vicious sweet tooth » Birthday

Feeling Like a Kid Again

Vicious Sweet Tooth — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 14:59:24 +0000

Hey y’all – we ended up getting home pretty late last night, and then we went straight to bed – we were so tired! Last night was a blast though!

After work, we met up with everyone for our friend’s birthday. We met up at the Pin Chasers bowling alley in Tampa and bowled 2 games. Let’s just get it out-of-the-way, I am a really bad bowler, I have no proper form and have such weak upper strength that I can’t even throw the bowling ball properly, but it comes close to getting the job done – if you saw me, you’d laugh, but it’s all I can do. Anyway, game 1 I bowled an 84….not bad for me, it’s probably one of the top scores I’ve had. The second game, I broke a 100 and got like 104 and that’s a miracle. I was stoked! And I thought about the last time I bowled and why I did so crappy – like I think I scored a 42 on one game and I think that it’s because I over thought it and wanted so badly to beat someone or score super high. But last night I just went to have fun, told everyone up front how I am and just took my turns. I really had a blast and feel that when I over think things I often sabotage my efforts. My husband that I should do everything for fun…he’s right, the results are usually better or at least the experience is.

After bowling we went to a park in downtown Tampa – it has been recently built next to the Children’s Museum. There, we spread out a sheet to eat some goodies – strawberry shortcake, mini cupcakes and just chilled out for a while. Then we decided to play wiffle ball. Ok, I like sports and I used to play baseball with our neighbors all of the time, but it’s been a good 15+ years so I wasn’t thrilled at first, but then I just went out and did and scored a lot and ran fast. I was worried about my hip because we just took off running and I didn’t warm-up or stretch but it was ok. It started to bother me at the end, but it turned out fine.

So, I felt like a kid last night with all of the games we played. It was a really fun night and it was so much fun to hang out with our friends – some we hadn’t seen in a while.

But here’s a recap of my fun Friday!

Workout:

Warm-up – 10 mins treadmill
40 mins Stationary bike – intervals lvl 3, lvl 6 and then the last 10 mins, I just did lvl 4
Cool down – 5 mins on treadmill

Breakfast: Yesterday morning, I was craving something other than a green smoothie, so I opted for something a little more savory, eggs and placed them on top of a brown rice cake I picked up at WholeFoods the other day.

Rice Cake Packaging

I love rice cakes and I’m glad they make brown rice ones – these have 70 calories per cake, 63 milligrams of potassium, 0 mg sodium, 14 g carbs, 1 gram fiber, 1 gram protein. And the only ingredient is: eco-farmed whole grain brown rice. Nice

Brown Rice Cake

So, I had 1 egg + 2 egg whites, 1.5 Tbsp avocado, 1 rice cake and a drizzle of maple syrup – yum!

Brown Rice Cake + Eggs + Avocado

Snacks: 1/2 Fruit + Nut Kind Bar

Fruit + Nut

1 GF Chocolate Chip Cookie

GF Choco Chip Cookie

Lunch: Today I met up with a girl who’s in the Alpha Gamma Delta Alumnae Chapter in Tampa to have some lunch. She is moving in a week or so to Pennsylvania, so I wanted to meet up for one last lunch before she starts her new journey. We decided on Panera Bread and I looked over the menu this morning. I love how their nutrition information is set up. It really made choosing what I wanted a lot easier, seeing what I’d be consuming.

I knew I wanted a salad because I’ve been indulging in a lot of sweet treats this week. So, I decided on their Mediterranean Salmon Salad – A chilled salmon fillet served on field green and romaine lettuce, Kalamata olives, Mandarin oranges, sliced almonds and red onions. I got my salad without the Feta and with the salad dressing – their honey tangerine vinaigrette – on the side, but I barely touched it. I also ate their sourdough roll, I tried to avoid it, but it was good!

Mediterranean Salmon Salad

Dinner: After work, I rushed home and grabbed a bite to eat before the bowling alley. I had this rice cake with almond butter, chocolate chips and a drizzle of maple syrup. What would I do without you lovely maple syrup! I also had a few bites of quinoa and steamed broccoli leftover from the other night, no pic though – it was just a small bowl

Brown Rice Cake + Almond Butter + Choco Chips

Dessert: I did have some about 3 mini cupcakes and a bit of the strawberry shortcake – more berries, no whip cream and a part of the bread. I left my camera at home and it was really dark, so no photos

I really had an awesome Friday!!! The weather was awesome and there was a ton of laughter and just funness (is that even a word?!) going on.

Allright y’all I have to start getting this place packed up…it’s a gorgeous day today and we’re stuck inside…boo!!

Peace out.

Filed under: Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch, Me, Snacks Tagged: bars, Birthday, Bowling, eggs, Panera Bread, Workouts

Gran Marnier Chocolate Layer Cake w/ Chocolate Ganache + Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting

Vicious Sweet Tooth — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 20:50:30 +0000

Happy Weekend!

Hey y’all! Sorry I’ve been a little MIA, the hubby and I just got back from Mexico the other day and it’s been nonstop since we returned. I’m going to try to catch up on the posting in the next few days. But I noticed the other day that I forgot to post about the layer cake I made for my friend’s b-day a couple weeks ago.

Gran Marnier Chocolate Layer Cake w/ Chocolate Ganache + Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

I made the Gran Marnier syrup the night before so that all of the flavors could meld together. And I made the chocolate ganache right before I started the cake layers so it would have time to set up and not be too runny when I spread it between the many layers.

Gran Marnier Simple Syrup

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1.5 Tbsp Gran Marnier

Combine water and sugar and bring to a slight boil until fully dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool. Once cooled add the gran marnier.

Chocolate Ganachne (used between the layers)

120z of good chocolate (I used Ghiradelli milk chocolate b/c that is all I could find at the store)
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Gently melt chocolate – I used the microwave for about 1 min and then added the heavy cream. Whisk until smooth and creamy and let cool.

Cake Batter (x 2 as I made 4 layers) - adapted from this recipe I found at cookingforengineers.com - I used 2 9-inch cake pans.

8 oz. (225 g) unsalted butter (softened)
1-1/4 cups (295 g) drinking water
3/4 cup (105 g) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (85 g) cake flour
1-1/2 cup (300 g) dark brown sugar
3 large eggs
1/4 cup (20 g) pure cacao powder
2 oz. (55 g) 70% cacao dark chocolate
1-1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. table salt
1/2 cup (115 g) sour cream
1 tsp. (5 mL) pure vanilla extract

Prepare cake pans by lining the bottom with parchement paper.

Start by sifting the two flours, baking soda, and salt together. I like to sift them onto a sheet of wax or parchment paper because the paper can then be picked up and the contents poured out in an easy to control manner.

Break up the chocolate into 1/2-inch (1 to 1.5 cm) squares and combine with the cacao powder.

Bring the water to a boil and measure out 1-1/4 cup. Pour over the chocolate and whisk gently until the chocolate has completely dissolved. Using water heightens the chocolate flavor of the mixture.

Once the flour has been sifted and the chocolate melted into boiling water, cream the unsalted butter with a standing mixer equipped with a flat beater. Add the dark brown sugar and mix until butter and sugar are evenly mixed. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula.

One at a time, add the eggs and beat on medium-high until fully incorporated.

Mix in sour cream and vanilla extract. Scrape the bowl down.

On low speed, mix in a third of the flour mixture followed by half of the chocolate liquid. Repeat with another third of the flour and the rest of the chocolate. Finally, mix in the last third of the flour. Stop the mixer once the batter has just combined.

Pour the batter into each cake pan as evenly as possible.

Bake both cake pans in a 350°F (175°C) oven on a rack set to the center position for 25 minutes or until a toothpick or wood skewer thrust into the center of the cake and withdrawn is clean or only has dry crumbs attached. Remove both pans from the oven and allow them to site on a wire rack for five minutes.

Run a knife along the circumference of each round to release the cake from the pan. Invert the pan over a wire rack. The cake should gently release and rest on the rack.

Immediately remove the parchment paper from the bottom of the cake. Waiting until the cake begins to cool may result in some of the cake surface sticking to the paper and lifting off as you remove the paper.

Allow the cake rounds to cool completely. I placed the cake rounds in the freezer for a while to firm up so that trimming them to make even would be easier.

After the layers are cooled begin making the layers. Paint the top with the Gran Marnier syrup, enough to soak into the cake. Then add a nice thick dollop of chocolate ganache to spread over each layer. Keep going until you reach the last layer you want. For the very top layer, I just brushed on the simple syrup, not the chocolate ganache

Here are my completed 4 layers

Layered Cake Rounds

Ganache Layer

While Cake is setting up/baking make Vanilla Buttercream frosting.

Vegan Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream – Adapted from Vegan Cup Cakes Take Over The World (I did about 2 batches)

1/2 cup nonhydrogenated shortening
1/2 cup nonhydrogenated margarine
3 1/2 cups Confectioners’ Sugar, sifted
1/4 cup plain soy milk or soy creamer (I used almond milk)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla Extract

Beat the shortening and margarine together until well-combined and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes. Add the vanilla and soy milk and beat for another 5 to 7 minutes until fluffy. Once the buttercream frosting was done and the layer cake had set up in the freezer for a little bit so that it would be firm when I iced it, I added the buttercream frosting and did a crumb layer. I couldn’t find the exact tool I thought I had to make it completely smooth, so I did my best and added a thicker layer of buttercream frosting, let that set and then did my best to smoother it out once it was a little firmer.

Vanilla Butter Cream Frosted Layer Cake

I added colored sprinkle stars to in about an inch in length around the entire cake leaving the center clean. I also added large dots to the outside of the cake, basically trying to draw attention away from the not-so-perfect smoothness of the cake.

Dots added to Layer Cake

Rainbow Star Sprinkles

And TA-DA! The Final product. I’m extremely happy how it turned out considering the tools I had to work with and the fact that this was my first homemade 4-Layer cake! Next time I make a layer cake, I might do a flavored buttercream or cream cheese frosting between the layers. I think the chocolate ganache was great in here, but I might add a lot more between the layers because although you could taste the rich layer of ganache, you couldn’t see that well amongst the chocolate cake. But it was delicious!

Finished Layer Cake

I didn’t get to take a photo of the inside, boo! But it got rave reviews, which is all that mattered to me.

Peace out guys….

Filed under: Baking, Me, Recipes Tagged: Birthday, Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Ganache, Dessert, Gran Marnier Syrup, Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

A Birthday Party for Two

Vicious Sweet Tooth — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 02:48:49 +0000

Hey y’all yesterday’s surprise b-day party for a friend of ours was sooo much fun. She had a huge surprise when her husband arranged for her parents to come into town for her b-day…she had no idea. And it turns out that her mom’s b-day is the day after hers, so we ended up celebrating 2 birthday’s instead of one. There was a lot of great food and lots of laughter. It was such a nice way to end the week!

So, here’s yesterday’s eats and events…

Breakfast: Broccoli Casserole w/ Turkey Sausage

Broccoli Casserole

Snack: 1 Serving of Roasted Almonds (170 cals)

Roasted Almonds

1 String Cheese (50 cals)

Lunch: Large Salad

Spinach, steamed broccoli, asparagus, 2 pcs zucchini, 1 Tbsp feta cheese, 2 Tbsp Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Salad

Dinner: Last night, we had plans to head over to Gulfport for a friend’s surprise party. The theme for dinner was Italian. I had some of the appetizer I brought, some salad, a little spoon full of chicken Tetrazzini, and marinated tomatoes. And I had a glass of sangria and then a small glass of red wine with dinner.

The hubby and I split a small piece of cake for dessert…so yummy!

We brought Sangria, Artichoke Olive spread w/ zucchini & homemade focaccia bread and of course the birthday cake!

Sangria:

: Sangria

(source)

1 750 ml bottle of red wine – we used Merlot

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup triple sec

2 oranges – 1 sliced, 1 juiced

1 lime

cinnamon

Juice 1 orange. Slice orange and lime. Combine all ingredients together except cinnamon. Chill over night. Right before serving add a dash of cinnamon. Serve with ice.

Artichoke Olive Spread

: artichoke olive spread

(source)

1 garlic clove, peeled and smashed
1 cup large green pitted olives
1 tablespoon capers, rinsed and drained
1 15-ounce can of artichoke hearts, drained
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

In a food processor, process the garlic, olives, capers, artichoke hearts and olive oil to a coarse paste. I served it with zucchini slices and homemade focaccia bread.

focaccia bread
from mark bittman’s How to Cook Everything

: Focaccia

(source)

1 tsp instant or rapid-rise yeast
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour
2 tsp coarse kosher or sea salt (plus extra for sprinkling)
1 to 1 1/4 cups water
3 Tbsp olive oil (plus extra for greasing)

1. dissolve the yeast in 1 cup of water and let rest for 5 minutes.

2. mix the salt into the flour, set aside.

3. add the olive oil to the yeast mixture.

4. mix the flour into the wet ingredients with a wooden spoon until it begins to form into a ball. you will soon be able to mix with your hands, using a tiny bit of extra flour as needed, until the dough is smooth, but still moist.

5. knead into a ball and place on a lightly floured surface. sprinkle with a little more flour, cover with a towel and let rest for 20 minutes.

6. grease a 11×17 inch baking sheet. after the 20 minutes is up, press the dough into a small rectangle on the pan and stretch a bit. let it rest a few minutes and press out toward the edges of the pan again. if the dough resists, let it rest a minute and then resume pressing/stretching.

7. cover the dough and let it rise for at least 30 minutes. meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425 F.

8. uncover the dough, dimple with your fingertips, and drizzle the dough with olive oil and coarse salt.

9. place in the oven, lower the temperature to 375 F and bake for 30 minutes. the focaccia should be golden – don’t let it bake too long or the edges will harden. remove and cool on a wire rack. the bread will keep in the freezer, wrapped first in plastic and then in foil, for about 2 weeks.

I hope you guys get to try some of these recipes! We got really rave reviews last night, especially on the Sangria!

Alright, I’m hopping to post about the b-day cake tomorrow. Have a good night!

Peace out…

Filed under: Breakfast, Lunch, Recipes Tagged: Baked goods, Birthday, eggs

30th B-Day Adventures – Part III

Vicious Sweet Tooth — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 03:36:12 +0000

Here’s the last installment of my 30-th b-day trip…

Friday

After our super great b-day, we slept in a bit and then me and my sister went to tan. I did the regular bed this time, for 12 mins. I forgot how great the tanning bed makes you feel. I remember when I was in college, my best friend and I would go there after a long day of school and it’s kind of theraputic. We always felt better after just a few mins under the bulbs. I’m not so sure I’d start back going again, I feel that these days, I need to be staying away from these things. But it was fun while I was on vacay!

For lunch, we headed to Schlotzsky’s Deli. I had 1/2 vegetable soup and 1/2 baby spinach salad. Delicious. No camera though. After lunch we walked around a little shopping center and it was FREEZING. The day before was so beautiful, but the weather really turned cold and rainy! We stopped into a little nutrition store and I got a few things…like Sucanat and a few raw bars. I’ve haven’t tried this product before, but I’m looking forward to experimenting with it.

Sucanat (a contraction of “Sugar Cane Natural”) is non-refined cane sugar.Unlike refined and processed white sugar, Sucanat retains its molasses content; it is essentially pure dried sugar cane juice. The juice is extracted by mechanical processes, heated and cooled at which point the small brown grainy crystals are formed.

After we ran some errands, we headed back to my sister’s place to chill out and then later on we decided we were hungry and my sister wanted Chinese. You know, it’s hard to find good Chinese food, but this place was so yummy!! It was called Peking Restaurant.

Peking Menu

I don’t know how it turned out that I got pictures of the beginning of the dinner and the end, but I had absolutely no photos of the food…who am i? Sorry y’all!

Buddha

Interior of Restaurant

Checking out the menu

Lion outside Peking

After our bellies were full, we dropped off our leftovers and then went to grab a drink and hang out. My sister had a tall beer, I had a vodka tonic and the hubby had a gin and tonic.

Tall Beer

Vodka Tonic

Gin and Tonic

We also had this…it had a cute name to it, but I can’t remember – cosmopolitan somethin…

Cosmo drink

Then we decided to head home and then drop the car and head out to downtown to see what was going on. It was so cold…but we stayed out for a while and then headed home to my sister’s apt. It was an interesting night. I haven’t been out that late in ages…but we managed to persevere and be tough.

Saturday

Saturday was super cold and rainy, so we ended up just watching TV for most of the day. We had Chick-fil-a for lunch and then vegged out in front of the TV under some blankets.

Saturday night, the hubby and I went to visit my parents and take them out to dinner. I was so excited to go and see them. I surprised my mom earlier by telling here we were in town, but we kept it from my dad so I could just show up and surprise him. So, when we got to their place, my mom came out and told me that dad was in his chair reading and to just walk in and surprise him. So I did and it took him a moment, kind of like it did my sister, and then he said “What are YOU doing here”?! So, we sat around and talked for a while and then we took them to Cracker Barrel for dinner. (I had 2 egg beaters + grits + 1 biscuit and coffee.)

After dinner we looked around their “general store”…

I told you I love Chocolate!!

Then we went back to their place and talked a little more. My mom and dug out a lot of our old school pictures and we looked through some of them. I was appalled and most of them…and a little embarrassed because the hubby hasn’t seen but just a few. But it was fun seeing them. I haven’t been home to see them since Sept. and miss them so much.

Wish I would’ve taken a little better pic….but it’s all I got.

Me + The Parents

Sunday - We got up early and drove 8 hours home. I was glad to see Bentley Scratchy Pants…I missed him soo much. Thankfully we had a great friend look after him while we were gone!! So, I didn’t have to worry as much, but I missed him terribly.

This trip was absolutely awesome. I got to spend a lot of quality time with my sister, hubby and parents. We ate great food and saw a lot of Athens, tried new things…it was definitely a birthday I will always remember. No calorie counting this trip! I’ll get back to it though…

Well, that’s my long recap of my 30th b-day…hope you enjoyed the journey, I’m glad that I have a place to document it and view it whenever I want. Blogs Rock!

Peace out…

Filed under: Me Tagged: Birthday, Chick-fil-a, Cracker Barrel

30th B-Day Adventures – Part II

Vicious Sweet Tooth — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 01:54:46 +0000

Thursday - THE BIG DAY!!So, Thursday we got up and headed over to my sister’s place to get our b-day started.

Breakfast: The hubby and I had some breakfast at the hotel…some fake scrambled eggs and 2 Turkey Sausage links and coffee.

Before heading downtown, my and my sister went to go and get our tan on. My sister was so sweet and treated me since it was my b-day. I even tried something new, Mystic Tan. It was kind of awkward standing there as the machine sprays you up and down. It was really hard to breathe, but I made it. Oh, and I failed to follow all of the instructions the girl gave me by putting barrier cream on my hands so that they don’t get orange and in all of the crevices. I panicked when I stepped out of the booth and realized what I had done (I put it on quickly and then wiped it off, hoping it would help a little) I felt so silly that I didn’t even tell the girl…I only told my sister once we got in the car. But it turned out to be ok and thankfully it’s been pretty cold, so most of my body was covered. It was a good experience. But I not sure if being sprayed by chemicals is any better than the actual bed. Hopefully they are. I would definitely do it again. Quick and pretty easy…if you listen to how to do it correctly.

Then we headed to downtown Athens and parked our car so we could walk around for the afternoon.

Me + My Sister

Close up

Uga in front of Starbucks

Lunch: We ate at Mellow Mushroom for lunch and I ordered the hummus plate and then ate some of my sister’s Greek salad. I also had a delicious Blue Moon Beer with my lunch. Here’s me posing with Uga…

Uga @ Mellow Mushroom

Delicious Blue Moon Beer

Mellow Mushroom Done

The hubby found this on the side walk…I thought it was wadded up paper or trash, but it was some moola! We bought some Starbucks with it later (not pictured).

We also bought some new sunglasses from a street vendor outside of Starbucks. Love them! Here we are outside of Earth Fare with my fabulous new sunglasses. The back story on this is that since we had already paid for parking and it was such a beautiful day, we wanted to walk everywhere. Which was fine with me, since I didn’t go to the gym that morning. But it turned out to be over 3+ miles and a lot of it uphill. I mean, I love walking, but I just wish we would’ve known earlier. My purse started getting heavy. But it was a good time. EarthFare is like whole foods and I bought the best vegan oatmeal raisin cookie EVER…we were walking while I ate it, so no pic.

Me + Uga at Earth Fare

The bubby and sister didn’t want to walk all the way back to the car, so we caught the public bus to take us back to the car.

And here are the hubby and my sister after we got off at the transfer point for the buses. I haven’t ridden the public buses before, so it was a cool experience. We got to see some more of the UGA campus, which is HUGE. Kind of makes me wish I was back in school….the good old days where I had very little responsibilities other than going to class.

My sister + hubby

After we got dropped off by our bus, we went and picked up my car from my sister’s dealership. She was so generous to have them change my oil, check my tires and air filter. Sweet! Then we went home to get ready for our dinner reservations which were at 7:30. My husband found the restaurant all on his own and he made it a surprise for us. This is the outside of the restaurant…five & ten.

5 & 10 Restaurant five & ten sign

Bar Area

The restaurant was very cozy and intimate. Super great date place and for any special event or celebration.

We started with a Cheese plate – 2 goat cheeses (one soft and one hard) and a cheddar. I will eat goat cheese, but no other dairy products.

Cheese Plate

We started with a glass of Cava.

Appetizer Beverage

For dinner, we chose the 2006 Hexamer Riesling

Hexamer Riesling

Our beverage line-up – super yummy!

Adult Beverages

For my entree I chose the Risotto. Which was Ah-Mazing! It was delicious and had chopped andouille sausage, topped with a fried egg that had a soft yolk, spinach and shaved goat cheese. I usually like my eggs fried really hard, including the yolks, but I stepped out and tried this and it was so yummy mixed in with the risotto.

Risotto

And for dessert I had a scoop of Meyer Lemon Sorbet and they had put one yellow candle on the side of the plate so that is was standing on it’s own….it was cool.

Meyer Lemon Sorbet

My sister had the coffee ice cream…she said it was the best she’s ever had!.

Coffee Ice Cream

Look, even Bentley Scratchy Pants thought of me on my b-day! Check out my cool card and gifts…

Bentley B-Day Card

A fabulous spiralizer from my sister (i’ve been wanting one of these for ever!)….

Spiralizer

Reusable water bottles + a Target gift card from the hubby…

B-day presents!

Hello Kitty Necklace from my sister….

Bling Bling

Offically 30!!

After dinner, we were going to go out, but we all were seriously tired. So, we went back to my sister’s place and watched a little bit of TV and then crashed out! It was seriously the best b-day we’ve had together in a very long time…it’s good to be a twin!!

Filed under: Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch, Me, Restaurants Tagged: 5&10 Restaurant, Athens, Birthday, Earth Fare, Mellow Mushroom