Cake! Sorbet! Oh My!

Last night my dad took me to dinner and I picked Kansas City's Blue Bird Bistro.  Oganic and local food, funky art on the wall, nice tile work (as Dad noticed), a pretty great place.  We celebrated a little early birthday with orange cilantro sorbet (unbelievably good!) and vegan cake (mostly good).  Not pictured is dad's loud and funny zodiac tie.  What a guy. 

Beep Beep, Who's got the keys to the Jeep

I don't drive a Jeep.  I do enjoy Missy 'Mistameanor' Elliot songs from when I was in middle school though.  What is she, on felonies now?

Driving home for Christmas, my metal key chain flew off into the crevice between the driver's seat and console, never to be heard from or seen again.  Then serendipitously, I got a family crest key chain in my Christmas stocking that very evening.  Except that it broke after only two days of use.  Fail.

I went several days without key flair before I realized I had a fabulous one sitting in my jewelry box.  My Great Grandma's return-to key chain for their cute little house next to the church on the hill that I vaguely remember visiting. 



Phone number 5.... as in they were the fifth phone in town?  That can't be it, but I don't know what else it could mean.

I love having this with me every day now.  I'm sentimental like that.  :)

Fancy LA eats + IOWA awesomeness 5000

I went to LA recently and it was fabulous. I know, I know, you're thinking 'Lauren all you're going to talk about is how you and Justin Timberlake ran into each other and fell in love', well don't worry, I won't bore you with stories about how I hung out with my hollywood BFFs (I did not), or how JT fell in love with me (status pending).

Actually While I was there I stayed on the Anaheim side which means that instead of fancy cars and designer clothes I saw a lot of Disneyworld fanny packs and scrunched 80s tourist socks. You know the kind I'm referring to. That's right Dad, the ones I weaned you off of earlier this year.

I digress. I love traveling for work because I can order fabulous food that I would not have the resources or know how to make at home. Below was a once beautifully presented tower of fruit and seafood (mango, avocado, crab) from M&S grill. I remembered to take the picture post first bite. Just use your imagination. It tasted absolutely glorious.
I also ordered the red velvet cupcake because any slight reference to Steel Magnolias and the armadillo cake gets points in my book.

So I was in LA for a trade show and generally speaking trade show food is continental breakfast at the comfort-inn level in quality so pictures are not generally necessary. But there, out of the blue, came another installment of : ADVENTURES IN NEW FRUIT. I was intrigued. Apparently that fruit with the Encino man hairdo is called a Rambutan (similar to a lychee?) It was the same texture as a grape, with little to no flavor and with tons of work to get to the edible part.

It was gloriously sunny and perfect weather the entire time I was there. Ahh palm trees, so vacation-esque.

One of John's old roomies and friends from college lives in the area so we grabbed dinner one night at a fun Sushi place in downtown Fullerton.

Yummmm...... Sushi......

Except when they load it up with mayo-like substances. Dude, that ruins the flavor.

Although the majority of the rolls were DEE LISH, this one tasted like crab salad on top of the roll. Both hard to eat and kind of bland. Not my scene.

This was my date for the evening. Jackson, aren't you happy that I've showed the world such a completely flattering photo of you eating? It reminds me of the time I went to a sushi place for a first date. TERRIBLE idea. Not only is my hand tremor not conducive to graceful chopstick usage, but they make rolls the size of your fist, and you don't have much choice but to shove the whole thing in your mouth and hope you don't displace your jaw.

Soon after my return to the Show Me State, I left for the annual Carroll Sister's weekend. My mom and her SIX SISTERS have been having an annual sister's weekend every year since I was in junior high. The date and location changes, the jokes and the people are generally the same. a winning combo. This year there were 7 sisters + 4 nieces + 2 aunts + 2 sisters-in-law.

My godmother/aunt/summertime roomie hosted this year and made it so fabulous!

There was a murder mystery the first night. My character was Cinderella (Beth to her friends) which meant that I got to bring out my MORP dress from college. MORP = prom backwards, which we used as an 80s theme. Mom has been trying to get me to throw this out for years (as, obviously, I've been storing it at her house). By the grace of god it fit and if it wasn't so uncomfortable to sit down in it I'd wear it all the time.

What is a weekend together if not ALL about food! We had lots of healthy options this year, go us! (and go Aunt Anne for coordinating it!)

Other highlights of the trip include: Yoga, taught by yours truly (mostly stretching, but it counts), water color lessons, decoupage art time, a HILARIOUS talent show where I played the spoons. As usual, my great Aunt Marilyn steals the show and I even videoed but I couldn't get it to post here so just imagine Betty white dancing to NOW that's what I call music 2010.

We went to a charming house on a charming street in a charming town (star's hollow, anyone?) that a Russian family had converted into a restaurant. I suppose there is a reason that the Russians aren't known for their culinary skills (or healthy eating, yikes), but the ambiance and the company made it a thousand times better than any chain restaurant we could have gone to. Below were our Russian eats.
A potato salad in a kaiser bun that had Beet eyes that stared at me. Plus a cream of mushroom soup that was SO SO SO GOOD. I'm pretty sure it was heavy cream with mushroom flavor, but I'm not complaining.

I got the vegetarian option and am so glad I did. I hadn't had acorn squash in forever! It had honey, brown sugar, butter and cheese on it. I picked around the cheese as the squash was plenty flavorful with out it. Also the asparagus came wrapped in a puff pastry, cute and delicious! That other thing was a combination of four cheeses and was uber heavy. Lots of flavor but after a couple of bites I literally had to get up and walk around the block.

Can't wait for next year's Wisconsin adventure!!

In other news, I have been playing Words with Friends like it's going out of style. I play John, my brother, my cousins, my college buds, and John's sister. I freaking love it. I also documented my highest scoring game to date, where I got nearly 600 points. Nerdy scrabble high five!

Also last week I made Jenna's (of Eat Live Run) Vegan Lentil Loaf and it was SOOOOO GOOD. Even John begrudgingly approved. It made an awesome weeknight meal in the following days too.
Two thumbs up!

Currently it is 85 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, my calendar is chalk full of fun stuff going on and I am happy as a clam. YAY summer!

Cook Shmook

So I have been traveling (and lazy) and haven't exactly made anything new or notable. However according to my phone I've been eating and taking photos of miscellaneous things, like how a storm took the stucco (how do you spell that? I think i've been using the 'student council' abbreviation since junior high.. hmmm) off the back of my parents house. That stuff is supposed to be bullet proof!

John in his own beginner cooking adventures, decide to substitute plain macaroni noodles when the recipe called for rice (or so he thought)... When he wondered why there was no flavor, it was because the recipe was actually using the ingredient below. Cooking Fail.

I sent my sister a picture of this dress to confirm if it had her stamp of approval. Too bad when I actually wore it my strapless bra was ever shifting towards the visible center and kind of ruined the effect of looking nice/classy. Underwear Fail.

Bret and John had birthdays YAY 29!

The Royals haven't been doing so hot, but the weather was fabulous at the game and the beer was cold. No fail in my opinon.

I made a trip back to my alma matter for giving out an alumni scholarship, and I got to see my godfather and my favorite furniture store ever!

Alisa was hands down the classiest, most sophisticated girl in her entire school's prom. Obviously I'm biased, but some of the others have visible underwear lines and so much tacky bling it would blind elton John. She was in brown strapless with some silver sequin pattern. Take my word for it, beauteous!

I also saw my BFF from high school..... in all her glory.

Got some MONSTER bananas from sam's club.

And went to Baltimore for work. I sat outside staring at the harbor at sunset at M&S Grill, and my life was complete! Holy scallops in butter!

The strawberry/spinach salad had nuts with some sort of SPICY seasoning. Yummy flavor combo. I nixed the red onions though, bleh)

The waiter talked me into the tiny dessert which happened to be a miniature version of McCormick's chocolate box. I died and went to heaven. Best decision I ever made.

While working, I had some of the food that was provided. This particular conference was environmentally friendly and therefore had organic and healthy food AWESOME! Below is some sort of roast beef on polenta, grilled vegetables, and chicken/bruschetta. Yum.

We went out one night and had steamed muscles.

Not those muscles. Oh brother.

We sampled the local beer (the brother, above, is a pseudo local there). It was he kind of beer that had riddles in the cap..... we couldn't get any of them. Clever fail.

On my way out of town I got a tuna steak at the airport. EPIC Fail for every reason you can imagine.

The high school graduate, looking aloof and disiniterested. Good preparation for college and her early twenties.

The parents had 50 people in town for my sister's graduation (sorry no crowd pictures, I didn't steal any photos from Dad's camera like I usually do). Food aunt Anne prepared some YUMMY meals! P.S. that Sam's club chipotle slaw is phenomenal. I'm bringing that the next time I go anywhere and plan to claim all creative rights to it.

Aunt Theresa made her fabulous and creative cookies... matching all of Alisa's activities. FFA, FCCLA, lifeguarding, pigs (eye roll), Relay for Life, and other delicous additions. It pays to stay in school.

I was waving all of my Alisa flair, cheering, and attempting a photo with no zoom. She's the tiny one on stage in white.

And last and definitely least... the photo I sent to my sister yesterday as she had her first day of interning in my brother's office in DC, and I was attempting to recap to her the terrible acting/singing happening at the LLanview Prom over my lunch break (that's One life to Live for those of you without Soapnet or with lives).

Leaving for Los Angeles in T minus 4 hours!

Endless hugs, 7 varieties of cheesy potatoes, and BFFs

I had been delaying any major cooking activities (grocery trips, etc.) over the last weekend as I waited by the phone for the news that was a long time coming. In my glorious, fun, loud, and wonderful family (I speak of them often, hi aunts!) we lost our Matriach to cancer this week. A lady who never smoked and was otherwise a picture of health got lung cancer. Go figure. My Grandma was pretty amazing for a multitude of reasons including but not limited to: raising 11 children (much of the time as a single parent), having more stamps in her passport from interesting places (the middle east, asia, you name it) than anyone I've ever known, being totally mellow/zen/yoda-esque, and finding a wonderful balance between strong faith and liberalism (what woman in her eighties is that delicate combo?). She was awesome.
A few months back my dad urged my siblings and I to write about my Grandma, as a gift to my mother. As it turned out, we read what we had written at the services. Kudos to my brother and sister for both being funny and sentimental, and prompting many more hugs. My Aunts and Uncles did a great job making everything so meaningful and personal (special shout out to my own mama!). The church ladies did an excellent job in providing the world's largest varieties of casseroles. No kidding, there had to be 7 types of cheesy potatoes... how could you stay bummed?

Sister was happy about all of the dessert varieties

Our family tree..... leaves = grandma's descendents including great-grandkids. Holy big family.

How great do they look? Beauteous and vintage. Little did they know at the time the impact they would have on so many lives.

Love you Grandma! In addition to the church food, we had plenty of other unhealthy comfort food at our disposal. Oh that's right. We tri-ed some. With AE dip... life changing.

After 2938749832749872398947239874 hugs later (although you can never, ever have too many), I drove the SIX HOURS home and got in around 10pm last night. Weary traveler that I was, I was a hot mess getting up to my apartment. Someone in the elevator even had to help me with all of my saddlebags. So you can imagine my delight when I opened the door and saw this waiting for me:

With a wonderful note (I knew giving her a key to my place was a smart move)

...so I checked my fridge:

Goodies!

And as I blissfully munched on a dark chocolate covered strawberry, I couldn't help but notice all of the little notes around the place:

She is correct, my new table IS sweet. Pictures to come. Hey, even Bubba got in on the action (like that is a surprise):

and an Animaniacs quote that had me smiling while I brushed my teeth this morning :)

Thanks Emily, way to turn this frown upside down! In related news, my college roommie and BFF Nickie will be arriving for the weekend in just a few short hours. Quality time with friends makes EVERYTHING better, I'm convinced. Plus we'll be doing some cooking this weekend :) stay tuned!