when life gives you tomatoes...

...make Caprese Pasta Salad!

The organic cherry tomato plant I planted back in March has produced many tomatoes for me. This whole summer I have not had to buy tomatoes! Despite watering every day, sometimes twice, the plant has for some reason lost all its leaves yet is still ripening the existing tomatoes on its branches. I am expecting however that after all the existing tomatoes are ripened and picked that will be the end of the plant and I will replace the plant with something to survive the Fall/Winter months. I am pleased that my first gardening experience has been so fruitful.

Before work the other night this is the creation I came up with for dinner using some of my organic cherry tomatoes!

To make this you start with the following ingredients:

Cherry Tomatoes (cut in half)
Fresh Basil
Balsamic vinaigrette (I happen to really like the one from Trader Joe's, and it's fat free!)
Cooked Pasta (I would recommend bow tie, fussili or penne for this)
Fresh Mozzarella balls (cut in half)

Mix all ingredients in amounts that you like you really cannot go wrong any way! Enjoy it warm, cold, or over spinach as a salad.

What are some of you favorite things to make using tomatoes?

lets go dutch baby!

A few weeks ago, Pati, Leith (Pati's husband), Isaiah (their baby), and I all met at The Original Pancake House in San Diego one morning after I got off of work. We were all very excited for this considering none of us had been before. I was encouraged to order the German Pancake (pictured above) by one of the doctors I work with who goes there frequently. Since my brain was mush after working a 12 hour shift I did just that. The German Pancake is well one, very huge, second, just like a Dutch baby, and third, very light and yummy. It is sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with lemon wedges for drizzling, more powdered sugar, butter, and syrup. I put a little butter and lemon on mine and it was fabulous. Pati got chocolate chip pancakes which she said were great, Leith got just about one of everything and ate it all of course, and Isaiah was content with his earlier meal of breast milk! We were all delighted to find a new breakfast joint with good food, reasonable prices, good service, and no wait time!

Ever since this trip to The Original Pancake House I have been craving this "pancake". I remembered I had a Dutch baby recipe that I had printed and kept to use at a later date from the Williams-Sonoma website. This is one of a few recipes I have found on this site that are just fabulous and not difficult to make. When I woke up today and couldn't sleep I thought this would be the perfect thing to fill me up and hopefully put me into a food coma to get a few more hours in before I had to work night shift. So that's what I did! I made the Dutch baby recipe and it turned out to be slightly better than the one from restaurant, very easy to make and looks just like the German Pancake from the The Original Pancake House. To see how I made the Dutch Baby follow the steps below.

Bob's Dutch Baby (from Williams-Sonoma)

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons butter (I think you could get away with only using 4)

3/4 Cup all-purpose flour

3 eggs

3/4 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping Options:

3 Cups cut fruit (berries would be great)

Powdered Sugar with Fresh Lemon Juice

Warmed Jam

Syrup

Directions:

Adjust the rack to the upper third of the oven. Turn on the oven to 450*F

Put the butter in a very large (12-inch) skillet with an ovenproof handle.

Set in the oven for 5 minutes to melt the butter completely (okay if it begins to brown).

While the butter melts, measure the flour into a large bowl. Add the eggs, milk, and salt.

Beat until smooth, using a whisk, large spoon, or handheld electric mixer.

Take the pan out of the oven...

and immediately pour the batter into the hot pan.

Return the pan to the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the sides are puffed up and dark golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven.

Loosen the Dutch baby from the sides and bottom of the skillet, then slide it onto a serving plate.

Top with your favorite topping. I topped mine with some powdered sugar, fresh lemon juice, and warmed marionberry jam...Yum!

Enjoy!

sprinkles

Sprinkles was the worlds first cupcake shop, the one that started the many cupcake bakeries & Cupcake Wars craze! For those of you who have not had a Sprinkles cupcake are missing out but if you do not live near one of the 7 (by Feb. 2011, there will be 10) Sprinkles locations you can head to Williams Sonoma for Sprinkles mix in one of these flavors: Red Velvet, Vanilla, Dark Chocolate, Lemon, or Banana.  If you follow the mix directions to a T, the cupcakes will turn out fairly close to the in-bakery cupcakes. The mix even comes with the recipie for frosting! Each mix container makes 12 cupcakes.

I picked up the Red Velvet Mix at Williams Sonoma to make for my friend Kate's birthday when we celebrated at Disneyland since they are her favorite! Come along with me as I make the perfect Sprinkles cupcake...

Start with by placing your cupcake liners in the cupcake pan, I found these cute decorative ones at Micheals Craft Store.

Follow the instructions on the mix container and place equal amounts of batter into each liner and bake as directed.

Let cool on wire racks.

Make the frosting...for the red velvet cupcakes I made a cream cheese frosting using powdered sugar, butter, cream cheese, vanilla, and a pinch of salt.

Carefully frost one cooled cupcake at a time with a hefty serving of frosting.

Apply the sugar candy 'modern dot' decoration and let the frosting set.

And repeat until all the cupcakes are frosted. If you do not plan to enjoy them within the day, store them in the fridge and either bring to room temp before serving or enjoy cold (they are great both ways!)

Lucky me and the rest of San Diego, a Sprinkles location will be coming to La Jolla, CA in Fall 2010! Stop by their website to see if a Sprinkles shop is near you or vote to have a Sprinkes shop brought to your town!

a magical birthday

My dear friend Kate, will be celebratied her 26th birthday on August 18th. This year myself, our other friend Libby, Libby's husband Marc, Kate's boyfriend Brian, and another friend from high school Mike aka Franchi, thought what would be a better way to celebrate our dear friend then by driving her down to Anaheim on Friday (the weekend before her birthday) after work and suprising her with a day in Disneyland on Saturday! So that's just what we did. (On a side note, Disneyland is one of my favorite places in the world! I love seeing the children's faces and excitement with each new thing, and cannot wait for when I can take my own children. I like how I get a nostalgic feeling being there and the memories from my many childhood trips come flooding back.)

Friday Kate, Brian, Libby, Marc, and Franchi (Mike), drove south arriving at the Portofino Inn & Suites where I had already checked in and was anxiously awaiting their arrival. While waiting I enjoyed the Friday nights fireworks from our hotel room, it was a perfect view and crowd free!

We had a champagne toast alongside the Sprinkle's red velvet cupcakes I made from the mix! After playing some cards and drinking a few beers we rested up for the big day ahead!

Make a wish!

The Birthday Princess!

Saturday was spent at the "Happiest Place on Earth" Disneyland and neighboring park, California Adventure.

Walkin' down Main St. just after the park opened!

Franchi and Brian had not been since middle school and Kate not since we had our senior trip after high-school were Libby, Kate, Alli and I all went.

The girls

 A favorite ride for the trip was California Screamin' at California Adventure which we went on 3 times,

Waiting to get on California Screamin'!

and the water rides at both parks were a nice cool down to a hot day although Libby was not too excited after she got drenched on Splash Mountain.

Before getting wet...

and after!

We enjoyed many rides, churros, pineapple whip floats, and the awesome World of Color show at California Adventure. This show was absolutely amazing with lights, water, and music. Later we celebrated with a nice dinner at Ralph Brennans Jazz Kitchen. I had been there before to celebrate my mom's 50th birthday and after remembering how fun the live music was and how good the food was I thought it would be a great place to go for her birthday dinner! This time was a little different as we were seated upstairs and had a more quite private area in a corner of the resturant which was just perfect for us after a loud, crowded day at the parks. The food, drinks, and of course the company were all fabulous!

The gang after a great dinner!

Brian and the birthday girl!

Make another wish!

Sunday, after sleeping in, we packed up and it was time to head back to our respective homes, my friends all piled in the Explorer for the bay area and myself to visit my grandparents nearby. It was such a fun trip and needed much more recovery time than should be allowed! I already cannot wait to go back!

Thanks guys for a fun trip to Disneyland and Kate I hope you had a magical birthday!

4 years and counting...

First picture and first night out together!

It has been almost 4 years since Kristin and I met at the Johns Hopkins Shuttle bus stop. I approached Kristin and her roommate on the first day of orientation at the bus stop and asked if I was at the correct bus stop, from that moment we were just about inseperable throughout nursing school, and now we continue that support in our phone conversations that can add up to hours weekly at times (especially when Frank is away) and occassional visits to see one another. Kristin quickly became like a sister to me. She has always been a huge support emotionally, creatively, spiritually, and educationally; she is caring, funny, super creative, an amazing mother, wife, friend, smart, thoughtful, and always there to talk! I just want to tell you Kristin, thank you for being such an amazing friend and I love you! Here are some pictures to remember some great times together! (it's funny to see my hair change so much over the years!)

Halloween Party 2006

South Carolina, June 2007

Summer 2007

South Carolina, June 2007

South Carolina, June 2007

Tacky Christmas Sweater Party, December 2007

Kristin's Bachelorette Dinner, January 2008

Kristin & Frank's Rehersal Dinner, January 2008

Bridesmaid with the beautiful Bride, January 2008

Fall 2007

San Diego, January 2010

Seattle, Spring 2010

On a side note, Kristin is super crafty and makes amazing paper crafts: scrapbooks, shadow boxes, greeting cards, etc... Check out her blog and etsy shop!

congrats to the new Mr & Mrs Janhunan!

Sunday, July 25th was finally here...after 7 years of dating it was NOW Billy and Ashley's wedding day! We all woke up, I made pancakes for the condo residents and we all enjoyed the morning milling around hanging out at the condo. Around 1:30 the hairdresser came to blow-dry all the bridesmaids hair and put our feather hair piece in. She also did Ashley's hair and make-up.

The hair piece Ashley's mom, Carol, made.

We all sat around listening to music, dancing, painting finger and toe nails, doing our make-up, drinking champagne, having girl-talk, all while being photographed in the master suite. Around 5:30 all the girls headed to the North Tahoe Event Center, in Kings Beach, just down the street from the condo, where the wedding ceremony and reception was to be held. Carol, Ashley's mom, and her recruited "assistances" were putting the final touches on the table decoration, photo booth, while the band set up their equipment.

Unique centerpieces.

We gathered in the bridal "suite" (although it was smaller than the walk-in closet of the master in the condo we were staying in). We calmed eachother's nerves, said our well-wishes to the bride, had a champagne toast, laughed over Billy's lost pants (don't worry he barrowed a pair from a friend, and it worked out ok), and celebrated this special moment Ashley was about to embark on!

Lucy, myself, Natasha waiting in the bridal suite.

Ash with her "Bride" wine glass!

Bouquets made by Ashley's mom, Carol.

6:30 it was ceremony time. The ceremony was short and sweet, led by Natasha's father. Natasha is a bridesmaid, old neighbor and dearchildhood friend of Ashley's. The vows Billy and Ashley wrote and the words they shared together with the ring exchange were perfect. From the ceremony it was picture time, cocktail time, dinner, toasts, cake, then DANCING!

Toast by Ashley's dad.

The live band.

High School Buds

Dessert Buffet!

Oh the dancing, I was out of control, and I had a blast. The live band did a fantastic job of getting everyone involved. The energy in the room was great and you could tell everyone was having fun and so happy for Billy and Ashley! Congrats to you 2, I wish you a lifetime of love and happiness!