Apricot Bars

My husband's coworker's wife gave me her recipe for Apricot Bars and I finally got a chance to make them yesterday. It's made with a shortbread crust and a chewy dried apricot and nut filling. Here's the recipe - enjoy!

Crust:
1/2 cup softened butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup flour
Combine and pack into a 6 x 9 pan, bake for 25 minutes at 350.

Filling:
2/3 cup dried apricots, chopped
2 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)
Beat eggs, mix with brown sugar, flour, baking powder and salt. Mix in vanilla, nuts and apricots.
Spread mixture on slightly cooled rust and bake for another 30 minutes. When cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar and cut.

On another note, I finally got the jars I wanted from Crate and Barrel to store my flour, sugar and brown sugar. I was inspired by Barefoot Contessa's kitchen - I like how she keeps her flour and sugar in those big jars. I got the 1 gallon jars from Crate and Barrel for $10.95, and the half gallon for $9.95. (Wow, I just checked Barefoot Contessa's website and she uses the same jars! I thought the jars looked similar but didn't know they were actually from C & B!)

I also came across this blog entry where the writer and visitors comment about their love/hate relationship with Ina Garten. I love her. There used to be a message board on her FoodNetwork site and people left terrible comments about how she's overweight and shouldn't be cooking with so much butter... geez! WHO CARES if she's fat? The food tastes good! I have two of her cookbooks and I haven't had a problem with any of her recipes yet.

My favorite shows / chefs to catch on FoodNetwork are:

• Barefoot Contessa (Good food and I want her kitchen and backyard garden.)
• Michael Chiarello (I have a coworker who looks EXACTLY like him! I want to go to one of his parties.)
• Ham on the Street (Very entertaining, plus he is a classically trained chef unlike some hacks on Food Network.
• Good Eats / Alton Brown (Alton Brown rules.)
• Paula's Home Cooking (My favorite episodes are when she cooks with her sons and they say "Momma" in that Southern drawl of theirs!)
• Sugar Rush / Warren Brown (Maybe because his name reminds me of Warrick Brown on CSI.)

Can't stand:

• Racheal Ray (Self explanatory.)
• Emeril Lagasse (Self explanatory.)
• Sara Moulton (I can't explain why.)
• Bobby Flay (Self explanatory.)
• Tyler Florence (I used to like him then he replaced Chef Frederic on How to Boil Water, plus I got tired of watching the women look at him with dreamy eyes.)

diet and exercise... who would've thunk it?

I tried on my bridesmaid dress yesterday - it was custom made by a seamstress who took my measurements 2 weeks ago. I was looking at the dress on a hanger thinking, "Damn, am I that big?" I was so relieved that when I tried it on, the dress was waaaaaay too big. I thought she made the dress big on purpose so that if I got bigger she could size it down but she took out her book where she recorded my measurements and told me she followed my measurements exactly. Then she measured me and compared and we both saw that I lost 2 inches off my chest (this is actually a good thing for me), waist and hips! I only lost 4 lbs. so I was really surprised but I guess when you're 5'1", 4 lbs. is a lot for a short frame.

I've been watching what I eat (not eating as much cake, cookies, bread, sugar and fat as I want to) and going to the gym 2 hours a day for 3-4 times a week. Although I don't feel different or look different I guess I am different. My clothes fit better but trust me, there is still some fluffiness where the baby house used to be. I am far from looking good naked.

I have to go back the week before I leave for Hawaii so she can take my final measurements because she has to rip apart the dress and start from scratch anyway so she wants to make sure it fits. She's really good - she only needs 2 days to make the dress. The dress came out very nice (although big) and my daughter's dress is SOOOOOOOOOOO cute. I wish I took pics but we'll pick it up in a few days and you can compare her work vs. the picture I gave her.

Yesterday was also my sister's coed bridal shower. I gorged like a pig. They had another cake from Katrina Rozelle there, this time, my favorite Erica Torte. The piece I ate topped off goat cheese and crackers, *hukilau chicken, *avocado poke, *beef short ribs, potato salad, layered jello, lox and bagels, turkey chili, fried rice, *spam musubi, and **leche flan.

*The hosts are part owners of a Hawaiian restaurant in San Jose called Da Hukilau and the *food came from the restaurant. Obviously, it was GOOD.


The cake, it calls to me.

I am soooo getting this.

Pink/Red Swap

Here is my one handmade item for Color-iffic's February Pink/Red Swap. I tried making many things but with time constraints and my novice level, this was the best I could do. I hope my swap partner doesn't mind too much, I tried to make up for my lack of crafting skills with the rest of the goodies.

1 out of 3

My daughter picked the picture on the top left as the one that "looks most like her family" and as you can see, her teacher questioned her choice.

Let's see... a white family, a black family, and a generic "brown" family. I'm assuming her teacher thought that my daughter should've picked the brown family but I can see my daughter's reasons for her choice.

[1] No one in our household or family is in a wheelchair.

[2] My daughter doesn't wear glasses.

[3] An old lady doesn't live with us and serves salad for dinner.

[4] The white family looks like they're having fun at the movies, who wouldn't want that? If I had to choose between going to the movies, going to church or feeding a baby while surrounded by old people, I'd choose the movies too.

shoes are my friend

Gotta buy shoes for the wedding. Since my sister is getting married outdoors in a garden setting, I have to get wedge heels (which are my favorite heels) so that I don't sink in the ground as I would with stilettos.

I'm debating which of these to get... vote for your favorite. My dress is kind of a coral pink (pink with yellow and orange undertones).

A. Marinelli's Rhonda Sandal. This one is my favorite because it has seashells on it and the wedding is in Hawaii but I don't know how it would look with my pink dress... in a way, I don't care because I like these shoes so much.

Nordstrom's Monaco Sandal. It looks white, but this one is actually beige. They have it in turquoise which I really want but I know it won't match the dress.

Franco Sarto's Mise Sandal in copper. Dressier than the other ones.

And I couldn't resist these for my daughter. They're not for the wedding, but damn it, they're so cute!

fore!

Joyce tagged me for a meme.

Four jobs I've had in my life:
1. Cash Girl at Six Flags Marine World when I was in high school where my job was just to count the money the games department brought in
2. Admin / Secretary
3. Integration Consultant
4. IT Project Manager

Four movies I would watch over and over:
1. Notting Hill
2. Chocolat
3. Old School
4. Under the Tuscan Sun

Four places I have lived:
1. Vallejo, CA
2. Sacramento, CA
3. Various Naval Bases in Guam, Illinois and California
4. Fremont, CA

Four TV shows I like to watch:
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. The Office
3. The Shield
4. Reruns of Spin City

Four places I have been on vacation:
1. Hawaii
2. Las Vegas
3. Virginia / Washington DC
4. Orlando, FL (Disneyworld!)

Four websites I visit daily:
1. Yahoo! Most Popular News
2. Shockwave's Daily Jigsaw
3. Blogs listed on my sidebar
4. Myspace.com (I'm a myspace whore)

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Toro
2. Cupcakes
3. Macarons
4. Roasted Crab and Garlic Noodles from Thanh Long

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Playing with my baby Q instead of working
2. On a tropical beach with my feet buried under the warm sand
3. In Paris enjoying macarons from Laduree
4. Living the life of "Under the Tuscan Sun"

Bloggers I am tagging:
JustJenn, Leslie, Giao & Nannette.

move over Steelers!

The Steelers aren't the only ones making headlines in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette! Bob Batz, a reporter for the Post Gazette left a comment on my blog asking me about the wrist reminders I blogged about. We conversed via email and voila! I'm newsworthy!

shave and a haircut part II

For some reason unbeknownst to me, my 5 year old daughter decided to cut her hair. I know almost all young girls go through this stage at least once - my version was much much worse: I took a chunk of my "bang hair" and cut right next to my scalp. So that spot where your hairline meets your forehead? I had a mini flat-top there. To this day I don't know why I did that, and when I ask my daughter what possessed her to cut her hair, this was how the conversation went:

"Grandma found a whole bunch of hair in your trash can, did you cut your hair?"

"I don't know." (Note: When she says "I don't know" it ALWAYS means YES.)

"Did you use scissors to cut your hair?"

"I don't know."

"Is that your hair is in the trashcan?"

"I don't know."

"Why did you cut your hair?"

"I don't know."

"Was it bothering you? Did you want it shorter? Do you want to get a haircut?"

"I don't know."

"Well... are you going to do it again?"

"No."

a spot of tea

I organized a Bridal Shower spa day and tea party for my sister today. We headed over to Burke Williams Spa at Santana Row in the morning and had tea at Lisa's Tea Treasures afterwards.

Lisa's was good, but my favorite teahouse is still Lovejoy's in San Francisco - their tea is better.

My friend brought the cake from Katrina Rozelle - it was a white cake with fresh raspberries in the filling. It was soooooooo good. Katrina Rozelle makes the best cakes in the bay area in my opinion. One of my favorite cakes is their Erica Torte which is a chocolate truffle cake, and I don't even like chocolate cake! Last year I even bought my own Erica Torte as a birthday gift for myself.

I also made little gift bags for the ladies to take home. In keeping with the tea party theme, the bags were filled with homemade Meyer Lemon Poppyseed shortbread, Toffee shortbread, assorted teas and a small jar of honey. Joyce introduced me to Everyday Food's Icebox Shortbread recipe, and it is so quick and easy to make -- plus the recipe only uses five ingredients!

I made little tags to go on everything by using those metal rim tags and printable round labels. I thought it was overkill labeling the teas "assorted teas" (duh) but I was on a roll. I was up until 2 AM making the cookies and gift bags so I slept through my massage at the spa.

shave and a haircut

My son's hair is thick around the sides and nonexistent on the top, very much like an old man's combover. I got tired of people telling me, "He looks like a little old man with his hair!" so we shaved it all off.

And yes, I realize that posting the picture is in contradiction to my gross post, but the traffic on my blog doesn't compare to the traffic on Flickr so unless there is someone reading this who has a clippers fetish, I think we're safe.

January's Cake

I'M BACK!

Here it is... Martha Stewart's Meyer Lemon Anniversary Cake. I made it for my niece's first birthday and it took me about 5 hours not including the time I spent looking for Meyer lemons. I used almost 3 dozen eggs for this cake - mostly separated eggs. The cake itself was VERY tasty, but the lemon curd was way too eggy. The buttercream was yummy (butter + sugar = GOOD). I didn't bother with the candied lemon slices because I was f'ing pooped after laboring over this cake. I know it looks pretty simple but the recipe had lots of steps (cake, lemon simple syrup to brush on the cake, lemon curd, buttercream) and I know a one year old wouldn't care about candied Meyer lemon slices either! The butterflies on the cake are actually rings little ones can put on their fingers (leftover from my daughter's third birthday).

After all that work, I later realized that my cake was the "mess up cake" for the celebrant to stick her face and fingers in while a store bought cake was served to the guests.

i'm still alive

We are having wood floors put in the house and everything is in disarray. The computer has been unhooked and unplugged, the couches are in the dining room, my office furniture is in the living room, the dining table is in the kitchen and there are piles and piles of books all over the place.

I finally made the Martha Stewart Meyer Lemon cake this past weekend - I can't post pics yet because I can't find my card reader and the battery in my camera is dead and I can't find the charger. I can't find ANYTHING.

As soon as things are back to normal, I'll post pics of the cake and the new floors. I spent 5 hours making that cake, it turned out pretty good. The cake itself was delicious, as was the frosting but I wouldn't recommend Martha Stewart's lemon curd recipe - it was way too eggy. I prefer Alton Brown's lemon curd, his recipe uses 5 egg yolks, Martha Stewart's recipe? 16 EGG YOLKS.

By the way - I always thought Meyer lemons were some special gourmet lemon.. I went all the way to Whole Foods and spent $8.00 on them and when I tasted them I realized that they're just like those homegrown lemons people give me all the time! What a rip!

gross

I recently posted a picture of my baby's feet on Flickr and I saw that someone marked it as a "favorite." When I visited this person's Flickr site, I was DISGUSTED. This person obviously had a foot fetish because there were DISGUSTING pictures posted of people and feet. Some pics were harmless, others were not. What's even more gross is that they had a Flickr photo set of children and their feet. I reported them to the Flickr Admins though I don't know what they can do since technically, they're not doing anything wrong.

After that, I made all photos that had to do with my family private (friends and family can view, just send me a note and I'll add you if you're not some sick disgusting pervert). Now I know why a lot of people don't post pictures of themselves or their kids on the internet.

Be careful.

my favorite ingredient

Whenever I go grocery shopping I always buy buttermilk. At first I only bought it because it's an ingredient in my favorite cupcake recipe from Martha Stewart (though I think this recipe was originally made by the Barefoot Contessa herself because her coconut cupcake recipe is exactly the same minus the coconut). With all the leftover buttermilk, I started looking for and testing recipes that used buttermilk and here are some of my favorites:

• Buttermilk Pancakes from allrecipes.com
• Tyler Florence's Smothered Pork Chops
• Alton Brown's Steel Cut Oatmeal

Also - I'm going to be making January's cake this Saturday which is a meyer lemon cake with swiss meringue lemon buttercream. It's my niece's first birthday so I have an incentive to "try" and make it look and taste good. I even bought my cake board and cake box from Michael's yesterday, just have to find meyer lemons... I feel a trip to Whole Foods coming on.

greetings!

My son got his official greeting from the White House last week. I learned about this from Joyce, I wish, I had known about this with my other two kids! Since they also recognize weddings, I told my sister to mail an invitation to the White House too - I saw that you have to wait until "after" the event takes place - probably so they can make sure you actually get married before they send a greeting. (And do a little background check I bet.)

material girl

I got around to buying the material for my bridesmaid dress and my daughter's flower girl dress. I got green and coral pink silk dupioni for our dresses, my dress will be coral with a green sash, and the top half of my daughter's dress will be green and the bottom coral. I got it from Thai Silks in Los Altos - but they also sell material on their website. The dupioni was about $13 a yard -- my only other choice was to go to Britex in San Francisco, and everyone says that they're way too expensive.

A dressmaker / seamstress is making the dresses for me -- what she charges is about the same if I bought the dresses retail but on the plus side the dress will be custom fit for me and I won't have to get it altered. I always have to get my bridesmaid dresses altered because bridal shops order the biggest size dress for your biggest measurement and in my case, that would be the bust. My seamstress says that even for "normally" proportioned women, bridal shops are notorious for doing this -- apparently this is another way of making money. Once the dresses are done I'll post pictures, she's a really good seamstress, expensive, but worth it because you can tell her work is well tailored -- her dresses don't look like homemade.

your call is important to us... NOT

Ever want to talk to a human? Here's the best cheat sheet EVER. My employer is on this list, and even I didn't know how to get to a live person on our own customer service line!

note to self...

We saw these wrist reminders at Office Max and my husband laughed at them because he said, "Who the hell would wear those?" Answer? OUR KIDS. My work schedule is irregular - on days I'm stuck on a call or in a meeting and I can't pick up the kids on time, they would go to afterschool daycare. Usually I tell them in the morning whether or not they are going to daycare but my daughter (5 years old in Kindergarten) doesn't always remember and I hate the thought of her being the last one standing outside waiting for her me and I don't show up. That's pretty devastating.

So now I stick these wrist reminders on her that remind her whether or not she's going to daycare that day. She shows them to her teacher every morning as "FYI." Plus my daughter likes them because HELLO, it's an accessory! She actually asked for a matching necklace.

tea party

I'm sending thank you gifts to my coworkers who covered for me while I was out on maternity leave. One of my coworkers is a tea drinker so I ordered her this ingenuiTEA set from Adagio Teas. It's a teapot that you place on top of your cup or mug then it pours the tea into your cup while filtering the loose tea leaves.

Adagio's website also has a directory of tea rooms in the US at www.teamap.com - I LOVE going to tea, something about the dainty sandwiches and teacups. I'm even looking forward to hosting my sister's bridal shower at a tearoom next month.

stamps

I am too lazy to get 2 cents stamps. I actually mailed a card today with 2-37 cents stamps.

The USPS website the very cute "Favorite Children's Book Animals" 39 cents stamps pictured here. I bought 5 books of them. Actually I "pre-ordered" them and I don't know when they're going to ship. The website says that these stamps have an issue date of 1/10/2006 - what does that mean??? Does it mean that the stamps are going to be available as of 1/10/2006? WHO KNOWS. I don't care. They're cute stamps anyway.

big perm

I got my eyelashes permed yesterday. You may be thinking, "Geez, how lazy do you have to be to take an eyelash curler and squeeze?" But my sister had hers done and offered to take me (and pay) to get my lashes curled so I really didn't have anything to lose. I wish I took a "before" picture but the picture above is my "after" shot. Try to ignore the errant brow hairs that I need to pluck.

I had them done at Bliss Beauty Center in Los Altos - it took about 40 minutes from start to finish. They take these tiny perm rods that sort of look like those cylinder cotton balls that the dentist sticks in your mouth when they pull your teeth out, except that they're tiny, then they "glue" your lashes to the rod. Your eyes are closed during the whole process and after your lashes are glued to the rod, they apply the perming solution. It's just like a real perm because 10 minutes they apply the neutralizer. As you can see, there is one eyelash that didn't get permed, my lashes are super straight and super short (curse of being Asian) so that one lash probably got away.

The perm lasts about two months - but I don't think I'd get them permed again just because I don't even curl my lashes on a daily basis plus my lashes suck. I would be better off wearing fake lashes. If you have long thick lashes, this would look great on you. The perm actually curls your lashes - eyelash curlers crimp or bend your lashes more than curl.

That thing

I have a coworker who has a thing for cows, we even call her "Moo." I met a customer who had a thing for dragonflies - her office was filled with dragonfly paraphenila. Joyce's thing is bamboo. Giao? Gnomes.

The nice thing about having a thing/theme is that when people know what your thing is they automatically think of you whenever they come across your said thing. Whenever I see a dragonfly, I immediately think of that customer I met 5 years ago (and I haven't seen her since). The other day at Borders, I saw a mini garden gnome that immediately made me think of Giao. Whenever I see bamboo plants or bamboo stationery or anything with bamboo on it, I think of Joyce.

I don't have a "thing." The only thing I can offer is pretty lame. MAGNETS AND MUGS. I buy magnets and mugs whenever I visit a new city or place - or sometimes people get magnets/mugs for me whenever they go anywhere. My magnet collection is pictured above. I actually have a lot more magnets than that but they're either broken or they got kicked under fridge and there is no way in hell that I am going to dig under the fridge to get them. The other magnets I didn't include in the picture - I'm sure you don't care about the Poison Control hotline magnet or for the magnet from the local plumber. If you visit flickr, you can see who and where these magnets came from.

WAHM

Though I long to be a SAHM, I'm at WAHM. I have a traditional job (not one of those "Stay at home earning $5000 a day after you pay us $10000" type jobs) - but what I do can usually be accomplished via phone or email so that's why my company allows me and others like me to work from home. Plus, they no longer have to lease office space for us so it saves them money. When I tell people that I work from home, the first thing they say is, "You're so lucky! I wish I could work from home!"

Yes, I'm lucky to be able to work from home but it's not as fun and easy as you think. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of working from home:

Advantages:

• The #1 advantage: commute time. You can wake up, roll out of bed, walk a few feet to the computer and BAM! You're at work!
• Flexibility. Drop off the kids at school? No problem. Pick them up after school? No problem. Take a nap? No problem.
• Getting work done. Now this depends on your work ethic, but I get a lot more work done working at home vs. in an office. Why? No one popping in your cubicle every 5 minutes.
• Invisibility. No need to fake working because no one can see you taking a nap on the couch.

Disadvantages:

• Some people don't understand the concept of working at home. You get phone calls from that certain someone (read, HUSBAND) who thinks he can call you during the day so you can look for a receipt, a phone number, or just some random piece of information that he left in a pair of pants sitting in the hamper. The conversation usually starts like this.... "riiiiiiiing" (this is the office line ringing mind you)... "Hey, what are you doing?" "Uh, WORKING." "Hey can you look for (insert random, unimportant issue here)? I think I left it in (my pants, the dresser, the bathroom, the car, the garage, the junk drawer, somewhere in the house)." If I actually worked in an office, I doubt I'd get calls like this.
• NO HUMAN CONTACT. You guys who get to go out to lunch with coworkers, I envy you. I miss that. I miss the potlucks. Birthday cakes. Candy bowl. Gossiping about the office chick who dresses like a slut (wait, I didn't do that... maybe that means they were talking about me! Those no good gossiping b!%$#-es!)
• Maintaining the illusion of working in an office without letting customers know you work from home. So picture being on the phone with a customer or on a conference call when in the background is "Diiiiiiiiiiiing-Dong!" Or the home phone ringing and the answering machine going off "We aren't home right now, but....." Or (and I don't have this problem but my other teammates do) "BARK BARK! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRUFF RUFF!"
• You can't shut work off. Those of you who work in an office can shut your computer off and go home for the day, if something comes up, you usually say, "Eh, I'll deal with it when I get back to the office." Me? It's so easy to shoot off that email at 10 PM on a Saturday night. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten out of bed to take care of something because if I didn't, I wouldn't be able to sleep because I KNOW I can knock it off my list if I just run downstairs to the computer.
• Flexibility. This is an advantage AND disadvantage. Why? Guess who takes the kids to their dentist appointments, doctor appointments, picks up the kids, drops off the kids... make bank deposits... etc. etc. etc.

I'm very disciplined when it comes to working at home. Contrary to what most people think, the TV is NEVER on during the day and I actually get up at 6 AM every morning to shower, dress, fix my hair and makeup before I work. And I don't take naps during the workday... anymore. HEY, I was pregnant and I took them during my lunch hour!

La Dolce Vita

I went to Starbucks today and instead of getting my usual tall nonfat Toffee Nut Latte with whip (YES I realize that the whipped cream defeats the purpose of getting nonfat milk but realize this, I get nonfat milk to justify the whipped cream), I tried the new Cinnamon Dolce Latte and it was good! It has a brown sugar cinnamony taste which I like... and it wasn't too sweet. The Caramel Macchiato has been officially bumped from my #2 spot.

My new Starbucks roster is as follows (in order of preference):
1 - Tall nonfat Toffee Nut Latte WITH WHIP
2 - Tall nonfat Cinnamon Dolce Latte WITH WHIP
3 - Tall nonfat Caramel Macchiato
4 - Tall iced nonfat Toffee Nut Latte WITH WHIP (on hot days)
5 - Tall nonfat Chai Tea Latte

My husband's usual is a tall White Chocolate Mocha but you know I suck the whip cream out of that bad boy before I hand it over to him.

Note to self: no young, taut, attractive 20 year old females allowed

I'm looking for a nanny. Just someone to take care of my baby while I work at home - I can't work at home and take care of a baby at the same time -- trust me, I tried and it's not fair to either my baby or work because they both don't get the attention they deserve.

So I started getting emails/calls in response to the Craigslist ad I posted - my first call was from a young whippersnapper of a girl, 20 years old. Latina. I told my husband about the call, his response?

Eyes lit up, grin on face: "20 years old?!? Daaaaaaamn!!!"

Yeah. I am SO not hiring her. I may need to change my specifications to "65+ years old preferred. Sagging bosom a plus."

The Cuss Jar AKA "The Kids' College Fund"

I've been super irritable lately but I couldn't quite place the reasons why. After some deep thought, I've come to the conclusion that it's because:

1. I, like Leslie, go back to work today,
2. I too, like Shotgun Daddy, have been dealing with three kids at home on their Christmas vacation,
3. and I have IBS. Irritated B$#%@ Syndrome.

So today, a certain husband set off a BF in me. Let's just say that snapping at me to hurry up because you assume I'm "playing" on the computer when I'm really making daycare arrangements for my return to work plus IBS don't really mix. In 10 seconds my kids could've made $20 because all the derivatives of the F word came flying out my mouth plus the B, A and S words. On top of that I announced, "And I'm NOT f'ing going to put any f'ing money in the f'ing cuss jar either!"

I said that they COULD'VE made $20 but I have found a loophole. If my cussing is the result of someone else's actions - I shouldn't have to pay.

Resolution #1 Update

After day one, my kids made $14 in Cuss Jar Funds. That's in ONE DAY. They're on track to make $100 a week. It's eye opening when you realize that swear words are part of your everyday language. They got me for $5, and my husband $9. We're really honest about it and we even pony up the dough even when the kids don't hear us cuss.

New Year's Resolution #3

Make use of my cookbook collection.

Inspired by Heidi at 101 cookbooks - I'm aiming to try one new recipe a week from the many cookbooks I've accumulated. I told my family about this resolution and informed them that they WILL eat what I cook or else. There will be no running to buy a Jumbo Jack after dinner... no making late night grilled cheese sandwiches... no bowls of cereal after dinner.

New Year's Resolution #2

Actually BE the weight that's stated on my driver's license. It's been 10 years and 15 lbs. since I got married and had kids and was at the weight that's on my driver's license. Aah... back in my size 2 days. At one point I was actually a size 0 but I'm not naturally slim (I'm what you call "healthy") and for me to be that skinny it took a LOT of work that I just can't do today when I have three kids to take care of. A lot of work like eating nothing but salad, chicken breasts, tuna and hard boiled eggs and working out 2-3 hours a day for 7 days a week. This was also back when I was single and dating a bodybuilder so I had lots of free time to spend at the gym. Plus I'm married now so I don't have to look good anymore. haha!

I just want to look decent in a bikini. Notice I didn't say "look great" in a bikini - who's kidding who... I gave birth to THREE KIDS. The stretch marks alone disqualify any chance of "look good" much less "look great" in a bikini. And let's not forget the mere fact that my skin had to stretch out to accommodate three babies so I know there's going to be some saggage there.

Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook Conquest #2

I've decided that it will be one of my goals to make every single recipe in Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. So along with the "Cakes for the Year" goal - I'll be posting everytime I make something from the cookbook. Maybe I should start a bake along blog... something to think about.

My first conquest was the Black and White Cookies. Today I made the French Almond Macaroons - it was actually my second attempt. The first time I made them, I burned them. I didn't read correctly - 300 degrees vs. my interpreted 350 degrees! THEN on top of that I ran out of time to make the Swiss Meringue Buttercream so I just washed it - but today I made a lemon variation of French Almond Macaroons and it was perfect because I made use of all the egg yolks using Alton Brown's Lemon Curd recipe which I added to the buttercream... no left over yolks or whites! The cookies even LOOK like the real macaroons I buy at the bakery.

I left my trusty D70 camera at a relative's house so I'll post pictures later!

f$#@ing a$#@^$*!

New Year's Resolution #1:

Stop swearing. To help with this resolution, we are going to implement a swear jar. Each offense (word) will cost $1.

I swear like a sailor so I'm going to pick up a 2 gallon jar at the Container Store. And because my swearing affects the kids the most, they are going to benefit from it - every month they'll get to spend the swear jar proceeds however they want (assuming there are any funds in it.)

Addictions

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

I have two new addictions: the Daiy Jigsaw and Sudoku puzzles at Shockwave. My day doesn't feel complete unless I do both of them. I'm afraid of when I go back to work - I won't be able to do any work until I complete the two.

Speaking of addictions - my 3 month old son got a Baby Einstein DVD for Christmas. I don't know what it is about them but he was totally mesmerized by it. They don't make much sense to me - I suppose if I ever did drugs they would the type of thing you could trip off of while high.

memoirs of a girl's day out

I had a little girls day out yesterday - went to Bay Street, did a little shopping, watched Memoirs of a Geisha, and had lunch at PF Changs (love the spicy eggplant and ground chicken).

Memoirs was good - I think I would have enjoyed it more had I not read the book first. It's hard for me to enjoy a storyline when I already know what's going to happen, yet this happens to me a lot because I read a ton of books. I read an article about the brouhaha over casting Chinese actresses for the Japanese roles of geishas - but I was a bit thrown off with the movie being filmed in English. I don't mind subtitles - in fact I live by them - I watch EVERYTHING (except the news or talk shows) with captions or subtitles. My household is so noisy that captions allow me to read what I can't hear when the kids are screaming their heads off.

Anyway - the movie did keep with the book's storyline as much as it could. There's a lot of detail in the book that wasn't included in the movie - had they included all the details, it would've been a 4 hour movie. I think they did the best they could - Ken Watanabe was a good choice as the Chairman, I liked him in The Last Samurai. Gong Li is beautiful, though not as hateful as I imagined Hatsumomo to be. Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh were both good in the movie as well - Michelle Yeoh was a good pick as the older "sister" Mameha.

I have a lot of movies that I want to see but I don't have the time. Plus with movies turning over to DVD so quickly - it's no biggie... Wedding Crashers comes out on DVD in a few weeks! My list of "want to see" movies:

• Fun with Dick and Jane
• The Family Stone
• King Kong
• Syriana
• The Gay Cowboy Movie
• Munich
• Rumor Has It
• Pride and Prejudice (I'll have to watch this on another girls day out or on DVD... ain't no way the hubby will sit and watch this.)

candy... good...

My kids' dentist office has the best magazines of any medical office I've ever been in... Food & Wine, Gourmet, Martha Stewart Living... not the usual 5 year old Good Housekeeping and Women's Day. I actually travel 30 miles out of my way to take my kids to this dentist, who happened to be my dentist when I was little.

The dental office gave me a handout on a study about xylitol and how mothers who chew gum sweetend with xylitol are less likely to transmit cavity-causing bacteria to their children (tested on pregnant women). They also gave me a sample of SparX candy that has 100% pure xylitol. Apparently xylitol is good for you and reduces tooth decay... I love having a good reason to eat candy! You can find xylitol in some sugar free gum or candy such as SparX, Spry, Trident, and Carefree Koolerz gum.

make me beautiful

Normally I wouldn't be in such a rush to lose the pregnancy flab - it took 9 months to gain, so it can take 9 months to lose - but I'm in my sister's wedding in March (Hawaii!) so I have a bit of motivation. My choice of bridesmaid dress and my daughter's flower girl dress are pictured above. I'm already at my pre-pregnancy weight but definitely not at my pre-pregnancy body. Let's just say there's lots of loose fluff where the "baby house" used to be. I'd like to get back to my "pre-marriage" body... but I don't think I can get there without some Nip/Tuck action. (Speaking of which, the season finale is tomorrow! I'm so anxious to find out who the Carver is, and I'll be pissed if it's some lame storyline that doesn't make sense.)

baby shopping

I couldn't resist buying these tee's over at Uncommonly Cute for my baby boy. I had to get him the "Player" t-shirt since he comes from a family lineage of gambling (Asian thing), the Elmo shirt and the "Swinger" shirt. So cute!

Nothing mixes better than vanilla and chocolate and yet somehow racial harmony eludes us...

I finally got around to making Martha Stewart's version of Black and White cookies. The cookies came out light and airy, a bit cake-like, and very very good with the frosting. The only complaint I have is that the recipe instructions were not specific enough when it came to shaping the cookies I'm a left brain person, everything is black and white (no pun intended) to me so I follow instructions concisely. The instructions were to "use a 1/4 cup measure to scoop dough 3 inches apart onto prepared sheets" WHICH I DID, but the cookies came out all misshapen. With the second tray I handrolled the cookies into balls so that they would have a perfect circle shape but they had too much of a dome. With the third tray I shaped them into balls then flattened them into disks (the third batch is pictured above). The icing was GOOD. I'm not a fan of royal icing because it's just sugar with no other texture to it - but Martha's icing is a mixture of heavy cream (probably why it's so good) and powdered sugar so there's a creaminess to it.

Next on my to do baking list: French Almond Macaroons (just for Joyce!)

cakes for the year

The January edition of Martha Stewart Living Magazine has a feature for "A Year of Cakes" - twelve cake recipes to make for each month of the year. My New Year's Resolution? I'm going to make all twelve of them! I'm going to follow each recipe exactly as written, including the little decorations I usually skip (i.e. candied lemon slices). January's cake is Martha's Meyer Lemon Anniversary cake - the magazine has a huge three tiered version of the cake, but I don't know if I'm brave enough to attempt that yet so I may just stick to the single cake. The rest of the year is as follows:

February - Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake
March - Cardamom Streusel Coffee Cake
April - Spring Show Almond Petit Fours (I'm looking forward to these)
May - Teatime Coconut Layer Cake
June - Cocoa Buttermilk Cake with Scrolled Tuiles
July - Berry Pound Cakes with Whipped Cream Ribbons
August - Peaches and Cream Ice Cream Cake
September - "Bake Sale Cookie" Cupcakes
October - Darkest Chocolate Crepe Cake
November - Apple Pie Cake and "Pumpkin Pie" Cheesecake
December - Snow-Capped Fruitcake (I hate fruitcake, but I'll make this nonetheless)

My family is going to be all caked out.

Corteo

This year me and the hubby decided to take each other to watch Cirque du Soleil's Corteo for Christmas instead of buying each other Christmas gifts. I was able to get 5th row tickets for next week and we're taking the kids too. It should be fun, the kids enjoyed the last Cirque show we took them to (Varekai). I still haven't seen the ultimate Cirque show - "O" but I'm feeling a Vegas trip this year so maybe I'll finally cross that off my list!

$58

This is a $58 plate of food. I took my daughter to the Ritz Carlton's annual "Teddy Bear Tea" on Sunday. She ate two bites of the tuna sandwich roll then proceeded to eat the three pieces of gummy candy and the bowl of marshmallows served with her hot cocoa... and that's it. I should've eaten the rest of her food but it was a tea and I had to appear dainty. The entertainment provided by Binky the Elf was fun - he put on a "Christmas in Vegas" theme show and it kind of reminded me of Jack's show (Jack 2000) from Will and Grace.

commuknity

My cousin turned me on to a "knitting/yarn" store in San Jose called Commuknity. They have TONS of the "good" yarn -- so much that I was overwhelmed and browsed for over an hour, looking at all the yarn and books. They even have a "Moms Club" every Wednesday - since I'm on my last month of leave, I might stop in once while I still have the chance. I'm attempting to have a homemade Christmas this year, so I'm crocheting hats and knitting scarves for my nieces and nephews... and I just realized that the colors of yarn I bought look like Spumoni.

the spoils of victory

This arrived today from JustJenn... my prize for winning the contest. Chocolate. Goooooood.

your own mcmuffin

I saw this toaster in a magazine and thought it was pretty cool. The Back To Basics Egg & Muffin toaster can toast your bread, cook your eggs (poached or hard boiled) and warm up your pre-cooked meat (bacon, sausage) all at the same time. I'm tempted to get one, but I have the feeling that the novelty of it will wear off and we'll be stuck with another gadget in the garage.

cookie

I picked up Cookie Magazine at my pediatrician's office this week - it's a new magazine for parents (moms) and it's like a Lucky magazine for kids/parents. I just looked up their media kit and they describe Cookie as "the new upscale lifestyle magazine for sophisticated parents." The layoutwas appealing (probably because the Editor in Chief came from Real Simple magazine) and you can sneak a peek at their first issue online. They have a special for subscriptions, give one gift subscription get one free - (I got you one Joyce!) The only thing I don't like is that they only have 6 issues in a one year subscription.

Uggly

I own a pair of Uggs. Yes I know they're terribly trendy and ugly but it's nice not having to fuss with socks or laces when I am in a rush trying to get the kids out the door to school. Plus they keep your feet warm and cozy. To my defense, I've wanted them since 2002 a little before the Uggs craze, but once everything got crazy with Uggs I held off because 1.) I didn't want to get caught up in it, 2.) I don't believe in paying more than the retail price for things (eBay), and 3.) I bought them during the Nordstrom Anniversary sale (everything is justified when it's on sale) but now I see they're on sale for $89.90 (but only the pink ones).

Xmas shopping for myself

I didn't participate in Black Friday shopping, I wanted to, but I didn't think I could muster enough energy and courage to go to Target at 6 AM with 3 kids in tow since the hubby had to work that day.

I did, however, use my 50% off coupon at Borders to buy Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. I drooled over all the pictures so they told me I had buy it.

Using the Lucky Magazine "YES!" flags, I let my 5 year old daughter flag all the things she wanted to bake together... our first project? Black and white cookies! After that, I want to make French Almond Macaroons which I LOVE. I first tried them when my sister brought some back from Laduree in Paris and have been hooked on them ever since. Expensive little cookies though... Miette sells them for $1.50 each but I always buy them anyway... one in each flavor, which amounted to $9.00 for 6 tiny cookies - the hubby was not understanding of that. He prefers Chips Ahoy which you can get 2 for $5.00.

winning and experiments

I actually won a contest! Whaddayaknow...I guessed the due date with my hubby's birthday and my newborn's time of delivery. About time those f'ers brought me some luck.

Diet update - I lost 6 lbs since starting my diet last week but damn it if my sister's fiancee didn't introduce me to eggnog and Vernor's Ginger Soda. He's from Michigan and apparently Vernor's is a "thing" over there since it's made in Detroit. Then he introduced my kids to Boston Coolers - so ask me why our fridge is stocked with Vernor's, eggnog, and ice cream?!

My husband discovered eggnog a few years ago and he used to down quarts of the stuff until I told him that eggnog was fattening. Since then if I ever ask him if he wants eggnog, he says, "No.. I don't like it anyway." HA! Liar! So every year I do something called "The Eggnog Experiment" where I buy a half gallon of eggnog and leave it in the fridge... magically the eggnog disappears. Sometimes I do the same with a dozen of Krispy Kremes, aka "The Krispy Kreme Experiment." Yes, I'm wicked.

Yes Virginia...

So my 9 year old son asked me, "Is Santa Claus real? Because Eric said that Santa Claus isn't real."

Do I allow my son to remain youthful and innocent by believing in Santa and risk him looking "uncool" in front of his friends and classmates? I can picture it now, "HA HA! X still believes in Santa!!! Don't you know he's not real?!? DUH!" And even though that is just minor teasing, I don't want to subject him to any of that if I can help it.

Plus, I should mention that the above Eric also taught the word "hump" to my son who then used it in an email exchange with a female classmate who first teased him by writing, "You kissed Stacy." His retort? "You humped Antonio." And yes, the girl's mother told me about the email. We both log on to our kids' email accounts to check on what they do, and the "hump email" happened after I took a few weeks off of snooping. (I got bored with the incessant exchanges of Yahoo smiley faces.) We both laughed about it after we talked to our kids who told us they didn't even know what "hump" meant, but not after I explained to the mother that we don't use the word "hump" at home and figured they learned it from classmates. I didn't want her going around thinking that I run around the house yelling at my husband to hump me.

The above Eric is also into brand name clothing such as Phat Farm, Sean John, Ecko, NBA/NFL jerseys, etc. My son doesn't care about the Target/Costco/Old Navy clothes I buy for him so I'm dreading the day he asks me for a Kobe Bryant jersey - to which I'll have to tell him, "I'll get you a Baron Davis or Jason Richardson jersey instead." I ain't raising no Lakers fans in this house!

I got out of the Santa Claus dilemma by explaining to my son that while Santa Claus isn't real, he's based on a real person: St. Nicolas - this was met with some understanding since we send him to Catholic school. I told him that he could still write a letter to Santa for fun and we'd mail it off with his sister's letter.

His response: "Can I just email him? It's faster."

My response: "As long as you don't use the word 'hump.'"

P.S.
While my older son may be losing his innocence, my 2 1/2 month old son laughed and giggled for the very first time today with nothing but innocence in his eyes and the sweet smell of baby breath in his mouth.

Gobble Gobble!

Happy T Day everyone! I leave you with the two from scratch (yes, even the crust) pumpkin pies I made today.

baby R

Being the mother of 3: 2 boys and a girl - I know the difference between the sexes:

1. Boys are easier to deal with. The girl in our family has mood swings, tempermental outbursts.. she cries a whole lot more, and she can turn the crying off and on as if on cue. The boys are just... chill.

2. Girls are easier to potty train. My daughter practically potty trained herself, we didn't really push it with her. Plus I grew up with two sisters (no brothers), so imagine my shock and disgust when I realized that boys miss the toilet sometimes. I spent hours scrubbing all over and behind the toilet trying to clean that up.

3. Baby boys have projectile pee. My 2 month old pees on me at least twice a week. Around here we say, "AAAAH!!! He pulled an R Kelly on me!"

4. Girls are much more affectionate. I get "huggies" and "kissies" from my 5 year old daughter on a daily basis. My 9 year old son however, doesn't hug and kiss as readily as my daughter but he does sometimes ask for a hug... but in a very nonchalant, cool way.

5. Girls are "smarter." Or they say, "more mature" -- I guess boys never really catch up to us. ha!

... but it was a moral victory for the Green Bay Mermen...

They lost. But it was a good game nonetheless. At least it wasn't a spanking.

Highlights? Seeing the very gorgeous Johnnie Morton warm up before the game. My favorite QB getting his Hall of Fame ring during halftime. The Niners scoring their first TD in 13 quarters. NOT falling off the diet wagon by eating the "fabulous frybread" - (ok fine, I couldn't find the damn frybread stall!) And seeing my head coach crush Mike Nolan in the flesh - he's a handsome guy!

I posted some pics at Flickr.

weekend plans

Today we went to my favorite foodie spot, the Ferry Building where we had lunch at Taylor's Refresher, treated the kids to a gelato, bought some almond macarons from Miette (yes, bucking the diet for a day for a cookie), bought cocoa powder from Scharffen Berger, then just walked around the many stalls showing off local produce and food.

Tomorrow, I'm taking the hubby to the 49er game (it was MY idea to go so that means I'M taking HIM.) They kind of suck this year so tickets were readily available. We're both Niner fans but we've never been to a game so this will be our first. Is it pathetic that the first thing I did was look up the concession stands? I'm feeling some clam chowder in a breadbowl and "fabulous frybread" which I know both are not South Beach Diet friendly. BAH! We lucked out though - tomorrow during halftime Steve Young is receiving his Hall of Fame ring so I get to see my favorite quarterback. Next sports outing is to see the Warriors who are actually doing pretty good this year - the game I'm holding out for is the Timberwolves because I'm inexplicably drawn to Kevin Garnett.

ohhhhhhhhh yeah

Damn I love Dr. McDreamy.

RIP sugar

I started the South Beach Diet yesterday. That coupled with working out. I'm only doing this because my sister is getting married in Hawaii in March and I want to get back down to my prepregnancy "fighting" weight. That and my New Year's resolution for 2006 - "look good in a bikini." After that, I'm going to let it all hang loose.

I'm not going to be one of those psycho no carb eaters. Everything in moderation. I love food too much to give anything up completely. Though yesterday I went without my usual sugar dose and I had the worst headache... my body was screaming for some refined sugar in the form of cake, cookies, candy or TWINKIES, but I resisted and tried to trick my body into thinking it was getting sugar by drinking a caffeine free diet coke and a sugar free fudgesicle. (It didn't work.)

i heart carbs

With 10 more lbs. to go to my pre-pregnancy weight I did the unthinkable. I ordered a bunch of carbs from my favorite shortbread shop Big Island Candies. They used to make Peanut Butter shortbread but discontinued it a couple of years ago - now my usual order consists of:

Original Shortbread
Peanut Butter bite size cookies
Macadamia Nut Crunchies - chocolate with macadamia nuts and potato chips, sounds weird but it's good. I like the mixture of sweet and salty
and the Macadamia Corn Crunch - caramel popcorn with pineapple, coconut and mac nuts.

I once ordered the Da Kine chocolate covered cuttlefish, and after trying one I remembered that I don't even like cuttlefish. I'm a sucker for unusual and complex tastes and will try almost anything once.

After my cookie/candy binge, I'm going to go on the South Beach diet.

damn them

Damn them all!

"...for British eyes only..."

I enjoyed Arrested Development last night - favorite quote?

"God knows they're squinters."

Kitchen Confidential is back next week with Michael Vartan in a guest role. I can't wait to see it! Whenever Michael Vartan busted out his French language skills on Alias I got all giddy so I can't wait to see him play a womanizing French chef on KC because the accent is going to be on. There is a full never before aired episode of Kitchen Confidential on myspace.com and it's hilarious.

must see tv

Yes, I watch too much TV. TV shows have been good lately so I can't help it! My weekly schedule for must see TV is:

Sunday: My all time favorite show Grey's Anatomy (For the record, I KNEW McDreamy would pick Addison over Meredith, just for the simple reason that the unrequited love and tension between McDreamy and Meredith would be a good storyline that can last throughout the season.)

Monday: FOX night with Arrested Development and Prison Break (Wentworth Miller is a beautiful man.) Ooh and Kitchen Confidential returns next week!

Tuesday: I watch House but TiVo The Office. Nip/Tuck is my absolute Tuesday must see. (I think Dr. Quentin Costas is the carver)

Wednesday: ABC night with Freddie (Yes, it's a little corny, but Brian Austin Green dressed as a Rocky Horror Picture Show transvestite sold me) and Lost

Thursday: Alias (I hope to God Michael Vartan comes back in a regular role, or I'm going to be pissed), CSI and ER

Friday: Nothing on, usually it's TiVo catch up time for me

Saturday: Nothing. Hopefully I am out and about doing something productive rather than watching TV!

Thank God I don't have HBO otherwise I'd never leave the couch.

human nature

I once heard someone say:

"We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like."

To me, this is the truest statement I've ever come across. It got me thinking. Why do we want nice things? Why do (most) girls want big diamond rings? I think the fact that girls automatically show their rings once they announce their engagement is interesting. Why do men want nice cars? Do you think they'd be happy driving around in a Ferrari or BMW without ever showing it to their friends? And don't we get more satisfaction in showing these things to people who aren't really friends?

I'm not saying all of us do this. I actually don't consider myself part of the group above... well, at least not a hard core practitioner. I have proof.

I don't have a diamond engagement ring. I had a very small one before, and the diamond fell off! My husband and I got married at a very young age. We were both still in school, working part time and we bought rings that fell in our budget at the time, and they cost about $700 for the set, so you can imagine how big the diamond was (if it was a real diamond) and we still wear the same rings to this day. My husband always asks if I want to "upgrade" my rings, but I always decline. I love my "poor man" wedding ring. It reminds me of the days when we were young and naive and in love and all we wanted was to get married... damn what the rings looked like.

I'm not saying I'm an angel. I did secretly enjoy seeing my fellow soccer mommy friends squirm with jealousy when I showed them my new car. (A Ferrari it ain't, but you gotta love that DVD player that keeps the kids entertained for a few hours!)

I'm not a talker... not a talker!

I, and others in my household, have the habit of quoting lines from movies. Lately, we seem to be quoting from Old School. I had Old School on DVD then made the mistake of lending it to my cousin who lost it about a year ago. We've been quoting Old School so much lately that we went and bought another copy yesterday.

Favorite quotes?
"True love is hard to find. Sometimes you think you have true love, then you catch the early flight home from San Diego and a couple of nude people jump out of your bathroom blindfolded like a goddamn magic show ready to double team your girlfriend....."

"Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday, we're going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath, and Beyond, I don't know, I don't know if we'll have enough time."

"Once it hits your lips... It's so good!"

and of course... "We're going streaking!!!!!!!"

Welcome to America!

I finally saw "Crash" - and Oprah talked on her show about "Crash moment" with Hermes and it got me thinking to one time when I applied for a job. Mind you, I have dark hair and slanted eyes, and the woman interviewing me asked if I was legal to work in the United States.
I replied, "Yes."
And she said, "Are you a US citizen?"
"Yes."
"Do you have proof?"
"Yes, my birth certificate. I was born in Guam."
"Guam is not part of the US."
"Actually, I believe it is. I was born on a US Naval Base in Guam. My father is in the Navy."
"Just because you were born on a Naval Base doesn't mean you are a US citizen."
"Actually I believe it does."

Needless to say, I didn't want the job anymore.

Sometimes these "Crash" moments are funny. Take my sister's experience for example, when she was working at a retail store, a customer asked her, "When did you get here?"
"About 10 o'clock this morning."
"No, when did you get HERE to the US? You speak English very well."
"Uh..... I was born and raised in California."

hahahaha.