Girl's Weekend!

A while back, Michelle and I started talking about having a girl's weekend before I moved.  After lots of planning (on Michelle's part), it finally happened! 

We went to Santa Barbara, but I'll start from the beginning.  Megan came up from San Diego Friday night to a house full of pukies.  Kendall had been sick a couple days before, and Cami got sick on Friday.  But Megan's contact with the girls was minimal, since she got there after they went to bed, and we were leaving pretty early the next morning.  So of course, Friday night, Megan, Grant, and I stayed up way too late chatting, and then Saturday morning, the plan was to be out the door at 7:30.  Then around 6:30, Kendall threw up again.  So that threw us off a bit. 

By the way, if any of this is sounding familiar to you, it's because pretty much the same thing happened to our family back in April, right before I was supposed to go on the OPC Women's Retreat.  And once again, Grant became husband of the year, for encouraging me to go, even though I didn't really want to at this point.  I was nervous that I was going to get sick while I was gone, or that Grant would get sick while watching the girls by himself.  None of that happened, so that was good.

Anyways, we finally did leave the house, only a few minutes late.  We picked up my friend Ting, and then picked up Michelle, and we were on our way!

First, we stopped at Stan's Donuts in Westwood.  Friday night, I randomly saw some show that was talking about Stan's Donuts, and their famous Reese's donut, and I posted something on Facebook about it.  Michelle said that it could be our first stop on our way to Santa Barbara, and I didn't argue with her!  It was worth the stop, even though I didn't get a picture.  Basically, it's a chocolate covered donut, sprinkled with chocolate chips, and filled with peanut butter.  Delicious!

After that quick stop, we made our way to the Camarillo Outlets, where we all did a good bit of shopping.

It was almost lunch time, so we left the outlets, and finally headed to Santa Barbara, where we went straight to the Arts & Letters Cafe, where the food was delicious.

After lunch, we walked up and down State Street, which is always fun.  The weather that weekend wasn't exactly nice - it was cold and drizzly, if not raining, the whole time.  But that was okay.  If we got cold, we'd just hop in a store every now and then.  Here's Megan and Michelle taking a break in Anthropologie.

We finally made our way to check in at the hotel.  We stayed at the Hotel Oceana, and it was the cutest place ever!  I fell in love with our room.

After relaxing for a bit in the hotel room, we went out for dinner at the Wine Cask/Intermezzo Bar & Cafe.  After we left, I realized that we didn't get a picture there, which was a bummer, because it was so cozy inside.  But the food was great.  Since we had a kind of late lunch, we just ordered drinks and a few appetizers.  Hands down, everyone's favorite was the Gruyere-Dungeness Crab-Artichoke Dip served with Focaccia bread.  I can't even describe how good that was!!

We had to leave quickly, because we wanted to make the 7:15 showing of Bridesmaids, which was at a theatre close to us.  So we walked there, and it started to rain, which was awesome.  But we quickly forgot about the weather, because the movie was hilarious! 

When we got back to the hotel, we decided to get our picture in the lobby. 

Then we all had a cozy night's sleep in our super cute hotel room, got up the next morning and started getting ready for church.  But first, we went to the hotel's breakfast, which was kind of a trainwreck.  The breakfast was in the smallest room ever, and it was filled to over capacity!  People were bumping into each other, there were no plates, and forget about tables!  Finally, Megan and I saw a teeny tiny table open up, and we grabbed it before anyone else could.  Which meant that we were actually the ones who cleaned off the table.  So the four of us crammed into this tiny little two-person table, and as we were eating, the room really started to clear out.  By the time we were done, there was hardly anyone left, so apparently, we just hit it at rush time. 

We finished up, checked out, and made our way to church.  We went to the local OPC - El Camino Presbyterian in Goleta.  When we got there and when we left, it was raining the hardest it had all weekend.  So that's what this picture is all about.

The plan was to eat lunch in Santa Barbara, but since it was so dreary, Michelle suggested that maybe we should just drive south until it got sunny.  We knew it was sunny down here in the South Bay, so we were hoping we wouldn't have to drive too far.  Ting told us about Paradise Cove in Malibu that her and her husband had been to, so we made our way there.  It was a perfect suggestion!  It was right on the beach, and the food was awesome, although we did have to keep our eyes on those seagulls.  They were pretty aggressive.

And that was it!  It was a short, but super sweet weekend, and I'm glad we were all able to go.  I love my friends, and will miss them when I leave, so it was nice to spend this extra time with them.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're still looking forward to an awesome Thanksgiving dinner with some friends this evening. My contribution is this yummy sweet potato casserole...



...and fried okra that has yet to be cooked. I'll be introducing a bunch of Californians to the Southern treat, so I hope they like it!

I'm thankful for so many things, but in particular - my wonderful husband, my two sweet daughters, the beautiful weather, and special friends that we get to spend the evening with. I'm also thankful for the rest of my family in Florida, South Carolina, and Iraq. I wish we could be with everyone!

Lucky Number 7

Grant and I celebrated our 7th anniversary on Saturday. I was going to post something about it on Saturday, but because we were going to be doing some cool things for our anniversary, I figured I'd wait until I had pictures.

Well, I grabbed the camera, got my telephoto lens, but neglected to get the memory card. Awesome. So, no pictures.

At the recommendation of my friend, we went to this really cool sushi restaurant in West Hollywood, The Izaka-ya. While the ambiance was not at all suited for a romantic anniversary dinner (Grant and I were seated at a small table, but we couldn't even hear each other talk), the sushi was killer! We started out with this weird lotus root stuff for an appetizer, and then we got the crispy rice with spicy tuna (which seemed to be a favorite on yelp), the tempura rock shrimp (which was AWESOME!), creamy salmon rolls, yellowtail with scallion, creamy blue crab, and a honey roll (which was spicy tuna, avocado, and something else).

Grant joked that we might see a celebrity there, but I didn't think this was a place that a celebrity would come, because it was kind of a hole-in-the wall (albeit, very popular). But, we did see one! Jeanne Tripplehorn. It's not like she's super famous, but when I saw her, I recognized her right away, and thanks to my wealth of useless celebrity knowledge, I thought to myself, "Tripplehorn? Is that right?" And then at the table next to me, I heard them say, "That's Jeanne Tripplehorn!"

Anyways, it was an awesome place, despite all the noise.

For dessert, we went to Diddy Riese in Westwood, basically on UCLA's campus. This place is awesome. Grant's brother, John, told us about it shortly after we moved here, but we hadn't been there until I went a couple of months ago with friends, but Grant still hadn't been. I think this place has to be the best deal in town - amazing ice cream sandwiches for $1.50 flat!!! It doesn't get any better than that! You can mix and match the top and bottom cookies (and they're freshly baked cookies) and pick whatever flavor of ice cream you want. It's a good-sized portion, too. Even Grant, who is notoriously frugal, thinks they could easily charge more for these and you wouldn't feel cheated. This was my third time there, and I got the same thing I got the other two times - chocolate white chocolate chip cookies with cookie dough ice cream. That's where it's at right there! Grant got chocolate chip walnut cookies with mint chocolate chip ice cream. By the way, this is when we discovered that I forgot the memory card. Boo.

After Diddy Riese, we made our way to the Griffith Park Observatory. In our two years here, that's one place that we have been meaning to go to, but just hadn't made it there. We almost didn't make it there on Saturday! I put the address in the GPS, and it wanted to take us up one of the mountain roads to get there. Well, that road closed at sunset, and at this time, it was almost 9. We got lost in a very hilly, very windy Hollywood Hills neighborhood, and then we decided to try to find another way into the park. We did, and were finally able to see this place! It was really cool, but we felt a little rushed - mainly because we didn't want our friend who was watching the girls to have to stay up too late. So we want to go back again.

Then it was home! It was a great anniversary celebration - a perfect way to spend it with the man I love, and the best husband in the world!

New Mexico on my mind

About this time last year, on our way back from our San Francisco trip, we went to this restaurant that I saw on "Divers, Drive-ins, and Dives," in a town called Pescadero. On the show, they mentioned this cream of artichoke soup that sounded really good, and they're kinda famous for. So I had my heart on trying that.

Well, when we got there, I saw that they had cream of green chile soup.

I was torn.

Thankfully, they brought us out a sampling of four of their awesome soups, so we could make up our minds.

As soon as that cream of green chile soup touched my lips, I was in heaven! I did not hesitate to order a bowl of that.

It was so good, I just wanted to bottle it up and take it home and eat it every day! But I didn't.

I kind of forgot about it until the other day, and I randomly remembered that delicious soup. So I decided to see if I could find a recipe for it.

I searched for "Duarte's Tavern cream of green chile soup recipe," and sure enough, I found it! From what I can tell, this person basically tried to recreate the soup, and this is as close to the original as she got. Since it's been a year since we've had it, it was hard to remember how close the taste actually was, but nevertheless, it was delicious!

To make it, I had to do something that I never did in the 3 years of living in New Mexico - roast green chiles. I mean, when they have a roaster at Wal-Mart doing it, why do it yourself?

I probably looked a little strange at Von's picking out 20 anaheim chiles, but I was excited.

The roasting definitely took some time, especially since I could only fit 5 chiles on a baking sheet at once, but it was well worth it.

Here are some of my chiles ready to go in the oven.


And here they are after roasting.


This is after they had been peeled.


And here's the yummy soup, with crushed blue corn tortilla chips to add some color! I'm not a food photographer, and I'm not at all happy with these pictures - I tried, but I failed. But I did not fail in making the recipe. If you're a fan of green chiles, I highly recommend it.

One for me...One for you

Today we went down to Irvine to a farm to pick some strawberries. I wanted us to do this last year, but right around the time I wanted to go, I discovered that Kendall had a small allergy to strawberries. Since then, I've been giving her strawberries in small amounts, and she hasn't shown any reaction to them since.

My friend Ange met us there, and I think we all really enjoyed ourselves. We went on a tour of the farm, and got to sample some of their veggies. I even let Cami gnaw on some bok choy and a carrot.






Then we got to our strawberry pickin' stop. We each had our own baskets to fill, and they said we could eat as many as we wanted before it was time to get back on the tractor. Since it's pretty much right at the peak of the season, these strawberries were so delicious!

I wasn't sure how Kendall would do, but she absolutely loved it. I told her yesterday that we'd be doing this, so she was pretty pumped. We all ate a good amount and filled our baskets.










After that, we went to Ikea to eat lunch and look around. Less than 5 minutes after leaving Ikea, the girls were out.




It was such a fun day! I'm hoping to get back out to that farm in July or August, because that's when watermelon season is.

By the way - notice anything different about Kendall? She's got a little less junk in the trunk, because earlier this week, she decided she wanted to be potty trained. Since Monday, she's only had a couple of accidents. On our outing today, she was accident-free! I'm so proud of her!

For the Love of Food!

I've had this ground chicken that I wanted to do something with, but didn't know what. So I did my favorite thing, and went to allrecipes.com, chose the option to search for ingredients, and found this great recipe. It's definitely a keeper!

Zesty Chicken Meatloaf

Ingredients
1 pound ground chicken
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
3 tablespoons salsa
2 tablespoons Ranch-style salad dressing
1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
sour cream (optional)

Directions
1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8x4 inch loaf pan.
2.In a large bowl, mix together the ground chicken, eggs, bread crumbs, salsa, salad dressing, and taco seasoning mix. Pack into the prepared loaf pan.
3.Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven. Top with cheese, and serve with sour cream.

Based on the reviews, the only thing I did differently was to use a little less bread crumbs (I used about 1 - 1 1/4 cups), and a little more salsa (I had a little over 4 tablespoons left in the jar, so I just used what I had).

I made my dad's famous spanish rice to go with it, which I can't really post the recipe for, because it's definitely a watch-and-learn kind of thing. I just learned recently when we were in Pensacola.

Then last night, I made the salsa that Megan brought to our Laguna Playdate a couple weeks back. It's Pioneer Woman's recipe, and it is really good - especially if you love cilantro!

Restaurant Style Salsa

Ingredients
1 can (28 Ounce) Whole Tomatoes With Juice
2 cans (10 Ounce) Rotel (diced Tomatoes And Green Chilies)
¼ cups Chopped Onion
1 clove Garlic, Minced
1 whole Jalapeno, Quartered And Sliced Thin
¼ teaspoons Sugar
¼ teaspoons Salt
¼ teaspoons Ground Cumin
½ cups Cilantro (more To Taste!)
½ whole Lime Juice

Preparation Instructions
Combine whole tomatoes, Rotel, onion, jalapeno, garlic, sugar, salt, cumin, lime juice, and cilantro in a blender or food processor. Pulse until you get the salsa to the consistency you’d like—I do about 10 to 15 pulses. Test seasonings with a tortilla chip and adjust as needed.

I didn't have the jalapeno, but the rotel gave it a little spice.

Now to this morning, I decided to put eggs over spanish rice and slather it all with this delicious salsa. One of the best weekday breakfasts I've ever made myself!

Mimosas, Frittatas and Muffins...Oh My!

We've just come to the end of a great visit from two of Grant's college roommates, Nathaniel, and Rory, and Rory's wife, Anne. Saturday morning, we planned to have a brunch, and it was yummy!

I made a biscuit frittata and bacon, Anne made "to die for" blueberry muffins, and we had mimosas...Grant even experimented with a "milkmosa," but I don't think he wants to talk about that. Anyways, everything looked so pretty, we all took pictures before we dove in.





We ate every last bite, and it was delicious!

This little cutie was good enough to eat, but we refrained ourselves.

I Had To...

I had no choice.

It wasn't my fault, though.

If Susie hadn't said anything on her Facebook about it, I would've never known.

Because, even though I link to Bakerella, I never go there, because it's a danger zone for me.

But I went there, and saw it, and was helpless to it's peanut-buttery-chocolatey-goodness.

I mean, can't you just see the moistness in it?



You can, right?

It's the buttermilk, people. The buttermilk.

Insanity, what?

I'm so weak.

Yummy Granola

A few days ago, my friend Andrea posted a recipe for granola bars. They sounded so good, I tried them out that same day, and I've made them every day since!!

Here's the recipe she posted:

2 1/2 c. Old Fashioned or Quick Oats
1/2 c. Rice Krispy Cereal
1/2 c. mini chocolate chips
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/3 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. coconut
1/4 c. honey
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt

Mix all ingredients together. Stir until well combined. I used my hands to get it thoroughly mixed. Press into a 9x13 pan. (For thicker bars use a 8x8 pan.) Using the bottom of a flat metal measuring cup, gently press down to flatten and evenly smooth out the mixture. Bake at 350° for 18-20 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and score into bars. Once completely cool cut into bars.

I cut mine into four rows of five since they will be served to little hands, but if you want to make these regular granola bar size you can cut them into three rows of five. Make sense?

For variety try adding:
Raisins
Marshmallows
Mini M&Ms
Dried fruit

recipe from Amy at Serving Pink Lemonade

So, her son is allergic to nuts and eggs. Since we're not, I decided to change up the recipe a bit.

2 cups of oats
1/2 cup (maybe more) of plain Joe's O's (Cheerio's)
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup of natural peanut butter
1/4 cup of honey
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt

The directions stay the same

They're a little crumbly, but they taste so good! I love how quick and easy it is to make.

For the Love of Guthrie's!

For those of y'all not in the know, Guthrie's is this chain of restaurants specializing in chicken fingers and fries (think Zaxby's, but lower-class). When Grant was a student at Florida State, he and his roommates basically lived there. So that's when the love affair started. For him. He tried to get me to fall in love with the place, but the trash on the floor and tables, along with the security guard stationed there full-time and the complete lack of friendliness by the staff kind of turned me off. Grant didn't care about all that - he just loved the food. And the sauce...the secret sauce. It also didn't help me that he and his roommates called a box of fries and chicken fingers from there a "Gut-box." I mean, really.

Anyways, while we're here in Montgomery, one of the things that Grant was most looking forward to was going to Guthrie's regularly (which I don't think is good for anybody). We all went together as a family a few days ago, and Grant was the happiest I've seen him in a while. And he's a pretty happy guy! He kept telling Kendall, "Kendall, this is the BEST flavor in the WHOLE WORLD!" Kendall wasn't convinced. That didn't stop him, though. With every bite, he went on and on about how good it was.

For what it's worth, Grant says that particular Guthrie's in Tallahassee was especially messy and unsafe. And also for what it's worth, they have fantastic sweet tea! The rest of it is not that special to me.

Once we got back to our room, I called Melissa. I briefly mentioned us going to Guthrie's, and Melissa started her love talk for the place..."Oh, I love Guthrie's. The way they dress the bird - it's just so...so...blah, blah, blah." That's when I handed the phone over to Grant so he and Melissa could share in their mutual love for the Gut-box. It went on for a while.

As for me - I'll stick with Chick-Fil-A.

Photo Challenge - Day 5

Today, I had a little elf come and help me make cookies for our church Christmas party. That elf just happened to be named Kendall.

Officially, this is my picture for the DPP...



But I can't just stop there. Those of you who know us really well, know that we try not to give Kendall too much sugar. We figure she'll have plenty of time in her life to eat plenty of sugar, and since right now she's still relatively unaware of sugar, we just try to not give her any. That being said, this was a real treat for her. She got to lick the batter AND eat a cookie once it was out of the oven. I had to give my elf a reward for being such a big help!

The Beach and Dancing

We went to this beach about a week ago - it's called Crystal Cove State Park, and it's in between Laguna and Newport Beach. It's absolutely beautiful there! We had a great time, and Kendall's really turning into quite the California/beach girl. She loves it. She used to be somewhat afraid of the waves and the water, but this time, she was all about it. Grant asked if he should try to take her in the water, and I told him I didn't think she'd like it, but he could always try. I was so wrong - she didn't want to come out!! Even with pretty good sized waves crashing on them, she just absolutely loved it!

Anyways, here's some pics...








After the beach, we headed to Pei Wei in Newport Beach. We're pretty obsessed with Pei Wei (see this post from a couple of years ago), and if you became a "fan" of theirs on Facebook, and signed this petition, you could get a coupon to get their new Ramen dish for free. So, of course, we did that. We picked going to the Newport location, because they had this really cool Coke fountain that we heard about. Since we were in that area already, to us, it was a no-brainer to go there.

We enjoyed the free meal, we enjoyed the cool computerized Coke fountain (they had some pretty interesting drinks), and Kendall enjoyed the music.