for the entrees. BUT, the scallops are delish along with the bake potato with cheese butter. Yes, cheese butter. DELISH! So, the LA Times food section published one of the salad recipes and we've been devouring it ever since. It is a lovely take on slaw and perfect for a picnic, BBQ, or as a side to steak - yum!

Pretending to be North Woods Red Cabbage Salad
(I doubled this recipe for a party of 20 and had left overs)

Ingredients

1/2 head read cabbage
1/2 cup veggie oil
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp seasoned salt (like Lawry's)
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp onion powder (I used about 1/4 of a small white onion chopped finely)

Instructions

Shred cabbage irregularly into bowl Add oil, vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper and onion. Let stand several hours or overnight to allow flavors to blend. Adjust seasoning as necessary (I found that after sitting over night, it needed a little more salt). BE CAREFUL: the juice that results from letting it stand can be stain-alicious!

California vacation update: the Lads were sports fans last night :) We are having SO MUCH FUN with cousin time!! They are absolutely adorable together. There is a little grabbing and some tears on someone's part (hmm...who do you think?), but in general they follow each other around and trade toys. Next post I will share the avocado incident :)