Deviled Chicken for Dinner

I don't often make dinner and when I do, I have a limited list of standard meals. As much as I love to bake, cooking has never really been my thing. At the same time, every month I get at least four "food" magazines with plenty of delicious looking meals. Over the 4-day weekend, I went through the Nov. and Dec. issues and marked any recipe that looked tasty AND easy to make.

I'm sad to say that after a wonderful 8 day visit, it's my Mom's last night in San Jose. (I'm happy to say that I'll see her again in 18 days when I head down to San Diego for a couple of weeks.) With it being my mom's last night, I decided to try out one of my newly found recipes, and decided on Deviled Chicken for dinner. The original recipe, from the Nov. 2010 issue of Cooking Light, serves the chicken with Broccoli with Shallots and Herbed Rice, but I made the side dishes even easier by serving it with peas and Trader Joe's baby tri-colored potatoes (already marinated in oil and herbs).

It was surprisingly pretty good, which in my book is a success. I especially liked that it has a bit of spicy kick, thanks to the red pepper flakes.

Deviled Chicken

Ingredients

4 (8-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

Cooking spray

2 tablespoons prepared mustard (I used French's yellow but I'm sure you could use dijon, honey mustard, or any mustard you like)

1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper (I added more cause I like things spicy, but you can substitute with an equal amount of mild chili powder for a milder flavor)

2 (1-ounce) slices French bread baguette (I used store-bought bread crumbs and the last of the french fried onions we bought for our Thanksgiving green bean casserole)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees*

2. Sprinkle chicken with black pepper and salt; lightly coat with cooking spray

3. Place chicken on rack of a broiler or roasting pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 475 degrees* for 15 minutes; remove pan from oven.

4. Combine mustard and red pepper in a small bowl; brush over chickn. Place bread in food processor; pulse 10 times or until crumbs measure 1 cup. Sprinkle breadcrumbs evenly over mustard mixture on chicken, pressing lightly to adhere. Lightly coat breadcrumbs with cooking spray. Return pan to oven. Bake at 475 degrees* for 10 minutes or until breadcrumbs are browned and a thermometer registers 165 degrees.

*I made this in my toaster oven, which only goes up to 450 degrees, so I just left it in a little longer than the instructions suggest.

Makes 4 servings (serving size: 1 chicken breast half). Calories 214; Fat 3.8g; Protein 34.2g; Carb 8.8g; Fiber 0.4g; Chol 90mg; Iron 16mg; Sodium 408mg; Calc 17mg

Welcoming Brian with some Mini Carrot Cupcakes

One of my favorite co-workers, Brian, is in town from New York this week. For those of you that know Brian, his breakfast usually consists of sugary cereal or M&Ms, so whenever he comes to visit, I make him a "healthy" breakfast which is usually some kind of fruit or vegetable flavored cupcake. For this visit, I've made mini carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting...that's healthy...right? I found the recipe on Martha Stewart's website and tweaked a few things.

Cupcake Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups grated carrots

1/2 cup raisins (excluded from my cupcakes)

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 tablespoon pure maple syrup (excluded from my frosting)

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups confectioners' sugar

Cupcake Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 42 mini muffin cups with mini cupcake liners; set aside (I didn't have cupcake liners so I just lightly sprayed with Canola Oil.)

2. Beat sugar, eggs, oil, vanilla, and buttermilk together in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle.

3. In a large bowl, sift together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add three-quarters of the flour mixture to the sugar mixtrue; mix until will combined. Add carrots and raisins to remaining flour mixture; toss to combine. Stir into batter until will combined.

4. Fill each muffin cup with about 2 teaspoons batter. Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of cupcakes comes out clean, 10 to 12 minutes (I actually had to cook for 14 mins). Transfer cupcakes to wire rack to cool. Let cool completely before frosting with cream-cheese frosting.

Frosting Directions:

1. In a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Add maple syrup, vanilla, and confectioners' sugar; continue beating until will combined and smooth.

Makes 42 frosted mini carrot cupcakes.
Recipe found on Martha Stewart

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! Today I'm thankful for all the friends and family I have in my life, especially those of you that read my blog!

On Banana's morning walk this morning, I realized something...there are two types of days that I absolutely love when it comes to weather, The San Diego Day and the Bay Area Day.

San Diego Day: A warm day, bordering on hot, where there is a cool ocean breeze to keep you comfortable.

Bay Area Day: A day like today, where it's cool and crisp but with the sun out and no wind it's perfect.

With such a perfect start to my day, I'm looking forward to the rest of the day. My mom is visiting which is great as it's always nice to have family around during the holidays. I'm also cat-sitting, Meeko, who is a Bengal cat that acts and looks more like a leopard than a cat. It's taken a day or two for Meeko to get comfortable at my house, especially with a short-legged, brown, barking dog running around like a maniac, but he seems to be enjoying himself. You might think that cats and dogs don't get along, but Banana seems to like cats more than dogs, and Meeko is big and strong enough to put Banana in his place if needed. Banana goes about his daily schedule, while Meeko perches in high places, occasionally making a sneak attack on Banana when he's not looking. It's actually quite amusing.

Whatever you're doing today, and whoever you're with, I hope you have a wonderful day.

Meeko and Banana relaxing

Meeko and Banana in action

Meeko the leopard....I mean cat

Voting Day

Today was Voting Day in the U.S.

Banana and I hope you were all able to make it out to the polls (or send in your ballot).

Dr. Oz @ Google

I heard that Dr. Oz was coming to Google about a month ago and made sure I put a reminder on my calendar. Last week, we got an official announcement letting us know when he was coming and to my disappointment, I had a team meeting scheduled for the same time as Dr. Oz's speech. Over the weekend, the meeting was cancelled and I thought "Yes...I get to go." Unfortunately, less then 24 hours later I had been added to another meeting which conflicted with the Doc. Luckily, it only conflicted with the first half of his presentation, so I was able to make it to the last 30 mins.

For those of you that don't know Dr. Oz, he's a cardiologist, who co-authored You:The Owners Manual, and a number of other "You" themed books. He became a celebrity thanks to his regular appearances on Oprah, and now has his own show 5 days a week.

His presentation at Google was to share the 5 things you need to do to "be a better you." Like I said, I only got to see the last half, so didn't hear much of his presentation, but instead saw the question and answer session that followed.

Here are a couple of pics I took, including one of him with Eric (Google's CEO) and Laszlo (SVP of People Operations). Note: Guy in green shirt - unknown.

Before and After (painting)

I spent most of October dreading the idea of painting my office. Thanks to a lot of help from Alex, and a good edging brush, I'm happy to say the painting is done (before and after pics below). I'm only done with the painting...there is still a lot more to do in the decorating world so stay tuned for more pictures as that progresses.

Before

All the walls in my house were this beige color when I moved in. I started to buy furniture, lamps, and drapes that were dark, modern, and/or bold as I knew some day I'd get around to painting.

After

I selected teal and dark grey for the walls. To be honest, for how small the grey walls are, and the amount of extra work they caused, I think I could have just done the whole thing teal, but we live and learn. I love the way the white pops now with the bold colors on the wall. The wall above my desk (center pic) is the most in need of some help as it's just empty right now. Can't wait to get some things on the walls!

Where did September go?

Wow...a whole month has passed and I haven't posted once. I don't know whether it's because I've been so busy I haven't had time, or I haven't had anything that exciting going on in my own personal life. A little bit of both I guess. Here's a run down of life for the last month:

Social Life:

Babies and Brides - I'm at that age, 32, where everyone is either getting married or having babies. This year I've had 3 friends have babies, with another 3 announcing they're pregnant, and I have 2 weddings coming up. This last month alone I attended a baby shower, a bridal shower, a Bachelorette party, and visited a new mom in the hospital. I'm so excited for all my friends, and it's kept me pretty busy :)

Games - I love me a good game night. My co-worker decided to have a game night just days before having her baby which was a ton of fun, and last Friday I was invited to a Poker Party at my friend Rochelle's house. I've played poker before, but usually with a bunch of chattering girls who aren't really paying attention. This time there would be men, serious men, so I decided to do some pre-reading before heading to her house and providing my "donation" to the winner. I'm happy to say the pre-reading helped. Although the first hand I played was a mess, I quickly got into the swing of things and ended up winning the first game. Woo-hoo!

Movies - I think I've been averaging a movie every weekend. Since Eat, Pray, Love, I've seen The Town (which I loved), Easy A (which was cute), and Social Network (which was interesting although I wish I knew what was true and what wasn't). I love going to the movies and it seems like there are some good ones coming out during the rest of the year.

Other - I went to Santana Row for a girl's night with some of my old co-workers, and went to Palo Alto for a farewell dinner to one of my current co-workers who moved to New York. Both nights were a blast, although I was sad about my co-worker moving (Miss you Leena!)

Baking:

First time - My old team sits in a building that went "healthy" for a month, so there were no sugary snacks in the microkitchens for the whole month of Sept. That's where I came in with Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies. Yum!

Second time - One of my favorite snacks used to be a Hostess Cupcakes. The cake is so dense, the cream filling, and that thick chocolate topping on the top. Strange thing is, lately I haven't craved the Hostess version, but instead the version made at work for lunch a few months ago. It was so delicious so I thought...I can make this. I have to say this was my first VERY BIG FAILURE. I don't know what went wrong, but whole thing tasted horrible. Bleh! One good thing that did come out of this was I got to buy a cake decorating set which included a tool for filing cupcakes.

Third time - This doesn't really count as baking, but I really wanted a double layer chocolate cake with chocolate icing, so I went to store and bought boxed cake mix and canned frosting. I can officially say that I finally realize the importance of making things from scratch as this cake didn't live up to my expectations :(

I won't be baking for at least a month as today is the first day of The Detox. The Detox was introduced to me by my co-worker Cole, who in general keeps a pretty clean diet, but every 6 months she likes to detox her body of toxins, chemicals, etc. She found this program in The Complete Guide to Nutritional Healthy by Pierre Jean Cousin and Kirsten Hartvig. Basically, you eliminate all dairy (yes....cheese included) and wheat based products, reduce your salt intake, avoid meat and animal fat, tea, coffee, white sugar, candies, alcohol, and tobacco. You load up on grains, veggies, fruits, herbal teas, etc. So I'm basically on a vegan, gluten-free diet...or as I like to call it HELL. I was only able to survive 3 out of the 4 weeks the last time I tried this (a year ago) but I must admit I never felt lighter or more energetic. I also slept like a BABY, so I'm going to try to stick it out for the full 4 weeks. My last day of the detox will be Halloween! Last time I didn't have a plan for after the detox, but this time I do, so I'm hoping the effects last a little longer than last time :)

I guess I have been busy, but don't worry, I'll be back in the swing of things soon. My next big project is painting the office in my house. I'm pretty sure I've selected the colors, now all I have to do is paint it (not something I enjoy doing but never seems worth the money to hire someone). I'll be sure to post before/after pics as soon as it's complete.

That's all from here!

Plans for the Holiday Weekend

My plans for Labor Day Weekend can be best shared through a picture.


No plans except snuggling with my B boy :)

Eat (Lasagna), Pray, and Love

Today my team at work decided to take another field trip to the movie theaters to see Eat, Pray, Love. I had read the book, back when Oprah first introduced it to me, and loved it, so was very excited to see the movie. Overall, I loved the movie and felt it was a good adaptation of the book. In the beginning they seemed to rush through her marriage and love affair with a younger man, but that's probably because the book wasn't called Get Divorced, Be a Cougar, Eat, Pray, and Love. Once Julia got to Italy, the movie definitely picked up and stayed on point for the remainder of her trip. For those of you that have read the book, you'll remember the FOOD described in Italy. Well, the movie did the FOOD justice with Julia eating plates of fresh pasta, pizza from Naples, and many more Italian treats. After the movie, the team agreed that all we wanted to do was eat, and preferably eat something Italian.

Luck was on my side today because when I arrived home, Alex had made dinner (a welcome surprise), and wouldn't you know...lasagna was on the menu. We call it the 5-year Lasagna, because he only makes it once every 5 years. This is largely due to the fact that he doesn't skimp on any of the good stuff, so it's always a treat. I can honestly say that tonight's lasagna was one of the best I've ever had and I think part of the reason was due to his Persian secret ingredient, saffron. My lasagna came with garlic toast and a simple garden salad on the side. Delizioso! Grazie Alex!

You can find a pic and the recipe for his 5-year lasagna below:

Ingredients

3 tbsp butter

1 white onion (diced)

1 clove of garlic (diced)

1 pepper (diced) - he used orange, but you can use green, red, or yellow

1 pound of 80/20 ground beef

Salt and black pepper to taste

6 white mushrooms (diced)

2 jars of marinara sauce

1 tbsp ground saffron

1 box of lasagna pasta sheets

6 oz of 4 Italian cheese blend (shredded) - he bought a pre-shredded bag that included mozzarella, provolone, parmesan, and white cheddar

6 oz of mozzarella (shredded)

15 oz of ricotta cheese

Instructions

1. Melt butter over medium heat

2. Add onion and cook until golden brown

3. Add garlic and pepper

4. Once the above is tender, add meat, and salt and black pepper to taste

5. Once meat is cooked, add mushrooms, marinara sauce, and saffron. Turn heat down to a simmer.

6. While sauce is simmering, cook lasagna as instructed on the box

7. Butter your cooking dish (or spray with non-stick cooking spray) and begin assembling

8. Start with a layer of pasta, then add a layer of meat sauce, and finally add a mixture of the different cheeses.

9. Rinse and repeat until all of your ingredients are used.

10. Cover with tin foil and cook at 350 for 35 mins.

11. Remove foil and cook for another 10 mins.

12. Remove and let stand for 15 mins before serving

Note: Even after 15 mins, the lasagna is hot so can sometimes be tough to cut and serve...but it's worth it :)

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday to the best Mom a girl could have!!

I've been in San Diego for the last week, and it's been a BUSY week. My agenda has included a work reunion party, visiting my friend's new baby boy, betting on the ponies at the Del Mar Race Track, going to see Dirty Dozen Brass Band (Jazz/Blues), seeing "The Other Guys", and having many breakfasts, lunches, and dinners (drinks included) with a lot of great friends and family. I'll be sure to post pictures soon.

Mom loves the races, so we headed to the Del Mar Race Track on Wednesday. My sister-in-law and nephew and told me to bet on the grey horses, so when we got there with only 3 minutes left to bet before the 1st race started, Mom and I quickly looked at the horses, and bet on the only grey one out there. As luck would have it, it wasn't the favorite (so the odds were good), and it WON! Here's a pic of Mom and me with our winnings (minimal but still exciting).

To end my vacation, my family had a birthday dinner for my Mom. The menu included Jack's Famous Flank Steak, Baja Chipotle Chicken Breasts, Cold Pesto Rigatoni Salad, Smashed Potatoes, Corn on the Cob, and a green salad. Desserts included Boston Cream Cake and Butterscotch Cupcakes. My favorites from dinner were:

Smashed Potatoes: Small golden yukon potatoes (with skins) mashed with butter, bacon pieces, cheddar cheese, and sour cream

Corn on the Cob: I LOVE corn on the cob, but I usually just boil the corn and add butter. I noticed at work, and in a lot of food magazines, there have been a variety of toppings for corn so I decided to spice it up a bit. I husked the cobs, brushed them with melted butter, and sprinkled some chili powder on them. I then threw them directly on the grill and kept them on for about 12 minutes on medium heat, making sure to turn them regularly and adding additional melted butter as needed. They were great!

Butterscotch Cupcakes: My mom's favorite dessert is anything butterscotch flavored so I decided to try butterscotch cupcakes. After doing a lot of searching, I realized most Butterscotch cupcakes are plain cupcakes with a butterscotch frosting. Here are mine.

Butterscotch Cupcake Recipe

Cupcake ingredients:

1 egg

2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 cup milk

1/3 cup butter, melted

2 tbsp corn syrup

1 tbsp vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 salt

Cupcake instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly butter nonstick muffin pan or line with paper baking cups.

2. In large bowl, whisk egg. Whisk in brown sugar, milk, butter, corn syrup, and vanilla. Sprinkle flour, baking powder, and salt and whisk until blended and smooth.

3. Spoon into prepared muffin pan. Bake fro 15 to 20 min or until cake tester inserted into center cupcake comes out clean.

4. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Transfer to rack to cool completely

Note: I think this might be an English recipe as the cupcakes were dense and I find English cupcakes are often a dense cake. They aren't overwhelmingly sweet which is good since the frosting is super sweet.

Frosting ingredients:

2 tbsp butterscotch-flavored morsels

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Frosting instructions:

1. While cupcakes are cooling, melt butterscotch morsels in microwave on high for 45 secons, or use double boiler over hot water.

2. Mix butter with butterscotch, then add powdered sugar.

3. Blend frosting with mixer until consistency is smooth.

4. Spread frosting atop cooled cupcakes.

StrengthsFinder 2.0

A little over a year ago, someone at worked mentioned StrengthsFinder 2.0 which is a strengths-based approach to career development. What does that mean you probably ask? Well, it means you take an assessment with a bunch of questions, and based on your answers, it tells you your 5 top "Strengths"(out of the 34 options). I know, I know...it's just another assessment, but what I like about this one is the philosophy behind it. It suggests that you shouldn't focus on your "areas of development" which you'll likely never be GREAT at, or motivated to work on (they are you areas of development after all). Instead, you should focus on what you're good (or even great) at, and find a career where your strengths are needed and can blossom. I was skeptical at first, but after taking the assessment, and reading through my strengths I started to believe (which actually is a trait of a Maximizer). Many people at work also took the assessment, and after reading their strengths I was pretty amazed at how accurately they portrayed my co-workers. I'm not saying that every single strength was exactly right, or that every description of a strength was perfect, I'm just saying, in general they were pretty correct.

When it came time to find a new job this year, I realized my career had kind of picked me up until that point. I went to school for "Business" but I never sat down and thought "I love calculating in Excel and analyzing things all day"...it just kinda happened. This was the first time I was actully going to choose my career so I thought back to my Strengths and asked myself where I thought I could best use my strengths best, knowing that using my strengths would make me happy. Know what? It worked. I've been in my new job for over 3 months now (which means I'm officially past the honeymoon phase) and I couldn't be happier in my new job. I just feel like I'm doing what I was meant to do, and it's a great feeling.

Below are my strengths and some of the things it says about people with these strength. (Click on the image to make it bigger.) Writing in blue are points I feel are dead on about myself. What do you think?

Succulents anyone?

As the environmentally conscious person that I am, I of course chose succulent plants to decorate my front porch and balcony. OK...to be honest, I forget to water my plants, and after killing about 10 different plants which my mom would lovingly plant every time she visited, I thought something that didn't need a lot of water was more my style.

Luckily succulents are available everywhere now, and there are some really beautiful ones that have pink, orange, purple, etc. flowers grow off them. I picked mine up from Target about a year ago, and none of them were larger than 6 inches when I got them...a little smaller than the ones in this picture.

Succulents on my balcony

My goal was to create something cute and pretty like this:

Well look at them NOW! Below are pics of the different varieties I have on my front porch. The problem is, they're growing like crazy and I don't know what to do with them in terms of trimming or re-potting, and because I'm not a plant lady, I forgot to keep those little stick labels that come with them that tell you how to take care of them. So...if anyone that reads my blog, is familiar with succulents, or even has a best guess as to what I should do with these, please let me know. :)

Above Pic: This one is the perfect size for the pot, although the smaller plant falling down the edges doesn't seem to have room to spread. PS. The big plant is PRICKLY at the tips of the leaves and along the edges.

Above Pic: The plant in the pot closest to you is fuzzy and starting to grow some beautiful orange flowers BUT it's busting at the seams. I feel like I'm going to walk outside one day and find the plant busted through the pot, and the pot shattered into pieces.

Above Pic: The BEAST. This is the biggest pot, so naturally it has the most plants. Most of them are growing at, what seems to be, a normal rate, but the one in the back is out of control. Do I trim it, take it out, feed it to a lion?

Any advice welcome!

Mexican Wedding Cookies and more....

I LOVE Mexican Wedding Cookies. For those of you that haven't tried Mexican Wedding Cookies, they remind me of shortbread in the way that they are rich with flavor and dense in texture. Shortbread has a very buttery taste, but Mexican Wedding Cookies are less buttery and more nutty. Yesterday's game night at Nicole and Sabin's seemed like a good excuse to try making them for the first time, along with some standard Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies.

Mexican Wedding Cookies

makes 30

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1tsp natural vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups plain (all-purpose) flour

pinch of salt

1 1/4 cups pecan nuts, finely chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Beat the butter in a large bowl until it is light and fluffy, then beat in 1 cup of the sugar, with the vanilla extract.

2. Gradually add the flour and salt to the creamed mixture, beating well after each addition, until it starts to form a dough. Add the finely chopped pecans with the remaining flour. Knead the dough lightly until combined.

3. Divide the dough into 30 equal pieces and roll them into balls. Space about 1/4 in. apart on baking sheets. Press each ball lightly with your thumb, to flatten slightly.

4. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes until the cookies are starting to brown. Cool on the backing sheets for 10 minutes then, using a metal spatula, transfer to wire-racks to cool completely

5. Put the remaining sugar in a bow. Add a few cookies at a time shaking them genly until they are heavily coated. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container.

Notes:

(1) I wouldn't wait until the cookies are turning slightly brown to take them out. It took 15 minutes before the cookies turned slightly brown and they ended up being a little overcooked. (2) Make sure to cool the cookies completely before Step 5. I had to do Step 5 when they were still a little warm and the sugar melted slightly and gave the cookies a glaze rather than a powdered look.

Double Chocolate Cookies

makes 18-20

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted (sweet) butter at room temperature, diced

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups self-rising flour

1 cup rolled oats

4 oz semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped*

4 oz white chocolate, coarsely chopped*

* I only used semi-sweet chocolate, and I used chocolate chips instead coarsely chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease two baking sheets. Cream the butter with the sugar in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat well.

2. Sift the flour over the mixture and fold in lightly with a metal spoon, the add the oats and chopped plain and white chocolate and stir well until evenly mixed.

3. Plase small spoonfuls of the mixture in 18-20 rocky heaps on the prepared baking sheets, leaving space for spreading.

4. Bake for 15-20 minutes until beginning to turn pale golden brown. Cool for 2-3 minutes on baking sheets, then using a spatula. Trasfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Note:

I picked these cookies because the picture in the book made them look thick rather than thinned out. They were thick...that's for sure. These cookies didn't thin out at all. If anything, they just grew upwards, so place them on the baking sheet as you find appropriate.

Recipes from The COOKIE Book by Catherine Atkinson, Joanna Farrow, and Valerie Barrett

Summer BBQ

I went to my first BBQ of the summer last night with some old co-workers. The weather was perfect as the sun was out, but there was a nice breeze to keep everyone cool. We sat outside and ate BBQ'd burger, hot dogs, and all the other usual BBQ fixings. It was great to see my old co-workers and catch up on life. We also made time to play some games, which is always entertaining, especially when you have competitive team mates.

Two of us were tasked with bringing something sweet. I decided to make some Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing (see below for pics and recipe), but the best dessert there was the Plum Cobbler. I'm not usually a fan of cobblers, as I often find them too tart or acidic, but this one was delicious. Be sure to click on the link above to get the recipe.

While I was making the cupcakes, I wondered why they were called Red Velvet (other than the obvious fact that it's red) since it's colored with food coloring anyways, why not Blue Velvet or Green Velvet. Based on some information I found on Wikipedia, I found out that while foods were rationed during World War II, bakers used boiled beets to enhance the color of their cakes. I actually attempted to make a Red Velvet Cake using beet juice instead of food coloring earlier this year for my co-workers birthday, but it turned out to be more of a dusty rose color than red.

It was a great night of friends, fun, and plenty of food!

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

Cake Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

1 cup buttermilk, room temperature

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 tablespoons red food coloring

1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:

1 pound cream cheese, softened

2 sticks butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar*

Chopped pecans and fresh raspberries or strawberries, for garnish

*My icing was runny which made it difficult to pipe onto the cupcakes. I'll probably remove 1/2 cup of confectioners' sugar from the frosting the next time I make it.

Cake Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.

3. Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

Frosting Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy

Recipe from FoodNetwork.com

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Weekend Adventure

I had big plans this weekend, some of which worked out perfectly and some that didn't. On Saturday morning I headed down to Carmel-by-the-Sea (75 miles south of San Jose) for the Annual Dachshund Beach Party where hundreds of Dachshunds arrive and run wild on an enclosed beach. As I arrived, I realized there wasn't a Dachsund in sight. I decided to check the invitation on my phone and found two issues. 1) It wasn't on Saturday, it was on Sunday, and 2) It wasn't this weekend, it's next weekend. Luckily, Carmel is a beautiful town so we walked the beach and streets before heading home. Now all I have to decide is whether I'll head back to Carmel for the event on the right day, during the right weekend. Below are some pics of me and my boy enjoying the salty air.

Saturday night I headed out for some dancing with girl friends. The bar we went to had a band playing named Joey Jam's Love Stoned. It was only their third gig, so they were still working some things out, but overall they were a good show and provided the necessary music for some good ol' dancing with wonderful friends. While playing, they mentioned that they'd be playing at Music in the Park in San Jose, and opening for a Micheal Jackson tribute band called Foreverland. When I heard this I got super excited because this is the band that played at my work conference in May, and they were GREAT!! Since Music in the Park is only 2 miles away from my house, I know what I'll be doing the night of August 5th.

Sunday was relaxation day. The lavender is in full bloom around my house, and with the warm weather, the bees are out too (click on the below pic to enlarge and you can see the bees). I headed back to the Farmer's Market, but didn't have time to investigate a new fruit or veggie since I got there late, and had to get back to watch the final game of The World Cup. (Yeah Spain!). I ended the evening with dinner in the city (SF) which is always a fun adventure.

All in all, a very enjoyable weekend as planned....or not.

Farmer's Market - Bitter Melon

I started my July 4th off at the Mountain View Farmers Market (see reviews on Yelp). My first visit to this Farmers Market was in June, with my Mom, when I had a Lemon Blueberry scone that I've been craving ever since. So, I woke up on the 4th, thinking about that scone, knowing I was headed there that day. I had the usually free fresh fruit samples that the seller's hand out as you walk around (it's the perfect breakfast) but as I finished the loop I realized my scone vendor never appeared. My hope is that some of the usual vendors took the day off, since it was the 4th, but are back next week. My final purchases for this visit were corn, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries.

I'm not much of a cook, outside of the easy-make items (spaghetti, fajitas, tacos, etc.), so I decided my goal of this trip would be to find and learn about a new fruit and/or vegetable. My hope is that as I learn more about different fruits and veggies, I'll feel comfortable using them in a meal some day :)

The fruit (even though it looks like a veggie) that caught my eye this week was the Bitter Melon. You can see just from the look of it why I was intrigued. When asking the vendor what it was, it took a couple of tries before I understood what he was saying. Luckily, there was a lady close by who repeated that it was Bitter Melon. When I asked how you cook it, she said it was true to its name and could be quite bitter. She said you cut them in half, take out the seeds, chop it up, and suggested sauteing it along with bacon or a some kind of pork product. She also mentioned that it's good for the liver and stimulating digestion. Like I said, I'm not quite ready to hit the kitchen yet, but it was nice to learn something new on such a beautiful day.

To view more pics from my visit to the Mountain View Farmer's Market, click here.

Living Room Decor Update

I'm happy to say that my new couch arrived. With a new couch, I took the opportunity to update some of the other items in my living room. I'm happy to share with you my new living room decor.

The Elliott couch, and ottoman, is from Macy's and is a pale green. I found the coffee table and end tables online at Cost Plus but after some online searching, I found them at Cymax.com on sale, in addition to a 15% coupon I found online. The painting was a 30th bday gift from my mom. It's a custom painting done by Eli Halpin. I love her stuff and have my eye on one of her giraffe paintings for my office. The lamps I found yesterday at TJ Maxx/Homegoods on my way home from work yesterday. All in all, I'm REALLY happy with everything I purchased, and I'm looking forward to enjoying it over the 4th of July weekend!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the old, new, and soon-to-be Dad's!

My Dad and Me

My Dad, Edwin J. Hurn, passed away over 6 years ago, but I still think about him every day and appreciate the time I was able to spend with him. It always makes me smile when I see one of his quirky traits in me, like how he put his hand on the center console when driving, or the way he rarely closed a drawer all the way. He continues to be one of my role models in regards to his work ethic, his don't-sweat-the-small-stuff personality, and his ability to have respect for everyone he met. Unfortunately, he suffered from Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) (learn more below), and left this life sooner than we could have imagined, but I know he lives on through my memories, and in the memories of his family and friends. Love you Dad!

5 Things to Know about IPF

1. IPF is a lung disorder which slowly robs its victims of their ability to breathe.
2. It is idiopathic, meaning it comes from obscure or unknown causes, and there is no known cure for IPF. There are many clinical trials looking for a cure, but currently a lung transplant is the only option for victims.
3. Approximately 128,000 Americans suffer from Pulmonary Fibrosis, and an estimated 48,000 new cases are diagnosed annually. Pulmonary Fibrosis claims the lives of 40,000 people each year - the same number as breast cancer.
4. IPF affects more men than women and most commonly occurs between the fifth and seventh decades (median age at time of diagnosis is 63 years).
5. Limited awareness of the cause and disease progression has made misdiagnosis of IPF a common problem. A recent study showed that more than 50% of IPF patients may be initially misdiagnosed.

Makeover and Multitasking

I've not posted for while for three main reasons.

1. Work has been busy (in a good way)
2. I've been sick (I'm better now)
3. Nothing exciting has happened (probably because I've been working or sick)

Anyways, you all might have noticed my Blog got a makeover thanks to Blogger Template Designer which is a new tool in Blogger that makes designing your Blog a whole lot easier. Don't be surprised if my blog changes it's look a couple of times before it finds its official style.

On a completely different topic, if you're like me, it seems like there are too many things to get done in a day sometimes. Many of us pride ourselves on being able to multitask which we believe allows us to get more things done, faster. Well, according to the article How (and Why) to Stop Multitasking in the Harvard Business Review multitasking can reduce productivity by up to 40%. The author decided to stop multitasking for a week, and instead focus on one task at a time. He found that he was able to make progress on significant projects, reduce his stress dramatically, and find patience for things he found enjoyable and useful. The article isn't too long, and it's definitely worth the read. If you decide to stop multitasking, let me know how it goes.

PS. My couch is being delivered next Thursday so I'll have pictures posted soon.

Sporadic Shopper

I'm not a die-hard shopper. I'd probably consider myself a sporadic shopper - meaning there are days, weeks, even months when I have NO interest in shopping, and then one day I wake up, and all I want to do is shop. This weekend was one of those weekends.

The weather was gorgeous so I tried to enjoy the sun as much as possible, but when the sun went down, I did some shopping. I finally bought a couch. My mom will tell you that I've been looking for a couch for over a year now, but Friday night I decided to bite the bullet. I knew Macy's would be having a sale so I headed over, found one I liked in 30 mins, picked a color and ordered it. Unfortunately, it's not on their website and I forgot to take a pic, so I'll have to take one the next time I'm there. The couch is supposed to be delivered in July, but that's just an estimate, so let's hope it arrives some time this summer.

Once I got the couch, I of course started thinking about end tables, lamps, and coffee tables. Macy's had some cute things, but they're so expensive so I headed to HomeGoods instead. They didn't have any end tables or coffee tables that I liked, but they did have some cute lamps. I figured what's the point of getting the lamps if I don't have the couch yet, so I decided to hold off. Doesn't sound like a successful shopping trip but what you don't know is I filled by basket with a whole lot of smaller items, like this cupcake pen, some sheets for my bed, and small pic for my bathroom, three cute tops, and more...so I did quite well. :)

While we're on the topic of shopping, I wanted to introduce everyone to Etsy. I'm probably 5 years behind the times, but my co-worker told me about it this weekend and then it was mentioned on one of my favorite decorating blogs. Etsy is the world's most vibrant handmade marketplace where you can buy and sell handmade or vintage items. They seriously have some of the cutest stuff, and most of it is reasonably priced because it's paid directly to the artist or jewelry maker.

Enjoy!

Field Trip

I just got back from a field trip to the movie theater to see Sex In The City 2. It was only three of us from work that ended up being able to make it, but it was still a lot of fun. We got there early to avoid the crowds....although it wasn't that crowded at 3:30pm on a Thursday afternoon.

Here's my quick review:

1) Overall, another fun movie to go see on girl's night.

2) Aidan was looking as handsome as ever.

3) Liza Minnelli singing Single Ladies was weird and I now can't get it out of my head.

4) There isn't a strong plot, other than the usual "Woman Power" message, although I thought staging it in the Middle East was kind of an easy target.

5) The fashion was out of control. I'm pretty sure they had 3 outfits just to ride a camel, and as one of my co-workers said, one of the outfits looked like it came out of Olivia Newton John's 80's wardrobe. I've always loved the quirkiness of the fashion, but some of it was just a tad too much.

6) I'm still in love with the LOVE rug that hangs on the wall when you first walk into Carrie's old apartment.

7) Samantha is up to her usual antics and out of control.

8) I missed the City in Sex In The City.

I know many of you will see it this weekend, so let me know what YOU think!

The Terminator, Cookies, Cupcakes, and LOST finale

This week I was passing by our large cafeteria area at work and suddenly heard a voice I recognized. He wasn't saying "I'll Be Back" but I knew it was Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was speaking to a crowd of non-Googlers and had security everywhere. I didn't stop long to hear what he was saying as I felt a little out of place. When I got back to my office and told my co-workers he was here, we all went running back to see if we could listen, or get a picture, but got stopped by security. There's an upstairs area where you can see down into the cafeteria area so we headed up there to see if we'd have any luck...and we did. He was speaking about The Green Product Innovation Institute. After his speech he actually came into the micro-kitchen right outside our office space, where he had some cereal and coffee, but was again surrounded by security. Below is the pic I was able to take from the upstairs walkway...check out those green shoes.


I thought I had two friends at work with birthdays today, Danny and Doris, so decided to make some birthday treats over the weekend. I wasn't sure if guys really like cupcakes, so decided to make some Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies for Danny (pic and recipe below). Doris doesn't like chocolate, but I wasn't sure if that meant she liked vanilla, or fruity cake instead. Luckily, another co-worker said she liked Carrot Cake so I made Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting (pic and recipe below). I've never made Carrot Cake before so hopefully they're tasty. Note: The reason I say I thought I had two friends at work with birthdays is because when I delivered the cookies to Danny, he informed me that it was another Daniel on the team that had a birthday today. Whoops!

I ended the weekend with the finale of LOST. We watched the 2 hour pre-finale show, the 2.5 hour finale, and the 1 hour after-show on Jimmy Kimmel. The pre-finale show helped me understand a few things that had flown over my head week after week. I realize the finale didn't answer all the questions, but I wasn't expecting an ending like that. All I can say is thank you LOST, for ending 6 years of frustration with such an amazing finale. I LOVED it.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

by Shannon Sharper (co-worker)

Mix:

2 eggs

1 cup vegetable or canola oil (you can also use closer to 3/4 cup and it still works fine)

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon vanilla

Add:

2 cups old-fashioned oats (not quick or 1-minute)

2 cups flour

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

1 cup chocolate chips

Note: You can also try adding in raisins instead of chocolate chips or make a trail mix version with cranberries, nuts and chocolate chips.

Make: Large, golf ball-sized balls of dough

Bake: at 350 for 10-12 minutes

Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

Carrot Cupcakes:

1 pound carrots, peeled and finely grated

3 large eggs, room temperature

1/3 cup buttermilk

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

1 vanilla bean, halved length-wise, seeds scraped and reserved (or 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract)

1/2 cup golden raisins

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together carrots, eggs, buttermilk, sugar, oil, vanilla-been seeds, and raisins. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Stir flour mixture into carrot mixture until well combined.

2. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, 23 to 28 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 mins; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

Icing:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 pound (4 cups) confectioners' sugar, sifted

3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, and then vanilla, and mix until smooth and combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. If not using immediately, frosting can be refrigerated up to 3 days in an airtight container. Before using, bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth again.

Seahorses

Last week I spent Wednesday and Thursday in Monterey, CA with all of my co-workers from around the globe. Everyone in PeopleOps (aka. POps or HR) flew in for a two day conference which included breakout sessions, guest speakers, awards, dinners, trivia games, and plenty of parties.

The opening speech was given at the Golden State Theater which had a welcoming sign for us.

Almost everything else was held at the hotel(s), including an amazing breakout session I took on Managing Your Energy. The breakout session was shortened and customized for Google, but originally came from the Energy Project. Did you know... that sleeping less than 4 hours a night, for 4 or more consecutive nights, is the equivalent of being legally intoxicated??
The class teaches you how to maximize your energy, so that you can be more productive in the same amount of time, which is amazing since as we all know, time is finite. I've already implemented some of their tips and have found them to be really useful. I still hope to take the full class as I felt there was a lot more to learn.

Thursday night was our night to celebrated, which we did at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. All the exhibits were open for us to see, including the seahorses (how many can you find in the pic below?).

It was an amazing event, that included photo booths, dueling pianos in front of a huge fish tank, a live band that played Michael Jackson ALL night, and plenty of food and drinks.

Overall, it was a wonderful opportunity to meet new people, enjoy "down" time with people I work with on a regular basis, and really appreciate my job and my co-workers.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the new, old, and soon-to-be mothers. As I grow older, and more of my friends become new moms, I realize what a difficult and selfless job it can be, but hopefully just as fulfilling.

My mom and I will unfortunately be 500 miles away from each other but I'll be thinking of her all day long, and everything she's done for me over the years.

Mom - Happy Mother's Day! Thank you for always being there for me. When I need to vent, you're there to listen. When I need some company, you're here in a flash. When I don't know what I need, you always seem to have the answer. My life would not be the same without you in it, and I am so thankful for all you do for me and our family.

Love,
Rob
xoxo

And we're off....

First of all, I apologize for not posting anything recently, but I'm happy to say it's because I'm busy at work. Sounds strange...I'm happy to be so busy at work that I can't even communicate with the outside world. OK, maybe it's not that serious, but back to my point. We launched one of the programs I'll be working on this week so I've been soaking everything in. I'm finally starting to feel like I'm adding value to the team, even if it is just answering simple questions or sending out emails, it's nice to be doing something.

Amongst all the chaos, I was able to go see Conan O'Brien who visited the Googleplex yesterday. We often have authors stop by to talk about their books, or musicians, sometimes politicians. Just another crazy perk at Google. Conan is currently on a comedy tour and happened to be in the Bay Area so stopped by for a Q&A session where Googlers got to ask questions, and he answered. He was VERY funny, as usual, and it was a great break from my busy week.


To see all my pics, click here. There is a funny picture of me wishing I was Conan (from last summer) and a video of him doing the "string dance".

Note: For those of you that are Conan fans, looks like he'll be back in our living rooms soon. He signed a deal with TBS for a Mon-Thurs night show at 11pm and could be on as soon as Nov. 2010.

April TV

I realize April is almost over, but I still have 3 or 4 days to sneak this in. This won't come as a surprise to many of you, but I love tv. My favorite shows are reality shows, even though they're usually far from any reality I live in, but that doesn't stop me.

To recap the month of April...

Shows that ended in April:
'Shear Genius' (Bravo) 3rd season finale - I was mad that Brig won
'Melrose Place' (The CW) 1st season finale - Yes....I watch the new one
'Millionaire Matchmaker' (Bravo) 3rd season finale - Gotta love Patti
'Ugly Betty' (ABC) series finale - SO SAD to see the end of this show happen
'Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution' (ABC) 1st season finale - Very inspiring

Shows that started in April:
'Intervention' (A&E) 8th season mid-season premiere - Some people find this show depressing but I think it's amazing, especially when people stay clean
'Glee' (FOX) 1st season mid-season premiere - Loved the Madonna episode, can't wait for the Lady GaGa episode, and word on the street is they might do a Britney Spears episode too
'Dhani Tackles the Globe' (Travel) 2nd season premiere - Sports-related, but Dhani sure is nice to look at
'Say Yes to the Dress' (TLC) 5th season premiere - I'm not planning on getting married, but I can't help watching the random bridezilla
'The Hills' (MTV) 6th season premiere - see below
'The City' (MTV) 2nd season premiere - I love Whitney but I'm not sure she's a big enough star for her own show. 1st season was alright, we'll see how this season goes
'Friday Night Lights' (NBC) 4th season premiere - Mom will be happy about this one too, starts on the 30th

Shows I wish I watched but no one has convinced me to add them to my DVR...yet
'Little People, Big World' (TLC) 6th season mid-season premiere
'Celebrity Fit Club' (VH1) 7th season finale
'Top Chef Masters' (Bravo) 2nd season premiere
'Tori & Dean' (Oxygen) 5th season premiere

Don't worry, I don't actually track all this information in my head. I'm not that obsessed. My source is here.

Season 6 premiere of The Hills
I promised Rachel that I would blog my reaction to tonight's season premiere of The Hills, so here you go.
1. Why is Stephanie friends with everyone now? She's only there to ask "loaded" questions. I don't like her and wish she wasn't on the show...ever.
2. Did Heidi and Spencer rob a pawn shop? What's with all the gold jewelry?
3. FrankenHeidi is going to be in my nightmare tonight. She's straight scary looking!
4. Brody ...need I say more.
5. Since when does wearing sunglasses mean you do drugs? Jack Nicholson's been wearing them to Lakers games for years. Oh...wait...
Final Thoughts: Overall, it was a pretty boring season opener although clips from the rest of the season look pretty juicy. I think it's a good thing that this is the last season though. It's starting to be same old, same old.

BTW, did I mention that I love reality tv. I love it so much, that I read both of Lauren Conrad's books, L.A. Candy and Sweet Little Lies, which are about reality tv. They are "fictional" although a lot of the story lines and people sound very similar to those in The Hills. Regardless, the books were fantastic and I highly recommend them.


On a side note, a commercial for Sex In The City 2 came on during The Hills, and I just want to say...I can't wait! Aidan's back..yeah.