Morning Muffins

Ian and I were both working from home this morning and with an empty fridge I was forced to get creative. Fortunately I always have a large supply of flour and sugar and we had failed to eat an entire carton of blueberries which were now past their prime. I decided to make a batch of blueberry muffins which turned out moist and delicious. Sometimes it doesn't take much to start the morning off right!

What to EAT?!?

I have food on my mind and have been struggling to figure out how and what to serve 200 of our closets family and friends at our wedding. I think food is one of the most important elements of a wedding and often doesn't get the attention it deserves. I have a meeting with our caterer tomorrow to talk about all the options. I've been having trouble deciding both how to serve the food (buffet, stations or passed) and what to serve (chicken, fish, steak, vegetarian). With a guest list of picky eaters how do you please everyone? Suggestions welcome!

Images via 100LayerCake

Mexican Treats

I spent the long weekend hitting up my usual taco truck (seen here) and trying some unexpected mexican treats like the Coconut Popsicle picture above and the Mandarin Jarritos picture below. All of it was so yummy and made me further realize my mexican food obsession!

Sunday Brunch

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and I especially love breakfast on Sunday. It is the perfect excuse for a overly fussy breakfast and this past weekend I decided on Pancakes. Instead of your typical pancakes I decided to make homemade buttermilk pancakes with fresh Strawberries and Bananas. I used a variation of this recipe and was very pleased with the results. I wish I had time to make breakfasts like this every morning, but for now I guess I'll have to settle for Sundays.

Super Sized Sugar Rush

I found these awesome SUPER sized gummy bears at Giant Gummy Bears. They come in 2 different sizes and 11 different flavors; the Giant Gummy Bear on a stick is 90x bigger than a regular gummy bear and weighs 1/2 lb. while the World's Largest Gummy Bear is 1000x bigger than a regular gummy bear and weighs 5 lbs. I'm pretty sure either one will cause a stomach ache and considering they contain as many as 12k calories I think I'll stick with regular sized gummies for now.

Homemade Guacamole...yum!

I love mexican food, shown here and here. In between scouting Taco Trucks I've been known to make fresh guacamole in order to get my mexican food fix. All it takes is a few ripe avocados, tomatoes, onion, peppers, lime juice and because I like mine extra spicy, hot sauce.

Yacht Club Pasta Night

This weekend was all about my grandma who is visiting from Florida and since she loves the Yacht Club we decided to attend Pasta Night. It ended up being quite good with an amazing salad bar and a buffet with every pasta topping you could imagine. I settled on calamari with penne pasta, tomatoes, onions and mushrooms. We rounded out the evening with a Hot Fudge Sundae big enough for 5, grandma's favorite. No more carbs for me!

El Tonayense Taco Truck

I really like mexican food and especially Taco Trucks so this weekend we decided to try a highly regarded Taco Truck in SF. I have to say it didn't compare to my favorite Taco Truck in Sonoma (seen here), but it was still quite an experience.

Gummy Candy

I'm currently snacking on another great Chinatown find; Hi-Chew and Lot 100 gummy candies. They remind me to Mamba's but even more yummy and about half the price.

Creative Packaging

I loved the colorful packaging for these cookie/cracker snacks and with names like Hello Panda, Jam Jam, and Lucky who could resist. I was even more impressed to find Pandas printed on each Hello Panda cookie.

BBQ Pizza

While relaxing by the pool this weekend I was inspired to cook on the BBQ, but I didn't feel like typical BBQ so we ended up creating these beautiful Pizza's instead. We made 4 in total all with different ingredients and each one delectable in it's own way. My personal favorite was the green chile pepper pizza which had quite a kick to it, unfortunately it was so good I failed to take a picture.

And yes, that is salami but for those of you who know I'm a "chickenarian" don't worry...I didn't eat it!

Grilled Banana Sandwich

This weekend I was inspired by the overly ripe bananas pictured above and I decided to make mashed banana sandwiches sweetened with sugar, cinnamon, and a few chocolate chips. They turned out amazing and were a great solution for my banana situation.

Homemade Pizza

I really enjoy making Pizza, but I haven't quite mastered making a circular crust yet. This Pizza was super easy to make using store bought tomato sauce with some fresh garlic to spice it up, motzarella and feta cheese, chopped onion and a bit of basil. Delicious!

Backyard BBQ

One of my favorite parts of summer is Outdoor cooking and spending time with family and friends. I'm offically off work for the next week and I can't wait to get to Tahoe. The pictures above are from our Memorial Day BBQ complete with fresh corn on the cob, grilled chicken topped with caramelized onions and grilled mushrooms, served with green beans with orange peppers. I'm looking to recreate it with some 4th of July flair so stay tuned!

Gelato

I have been a huge fan of Gelato ever since I studied abroad in Italy 4 years ago. I love the variety of flavors, rich texture, and colorful spoons. I was sooo happy to get yummy Gelato in North Beach this weekend, but choosing wasnt easy...I finally settled on Strawberry and Banana.

Kenwood Taco Truck

A trip to the wine country is never complete without trying to track down the infamous Taco Truck. He doesn't work on Sunday's or Monday's and often shows up late or leaves early, so actually getting the burrito I had been craving was a huge treat. This was Ian's first successful trip to the taco truck and it didn't disappoint. If you are ever passing Dunbar road on Highway 12 near Kenwood and you see a taco truck, stop...you wont regret it!

Affogato

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend. I spent the majority of my weekend baking and cooking. We hosted 2 BBQ's and I spent hours trying to find a percolator in order to prepare one of my favorite dessert's, affogato! This Italian dessert pairs vanilla ice cream with hot espresso and is an updated way to serve coffee ice cream. I highly recommend you try one if you ever see them on the menu or better yet, make your own!

Image via Cup of Jo