The Story of My Life

I got one of the worst colds I’ve probably ever gotten. Been sick for over a week and lost my voice. It’s not easy whispering to everyone, especially to your patients. They just look at you funny and then start whispering back hahaha   I had a low key Christmas.  Went to Dal Rae for dinner.  It was great and exceeded my expectations.  But that’s another post.  I’m blogging today about this place.  My eating buddy and I went on for Sunday dinner and they have a prix fixe menu on Sundays.  3 courses for $40.  I thought it was a pretty good deal.  Food was great.  Saw two celebrities too!  Well, one of them to me, is a celebrity.  Chef Nancy Silverton of Mozza and Dana Delany of Desperate Housewives.  Anyhow, the restaurant is in the middle of nowhere….dangerous at night and probably not a good idea to go unless you have GPS.  But, the actual restaurant is the only place happening at night in that area.  Cute and rustic.  So the first course we had a pumpkin soup which was really good.  Followed by a salad which I didn’t care for.  I managed to eat the all the endive, blue cheese and candied pecans and left the rest of the greens that kind of tasted like grass.  My entree was a steak with mushrooms.  Very tender and flavorful.  For dessert, we had a trio of lemon mousse with an orange ice topping (kinda like a granita), chocolate cake with banana ice cream and a cherry tarte.  Desserts were not as impressive as the actual food.  Their bread and butter is awesome.  Looking forward to going back!  Happy New Year Everybody!!

pre fix menu on sunday dinnerpumpkin soupflat bread with cheese and pieces of bacon and cherrysalad with endive and blue cheesesteak with mushroomsbouillabaissefrench frieslemon mousse, chocolate cake with banana ice cream and cherry tart

My dear friends are having a baby boy!!  Of course we had to have a baby shower to welcome Christian Josiah.  Love the name by the way.  I had a blast planning for this shower although with any party planning there comes stress.  But the good kind of stress.  We had the party at our friends house and went with the nursery’s owl theme.  Colors were brown and blue.  Food was awesome.  Homemade lasagna, fennel salad, mac and cheese, corn casserole, and a chocolate fountain.  Compliments of chef Amy and Sooj.  We had a beautiful owl cake from violet’s bakery.  Unfortunately, it looked 10x better than it tasted.  They have gorgeous cakes but too sweet for my sweet tooth.  We also had candied apples as party favors.  The diapercake and scrap booking by Angela were simply adorable.  The decorations came out much better than we had anticipated and overall us girls had a great time catching up and spending time with each other.  Can’t believe some of my friends are becoming/are already moms.  I still feel like a kid.  Oh me oh my.

My vacation to europe….I kinda decided to go last minute but I knew it was the perfect opportunity and it really was. My friends are living in the Netherlands for a few months and are familiar with Paris. That made all the difference. All I had to do was buy my ticket.  We went everywhere and walked everywhere. I have never walked so much in a day. Almost 10+hrs a day of walking. But it was great exercise…you eat whatever you want and don’t have to worry about gaining weight! I even lost weight on this trip.  I flew on British Airways (which I highly recommend) into Amsterdam and took a train to Paris.

We rented an apt practically next door to the Notre Dame. Paris is LOVELY. So much history, great architecture, it’s a beautiful city.  We started every morning by going to a bakery to get breakfast.  Oh my goodness….the bakeries in Paris….love at first bite.  There’s nothing like it here.  I can’t tell you what my favorite was because they were really all that good.  The food in Paris….everything is so much tastier…their butter, potatoes, espresso, soups, ice cream, pastries, macaroons, chocolates just to name a few.  We went here to eat macaroons.  They were THE best….and I don’t even really like them!!  It’s a MUST if you like macaroons…even if you don’t!!

After our daily visits to the bakery, we went to many museums and tourist spots.  The Louvre, which is ginormous!  Musee d’Orsay, which I liked alot.  Musee de l’Orangerie, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomph, Champs-Elysees, Notre Dame and Versailles.  Versailles was my favorite out of all.  It is breathtaking and so grande.  Pictures do not do justice to any of these places I visited, especially Versailles.

Towards the end of our trip to Paris we rented a car and drove to the wine country of Paris called Loire Valley.  This was a nice change to our non-stop-on-the-go time in Paris.  We stayed at a bed and breakfast in a town called Chenonceau.  They served the best french onion soup.  I never liked french onion soup until I had theirs.  I don’t think I’ll eat it anywhere else but there.  The Loire Valley is known for the chateau’s and their beautiful vineyards.  My favorite chateau was called the Villandry.  Known for their outdoor gardens, they had the cutest vegetable garden.

Lastly we went to Amsterdam which is another beautiful city.  Gorgeous canals and buildings.  I wouldn’t mind having a place here.  Most people get around via bikes and can multitask on their bikes.  They text, talk on the phone, and even can ride a bake while driving another bike with their other hand!  Amsterdam is a cool city…..coffee shops on every corner, every street is equally gorgeous because they all look the same, and the people are friendlier than Paris.

It was bittersweet to go back home.  I had a blast and wish I could have stayed longer but I missed home.  I can’t wait to go back to Europe again….pictures galore!!!

I went to a Jason Mraz concert!  I’ve heard he is great live and…he really is!!  He is a great singer.  I originally had some tickets I bought from ebay but didn’t turn out and fortunately I got me some tickets for my birthday from my yuppie friends who are traveling all around Europe.  Tell you about it later ben.  Thanks for the gift!!  So the concert said it started at 7 with two other artists opening…Brett Dennen and G love and Special Sauce.  We decided to go late to skip the opening artists and we were glad we did.  It was a sold out concert with tons of people….even saw some people that we knew!

I had heard a lot about the counter in L.A. and when they opened one in Pasadena I was excited to try it. It’s a build your own burger place. Food is good.   My burger was a bit on the greasy side but I guess that’s why it was good.  We shared sweet potato fries, onion rings..which were more like onion strings and regular french fries.  The sweet potato fries were good but the best ones I’ve had are from here.the menu.  they give everyone a clip board and a pencil to check whatever items you want on your burger.  you can choose up to 4 toppings and there are premium toppings for a $1 each.  they have a variety of milkshakes and feature flavors of the month which was a candy corn shake and a burger of the month which was a halibut burger.sweet potato fries, french fries and onion rings with 4 different dipping sauces.  Garlic aoli, bbq sauce, ranch and horseradish mayothis was my burger, 1/3lb beef burger with cheddar cheese, red onions, mixed greens, tomatoes and garlic aoli sauce with jalapenos on the side on a honey wheat bun.ham on top with grilled onionstaco turkey burgerveggie burger with guyere cheeseturkey bunless burger

I woke up an hour later than I was supposed to.  I got up at 7:30 and work starts at 7:45.   It takes me about 15-20 min to get to work. My heart dropped when I saw the clock. I jumped out of bed and started brushing my teeth.  I threw on my clothes, tied up my hair and thought…what about my makeup?  I have dark circles under my eyes (inherited from my mother) so I wear under eye concealer.  I knew I didn’t have time for any of that so I threw in an eyeliner in my purse and headed to work.  I quickly did my eyeliner in the car and got to work at 7:55 thinking to myself, not too bad!  I walk in and my boss looks at me and says “Good morning!” ” You look tired …how did you get that black eye?”  I guess this really works.

The heat has made me feel unmotivated to do the usual exercise routines that I do at the gym so I’ve been swimming more. Luckily the gym has an indoor pool so I don’t have to bother with putting on sunblock or worry about premature aging. I try to avoid the sun as much as possible. I want to learn how to do a flip-turn.  People who swim and do flip-turns look 10x cooler.   Anybody want to teach me please???  I’m working on becoming just like him.

I baked a peach cobbler and it came out pretty good…not too sweet.  I think most cobblers are too sweet.  I like it slightly less sweeter but it did need vanilla ice cream on top

Instructions

1. 1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees.
2. 2. For the filling: Peel peaches (see note), then halve and pit each. Using small spoon, scoop out and discard dark flesh from pit area. Cut each half into 4 wedges. Gently toss peaches and sugar together in large bowl; let stand for 30 minutes, tossing several times. Drain peaches in colander set over large bowl. Whisk 1/4 cup of drained juice (discard extra), cornstarch, lemon juice, and salt together in small bowl. Toss peach juice mixture with peach slices and transfer to 8-inch-square glass baking dish. Bake until peaches begin to bubble around edges, about 10 minutes.
3. 3. For the topping: While peaches are baking, in food processor, pulse flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to combine. Scatter butter over and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, about ten 1-second pulses. Transfer to medium bowl; add yogurt and toss with rubber spatula until cohesive dough is formed. (Don’t overmix dough or biscuits will be tough.) Break dough into 6 evenly sized but roughly shaped mounds and set aside.
4. 4. To assemble and bake: After peaches have baked 10 minutes, remove peaches from oven and place dough mounds on top, spacing them at least 1/2 inch apart (they should not touch). Sprinkle each mound with portion of remaining 1 teaspoon sugar. Bake until topping is golden brown and fruit is bubbling, 16 to 18 minutes. Cool cobbler on wire rack until warm, about 20 minutes; serve.

I can’t believe I went to camp meeting.  I remember being so excited to go back when I was in jr high/high school.  After going to school there I thought I’d never go back to camp meeting.  That is, until it was our turn to host and agreed to be in charge of garden cafe.  There was no such thing as garden cafe when I went to camp meeting so I really had no idea what it was.  Garden cafe is a late night snack shop that people (mostly kids) come to and hang out at.  It was fun, but let me tell you, it was HARD work!  Imagine 100 plus jr/high school kids swarming you all at once.  How hard could it be?  I distinctively remember one night not being able to fall asleep because our feet were so hot, feverish and throbby.  In hindsight, I’m truly glad that I was a part of this project.  I’m proud and really do believe we succeeded.  I was so impressed with everyone’s effort into making this thing a success.  The people seemed to love the food and most of all each others company.  But I appreciated coming back to my job, working in a neat and orderly environment where people have appointments.  Throughout the week we did find sometime to hang out with the vbs kids and go to town and enjoy being in napa valley.  I don’t have as many pictures as I could have because quite frankly, taking pictures were not on my mind.  This had to be one of the longest weeks ever.

we practically lived in this kitchen.

the ever so popular macho nacho man

smoothie makers!

carnival

i even made a new friend

bottega louie…where my ‘friend’ works

goosecross wine

jullie is behind ben’s big face

i didn’t want him in the picture for obvious reasons but he can never take a hint our last picture before they’re off to europe for 5 months!!  you guys will be missed

So my recent celebrity sightings….my friend and I had dinner at an italian restaurant.  Really good italian food but space is small and tables are close together.  As we were finishing our meal heading into dessert…walks in a really tall man so I look up too see who it is and it’s conan o’brien!!!!  I was speechless….all I did was kick my friend under the table.  To make things worse….he came and sat next to our table (remember the tables are close together)  I couldn’t help but stare.  The sad part is I have no pictures to prove.  I was too chicken to ask and he was having dinner so I didn’t want to be rude….sigh.  Maybe another time.  My next celebrity sighting….I had lunch for my friends birthday at the tavern. I turn around and I see Giada!!!  I love watching the food channel and I especially love her show!  We waited until she was done eating to snag a picture with her.  She was so nice and friendly….just like how she is on t.v.!  I again was too chicken to ask so my friend did it for us!