Corona Farmer's Market

This was my first time going to a morning Farmer's Market...I'm in Love...oooo, I'm a believer. I invited my friend Christine to come along. We had lots of food fun!

Top Five Reasons why I Love the Farmer's Market:

1. Beautiful Fresh Produce- The selection is picture perfect...literally. I was going snap happy with my amateur photographing. The Farmers kept asking if I was a professional....why yes, yes I am. A professional eater... hahah ::knee slap::

Let me just say that this fruit was some of the best fruit I've ever had, except for the fruit from Maui. But that doesn't count because they have magic soil from which they grown their magical seeds.

2. Free Samples and giveaways- One of the best things about the people at Farmer's Markets is that they are very friendly. I could've stayed in their stalls and talked childhood stories and shared favorite recipes with them. I wanted to give them each a hug but they were "busy." So, I settled for their freebies instead, which is equally as satisfying.

3. New and exciting things- The last picture captured one of the best stalls there. The Hummus Guy. Now, I'm not quite sure what his name was, or what his business was called, but all I know is that he offered this glorious array of Hummus.

Need I say more? They were all so delicious. And his pita chip and pita bread selection was OFF THE HOOK! 3 items for $10...mix and match... Hum-a-nah Hum-a-nah HUMMUS!

I also tried new things in the produce department.

This Cherimoya fruit was something I've never heard of in my life. It was white and soft inside, like a banana. I could very much taste every fruit listed. It was good! But it wasn't take home good for me.

I especially loved all the Honey flavors. Lime, sour apple, clove, pina colada...they were all there.

**Random Fact** In college, I took a BeeKeeping Class. I tended to a hive, scooped honey right off of their honeycombs, and studied their bee dances. It was a hard class that involved a lot of math....I got a C.

4. Baked goods- Fresh cakes and carbs...Christine and I agreed that it was heaven.

These cakes were unbelievably moist and delicious. Christine and I were thoughtful enough to buy one for our Husbands as well...if they happen to not like the flavor we chose, we tried. And we'll just eat it.

5. Other knickity knacks- I had a hard time deciding if I wanted to spend all my money of food...or...

~Buy myself a cute new necklace...

~Buy myself an adorable new clutch...

~Or buy myself some flowers...

I refrained from these purchases and just spent on food....there's always next time.

Here's the loot:

All this for $15.00. All the vendors thanked us for supporting their little businesses....

No...Thank you Farmers, for supporting my love of food and my pocket book. Now do you have time for a quick hug?

• Do you shop at Farmer's Markets?
• What new and exciting food have you tried lately?

Homer Simpson thinks I'm fly....

I bought this yesterday....that's why I didn't blog.

I was so giddy and in love with my new purchase. Is it weird that I sat at my kitchen counter, staring at it, daydreaming about the fun we are going to have, smacking my lips fantasizing about glazed coated donuts? Man, Oh, Man!! I'm smitten like Homer J.

I also bought this. It screams summer and I cannot wait to try out a recipe a reader sent me!

I wonder if I could make a REALLY BIG donut in this pan...Oh that reminds me... I need to buy some stretchy pants.

p.s- I bought these two pans for a whopping $0.07!! I had a $40 gift card...but that's besides the point. The fact that I handed the nice lady $0.07 for these magical pans of happiness was enough to make my day year.

• What is your FAVORITE type of donut?
• Know of any good donut recipes I can try?

Mother's Day Weekend Recap

Oh Mondays. How I loathe thee. No offense, but you are not so popular in my book. I think you should give into the peer pressure and become part of the weekend. I'm just sayin'....people would love you a lot more. I sure would.

This weekend was jam and jelly packed! Saturday was all about cleaning. There were weeds in our yard taller than me... how embarrassing. My neighbors were beginning to think that A.) We are lazy sums-a-bitches. B.) We died inside our homes and need assistance C.)We jumped ship. Lucky for them, and for me, I have a Hubby who is willing to do the weed pulling. ::le swoon::

After our cleaning sesh, we moseyed on up to the High Desert to spend time with my beautiful Madre. We spent the night and Hubs, Kuya, Katwina, and I woke up bright and early to make a nice breakfast.

I woke up first (I win)  and started my breakfast casserole. It began with a pack of bacon.... and in my opinion, a recipe that begins with a whole package of bacon is pretty much bomb cot com from the start.

There was also green peppers, onion, a carton worth of eggs, milk, and CHEEESE involved.

While I was on casserole duty, Katwina was busy cutting strawberries for our strawberry scones.

Hubs was busy washing dishes.

And Kuya was busy pretending to cut his fingers off while cutting the fruit for the fruit salad.

Our hard work paid off and our breakfast was fit for the Queen.

Breakfast is served Mama Bear.

Excuse the poor lighting...

I'm happy that the picture was dark. You can't see the sweatpants from HS I'm wearing or my eye-boogers and drool stains. Whew...close one.

Mom also opened her gifts...

Remember Mommy, you have another one coming in the mail!

After breakfast, my mom shared family stories...like the time my brother rolled off the bed when he was days old...or the time when I peed in my parents' bed when I was 2. Ahhh memories.

And then there was this Beautiful Story.

My Great Grandpa was one of the first Filipino immigrants brought over to Hawaii to work in the sugar cane fields. When he was able to finally return home, he brought his daughter, my grandma, a Gold Coin. Figuring she couldn't really do much with a Coin except stare at it, he skillfully made them into a pair of earrings. It's passed through the hands of all my Aunts and my mother....and now it's my turn to have it. I'm HONORED.

Thanks Mom, I love you with all my heart. You're the greatest friend a daughter could ever have.

In the afternoon, we visited Hubs side and silly me, forgot to take pictures of our beautiful day at the park, and the fun visit at Grandma's house. ::hand slap:: BAD BLOGGER! BAD BLOGGER!

I did manage to snap one picture of our family and one of Hub's dearest childhood friends.

Such a Wonderful Weekend!

Tell me readers!

• Tell me one thing you did this weekend.
• Let's kick it into high gear. What's one goal you have for this week?

Cinco de Mayo and Favoritos de Jueves

That's May 5th and Thursday Favorites, for all you readers who forgot your High School Spanish.
Pop Quiz HOT SHOT: Donde es la biblioteca?

Although it is indeed Cinco de Mayo or as College-folk lovingly refer to as Cinco de Drinko, I did not make and will not make anything of the Mexican variety. This is shame for my Mexican Husband. I just don't feel that I could do justice to such a Holiday.
So instead, I will post a picture of a tortilla chip I found in my chip bag this week

I FOUND it like that, I SWEAR! And if you think that I'm crazy enough to nibble a heart-shaped hole into my snackage... thank you. I take that as a compliment because you must think I'm somewhat talented.

Speaking of talented, here are some bloggers who did take the time to make some Mexican food.....
Because I Mexi-can't. ::crickets::

• The Little Yellow Kitchen
• How Sweet it is

Favoritos de Jueves:

OH MY GOSH! Oh Dios Mio! I'm going to be doing this all post so get used to it.

1. I've been eating up a storm lately. I used butter as a scape goat when finding the cause of my tight jeans and less bed space because of my bah-dunka-dunk, but I think it's because I've been indulging in a new practice in my life...

Desserts. I NEED to finish dinner with dessert now...and finish lunch with a morsel of sugarsomething...and finish breakfast with...I dunno... a Hershey's Kiss? (They're so small, I'm sure they are like air practically) Since it's a new month... I will be laying low on the sugar and butter intake. Keep in mind when rubbing this in my face this month, that I said laying low not, laying off.

2. Speaking of desserts that somehow qualify as legit breakfast items... I made this and I almost died of food-phoria. Or was it from stuffing too many of them in my mouth...I forget.

I tripped and fell into a rabbit blogroll hole and found this girl...who taught me how to make these wondrous Strawberry Scones. I want to give her a Thank you hug because she added something to my life. Isn't it weird when complete strangers do that to you? Everyday Heroes....Everyday Heroes.

These are just as good, if not better than the ones at Paris in a Cup.

I will be making these for my Beautiful Mother on Sunday.

I wish I were a mom so someone would make these for me.

• What are your plans for Mother's Day?
• Are you a Dessert fan?
• Tell me one of your favorites this week.

Call Me Puff Daddy...er...Wifey

Last week, I opened my freezer to take inventory of my food before I went to the grocery store. This practice is what us adults call ::air quotes:: trying to use what we have FIRST. And when I call myself an adult I mean I have way too many responsibilities and can no longer play house with my friends at the playground (Some girls always wanted to be the mommy. I always wanted to be the cat.) And when I say looking in the freezer, I mean I was looking for Ice Cream.

Anywho- there is a point to this story I promise. Under the frozen ::enter random food item here:: I was delighted to see I still had my puff pastry dough. Talk about striking GOLD!

I gathered up anything I could find to roll up in this biatch and found these gems.

Project Wifey Wife Week 15- The Sweet
Sweet and Salty Puff Daddy Pastries

Ingredients:
Full sheet of premade puff pastry
generous tub of Hazelnut Spread (Nutella would be dreamy in this)
crushed pretzel sticks

It can't get any easier than this my friends.

Seriously, Sonic could do this if he had clean paws.

If I can do it... you can do it. And if not, I don't know how you're navigating your way through the internets.

I love how anything you make with Puff Pastry is like an ugly duckling....shriveled and oddly shaped.

But THEN, lo and behold....it puffs into a beautiful swan.

or Food Alchemy.

GOLD!

Apparently, it is Salt and Sweet Day because these lovely bloggers also did recipes that were just that! Except theirs looks more polished and put together...

The Avid Appetite

The Little Yellow Kitchen

Tell me blog friends:

• Are you a sweet and salty fan?
• What is your easier than pie recipe?
• Post a link and share with everyone!!!



I got SKILLZ. 5K Number 2!

My title is not meant to make me sound like I'm bragging. It's an All 4 One song. If you don't remember, you gotstah go back to '94.... ::time machine time::



Man, these lyrics are great!
She's got the potion and the motion, to cure my ill. She's got SKILLZ!
Ha! I die.

So, why the HECK am I writing about one of the best boy bands EVER?
Stay with me and you'll soon see why.

The Race: Donate Life 5K Run and 1K Walk-Saturday April 30th, 2011

I joined Team Fountain this year to support my friend Crystal, whose father passed away last year.

She speaks so highly of him. I'm sure he was a wonderful man.

Do I look like a real runner with my running belt on?

The Course: The race was held on the Cal State Fullerton Campus. Such a beautiful campus!
We ran the blue course.

The Preps:
First off, The WIND. I woke up to Gale Force winds trying to bust my windows open. It sounds so violent and I'm not embarrassed to say I was "shakin' in mah boots!" or my house slippers.
To prepare, I made sure to wear my hair up in a stylish braid aka the I-didn't-wash-my-hair-for-a-couple-days hairstyle. It's practically wind-proof!

It's also a good hairstyle for keeping your bangs out of your Peanut Butter....because I eat like a 7 year old boy sometimes and find schmears of PB in my hair half way through my day.

Don't hate on my kid plate. Or I will retaliate. Ooooo! I got rhymes.

It's GO time!

Unlike my first race, I got to sleep in and rest pretty well. We left at 7:30 am and already Mr. Sun and Mr. Wind showed us that they were not going to be easy on us. But, Team Itchy Butts showed no fear!

We didn't realize how SERIOUS this race was going to be until about 5 minutes before Go Time. The announcement for "Racers to go up front" was followed by people  gettin' all CRAY CRAY!

See this older woman with the silver do? She proceeded to tap me on the shoulder and ask if I was a runner. Ummm HELLOOOO...don't you see my running belt and my calves of steel? Not to mention my iPod arm band with the terrible tan line underneath? Sheesh.... people can be so NOT observant.

Anyway, after I showed that woman who's boss, I listened to the smooth sounds of ALL 4 ONE. They sang the National Anthem a capella...and it was All that and a bag of chips! oh yeah, I said it!

Then it was Ready, Set, GOOOOOO!

This accidental release of balloons into the trees was followed by a lot of pushers and elbowers. These runners meant biz-nass!

Everything was going just fine until Mile 1. My breathing started getting very shallow, I was getting light headed and felt like I wanted to DIE! I kept going and tried my best to fight on....until I realized.....I was having a FREAKIN' Asthma Attack!

(This is a post race picture. See how my braid is fully intact? If you see me this summer, I'll be rockin' this hairstyle 6 out of the 7 days of the week.)

Sorry, back to me....

So, there I was, standing in the middle of the forest, face to face with a bear....oh wait, wrong story.

I could've killed myself when I realized I forgot to pump my inhaler before we started the race. I didn't want to tell T because she looked strong in her running zone at the time. But, The Lord was with me that day because the course ran through the parking lot AT THAT MOMENT! I gave in and told T and we took a little detour to my car.
I pumped and ran. T thought I was a maniac...and I agree.

We finished the race in about 38:00 which is less than our last run. We were so proud of ourselves! It felt amazing. We tell people we finished in 35:00 though and minus the 2-3 minutes we were at my car. DAMN ASTHMA!

We were so happy that we treated ourselves to two free hot dogs in the grass.

No, no...that's two hot dogs EACH.... running makes you HANGRY!

I was also pleasantly surprised and saw my two friends/former Hello Kitty co-workers Lizette and Jeanelle! Don't you love it when that happens.

T and I also made sure to stop backstage and say Hi to our buddies All 4 One.

Then we got on stage and helped them sing "I Swear." They loved our singing SKILLZ!
It was an awesome and rewarding day.

Answer me this:

• Were you a fan of All 4 One?
• What was your favorite song?
• How was your weekend?