February 8, 2011

The Joy of Almond & Coconut Candies

Valentine’s Day is coming up! Want to impress a loved one?? You should totally make these Almond Joy inspired candies. Not only are they super easy to make, you won’t be that person scrounging around for an overpriced bouquet of long stem roses at the last minute. Are you that person? Don’t be that person! Don’t wait til the last minute. People always know. I hope you at least write something sweet & thoughtful in your card!

By the way, I overheard your sweetheart saying that they’re not really into roses! They were telling their coworker how much they dig coconut! They especially love it covered in chocolate! They also LOOOOVE salty, crunchy roasted almonds and guess what?? There’s one waiting in the middle of EACH. ONE. OF. THESE. CANDIES. Make a batch of these and you’ll totally seal the deal. You’ll make up for that god awful ratty teddy bear you bought last year. You know why? Because people are always impressed when you make candy. ALWAYS.
CONTINUE READING

around the home, Uncategorized

February 7, 2011

Where did the weekend go?

It’s Monday. Sigh…

I’m totally daydreaming about this past weekend. I wish it was still Sunday!

Over the weekend I got to show off my freshly painted toenails & wear some flip flops!

The weather was in the 70s here in the Bay Area! It felt like summer!

recipes, Uncategorized

February 4, 2011

Cocktail Time: Juice of a Few Flowers!

It’s Friday! What does that mean?? HAPPY HOUR!!! My buddy, Miss James just got a copy of Barefoot Contessa’s Back to Basics Cookbook and we’re trying to plan a few recipes to cook on the same night so we can do a virtual GIRL’S NIGHT. Totally sucks having cool peeps live so far away. I hate it! To start it off, I’ve made this cocktail for our Happy Hour. We can now ichat under the influence. The typing gets a little crappy, but oooh does the truth come out!

Let me tell you that this cocktail is TASTY. The first few sips are like WHOA. It’s a bit on the strong side, but if you exploit the sugar rim you’ll be just fine. It definitely balances out the alcohol and citrus TANG. After finishing the first drink, you’ll find the second one to be much smoother! We even did a little gin floater on top. Amazing. So won’t you make yourself a cocktail and have one with us?
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Photography, Uncategorized

February 4, 2011

365- Week 5

A food related photo every day til 2012. Here’s week 5:

35/365 SMOOOOOTHIE TIME!!!

around the home, Uncategorized

February 3, 2011

Organizing GIVEAWAY from Five Spoons!

I’m always marking up my cookbooks and when I look at them sitting on my bookshelf, it bothers me to see all the different pieces of paper sticking out. Tissues, magazine subscription postcards, cut up post-its and random bits of paper stick out of so many of my cookbooks. I can’t tell you how many bookmarks I’ve lost because there’s no sticky backing to the paper. Grrrrrr!

It’s time to make a stand. With the help of these little stickies from Five Spoons, I can now have piece of mind when I look at my bookshelf. I’m able to mark all of my favorite/tried & true recipes from each of my cookbooks. I love that.
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recipes

February 1, 2011

Vegan Thumbprint Cookies

These Vegan Thumbprint Cookies pair ridiculously well with my morning cappuccino & make a fantastic snack in the afternoon with some tea. They are like an energy bar in cookie form!

They’re a little dense, crunchy, and kinda buttery with all of the almonds in them. They’re a snap to make, totally kid-friendly (as long as there are no nut allergies in your household) and the recipe makes a ton! I definitely think I’ll make this WITH Cooper when he’s not prone to dumping flour all over the place (that may take a while). It’s no big deal if he eats the batter! The only problem I encountered was figuring out which one of the jams I liked most. I used blueberry jam (I made from scratch) as well as apricot & raspberry jam (from Trader Joe’s). I really liked the seedy raspberry ones; they were the prettiest. I did love the tang of the apricot too! I dunno! I can’t decide. Let me just take another sample…
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around the home, Uncategorized

January 30, 2011

Valentine’s Day Decor 2011

It’s raining today & we’re stuck indoors so I declared today CRAFT DAY! I finally cleared off my Winter mantle decoration. I liked how it didn’t SCREAM Christmas, so I kept it up longer than usual. While Casey & Cooper were playing with trains downstairs, I started cutting up a few hearts out of cute craft paper. I forgot how fun it was to make them when I was a kid! Totally brought me back!