Did you know that the majority (15) of the store front businesses on Upper Girard Avenue are owned by women?

That is cause for celebration!!!

We offer art, beauty, cooking, fashion, fitness, food and home decor. As Mother’s Day approaches, let us salute all the mighty women of La Jolla with an afternoon in our honor. A bit of time to explore the avenue, gab with a girlfriend, grab a bite, indulge, and enjoy. 

Please join us on May 11th from 12:00-5:00 pm when these women-owned businesses offer WOMEN A TREAT and “SHOP THE TOP”!

ARMONES CORE CONNECTION: coupon for a free class and a discount
on massages. Both are subject to availability.

ARRICIA ITALIAN MARKET: $2 off any soup, salad or sandwich.

ELIZABETH ALLEN ATELIER: free lip balm with every $30 purchase.

GIRARD NAIL & SKIN CARE: coupon for $2 off any service (over $10).

GRACIE & CO: enter a raffle for $100 gift certificate.

HARVARD COOKIN’ GIRL: free cookies and a raffle to attend an Iron Chef
competition.

PANNIKIN: $1 regular coffee.

RICA BOUTIQUE: a super sale, free drinks and a special surprise for all.

ROSS THIELE & SON: enter a raffle for a one-hour design consultation.

SYMPHONY HOME DÉCOR: 25% off plus a $50 gift card to a neighboring
Boutique with purchases over $500.

TALISA HAIR & BOUTIQUE: enter raffle for a free hair cut and blow dry.

MY ART SHED: Free Family Art 12-4pm, plus free lesson giveaways and
prizes. ‘Create and Play, the My Art Shed way!’

THE FADED AWNING: enter a raffle for $50 gift certificate.

Questions? Please contact Elizabeth@elizabethallen.com

To think about it, we live in a world where we deal more with bits and bytes in our digital world that we can almost do everything without moving away from our computer. The world is literally at our fingertips…we can order clothes, books, shoes, food. We can register, review, pay bills, scan checks, open the garage door, set the fridge and pool temperature….you name it we can do it with our keyboard.

One of the rare exceptions to this truth is that regardless of everything, we still have to feed our bodies 3 or more times a day with FOOD so other than bits and bytes, we also need to BITE onto something. Therefore we are what we eat or what we nourish ourselves with. I prefer to think that I nourish myself and not simply eat. I would also like us to enjoy what we eat because that’s one of the most basic yet sophisticated pleasurable acts in the world. I like to create an ambiance, a setting, a temple for this act.

People who come often to HCG or even stop by to have a cup of tea with me, say that HCG is their temple.  I believe that people need a place to connect which is not their home or office but a THIRD PLACE, a go to place…that’s why Starbucks is successful. That’s why starbucks offering Wi Fi and music can take over countries such as France, Austria, Italy and Turkey with such great coffeehouse and teahouse traditions.

In my own humble and simple way, I have tried to create a world beyond bits and bytes…a place where every bite counts and you can be at home away from home and meet new friends and enjoy great food.

PS_Bites is something people do with their teeth.

       Bits, on the other hand, are 1s or 0s representing the state of a switch, in binary form.

      A byte is a binary word, consisting of 8 bits.

I was 16 when a fortune teller told me that I would live the majority of my life outside my birth country. She made me laughed so hard.  Now thirty years later, I see that the fortune teller was alas right.

So over the years, I have not only been soul searching like most people of my own age but I have also been searching the earth for my tribe….one that truly only exists in my heart and memory, in my olfactory when all of a sudden I smell the rain hit the dirt on a summer afternoon.

Do you agree with me? if so, you are part of my tribe:)

So more and more people are asking me what it takes for an unusual business with no blueprint, to succeed. I had to think about it hard myself not to give a knee jerk answer. Mostly, I would say that like everything else in life, there is a price to pay for anything including success.

When I opened the doors of my studio in La Jolla in 2009, most businesses were closing their doors. Some were in business for 50 years. The main street started to look like ghost town. The part of the street I was in didn’t have much foot traffic. All these factors contributed to my ability to negotiate a good lease and terms. Also my fundraising abilities and my connections helped me secure sponsors such as SieMatic, Fixtures Living, Inplace, etc.

I enjoyed a great reputation in business and fundraising circles but I wasn’t a known entity in culinary circles and I was a business graduate not a graduate of the Cordon Bleu. If you were a betting man, you would see all odds stacked against me and that’s what all the best-meaning people were trying to tell me. Only those who knew me well enough to know that failure is never an option, encouraged me to move forward.

If there is one factor I would describe as crucial and critical is determination and faith in success. Also, I have always believed that there is magic in doing or as the great American philosopher NIKE says: Just do it! There is so much gymnastics you can do before jumping in the pool, so many business plans you can write before doing it. I guess we never know if we are right or wrong unless we try it but yes there is magic in doing.

There is also a small luck factor as there is a gut factor but nothing beats determination and hard work. I worked round the clock for two years doing the shopping, the chopping, the cleaning, the teaching, the cooking, the training, the booking, the marketing, the accounting, and then some. In the process, I missed my kids’ concerts, important dates and milestones while I had to put a smile on my face and entertain other people’s milestones. But all in all success is possible even in a down economy so keep at it and do your heart’s work.

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From a successful career in the World Bank to a thriving presence in the corporate world Bibi Kasrai has had a remarkable life, so remarkable that she has been one of the few to be interviewed by Harvard MBA program admissions. Yet despite all of her corporate success and her Harvard MBA, Bibi decided to leave the business world and pursue her true passion – cooking. She dropped her high-paying career and joined a non-profit organization, where she began baking cookies, thus obtaining the name “Harvard Cookie Girl.”

The “Harvard Cookie Girl” soon broadened her culinary horizons towards creating full gourmet meals and turned into the Harvard Cookin’ Girl. With her world travels and cultural experiences, Bibi has been able to cook gourmet food with recipes from around the world, including the French cuisine, which Bibi agrees to be a fundamental piece in the kitchen.

Bibi’s Harvard Cookin’ Girl studio in La Jolla offers an intimate cooking experience that places a large emphasis on healthy, natural dishes. In fact, when I had the opportunity to visit her studio to learn some Cuisine Française, Bibi explained that she always chooses regions where the food is the healthiest. For our Cuisine Française lesson, Bibi took me through the taste of the south of France with an exquisite Ratatouille on baguette appetizer followed by Poulet à la Provençale, with a Persian touch, as the main course. Bibi finished the lesson with the famous Tarte Tatin, pleasing even the chef and former owner of four restaurants who was sitting beside me. It is, therefore, with no hesitation that the SDFACC would like to recognize the Harvard Cookin’ Girl as a feature San Diegan business for its uniqueness, quality and promotion of the French Culture.

4-6 glasses of red wine (you could use white too)

a few grains of star anise

1 cinnamon stick

a few cardamom pods

8 amaretto biscuits crushed

8 TBSP runny honey

vanilla ice cream or crème fraiche

Combine the wine, spices, and honey in a medium saucepan, add the pears, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until a knife slides easily through the center of each pear. Carefully remove poached pears and continue to simmer the wine for about an hour, or until it thickens.

To serve, half the pears and scoop out the core. Center a scoop of ice cream on the pear and generously drizzle sauce over all. Sprinkle with amaretti biscotti, garnish with  mint, and enjoy!

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Description:

“Iron Chef 2″ comes to HCG.

We are excited to showcase this new series. If you missed out on the first “Iron Chef” be sure to not miss out on #2.

Two chefs will battle in the kitchen each making two different dishes. Each having one and half hour broken into 45 minute blocks to make their dishes.

These chefs will be battling for bragging rights, and a chance to win an ongoing cooking segment

at HCG. You the audience, get to be the judges. You will not only judge the food on quality, creativity, but also on how

the chefs present and entertain.

Meet our chefs

Jennifer Hamilton has always had a passion for cooking, so when she and her family moved to northern Italy for 3 1/2 years she took the opportunity to learn as much as she could about the local foods and recipes.  As all Italians pride themselves on the quality of their own grandmother’s cooking, Jennifer got herself invited into as many homes as she could to learn the secret techniques, old wives tales, and herbs that each “nonna” used for her special dishes.  After becoming more comfortable with the regional cuisine and ingredients, she then began to speak with chefs at the “agriturismos” (farm house hotels or restaurants that grow all their own seasonal foods) to see how they prepared their meals.  Jennifer looks forward to sharing her stories, cooking secrets, and excitement about Italy with you!

Jill Drouin when asked what her cooking style is she replied, “healthy comfort food” with my own twist. Jill has always been passionate about making great dishes for her family and friends, and over the years has developed a deep love for authentic cusine with unique flavors. When this girl next door cooks she uses only the best ingredients possible and turns them into something special and unexpected. We are excited to showcase her talent here at HCG and see if she can withstand the heat of Iron Chef.

 Menu:

Italian cuisine theme

TBA

If you have allergies please notify branko@harvardcookingirl.com

we may or may not be able to accommodate you

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Description:

There is no such an animal called CURRY!!! it is a handmade and homemade blend of various spices from the Indian Subcontinent. Every cook has a secret for it. Come to the HCG kitchen to learn the secrets from the spice box to the pot. Make your own creamy curry and taste it on top of a naan. dessert and salad included.

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