Mexican Standoff

Amalia here, Guest Blogger Extraordinaire...Laurel prepared an amazing breakfast burger on a tater tot waffle with a side of arugula salad along with homemade fresh tomato bloody mary's (really the best I've ever had!).

Bloody Marys and Breakfast Burgers on Tater tot waffles

The egg is a little prettier here

Today's episode focused on Brenda's angsty relationship with her parents, Jim and Cindy, who are frustrated with her constant curfew lapses due to some hot make out scenes with Dylan (who has always been my favorite of the 90210 boys).

Brenda plots a sneaky plan to join Dylan on a surfing trip to Baja when her parents refuse to let her go. And in true 90's soap style, the trip turns out to be a disaster! Brenda and Dylan get in a fight because Dylan is a slutty, teenage boy and Brenda's not the first girl he's brought to Baja. Oh Dylan, those sideburns are too hard to resist!

And meanwhile, back in B.H., Kelly is hitting on the sexy Jake from Melrose Place...wait, how old is this dude?? Uh oh, I smell trouble...

Mark here...Amalia did a great job of summing things up! Basically, Brenda and Dylan plot this Mexican getaway, and because we must have a lesson for the teenagers, things go amuck!  Of course, they do end up having fun but at first Brenda pouts after finding out Dylan brought another girl to Baja while she and Dylan were "on a break"!  Sigh...   Eventually they make up and end up dancing at a restaurant, succeeding in being the whitest people in Mexico.

Blending right in

Meanwhile, Brandon and Kelly provide cover for Brenda with the Walshes and seem to be a little annoyed with it.  Kelly though is distracted with sexy Jake from Melrose Place. Where does he live? Oh "this little place off Melrose, nothing special".  He's doing construction at Kelly's house and is clearly double Kelly's age! Scandal!  We also get another reference to Steve's ongoing crush on Kelly, which is the most boring subplot.

One funny part is when Andrea gets wind of Brenda and Dylan's trip and promptly tries to plan a group trip to hone in on their romantic getaway. Oh Andrea.

In the end, Dylan and Brenda get stopped at the border coming back to the US and Brenda has forgotten her I.D.  Cliffhanger! Really, this is pre-9/11, I doubt the border guards would care too much about 2 obviously american teenagers, but we need to have a lesson about lying to your parents!

Hey Laurel here...I can't wait to find out what happens?!?  Are Jim and Cindy really going to find out?!?

Style award this episode goes to....Dylan!   For his sleeveless wetsuit/mom jeans combo.  Way to go Dylan!  Also the reception desk at Dylan and Brenda's baja hotel, which was wearing a mexiacn blanket.  Arriba!

(Style Honorable mention also goes to Dylan for making a Hawaiian shirt look surprisingly hip - it must be those damn sideburns!)

Cocktail moment is when Jake asks Kelly, "Are you going to be around?"  to which she replies "Why, do you need someone to hold your level?"  Dirty girl.  Dirty dirty teenage girl.

Breakfast/brunch pizza

Mark here...I was inspired to try this recipe after reading this blog post:

http://garlicgirl.com/2011/09/05/breakfast-pizza/

I'm generally not a fan of anything that looks remotely like baking, but this seemed pretty easy...although I still managed to get flour everywhere in my kitchen...

I used the dough recipe from http://chefchuckscucina.blogspot.com 

Ingredients

Dough:

4 1/2 cups of flour

2 cups warm water

1 tablespoon of yeast

1 tablespoon of sugar

2 tablespoons of olive oil

2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon of kosher salt

Topping:

Fresh Mozzarella

2 eggs

2 heirloom tomatoes

prosciutto

fresh baby arugula

I made the dough and put it in the fridge overnight.  Begin by adding the yeast to the water and let it dissolve about 15-20 minutes.  Then add the sugar, olive oil and vinegar to it. Mix the flour and salt in a food processor and then slowly add the water mixture to this.  Eventually a ball will form.  Tip the ball onto a floured board and knead until it gets less sticky.  Add more flour if necessary.  Oil a bowl and put the ball into it, cover with a towel and let it rest/expand.  It needs 2 hours, but mine was in the fridge overnight.

When ready, preheat the oven to 500F and lay out the flour into the shape you want your pizza.  You will need a bit more flour and then transfer to a cookie sheet or pizza stone.  One mistake I made was letting the pizza get too thick.  There's a reason they do all that flipping and tossing in a pizzeria!  I plan on trying pizza again to get it right but basically the center should be thin.

After laying it out I sliced and layed out mozzarella and heirloom tomatoes and then prosciutto bits.  I originally put some baby arugula but this is best added when the pizza comes out of the oven so it can slightly wilt.  Put the pizza in the oven for about 5-7 minutes.  In the meantime crack the eggs into separate bowls.  Remove the pizza and add the eggs on top.  Cook another 5-7 minutes or until the eggs are done.  I like mine white but the yolks runny.  Remove the pizza and sprinkle with arugula and serve...

Cardio-Funk

Mark here...Laurel and I are on to the next episode of 90210, "Cardio-Funk".  I've made my first attempt at pizza.  This is a breakfast/brunch version.  it turned out ok, although in the future I will know to thin the crust a bit more.

Anyway, on to the episode...this one was a bit of a snore.  The title refers to the pseudo-aerobics class that Kelly and Brenda have joined.  Of course, Brenda scandalously meets some buff dude who is clearly interested in her.  Meanwhile, said buff dude looks 37 and gay.  But regardless, Kelly teases Brenda and Brenda acts "confused" by the attention. She is after all, dating Dylan...

Dylan has his own distraction.  I forget the girls name but it doesn't matter...he meets a needy girl in AA.  This girl says train wreck from a mile away!  Every scene she is in screams "wah wah..."  Also, the show manages to make entering AA seem like the most life-sucking experience ever!  Like, goodbye life, from now on I'll just wear black and reminisce about when I used to be fun.  Really encouraging!!

There's a subplot about the Peach Pitt getting a karaoke machine...wackiness ensues, but I'll let Laurel divulge that....

Hi Laurel here...Yeah Jim gets a karaoke machine from some client for the peach pit but Jim is the only one who is into it, it didn't create any new business like Nat was hoping.  OMG Jim Walsh is totally obsessed with karaoke.  He only sings songs from before 1965.  That's probably because of licensing the music for the show but it also makes sense that Jim would only croon the oldies.  If he wasn't so terrible it might be funny.

The girl Dylan is trying to rescue is super boring, and of course she is back on the sauce by the end of the episode so his attempts at rescue were futile.

Cocktail moment is anytime somebody goes to an AA meeting, which happens a lot this episode because of that dumb girl.

Our favorite quote this episode...It turns out Brandon and Brenda know the super boring girl from AA because she was surfing drunk one time and almost drowned, but Brandon and Brandon rescue her (the twins nail it again!).   When Dylan tells Brandon that he saw her at he meeting and that she remembers him Brandon replies "That's because I give great mouth to mouth"  Way to be super cheesy and an asshole at the same time Brandon!

Style award this episode goes to...Brenda!  For her sweat pants camel toe.  Way to hike up those cut off sweats Brenda!

Duck Confit Hash

I got the inspiration for this recipe from this blog post, though I changed some details (and made Laurel's with sausage instead of duck):

http://eatlikeagirl.com/2013/12/08/duck-confit-hash-for-sunday-breakfast-recipe/

Ingredients:

Duck Leg Confit (I bought mine from McCall's Meat and Fish already prepared) or breakfast sausage
Duck Fat (The duck leg I bought was great, but did not include enough fat for the potatoes)
Potatoes, cubed for hash
Red Onion, sliced in half moons
eggs
white wine vinegar
salt
pepper
parsley

Begin by boiling the potatoes until tender and then drain.  While they are boiling fry the onions on a medium low heat in duck fat (about 2 tablespoons) until they brown and carmelize. Be careful not to get too hot or they will blacken not brown.

Heat the duck leg in about a 350 degree oven until warm.  The confit doesn't really need to cook so just make sure its warm and the skin is crisp then remove from the oven.  Alternatively, if you are using sausage, heat a tablespoon or so of the duck fat and remove the sausage from its casing and break up in the pan.  Allow it to brown...

Bring a saucepan of water to a boil, add salt and a few tablespoons of white wine vinegar.

In another pan, add 2 tablespoons of duck fat and brown the drained potatoes until they start to crisp.  Then add the onions and, if using, sausage.  If using duck confit, break up the leg meat and skin with a fork and add.

Drop 2 eggs in the boiling water and poach for about 2 and a half minutes.  Serve hash on a plate and top with poached egg and chopped parsley. Salt and pepper to taste and serve...

Potato Latke Breakfast

Mark here...this recipe started out as Jamie Oliver's Potato Latke Breakfast, but I made several changes...also my latkes could use some work as I'll explain below.

Ingredients (Latkes)

2 large potatoes
1 onion
2 eggs
salt
pepper
flour
vegetable oil

So I actually used 3 eggs as I had doubled the original recipe and this turned out a mistake ultimately.

Anyway, peel and then shred the potatoes in a food processor (shredding disc).  Then change blades and peel and insert the onion.  I used a blade to get half rings.  Salt and let the onions release liquid.  This is where recipes can differ as some suggest soaking the potatoes in water to remove the starch. Either way, the hardest part is removing the water.  You can wring them out in a towel as I did, but there always seems to be too much liquid!  Personally, I still need some practice with this part, as the best latkes come from the driest potatoes.
In any case, mix the potatoes and onions with some salt and pepper, and about 3 tablespoons flour, and 2 eggs.  Heat about 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large frying pan and begin molding latkes, not too big.  Place them in the pan and cook each side until golden. Set aside on a cookie sheat and put in a 200 degree oven to stay warm.

Ingredients (The rest)

Arugula
Breakfast sausages
2 eggs
white wine vinegar
salt

For the rest, I found breakfast sausages (they are smaller) and broiled them about 5 minutes a side.  I soft poached the eggs in salted water (with about 2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar) for 2:30 minutes.

Assembly

Start with a latke on a plate, top with arugula, then 2 sausages and finally the egg (we made enough for 2).

Wildfire

Mark here...we're on to the next episode of Beverly Hills 90210 Season 2.  I made us a variation of Jamie Oliver's Potato Latke Breakfast.  I substituted sausage for smoked fish and arugula for watercress.  Laurel made us Orange Aperol Sun cocktails that are fantastic and have the perfect color for a brunch cocktail!

On to the episode!  Emily Valentine shows up!  This adds a bit of excitement.  The summer episodes were a bit of a slog, aside from the camping trip and so Emily definitely adds some spice to the group.  She shows up in bad girl attire on her motorcycle and instantly makes dates with Dylan AND Brandon.  Clearly she's a slut according to the girls, who behave like a trio out of the movie Heathers.  Anyway, turns out Emily isn't a slut and just wants to make friends...although we're a little skeptical, she could tell Brenda was upset at her dating Dylan before she knew everything.  The girls make up and we're forced to endure perhaps the worst rendition of "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do".   One funny note is Andrea's pained reaction every time Emily shows up and peaks Brandon's interest.

Plotline 2 involves Scott (who we forgot about) from Season 1 showing up for the first day of school. He and David were friends, but David has become cool, and Scott has become, frankly, crazy.  Yes, apparently a summer in Oklahoma can turn you gun crazy.  I can't say I'm surprised.  It's also not the least bit subtle as Scott now wears a cowboy hat to school every day and listens to country...obviously a cry for help...

Hey Laurel here...not much to add except if Emily is trying to make friends maybe she shouldn't date the same girl's brother and boyfriend her first 2 nights in town!  Oh, and date two guys back to back nights who are best friends!

This episode is chock full of great outfits!  The style award for me is a toss up between Brenda's (men's) shirt and tie first day of school outfit and Emily Valentine's lacy bike shorts/leather daddy hat/pearls ensemble she wear to preform the aforementioned torturous rendition of "breaking up is hard to do".

I think our cocktail moment was anytime David and Scott refer to guns, the sat of which is when David says to Scott "Hey man, ease up with the guns ok?"  Not enough David, not enough.

Our favorite quote is a Brenda gem...Emily Valentine tells the girls that her mom has scheduled her an appointment at the Gynocologist to get some birth control pills.  Apparently her older sisters have had to make some hard choices.  Later when Brenda sees Emily in the hall they get into a little tif which Brenda ends by saying "Have a GREAT time at the gynecologist" and storms off.  Way to burn her Brenda!

Bagels Brunch with Scrambled Eggs

Mark here...updating last week's Beverly Hills 90210 brunch...I started with Barefoot Contessa's recipe and improvised....

Bagels with Herb Cream Cheese and Toppings

Ingredients

Bagels (We got ours from local bagel shop Brooklyn Bagel Bakery on Beverly in LA)
1 8 oz pack of cream cheese (room temperature)
fresh dill
scallions
parsley
smoked salmon
prosciutto
heirloom tomatos
red onion
1 tablespoon milk
salt and pepper

First chop the herbs.  I didn't use the original recipes amounts, I just winged it with about a handful of each?  See below

3 scallions

and handful of dill

and a bit more of parsley and throw everything into the food processor

Blitz it together to get a fairly even chop...

At this point, add the cream cheese, milk and a couple pinches each of salt and pepper...mix some more until the whole thing is an even green and put it in a serving bowl.

Then slice the tomatoes and red onions (in half rings), and lay out the smoked salmon and prosciutto all on a serving platter and its ready!

Scrambled Eggs

Ingredients

4 eggs
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons cream
salt and pepper

Most everyone knows how to scramble eggs I realize, but I'm just documenting how I did it!  First crack the eggs in a bowl and whisk.  Melt the butter in a frying pan and add the eggs.  Stir constantly and as the liquid has almost all evaporated, add the cream and salt and pepper to taste.  Cokk about one minute more then remove from heat and serve.