The Dingle Family

This is the Dingle family (well I guess minus the dad and the grandpa and the wild cousin). Maybe these are just the Dingle brothers. Either way, they are some of my fav stuffed animals as of late and the object of quite possibly my last post, at least for awhile until I get a new camera (the current one I have broke.... complains about lens error). Until then, au revoir!

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Blondies

For my coworker's 70th birthday, I decided to experiment with the cake meal I had bought earlier. So... I made "Passover" brownies (not shown) and blondies (pictured). The blondies came out fine, with lots of macadamia nuts and white chocolate, but the brownies were badly botched... Somehow they never evened out and I kept baking them, thinking I needed to do so until the evening out occurred, but no such luck. I finally removed them from the oven after like an hour and out came biscotti =(.

Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?

I made this collage several years ago during a New Life women's event. It was supposed to be loosely just a collection of images and/or words that represents us in some way, whether it be our favorite things, or characteristics, etc. Now the title of this post is actually the name of a painting by Paul Gauguin which I find intriguing. You can read a short blurb about it here. I bring it up because I think the title can apply to my collage as well, in that each image represents some aspect of me... Scenic and dreamy landscapes, organized hangers, dogs, colorful vegetables, elegant romance, fine art, fishermen in a boat, nuts, staying healthy and hydrated, family, my home state, ice cream... You can't really make out the words in the middle, but it says, "leap of faith" and sits so appropriately at the very center of the collage...

A few have already discovered paradise. Will you be next?

They say the grass is always greener on the other side.

Fleming's Steakhouse

My project manager took the entire team out to Fleming's Steakhouse for a milestone celebration. Talk about setting the bar high! I didn't have my camera so this is from my friend's camera, and after he scooped some veggies onto his plate. The main course was beef wellington (in this case, petite filet mignon wrapped in puff pastry), which was the best part, followed by this huge Tahitian vanilla bean creme brulee topped with fresh berries. The appetizers, salad, and sides were all delicious as well. Yay for splurge =).

Just Strawberries and Blueberries

This is pure frozen strawberries and frozen blueberries blended into a thick smoothie. I was getting tired of adding 140 calories of super sweet pineapple juice to each smoothie, so I decided to forego the liquid and blend after the frozen berries had softened somewhat. And voila! This is essentially pureed berries! Very pure =P. I do like Jamba Juice's Vibrant Blueberry quite a bit but you can't compare... that's got soymilk, yogurt, and some other stuff in it, where this one is simply fruit.

Cantaloupe Juice

Too much cantaloupe led to my blending it down into a frothy juice. Very refreshing and sweet! It's reminiscent of the fresh watermelon juice I had at Bobaland in Rancho (don't get the watermelon juice from Trader Joes... it's horrendous).