Yesssss Yogurtland Spoons!!!

Tonight my friend Katherine and our husbands rewarded ourselves with Yogurtland after the gym! And to make it better? It's the start of The Hello Kitty Spoon Collection!!! What does that mean?? Every two weeks until the end of August a new Sanrio character is featured on their spoons! This week they released Hello Kitty. Next, the penguin guy! What was his name? I can't remember but his spoon will be a sky blue color. Very exciting! They are also selling cute key chains. I want. Can't wait for the next spoon to add to my collection!!!

Wine+Food=Happiness

View of the vines at Wiens

We’re anticipating a fun weekend coming up!  We’re going to Temecula for some wine tasting with friends!  Temecula is an awesome place to visit for the day or weekend.  From our place, it’s only about 45 minutes away without traffic but when I’m there I feel like I’m super far away on vacation.  This will be I think our fourth time out there for wine tasting (I’ve been out there many times for the Pechanga buffet! Haha) and anticipating some yummy wine tastings.

Wine Slushies...SURE!

We were in Temecula just a month ago for our first anniversary.  We stayed a night at the Temecula Creek Inn for their Taste of Wine Country package.  It included a chauffeured limo drive around the wine town to three wineries, dinner at their restaurant, and of course one night accommodations to nurture your wine hangover.   We went to three wineries: Wiens (our 2nd time), Frangipani, and Oak Mountain.  We loooooove Wiens.  They really understand that customer service + good wines = awesomeness.  We really want to join their wine club, but it may not be the best time for right now.  Maybe in the future when we win the lottery and become millionaires.  At Oak Mountain, they had wine slushies which was a first for us!  We had two rounds of that with the group we were with and it was quite refreshing sipping on them outside in the Temecula heat.

Crab Cake in a Jar- So cute!

PRIIIIIME RIB

Dinner at their restaurant was so yummy and fulfilled my I NEED BEEF craving and ultimately was the inspiration of my LEARN TO MAKE STEAK phase a couple of blogs ago.  We each got our own small appetizer, our own entrée, and our own dessert.  Now that I think about it, that’s a lot!!!  I felt I needed something fried and greasy to absorb the wine still in my system from the afternoon’s tasting so I got the calamari.  Husband got one of his fave—crab cake with crostinis.  It was presented to him in a cute little glass jar with sauce in it.  My little squid pieces tasted fresh and though I wanted greasy it was very light and crisp.  After finishing this first course, I was getting a little full but I knew I had so much to go because… I ordered the PRIME RIB!!!  I had scouted the restaurant’s menu online a couple of weeks before and saw they served prime rib on the weekends.  Hip hip hooray!!! Prime rib reminds me of the holidays when my mom would make it for Christmas Eve and it also reminds me of buffets.  I heart buffets.

Filet Mignon aka baby steak

Anyway, I ordered my prime rib medium rare and husband ordered the filet mignon.  Both came with a side of mashed potatoes and asparagus.  It was perfection.  The meat was juicy and succulent.  It was spiced just right and yes I ate every bit of it.  We had paired it with a bottle of Hart wine we purchased the last time we were in Temecula.  It was a blended red reserve and really enjoyable even after partaking in three winery tastings earlier that day.  We took our time finishing our meals over some nice conversations. 

Creme brulee is so yummay!

After the entrée period we still had dessert to go!  I ordered the crème brulee which is one of my favorites because it’s light and not too sweet.  The husband got his favorite… bread pudding.  It was a little heavy for me, but I enjoyed the raspberry drizzle with it.  By the end of the night, we were exhausted from the fullness we felt from eating all this food.  We barely were able to stumble out the door!  Just kidding, we weren’t stumbling, but we were super uber full.

Bread Pudding - Tim's favorite!

I’m so lucky that my husband is willing to indulge in nice dinners like these.  We do it only once in a while, but each time is such a treat worth spending on. 

Thank you, Pinterest...Salad in a Jar and Cookies!

Pinterest has been a popular Internet site for a while now where people can share ideas and inspiration with others. For those who use it it's like a virtual bulletin board of all the things you like! My boards (where you pin these ideas to) include Travel Thoughts, Taking Care of My Tummy (recipes), Cookie Decorating (for my new hobby), Fun Stuff (DIY random projects), and Makeup & Stuff.

I have found a lot of great ideas that I'd like to try from Pinterest. I'm bummed I didn't know about it when I was planning my wedding. But then again I think I would have gone crazy and overwhelmed with all the amazing ideas and pictures!!!

One of my favorite things to look up on Pinterest is recipes, especially easy and healthy ones! Salad in a jar has been around for a very long time. Google it and everyone has blogged about it. So here's my ode to salad in a jar too! :o)

It takes a lot of prep time but here's what I'm thinking...if I make all my lunches for the week, that means I get like 10 more minutes of sleeping in! Right? Just grab 'n go! I layered my jars with different kinds of dressing (Cesar, blue cheese and olive oil/balsamic vinegar). They say for your next layer to use something that isn't going to be soggy from the dressing. So I put carrots and onions. Then the rest you can do whatever you want! I included mushrooms, cucumbers, tomatoes, parm cheese, hard boiled eggs, hmm what else? I just remembered I forgot the olives. Tim wanted olives in his salads and I'll need to add those to our salads tomorrow morning. Thanks for the reminder! Then on top add the lettuce! I made two jars with romaine lettuce and the other two with spinach (for a spinach, Gorgonzola, cranberry, pecan salad). I'll let you know how it goes this week. I hope I don't get sick of salads though. That often happens but more because I get lazy in the mornings and don't want to go through the hassle of cutting everything up. Well here's the answer to that! I've read on other's blogs that the jars last for up to a week in the fridge so that's another plus!

Another Thank You Pinterest Shoutout goes to my new board I created last week for Cookie Decorating. I recently blogged about cookie favors from my friend's bridal shower and the cookies I have ordered from my former BTSA coach makes. That had inspired me to look up first: how to make cookies and second: how to decorate them!

I went off to my local Michael's store to pick up all the supplies I need for this new challenge. I got decorating bags, a new tip, meringue powder, sugar (lots of it), cookie cutter and food coloring. This hobby is pricey but I figured everyone I know is getting cookies for their birthdays and Christmas presents!!! :o)

My first batch of cookies were delish thanks to a recipe from allrecipes.com (http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/10402/the-best-rolled-sugar-cookies). I had a little issue with the royal icing though. There's a bunch of different recipes out there for this and I chose the one on Martha Stewart's website mostly because it was the easiest one with the least amount of ingredients. I often choose many of my recipes this way. Well this icing wasn't becoming the texture I wanted for the outlining of the cookie. I ended up adding some more sugar and mixed it more. It wasn't perfect but I was running out of time (and maybe some patience). I outlined my cookies and then also used it to "flood" or fill in the outline on the cookie. Overall I don't think it was that bad for my first time. I definitely need to work on this royal icing recipe and getting it to the right consistency. And I also need to practice having a steady hand when outline. But at the end of the day, I'm happy with the finished product and can't wait to make some more!! Whose birthday is next??? :o)

Shout Shout For Brussels Sprouts!

Brussels sprouts are my new favorite vegetable. I've been so scared of them for a longtime because they've gotten a bad rap all of my life. Maybe because the easiest way to cook them is to boil them as that makes then so boring and tasteless and just blaaaah.

Gee now that I think of it I can't remember when I first had good (I mean reaaaallllly good) Brussels sprouts. Husband, do you remember? I remember I ordered them in Seattle and it was amazingly delicious. I know I've ordered then elsewhere, oh well.

Random note: I'm watching Chopped right now at the same time as writing this and one of the secret ingredients is fried chicken. I love fried chicken.

Back to Brussels sprouts. Fresh N Easy grocery store carries a Brussels sprout kit that includes the beautiful green bulbs of goodness, Parmesan butter, Parmesan shavings and the almighty baconnnnnn. Craving this tonight I headed over to my FNE neighborhood grocery store. Blasphemy! They didn't have their little Brussels sprouts kit! Argh. I walked up and down the one produce aisle looking for it (do grocery store workers notice shoppers like me who always make like 5 rounds around the store before checking out? I always wondered about that). Luckily I found a small package of just Brussels sprouts. Then I picked up a package of bacon and some Parmesan cheese. Oh and then I picked up some prosciutto and oh and there was some shrimp on sale. I also looked for some figs (for a goat cheese, prosciutto, fig and honey pizza) but they didn't have any. I used to be a borderline shopping addict with clothes and shoes. Now I'm a borderline shopping addict with food. I don't know which one is worse.

On my way home I remembered an article online about grilling Brussels sprouts. Heck, why not? One less pan to wash in the end, right? So when I got home I busted out the skewers. OMG have you ever tried skewering Brussels sprouts? Nearly impossible. That article was all lies. Lies I tell you!!

Good thing I'm a super awesome professional amazing spectacular rad neat-o cook (haha not really)! To improvise I used some non stick grilling foil and threw all the green balls on it (after mixing it with olive oil, S&P). I don't know where we got this magical foil. Maybe my parents thought it was regular foil and then opened it to find holes all over it. Maybe they were at the dollar store, maybe it was a free trial when you buy a roll of the regular stuff. Who knows. Regardless, if you hate cleaning the grill every time you use it like I do, I suggest this fancy foil.

And then I thought, what the heck I'm going to grill the bacon too! And ya know, not bad. This sooo beats cleaning the bacon grease out of the pan afterwards! And then I thought again (I know there's a lot of thinking going on here), and bam! I cut up some red onions and threw those on the grill! They caramelized and sweetened up nicely.

After everything cooked on the grill I sprinkled on some Parmesan, let that melt a little, and scooped it all up onto my plate. Because I didn't put a huge lump of parm butter in this dish, it wasn't quite the same but still pretty good! I love the flavor of Brussels sprouts no matter what anyone else says about it.

And you know the best thing about eating Brussels sprouts? No one else likes them so I don't have to share and can eat them all by myself. :o)

Dinner & A Show

Happy 4th everyone!!! Don't be jealous but I went to my 5th Dream Theater concert last night at the Grove in Anaheim. I know, I know! I can barely hold in the excitement myself? Haha

What's nice about being working adults is that we can afford to purchase good seats to these concerts. I emphasize seats because I'm too short to stand in the mosh pit. Picture their typical fan type: men with long hair, wearing all black, and like to head bang to the beat. So I kind of fit in...besides the man part. Anyway me standing in the pit and I would just be swallowed. So it's always nice to have seats at these things.

Tim even splurged and added dinner to our tickets! So fancy! We shared our dishes of a wedge salad and fish n chips. I feel that if there's a healthy dish and a non healthy dish then it cancels it all out and the calories don't count. What? Huh? No one else thinks this way? Oh.

Tim's favorite Dream Theater song: Count of Tuscany
My favorite Dream Theater song: Hollow Years

Weekend Adventures, Part Dos

Our donut collection.  About $30 worth of goodness.

Tim/husband and I love to watch the Food Network channel and the Cooking channel.  In fact the majority of shows we DVR are on the Food Network Channel and the Cooking channel: Chopped, The Next Food Network Star, Restaurant Impossible, Best Thing I Ever Made, Best Thing I Ever Ate, Unique Eats, Unique Sweets, Sandwich King, Worst Cooks in America and more.  And these are just the shows we record.  I normally punch in the channels 1452 and 1454 on the remote control as soon as I turn on the TV when I'm bored and then I find some good entertainment for a while... and then I get hungry.  Hmm... I'm hungry now.

Famous Strawberry Stuffed Donuts

Well on one show, Unique Sweets, these celebrity chefs share their secrets on their favorite places to go for unique sweet treats.  One of those places featured this little hole in the wall donut place in Glendora called The Donut Man.  Where's Glendora you ask?  I asked the same thing.  I thought it was near LA or something but apparently it's about 30 miles (=40 minutes) away from home (Anaheim) near San Dimas- Home of Raging Waters.  I am pretty lazy when it comes to driving and probably would have never gone, but my high school besties wanted to go and thought it was worth it!

Apple Fritter with raisins (Rama likes raisins), recommended by the cashier.

It worked out perfectly too because one of the girls was going on a big trip over seas so we wanted to get together before she left.  Sooo... The Donut Man trip was put on our calendar!  This place is known for their fruit stuffed donuts.  In season now were their strawberry stuffed donuts.  In season later this summer--peaches!  I heart peaches.  We pulled up to the parking lot and the Donut Man is old school.  It's one of those that you walk up to the window and sit outside to eat.  It reminds me of Dairy Treat (now it's Bruxie) in Old Towne Orange where you go up to the window and order.  Mmm... Bruxie.  Ah! Back to donuts--so all their yummy donuts are displayed in their windows and then you go crazy as you order and they fill up your Donut Man box.  Well of course I had to get the strawberry stuffed donut (one for me to eat now, and one for the husband for later), a maple donut, tiger tail (donut swirled with chocolate & cinnamon I think), and a cinnamon bun.  All for the husband of course.  :o)  LOVE LOVE LOVED the strawberry stuffed donut.  For $3 it's heaven in my mouf.  The strawberries have a glaze on them and then stuffed to the max in a glazed donut.  So if you know me, I'm not the biggest sweets fan (husband loves sweets, I love savory) but these donuts were just right.  Strawberries were perfectly riped and in abundance.  The 40 minute drive was worth it (thanks to Katherine for driving)!!!  

However after eating the strawberry donut and a bite of the apple fritter (it had raisins...yuck! JK) I felt a little sugar overload in my tummy haha.  Luckily we stopped by our other HS friend's house back home to drop off her donut and her mom had cooked a feast (what am I talking about?  Her mom is always cooking a feast!).  I heart my friends because their families are always so welcoming into their homes and today was no exception.  To balance the amount of sugar we ate at the Donut Man, we indulged in some Lebonese/Arabic chicken and rice and veggie dish.  Karla, when you read this maybe you can elaborate.  We all want to go over to her house and learn how to make it.  :o)

Oh strawberry donuts.  I love you.

Additional Notes:

• The Donut Man is cash only and open 24 hours a day.  I still owe Katherine $15.  Woo hoo!
• There is NOTHING else to do in Glendora.  This is a fact because we yelped, "Things to do in Glendora" and nothing came up.  If you are from Glendora and have suggestions of what to do there, please let me know.  
• Glendora is not anywhere close to Glendale.
•  After taking a bite of her donut, Karla knocked the box with the rest of it on the floor.  I called out 5 second rule, but I don't think she plays that game.
• Yes, we drove all that way to get donuts.

Blogger from my iPhone?!

Just downloaded the Blogger app for my iPhone. Although it didn't get very good reviews, I'm going to give it a shot!

A gym buddy was commenting about all my food pictures I post on Facebook. This tells me a couple of things: 1. Cool, people like my food pics and 2. I eat a lot. Well I knew about #2 already as posted in a previous blog. Anywho one of the other gym buddys asked me what I like to cook. I didn't really have an answer but then I thought about my new goal--perfecting grilled steak. I love steak. And I love it medium rare when at a nice restaurant. Sketchy restaurants? Medium please or just a hamburger will do. Haha

Let me back it up about my history with steak from what I can remember. My siblings and I didn't have a great experience with good steak when we were little. After all it gets expensive feeding a family of 5 right? Well when we did have steak my mom would pan fry it until the meat was dead again. I love my mom's cooking don't get me wrong. But she should really stick to Chinese food. When it comes to American food, she adds ketchup to everything. Who knows. So growing up I always had dried overcooked steak. Did I eat it? Yes, because that's all I knew. I thought steak was suppose to taste that way!

Well one day in junior high my mom and dad went on a trip to Hong Kong and left me with some family friends up the hill. Guess where they took me?! Norms. Open 25/7. Or was it 24/8? Can't remember. Anyway I ordered a steak! And let me tell you, it wasn't bad!!! But then again I was what? 12? And really to this day say I will still eat almost anything, even burnt toast. Whatever. I know what you're thinking. I thought it was good. Haha

Not until I could afford eating at fancy restaurants with fancy steaks did I experience melt in my mouth succulent beef. The most amazing steak I've had was at Pebble Beach over looking hole 17 (or was it 18? Husband will verify after he reads this). Perfect. Medium rare. Juicy. Meat-tastic.

Though I'm trying to cut down on red meat I just would like to perfect the grilling of a steak. I followed Bobby Flay's grilling instructions. A little bit of olive oil and salt and pepper liberally. Grill on one side for 5 minutes then the other for 3-4 minutes. Well I think we left it on for seriously a minute longer than instructed. Bad bad move. Always follow instructions. I should know. I'm a teacher. As a result, the steak was over done. Boo. It had great char. Haha

Well the other night I tried again and followed instructions. Triumph! It wasn't perfect but so much better than my chargrilled one previously. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of it. I was too hungry. But it had some red in the middle and boy was it juicy! Tim paired his with some Gorgonzola crumbles and I just ate mine plain. Yummmm! Tim thinks I can still improve which I think I can too. But my cholesterol needs to lower before I should buy another pack of this magical stuff. Lesson learned. Follow the instructions. :)

Chaaaar--grilled.

 

Reenactment

So over Christmas/New Year holiday, the husband and I visited Seattle for a few days.  While there, we checked out Sweet Iron, a waffle restaurant downtown.  Husband chose of course a sweet waffle and I of course chose a savory one.  Mine was a Belgium Liege waffle with brie and basil.  Add bacon for $1.00?  Sure!  So my husband, being the waffle expert maker himself, decided to make the same kind at a work breakfast function.  It was a hit!  The sad part is that i didn't get to try any that morning.  Happy part is that he had some leftover ingredients and made them Sunday morning!  He used a multigrain waffle/pancake mix from Sprouts, fresh basil, brie and I helped him make the bacon.  Good job, husband!  Good job.

Weekend Adventures, Part Uno

Bridal Shower Favor

This weekend was a busy, but super fun one.  Saturday we drove down to San Diego and I went to a bridal shower and husband got play golf in Carlsbad with the bride's fiance.  The bridal shower was awesome and what a gorgeous day to have it--sunny with blue skies.  They ordered some yummy sandwiches, or sammiches which is how I like to spell/say it, and then panini pressed them at the party!  What a great idea!  So now on my list to get one day is a panini press!  Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the tasty grub that day...I don't know what I was thinking.  But I did take a picture of the adorable cookie favor that the bride's friend had made.

Wedding Bouquet Gift by Kelley.

This reminded me of my former BTSA coach, Kelley C. who is a teacher by day and a cookie maker queen by night.  One day she learned how to make the cookies and decorate them and so for fun, she sells them to her friends for special occasions--baby showers, bridal showers, birthdays, weddings, etc.  I have ordered from her three times.  Twice for wedding cookie bouquets and once for my Chinese banquet favors!  My favorite flavor she does is lemon, although all her cookies are yummy.  Her decorating skills are amazing.  So not only is Kelly a great BTSA coach and teacher, she's an amazing cookie artist!!!

Double Happiness Cookie by Kelley C.  Photo by Abbie K.

So now on my list of things to do--get a panini press and learn to bake and decorate cookies!

Diamonds and Pieology

Our Pieology pizza, salad, and cinnamon sugar pizza

I've been eating a lot lately.  I normally eat a lot anyway, so maybe I should be saying I've been a lot a lot lately.  This weekend was no exception.  Friday night after work, we had to go to the jewelers to pick up Tim's ring.  We took in our rings to get it cleaned the weekend before, but the jeweler found a crack in one of Tim's diamonds in his band, so finally we were going to pick it up.  Well, since we were in that area (Brea) we decided to get some dinner down the road at Pieology in Fullerton.  YAAAAY!!!  For those who are unfamiliar with this place, it's described as the Subway (or Chipotle) of Pizza.  You walk in, you look at your choice of toppings and there's an assembly working to create your custom pizza pie!  After the assembly, it's plopped into one of those big stone fire oven thingees, and in about 90 seconds it's ready!  The husband and I are big fans of thing crust pizzas (look for a future post on husband's fav pizza of all time) and Pieology hits the spot.  Don't get me wrong, we love all types of pizzas, but the thin crusts are light and Pieology keeps their ingredients fresh!  We made a typical yummy pizza consisting of red sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, sausage, black olives, mushrooms, bell peppers, and basil.  Then I guess the pieologist stuck his fingers in the garlic bin and asked if we wanted garlic on it and the husband said "sure."  Well good move pieologist, good move.  It was delicious!!!  The best thing is that you can choose how many ever toppings you want and it's all the same price!  If you're in the area, check it out and try not to be intimidated by the line if there is one.  It goes fast and pie eaters eat fast so tables will open up quickly too.