Fun at the Fair

This past weekend my family went to the OC Fair!  Every year it seems to get bigger and we always have a ton of fun no matter who we go with.  They have tons of food stands, mostly advertising everything fried you can imagine, even fried butter!  Gross!  We tried almost everything from fresh roasted corn on the cob, ribs, chicken kabobs, Dippin' Dots and even mini cupcakes!!  

My favorite part is always all the rides, but this year, after my 4th of July Sumo Wrestling accident, my chiropractor has still not cleared me to go running so I am almost positive the carnival rides are out of the question.  So sad.  Instead, Brian was determined to win all the games and acquire numerous stuffed animals.  Where are we going to put this thing?! 

 

Hope everyone is having a great summer! 

Nouveau Roasted Potatoes

Ever on the quest to find or reinvent new side dishes, I came up with something last week that was sure to breakup my feeling of boredom for my current collection of side dishes.  Potatoes are not my favorite vegetable and I feel no inclination to like them because they really don't provide any fabulous health benefits, but they are pretty much the ultimate starch.  If I am going to indulge in an unhealthy starch, I would much rather a giant piece of homemade bread.  

When I was young I remember my mom making these Roasted Potatoes with Caramelized Onions.  They seemed so sophisticated and special!  She later told me, "oh, those potatoes?  They are so easy!"  They are easy, and still look so impressive to me, but even though I make them all the time for Brian and my sis (the potato fiend), I still don't eat them.  

Then, it hit me!  I like sweet potatoes and I could do the same thing with them!  They were delicious and different.  I love the color and the more intense flavor.  I also felt good knowing I was getting some nutritional benefits to go with my happy taste buds.

Nouveau Roasted Potatoes

(I also had to give them a sophisticated name because I am just so impressed with myself.  Ha!)

Ingredients

4 Sweet Potatoes or Yams, chopped into 1 inch cubes

2 medium Red Onions, sliced

2 tablespoons fresh Cilantro, chopped

2 tablespoons dried Tarragon

2 tablespoons Olive Oil

1 teaspoon Sea Salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh Cracked Pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Arrange sweet potatoes and onions on a cookie sheet covered with cooking spray.  Toss with olive oil, herbs and salt and pepper.  Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until potatoes are golden brown and onions are caramelized.

Another Year...

I can't believe it is March already again, time just flies by! My birthday was this past week and I am so blessed to have such good friends and family around to celebrate with! My parents went over-the-top and hosted a fun birthday party for me with some of my close friends from college. Things have changed so much from when we were at Pepperdine and just a short walk down the hall to someone's dorm or apartment and when classes were all the responsibilities we had. It is much harder to get together with friends as often as we used to see each other.

This year I feel so fortunate to have been able to have dinner with everyone, regardless of my birthday. Some of my friends weren't able to make it and I missed them, but we will get soon hopefully! Along with great company, my parents hired a chef from a local restaurant to make a gourmet dinner for us complete with my favorite food: PIZZA!

Caprese Salad with Portabello Mushrooms

Penne Arrabiata

Had the best time! Even got a tin full of my favorite Taco Bell Hot Sauce Packets! Love it!

Beautiful Carrot Cake my sis made me! Thank you everyone for making my birthday so special, I will cherish these memories. This is just a small sampling of pictures, I tried to keep them food related, but we sure did have lots of fun!

Restaurant Review: WASA

Whew! I have been out of touch with blogging lately! But, I am back! Last Saturday night we were lucky enough to have Karen and Andrew visit for the night. It was way too short and we don't get to see them enough, but I am grateful they made the stop to see us!

My dad told us about this new (well, new to us) Sushi restaurant called WASA. It is so close and in a center I frequent often and am kicking myself for not seeing it sooner. It was excellent! The fish was so fresh and they had a perfect balance between classic Japanese dishes and some more adventurous western twists.

We had the best time, as usual, and were also happy to have Liz and Matt join us. Lots of laughter, Saki Bombs and good food! If you live in the area you must try this place! Delish!

Miss Karen and Andrew already, but excited to see them soon for Karen's Bridal Shower in March! Watch out for more to come with these two...

Great Start

There is nothing better to start your day than a workout and a great breakfast! This morning marked the first day of my family's new private bootcamp. For the past 7 months we have been going to a bootcamp down the street, but they moved a lot further away and at 5:30 am no one wants to drive further or wake up earlier. Our solution: Make our own bootcamp! It is fabulous!

Last night I made these Oatmeal Blueberry Muffins as a new addition to our normal breakfast this week. My hopes are that Brian would like them and his brain would get its "unhealthy craving" for the day and be tricked! They are made with whole wheat flour and oats and really taste good. The part in the recipe where you toss the blueberries in flour first really works. They are pretty quick to make (despite my lack of interest in baking) and are great!

Batter-I used steel cut oats so I think that is why they are more grainy and visible. They tasted fine though. I sometimes make dumb choices at Trader Joe's!

Brian's Chocolate Soy Latte made with our Nspresso (best machine ever!)

Overeasy Eggs (with extra pepper)

Beautiful Muffins

What a great start to a great day! What do you do to start your morning??

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Last night Brian and I were in the car driving home reminiscing about memories from our childhood, and as the holidays are approaching I couldn't help but think about my memories of Christmas time with my parents when I was younger.

When Thanksgiving passes and all the holly, wreaths, lights and trees start to pop up everywhere, most people think of fond Christmas memories with their family dinners and unwrapping presents under a tree, but I think of helping my parents in their store.

Every year during Christmas break it was our job to wrap presents when someone bought something so the salesperson could go on to help the next person. We would try to come up with faster ways as the years went on to get the gifts wrapped to increase our number of packages per hour. We organized ribbon and bows, tape, cut paper to pre-determined sizes and prepared for the lines of people that needed their gifts wrapped. We were wrapping machines! Now that I am writing this it sort of sounds like child-slave labor, but we had the best time!

Christmas is almost here and I was just sitting here thinking about how nice it was to spend that time with my parents and my sister working to help our business instead of sitting at home bored watching TV.



What is your favorite Holiday memory?