Archive for the ‘life’ Category

New Year, New Resolutions

January 4th, 2010

Happy New Year everyone!

I haven’t given much thought to resolutions for this year. I figured that I would just keep the same ones I come up with every year, but stumbling upon this website gave me inspiration to add some new ones to my list. I don’t like making more than a few resolutions a year, because the more resolutions the harder I find it to remember them throughout the year. This New Year’s Resolution generator website was very entertaining and if you need a little help on resolutions this generator is perfect for you! What did you decide to pick? Here are my picks:

This was a helpful reminder for me, because I almost never back up my files. Two years ago I learned my lesson after my computer crashed and I didn't back up a lot of my files. So, this year I promise to do it as often as I can remember. Which is more than once, I hope...

This was a helpful reminder for me, because I almost never back up my files. Two years ago I learned my lesson after my computer crashed and I didn't back up a lot of my files. So, this year I promise to do it as often as I can remember. Which is more than once, I hope...

This year I defnintely want to create more desserts, crafts, and make use of my brand new sewing machine.

This year I defnintely want to create more desserts, crafts, and make use of my brand new sewing machine.

This resolution sounds like fun...have a few friends over, cook a good meal, drink some wine, and serve the ultimate dessert to top off the evening. I will defnitely update you guys when this happens haha.

This resolution sounds like fun...have a few friends over, cook a good meal, drink some wine, and serve the ultimate dessert to top off the evening. I will definitely update you guys when this happens haha.

This one made me laugh...I like tomatoes, but I can't promise that I'd ever eat it like an apple.

This one made me laugh...I like tomatoes, but I can't promise that I'd ever eat it like an apple.

Welcome!

July 8th, 2009

I decided it was time for a change, so here’s my newly revamped blog. Enjoy!

Afternoon Tea

March 22nd, 2009

Yesterday, I had afternoon tea with a few friends at the Scarlet Tea Room. It was my first time having tea at this location and I was surprised to find myself sitting in a very formal dining room, adorned with crystal chandeliers and gold fixtures everywhere. I felt like I was having tea at the Ritz Carlton. The tea service seemed pretty traditional, it was a 5 course meal in which we were given a variety of tea sandwiches (with the crusts cut off of course), freshly made scones, an assortment of petit desserts, and different pots of tea. Oh and how could I forget the palate cleanser! We started off with a raspberry sorbet palate cleanser (very fancy schmancy). Overall, the tea service was great, but I have to say that I do prefer going to cozier tea establishments. This place was way too refined for me. And at $40 a person, this is a once in a blue moon tea party for me.


Raspberry Sorbet Palate Cleanser


Scones – We had 3 different types: Cinnamon, Apricot Ginger, and Vanilla


Tea Sandwiches


Very Berry Tea – Tasted like Tazo tea from Starbucks…not one of my favorites.


I need to find myself a tea pot like this. Very cute.


I liked this tea pot design a lot.


Our dessert assortment


Strawberries Romanoff – 2nd dessert course

Oh Happy Day!

October 15th, 2008

I GOT TO MEET GIADA! I’m tired, but extremely happy. After waiting in line for 2 hours, I was finally able to meet my favorite Food Network chef. I went to Giada De Laurentiis’ book signing today at Williams-Sonoma for her new cookbook “Giada’s Kitchen: New Italian Favorites”. The wait was long, but my 60 seconds with her was worth it. What you see on tv is what you get when you meet Giada. She is very nice and sweet and also really pretty and petite in person. I don’t know how she keeps fit when she makes such good food. Despite the long wait, Williams-Sonoma helped keep us going by offering us samples of soup and an appetizer which were all recipes from Giada’s new cookbook. I thought that was really great and thoughtful of them.

As for her new cookbook, I can’t wait to try out the recipes. I have to say that this cookbook is definitely a lot better than her first one. I love the fact that almost each recipe has a great picture of the final product and there’s even some pictures of Giada in the process of making her recipes in a step by step fashion. Her first cookbook “Everyday Italian”, lacked pictures and it really made the decision process hard when selecting a new recipe to try. A recipe can sound good, but having a picture can really make all the difference. I’ve already picked more than a dozen recipes I want to try, just from looking at the pictures alone. All the food looks so delicious and she came out with some pretty interesting recipes that sound strange, but after taking a look at the picture, it actually looked pretty appetizing. Two particular recipes that stood out to me were the Tomato, Watermelon, & Basil Skewers and also her Cantaloupe, Red Onion, & Walnut Salad. I know it sounds weird, but after seeing the pictures you’d want to try the recipe out too. I’ll keep you guys posted when I finally narrow down and choose a recipe to make!


Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take pictures with her, so this is the best I could get.


Giada’s New Cookbook


My signed copy of the book! YAY!


Giada’s 1st Cookbook. Don’t mind the yellow flags…I like to tag the recipes I want to try haha.


I got her to sign this book too! Double YAY!

Birthday Indulgences

September 15th, 2008

Yesterday was my birthday and the entire week leading up to it, was just filled with stress. I was stressed out planning a joint birthday party that we didn’t really pull together until the very last minute, but in the end it all worked out and on top of that I had some weird ailment which was a combination of sinus/ear pressure and ear/headaches…on a side note I felt like my head was going to explode on Saturday when I was driving to the mountains and the elevation just heightened the pressure and pain even more. Anyway, I’m much better now (Sudafed and Advil are my best friends) and I was able to celebrate my birthday yesterday the way I like it…lots of sweets, food, and shopping! I totally overindulged yesterday, but hey what’s a birthday without forgetting about everything and just enjoying life, right? So, yesterday I started off my day with a Starbucks Java Chip Frappucino and as I was standing in line, I happened to notice this cute pink cupcake staring back at me in the pastry display, it had birthday cupcake written all over it, so I bought it haha. Sometime during the day, I also had a piece of my large Mrs. Fields Cookie that a friend gave me, by this time I was already on a sugar overload. Dinner was definitely my favorite part of the day, my boyfriend and I went to this restaurant called Savannah, its a “contemporary American restaurant featuring regional cooking with a Southern accent”. One word: delicious. We started off with the Maine Lobster and Crayfish Bisque, which was really good and it came with a side of these freshly fried garlic potato chips, definitely my favorite part of the dish. You have to dip the chip in the bisque, it’s a must. Next, for our entrees we both ordered the Prime Colorado Rack of Lamb. It came with a side of Savannah potatoes, asparagus, & a sweet garlic jam. I love lamb, and this was definitely one of the best I’ve ever tried. AMAZING! Just perfectly cooked and seasoned. On to the next best part of dinner…dessert! We ordered a hot Scharffen Berger Chocolate Souffle which was baked to order. The presentation was nice, they brought the souffle to our table, scooped out a little hole, poured hot chocolate sauce inside, then a dollop of freshly whipped cream, and then one more pour of the chocolate sauce. It was rich, but so so good! I wish I could have eaten more of it, but the lamb had filled me up. So, that was the end of my wonderful overindulgent birthday…can’t wait until next year!


Birthday Cupcake


Giant Mrs. Fields Cookie


Lobster & Crayfish Bisque


Bisque with a side of garlic chips


BEST lamb ever.


Scharffen Berger Chocolate Souffle – chocolate heaven!

Sad Day

July 1st, 2008

I have a couple things to rant about…

1. I went to Corner Bakery the other week, I hadn’t been there for a while so I was looking forward to it and especially looking forward to getting a dream bar (aka seven layer bar – pretty much a dessert bar that has everything on it…choco chips, butterscotch chips, coconut, graham crackers)with my sandwich, but when I got there they said they don’t make them anymore! WTF!?! I felt just as sad that day as when I found out Marie Callendar’s had stopped making their Boston Cream Pie. I don’t understand how they come about to deciding that they’re going to stop making these desserts. The dream bar was good and so was the boston cream pie! So why do you guys always take away the desserts I like?

2. I went to Panera today and I decided to get a Cinnamon Crunch bagel with some cream cheese and when I looked at my receipt they charged me $1.50 for cream cheese! A little puny 2 oz container of cream cheese…50 cents I understand, but $1.50?!? The cream cheese cost more than my freakin’ bagel…ridiculous.

Long Time No Blog

June 3rd, 2008

My apologies for not blogging for an entire month…I’ve been away, well actually I was on vacation for 2 weeks. But, the week before I left, I was busy packing and getting ready and it took me another week to back into the swing of things. So, I guess that accounts for the whole month I’ve been absent here. So, this week I’ve decided to go on a baking frenzy. I’m planning to make a variety of things that I’ve been wanting to make for a while now such as scones, red velvet cupcakes, and creme brulee. Update about the torch: I have not bought a torch yet, but that’s on my to-do list this week, so keep an eye out for my post about that.

Happy New Year!

January 4th, 2008

2008!?! Wow, time flies by so quickly! I hope your New Year is starting off nicely, sadly my first day this year didn’t go so smoothly. So, here’s a recap of my New Years Day: I fell down the stairs, but I managed to not injure myself severely (last time I fell down the stairs, I sprained my ankle). So far my whole body has been sore, especially my neck. Later on the same day, I almost got into a car accident because some kid was on his cell phone and tried to merge into my lane without looking. I can’t wait until July 1st…(for those of your who are out of state, July 1st is the official day when California drivers cannot use their cellphones while driving). I really do feel like the roads will be safer, without idiots on their phones all the time and not paying attention.

On to baking news, or well this is news to me. I just found out that dragees (those little edible metallic balls you decorate with) are illegal in California! This completely explains why I never saw them in stores the last few years. I remember looking for them at Sur la Table and a few big name craft stores, but I never bothered to ask. I just assumed you could only get them at specialty baking stores. Apparently they’ve been illegal since 2003, because someone filed a lawsuit claiming that dragees are considered toxic since they contain trace amounts of metal. But, seriously you would have to eat millions of them before anything happens…toxic or not I still want to use them…

Long Time No Blog

September 18th, 2007

Sorry, for the long absence! Life, traveling, and the death of my laptop have kept me pretty busy. So, I just got a new laptop a couple days ago! Thanks to my boyfriend I am now the proud owner of an HP Pavilion Verve Special Edition dv2550se notebook. I fell in love with the design when I first saw it, and its only available at BestBuy. Some of the special perks about this laptop: nice sleek design, built in webcam, comes with a remote that fits inside the laptop, extended life battery, and it has light scribe disc labeling. Oh and of course, Windows Vista! I like the new Vista, but its definitely going to take a little while to get used to.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

July 26th, 2007

Don’t worry there are no spoilers in this entry! I just finished the final book of the Harry Potter series the other night and as much as liked reading how everything happens in the end, I couldn’t help but feel a little sad that there wouldn’t be anymore books. I’ve been reading Harry Potter since highschool and now it feels like a chapter has ended in my life as well. Funny, how it makes you feel like its the end of an era. But, anyway if you haven’t read any of the books, I suggest you do! At least for now, I can still look forward to the rest of the Harry potter movies. Yay!