Week 22 and Week 23, I'm such a busy bee!

The mayhem continues, and I was up at 5:30 am today. I can't wait for the day that I actually sleep in. I haven't had to set an alarm for weeks because I just wake up! Coffee has been such a good friend to me lately.

And rather than tackle my To Do list, I'm catching up on a few posts. You're going to get a 2-for-1 today, and then probably not see me for another month...

148: A friend's Indian wedding, beautiful setting. Bad wine, but at least really good Indian food.

149: Memorial Day BBQ at a friend's. I haven't hosted a party in so long and the minutes things calm down, I gotta throw something.

150. No time to cook, Mom was great and brought over some food. And her dog as she and Dad were heading out to Europe for their first-ever trip out there. So happy that they are finally getting to really enjoy what's out there!

151. I took some leftover BBQ from Monday... ribs!! So good. (I just realized these two photos are switched around. Not going to change it)

152. Noodles. Another go to when you have no time.

153. Salad for one

154. More salad. And some butternut squash gnocchi that I made a while ago and had frozen. It's a good thing when I freeze leftovers.

155. The day before, I took a time out and went to the Sunset celebration. And I bought some beautiful antique plates. And I saw Joy the Baker, and she made coffee bacon. So I made coffee bacon. And some pancakes. Coffee bacon has a lot of coffee. A LOT OF COFFEE!! I had three strips and was buzzed for 8 hours. Like literally buzzed, I could almost hear it in my head. Caution when eating coffee bacon. 

156. New old plates and some take out Burmese

157. More Burmese. My fortune said big things were coming my way.

158. More Joy the Baker with Cheddar and Chive Biscuits. I didn't put the jalapeño. Is that why they were hard as rocks and flat like wood? Probably not. Tried to repurpose them in a sandwich. Not bad. Dogs looooooved the biscuits. 

159. More noodles, sausage and green. 

160. Costco $1.50 hot dog. I love those hot dogs. 

161. Friend's birthday at Oola's. Really good food, I needed the indulgence. Dessert: warm chocolate cake. Could only stomach a bite after having stuffed my face with my main course of ribs.

Ok, this coffee is so kicking in right now, so I'm off!

Oh, I wish

Weeks 20 and 21, the choice is done

It's been a bit quiet around these here blogging parts. I've talked about some challenges I've been facing lately and the need to choose a path in life. I've kept the details vague as I have wanted this blog to be about my personal interests rather than any professional ones, which have absolutely nothing to do with each other.

But basically, I was choosing between working with someone versus starting my own business. Two weeks ago, I finally made the choice to start working with someone. It wasn't the ideal choice, but I didn't feel like I was ready to go in a completely different direction. It was sort of the middle ground.

It seems that life has some plans of her own for me. Three days after I started walking down a new path, I was forced into a different one. The person I was working with decided he didn't want to work with me anymore. So now I'm starting my own business.

And the doors open in a little over 2 weeks. To say I'm a bit stressed is an understatement. Waking up at 5:30 am with a gagillion thoughts in my head is now the norm. Today it was 4:30 am. After lying in bed for 15 minutes, I gave up on going back to bed, and after making a super-sized pot of coffee, I'm sitting here at the computer.

My everyday life

But before getting down to business, I thought I would catch up on my 366. We're hitting Week 24, so I have some catching up to do.

134: After the previous weeks of indulgences, I needed to cleanse.
135: Tomato soup from Trader Joes. I always keep some in the pantry; it's my go-to if I have nothing to eat.
136: Sushi with friends at our favorite local spot
137: Inspired by Emma, I made a super easy roast chicken, throwing in some carrots from my garden
138: Noodles, spare ribs, egg.
139: Cobb salad and beer. It's a good Friday combo
140: Pasta with some leftover chicken and whatever else I could find in the fridge
141: My healthy day: I did a short run, then went swimming, and ended with a huge salad and salteña (like an empanada). I haven't exercised since.
142: At least still trying to eat healthy, I made a fat salad
144a: All my meals on day 143 were associated with business meetings, so I didn't want to pull out my iPhone to snap a shot. Took this shot the next morning. Leftover brownie for breakfast. So much for healthy eating.
144b: Took an extra shot to make up for the day before. Trying to go back to healthy eating.
145: Rockfish with black beans, avocado and salsa. Healthy and tasty
146: Threw in the towel with the healthy eating and ordered a large pizza. I won't say how many slices I ate...
147: But there was enough left over for breakfast on Saturday.

Now I'm hungry. Time to make some breakfast and get to work. My To-Do list is a mere 6 pages long. But I swear, I'm taking some breaks today to exercise and enjoy the day a bit. Starting a business in two weeks is plenty of time... right?

Fuel

Weeks Eighteen and Nineteen, not feeling too lean

Thank goodness it's the last of the teen weeks. My rhyming is pathetic.



Can you tell when I got my new Ai-phone?

120: Baked egg with a strawberry smoothie
121: I had left over frosting from making these as well as an open bottle of red wine. As in open for a long time so it tasted like vinegar. These random ingredients morphed into chicken and spinach with a beet sweet butter and red wine reduction.
122: Udon noodle soup with veggies and tofu
123: The last beet chocolate cupcake
124: Pesto pasta mishmash with some wine hearts
125: Everything but the kitchen sink salad (it would appear that I'm trying to clean out my fridge)
126: Happy Cinco de Mayo. This burrito mojado from a hole-in-the-wall joint in SF was a-ma-zing! Muy delicioso! Y barato!
127: Starting my Sunday with chocolate chip pancakes
128: Cold sesame noodles and sauteed asparagus and mushrooms. White wine.
129: Craptacular day deserves a burger, fries, and milkshake
130: Spaghetti with sausage, portobello, spinach and tomato sauce. And wine. Of course.
131: Yikes, another burger. It was a late night.
132: Now the fridge was empty. Luckily, my friends had food so I went to their place. Chicken pasta and salad. And wine.
133: Brunch with my cousins. Smoked salmon Eggs Benedict. Meh.

Rather than spotlight my favorite photo (#123, aka when Ai got the new iPhone), I thought I'd share a few extra photos from yesterday. We took Mom out for an early Mother's Day dinner at Alexander's Steakhouse.

Suffice it to say, I have had enough iron intake to last me for the next year.

We interrupt our regular programming...

called Life to do some mindless web surfing, look at pretty photos and post some old ones.

I am still struggling with this fork in the road of my life right now. I'm stressed, anxious, tired, and the last few days, I've just wanted to throw in the towel and start bawling uncontrollably. Maybe I should just go forward full force and not look back. But I keep taking little steps, and then I sit and wait, pulling out my hair.

Tonight, I'm taking the middle ground and just giving my mind a break from it all.

Hence this post. I thought I'd share some lovely moments I had in Napa back in March. I actually did a few day trips, two with friends, one with family. Each time I go, I like to try a new winery or restaurant, so the experience is different every time.

But each time, I seem to pass by the French Laundry.

I think I'm secretly hoping I'll run into Thomas Keller and he'll just invite me in.

They have a beautiful plot of land across the street, where they harvest a plethora of vegetables. If only my garden could look so organized.

The weekend I went with family, we visited several wineries known for their architecture. Some of it was a bit over-the-top, including a castle with a peacock roaming the grounds.

Still gorgeous though.





We visited another estate, Chateau Montelena Winery, in Calistoga. A beautiful site, with a small lake and beautiful courtyard. This would be a lovely place for a romantic picnic for two.

One of the weekends I went with friends, we visited Ram's Gate Winery. Another great spot, with small plates paired with their wines. A great place to grab a snack and enjoy good times with friends.

Napa and the area around it is filled with fantastic sights, not just good wine. My eye always catches sight of a cool building, sign or landscape. But there is always a destination in mind so we just pass it by.

One of these days, I just want to go up there on my own to just take photos. That'd be nice right now...

When life gives you beets...

Make cupcakes!

Last week, I bought a ridiculous number of beets from the farmers' market. The guy was practically giving them away, how could I resist? Of course, one week later, they were still sitting in the fridge, soon to grow roots. 

Then I remembered this post from Joy the Baker (my hero) about a Beet Chocolate Cake. Because a cake is hard to pass out at the office and to neighbors (but very easy to stuff in my mouth), I turned these into cupcakes. (I seem to have this thing for making cupcakes with vegetables.)

The original recipe uses a cream cheese frosting. As I didn't have cream cheese, I went with a buttercream, tinted with beets.

It's quite a pink frosting. I think next time I'll use more beets and hopefully it will be a deeper pink. I'm a bit late to the Valentine's Day or Easter party. There must be some holiday coming up that this will be good for. Oh here we go, International No Diet Day! Hooray!

I also had a slight mishap with the frosting. I had to run an errand so I put it in the fridge. When I came home, it was as hard as a rock. I let it sit out for a bit and then tried to mix it again with the mixer. Ended up being oddly chunky. So I stuffed it into the cupcake instead. 

It's kind of like a Beet Ding Dong {chuckle}. It also only used up about 1/8 of the messed-up frosting. So now I have about a 1/2 pound of sweet beet butter that I need to figure out what to do with. 

Beet Chocolate Cupcakes with Beet Buttercream Frosting

Adapted from Joy the Baker and Sprinkle Bakes

Makes 24 cupcakes

(The original recipe calls for buttermilk, which I didn't have. I don't have milk either. Yogurt and almond milk, somehow it worked. If it sounds too unusual for you, then go with the buttermilk. But if you're making a chocolate cake with beets, most people are already thinking you're pretty unusual.)

2 medium beets, roasted and peeled

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt

1/2 cup almond milk

(yogurt and almond milk can be replaced with 1 1/4 cup of buttermilk)

Using a box grater, grate the peeled beets, using 3/4 cup for the cupcakes and 2 tbsps for the frosting.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars with an electric beater until pale and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, for one minute after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.  Once eggs are incorporated, beat in beets (hee hee) and vanilla extract until thoroughly combined.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, mix together the yogurt and almond milk. Add half of the dry ingredients to the butter and egg mixture. Beating on low speed, slowly add the yogurt mixture.  Once just incorporated, add the other half of the dry ingredients.  Beat on medium speed until milk and dry ingredients are just combined.  Try not to overmix the batter. Batter will be thick.

Line cupcake tins with liners. Fill each liner about half-full with batter.  Bake for 20 minutes (or when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean).  Remove cupcakes from the oven and set aside to cool.

Frosting

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, soft but cool, cut into small pieces

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 tbsp grated beets, mashed

In a medium saucepan, add sugar and flour with milk and cream. Over low heat, whisk the mixture periodically until it starts to boil and thicken, about 20 minutes.

Pour into medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat the mixture on high speed until cool. Reduce the speed to low and add the butter; beat until thoroughly incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and beets and continue mixing until combined. If the frosting is too soft, transfer the bowl to the refrigerator to chill slightly, and then beat again until it is the proper consistency. If the frosting is too firm, place the bowl over a pot of simmering water and beat with a wooden spoon until it is the proper consistency.

Frost cupcakes with piping tip of your choice. Because of the beet bits, the tip may get clogged, so a larger tip will be more desirable.