My Latest Obsession

So, my friend Ashley recently told me about her new favorite cereal - “Peanut Butter Panda Puffs” by Envirokidz. As the name suggests, this is a kids cereal, and I am no kid; but then again, aren't all the best-tasting consumables marketed to the younger generation?

I happened to be at Whole Foods the other day (strange, I know), and spotted said cereal on the shelf. "Hmmmmmm....." I thought. The box says that they are organic (and you all know how I feel about health food). However, Ashley has impeccable taste, and if she likes them, they can't be that bad. So I bought them. And I bought a box of “Leapin' Lemurs," also by Envirokidz, since they looked kind of interesting and had the words "chocolate flavored" in the description (plus, I loved saying the name!).

These cereals are organic, gluten-free, wheat-free, low-sodium, have no trans-fats, synthetic additives, or preservatives – and despite that, I absolutely love them!! I can’t stop eating them. It’s like they put an addictive chemical in them or something (and I crave them more than fortnightly!).

Now I just might be forced to try Envirokidz “Gorilla Munch” and “Orangutan-O’s.” Seriously, could there be anything more fun to eat than kids cereal? I think not.

Damn Recession

So, I went into See’s Candies today for a little sugar rush, and for the first time EVER, was not offered a free sample. Nor were any of the other people waiting in line with me.

Excuse me? Baking powder? No free chocolaty goodness?! The free sample is the main motive behind any of my visits to See’s, and I am now truly saddened by its apparent discontinuance.


What next? Are we going to have to start paying for the use of pillows and blankets on airline flights? Oh wait………

Stupid economy.

That's Amore!

The very first restaurant I ever went to upon moving to LA was this awesome little Italian place called C&O Trattoria. Upon walking through its doors, I instantly fell in love with the atmosphere. It has both inside and outside seating, but the outside seating is my favorite because it looks like a quaint Italian grotto. Actually, truth be told, I like the outside seating because something about the scenery reminds me of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” ride at Disneyland – you know, the part in the ride where that chubby guy is getting dunked in the well, and that woman is up on the balcony yelling “Don’t you tell them, Carlos. No, no, no!” Yeah, I know. My brain is a little warped. But there you go.

This is the outside seating area.

Anyway, I went to C&O again this past weekend with some friends, and enjoyed myself immensely. There are 3 things I absolutely LOVE about this restaurant (and they are the reasons I keep going back):

1. The Garlic Knots

 

These mouthwateringly delicious knot-shaped garlic rolls are free to all customers. There is a large plate in the middle of each table in the restaurant, and the waiters just keep coming around and refilling it with knots every 10 minutes. They even walk around outside the restaurant with a plate of knots and serve them to the guests who are waiting for a table. I usually have a very hard time not filling up on these bad boys before my actual meal arrives. Which brings me to my next reason…….

2. The HUGE Entrees

 

The entrees at C&O come in two sizes – Half and Gargantuan (no, I am not making this up). A half order can quite easily feed two people. Ergo, after gorging myself on garlic knots, I know there is absolutely NO way I am going to be able to finish my dinner – so, yay! Leftovers for tomorrow! Not quite as good the second day, but still totally palatable.

 

3. (And this is probably my favorite thing about C&O) The Singing

Every hour-and-a-half or so on Friday and Saturday nights, the waiters run around the restaurant and pass out lyrics to the song “That’s Amore” to all the tables. Then, the song’s music starts playing over the restaurant’s speakers…..and the fun begins! Everybody in the restaurant, both guests and employees, starts to sing along to the music. The waiters then start weaving their way through the tables, clinking glasses with the guests as they do, and exclaiming “Salute!”

Now, I have no business singing anywhere in public, but this is one instance where I will make an exception. I can belt out the song at the top of my lungs and not bother anyone, because all the other guests are singing too, and no one can hear my off-key nonsense! I also insist on making everybody at my table sway in time to the music. A little childish, yes…but it makes the experience so much more entertaining!

Here are a couple of pictures of some of the group and I holding our lyrics sheets, right before the singing started.

 

Seriously, I love this place. And you would, too!!

It's Alive!!

Yeah, so remember the vacuum I mentioned in a previous post that I got for my birthday? Well, I used it for the first time today and got the shock of my life. I vacuumed my bedroom – just one SMALL room – and emptied the canister to find this:


A dust ball the size of a large rodent. Uugghhhh!! Eeewwwwwww!! Vomit!!

After I picked myself up off the floor, I got to thinking. All this, from vacuuming just one room!! Now, I am not the cleanest person in the world, but I am also by no means a slob. It absolutely floors me to think that I have been living and sleeping in the same room with such a large amount of filth, and I now fear for what else might be hiding out down there. Can you sterilize carpet?

I can feel things crawling on me. Really, I can.

On the upside, my new vacuum is one awesome sucking machine!!

I Don't Do Diet

I love lemon cake. Love it. Especially the one that they sell at Starbucks. There is just something about the mixture of tangy and sweet and moist that sends my taste buds a-whirlin’. 


Today at work, one of the pharmaceutical reps brought a whole spread of breakfast food for the staff/surgeons in an effort to bribe them to use their product (a fairly common occurrence when you work in a hospital). There were bagels and cream cheese, donuts, fruit and yogurt parfaits, pastries……..and lemon cake!!

Once spotted, I made a beeline to the tasty goodness, and promptly (and quite piggishly) piled three slices onto my plate. Feeling exhilarated, I sat down to consume the spoils of my gluttony. I took a bite, began to chew, and then….wha….what…what is this? What in hell’s bells did I just put into my mouth? It looked like lemon cake. It smelled like lemon cake. It even had the proper consistency. And yet, this was NO lemon cake. No sir. What I had just put into my mouth was so nasty, I was sure that that was what evil had to taste like.

I spat out the revolting intruder, and walked over to examine the container from whence it came. It was lemon cake alright – sugar-free lemon cake, made with Splenda.

Are you kidding me?

Who? Who would do that? Who would dare to take perfectly good lemon cake, something so pure and delectable, and corrupt it with, of all things, Splenda? What a waste!! Am I the only one here who sees something wrong with this picture?

 
Needless to say, I did not finish the rest of my wanna-be lemon cake. In fact, I had to eat a blueberry muffin just to get the bitter taste out of my mouth. It still makes me gag just thinking about it.

There are very few (in fact, almost zero) low-fat/low-calorie/sugar-free foods in life that I have found actually taste good enough to make them worth sacrificing the extra calories. And lemon cake is definitely not one of them. Perish the thought.

All I have to say is, if I ever happen to encounter the inventor of Splenda in a dark alleyway, he had better be watching his back.

The Big 3-0

It’s official. I. Am. Old.

That’s right – on December 22, 2008, I turned 30. Thirty. Thurrrr-teeee. Wow, still seems weird. I mean, I entered an entirely different decade, people. I thought that it would be a difficult day – you know, that I would feel all depressed and melodramatic, and suddenly start spouting “well, when I was a kid…” stories. However, 30 doesn’t really feel any different. In fact, it’s pretty great so far!! 


After all, they say that you are only as old as you act. And, if that’s the case, then I should be hitting puberty any day now.

Anyway, because my birthday is so close to Christmas, I was fortunate enough to be at home in San Diego with my family for the blessed occasion. We played and shopped all day, went out for a yummy celebratory dinner (sans the annoying singers, thank you very much!), and then opened presents. And, I got some pretty spectacular ones!

My awesome parents gave me something that I desperately needed – a vacuum cleaner. My old vacuum was literally on its last leg. I inherited it from my old roommate who just got married, who inherited it from her old roommate who got married 5 years ago…..needless to say, it is an antique, and was starting to emit a very foul burning odor whenever it was used. Anyway, my parents very generously bought me a Hoover Bagless Windtunnel Vacuum.

Did you catch the “bagless” part of the description – as in, I never have to buy or change vacuum bags EVER with this sly piece of machinery. And, that’s just one of its many useful amenities. Thanks Mum and Dad!!

 

My beautiful sister, Blythe, gave me a truly wonderful gift. A gift that, I believe, no self-respecting woman should be without. What is this amazing gift of which I speak? That’s right, you guessed it – she got me “Sex and the City – The Complete Series.”

That’s right, all 6 seasons in one bright pink package (one of my favorite parts about this gift, by the way).

I know that there are plenty of you out there who would disagree with me, but I think that “Sex and the City” is one of the best television shows ever written. I love the characters, the dialogue, the cheeky humor. As a sassy single gal, I can soooo relate to many of the situations they address on the show (don’t worry, I don’t mean any of the ones involving sex, for heavens sake!) It is my personal opinion that any given situation in a woman’s life can relate back to a “Sex and the City” episode or moment (well, or a “Friends” episode, too) – so I find myself quoting the show all the time. “It looked like a sharpei!”

 

I have already watched all of the DVDs once, and will undoubtedly make it through them all again before too long. Thanks Blythe!!

Aren't I a lucky girl?

Go Ahead, Be Jealous

Today’s date is January 17th, 2009. We are still in the season of Winter. And yet, it is 80 degrees outside…..and has been all week long!! While most of the rest of the country is freezing their buns off in sub-zero temperatures, So Cal is having a virtual heat wave. I mean, people are actually sunbathing at the beach!!


I know some people hate this strange weather pattern – that they really want a defined change of seasons, with a noticeable temperature change as well. However, I say forget that!! I absolutely love this weather, and would take it 365 days a year if I could get it!!

And that is EXACTLY why I will never leave southern California.

(Oh no, now I’ve gone and jinxed myself. You watch, now I’ll end up marrying somebody who gets some amazing job offer in Alaska or Wisconsin or Antarctica or something. Crap.)