“life in general”

But that all changed on Saturday when we decided to just bite the bullet and get a camera! After much research, husband settled on one model that seemed to be better than the rest in the point-and-shoot category – the Sony CyberShot DSC-TX5. It’s touchscreen, has a sweet (and wide) lense, is drop proof (awesome) and even WATERPROOF up to 10 ft. We’ll be putting that to the test next time we are on vacation, for sure. It was kind of a splurge, but everyone needs a camera, and this is one that we’ll have for years to come.

Here are some of the shots from my first day with the camera. As I’ve said before, I kind of suck at taking photographs, so if you see something good on here, chances are Julian took it, not me.

Let’s end on a very positive note – lasagna cupcakes.

On another note, I’ve decided it should be illegal for me to work on Mondays. It is not only hazardous to my own health, but detrimental to the sanity of others. Thank you & goodnight.

Check out the video of the slow-motion cupcake-launching action below. I’d like to catch one of these in my mouth, but maybe not with a 120 psi cannon!

Oh, and just so you know, Johnny Cupcakes is a brand of tee shirts. This just goes to show you how powerful viral advertising can be – you don’t see a single one of his products in the video!

raehin

I’m of the belief that we should be eating as close to the Earth as possible, with as little processing and unnatural additives as possible. Michael Pollan’s Food Rules booklet has some great bits of advice along these lines, one of them being “Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.” Think about all the crazy foods we’ve invented in the last 50-100 years, thanks to the wonders of preservatives, additives and high-powered food manufacturing. Back then, everything was organic. You ate what was available to you, and much of the time, that was whatever you could grow, pick or harvest yourself. I believe today we call this “eating locally.” Another one of Pollan’s rules was something along the lines of, “If you can’t picture it growing, don’t eat it.” Haha! Makes perfect sense when you think about it. Here’s a great interview with Pollan about the book, filled with more awesome advice. One of my favorite parts of this article is when he talks about french fries and junk food. Fast food has taken the work out of preparing labor-intensive foods, like french fries, and given us easy round-the-clock access to these unhealthy foods. If you had to make your own junk food, I guarantee you’d be eating a whole lot less of it.

Anyway, I’m rambling, and quite off-topic, because I just want to make a public declaration that after a good bit of research, I’ve decided to give the gluten-free lifestyle a try for the next couple of weeks. I’m not sure if I am one of the 3 million Americans who has celiac disease (wheat or gluten allergy), but my Mother has been allergic to wheat her entire life, and given my own issues with tummy pains, I figure I might as well give it a go and see what changes may happen in my overall health. I’ve read and heard such phenomenal things from people who gave up wheat at the recommendation of their physician or nutritionist or at the simple suggestion from a friend. Might as well see what happens, right?

However healthful eating gluten-free may be, replacing wheat with sugar, heavy fats, salt, etc. isn’t exactly a recipe for success, so I’ll be attempting to keep that low as well (though it may be tough – baby steps). I’m also gonna try to take a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (diluted) a day, which has been said to aid circulation and ward off diabetes, cancer, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

I’ll be checking in along the way and will ultimately post a ‘wrap-up’ when my two weeks are up on August 8, 2010.

To get inspiration for living gluten-free, I’ve been reading The Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef and Cannelle et Vanille, two awesome blogs. Do you know of any others that I should be reading? Any other tips or information you want to share with me as I embark on this challenging-yet-potentially-beneficial journey?

I got a little (a lot) frustrated at one point (“I can’t get this gunk off my HANDS!!!”), but then I quickly remembered that baking is not only supposed to be an outlet for stress relief, but a PROCESS. So I took a few deep breaths and what do you know, with enough flour, my sticky mess actually turned into honest to goodness bread dough.

An Irish tea towel from my grandmother, who is not Irish.

My culinary sidekick and live-in photographer also did a swell job at calming me down, as he usually does, and turned out to be quite good at making clover-shaped rolls.

I wish you could smell this photo.

Before freezing the buns, we made sure to taste test a couple of them fresh from the oven, with butter. Good news – it tasted like bread. Only better!!! The recipe, if you’re interested in trying it out for yourself, is from The Frugal Girl. Bon apetit!

These photos were pre-bake, so now they’re even more gooey and crunchy. Mmm! Adapted recipe from this (no onions, add olives, add black beans, add jalapeno).

Alright, back to Glee. We’re on a weekend-long marathon of the first season. Happy Super Bowl, everyone! I hope your team wins. I’m not sure why, but I’m rooting for the Saints, maybe because New Orleans could use some good luck and everyone knows the Colts are good. And maybe I just want Kim Kardashian to get her engagement ring.

I had my in-house photographer take these photos today so I could share the beauty of this day with you all:

If there is one thing we have plenty of in LA, it is donut shops. But perhaps none are as delicious as SK’s on 3rd and Formosa. Except maybe Randy’s, but that’s a given… SK’s on Saturdays has become somewhat of a ritual for Julian and I. My favorite are the chocolate glazed, he prefers regular glazed. Please note the ratio of chocolate glazed:regular glazed in the box. Mhmm.

While grocery shopping last night, I got distracted by the Valentine’s Day candy. I’m talking like, 15 minutes of mulling around the holiday aisle distracted. I was disappointed to only find the crap brand of candy hearts (no white hearts? Seriously?), but we still bought bags of Sweet-Tart hearts and cinnamon imperials… the best thing about this holiday is the CANDY! For sure. Saint Valentine wasn’t so bad either, I guess!

“The first representation of Saint Valentine appeared in the Nuremberg Chronicle, (1493); alongside the woodcut portrait of Valentine the text states that he was a Roman priest martyred during the reign of Claudius II, known as Claudius Gothicus. He was arrested and imprisoned upon being caught marrying Christian couples and otherwise aiding Christians who were at the time being persecuted by Claudius in Rome. Helping Christians at this time was considered a crime. Claudius took a liking to this prisoner — until Valentinus tried to convert the Emperor — whereupon this priest was condemned to death. He was beaten with clubs and stoned; when that didn’t finish him, he was beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate. Various dates are given for the martyrdom or martyrdoms: 269, 270, or 273.[8]“

Do you see the face?

And for no other reason than because I love my neighbor’s windows across the alley (she painted her windowpanes turquoise ♥), a picture of one of the windows. I’m almost certain I can get a better shot of this, but for now it’ll do. I want to do this, very badly!

I know I’m a total flake and forgot to do Things I Love Thursday this week, but I’ve been too busy with social gatherings. I’m so popular, I know! Thursday night I had a celebratory dinner with my closest GFs in LA at Le Petit Four in honor of my engagement. It was wonderful, we ate like Queens and I sat around and basked in their loveliness. I am so lucky to have such smart, sweet, caring, talented and beautiful friends.

Last night I played hostess to two of Julian’s new friends, Rhett and Link, who you may recognize from their YouTube channel. I made white chicken chili and we sat around and listened to advice from two married men on wedding to-dos and not-to-dos. I got a sneak peek at a music video the guys filmed in a bathroom this week with Julian (yeah) and will be releasing soon. It is truly hilarious, can’t wait to share. It also has a cameo from one very popular female tech vlogger.

So I guess you can just count this as a TiLT, because, well, I love all these things!

Alright, there is laundry to be done and donuts to polish off. Don’t be jealous. xoxo

How shall we do it – Swapping our coffee for hot chocolate? Lindt Truffles for dinner? A solitary Hershey kiss every hour on the hour? Take a bath in chocolate syrup?

Screw your diet, take a minute today to enjoy what the ancient Mayans called “the food of the gods.”

Happy National Chocolate Day!

photo: Loua

Despite looking up recipes beforehand, we basically just threw in whatever we thought might taste good and/or be beneficial to us health-wise. I wish I had taken a video of the juicer’s maiden voyage, mostly because of my hilarious evil laugh every time something was pureed into liquid. It was really quite scary.

What wasn’t scary was the taste. We enjoyed a nice carrot-beet-apple-green-pepper-celery-pineapple-strawberry-orange-parsley-kiwi juice last night, and then … ruined it by going to In-N-Out (I got it without the meat, thankyouverymuch.) What? This morning, I went over to his sparkly new apt and he made me even MORE of the juice. It tastes like you would expect, but the thing I’m really looking forward to are the health benefits! My immune system is currently getting a nice boost and this cold is currently getting the crap kicked out of it.

Does anyone reading this have any fabulous juice recipes that they just HAVE to share with me? Preferably super-healthy-great-tasting-makes-me-feel-like-Super-Woman-juice? Please, leave them in the comments!

P.S. Happy World Vegetarian Day!

They took to the streets to ask people what they like better: A-holes, or B-holes? Sick!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmpisOn4FmE&hl=en&fs=1&]

Since when did advertising become all about sex? Ok, stupid question, but really – as if it weren’t bad enough seeing a razor company coyly hinting at the shape of your hair “down there,” or an internet company suggesting that your husband’s addiction to internet porn makes you wanna barf, now we’re comparing breakfast pastries to… well, you can use your imagination.

Edited to add: Not sure how I forgot this gem of a Burger King ad. What are we selling here? Is this a sandwich ad, or pornography?

Smile!

I suppose it works, though – I am blogging about it, after all. Woo Hardee’s!

*Ahh! Did I just call myself a “West Coaster?!?” Somebody. Get. Me. Out. Of. Here.