It's Not A Cookie, It's A Newton

September 19th, what a perfect mix of warm weather, with the promises of Fall soon upon us.  Hot enough for some ice cream made with a fruit (well technically a flower) that looks like fall, but tastes like summer, the California Fig.  When I spotted these beauties the other day in Sprouts, it instantly made me think of ice cream, and what a nice marriage the two would make.  Turns out, it was a match made in heaven.  Oh how sweet.

Vanilla Fig Ice Cream with Orange Essence

1 quart fresh figs, sliced into eighths

2/3 cup sugar

zest of 1/2 an orange

1/2 cup of water

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and simmer on low for about 5-8 minutes until the figs break up and the sugar melts, creating a jam like consistency.  Let cool to room temperature, then puree with a hand blender and chill.

1 cup milk, well chilled (we used 2%)

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups heavy cream (don't skimp here)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Whisk all ingredients until combined.  Add the fig sauce and stir.  Pour into ice cream maker and make according to manufacturer's instructions.

*We have a Cuisinart Mix It In Soft Serve Ice Cream Maker and we love it.   The paddle recently broke and Cuisinart customer service sent us a new one with absolutely no hassle or questions asked.

The results?  Ice cream so good that 2 kids who don't like figs (I gave them a Fig Newton once and they spit it out, their taste buds revolting in disgust), licked the paddle and bowl clean.  Proving that you could mix just about any ingredient into ice cream and kids will clamor for it.

 Things may have got a little out of hand

My handsome sous chef

And the final product, drizzled with some honey

 

I'm linking up this lovely recipe here to Heather's Making It Lovely Monday.  Please hop on over and say hi!

Style Speak - Ombre

One of the last positions I held at my previous employer was the Product Knowledge Coordinator.  Sounds kind of boring right?  Well, it was actually really fun.  I was in charge of translating designer speak to the masses, and educating the sales team on the latest collection.  I would view the line each season, and put together fun books that would detail the design team's inspiration, talk about the latest trends and fabrics, and basically give the sales team the tools they would need to help sell a $1,500 suit.  When selling high-end clothing, you've got to present yourself as the expert in your field.

The above book became my best friend.   When one of our designers would say a term I had never heard before, I would quickly reference this book and then nod in agreement, like yes, of course I know what the new Ikat trend is all about.  Fooled them all!  HA!  Now, my brain is filled with more trivial fashion knowledge than I may ever need.  But it is fun to know for instance, that the red flats I wore yesterday in Playgrounds & Lollipops had an Ombre detail to them. Thank you for all your kind compliments on them. 

Ombre: Closely related tones of color with monochromatic shading from light to dark of single color (e.g., pale pink to red, or in several colors like a rainbow).  Der. French, "shaded."

So while it typically refers to the dying of fabric, it basically is just when one color fades from light to dark, or vice versa, hence my shoes being ombre in that they go from a burgundy red, to a dark, almost black red.
 
You can always count on Google to display pages of results as well, as found here, and here, and here.
This my friends, has been the debut of Style Speak, a new feature I will be doing every now and then.  What do you think?

Playgrounds & Lollipops - Creature Comforts

Raglan sleeve tunic: James Perse; Leggings: Gap; Ombre Patent Ballet Flats: Banana Republic

Earrings: Vera Wang for Kohl’s

Who brought the legging back? Whoever it was, I want to track them down and give them a big hug of gratitude. Seriously, it was a genius idea to bring this clothing category back, which had previously been left to gym workouts and dance parties, as a suitable clothing option for women of all shapes, ages and sizes. And the fact that it has stayed on the radar for the last 3 years, proves its longevity. Ladies, I think these babies are going to be around for a while, and I like it.

Feeling more like a size 8 today than a size 6? No problem. Bought a dress that shrunk and is now too short to even wear in a hot nightclub? No problem, we’ve got a legging for that. Feel like rocking that just rolled out of bed look, but know that with that PTA meeting you might be shunned if you actually wore your PJ’s? The legging’s gotcha covered.

I wore my leggings today with a top that is actually made of sweatshirt material. Heaven on Earth.  And hello casual Friday, I like you mighty fine.

Fad Food - Sucka

I'm a sucker for fads and trends.  While luckily my taste in clothing trends has been refined and I have learned what trends I can pull off, and what trends to steer clear of - read - jeggings, my love for fad food is firmly intact; ie, Pinkberry, cupcakes, cake pops, you name it.  So when I started catching wind about a year ago of these gourmet "roach-coaches" that have been making their way around the hipster LA scene, I knew I had to give it a try.  We encountered one at the LA Zoo a few months back and their clever spin on a churro had me reeling.  Last night on my way home from work I spotted a Kogi BBQ truck traveling next to me on the 105.  I looked up their twitter account and found out they would be just a short 5 miles away from me.  After a quick call to Art, we devised a plan to grab the kids and head on out for a taste of Korean BBQ out of the back of a truck.  We picked up the neighbors along the way.

"I don't know what this is but I like it!"

The food was very flavorful and chock full of toppings, almost too much for my taste though.  I guess my palate has been refined a bit too.  We tried almost everything on the menu including all 3 tacos, a quesadilla, sliders and a hot dog.   While the adventure was fun and different, it hit me later that night after I realized that we had spent almost $40 on truck food, that I had sort of been claimed a sucker.  Even better was the $5 ice creams being sold out of the neighboring ice cream truck, that was really just a glorified paleta man.  Next time I'll tell all those hipsters waiting in line to go visit any number of vendors selling out of a shopping cart in my hood, Slauson in Vernon.

Making Me Happy This Morning

A late night trip to El Pollo Loco had me up all night with heartburn, sorry is that too much information?  Especially for the first line?  Oopsy.

So since I couldn't sleep, I hopped on my little computer here to send a few emails and read a few blogs and look at some pictures, and order a couple of things on Amazon.  Wow, I've done a lot in the last 45 minutes!

This post gave me a flippin' good chuckle this morning.  I love Jules. 

I'm still reeling over Sunday night's episode of this show.  It is pure genius and like a fine wine, keeps getting better with time.  If you aren't watching this show yet, what's your problem?  Seriously.

I just ordered two sets of these awesome pens.  One to give as a gift to this wonderful lady, and one to give away to a lucky reader next week!

I'm also giving away one of my book bags next week to tie in with this lovely lady.  Have I peeked your interest yet?

This picture of my homegrown lettuce we used to make a salad made me happy to look at this morning (never mind my no-make up look, I had just had a facial and was trying to go glunk free for a few hours.

These pictures also made me happy.  Good reminders of a great night spent with friends over the weekend.  (Look at Syd's face)

Are you still daydreaming about the weekend on a Tuesday?

And I will leave you with this.  Sunday was the day that Tucker for Target was released in stores.  I managed to get there by 5 pm and picked up three pieces, one of them being the bright tunic you see below.  Best purchase in a long time.  I can tell I'm going to have a slight obsession with this fun and colorful piece.

 And look at the back!  LOVE! (p.s. yes, that is a side swept ponytail I'm sporting ala 80's)

 Happy Tuesday everyone!

Spray Painting Fools!

I wish I could see one project through to the end before starting another one.  But the crazy person that I am thinks that would be too logical.  I like to make things harder for myself remember?  So this weekend I stole some time to wrap up a couple of projects that had been waiting in the wings.

Starting with this chartreuse green birdcage I had found at Home Goods a couple of months back.  When I saw it I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with it.  But for $14.99, I knew I could put it to use.

When I brought it home Taylor immediately snatched it up and proceeded to make an elaborate trail to attract, and subsequently catch a bird for the little birdhouse.  Inside the house was a paper plate with peanut butter, nuts and seeds, and flower petals to catch the bird's attention.  This trap was a permanent fixture on our front lawn for about 3 weeks until we started noticing snails and worms taking up refuge in the house.  Ewww gross.  The gardener, knowing its significance, paid careful attention to move it on and off the lawn each week when he mowed.

 I gave it a good washing, and decided that the house had to go in Taylor's room.  After a couple of coats of spray paint, it became a delightful little addition to her room.

I also finished up this sweet little chair that I picked up at the Salvation Army a while back.  There are no before pictures because the refab process started during that time when our camera had taken a dump.  It was a dark oak finish before and just had a boring beige seat cover.  I painted it with a coat of Martha Stewart's Ballet Slipper Pink and covered the seat with a simple cotton canvas striped fabric I found at Joann's.

And remember that bathroom redo we started back in May?  Well the project was completed shortly thereafter I blogged about it, but I have been dragging my heels on completing it with finishing touches because I just hadn't found the right items, mainly a shelving unit to hang above the toilet.  Well, I finally found a fairly cheap shelf from UrbanOutfitters.com, and I'm just waiting for it to arrive.

For now though, I spray painted this badly stained little tray I nabbed at Goodwill for $1, and added it to the bathroom to hold the kid's toiletry items.

When the shelf gets hung I will take pictures of the entire room and post the whole redo. For now, here's a little sneak peek. 

Notice the orange tissue holder in the background?  That coral was my inspiration color for the whole bathroom.

We had a great weekend and did quite a few other things, but this was how we spent the better part of our Sunday.  Spray painting fools we were.  Now to go use that cute little hedgehog nail scrubber to get the paint off my fingers!  I'm linking up to Heather's Making It Lovely Monday!

Nominated!

So I have no idea how it happened, but somehow, I was spotted and nominated as one of Orange Counties best family blogs.  I am actually very honored and excited.  But I know I don't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning since I'm going up against the likes of Joy's Hope, Bringing Up Burns and Eli's Lids.  But at any rate, I'd appreciate it to not look like a total slaughter, so if you have a chance, would you mind going here to vote?  I'm listed under the Personal and Family Blogs category.

You can read more about the awards and see all the other nominees here.
Voting closes on Sunday at midnight PST, so pretty please, go on over and cast your vote?

Thanks!