A couple of weeks ago, my office had a baby shower luncheon for a few employees that are expecting babies in the next month. It was a potluck luncheon, so I offered to make cupcakes (I’m known in the office for good desserts).

I ended up making two flavors: my chocolate covered strawberry (seen HERE), and a lemon-lime variation I made up as I went along. It turned out to be the BEST lemon butter cream I’ve ever had (and I am saying a lot there – I love lemon desserts!). I was so happy, and am sorry but not really to say that I ate quite a bit of butter cream with a spoon.

The cake batter was a basic white cake, but instead of adding the full amount of water, I substituted a smidgen of Odwalla Summertime Lime, and then a squeeze of fresh lime juice. It turned out light, with just the right amount of sweetness.

Anyway, the butter cream is pretty basic; all ingredients that I already had on hand: unsalted butter (some say full salt butter, but i really don’t like it – all preference), 2 lemons (zest and juice), powdered sugar.

Soften 1 stick of unsalted butter, and whip it in your mixer (beat it up, don’t be afraid). Slowly add the powdered sugar in (i ended up using about 3 1/2 cups). Add 2 tablespoons hot water (1 at a time)  and 1 tablespoon lemon juice.  I then added in 2 tablespoons of lemon zest to round out the flavor. If you like it creamier, you can add in a teaspoon of whole milk.

Look at the peaks! It turned out thick and creamy.

I have definitely perfected my chocolate butter cream – less powdered sugar, more Scharffen Berger unsweetened chocolate.. Diggin’ it. I added a few candy pearls to pretty it up.

For fun, I added some leftover zest and sugar as decoration.

Now I want to make another batch.

The holidays are beginning (anyone else totally freaked out that Thanksgiving is the day after tomorrow?! Where the heck did November GO?), which means it’s time to start compiling the recipe list for Christmas treats.  I’ve been spending a lot of time on Pinterest (internet crack), and have found so many great ideas for appetizers and desserts! I can’t wait to try them out.

Wednesday night I attended the long-awaited concert at the Warfield in San Francisco. Unfortunately, Tim could not join Micaela and I in enjoying the beautiful music! He had to work really late on a phone issue, and couldn’t make it.

I started listening to Iron and Wine after I saw the movie ‘In Good Company’; the song “The Trapeze Swinger” plays during the end credits, when Topher Grace is running on the beach. After almost 10 years of enjoying Sam Beam’s music, I finally got to see him live! It was a very exciting event for me.

I couldn’t take my camera with me, but I do have a few iPhone pictures to share:

He changed up some of the songs, so that a slower tempo song became upbeat, more jazzy… Sam told us audience members that he didn’t want to just give us the songs we could listen to at home. I agreed and disagreed; I fell in love with the sounds on the album, but I did enjoy his new versions of some of my favorites! His voice was AMAZING! All appreciation I had for his recordings became heightened by the knowledge that he sounds just as good, if not better, live.

The last picture is of Mr. Beam singing “Flightless Bird, American Mouth” without accompaniment (other than a few spare notes on his guitar). I gotta tell you: I felt shivers in my spine. It was so freakin’ awesome. Thanks to Adrienne for keeping an eye on my boy while I attended the concert!

Marco’s birthday AND birthday party were a beautiful success. I cried, we all laughed, and I smooched Marco about 100000 times. I have a 1 year old child! Wow.

He looks so much like a big kid now!

Carrot cake cupcakes with low-sugar cream cheese frosting! I made these for Marco’s classmates and teachers. The recipe for the frosting called for cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and 1 whole box of powdered sugar! Ewww! I put in half the sugar, and the flavor was perfect for the carrot cake. I may share with you my super-secret-but-not-very-complicated carrot cake recipe. But I might not. We’ll see… LOL

Marco’s party was a lot of fun! We had about 28 people at our house, and they all wanted to talk to, cuddle with, and kiss the birthday boy, and Marco was a total champ! He even took a few steps for his family and friends. I’ll post more pictures of his party later.

Roux also celebrated her first birthday (May 26th), and she was happy with her very own tuna cake!

ALSO!! Our garden is doing very well, and we’re finally getting lawn in our backyard! It’s so exciting to see the green shoots. Proof of my gardening skills:

My very own strawberries! Small, but delicious. I feel like a real farmer! LOL, not exactly…but it is fun to grow my own food.

Speaking of food, I almost forgot to mention my big decision: I decided to become a full-fledged vegetarian! After 3 1/2 years of a mainly meat-free diet (chicken only – no fish, fowl, beef, or pork products), I finally took the plunge. I’ve been ENTIRELY meat-free for 2 weeks now. It’s a little difficult, but I managed! I didn’t give up dairy products, though! More power to the vegans out there, but I love cheese too much.

Phew! That’s what I get for slackin’ on the posts!

What have you been up to?? I hope you have wonderful weekends!

With the help of my handy iPhone pics, here is a recap of Valentine’s Day!

Our friends Jacqi and Donovan were kind enough to watch Marco while we had dinner and went to a concert. They have two little ones of their own – I don’t know how they handled 3 kids!! Marco had fun playing, and (luckily) he behaved like a gentleman.

After work, we picked Marco up from day care. While waiting for Jacqi,  Marco (RELAX, we were parked) became very curious about the manual shifter.

Tim and I drove home, changed into more festive outfits, and headed out.

Dinner at Gott’s Roadside in the Oxbow

Ahi burger, veggie burger, sweet potato fries

The Fox! Totally my favorite venue now. It was AMAZING inside.

The Decemberists were fantastic live. Not only was it awesome because I love the music, but Colin Meloy is a true performer (interesting, funny, and VERY nerdy).

It was fun to be included in the performance;  when they played ‘The Mariner’s Revenge’, they made sure the entire audience were yelling, moaning, and groaning as if we were being swallowed by a whale (trust me, look up the song).

Very blurry

Marco and I got tee-shirts! Marco’s first concert tee – I was so excited that they had it in a toddler size – it’s too big now but he’ll be able to wear it soon enough.

How was your Valentine’s??

P.S. We were a featured pic on Busy Bee Lauren’s blog yesterday! Check it out HERE

Okay phew! I finally have some time to post the 2nd part of my birthday post.

Wednesday evening, the Gomers came up to Napa to have a Gomer-Dickson birthday dinner, as Justin and Belle would not be able to make the dinner on Saturday. We went to Firewood Cafe and had a very delicious meal, which included a free pizza – I love coupons!!

Thursday was a relaxing day with my baby boy and hubby, and Friday night I covered a shift at work for my co-worker. It was kind of a crazy day, between taking care of Marco, working, grocery shopping, baking cupcakes for Saturday, and trying to eat somewhere in there. After all the chores were done, Tim and I relaxed with 2 episodes of ‘Dexter’ (almost done with Season 3!!) and books. I’m still working on The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

Saturday I slept in (thanks, Timmy!), went to La Vie Nail Spa and got a manicure, pedicure and my eyebrows done. My nails look awesome, I love the OPI color ‘My Private Jet’.

After that, I put together some goody bags for my birthday dinner guests. I didn’t really know what to put in them, so it ended up being some silly, random items. I put bags of one of my favorite Tazo teas, EO Sweet Orange shampoo, Fun size Snickers, Skittles, mini notepad, temporary tattoos, and Hershey’s kisses.

My birthday dinner was at Il Fornaio in Walnut Creek. I’ve been to this location several times, and to the one in downtown San Jose. Good Italian food and a fun atmosphere. Marco was an angel the entire time! He was wide awake, but had hardly any fussiness and was generally happy just hanging out with everyone!

All my friends just looked so lovely, and I was so excited with my outfit. I ended up picking the pink and grey strapless peplum dress from ModCloth. I love that my birthday has become a dress-up event.

My mom and Marco

Marco gets lots of smooches

We actually got everyone in the photo!!

Saving these for my 62nd birthday LOL

Feelin’ cute hee hee

Okay, I love presents. My mom and sister TOTALLY spoiled me! They gave me a Nordstrom gift card, a purse, a Betsey Johnson necklace and earrings!!

Isn’t this purse adorable? My sister knows me too well

All the girls: Adrian, Micaela, me, Adrienne , and Robyn
 

Love this outfit!

thinking, that’s all

Sunday I met up after work with my friends Erin and Jacqi for drinks at Barolo in Calistoga. We had some delicious cupcakes from Sift and good conversation.

It’s been an amazing birthday week! I love my friends and family, and thank you so much for making this week so perfect. XOXOXOXO

I decided to pinch a few pennies this year and make the cupcakes for my birthday dinner, instead of buying them from Icing on the Cake like I normally do (best cupcakes, but at 3.25 apiece, and around 10-15 people to feed, it adds up!).  So, I went to the store and stocked up on white cake mix, strawberries, Hershey’s chocolate and Scharffen Berger unsweetened natural cocoa powder. I chopped up the strawberries and mixed them into the white cake mix along with 2 drops of pink food coloring.  Then I poured the mix into cupcake cups (a little over 2/3 full) and added a slice of strawberry to the top.

Bake as directed on the white cake mix (350 degrees for 16 minutes) and let cool.

For the chocolate buttercream, I started with the buttercream recipe on the back of the C&H powdered confectioner’s sugar box.

1 lb box of Powdered sugar
1 stick of unsalted sweet cream butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 C milk

Mix all ingredients together in an electric mixer on medium speed for 2-3 minutes. After that, I added 1/2 cup unsweetened chocolate powder, and Hershey’s syrup to taste. You may need to add a little more milk to get the desired creaminess.

Mmm, the best part!!

I don’t have any icing bags, so I took an extra larger ziploc bag, filled with the frosting and cut a small tip off the corner.  It doesn’t make the frosting pretty, but it gets the cupcakes frosted much more quickly.

I used candy Pearls and chocolate chips to make them look cute, and wrapped some Wilton’s cake wraps around them. I found the wraps at Target in the Halloween section. They were supposed to be some kind of cemetery design, but I thought they looked a little like crowns, hee hee.

My experiment worked! The cupcakes tasted delicious YAYYYY!!!

I looove birthdays!! I always choose to make my birthday celebrations last a whole week (I’m special like that, MMKAY!?), and this year has been no different. On Monday, Marco and I cuddled, played and planned the week ahead. At work, I received a generous gift of $$$ and a sweet card! Luckily, it wasn’t too crazy at the Inn and I was able to leave a little bit early. I like making sure I am home in time to read Marco a story before he goes to bed.

Tuesday was my OFFICIAL birthday (dude, I’m 26!), and it was a fantastic day. Marco and I slept in a little, and then got ready and packed for our stay at Solage Calistoga that night. It is the one Auberge property here that I had not yet stayed at, and I was so excited to finally get the opportunity! I’d taken full advantage of the beautiful Spa facilities, and dined several times at SolBar, but I’d never seen the rooms.

After packing, I headed to Sift to pick up a couple of birthday cupcakes. I picked out a Pink Champagne (my favorite!), Limonata, and a new espresso flavor for Tim. Marco and I decided to relax with some coffee (a soy bottle for him) at Starbucks, and I read while he took a catnap in his stroller. Tim was able to come home a little early, so we checked into Solage and relaxed in the room before our dinner reservation.  When we got to our room, there was a birthday card and a mini cake waiting for me (chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting)!!

The amazing shower and bathtub!

View from the patio (Hi, Marco!)

Marco was a little cranky, so Tim put on his favorite movie (‘Up’), and he calmed down immediately. I don’t know if the colors in the movie are fascinating or what, but Marco stops squealing as soon as he sees that movie on the screen!

Our wonderful friends, the Dempseys, had offered to watch Marco while Tim and I FINALLY had a date-night. After dropping Marco off at their home, we grabbed the Solage bikes and hit the streets of Calistoga. I’d decided to have a casual dinner at Calistoga Inn (1000 pts for the reservation – thank you, OpenTable!), so we parked the bikes and relaxed outside. I ordered a Mojito (mm!) and the Summer Risotto (my favorite), while Tim had a red ale and the avocado-pasta (the inspiration for our Guaca-Pasta!)

After dinner, we biked to Scoops & Swirls, a Frozen Yogurt shop in town. I LOVE FRO-YO!! It was a perfect dessert!

We picked up Marco (he was an angel, phew!!) and went back to Solage for the night. Marco was a little too excited and refused to go to sleep at first, wanting to talk to himself, coo and smile at me the whole time. It was difficult not having a separate room for him, but we made do by placing his Pack N Play in the shower. He fell asleep around 10, and we were finally able to enjoy a movie and cupcakes.

Our breakfast was delivered to us at 7:45am the next morning, and luckily, Marco hadn’t made a peep all night, and didn’t wake up until 7am. I’d ordered an egg-white omelet (I just can’t get into eggs anymore, but this was ok) with spinach, goat cheese and peppers, a side of fresh fruit (figs, plums and blackberries), while Tim opted for the french toast with walnuts and peach compote, and a side of hashbrowns. Marco played with his newly-discovered feet while we enjoyed breakfast in bed.

After breakfast, packing up, and getting ready, Marco and I finally headed home, while Tim started his work day.

Whew! I know this was a wordy post, but there is still so much to share! My birthday dinner is tomorrow night, so Part 2 coming soon.

Thanks to Lauren at The Little Things We Do for this post…

1.  If I could choose my last meal it would be  Mixed greens with strawberries, feta and a light vinaigrette, then a wood-fired pizza with caramelized onions, arugula, gorgonzola, and figs. A glass of Schramsberg Blanc de Noir (maybe two glasses, ha ha). Banana gratin with vanilla ice cream.

2.  My favorite person to share a meal with is Timothy Dickson

3.  The best meal I’ve ever had was the 15-course Vegetable Tasting menu from The French Laundry. It was meant to be 9 courses, but they sent out extra because it was our wedding anniversary (and I worked for the company).

4.  The one food that makes me feel instantly better when I’m having a bad day is desserts in general will always help! Fruit flavor cupcakes!

5.  My absolute specialty in the kitchen is chicken enchiladas and desserts. I make wicked lemon dark-chocolate truffles.

6.  The city that has the best food is a toss-up between the Napa Valley and Rome. I loved everything we ate in Rome.       

7.  My favorite healthy snack is fruit! I loooove fruit.

8.  In my opinion the nationality which has the best food is ITALIAN! I love French food, but I could eat Italian food every day.

9.  If I could learn to cook anything in the world (and be really good at it!) I’d choose bread. It’s a very difficult skill to learn; even professionals can screw it up.

10.  The most outrageous dessert I’ve ever had was  I don’t think I’ve had anything too crazy; the best dessert was definitely from The French Laundry – drageed macadamia nuts, donuts and a coffee mousse.

This week’s topic: DIETS!

I wish …. I had the willpower to stay on one particular diet, and it would be completely vegetarian and low in processed sugars!

I’ve been going back and forth in my head for the past six months about becoming completely vegetarian. For 2 1/2 years I’ve eaten chicken, but have not had any other poultry, meats or fish. I became a ‘chick-a-tarian’ for mostly moral reasons; I’d had no real trouble giving up pork, and the only fish I deigned to eat was shrimp (and a one-time foray into skatewing, oddly enough!). One night I had a very disturbing dream about a mad scientist guy poisoning cows and leaving them to wander my yard, some of them sick, blind, bloody – you get the idea. The next day I woke up and refused to eat beef, so that left chicken. I sometimes feel bad even eating that, and would love to be able to break myself of eating it. However, it does contain good sources of protein, and without it I’d have to be much more dilligent about tracking what I do eat, as well as taking my vitamins.  I eat fruits, vegetables, cheeses and whole grains every day, and I love what I eat. I don’t eat chicken every day as it is, so cutting it out altogether wouldn’t be impossible.  I just don’t know that I have the energy to devote to it.

I LOVE SUGAR. I love sweets. Cakes, cookies, candy, tarts? YES, YES, YES, YES. I know that if I could give up sugars (as in, sugar that doesn’t naturally occur in foods, like fruit) I would probably be a little healthier and definitely would have no trouble keeping off those 5 ‘vanity’ pounds. But, apparently I don’t want it hard enough because I will not give up my cupcakes, Skittles and Hagen Daaz Peach Sorbet. 

I don’t drink sodas or eat fast food, and for the most part enjoy a lot of healthy items in my diet; but if I could do these two things I would probably be better off.

Now, if I could just get the wrapping off of this cupcake…

 

 

Okay, so here’s the deal:

I’m officially on bed rest until the little lad makes his grand entrance. I’m 0% effaced and 0cm dilated, but Marco is still sitting with his head propped on my cervix, and I am still having contractions. I’ve been keeping track and they most often occur when I stand up from a recumbent position. My OB and midwife are both concerned, even with the positive news. So, I’ve had to give them notice at work that I won’t be returning until after my maternity leave (probably beginning of September).

Now, I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I am not going to enjoy this very much. Part of me is glad that I won’t have to worry about tiring myself out working up until I go into labor. The other part is not liking the idea of virtual house arrest! Even at home, I am not allowed to exercise or do any chores. I crave activity! I can’t even do laundry! Last night I had to explain the finer points of ‘delicates’ to Timmy.

Luckily, I have some amazing friends that are keeping me company. Today Adrienne and Belle came to visit me. Adrienne brought me the first 3 seasons of ‘Mad Men’ and a nonfat Chai from Starbucks (mmm).  Tomorrow Adrian is coming by (with homemade cupcakes!), and on Sunday, Micaela is visiting me and bringing the epic LOLs and love.  I <3 you guys all the way to the back.

Here’s something I need from YOU, my lovely readers: book, movie and television DVD recommendations! Oh and keep the blog posts coming! I need them to read during the day so I can stay entertained.

Books On My List (so far):
The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff
Jane Boleyn: The True Story of the Infamous Lady of Rochford by Julia Fox
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

I hope that everyone enjoyed their Valentine/President’s holiday! Now for the recap of my weekend.

On Friday night we drove into San Francisco and checked into the hotel. We stayed at the Inn at the Opera, which is literally steps to the Opera house. Tim and I were both very hungry, so we walked to The Crepe House on Gough Street. Mmmm! I had a Greek salad, and Tim ordered a chorizo scramble. For dessert, I had a crepe with strawberries, brown sugar, and whipped cream. Tim decided on a crepe with bananas, brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla ice cream. It was so delicious, and cheap! On the way back to the hotel, we ended up stopping at Citizen Cake and grabbing a few AWESOME treats: a ginger-molasses cookie and a lemon sandwich cookie.

Saturday morning we woke up early and had a quick (free) breakfast in the hotel. The Cal Academy of Sciences opened at 9:30am, and we got there a few minutes before opening, so we could avoid some huge crowds. Tim and I have been looking forward to visiting for a long time! My favorite part of the visit was the Planetarium show, but the rainforest exhibit was pretty neat too.

We had a delicious lunch in the museum cafeteria (no lie!) of cheese quesadillas, salad and pork tacos (Tim’s choice). Afterwards, we finished up the visit and headed out into Golden Gate Park.  Tim and I both love the Japanese Tea Gardens, but we’d never visited together. It was such a beautiful day (no fog!), and perfect weather for walking around.

After a lovely cup of Jasmine tea and some fortune cookies at the tea house, Tim wanted to walk around the Botanical Garden.  We’re starting to figure out a plan for our backyard, and it gave us a few good ideas. Tim is especially keen on the idea of bamboo all around the fenceline; easier than building a taller fence, prettier than plain bushes, and it grows fairly quickly.

After 5 hours of walking around, I was feeling tired so we went back to the hotel for a nap before dinner. I’d made reservations at Cafe Altano; it was within walking distance, had good reviews on Yelp and the menu looked tasty. The pricing is very reasonable; after wine (one glass for me, two for Tim), salads, entrees, dessert AND tip, we only spent $80. I would definitely recommend it!  We stopped in again at Citizen Cake (the cookies were just too good!) and this time we got a ginger sandwich cookie, a vanilla cupcake and their version of a Payday, which is Tim’s favorite candy bar. Once again, everything was delicious!

I didn’t get a very good night’s sleep, because my darn belly refused to sit comfortably (even with pillows) so the next morning we stayed in bed until 9.  We had brunch reservations at Absinthe Brasserie at 1:30pm, so I just had some fruit and an english muffin for breakfast. We checked out at noon, and walked towards Hayes Street. With time to kill, Tim thought we should stop and grab some coffee at Arlequin. They had a lovely garden to sit in and relax, so we took advantage of the sunshine. 

Absinthe was PACKED! I was so glad that we made reservations. Since we were at a place called Absinthe, Tim decided to try the actual liquor. It smelled like crap liquorice. He seemed to like it! I ordered a yummy lemonade made with lemon juice, ginger, cranberry juice and sparkling water. For my meal, I had a fantastic grilled vegetable sandwich with tons of cheese, and Tim had biscuits, gravy and grits (such a guy platter!). Of course, we had to order the french fries too.

Dessert was an oddity: Kabosu Lime mousse. The mousse was rolled in an elderflower gelee and seated on a green tea cake. It was unlike anything I’ve had before, but it tasted good.  I would love to go back to Absinthe the next time we’re in the city.

It was such an amazing weekend with Tim, and a wonderful Valentine’s Day. I was happy to get home though, and sleep in my own comfy bed. And, of course, I missed my babies!

Here’s a gallery of pictures from our adventures:

Click on the image to see the full size.

xoxoxoxoxo