Friends

We were so lucky last week to have our friends Russ and Paula in the desert! Brian and Russ are long lost brothers and from the moment they set eyes on each other it was kismet. I knew as soon as I saw them sharing food there was no stopping his obsession with "Russ Dog". Not to mention that Paula is the sweetest, most fun person on the planet and we couldn't stop talking all night either. We went to Okura, our favorite Sushi place down here and as usual it was wonderful and has a fun atmosphere. AND Saki Bombs. =)

I can't explain how thankful I am to be seeing so many of my friends lately. After college when I first started working it was difficult to find a balance between work, family and friends, but now five years later I am so happy I have found a way to do everything! Between Bikram Yoga, Strolling around Balboa, a Cooking Class or Shopping...
I am lucky enough to have a buddy for everything!

Oh, look at the lovely couple! If Brian ever leaves me, I know he will be with Russ...

We Love Breakfast!

Brian and I are both big fans of breakfast! Brian loves the food and I love a nice healthy breakfast to start the day off after a great workout! This morning I made French Toast with Maple-Apple compote before I set off for work. I really meant to make this on Sunday morning, but didn't get up early enough!

Sunday morning I went to a cooking class with Bridget at Williams Sonoma. We both went in thinking that we were going to learn how to make homemade pasta, but that isn't what happened. We learned how to make a basic bolognese and boil pasta. There were two highlights: First, when one of the ladies was naming off all the names of various pastas and she couldn't pronounce any of them. Secondly, when they were adding the ground beef and called it "hamburger". HAHAHAHAHA. It was ridic! Bridget and I are still laughing about this...

Back to my breakfast....

Apples Sauteing...

Finished Product!
Complete with a Lactose Free Latte for Brian with some fresh grated Nutmeg on top!

About 1 minute later!

Overall it was a good, tasty recipe. It was fairly simple to make. I say fairly because I was making it after my Morning Bootcamp and before work. When I am working on a time schedule and have a lot of dishes to clean it makes me a little frazzeled. Despite all the bowls and pans, this is a good one. The best part of it is that it uses a lot of things I usually have on hand anyway! Try it out and tell me what you think!

Note: I used about half the butter that it called for.
If you are going to do this, watch out for the apples or turn the temperature down a bit so you don't have to babysit them otherwise they will burn!

Perfect Weekend!

Sunday night we went up to Santa Monica in search of the perfect place to have Karen's Bridal Shower. My mom joined us and we had such fun time looking at all the hotels up there and having lunch! I wish I would have taken photos, but I forgot as I was starving!

On our way home we spent the rest of the day with our friends Scott and Kathryn in Marina del Rey. I am so happy that we have been making plans with them more frequently because I love hanging out with them! We went for drinks at this place overlooking the harbor and the sunset was just exquisite. This photo below really doesn't do it justice, but I tried.

What a perfect end to a great weekend! We ended the night watching the Golden Globes and getting take-out. I normally despise take-out, but since I was with two of my favorite people I didn't care! We had pizza...which is my favorite food and the only acceptable thing to get from take-out. All was good! Especially the company!

I just hate eating things out of plastic containers, nothing is ever the same as when you get it in the restaurant, and you miss the whole experience of eating in a restaurant! The whole idea of it just bothers me, it takes just as much time to order food and go pick it up as it does to make a nice healthy meal that you see exactly what is going into your food!