what happened to the weekend?

i spent most of friday night making yard sale signs and putting them up throughout my neighborhood. on saturday i got up at 6:15 am to do a coffee run. when i got back to the house at 6:45 the people were already swarming the driveway. my roommate L and her friend D were trying to get the stuff out and set up.

i made a total of $84 for myself, and about $100 for my niece. yay! that's $84 i didn't have before and when added to my pet sitting money, i have nice little nest egg going for a new LCD tv to replace my TV that is trying to die. the only things that didn't sell were my recliner and love seat and my niece's coffee table. some folks were supposed to come by and get them yesterday but never showed up so i will take them to good will this week.

notsoccer mom and i had plans to go out for the evening. one of her niece's took the boys out to a movie. she arrived around five and we walked to downtown willow glen. we ended up eating dinner at siena bistro. the food was scrum-dilly-icious! i had the carpaccio and a warm brie salad with a glass of prosecco. nsm had the seafood lingini and a nice glass of white. rather than ordering dessert at the restaurant we walked over to starbuck's and had a signature hot chocolate. the salted caramel. YUM!

it was a nice evening. then i came home and watched episodes 4-9 of the first season of "true blood." i am all caught up now as i watched the last 3 episodes yesterday and then watched the season premier last night. i'll have to figure something out for the rest of the season though since i don't have HBO. :(

did i mention...

i won!

my friend mrs. L over at pages, pucks and pantry hosted a giveaway to celebrater her second blogiversary and i won one of the prizes. the numbers were drawn by her adorable kitten tiggher.

and this is what i won:
the paper crafts gourmet book!

If you love both food and paper crafting, Paper Crafts Gourmet is the perfect recipe book for you! In this mouth-watering publication, you'll find over 50 original recipes from the family and friends of Paper Crafts magazine. Then the country's most talented paper craft designers whipped up over 110 projects to complement these incredibly savory recipes. Projects include clever containers, gorgeous tags and wraps, fun food markers, cards to accompany your food gifts, and much, much more! If your favorite foods include Soups & Stews, Breads, Appetizers, Main Dishes, Beverages, Desserts, and Snacks, then the variety of recipes inside is sure to satisfy the pickiest of eaters!

the croptini...

on saturday last, i had some friends 'round for a pleasure party. my niece is a consultant for the company so i agreed to host one for her.

normally when i do something like that i also like to cook up a bunch of food to feed everyone. this time was no exception. i made a huge tray of deli meats and cheese. had a veggie platter and two different kinds of cookies.

and the drink for the day was the croptini.

1 1/2 oz skyy vodka, 4 ozs of pomegranate-cherry juice and garnish with a lemon slice.

isn't it pretty!

the most adorable things, EVER!

these cupcakes are the cutest things ever!

the big question...

if french fries taste so gross when they are cold,


why is potato salad so yummy?


this is just a small glimpse of what it's like inside my head...

bringing back a tradition...

shortly after i moved back to san jose from phoenix, i finally gave in to the scrapbooking bug. most of my friends were doing it. and god knows, i had about a million pictures to work with.

i started slowly. i attended a creative memories party with one of my friends. it was either mrs. L or our dear departed friend Shauna. i can't even remember now. my first few pages were over embellished messes. but over time, my process has changed and grown.

Shauna had a huge dining room table so, every other friday a group of us would meet at her house. we would have a potluck dinner with her family and then we would spread out whatever we were working on. at that time Shauna was working on her Japan book. most of us had traveled to Japan in 1998 to see our sharks play the first games of the new hockey season against the calgary flames. we only had 6 days in tokyo. but we made the most of every minute. we went to the 4:00 am fish market, we went to the samurai museum, we visited temples and the imperial palace. some of us took a day trip to mount fuji. some of us took in disneyland - tokyo. so we all had a ton of pictures from that trip and Shauna was the furthest along in making her memories of that trip come alive.

we would sit there in her dining room and talk, laugh and just be together and reinforce the bonds of friendship. sometimes one or more of us wouldn't even bring a project. we would just come for the company.

Shauna was diagnosed with stage 4 inflammatory breast cancer in october of 2005. we continued our every other friday night tradition for as long as we could. it was more about spending time with our friend than working on our projects.

after Shauna got too sick, we quit gathering to do it and started just spending time with her, mostly one on one but sometimes there would be a few of us gathered around her bedside. after Shauna passed, we quit the scrap get-togethers completely.

since that time, most of us have scrapped very little. until recently. it is almost as if we have all decided that it is time again. time to work on projects with a few friends, time to learn a new technique, and more importantly, time to spend keeping our bonds to each other healthy and thriving.

after chatting with NSM and Mrs L, at my ornament party it was decided. on sunday, january 25th, we are bringing back the tradition. since i have the biggest house and the most tables we will gather here for an afternoon of crafting, talking, laughing and just bonding.

i am cooking lunch for us. the menu will be:
Barefoot Contessa's Lemon Fusilli with Arugula

Ingredients
1 tablespoon good olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic (2 cloves)
2 cups heavy cream
3 lemons
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bunch broccoli
1 pound dried fusilli pasta
1/2 pound baby arugula (or 2 bunches of common arugula, leaves cut in thirds)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
Directions
Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the garlic, and cook for 60 seconds. Add the cream, the zest from 2 lemons, the juice of 2 lemons, 2 teaspoons of salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until it starts to thicken.

Meanwhile, cut the broccoli in florets and discard the stem. Cook the florets in a pot of boiling salted water for 3 to 5 minutes, until tender but still firm. Drain the broccoli and run under cold water to stop the cooking. Set aside.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the pasta, and cook according to the directions on the package, about 12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain the pasta in a colander and place it back into the pot. Immediately add the cream mixture and cook it over medium-low heat for 3 minutes, until most of the sauce has been absorbed in the pasta. Pour the hot pasta into a large bowl, add the arugula, Parmesan, tomatoes, and cooked broccoli. Cut the last lemon in half lengthwise, slice it 1/4-inch thick crosswise, and add it to the pasta. Toss well, season to taste, and serve hot.

and for dessert:
Lemon Angel Food Cake - which is ironically, also a barefoot contessa dish.

Ingredients
2 cups sifted superfine sugar, divided
1 1/3 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising)
1 1/2 cups egg whites, at room temperature (10 to 12 eggs)
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine 1/2 cup of sugar with the flour and sift together 4 times. Set aside.

Place the egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and beat on high speed until the eggs make medium-firm peaks, about 1 minute. With the mixer on medium speed, add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of sugar by sprinkling it over the beaten egg whites. Whisk for a few minutes until thick and shiny. Whisk in the vanilla and lemon zest and continue to whisk until very thick, about 1 more minute. Sift about 1/4 of the flour mixture over the egg whites and fold it into the batter with a rubber spatula. Continue adding the flour by fourths by sifting and folding until it's all incorporated.

Pour the batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan, smooth the top, and bake it for 35 to 40 minutes, until it springs back to the touch. Remove the cake from the oven and invert the pan on a cooling rack until cool.


if you are in the neighborhood and want to come by feel free. :) the more the merrier, i always say!

because everyone is asking...

Ziploc Omelets
1. Crack 2 eggs into the quart size Ziploc bag (not more than 2) shake to combine them.
2. Put out a variety of ingredients such as: Cheeses, Ham, Onions, Green Peppers, Tomatoes, Hash Browns, Salsa, Etc.
3. Each guest adds prepared ingredients of choice to their bag and shake the bag to mix them well.
4. Make sure to get the air out of the bag and zip it up
5. Place the bags into rolling, boiling water for exactly 13 minutes.
You can usually cook 6-8 omelets in a large pot.
If you have more omelets, make another pot of boiling water.
6. Cut the bags and the omelet will roll out easily.
Be prepared for everyone to be amazed.

boy am i glad THAT'S over!

Gourmet Girl had a gig on Christmas day. My first large party. Buffet dinner for 25 people.


My clients were so thrilled with everything, they have already booked me for next christmas.

barbie's annual ornament party...

way back on december 7th, i hosted my annual ornament exchange. normally i have it on the first saturday night in december, but this year i decided to do a bruch on the sunday morning. i cooked everyone waffles and we all made zip-loc omlettes. there were cookies, mimosas and egg nog for everyone.



inside that pretty blue box above were the handmade ornaments that notsoccer mom made. i took them from the table but they were promptly stolen from me. :(

this is the gorgeous hand made ornament i ended up with. it was made by notsoccer mom's sister.

moo in his christmas collar. not very happy about it as you can see...

barbie in moo's christmas antlers.

saturday on the vineyard...

this past saturday i was invited to a private tour and tasting at the savannah chanelle winery in the santa cruz mountains. there were about 9 or 10 of us if you count the kids even though they weren't doing any tasting. the morning was cold but bright. we were very lucky because it was supposed to have rained.

here are some pix i took during the tour:

ed, our tour guide

the chardonay vines

what was left of my pinot sample

the cellar

luke, one of the other employees using the wine thief to grab me a sample from one of the barrels.

this is by far one of the coolest things i have ever done. i might even get to go back at bottling time as a volunteer to bottle.

christmas cookie memories...

it seems like a million years ago. i was just a kid. barely 13 i think. my mom used to order christmas cookies by the dozens from someone that she worked with so that we would have them for the season. my brother fred and i would get so excited because we knew there would be a ton of cookies in the house.

mom thought she was outsmarting us by hiding them in this huge tupperware container under the bed in our parents room. as the holiday draws ever closer this year i find that i am more in the spirit this year than in many years past. i find myself wanting to make a ton of cookies, even though i can't find a container to keep them in. i so wanted to find a big flat container of some sort that is airtight like that one my mother used.

i have my annual ornament exchange coming up this sunday. this year i am doing a brunch. but i think i will try to make a pile of cookies too so that everyone can take some home. there is nothing like homemade christmas cookies!

love. without the handles...

have you heard of pop chips?

i picked up a sample bag of the original flavor and one of the bbq at the nike expotique last week. opened the originals tonight. wow! these things are pretty tasty! they are "all natural, no preservatives, no artificial flavors or colors, no cholesterol, no saturated fat and 0 trans fat".

they come in original, bbq, salt and pepper, sea salt and vinegar, and parmesean garlic.

WOW!

yesterday i took the train to san francisco to meet up with my friend D. i usually love taking the train to the city. i can read, listen to my ipod, or just gaze out the window. unfortunately, yesterday there was a giants game. the train that is usually comfortably empty was packed to the gills with giants fans. the two men sitting behind me talked about sports the ENTIRE time. i'm talking about a ride that takes about 1.5 hours because the train stops EVERYWHERE. at one point i wanted to turn around and say, "could you two PLEASE just shut the hell up for five minutes????" around palo alto this little chinese lady got on and sat next to me. talking on her cell phone the whole rest of the way into the city. AAARRRGGHHHH!!!!

D and i had breakfast at Dottie's True Blue Cafe on jones. yummy! even though we had to wait in the line for an hour the food was well worth it. i was sitting there looking at the decor, wondering to myself why there were pictures of dorothy dandridge all over. it took me about half an hour before i made the connection. dorothy, dottie... um DUH!

anyway, i had a hard time deciding so i ordered "the True Blue Plate Special" it's your basic breakfast. a small juice, two eggs cooked any way, bacon, home fried potatoes, and buttermilk dill toast. the specials on the board hanging on the wall are what made it hard to decide. there was a delicious sounding eggplant strata that we saw someone at the counter eating. he gave it the thumbs up. then, a man at the table beside us had ordered the other thing that i had been considering. sweet potato, caramelized onions and gruyere cheese tart. with so much delicious food how was i to choose? that is how i ended up with the basic.

but what a surprise that was. the bacon was perfectly "flubbery" as i like to call it. not greasy in any way. just porky delicious. the scrambled eggs were the lightest and fluffest i have ever had. and the home fries? they made me want to move in and call dottie's my home if i could have them every day. as D can attest, i usually skip the potatoes all together since they tend to make me so full after only a few bites that i can't eat what i really need off the plate... the protein.

i still had a hankering for something sweet so i ordered the chocolate chip french toast with roasted pecans and got that to go. managed to nibble on that on the train ride home.

anyway, after breakfast, we went over to the de young museum. D works for one of the major corporate sponsors of most all of the major museums in SF and thusly gets us in free.

i introduced her to the incredible art of Dale Chihuly (pronounced chee-hoo-li).
this is the artist himself.

a piece he did for the bellagio hotel in las vegas

these last two are just some of his work that i adore. i can't even begin to describe how dales art touches me. it is so organic and natural in form. it almost makes me want to weep from the pure beauty of it.



i caught the 6:00 pm train home. talked to some nice people on the ride. ate my chocolate chip french toast (no syrup needed!) and then my niece J met me at the mountain view station. we jammed over to the AMC mercado and caught the 8:10 pm showing of the new X-files movie "I want to believe". i liked it. i am not going to say any more about it though because i don't want to ruin it for the x-filers that haven't seen it yet.

niece J saw "batman" on saturday night and demands that i go see it on the big screen. soon as the severance check arrives that will be on the agenda.

timing is everything...

i chose saturday to launch my business because it coincided with my annual neighborhood block party.

i made a spicy chicken salad for the potluck. and then caught grief from my neighbors for not entering the chili cookoff this year.

after everyone had eaten i carried around a tray of chocolated dipped strawberries that i had made along with a basket of my cards and brochures. i talked to everyone at the party. at some point the proverbial light bulb went off over my head and i approached the real estate lady that lives across the street from us. she is a hard core realtor. one of the most known in the area and one of the highest earners. after i offered her a strawberry i said "wouldn't my services make a great closing gift for your clients?" her mouth flew open, she said "what a great idea!" reached into my basket and took about ten of my cards. then yesterday roommate L ordered a pound of the salad i had made. and last night when i went to sbux one of the baristas asked me about giving her some classes.

how cool is that?!!!

it's time for the big announcement!

ladies and gentlemen; i give you,

Gourmet Girl, your personal chef!

is anyone else offended by these...

i find myself so offended by the sexist marketing carls jrs is using lately that i dont ever want to eat there again. anyone else offended by these types of commercials?

big trees...

me with the birthday girl!

last sunday, for notsoccer mom's birthday we went to the roaring camp rail road in felton for a train ride. the weather was gorgeous!
here is a picture i took in catherdral grove.

after the train ride we drove around to look for some where to eat. we ended up at the boulder creek brewery. the burgers here were amazing. i had the one called "the lomand". it is caramelized onions and gorgonzola cheese on an angus beef patty. DELICIOUS! and the ale? holy smokes was it good. so good, that both notsoccer mom and i got a half gallon to bring home.

if i ever mention the word fondant again...

please feel free to beat the snot out of me.

my dearest friend, notsoccer mom is having a birthday tomorrow. usually i buy her a cake from one of our local bakeries that we both like. this year i got the bright idea to try out my mad baking skillz. hahahahahahahaha... she asked for a cake that looks like a present.


honestly, i had NO FREAKIN IDEA how hard it is to work with fondant. it's a good thing that i don't have carpal tunnel. duff goldman and his team at charm city cakes make it look so damn easy. well, i am here to tell you that they lie. it was back breaking work kneading and rolling out this stuff. thank god, it came already colored because if i had had to knead in the coloring too, notsoccer mom would be enjoying cupcakes from safeway for her birthday.

EIW...

pickle sickles?

i love me some dill pickles but... i think i just threw up a little in my mouth.

yum, pancakes!!!

tomorrow is national pancake day! you can get a free short stack of pancakes at IHOP between the hours of 7:00 am and 10:00 pm.