Monday, December 3, 2012

Mini Cheesecake Cookie Dough Bites

I have an upcoming book swap party to go to and I've been experimenting with a few desserts.  I saw this one on Pinterest and decided to take a chance at it. I followed the recipe from the My Baking Addiction blog here

Only thing I got wrong is that she uses normal cupcake sizes and I went for the mini cupcake version. The portions for the mini-mini cheesecakes are 1 TBSP of graham cracker crust and 1 TBSP of cheesecake filling, 1 TSP of cookie dough. I have to say these were delicious and I'll definitely be perfecting this along the way. I did make the full size see above, but for me it's too rich so I think I'll stick to the mini cupcake size, was perfect for a party especially when there will be ton more desserts.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Fall in Los Angeles

Fall in Los Angeles can be beautiful.  These images were taken in early October, but I just found them on my camera.  Great sunsets and a slight chill in the air.  Also sometimes you find Tori Burch shoes on the sand, that is until the model twirling in the water comes back and claims them.


Thursday, November 15, 2012

What do you do on your counters?

Let me tell you my story before anyone jumps to conclusions. Last weekend I played host to my niece (a dear friends daughter). We have no kids of our own so occasionally I borrow other peoples kids. Well frankly I love my friends children....especially when we get to give them back. [sly smile]

So I had a house full of teenage girls. I proceeded to walk them down to the mall, who wouldn't like the mall, I did, even if my feet didn't.  Upon returning home we chose a movie to watch. I so thought this would be the easy part, teenager girls like chick flicks right....answer here would be NOooooooo!  Though we did settle on a chick flick, iRobot was a serious contender, sorry Spongy, next time.

Ok, so why the pictures? Well I have added additional counter space for my kitchen, thanks to Ikea, It's a better place them my counter tops covered in 1960's old ceramic tiles (not the cool type, see below), that are broken and uneven. I sacrificed a kitchen table for more flat workspace. So I thought I would share it's multi-purpose use.
During pauses in the movies I had the girls roll out pizza dough, two girls to each pile of dough.  Then we put them on pizza stones, they chose their toppings, I bake.
 
After pizza's were in the oven we cleared the path for our art project that would start after the movie.  I got this idea from Pinterest and was posted from the 700 Experience blog here.  Those who follow me on Instagram (itsweetsavory) know I experimented with this by myself during the week before. By myself was the key problem, you need to have a buddy.  So each girl picked her color palate with the box of crayons I scored from the 99 cents store. Then we took some cardboard and a glue gun and glued the crayons onto the board, leave one inch of the crayon hanging off the cardboard.  Now it was ready for some melting.

Speaking of melting, here's our last melted cheese and veggie pizza....Nice right. This was delicious.  I made crust part easy and bought my dough from Trader Joes. Usually I make it myself, but I had too much to do. Toppings included cheese, obviously, tomato's, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, mushrooms and pepperoni. I don't really like sauce on my pizza and though others do, I didn't remember this part, so no sauce.

Back to the melting crayons.  The girls perfected this part, they got tired of holding each other's crayons and figured out how to tape the cardboard with glued crayons on the wall behind.  And yes I have splattered wax on my wall before I realized it and then we pulled up the craft paper and fixed that. Thankfully this is my patio.

One request I had made to a few mom's, was "have the girls bring a blow dryer", weird right, well that didn't happen so we had one blow dryer, mine.  Yes I had to scrap off hard wax the next day.  So, not complaining, because this was easy and the girls got creative.  Some chose to cover the whole canvas and others just did one side and left white space below.




Here's one up close, great texture and color.  
Have fun and enjoy your counter as much as I do.  Enjoy!

This post is my entry into the Alt Summit Blog Carnival Contest sponsored by Wilsonart International, Inc.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Vegan Chocolate Sorbet

Quite a few weeks ago I was going to a friends house for dinner who happens to be Vegan.  So I challenged myself to make some dessert that she could eat.  I comb through a few websites and settled on David Lebovitz's amazing recipe for ice cream, he's genius and this was so rich and scrumptious you can't believe it has no eggs or milk in it.  Thank you DAVID...LOVE this.  Found his recipe on Food52 here.

Best part was I finally got my ice cream maker out again and forgot how easy it was to use.  Enjoy!


So creamy and amazing.



Saturday, October 13, 2012

Day in Malibu

Quick post on yesterday as we had a full day in Malibu starting at 7AM and ending the day at 5PM.  Lots of adventures with great friends by the beach and in the canyons.  L.A. offers such a variety of things to see and explore which is why so many of us live here, but Malibu has it's own culture.  People run into friends on daily errands and coffee breaks.  There is a more relaxed attitude here. 

At one point we needed to make a stop at a restroom and we walked threw the camp grounds at Malibu State Park.  No one there except the fallen leaves of autumn and me and Heather traipsing in our sandals to the restroom.  After we made sure that there were no creatures lurking in the restroom we ran in and out as quickly as possible.

 Zuma beach was lovely.

Malibu Kitchen for quick breakfast.

 I guess we need to be Bob's friend if we want to park here.

 Clouds were amazing this day.

Canyon's were so quiet and beautiful.

Take a ride thru Malibu Canyon and Enjoy!

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Madness

New song I'm kind of obsessed with, and well it's the kind of word that describes my week:




Perhaps you like a few other Mad related songs:



How about the remake of the above song:


Or how bout a little Prince Buster:

Oh, I could go on and on.  Anyone else have some goodies?

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Milo & Olive



Milo and Olive, a neighborhood bakery and pizzeria, opened almost a year ago in November 2011. I've been hearing great local buzz about this place and have passed it many times on Wilshire Blvd in Santa Monica. It's run by the team of Josh Loeb and Zoe Nathan who are also behind 
Rustic Canyon, Huckleberry and Sweet Rose Creamery
The menu includes fresh baked morning pastries and bread, wood fired pizzas, farmers market inspired salads and small plates in a hip and warm environment.  


Seats are readily available in the morning at the counter. This is always a fun place to sit and watch the tattooed cooks. I like to guess what they are making. At lunch, counter and communal tables are available. The pastries in front look mouth watering.  First trip there I had a latte, eggs and bacon (a no carb day), so I'll have to go back to try what looked like the best sticky pecan roll ever.

Simple exterior

Cool simple interior.  I like the no fuss.

Next time round I shared a lovely fresh salad and a few pizzas. The crust was divine, and I'm a huge mushroom fan, so this, with the melted fontina cheese, was delish.

Prosciutto, Burrata, Arugula Pizza...so mouth watering.

These desserts were entering the room while we ate our lunch, I was dying.

Zoe Nathan has stated that she's using different grains to enrich the flavor of her breads.  Well if this is any indication, it's working.  It's a cornmeal cake with a blueberry jam, topped with a vanilla bean cream cheese frosting and fresh farmer market blueberries, your going to die happy.

Please stop by and visit this place, you'll not be disappointed.  Enjoy!

Milo & Olive
2723 Wilshire Blvd. 
Santa Monica, CA 90403


Tuesday, September 25, 2012

ChocoVivo Venice


During my four month hiatus from real life work, I was able to explore a few local shops.  I came across an article about Choco Vivo, a chocolate shop in Venice. Anyone who knows me KNOWS I love chocolate. So I went exploring online first to their website. If you haven't read Patricia's stories on her blog you should go here. She is a true entrepreneur and someone who took a great leap of faith to do something she loves.

So I drove a mere 10 minutes to Venice and went looking for this tiny shop nestled on Abbot Kinney. I so wanted to meet Patricia, she sounded like me in her March blog posts, but she wasn't there that day. 

I sampled a few of the chocolates. I've never really tasted true pure chocolate. It's all DARK chocolate no milk or soy lecithins added, so it's pure goodness. Her stone-ground beans to bar method is mouth melting ecstasy.  I tried the almonds to sea salt and the mayan tradition (spicy and delish).  She also has chocolate butters and does a nice sampling on the First Friday's down on Abbot Kinney every month.  

A must visit place when your on the westside. Abbot Kinney is the perfect place for this entrepreneur.

Beside's the great little store, she's also at these Farmer's Markets:
Tuesdays: Culver City,  2 pm – 7 pm,  
Sundays:  Mar Vista, 9 am – 2pm 


Try some samples.



 Loved the great packaging for my purchase. 

Choco Vivo
504 Abbot Kinney Blvd
chocovivo.com

Monday, September 17, 2012

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Alt Summit Blog



As most of my readers know I've ventured on a slight career change to a more technical type of job.
Still in the marketing area, but more tech focused. I am now working from home, yes I have set hours and I change out of my PJ's every morning, not saying much about the upper undergarments, depends on the weather.

Over the past 6 months I've been trying to be regular about posting and finding my voice on this platform.
I am interested in so many things. Travel and food seem to come to the top, sprinkled with my life activities.
Good friends and bloggers My Life at Playtime and A Simply Raw Life have turned me onto Alt Design Summit. Each year they have summit's that happen in a different city. They also have a blog with the best advice on being a better blogger and running it as a business. In January, the Alt Summit is in Salt Lake City. The registration day came and went for SLC as I was in the middle of 3 weeks of volunteer work and didn't log in on time to register. In the meantime I've been regularly reading their suggestions, tweets, facebook posts and their featured classes. This is invaluable information for any blogger, established and brand new. For blogging inspiration and business advice check out the new Alt blog.  I'm determined to go to SLC to be inspired by all those bloggers out there. 

One of my favorite blogs post on Alt is about Building an Online Community. This is practical advice and I said to myself "DUH! Make it happen."

Lately I've had a little interest from the outside on my Cuba story and am DETERMINED to finish it. Yes my Dad knows about the story being in the blogosphere and has encouraged me to finish it.  I have to say my favorite blog post is this one Cuba A Bittersweet Tale Part III, makes me cry every time I go back and read it.

Enjoy!

Monday, September 3, 2012

Books I've Read

Dear ITSS Reader,

   As summer comes to a close, you all must have read a few books, while traveling, camping or just laying at the beach. Personally, I've read quite a few starting in the spring and into the summer. All of these stories are varied, which is good. This all thanks to our book swapping parties and a couple of shopping excursions to Costco and Barnes & Nobles. The last one I read is my favorite close second in Julia Child's memoir. 

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is such a great fictional story based on the German Occupation of one of the Channel Islands off the coast of Great Britain during WWII. I know you may think that sounds boring and tedious. But one, it was educational and two, though it's a piece of fiction based on facts, you really believe these people exist. They become your friends. I laughed out loud and cried and smiled throughout the book. It's written in the style of letters exchange by quite a few people. I had mixed emotions about this, but then I couldn't wait to read the next letter. This is a must read, I think my Mom would love this book. Go here to purchase!

Now reader, this next book is alarming and educational. I probably wouldn't have picked this up, but someone at the book swap party said it was a must read. It's a piece of Non-Fiction.  Why is it alarming?  Because as I sip my latte's and take walks on the beach I am oblivious to all the seedy interactions taking place around the world. You will see inside U.S. politics and the manipulation of so many people and countries for greed. Made me irritated and mad, but I feel slightly more informed. Personally I think this should be a movie, although parts of it I'm sure have already been used. It features a few countries, Panama and Saudi Arabia sticking out most in mind. If you are like me and grew up in the 70's you'll understand the oil crisis issue (long lines at the gas pump ring any bells) in the U.S. much more after you've read this book. Go here to purchase!

This one is a very small attempt at satisfying your Downton Abbey drought.  It's a quick summer read of how American's love having titles and do all they can to make sure their rich little girls marry an aristocrat of some sort. Go here to purchase!

Julia Child's story made me want to go back to school. In fact I checked out a few culinary schools looking for a good story and to feed my pastry passion. This is a delightful read and an inspiring tale of how a woman can start a new career later in life. If you didn't love Julia before this you will afterward. This goes on my top 10 list of favorite books. Go here to purchase!

If you can't travel aboard physically, how about mentally? This book took me to Venice and an intriguing fictional story of glass blowing. It made me want to go back to Versailles, you'll have to read why, and back to Venice and the Island of Murano. Now Glassblowing is one more thing to add to my ever growing list of things I want to learn if I had eternity to do so. Go here to purchase!


Did you read Eat, Pray, Love or just watch the movie?  If you read it you'd love Luca Spaghetti, which is why I picked this up.  He's a funny story teller and a passionate Italian and AS Roma fan.  I fun read.  Go here to purchase

Now reader I do hope you are intrigued by these books.  It's a nice mix of serious, fluffy, informative, inspirational stories both real and imagined.  Enjoy but please tell me what are you reading?  What was your summer favorite book? Tell me please.

Sincerely,

Tanya

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Pismo Beach

So after are three weeks of volunteer work in the blazing heat of over 100 degrees everyday, our friends treated us to a few days in Pismo beach.  About 3 hours North of Los Angeles. We rented a house steps from the beach with a view of the Pier. I took tons of pictures so sorry for the picture overload below. These 3 days were thoroughly enjoyable and varied.  Long walks on the beach in the morning and sunset, surfing, wine tasting, whale watching (unintentional), reading and cooking.
 This is the first time she's used her board and had never waxed it. 

SB showed the young teenagers how to surf and freeze in the cold water (wetsuits NOT optional.)  In the meantime Bekah and I did the TJ shopping and then off galavanting to Laetitia Winery.
Sunflare on the Pier.
Here's the house we stayed in.
View at sunset from those windows.
Bench at Edna Valley Winery. When we arrived here we encountered a woman who drunkenly said "they have the best wines in there."

Lounging and wine tasting area at Laetitia winery.

View at Edna Valley winery. Gorgeous.
Ok so we talked the girls into going to a Loufa farm. I had no idea how loufa's were made, and I was pleasantly surprised by this whimsical and educational little farm. Did you know Loufa's grow on vines. I had no idea.

This is what a loofa looks like, kind of like a squash, from the squash family in fact.  It dries out on the vine and then you take it out soak in water and peel off the harden skin.  Voila a loofa, free of pesticides and ready to scrub-a-dub-dub.
Did you know there are at least 3 kinds of lavender.  I didn't.  The most used is English (which is kind of soapy smelling), then French (middle ) and finally Spanish.  See what you learn at the loofa farm.
We drove up the road a bit and explored the other beaches, specifically Avila Beach.  We found this lovely country farm. Included organic fruits and veggies. Also had kitschy kitchenwares. They grilled sweet corn and we ate it sitting on haystacks. Seriously country folks.
Ice cream stand in a barn. Delish.

Some fun photos below of our days lounging.


Random chair on side of road.





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