will work for dessert

After much quality control, our Christmas Cookies are finally done. I felt like I was working an assembly line. But the cookies are distributed to friends and family and I am done. It was so hectic i was only able to take a picture of one of the types of cookies we baked. I wanted to share the picture with all of you see the cookies below:

I also updated my Vegas post to show a picture of the Chocolate Cake. Enjoy! And Merry Christmas!

I just got back from Vegas. One of the things I love about that town is that you can try a variety of food that you normally wouldn’t see around your area, or if you’re at a buffet you can try almost anything. While I wasn’t able to get to the buffet at the M Resort (I overheard from a lot of people from town that it’s the best one in town now), I stopped by a dessert shop there. Why yes, it was like my dream-come-true. The store was called Baby Cakes Artisan Bakery. It was modern in design as the casino is modern looking. The shop is very open with glass windowed walls all around; it’s easy to do that since their shop is the casino. They had about 15-20ish desserts and pastries on display at the time I went there. I tried the Vanilla Eclair, a chocolate covered eclair and the Costa Rican Chocolate Cake. The Vanilla Eclair has the normal vanilla custard in the profiterole with a thick layer of chocolate on top, a fairly standard eclair. I’m going to do my best on explaining the Costa Rican cake, but I’m no critic- and my palette is definitely not refined enough. Humor me anyways and let me know how bad my review is in the comments section.

The Costa Rican Chocolate Cake
I asked the lady behind the counter what made it Costa Rican, and she said it is make with coffee and Bailey’s. It had 6 layers, and to me it wasn’t very cake-y but rather more mousse-y. The “crust” layer was cookie-like in texture and had nuts in it with a thin chocolate layer on the bottom. The layer above that was a mousse, then another sort of “nutty-filled” layer, mousse again, a dark “chocolate” cake layer, finished with a layer of mousse on top and powdered with cocoa. The slice is then topped with a chocolate curl with gold flecks on top.

You get many different textures in your mouth with each bite. You’ll get a crunch from something caramelized and from the nuts as well. You get more mousse than cake for texture, which makes me wonder why it’s called “cake”. It’s not very over-bearing in chocolate flavor, as the coffee helps bring out a few flavors and you get a hint of bailey’s here and there. It’s a very different cake, very mousse-y.

No, this isn’t a recipe for stuffing. I’m talking about being stuffed. Since I got sick right after Thanksgiving, I wasn’t able to work out and I can feel my belly expanding. It happens to the best of us this time of year. Between the Thanksgiving Turkey and Ham, the quality control tasting of Christmas Cookies, the oh-so-many holiday get-togethers with friends, coworkers and family, Christmas Dinner and New Years. I mean when do we really have time to stuff (pardon my pun) exercise in. Well, any little bit of exercise no matter how short it is helps. But really what it comes down to is portion control.

Don’t hate Giada because she’s a skinny chef, she keeps slim by eating small portions. It’s a hard task to take on. I know if I get off track it takes me a while to get my portions back under control. One thing to help you start realizing portions is to realize how much you’re eating. The other is to try substitute healthier choices instead of fatty ones. Don’t get me wrong, I know the fatty good choices taste good. But anything you can do helps. I found an article about making healthier choices that I wanted to share with you. Here’s a helpful list on what items you can substitute on the menu to help cut a few calories.

Bad: Cheese Straws
Good: Pretzels, Popcorn or a few Chips with Salsa

Bad: Swedish Meatballs
Good: Shrimp Cocktail

Bad: Eggnog
Good: Hot Chocolate or Spiced Cider

Bad: Pot Roast
Good: White Turkey Breast or lean Beef Tenderloin

Bad: Pecan Pie
Good: Apple or Sweet Potato Pie

To learn more about why these choices are bad for you, and for a few other options to go Health.com.

As promised! My friend posted the article and I want to share it with you all.  Just in time for Christmas on a budget. You should check out the rest of his site as well. He has a lot of information and tips on how to help simplify your financial lifestyle.

http://thezencapitalist.com/2009/12/cheap-christmas-presents/

Happy Shopping!

Hello. Sorry for the lack in posts; I am alive. Unfortunately, I was summoned into Jury Duty two weeks ago. And can you believe it, there was no wireless internet access in the court buildings! Who does that? Anyways, Hope you all had a fulfilling Thanksgiving. I had 3 turkey dinners! I’m certainly stuffed. I ran myself down last week with all the running around I was doing and got myself sick, so I haven’t been able to work off the turkey and pumpkin pie yet. That’s not an excuse for the lack of posts, but I have been busy. I finally bought my laptop for school! Super-stoked about that, unfortunately I ordered it online and it won’t ship until just before Christmas. But it will come as an added Christmas gift. Can you believe it, Christmas is already around the corner. I did some research on gifts that are under $20 for a friend’s blog. I’ll post a link once he puts it up. And speaking of Christmas, every year I help my mom bake hundreds of cookies this time every year. I’ll be sure to take pictures and post them when we bake them. I’m also trying to work on my site, and will hopefully (fingers crossed) have it up and running soon. So maybe you won’t be too upset with my lack of posts, I’ll make it up to you shortly.

I wanted to share some pictures I took of the two pumpkins I carved for this Halloween. I’ve been carving pumpkins for a few years now, and have generally carved characters from Pixar films. This year was Up! I even attached a cutout house to a string with a balloon to make it look like the two characters were flying away? Enjoy!

Final

Carved pumpkins of Up! characters with house and balloons.

Carved the title in the back of the pumpkin, so it shows up on the wall when lit.

Dug

Carl

Russell

Well, I wouldn’t be of much help if I didn’t pass along this bit of information. It might not be as scrumptious as some of my future articles may be, but trust me this is good. Like I mentioned before, you’re sick of your job. But you can’t just quit to start on your new path, you’ve got bills to pay! Here are some helpful tips that I’ve ended up using, and this was before this article was posted on MSN:

Do one thing each day to help you reach your goals.
You’re driven. You work really hard at your job, but just can’t stand the crap anymore. Don’t lose site of your new found goal. Write down a list of things you need to get you on your way. Tackle each step one day at a time. When I knew I wanted to go to culinary school, I researched one school a day. After that step, I contacted one school a day. It might be tedious, but if you’re at your job for a while it can help pass the days.

Create a diversion for yourself in the office.
Okay, this might sound really lame. But some days get to you more than others. Usually those are the days that I visit icanhascheezburger.com/. Seriously, it will make me laugh every time.

Use your time to develop your skills.
Really take this into consideration if you feel you won’t be able to hold out in your current job. If there’s a certification you can achieve to better sell yourself for the same position at another company, take your time to work on it now.

Blow off some steam.
If you have to stick around, make sure to take this step. I work out during the week not only to eat dessert all the time, but to keep my sanity. Get that heart rate up and rock climb, go dancing, or try boxing-tape a picture of your boss’ face on the punching bag!

Keep your bridges intact.
I never thought I would go back to retail, but the first place I went back for a job was my former employer. Luckily I was a good worker and didn’t burn my bridges there; my boss was more than happy to give me my job back. But also think about the future, you never know if the people you are about to leave will somehow know the person you want to be hired by. If you leave with bad rapport, they might make mention of that fact to your future hirer.

Realize that this too shall pass.
I really hate this line. But it’s so true. Sometimes you might lose sight of your goals, but each day that you make it through gets you that much closer to your goals.

These tips are taken from:
http://msn.careerbuilder.com/Article/MSN-1874-Workplace-Issues-Coping-with-a-Job-You-Hate/?SiteId=cbmsnhp41874&sc_extcmp=JS_1874_home1&gt1=23000