The Tasty Fashionista

Studying

2014-01-15T09:39:00.001-08:00

Battling a cold and studying makes it hard to focus. Not like it's really easy for me to focus anyway. If I'm not that into the material, like math, it's difficult for me. I have read up on how to focus better but the bottom line is always "Just do it!" So, just doing it! After my mom called today of course. You have to talk to your mom, it's a law really and I am also bad at calling. So with all that and going to the bathroom out of the way, here we go!

Happy New Year's Post

2014-01-08T19:24:00.001-08:00

Another brand New Year stretched out in front of me! Fantastic! So many things have been going on this year and was not able or am too lazy to blog! I'm bad. To start out, we finally purchased a home! I am still pinching myself!! This has been such a long time coming, been trying to be frugal while saving for a down payment, still being frugal because the mortgage is more than rent, and fixing up some things. Then, ten days after we closed escrow, I lost my job. Besides being sad and trying to think if Unemployment would cover a mortgage, I was happy I could be home to organize the new place and do contact paper in the kitchen. Got lots of projects going on so far. Been job hunting too bleh, but getting some good feedback and have had some good responses so far.

Lots of interesting new things are happening here! So funny that when I'm not working there is so much stuff to do, friends and people to see and projects to accomplish, but when I'm working, not so much. Think it has to do with having better time management when there's a set schedule. Onward and upwards we go!!!

Wedding pic 2010

Balboa Island, December 30, 2013

Gluten Free Friday!

2013-08-23T09:41:00.001-07:00

Happy Friday! Yay made it one more time to the weekend. I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow, oh joy! Hope you all can enjoy your weekend to the fullest whether its not doing anything, or doing lots of interesting things.

Today is gluten free Friday at Sidecar in Costa Mesa. And I mean gluten free donuts! I stopped by to get one for my best co-worker friend as she is doing the gluten free thing.

I got her the cinnamon crumb, it's just too good. Lighter weight than most gluten free options and very tasty!

As you can see I started in on the lemongrass donut in the car and no, I have no patients to wait while there are yummy donuts so close to me in a small space.

See the little bits of lemongrass? Super awesome! And they have Stumptown coffee which was not bitter so that is love to me! Check them out at: www.sidecardoughnuts.com.

It's Thursday!

2013-08-15T12:18:00.001-07:00

It has been a crazy couple of weeks here at Tasty Fashion Land! Work has been nuts for three months! We are in the process of some huge changes. My back has also been not well for 4 weeks now. But, thanks to my Rock Star husband, most of the major pain is gone. It was one of those things where I had him massage and push in my sacrum, it was super helpful, most of the pain is gone! It's just sore now, which is probably normal, I see the doctor on Monday for it. A week and a half after I call but its all good. Some good things some interesting things, but just life. What do I do when I'm a cranky mess? I look at pics of my cat:

Isn't he cute! His name is Louis and he makes me smile. So do the Cheezeburger cats, but you can't pet those.

My guy likes to sleep all day, on my bed . I love it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2012-11-22T11:43:00.001-08:00

Today of all days reminds me to be grateful for everything from my job to the wonderful people in my family and my rock star Hubbs! Wishing you a beautiful day!

2012-11-20T08:34:00.004-08:00

It has been such beautifully chilly weather here in So Cal, by mean chilly I mean 50 degrees or so. That means it's in the 50-60's at night and in the early morning. The afternoon could be 70 or 80 depending on factors of Santa Ana winds and fog etc.. But who cares, It's getting to be soup weather!! One of my favorite soups is the traditional French Onion, I discovered it by working in a restaurant in my 20's hostessing for Hamburger Hamlet. It seemed so exotic at the time.... I never thought of floating bread with broiled swiss on top of a rich beef and onion broth, but it is oh so good!!

I actually broke out my mandolin to chop up all the onions required!

and the 6 quart pot! This is serious business!

See those onions simmer away!! Smells so good!

Oh my gosh yes!!!

I could eat this all the time, even in the summer it's soooo good!!

Like a hug in a bowl!

I got my recipe here. In the future, I am going to make my own beef stock. I have some time off this week so am going to make marinara and beef stock. So lovely to just grab from the freezer and use and to know it was made in advance. This recipe called for Duck Rillette, since I did not intend on using this in the first place I omitted this item but you can make it if you wish. I did not have a lot of time to put this together and the Rillette has many steps to it.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 cups yellow, julienned
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
Dash of dry sherry
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
8 cups beef stock
8 slices of toasted French bread (about 1-inch thick)
8 slices of Gruyere cheese
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a large saucepan, over medium-heat, melt the butter. Add the onions. Season with salt and pepper. Saute the onions until slightly caramelized, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic, sherry, Worcestershire sauce and stock. Season with salt and pepper. Bring the liquid to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook the soup for 15 minutes. Ladle the soup into oven-proof deep bowls. Float the croutons on top of the soup. Cover each crouton with a piece of cheese. Sprinkle the cheese with parsley. Place the bowls on a sheet pan and place in the oven. Bake until the cheese is bubbly and golden, about 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve.

With love from the kitchen!!

Saturday Night Festivities!

2012-11-03T18:37:00.001-07:00

It's the first Saturday of the month and since its November that means Dia de Los Muertos here in Santa Ana! It is a real interesting part of OC culture that you don't get to see much of at all. Bit I'm here with my Hubbs and friends

2012-07-04T23:56:00.000-07:00

Joy of Waffles

I have a waffle iron that I had for about 15 years. It's an Oster Waffle maker that I got as a Christmas party prize. Actually, the prize I won was weird (like allen wrenches or something) and asked the guy who won the waffle iron to trade. He did and I have happily had the thing for a long time. I Love it! But after 15 or 16 years, the switch that controls the temperature gauge came off. It still works however and makes waffles perfectly.

I went to a house party of a surfer friend of mine and she made waffles with this machine here with Nutella spread on them for dessert. I could not believe how awesome they were! I never thought of Nutella and waffles together, it was one of those spiritual moments (with food) that just blew me away. It was then that I decided that I must have that waffle maker and make these things for myself. But that unit is a little pricey and I already had my old Oster. Well, you know what happened is I finally caved and got one myself. I got mine here. I wanted to recreate my own fantastic Nutella covered waffles! The night I brought my new Waring Pro home my husband demanded waffles for dinner. It was the least I could do to justify the purchase. I made this recipe I found in Joy of Cooking, the one where you beat the egg whites up and fold into the batter, turned out super good.

Sift before measuring
2 Cups all purpose flour

Resift with
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons double acting baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Beat in a separate bowl until light
2 egg yolks
Add and beat 1 3/4 cups buttermilk
6 tablespoons melted butter

Combine liquid and dry ingredients with a few swift strokes

Beat until stiff but not dry
3 egg whites
Fold them into the batter.

Put batter in waffle iron and cook as directed.

Source(s):

Joy Of Cooking
by Rombauer&Becker

They came out perfectly! My Rock Star husband is super impressed that I can cook two waffles at once and that the machine turns the waffles upside down to cook! Amazing!! Excuse my pics, this was at night and still getting used to pictures. I am going to have to give my bother my old Oster as he has no joy of homemade waffles in his life yet!

New Obsession

2012-04-30T23:27:00.001-07:00

My newest obsession is Essie Turquoise and Caicos, I really love this polish. It's a mat but shiny beautiful shade of turquoise. I thought that I would not wear colors that were this different to work at a typical 9-5 but it's working! This color would match most skin tone as well, turquoise is famous for getting along with a lot of different colors and tones!

New Shoes

2012-02-03T10:37:00.001-08:00

This proves that you can find the most interesting things when you're not looking for it! I found these shoes at the mall in Simi Valley at Journeys. I have gotten so many complements on them and they go well with my vintage Barbie tee!!

One of my New Favorite Cookies!!

2012-01-16T22:30:00.000-08:00

I love me some Bakerella!! Not only does she make the most adorable sweets, but also has an awesome book out called "CakePops"! My friend and I stood in line for a long time to have her sign our copies of the book. We had to go back to work but another friend of hers got them signed so we did not actually get to meet her and gush all over her. Anyways, will see her when she does another book!!
I fell in love with her Gingerbread Cookie post and had to try them out!! You can see her beautiful creations here www.bakerella/gigerbreads-heads/ plus the recipe I used. I fell in love with the little guys when I saw them! I did these for my annual office cookie exchange and they were not as polished as Bakerella's bit I think they were still super cute!!

New Year, New Attitudes!

2012-01-09T10:12:00.001-08:00

Here we are at the start of a New Year, New Year, New Possibilities! I have been pretty inspired lately, and I have a bunch of projects to get done! Of course, my list is huge this time of year but I really want to keep up with it!! First of all, I am helping my Hubbs with his business logo. Pretty interesting, but getting my art supplies out again and all after the crazy holidays has been awesome. Just sketching out some ideas and such so far. It's great to get my mind on creativity and out of all the regular day to day! Next, I am keeping a food diary online by using My Fitness Pal online and for the iPhone. I tried this once, with another online service, a couple years ago, it did not work so well because I had to do all the work of researching the food I was eating. This little baby has a lot of the foods I currently eat already in it!! I don't have to search for hours for something that is not there or for weird food from Trader Joe's! They have it all there!! Since I love Traders, I eat a lot of their stuff. So for me it's a no brainer. I like when technology and my little brain can get along! Such a wonderful feeling of accomplishment.

Pink Skirts

2011-11-02T22:51:00.001-07:00

Pink Skirts by lharker featuring bubble jewelry

Closed slim fit sweater
$295 - stylebop.com

Eastex straight skirt
£20 - debenhams.com

Coye Nokes high heel shoes
$311 - boutique1.com

Diane von Fürstenberg leopard handbag
$679 - boutique1.com

AZ Collection bubble jewelry
$328 - forzieri.com

MICHAEL Michael Kors sport jewelry
$250 - bloomingdales.com

1928 Jewelry geometric jewelry
$14 - 1928.com

New Inspiration

2011-08-23T23:31:00.000-07:00

I always get inspired when I get new art supplies!

I just got some things from Cheap Joe's Art Stuff, they have some good prices on items.

I love the 11" x 14" pads and I love my Prismacolor color pencils those are one of my extravagant purchases!! I like to use the larger pads to journal and draw in. Try to create while journaling gives me some perspective on things. Anything creative, drawing, cooking, putting together outfits it's creative outlet fun!!

Salty, earthy, goodness, "oh my!"

2011-08-04T23:37:00.000-07:00

I went ahead and spent the money and got:

Yes, Black Truffle Salt.

It is very interesting, earthy mostly. I am not too familiar with Truffle products, other than the chocolate variety! Yum!! But, this is Grey salt form the Atlantic Ocean with Black Truffle. So, I wanted to try out my new snazzy salt by slicing some tomatoes,

the heirloom variety is the best, I sprinkled the Black Truffle salt on top, finished off with a basil leaf and some goat cheese (I did not have mozzarella, boo!) I put the tomatoes in the broiler for about five minutes and they were really great! The broiled tomatoes and salt just melted together beautifully. I served the tomatoes with eggs over easy, I am sure that poached would be great too. The Truffle was an interesting addition to the food, very earthy tasting, very different, but really good.

Kate Middleton Diet

2011-07-01T15:46:00.000-07:00

My wonderful husband, the fantastic Rock Star he is, declared earlier this month that we need to do the Kate Middleton diet. “What?!” Now, being a couple of an, ahem! Certain Age, his doctor got on him again about how he needs to lose weight and sugars are high, etc. This is bad. Ok, so he orders the Kate Middleton Diet, which is really the Dukan Diet. This is the French woman’s diet that is supposed to keep them thin. I did go to Paris five years ago and the people there are not supermodel thin, but who really is? Anyway, they were all regular sized people, with different shapes some bigger some smaller. The way people talk about it you’d think all of France is going down a catwalk near you sometime soon! Anyway, this is the diet that got Kate in shape for her wedding. And if Rock Star needs to diet, I have to do it with him. It’s good to have a buddy to diet with, so Rock Star is lucky because I am the person cooking the diet food (another reason he wants me to help, meh). So we have been on said diet for 3 weeks now, and I can wear my JBrands and breathe, that’s the good news. The better news is that my hubbs has lost eight pounds and has eight more to go! Yay! I honestly don’t have much weight to lose at all just that dreaded 5-6 pounds that creeps up and keeps you from feeling great in your clothes. I try to eat well, but succumb to the occasional cupcake from Susie Cakes and I love my Italian and Mexican food. I do try to temper my eating with veggies and lean protein. I still will not consider tofu a food group, I just can’t do it. I think this weekend should have some spaghetti or fantastic penne to give ourselves a little reprieve! Life is about being healthy not supermodel skinny! And, my man is half way there so one night may not be too bad! We all need a cheat day!!

The Tucson, Arizona Memorial

2011-01-12T21:16:00.000-08:00

I got to the gym tonight and was getting ready to hit my least favorite machines when I noticed they were broadcasting the memorial for the Tucson, Arizona shooting. Daniel Hernandez was being introduced as I finished dressing out to hit the treadmill. I could not hear much as the volume was low and the gym was loud, as usual. I never watch this kind of thing, memorials for people who I really don’t know, in a town I am not familiar with. This seemed to me senseless tragedy from the twisted mind of someone mentally unstable.

I went upstairs and hopped on the treadmill, I turned on the Memorial one more time, just to see what Obama would say about everything. I heard the last bit of Governor Jan Brewers speech, Janet Napolitano read from the Old Testament. I was floored, but strangely enough, filled with hope. I listened to our Commander in Chief as he memorialized the dead, one by one. Each one of those six people could have been my dad, grandfather, friend, son or daughter. It’s difficult to breathe when one gets weepy on the treadmill! He mentioned that it is not wise to simply jump to conclusions and that there is no room to point fingers at any one to blame. His speech was moving, and made me feel overwhelmed with hope and I haven’t felt that for awhile.

We are all brothers and sisters on this huge chunk of planet that we share. His speech reminded me that, after all, these people are my family. The victims and the perpetrator, we are all part of the “American Family” as Obama called us. We are not Republican, Democrat, Libertarian or Green, in the end we are people. We have families and friends, wives, husbands, kids. So much goes into the making of a life, we are so not islands. We need each other to lean on, regardless how tough or bad-ass we may think we are. So, to my brothers and sisters in Tucson, I send you great light. To anyone with a tragedy or maybe just rocks in their shoe on the road of life, know that you are a part of a great whole, the American Family.

So..... Lazy!

2010-11-15T10:17:00.000-08:00

I am so lazy, I really wanted to create a blog and be consistent with it. So what do I do? Was I in Europe for Fashion Week? No. Was I away on a business trip to an exotic locale? Nope. Was I giving birth to quadruplets? Heck no!

It's one of my biggest defects or habits or whatever. I have learned the art of laziness throughout my younger years, disguised as Asthma. I have this lung condition where, in the '70's, was excruciatingly debilitating when I was a kid. I could not run further than a few steps and that old familiar lung squeeze, shortness of breath followed by coughing, anytime, anywhere. I could not do sports at all! I was the last one picked for teams due to my inability to perform any kind of sport. I felt terrible (physically) all the time! Not just allergy season, but always. Cut the grass at school, instant allergies, any pets, runny nose, sneezing, wheezing and coughing. It was awful.

This lead to my laziness, I could not run around. So, I sat in front of the TV, alot! My parents, on the direction of doctors, could not ask me to dust or run the vacuum because that meant an attack or worse, a trip to the emergency room! Doctors then told me not to over exert myself, and I heeded their advise. It's frightening as a kid having an attack, especially then. They did not have the medications available to prevent attacks available. Only when you had one and were in crisis did they offer any solutions. So, I sat, in front of the TV.

But, today is different. Since the 1990's the Asthma medications have radically changed and so did the attitudes of the doctors in charge of healing people with the disease. I've had allergy shots for years! Since I was about 5 my parents, on the advice of doctors, got me allergy shots. Twice a week, then to once a week then every two and so on, till I was on them once a month as a teen. The flipping shots did not work for me. Ever! Until, I was in my 30's and my Allergist asked me if I still wanted to get them. I said "No!" It's amazing, since I stopped the shots, what, 8 or 10 years ago, my allergies improved dramatically! No runny nose, nothing! I am around environmental allergies and nothing! Cats, ok, still allergic to the critters, but I feel so much better on my Flonase and Singulair and NOT on the shots. Amazing!!

Anyway, I learned to be lazy, not to get out, make friends or be a part of a team. Sad. But today I have a choice whether or not to choose to be lazy or not. Today I am choosing to not, I want to do this and be accountable. My Asthma is in check, I can actually run on a treadmill for 15 minutes on a good day. Still have to watch for it, but have more good days than not.

I have also learned that it's not all my Asthma to blame for lack of self discipline it's my head, and my ego. It, maybe, helped me along the way, but I have to blame myself. It's just about the old Nike logo "Just Do It!"

Vintage Nesting Tables

2010-07-25T12:56:00.000-07:00

My mom loves to give me things, not necessarily things I need or want. Like stuff from my grandmother or great aunt, these two were a “Clean House” nightmare. Occasionally I inherit something good that needs to be updated, like these nesting tables below. These are French Provincial nesting tables from the ‘60’s. I have seen them in their original gold and white colors in antique shops locally for about a hundred or so dollars. When I received them, these well loved tables were more shabby than chic. I neglected to do “before” photos because I wanted to do them as quickly as possible, but with a couple cans of black satin spray paint, and a can of gloss, this is what I got:

I found out that spray painting in cut up cardboard boxes, like a paint booth, is easier than using newspapers. And a lot less messy! I am trying to stay as contemporary as possible, but I think you can use updated vintage pieces to add something too. I will do before photos in the future.

Welcome fashion guys and gals

2010-04-28T15:06:00.000-07:00

Stay tuned for the latest good stuff.

This is one of my favs: http://www.epicurious.com/