RAVE: Tu Y Yo

on tuesday dad, kevin and i went to tu y yo in powderhouse square for dinner. i had been meaning to try that place for years. i got the salmon criolla which was pan friend salmon in a creamy guajillo sauce with a chipotle potato and shrimp cake. i'm not sure why i picked this dish as i am not the biggest fan of salmon but i was very pleased with it. it was delicious!

the service was great, very friendly staff, and good food. the downside is that it was a bit pricy for mexican food. all of our entrees were between $15 and $19 which, especially compared to the border and other similar places, was pretty steep. good thing i wasn't paying, eh?

another little strapless number

i believe this dress may have been made especially for me! odd that they would make thousands of them and sell them in shops if that is the case but nonetheless it fits like a glove and i must have it. i tried it on this evening as i have a current obsession with summer dresses, particularly strapless ones, and actually gasped as it was so lovely. i then debated with myself about where i would wear it. its too strapless for work, too dressy for brunches (which seem to be all i do anymore), not dressy enough for weddings.... so i put it back on the hanger and walked away all the while wistfully looking back and thinking to myself "i'll be back for you".

now that i am home and have had a chance to think about it and make a clear headed decision i have decided that it doesn't matter if i have a place to wear it. i will create an occasion. so perhaps you will see me grocery shopping in this little frock but i will look damn good doing it.

i'm hungry

its been almost two weeks since i last wrote. you would think i have something of mild interest to say but, alas, i don't. i haven't done any baking or cooking and haven't done anything particularly exciting. i need to get my bake back on though so hopefully will have some updates soon.

i'll just leave you with this thought for now:

RAVE: Highland Kitchen

its been a while since we tried a new restaurant so with dad's impromptu monday night visit we decided to go to highland kitchen which both my coworker and one of kevin's has been raving about for months. before we even ordered i was kicking myself for never having been there before. the atmosphere was just my scene - the decor was funky but simple, the waitresses tattooed but nice, the beer tasty and varied. yessssss.

dad ordered the curried goat stew with fried plantain which he said was delicious (i'll take his word for it), kevin had the black bean burger, and i had the blackened catfish po' boy. all winners. the topper was getting the hot fudge brownie sundae. *droooool*. even kevin, who claims not to have a sweet tooth but ate at least half, was excited about it (as you can see). it was delishhh.


i made the mistake of weighing myself on tuesday so no more brownie sundaes for a little while. i should probably cut out the copious amounts of beer i have been drinking as well. after tonight that is.

more cowbell!

This past weekend I crewed ALS TDI's 270 mile, three day bike ride, the Tri-State Trek. Last year crewing was fun but this year it was FUN. We had lots of TDIers there riding and crewing and everyone was in great spirits, ready to get to work, and to have some fun. Friday morning Joel picked VW and I up around 7am and we headed to the Rashi School in Newton to pack up our ride and head to UConn for the first overnight. Volunteers had already set up our registration booth by the time we got there and an intern took over the registration process so VW and I basically hung out and cheered riders in as they came in (there was some "work" to do but it barely felt like work). We were relieved from all duties around 6pm when we promptly joined riders and crew in the beer tent. from the beer tent we headed to the hotel bar and, inevitably, shots were ordered. crank calls soon followed (nothing beats Alicia calling ken a "p.u.s.s.y.") along with lots of hooting and hollering. somewhere along the way VW and I invited two colleagues to share our room (and beds) as they were stuck in the non-air conditioned room. the evening ended with Beth and I giggling hysterically while trying to find our pajamas and beds without waking our roommates around 11pm.

Saturday morning we were up nice and early - around 5:30 - to see the riders head out. We got to stop at a few rest stops to cheer riders and then headed to the next overnight to set up. Again, we got lucky with extra volunteers so we could give up our booth and join the boys for beers around 5 / 6pm. After dinner the mic was handed over to riders and volunteers who wanted to say a word. It was like getting ice cold water dumped on me as I had lost sight of why we were all there with all the fun I was having. Not to say we shouldn't have been having fun but it reminded me why we were all there and it was pretty powerful. ALS is a disgusting disease.

Saturday night we stayed at the Southern Connecticut dorms which were FREEZING. i put everything I brought on and and wrapped myself up in my sheet and was still shivering. I woke up with an achy back from being tense all night. Apart from that sucking, it propelled me out of bed and into a hot shower promptly at 5:45. Riders headed out and after some damage control (fuck you New Haven for taking down the rider arrows!) VW and I headed to Johns Street Hill to cheer on the riders. A lot of the riders, including two of our boys, did the hill more than once and a few did it 5+ times. One guy, who was smiling the whole time, did it a whopping 16 times - holy cow!! It was great to be able to cheer them on there as we missed that last year. It was pretty emotional. We had a big BBQ at the finish line and then 7 of us piled into a mini van and headed home.

It was a long, tiring weekend but well worth it. Whose crewing with me next year? Or perhaps riding?

We need more cowbell!

I think this is my first post ever where I used caps. Thought I would mix it up a bit.

bailey's first toothbrushing (sort of)

i asked kevin to capture bailey's first teeth brushing as i thought it would be pretty funny /cute.




this is me, with the doggie toothbrush on my finger after bailey ran away from me.








heres bailey scooping out the situation from the stairs ready to bolt if i take one step towards her.








and heres bailey victorious after i gave up chasing her and put the toothbrush away. i think she is actually smiling.

ode to feta

you know those V8 commercials where they are all "you shoulda had a V8!" and the guy slaps himself on the forehead in a "duh" manner? well if my general feeling could be put into one gesture it would be something like that. for years i have been all "egh, i don't really like feta". i associated it with olives which i hate (expect a turnaround post about how much i love olives in the next 12 months). i can't say its because of the salt as i love salt as anyone who has seen me suck on a saladito can tell you. i think it was more the texture that irked me. anyways, slowly i have been eating more and more feta in meals and my thinking changed to "hmm this isn't so bad". alyssa introduced us to a dip recently that daniela and i have both replicated as it was just that good and it had feta in it and was amazing. but that still didn't mean i "liked" feta as it was mixed with all sorts of other goodness. but then, on a whim and to copy my dear friend daniela, i bought a ginormous thing of feta at costco. what am i going to do with this much feta?? well, kevin will eat it i am sure as he is obsessed with cheese. for work today i packed a salad with corn and black beans and i thought why not throw some feta in? BEST. DECISION. EVER. i was sitting there thinking "omg, this is amazing! this is delicious! why have i never sprinkled this delightful addition on to all my foods??". and there my love for feta was born. as soon as i was done with my salad i hopped on to http://www.tastespotting.com/, one of my favorite recipe sites, and did a search for "feta". i came across one for baked shrimp in tomato feta sauce. i had all the ingredients (including fresh parsley from my garden) but one - onion (onyon!). i wasn't able to get to the store as i had to run an errand after work and then had to get home to walk bailey. what do i do?? in my not so quiet fretting while at work it was suggested i should ask my lovely downstairs neighbors if i could steal one of their onions. i did, they were more than willing, and out came a delicious shrimp feta meal that i will definitely be making again. i don't think the tub of feta from costco will make it through the week.

feta, i tip my hat to you. thank you for coming into my life.

buon appetito!

in my most recent issue of cooking light there was a pizza dough recipe and, although i love one i have been trying, i thought i would give it a go. first of all, how freaking fun is making pizza dough?? secondly, this recipe was delish! typically i prefer a thinner crust, which is the one i usually use but this one was so light i didn't mind it being thicker. i also made the new york style pizza sauce from the same issue which was easy and delicious. i got to use some of my home grown basil in it to which was exciting!

the first time i made this pie i followed this recipe which is just spinach and tomatoes with a mix of parmasan, mozzarella, and ricotta but tonight i substituted the spinach for artichoke hearts as thats all we have. mmmm, i'm liking pizza more and more these days - what a difference it makes to have it be homemade.

aight, i'm going to go chow now that the pizza has cooled enough not to burn the top of my mouth! buon appetito!

peppers, tomatoes, and more!

its truly amazing how emotionally attached i have become to my herbs and veggies. for christsake, its just food!! but something about having bought seed packets for $.99 cents at home depot, nurturing it and watching it develop into this beautiful thing that i can shove down my pie-hole just entrances me. when i hand kevin three green beans (which is the amount we seem to be getting at a time) i can't help but be all "i made these!! i made them!!". i didn't make them. it was the seed, soil, and water. but i like to think it was my attention and love that really made them grow! yessss.

heres a recap of how everythings doing...

this is my first bloom! as gorgeous as it is (omg, i made it!!) its a bummer that its july 18th and this is my first and, ahem, only bloom. this is a texas bluebonnet (i think? i sort of lost track a while ago). i realize now i did not make the wisest decisions when choosing flower seedlings. i chose some random ones like chinese lanterns that i thought were gorgeous but they grow up to 24 inches which is, obviously, retarded looking in a window box. i am waiting for them to bloom and then will replant them in the garden as they are perennials. i feel so dumb about this one. then there are others that ended up being vines (seriously, i knew nothing about what i was choosing) which is also silly in a window box. anyways, will transplant them to the yard and will know better for next year.



godfather peppers! they are so teeny tiny its hard to even call them that but i expect they'll grow up to be big boys. i have some jalapenos growing as well. mmmm.







cherry tomatoes! the two pics below are from the same plant, just different branches. this plant is blowing up! and i grew this one from a seed so i am pretty proud of it. i can't wait to eat the fuck out of all these tomatoes.

beach day, finally!

what a truly awesome day yesterday was! i started the day with a quick run as i knew the day was inevitably going to be filled with fried foods and ice cream. then meg, amy, and i had a delicious breakfast at soundbites and headed to the beach. we were aiming for winthrop beach but couldn't seem to find it (not that we tried too hard) and ended up at revere beach which was surprisingly much nicer than i thought it would be. i don't know what i expected but parking was easy and free, it was clean, not crowded, and there were public bathrooms nearby (sorry but new england water is just wayyyy too cold to go into). we chatted, we read, we tanned. then we got delicious food - a fried fish sandwich and fries for me - before doing more chatting, reading, and tanning. meg put it best when she said, numerous times, what a perfect day it was.

around 3pm, after a sand storm seemed to kick up out of nowhere, we headed back to meg's place (which is super cute!) and to a fantastic little ice cream place where we indulged just a little. so freaking good.

i came home sleepy, relaxed, and full of ice cream so what else was there to do but nap? i didn't intend to nap for 6 hours but i did and that's ok with me. i woke up a little before midnight, had a PB & J sandwich and then headed right back to bed until 6am. that's some marathon sleeping - 12 hours all together!

it was the perfect day. hopefully we will have numerous repeats of this perfect day.

farewell to the wire

for months now every time we opened our mailbox and saw that red envelope from netflix we would bound into the house trying to get dinner over with and tidy up as quickly as possible so that we could spend at least an hour in front of the tv together watching an episode of the wire. i'm typically not into dramas and kevin is typically not into cop type shows but this one was different. the characters were so well played out. the line between good and bad was foggy. the conversations were intelligent as were the plot lines. it was riveting and we couldn't get enough.

we dragged out season 4 and 5 as long as we could pacing ourselves to just one a night a couple of times a week but, alas, it had to come to an end. awesome series, i highly recommend it to anyone looking to sit in front of the tv for 50+ hours... time well spent it you ask me.

bravo, hbo! bravo!


what will we watch now? we just got v for vendetta from netflix but once that's over, its over. nothing to string us on to quickly sent it back so that we can find out what happens next. it just wont be the same.

RIP mcnulty, bunk, omar, bubbles, kima, snoop, marlow... i could go on forever.

the box truck mystery solved

a few weeks ago i got woken up by kevin hopping out of bed to the sound of his phone vibrating, him picking up and saying "i'll be right down", throwing on jeans and a t-shirt, and running out the front door. i looked out the window and saw him getting into a big white box truck. i waited about an hour and called his cell. no answer. about an hour after that i get a call from him and all i hear is "hey.. i have really bad reception but wanted to let you know that i'm..." and the phone goes dead. about four hours later i get a call explaining that he is in dorchester giving our bikes to 2nd graders. whaaaaat? ok, commendable but random! later he explains that IBC, the bike shop he rides for, has a program where if you have purchased a kids' trek bike there you can return it in a year or two (i don't know the details so don't quote me here) and get a discount off a new one. pretty sweet deal since kids grow so damn fast. so one of kevin's teammates and mechanic at the shop, thom, has a sister who works for a school in dorchester so they decided to give all the used bikes to the second graders there. kevin and thom went down there to fit the kids to the bikes which i thought was pretty cool. you can read all about it and check out more photos on the IBC's blog but this here, i think, is the best collection of pics...

he sure does look pretty on his pink bicycle.

not your typical 4th of july weekend

this july 4th weekend in upstate NY is a bit different then year's past. typically we spent hours by the pool and when we aren't by the pool we are sitting outside somewhere or on one of the many lakes in this region. but this year it rained pretty much the entire time we were here. it stayed clear for the annual 3rd of july party but that's about it.

kevin and i drove up wednesday morning and just hung out, watched "the wire" and goofed off most of the afternoon before having dinner with his parents. thursday we got up fairly early and headed down to the blue water cafe in skaneateles where i had their delicious maryland crab cakes egg benedict. so amazing. did you know the skaneateles lake is one of the cleanest in the united states (pier pictured here)? if only the weather didn't suck so i could actually go IN it! it continued to pour all day so kevin dropped me off at the mall for an hour while he helped his mom out with some computer stuff. i bought a very summery dress that is just sitting in my bag waiting for warmer weather. that evening we went out to dinner with the sweeneys and then kevin and i headed to downtown syracuse to meet up with durt and bish. we started at limerick with durt and then moved over to awful al's around 11pm once bish got in. i like al's but i have to say the clientele is a little on the sketchy side. think rough guys with crocked hats and argyle sweaters zipped halfway down with no undershirt and gold chains. there also seemed to be a lot of kids there but maybe they were actually 21 and i am just getting old. i hadn't played pool in years so was a bit hesitant to get on the table but once i did it was awesome. i was rocking. argyle sweater guy got so pissed that durt (whose an amazing pool player) and i were beating him he threw his pool stick onto the floor. yay for pissing off douchebags! speaking of, i had no tolerance for this one guy who was totally annoying me all night (a friend of a friend) and after numerous beers apparently i made no secret of it. apparently this guy is a bit of a local celebrity as he knows everyone and has some drug connections but he was the most annoying arrogant sonofabitch i have ever met. i wanted to slap him upside the head.

needless to say i was hurting this morning. i had to rally, with only 5 hours sleep, as we agreed to go to breakfast with the sweeneys (back to blue water). after breakfast i started on my oreo truffles which were a total pain in the arse as it was so humid out. after that i played some spider solitaire and took a lap. it was great. then we headed to the hackwelder's annual 3rd of july "stimulus" party on otisco lake. good beer, tons of food, and fireworks!

pretty much everyone we know here is either getting married of having a kid (or both in some cases) so marriage and children were hot topics to say the least, particularly at this party. weddings. babies. weddings. babies.... we were asked, on numerous occasions, what was holding us up, when kevin was going to put a ring on my finger, and if we think we'll be next. kevin's response to all these questions was to either abruptly change the topic or to walk away. i would then just tell them we'll probably go to city hall when we get fed up with people asking us. when i was asked by one of his friends why i never mention kevin in my facebook status updates or add pics of him on my facebook page i told him i like to keep my options open. i am not entirely sure he knew if i was joking or not. marriage. babies. marriage. babies. ahhhhhhhhhhh.

speaking of babies... our little girl, bailey, had an amazing time tonight at the party. she made friends with everyone, particularly those under the age of 8. one little girl came up to me and asked me how long bailey could stay for as if we needed her home and in bed by a certain time.

its amazing how 3 days of eating like crap and not working out can make one feel totally gross. i seriously can't wait to get home and go for a run and to the gym. i feel like i should detox after this week.

quick tomato cream sauce

as we ran out of money for groceries about a week ago we've been making do with what we have around the house (especially as we are going out of town tomorrow). i'm pretty proud of this cheap, quick, easy, delicious what-you-got-in-your-pantry sauce. be warned that its got a real kick though!

- 1 tablespoon butter (olive oil would have been ideal but we ran out)
- 1 diced onion
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 - 12 oz can diced tomatoes
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme (fresh would be better)
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh oregano, chopped (fresh would be better)
- 2 teaspoons fresh basil, chopped (fresh would be better)
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 cup light cream

for the sauce heat the olive oil over medium heat until it shimmers. add the onion and cook until soft, about three minutes. add the garlic and red pepper flakes then cook until fragrant, 30 seconds to a minute. add the diced tomatoes with the liquid and stir to combine. add the sugar and herbs, and salt then bring to a simmer. put the mixture in the blender and process until smooth, about two to three minutes on high. pour back into the pot and return to the heat and bring back to a simmer. turn off the heat (or reduce to very low) and add the cream. stir to combine. serve! yum and easy!

we are going to start eating like kings come july after our tax adjustment goes through! wooo hooo!

three bean salad

look how big my beans are - time to harvest them! yayyy! threeeee beans! what the hell am i going to do with three fucking beans?? i could make a "technical" three bean salad i guess. or i will just gnaw on them as is. pretty exciting stuff to eat what you have grown, eh? yep.

me and my beans.

check out those eye wrinkles creeping in... whoa, no more smiling for me.

oh and my dentist just today said he would get me a quote to fix that chip in my front tooth. sweet.

beans!! beans!! beeeeeans!!!

i have beans! i have beans!!

finally, the vegetables of all my efforts! its taking everything in me not to snap these off and gobble them up.

i think my parsley and cilantro is looking rather edible as well. the basil has a ways to go though as do all the others. but with the recent rain some of my tomato plants have really shot up!

how freaking exciting.

my monkey likes to climb trees

i <3 saving money!

when we closed on our condo a year ago (wow, time flies!) we found out that the unit was assessed, by the city of medford, for about $150K more than what we bought it for. whaaaa?? it was assessed in 2005 when it had just been renovated but even at the market's peak i had a hard time believing this was anywhere near accurate. we inquired about filing a tax abatement application which would request that the city of medford come out and re-assess the property. this could only be done between january 1st, 2009 and january 28th, 2009. it was constantly nagging at me as something that needed to be done but only within a small window of time. january 2nd i submitted all my paperwork as well as copies of our purchase and sale and mortgage appraisal siting that it was worth a lot less (this will probably be the only circumstance where i will argue that our property is not as valuable as someone says). i called to confirm that they received it 2 weeks later and they said they couldn't confirm it and i would have to just wait 90 days to see if it was approved or not. i should have sent it certified for peace of mind but whatever. so 90 days later we got a slip of a piece of paper saying we have a credit and its been approved, in not so many words. i call the assessors office and ask what this means for our taxes and they refer us back to our mortgage company as we lump our tax payments with our mortgage. our mortgage company says they don't know anything about it and refer us back to the assessors office. this goes on for about three months until i talked to someone at our mortgage company yesterday who said she would look into it (hallelujah!!). 20 minutes later so leaves me a voicemail saying our lump mortgage / tax payments are going down about $100 a month as our taxes have been lowered and to expect a fat check in 7-10 days to pay us back for the overpayments we have been making since we bought the place. fucking sweeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!

the best part of all of this is that we are going to put the extra $100 towards our monthly food budget! yayyy! and use the fat check for a counter top for our pending pantry! yayyy!! i love it when a plan comes together.

since kevin lost his job i have been sort of obsessive about saving money and cutting costs. i always knew i was thrifty but no idea how thrifty i could be. we cut our netflix plan from two movies to one, we turned down our water heater temperature (which seems to be making a big difference actually!), we are unplugging appliances not in use, using the drying rack instead of dryer, buying cheap beer from our harpoon connection, and clipping coupons. i also recently read that 27% of household water use is in flushing toilets. that sort of blew my mind as that's a lot! we might be adapting the "if its yellow, let it mellow; if its brown, flush it down" policy at some point.

if anyone has any money saving tips for me i welcome them with open arms!

see you later, baked potater!

we bought a bag of french (what makes them french?) green beans last time we went to costco so its been fun finding different ways to cook them. they've been blanched, roasted, sauteed, served hot, cold, with nuts, and back again. i think my fav is sauteed with carrots and pine nuts though. runner up would be sauteed with toasted walnuts. i think nuts are the way to go with green beans. mmmm.



i feel like my wedges were never quite "right". i was baking them at 425 and, in retrospect, that was just too high. they would dry out. i saw one of ina garten's shows where she made these wedges and they looked awesome so i thought i would try them out. sure enough, they were awesome. i didn't use fresh rosemary though as i only had dried and i added dried thyme as well. and, of course, i didn't measure anything. i think this recipe is going to become a standby as who doesn't always have taters in the pantry? and who doesn't love wedges? we have them at least once a week... if not four times a week.

kevin said he would be home for dinner by 7. these pictures were taken at 7:55pm after sitting out for 55 minutes (i ate mine as i hate cold food). i couldn't be annoyed as i knew he had to have a good reason for being so late. as suspected, he rolls in covered in mud, soaking wet, apologizing up and down saying he got two flat tires on his bike and had to walk over an hour home. hard to be annoyed at someone standing there in soaking wet spandex with mud splattered all over their face. good thing he doesn't mind a cold dinner.

this was a "back of the pantry" kind of meal. we are almost out of food for the month with only $7 left in the food budget (that's a dollar a day - gack!) so we are scraping the bottom of the barrel. i made a spicy bean soup as well as a roasted red pepper potato puree soup which should get us to the weekend. i'll be pretty goddamn sick of soup come friday i'm sure. watch the rain will go away and the weather will warm up now. classic.

i am dying to try a gyoza recipe i found. not sure i can wait until july.

garden of boober

my deck-garden! some stuff is still grasping for life but overall they are doing pretty well! can't wait until they start producing something edible. i want to eat the fruits of my labor. of veggies in this case.







my deck-herb garden, overall kicking ass.














my mightiest tomato plant which seems to be growing an inch a day.






my zucchini plant which i think has caught the bug and will be put to sleep soon because of it. snif snif, i love you zucchini plant. i emailed kelly, my personal garden guru, with a pic to see if she can give me the diagnosis and chance of survival.

yard, before & after

here are the official before and after pics of the yard... BEAUTIFUL! one of my neighbors was saying you'll never truly love dirt until its your own and i definitely feel that way about our dirt. boober has done a phenomenal job! the back, which is mostly shade, is slightly less gorgeous but still a vast improvement!

aww bailer

heres bailey the night we came back from vermont. she was such a sad puppy. the next morning she was acting super sheepish and sad as well. we think we might miss arrow. that or shes exhausted from all the playing they did. either way it made me want to hug her a whole lot.

shes back to her playful excitably self this morning though! i think the bone filled with peanut butter may have done the trick!

veekend in wermont

daniela and i just got back from a lovely weekend in vermont visiting with dad and arrow! bailey and arrow are pretty much BFFs at this point. they played, played, and then played some more. when they weren't playing they were recuperating from playing. it was exhausting to watch although adorable. the cutest thing ever was watching arrow copy bailey. when bailey got some water arrow would want water. when bailey ran through the brush arrow would be right behind her trying to keep up. it made me proud that bailey had someone to mentor!

we had some amazing meals while in vermont as well. dad made an awesome shrimp dish friday night that i am still thinking about and then saturday we went to frida's taquiria and grill in stowe which was delicious. they made the guac right at your table, talk about fresh! they their fish tacos were delicioooous. really really good. yup, friday can expect to see me again there.

we also watched marley & me saturday night. i wouldn't really recommend it - it wasn't that great. it did make me bawl and want to hug bailey all night long though.


we got home on early this afternoon after a bit of a stressful drive after breaking kevin's (we took his car) gas release button thing. it didn't help that when we filled up with gas for the second time, to be nice, we told the attendant not to close it all the way as we wont be able to open it and he still closes it. seriously? so currently kevin is unable to fill his car up with gas. good thing he has a full tank before he has to figure it out. i was wicked stressed about this but then kevin, typically, was like "whatever, i'll fix it". really? i think if someone returned my car broken i probably wouldn't be so "whatever" about it. he's pretty awesome.

so thats my weekend. i just had a beer on an empty stomach and am wasted so i need to go now.

scanners are awesome

i pulled out the old scanner for that crotch grabbing / chocolate face pic so here are a few other oldies but goodies.




my dad - isn't he freaking adorable?? like the all american boy in this pic (although he just became an american). pointy ears - when did those curve out?











my and, i believe, honey bunny, our golden lab when i was little. i love puppies.









i'm a girl! i wear pink! i like hairbrushes! yayyyyy!! i am still amazed that we had that sofa for like 30 years and it just kept being re-upholstered. that's smart.









i am just begging for a nasty email from my mother with this one. this is the pièce de résistance. my mother, the angel.

RAVE: danish pastry house

after stumbling across the danish pastry house a couple of weeks ago (and raving about it here)kevin and i went back one evening craving pastries but got there 5 mins after they had closed. i had more determination than ever after that so we went back the following night and ordered a hazelnut chocolate ball and a brownie. the ball was amazing with soft hazelnut cream inside with a layer of meringue and then a layer of chocolate. mmm good. the brownie, on the other hand, was stale. very disappointing! i actually stomped my foot and pouted in disappointment. i wrote to them the next morning letting them know that i love their place and will continue to go back but their brownies were stale and that was a bummer. the same day i get an email back apologizing and offering me fresh brownies to make up for it. at first i thought, "oh, no you don't have to do that" but then that little girl with chocolate all over her face was like "WHAT? FREE BROWNIES?? I'LL TAKE EM'!!". so tonight kevin and i headed over and picked up our free brownies which were not only plentiful but also amazingly delicious. the chocolate ones are yummy but the blondies with coconut and white chocolate are simply truly out of this world amazing.

i'm impressed with their atmosphere, pastries, and customer service. EAT HERE!

here's that little girl i was talking about earlier, with chocolate all over her face. i don't know why she's grabbing her crotch though, what a weirdo.