Birthday Cupcakes

I love blue and polka dots so for my birthday it only made sense to combine the two. I picked up both mini and regular size cupcake liners for what I planned to be blue velvet cupcakes.

I had teal but not blue dye already, so teal it was. Teal, cream cheese frosting that is.  I had considered making the frosting dairy free, but I have not found a dairy free cream cheese that I like.

The blue velvet cupcakes did not end up the way I hoped but they were certainly delicious chocolate cupcakes made using the Kind Arthur chocolate cake mix.

Everyone who ate one of these mini gems asked for a second one. Frosting or not. YUM!

Christmas Comes Earlier Every Year

Thanksgiving is near, but it hasn't happened yet, and yet.... the malls were decked out in Christmas decorations November 1.  That's just scary. And the colored Christmas trees-oh my!  While the pink and blue ones are cool, it just does not seem right. White, well, that can pass because of snow. Maybe we'll get a can of "snow" this year to dust our tree.

Night in Santa Monica

Santa Monica is great for the beach and boardwalk, but there is definitely more to do. I pretty much end up trying sushi every city I visit. and on my last trip to the Los Angeles area my aunt took me out to the Crazy Fish. It was a low key place with a long sushi bar and several tables. It definitely seems like a place where the staff would learn your name and all the locals went. The menu was simple, but unbelievably tasty. I thought the fish was pretty high quality and very well priced. In fact, I don't think I have ever eaten as many rolls for such a low cost in the Sacramento area.

After dinner we headed over to Angel's Piano Bar, which is the perfect place to go for an old-fashioned drink and some live piano or jazz music. This place never charges a cover and is a nice mix of bar and small tables for their small eats menu. It is a place to come for the music and conversation; not a place you worry about going to impress people. We happened to be there on the night that Dessy Dilauro was performing. She has a great mix of style and it was pretty cool to randomly pick a place to go and to sit 6 feet from a live performance

I love stumbling upon new and fun places, and this time around I didn't hit any duds. Next time you're in a different city, make sure to explore it, as a local for a recommndation,  and don't just stick to a premade plan you had; it can be more fun that way. :-)

Walk Now for Autism 2011

Mike and I spent our Sunday morning out walking for a cause: Walk Now for Autism 2011. We walked on the GF Specialty Dream Team with friends and customers.

Jeffery the Giraffe accidentally bummed me in the head while he was walking with us over the bridge.

My friend Haley sneaking a pic with Jeffery the Giraffe.

Our destination: the state capitol.

Chocolate Sensory Overload

If you "like" chocolate as much as I do, and by like I mean crave, dream about, and eat with every meal, -oh, and not allergic to dairy, than the ferry building in San Francisco can be a great place to go and blow a boat load of money on chocolate bars. There's a place called Recchiuti Confections, and they have some of the most gourmet chocolates I've ever seen. I really wanted the caramel lovers box for $30+ but instead I treated myself to just 1 fleur de sel- a sea salt caramel for $1.25. HEAVEN!

Of course, there was also Scharffen Berger with some mighty tasty options.

And last but not least, I almost, almost came home with this, but my husband didn't think it was too funny.

Lessons and Adventures of Camping

1. Be one with the dirt.
2. Be friendly with your fellow neighbors. They might share some food, or some beer, or you might be camping next to a group of German teenage exchange students who will entertain you with German camp stories.

3. Homemade beef jerky and trail mix are the best
4.  A waterfall, a stream, a lake, or the ocean- a body of water will make camping even more fun
5. S'mores are a requirement with every meal.  Be forewarned however that jet puff shrunk their regular marshmallow when they introduced the jumbo size- I swear!
6. It would suck if one were to get injured in the middle of nowhere, but sometimes the extreme climb is worth a great view and the satisfactory feeling.

Hiked to the Green Dragon

After a pretty moderate hike what would be better than riding a merry go round, I mean really? Tilden Regional Park is the Golden Gate Park for bay area folk who don't want to cross the bridge and ay the ever-rising bridge toll. Tilden has beautiful trails, a mini train, botanical gardens, a merry go round, and more. They also get an extra point for almost everything (the merry go round cost $2) being completely free! What a great day-cation.

State Fair Amusements

I wasn't going to go to the state fair but a friend of mine scored some free tickets so we went to meander and take some random pictures.

The new Big Bug Exhibit

Deep fried, chocolate covered everything, but not gluten free.

Twilight at the Park.

My favorite ride.

Staff Bowling Bash

Last week a group of us went bowling because one of us is moving across the country- not me. I hadn't been bowling in such a long time, which is just really sad. We had a blast, despite the fact that Captiol Bowl in West Sacramento is under mass construction.
Stay tuned for all of Emily's updates on gluten free dorm living on the east coast on her blog.

Pub Crawl!

At 100 degrees outside it only seemed appropriate for a June Pub Crawl to have a Pool Party Theme. The 99 cent store was a great place to pick up some fun accessorizes, like coconut bras, floaties, leis, and more. I somehow ended up with a flotation device that a friend didn't want, even though I was already decked out in pool attire. 

Thanks to this little adventure I can finally say....

Vikingsholm

I now can officially say I've been to Vikingsholm! The walk from the road down to the bay seems easy going down, but be prepared for the walk back up.

An awesome entry way clock.

The Front Door

A 3 legged peasant chair

And some Scandinavian design.

Hedge Creek Falls

While Mike and I were in Shasta this past weekend we managed to have some us time and go for a short hike. We've passed through the Mount Shasta area several times but never got to check out Hedge Creek Falls until now. It's super easy to find with a short trail option with a medium downgrade.  The waterfall is only about 1/2 mile down, but you can actually walk under and behind the falls and continue on the trail along the river. We sat for a bit and enjoyed the view.

Small Town Charm

There's something peaceful about small towns..the stores, the nature...everything.  I was up in the mountains this past weekend for a wedding and had some time to kill so  I took a stroll through Dunsmuir and Mount Shasta and enjoyed the tranquility of small town life.

The Polka Dotted Tree

For the first time in months Mike and I were finally able to go out and take a somewhat significant walk and enjoy the day.  We headed out to the UCD Arboretum. Gardens, nature, and a picnic made for a much needed day of relaxation together, plus it's free, parking and all!

As you can see the weather was perfect.

 

 Random flower I liked. 

 

The tree below we thought was perfect for us- blue and white polka dot- I mean really?  We laid out our blanket for a picnic and soon discovered the tree must have been painted for it's resident- the blue scrub jay. A few circled and almost tried to steal some food from us. Since we brought along some nuts for snacking, we figured we'd share and Mike got the scrub jay to eat out of his hand. Video to follow soon.

 

And on the way back to the car we realized we had only walked about half this place, so we will certainly be making a tip back to explore some more.

Mr. Monopoly and the Sexy Shoe

 

Mike and I are board game fans, and although monopoly isn't one of my personal favorites, it had some great characters to draw from. This year for our 2 year wedding anniversary we decided to have a monopoly themed photo shoot- him as Mr. Monopoly and I was the sexy shoe. We made sure to feature the railroad, the boat, and the boardwalk, with some fun twists. This is just one quick pic we snapped with my iphone in-between shots (the rest will be black and white-mostly). For less than $20 and the services of a friend, we had a fun filled afternoon.  Many more pictures to come.  We had so much fun that maybe this will have to become a tradition- perhaps Clue, CandyLand, and many others are in our future.

A Night out on the Town

This past week was my wedding anniversary. Not only was this an event to be celebrated but after the long recovery process I have been going through, it was especially important to us to get out of the house and have some fun. Since it was such a special evening I even broke out a pair of heels, despite the fact that I am a sneakers-and-sporty kind of girl.

There were drinks, sushi, dancing, and chocolate involved, and those 4 things together make for a great evening in my book. I'm one lucky girl. Don't worry- I'll be back to my food blogging tomorrow, but today it's all about my funny, loving, supportive husband.

Pillow Fight!

A favorite childhood past time, we've surely all had a good pillow fight, but wouldn't it be awesome to smack your frustrations out on an innocent bystander? That's what National Pillow Fight Day is all about!  Apparently April 2 has been deemed such a day and I didn't discover this until April 1. Almost every city organizing a community pillow fight in a park somewhere, and it just so happened the one in Sacramento was close to my place.

Since I recently had surgery I wasn't one to participate, but we had to go watch, which quite a few other curious people did as well. Features were flying, and some people were ruthless. I learned a few tricks and what kind of pillows I might want to use, so next year, look out, I'm going all in.

Old Sacramento Meandering

 

Finally some nice weather has graced us in Sacramento, because frankly the river can't hold much more, and so Mike and I went to Old Sacramento and explored the railways. It was a great Saturday afternoon of free meandering.

Sac Zoo for FREE

Who wouldn't go to their local zoo if it were free? Well for free museum day here in Sacramento, Mike and I went to the Zoo. There are 26 museums in town, but with this being an annual event, we figured we can go to some other places next year. I've only been to the Sac Zoo once, so it was nice to go back.

The free shuttle system they offer is really nice. There's a hub downtown with tourist buses that will drop you off at most of the museums. We walked a mile or so this morning and picked up the bus to the zoo, and at 10am the line at the zoo was already wrapped around the park, but it moved pretty fast.

The weather was perfect today, so we decided to walk home through a nice neighborhood, and 2.5 miles later we were back home. It was a nice mellow adjustment from the crazy stroller land of the zoo. The best overheard quote of the day, parent to about an 8 year old child- "I told you: No texting! It's family day."

Pizza and Crickets at Pismo Beach

Pizza on the beach never gets old, and with a six hour journey ahead of us we needed some sustenance. I did a quick search for gluten free around Pismo Beach and stumbled upon Doughboy's Pizzeria, who also makes their own gluten free crust from scratch. (Why can't more places in Sacramento offer this? err) While we were paying for our pizza we ran into another gluten free diner and ended up chatting a bit. There's more of us out there than I think any of us realize.
Anyhow, we ordered a the pesto chicken which had cheese, pesto sauce, roasted chicken, feta cheese, & fresh tomatoes. The chicken on this pizza was not nearly as dry as the chicken from Pizza Guru, although the crust was less firm than Pizza Guru, and almost couldn't handle all of it's toppings. The edge of the crust was almost over done and the edges of the left overs got really hard. The flavor however was amazing; the chicken had a nice roasted flavor and was nice and moist. We ordered our pizza to go, and headed to the beach for the last of the sunset. We found a bench away from the teenage clicks there to party for the night, and had a nice romantic dinner.

When we were all done we walked up the strip a little and went into a "candy" store for a treat before hitting the road. We were surprise with what we found. Gummi bears, taffy, and insects. Yes insects, the real deal too. The cashier told us about all the owner of the store raises all the insects that they had: ants crickets, scorpions, and larvets; chocolate covered, or seasoned. WOW! And he ships them all over the world. I mean I know some cultures eat insects but I've never anything like this in a candy store before. I was seriously tempted by the sour cream and onion crickets, but I saved my $2 bucks.