WHAT?! She lives?!

Oh man, it's been sooooo long since I've blogged, watched tv, worked out, cooked, etc....

I'm up to my neck in full-time grad school, teaching French classes, MLB PLAYOFFS and working collegiate athletics. Oh and the non-stop revolving door of meeting new people :)

I love it. It's totally what's been missing in my life since moving to Arizona. But I did have a second of free time a few weeks ago. Of course I chose to spend my moment baking, this is me we're talking about here :)

The dish of experimental choice was Hefeweizen Cupcakes with Fresh-Squeezed Orange Cream Icing! ...semi from scratch! Although the "buttercream frosting" was extremely drippy and runny, it set nicely in the fridge for a crunchy top layer with a huge punch of orange zest.

Apologies for the tiny pictures, I'm a Mac user now so no more Windows Live Writer :(

For the cupcakes, it couldn't have been easier! I merely followed instructions for a box of white, vanilla cupcakes (egg whites, water, etc.) and subbed a cup of Shiner Hefeweizen for the water, and then added in a few tablespoons of orange zest. That was the difference-maker.

And here is a recipe I found for the orange zest buttercream. It didn't set for some reason on my end -- perhaps I can blame that on the 100+ degree weather -- but a quick pop in the fridge did the trick.

These cupcakes were absolutely delicious! Beer cupcakes complete me :)

Shark Week is HERE!

Ladies and Gentlemen, in honor of SHARK WEEK, I bring you memories from college:

 

For the record: I didn’t just drink in college. I did make Dean’s List all but two quarters ;)

I also regret my hair/fashion choices circa 2006. The puka shells were a nice touch. I remember wearing red for the occasion though…

Woodstock’s Pizza (no, my dog is NOT named after the restaurant) in Isla Vista and off the campus of UC Santa Barbara used to do a special tribute for Shark Week. At the beginning of August, the place would be adorned with large inflatable hanging sharks, red streamers, big screen TVs playing Discovery Channel 24/7, and of course, $2 “Blood Buds”. Amazing.

I think the campus of UCSB had some weird infatuation with shark. Must be due to the overarching surfer culture prevalent on our little beach college. During welcome week, the first meal they served us in the dorms was shark. I opted for the pasta and salad bar instead. Looking back, I think that was a smart choice.

Seeing as how I haven’t been to the IV Woodstock’s since 2007, does anyone happen to know if Shark Week happy hour is still going on?! :)

Happy watching!

Don't drink and blog

...Or do. But don't say I didn't warn you.

(If you do, you HAVE to try the Sam Adam's winter sampler. The chocolate bock is to die for. I wish it had more than two in the box.... then again, maybe it's a blessing in disguise)

Otherwise you might start giggling uncontrollably at random produce like I did for a while.

But seriously, how freakin' cute is that butternut squash?!? I bought three and can't wait to use them. They're so tiny and cute I could eat them right up.

Anyways the other day J.D. was off from work so I wanted to surprise him with Swedish Pancakes (pannkakor) for breakfast (recipe linked). His family is from Sweden. Mine being from France, we had quite the back-and-forth over the difference between crêpes and Swedish pancakes. Basically, they're the same thing. Personally I find that the French crêpes are a little heartier, while the Swedish 'cakes are thinner due to a runnier batter.

We had quite the Swedish day. I made the pancakes for breakfast with some lingonberry jam we bought at IKEA a few weeks ago. We then had Swedish meatballs (those Swedes are so creative with their dish names, huh?), roasted rosemary potatoes and salad for dinner. But let's get back to breakfast first:

I had two with lingonberry jam, Greek yogurt and chia seeds.

But for the real twist. The next day I had my Swedish pancakes in a French preparation for dessert. In the traditional crêpe dessert style I folded in the sides to make a square, filled it with NUTELLA, berries and of course, French vanilla ice cream. I mean, I like the Swedes and all, but don't mess with the French and their cooking ;)

Speaking of French cuisine.... I attempted a Poire Tarte Tatin this aftenoon (pear tart with homemade pie crust and caramel sauce). It was involved and kind of tricky to master the technique -- ok maybe I'll get it the next time -- but I think it tastes pretty amazing. Pear is one of my favorite flavors. The caramel did harden up quite a bit, so in order to remove the tart from the pie dish, I had to cut it in half and flip it right-side-up.

But trust me, it's worth it! This is sooooo good:

Pear Tarte Tatin

• 2 cans pears
• 2/3 c sugar
• 3/4 stick of butter (room temperature)

*If you prefer to make your own crust instead of using store-bought, follow the recipe at the bottom.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Put sugar and 3 tbsp. water in a pot and let caramelize. (How to caramelize? Let sugar melt into water on a very low flame. Once melted, turn up the flame a bit, don't stir, but tilt the pot and move it around from time to time. Once the syrup has a pale honey color, you can stop, it's caramelized. If you want a darker caramel, just be careful that you don't let it burn.) Add butter to caramel and stir until it melts. Take off heat and pour caramel into a buttered pie dish.

Cut each pear half into three even pieces. Place pears in pie dish, so that they are squeezed tightly together. You want to do this step as quickly as possible, so that the caramel doesn't harden too much. If you want, you can begin slicing pears while you are making the caramel. Just be careful to check caramel, so that it doesn't burn. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes. During this time you can prepare the crust, then roll it out so that it is a drop larger than your pie dish, and refrigerate it for 30 minutes. Even if you are using a pre-made crust, you still want to spread it out to the right size, and then refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Take tatin out of oven, and let pears cool off a bit. Once cooled, place crust on top, tuck the edges into the dish, and bake for 30 minutes or until crust has browned. Remove from oven and let cool. Then, place a serving dish on top of the tarte and carefully flip over, so that the pears are facing up.

Pie Crust Recipe:

• 1 1/3 c flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 stick chilled butter
• 1 T sugar
• Pinch of salt

Mix salt, sugar, and flour. Cut chilled butter into small pieces and mix into flour with finger tips. Stop working batter once it looks like sand. Make a well and pour in eggs. Incorporate into flour using your fingers and a spatula.

Once homogenous, form a ball, place on a floured surface and knead for 10 seconds. Reshape into a ball, roll out with a rolling pin, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

100 Never Looked So Good

While I've struggled a lot this year, I guess I can finally say I made it to 100 miles since I picked up running again back in April. However, my struggles still continued into 100 miles. I really haven't ran more than three or four times since I injured my knee at the end of June. The last few attempts have been feeble at best. I like to call it more of an interval walk-jog effort. And it's going to stay that way until I find a job and can afford physical therapy to properly rehab my knee back to jogging comfortably.

Lucky for me, my most recent "run" that put me over the 100-mark was pretty leisurely. Last Sunday (10-10-10), a couple of my friends from Arizona State talked me into participating in the Tour de Fat's 'Stache Dash. I was feeling up for some costume action, free food, the alleged two bottles of free beer at the end to all who participate and of course, the donation to fund cancer research.

J.D. and I jog-walked the entire 3.1 mile course around Tempe Town "Lake" -- read here to get more information on why I've quoted that. The rest of our group sported a soundtrack of 70s and 80s rock hits that blared out loud along the entire course. It was glorious. The only thing about the day that really sucked (besides my old lady knee) was the lack of beer at the finish line. Apparently the website said nothing about Tempe's inability to secure a permit for alcohol on the race day. Too bad... A vanilla milkshake at lunch lifted my spirits pretty high in the absence of beer.

I think we finished around the 38-minute mark. Keep in mind the last time I entered a 5K race, I set a PR of just over 22 minutes. Quite the difference haha. The race was ugly, and I'm not talking about our time!! There were mullets, mustache ride signs, jean shorts (jorts) on men, nasty stains in inappropriate places and skin tight Reno 911 cop costumes. My eyes are still burning.

My outfit was pretty tame. Originally I was going to do the 'stache on the finger trick, but I was promised a fake 'stache when I arrived. However, it was a 2 p.m. run in nearly 100 degree heat -- a terrible idea if I you ask me! My faux facial hair didn't last very long. It got too sweaty and itchy and I'm pretty sure I inhaled some polyester fibers along the way.

Before

After, not a good look for me.

Ready at the starting line to get our 'stache dash on.

The race was actually the second time J.D. and I had explored Tempe Beach Park . The week prior, we made an appearance at Tempe Oktoberfest! It was kind of cheezy, but fun and we had some interesting food. And tasted some amazing beer, as would be expected.

Again we didn't stay too long due to the raging heat, but we were still able to enjoy the day's festivities. There was a cover band, midway with rides and games, German passport booth for the kiddies, large beer steins to be purchased and food and drinks galore.

A Belgian wheat, brat with sauerkraut and a really authentic.... ballpark pretzel.

J.D. enjoying his dog sans kraut. He also purchased a Sam Adam's Oktoberfest beer which we've been intent on finding in the grocery store to stock the fridge this month!

Eventually we couldn't take the heat, despite a cold beverage each. So we joined J.D.'s parents inside the air conditioned bar across the street, watched a little football and split a real authentic Bavarian seasonal beer for the low price of $2. If you ever find this at BevMo, purchase IMMEDIATELY:

We'd like to keep the German/beer theme going this month. Apparently in Glendale there is a restaurant very much like the Hofbräuhaus in Munich and Vegas -- both of which I have been to! It was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and is having a seasonal festival this weekend and next weekend as well. I HAVE to check this place out!

Prost!!

leisurely

Homemade Pizza

I love pizza. But I think I enjoy making it even more.

A while back, J.D. picked up some supplies to make crust with the intention of making pizza sticks. However, the dough took waaay too long to stretch out and I got frustrated and just made a big circle for a crust instead. The bf and I also have totally different topping preferences, so the sticks would have been ideal. But then the genius idea of quartering the pizza came to mind.

On one side we have sausage and BBQ chicken with onions.

Then in the back you'll see a margherita quarter (tomatoes, mozzarella and basil) next to a fig, basil and green olive quarter. Can anyone explain to me why my first instinct EVERY TIME I write out fig is to spell it figue (I just did it again)??? French isn't even my first language!

Here's an interesting little gem we picked up at Whole Foods...

...Prickly pear infused beer!!! You'd think living in the desert I'm getting sick and tired of all this prickly pear flavoring.

NOT THE CASE. I love it. It tastes so good. Exploring beer and margarita flavorings here is becoming a favorite pastime of mine. However, not my stomach's favorite.

I decided on the fig (argh, not figue) and BBQ chicken slices, while J.D. went for the sausage and margherita pizzas. It's ok though, the next day for lunch we switched things up. I went the vegetarian route, while he went for meat-only.

Making your own pizza is so awesome. Eating it's up there too. I think I'm hungry already. But first, it's off to watch the journal télévisé - I need to keep practicing my French if I'm going to continue my graduate studies in French comparative literature at Arizona State next year!! (I've even uploaded my fav French songs onto my iPhone. Such a nerd.)

Don't forget- TODAY'S the day to vote for me (and everyone else with awesome entries) for my Project Food Blog entry!! xx

I shaved my weenie.

I've been running around like crazy over the past day and a half. Oh, and I finally resolved the issue with my sweaty puppy. We shaved our longhaired wiener dog for his desert living.

Post hair cut:

He is much happier now and runs around like a crazy person.

I had my second interview yesterday. I think it went well, but we'll have to see what happens. I should hear if I got the job or not either at the end of this week or the beginning of next. Either way though, I still can't get the idea of grad school out of my head. I really want to get my master's in French comp lit. We'll see. I definitely want to tour Arizona State someday soon and maybe go talk to the departments.

While sitting in traffic for an hour and 10 minutes (is that a bad sign for a future commute?!) I devoured this:

Vanilla roobios iced tea, banana and chocolate Clif Bar. Ugh, I had to wake up around 6ish, took a shower, dried my hair and then grabbed some food and scurried to the car in order to make my interview. By 9 p.m. last night, I was EXHAUSTED. Usually I'll wake up between 7:45 and 8:30 a.m., so that would take a bit of getting used to.

Considering the circumstances, dinner was quick and easy. Chicken marinated in mango habanero sauce, chunky chick peas from Costco that I made into a salad with spinach, tomatoes, carrots and celery, and a cheesy biscuit.

The night ended with an eerie mix of storms: dust, thunder and rain. That brought in some humidity and dropped the temperature into the 90s. The rain and dust, however, ruined our pretty cars, washed the night prior. So my freshly-washed car is now dusty and spotty.

Obviously, that amped up my desire to clear out the garage. My Taurus (ugh, yes, I know I need a new car) now sits in the garage, free from dust storms. I've also done a great deal of research on fitness clubs here. Although I've never been a member of a gym, I think I might do it here! It's cheap, air conditioned and has kickboxing/Zumba/yoga classes. What more could you ask for?!?!

Sleeping through the storms, I arose around my usual time before an eye doctor appointment and new contact lenses. I wanted something quick and easy again, so a repeat of my typical breakfast resurfaced.

Cereal and fruit: never fails.

Let's skip through my lunch and focus on the more interesting meal of the day. I had a craving for margaritas so I started looking up Mexican side dishes to go with the frozen taquitos we already had in stock. Up came two I couldn't resist: pineapple mango salsa and camote, which is sweet potatoes cooked in honey butter.

An unexpected twist... THE SALSA WITH THE SWEET POTATOES! It was really good. I enjoyed each part individually enormously, but together was unreal.

And oh yeah, I never did have that margarita :(

;)

Something to look forward to tomorrow night: FREE CONCERT!! Expect a full recap to come.

Holy Update

So the problem with intense moving and sight-seeing over the past two weeks sans Internet is that I've got a motherload of photos and stories to update. I'm going to tackle it by city and hope this covers the void from the end of July to the beginning of August.

GOODBYE, STOCKTON

In attempt to empty out our pantry before moving, I tested out my first ever oats in a jar. It was alright, but I think I had too much peanut butter left in the jar. I guess I rushed it, you know, moving out and wanting to toss it and all. It was also WAY too hot to hold on to. I might try it again... in several months, since that's how long it'll take me to finish up a jar!

I ended up going with that chai oatmeal I've had a while, plus some of TJ's super berry mix of dried berries and crunched up some walnuts. Good, but too much PB for my taste.

In addition to cleaning out the cabinets there were several going away meals. I'm not going to say who, but a furry member of my household snuck some of my sushi. How rude!!! He gobbled up an entire pinwheel of caterpillar roll in one bite! We also went out with J.D.'s best friend from high school. He's Greek so naturally we dined at the nicest Greek restaurant in Stockton :)

The meal started out with endless baskets of pita bread. I went nuts on that and tzatziki and wound up with limited stomach space for the actual meal. I selected a crisp Sauvignon blanc to go with my meal.

Followed by a fresh Greek salad with a block of feta on top. Oh yeah and I also got all the boys' kalamata olives, which are kind of my favorite. I looove olives.

Next up came the main course, which ended up being two dinners and a lunch over the next two days. Score! I ordered the Mediterranean chicken with pesto, fresh veggies and pasta.

And then, just like that, after several days of intense packing/cleaning, I quit my job with no promise of future employment and left the condo while J.D. drove down to Arizona to begin his first week at his new job. I, on the other hand, enjoyed a week of unemployment at my parents' house in the Bay Area before he flew back up and we checked out of the condo and packed up a truck to move all our crap 12 hours south.

HOME, SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA

Since then I've been having mild panic attacks about finding work/insurance. Luckily, I've since been approved for insurance after comparing plans and applying at my parents' house.

During my week of "vacation" at home, I got to do a little sightseeing. Chic Runner posted about the most AMAZING cupcake shop after running the San Francisco Marathon. From seeing her tweets and post, I knew I HAD to visit before leaving the state of California -- the only state I've ever had permanent residence in -- for good! Enter SF's own American Cupcake. Heaven in your mouth. They sell individual cupcakes and also cupcake/wine pairing flights!!!

We made a girls' day of it with my sister's only day off work during the week, to include my mom and her friend! The place had an awesome ambiance on a cute little street with abundant shopping. It was a pain to get to though, taking BART instead of driving. We ended up walking about 2.5 miles or so both ways. It made for a long trek with typical blistery SF summer weather. Worlds away from the 100 degree heat in the Arizona desert. Either way, all WORTH IT for these cupcakes!!!

My sis and I were both curious about the Beer and Chocolate flight, so I decided to order it and split the Tunnel of Love wine flight with her. Mine came with a chocolate mint cupcake, chocolate peanut butter and chocolate coconut. And let me tell you something, these people really know how to pair their drinks!!! With the mint came a Japanese beer that went down smooth, the coconut was accompanied by my fav beer on the planet, hef, and the chocolate PB partnered with something I'd NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS see myself enjoying. Chocolate stout. OM#*@@%#G it was good! I really enjoyed how it complimented the heavy taste of both chocolate and PB but also the creamier notes. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think I could ever drink it as a drink. But it had nice tasting notes. I also let my sister have more than half of that one :)

Finishing up our halves, we swapped and I got to sample the wine flight. Aimee's came with a red hot cupcake, red velvet and simple chocolate. They went with a cab, bubbly and the epitome of summer (in my mind) rosé. I looooove chocolate and wine. All perfect pairings I had the indescribable pleasure of sampling :)

Our mom said "I'd like to try the Walk of Shame" (giggles) and from what I could tell, was pretty yummy! It came with a lemon cupcake I never got to taste because she woofed down all of hers very fast :) butterscotch and coconut cupcakes. They went with various wines and the butterscotch/merlot combo was pretty awesome!

My favorite after all was said and done?

Had to be the wines! :) Like father, like daughter. Which reminds me of a post for another day... my dad makes wine in his garage and has won medals for it!

HELLO, ARIZONA!

Eventually it had to end and I said goodbye to my family, packed up and met J.D. at the Sacramento Airport before driving back to Stockton to load the truck. We made the 12-hour trek out here to Arizona and little Woodstock was such a good boy and slept for most of it! Like his mama, he too suffered a minor injury. Sidenote: I'm seeing a sports therapist for my knee and will be sidelined from running for quite some time :( MAJOR BOO!!!! I have degenerative tissue below the kneecap and some sort of tendinitis below it. So massages, adjustments, stretches and kinesiotape will have to do for now. Woodstock also pushed his limits and jumped out of someone's arms while he was at home with me and thankfully didn't end up breaking anything!! He just suffered from a minor limp and took some pain meds, but no worries, the pooch loves running, digging and rolling around in his new grassy backyard.

Other than that, I've been spending an ungodly amount of time unpacking and getting lost in exploring my new city. We made it out to J.D.'s favorite restaurant of all time, another Guy Fieri feature on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, Chino Bandito. Mexican, Chinese and Jamaican fare. But here's the kicker, you order your main meat selection (Chinese or Mexican) in a burrito, rice bowl or quesadilla! Then you get to pick beans and rice (fried, regular or Jamaican jerk). I went with a steak quesadilla seasoned with Chinese flavors, alongside jade chicken, white rice and black refried beans. Again, I sound like a broken record but holy yum!!!!!! It was a pleasant surprise. I really enjoyed J.D.'s orange chicken quesadilla :)

His

And hers.

Last but not least, the endless job search. I feel like I've been sending out a thousand applications, resumes and cover letters! If all else fails, I've secured several side jobs which should amount to something. I'm dressing the part for success and I do have an interview tomorrow! Something to look forward to :)

I hope someone hires me!!!!

To be continued.....

Also, don't forget you have until MONDAY, AUG. 16 to both enter my Gracie's Gear giveaway and also receive free shipping in my OpenSky shop with the code FREESHIPPING.

Have a good night.... I'm up way too late for a morning interview :)