Stocking Stuffers.

Can you guys believe Christmas is almost here? This month went by super fast, I feel like I still haven't gotten all my Christmas shopping done. I'm sure some of you are in my same boat...you've bought all the big gifts but need some ideas for stocking stuffers, small gifts, white elephant gifts, secret Santa gifts, etc. If you're in a rut, I compiled some picks of gifts I would like...which means the modern, fashionista in your life will love them too!

1. Spot On Leopard Robe
2. Le Mental Case
3. NARS Majella Lip Pencil
4. "Girls" Inspired Deborah Lippmann Nail Polish Collection
5. Top Shop Croc Twist Lock Purse
6. Marc Jacobs Melts Phone Case
7. Bold Houndstooth Tights
8. Anthropologie Monogram Mug
9. Moda Luxe Clutch

Canelé.

Over the weekend, my friend Natalie and I decided to hit up one of the brunch spots on our list of restaurants we must go to, Canelé in Atwater Village. They open at 10am and the wait was already a bit long so while we were waiting, we walked across the street to a local farmer's market, which had the most delicious looking things. I was extremely tempted to start eating here.

But I had to control myself because we were off to brunch, which was crazy delicious. This place is know for their "egg in hole" and bowl of berries and créme fraiche. I'll have to come back for the berries, but the eggs were amazing! The French Toast was unfortunately nothing to write home about, but still a good basic brunch meal.

Egg in hole.

Cape.Cape.Cape.Cape.

Ooh baby I like it! Capes are on my current winter trend radar. They're out of the ordinary...not quite a peacoat, not quite a trench coat, not quite a cardigan. They can be paired so well boots, thigh high socks, and printed tights or leggings. I can't wait to rock this look this season...

1. H&M Cape $59.95
2. Asymmetrical Hooded Button Cape $24.95 (letsjourneyintofashion.com)
3. Cashmere Cape with Faux Fur $209.99 (ultimatefashionfix.com)

Donut Man.

Alright, so as many of you can see from previous posts, I have a growing obsession with donuts so when I heard about this place, Donut Man, I knew I had to try it. I heard a buzz about their strawberry donut so I went there already knowing what I was going to get, and it definitely did not disappoint! This is an iceberg of a donut, guys, and a little piece of donut heaven...

This thing is literally filled with what seems to be a whole bushel of strawberries and drizzled in a glaze that has the perfect amount of sweetness. And the powdered sugar on top just pulls it all together. It's served with a knife and fork, and trust me, you'll need them! Donut Man is on Route 66 on the road to the middle of nowhere, but its very much worth the visit.

Pumpkin French Toast.

I really, really love breakfast foods...I could eat it for lunch and dinner if I could! I love French toast especially, and because its fall I thought I could put a spin to it by making it with pumpkin puree. Guys, I don't like to brag about the foods I make, but this recipe turned out amazingly and I urge you all to try it just to have this flavor party in your mouths.

The recipe is super simple. I used a loaf of challah bread...I find that this bread is the perfect bread to use for French toast because it has a hint of sweetness to it, but you can use any bread you like. I found my challah at Trader Joe's. Be aware, using another type of bread that's not sweet will call for a tablespoon or two more of sugar.

This breakfast makes me happy, I hope you enjoy it too!

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons pumpkin puree
• 3 tablespoons light or dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh orange zest
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of ground nutmeg
• Pinch of ground ginger
• Pinch of salt
• 1 loaf challah or bread of choice cut into 1 inch slices

Directions:

1. In a bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, pumpkin puree, brown sugar, vanilla, orange zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt.
2. If you're making a lot and want to keep the bread warm before serving, preheat oven to 200 degrees. Place a wire rack on a baking sheet and transfer both to oven.
3. Preheat a cast iron skillet or griddle over medium heat and brush surface with butter or vegetable oil. 
4. Place a slice of bread in the milk mixture allowing it to soak for a minute. Flip it over and allow to soak for another 30-40 seconds more.
5. Quickly place the soaked bread onto the griddle or skillet and cook on each side for about 2-3 minutes, until lightly golden brown.
6. Transfer the French toast slice to the oven to keep warm and continue the same process with the rest of the bread slices.
7. Serve with warm maple syrup. 

(recipe courtesy of acozykitchen.com)

Halloween 2013.

I hope you guys all had a great Halloween! This year my boyfriend and I went as a sushi chef and sushi. I'm ALL about creative, original costumes rather than generic, store bought costumes. I made my ginger and wasabi headpiece out of felt and and for the sushi piece, I sewed an orange pillow case on a small rectangular pillow and drew some white lines on it with paint to resemble salmon. Seto's wearing a chef coat and a Japanese headband! Added chopsticks for effect ;)

Skin that's Close to Perfect.

I've been receiving some compliments lately on how good my skin looks and people have asked me what my secret is. Well, there's no secret, honestly...just a few products that I live by! I think a big mistake a lot of people make is paying for expensive products or treatments. Some treatments cost hundreds of dollars and some products go upwards of $300. But I'm all about the effectiveness of a product...just because it's expensive, doesn't mean its effective! Staying true to this, I like to use some products that are both affordable an super efficient. I like to splurge on some products, but others are simple staples. These are some products I think every girl (and man!) should have. 

From Top:

1. Neutrogena Oil Free Moisturizer...............$8.............apply after using toner

2. Fresh Twilight Freshface Glow..................$36............apply after applying makeup for glow

3. Kiehl's Ultra Facial Oil Free Toner.............$16...........apply after washing face

4. Neutrogena Deep Clean Foaming Scrub......$6..........use twice a day

5. Smith's Rosebud Salve Balm...........................$8.............use on lips and on blemishes

6. Kiehl's Skin Tone Correcting BB Cream..........$37..........apply as foundation before applying makeup

Halloween Pumpkins!

Fall is so great and Halloween is my favorite holiday, so needless to say...I take my pumpkin decorating very seriously! This year, I let my boyfriend in on the fun. Here are our creations...

Getting ready to carve!

Minion and Storm Trooper.

Fall family + pumpkin owl. 

Fall Fashion.

Is it too late to share my fall fashion favorites for 2013? I don't think so! Personally, I think fall is the BEST season for fashion and I would continue wearing some of these pieces throughout the winter as well. So here it is...my picks for the most fashion forward colors, trends, and must haves for the fall season 2013!

From left to right:

1. Hoop Earrings- H&M

2. Trenchcoat- H&M

3. CO Curved Hem Skirt- Cotton On

4. Honk if You Love OPI nailpolish

5. Floral Stone Cascade Necklace- BCBG 

Cakemix.

So it was my best friend, Natalie's, birthday this month and when thinking of where to take her out, I thought, yeah we could go to a nice dinner and be ordinary OR we could do something that is fun that we both love. Now, Natalie and I love to bake and decorate and we often share recipes with each other, so I found this place, Duff's Cakemix in West Hollywood that let's people use their creativity and love of baking to decorate their own cakes!

Chef Duff is from the TV show Ace of Cakes and he is the owner of this cake making studio, so you know there were tons of cool and professional tools to use to decorate the cakes. He often tapes his show in the studio, in fact we missed him and tapings by one hour! You start with a pre-made cake...we chose their flavor of the month, pumpkin chocolate chip! Then we chose fondant as the topping in our favorite colors and used dye to make additional colors of fondant. Lastly, we added some toppings like edible glitter and candies. These are the cake and designs we created...a very happy birthday to Natalie! :)

Our starting cake.

Some designs we created.

Our final product!

Happy Birthday Natalie!

Breakfast in a Cup.

The other day, I was feeling inspired by some Pinterest pictures of breakfast foods and I came across an egg cup picture I thought was so adorable so I decided to attempt making it. What's better than bacon and eggs for breakfast all rolled into a cup sized treat? They turned out very good...both for the tastebuds and the eyes!

Ingredients:

• Unsalted butter
• Eggs
• Bacon
• White or wheat toast
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Cupcake or muffin tin

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Melt the butter on low heat and lightly butter a cupcake or muffin tin.
3. With your hands or a rolling pin, flatten the toast.
4. With a large cup or cookie cutter, cut out circles from the toast (about 4 inches in diameter).
5. Then cut the circles in half and press the halves into each cupcake pan overlapping slightly (1 circle per well). Fill any holes with leftover pieces of bread.
6. Brush bread with remaining melted butter.
7. In a large skillet, cook the bacon until almost crisp. 
8. Lay 1 bacon slice into each bread cup and crack an egg over each.
9. Season with salt and pepper.
10. Bake until egg whites are just set 15-20 minutes. 

Donut Friend.

Donuts are one of America's classic desserts. It's not only police officers who love them. But donuts have kind of been put on the back burner in lieu of more popularized cupcakes and macarons. I mean let's face it, donuts haven't really made a comeback since Krispy Kreme came around and introduced a whole new level of decadence to the glazed donut. Anyway, since I love donuts, I've been on a search for some good donut shops. A lot of the places I've tried going to, however, have had long lines, ran out of their products, or just send their products to other bakeries. That's pretty snobby if you ask me...in fact, one of those places was named "Donut Snob".

Last week, however, I found out about Donut Friend...a quaint, new donut shop in Highland Park with some pretty amazing combinations of ingredients in their donuts and even a build your own option! The donuts were to die for and what I love about this place is that its not....well, snobby. They don't pride themselves on selling out of their products and they want to serve everyone who enters the store.

My friend opted for the build you own option, which was great. I indulged in Nutellavision and Walnut Voodoo. Both were amazing and I will definitely be back there again!

Nutellavision: Nutella and a dash of olive oil inside a traditional donut, topped with a sugar glaze.

Walnut Voodoo: a traditional donut stuffed with cream cheese, toasted walnuts, and a drizzle of maple syrup.

Emmys 2013 Fashion

These are my picks for this year's best dressed actresses at the Emmys! I wasn't blown away by much fashion this year, but of all the dresses, these are my favorite, fashion forward, and most flattering ones. Who made your list?

Sofia Vergara in Vera Wang
Kate Mara in J. Mendell
Kaley Cuoco in Vera Wang

Barley Salad.

The other day I came home from work and I was starving. Trying to keep a healthy diet, I didn't want to order out so I looked around my pantry for ingredients to quickly make something. I found a bag of barley and also a few different vegetables in my refrigerator so I decided to make a salad. For a makeshift recipe that I just put together, it turned out really good!

Ingredients:

• A handful of cherry red tomatoes
• A handful of small yellow heirloom tomatoes
• 1 cucumber
• 1/2 an avocado 
• 3/4 can of kidney beans
• 1 cup of barley
• crumbled feta
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon honey
• salt
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil

1. Cook the barley according to packaged directions. Usually, boil 1.5 cups of water to every cup of barley and add the barley when boiling. Put heat on low and let absorb for 30 minutes.

2. While the barley is cooking, wash and cut all the vegetables and strain and wash the kidney beans. Keep in mind, you can use any number of vegetables in the salad, these are just the ones I had in the fridge. 

3. When the barley has cooked, drain and let it cool.

4. To make the dressing, whisk the honey and vinegars. Add in olive oil and salt and whisk.

5. Mix the barley, vegetables, and kidney beans.

6. Top with crumbled feta.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

The other day, I was feeling like I hadn't baked anything in a long time so I decided to make my favorite dessert...cupcakes! Now, like many others, I am guilty of taking the shortcut at times and using boxed cake mix. However, I thought some aspects of the cupcakes should have my own twist to them so I added some mini Reese's cups to the bottom of the cupcake and I made my own peanut butter frosting.

Peanut Butter Frosting:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 5 tablespoons of unsalted butter at room temperature
• 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup heavy cream

1. Mix confectioner's sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt on medium low speed until creamy.

2. Add the cream and mix on high speed until mixture is light and smooth.

(recipe courtesy of Ina Garten)

New York, New York

After a long school year and grueling work project over the summer, I was in much need of a vacation so my boyfriend and I traveled to one of my favorite places, New York City! Even though I have been there countless times, there is always something new to explore and discover in the city. Of course there are also always some old places that never disappoint. Below are some of the highlights of my favorite places in New York. Not to say that there are still many, many places, restaurants, and bakeries I have yet to see in the city. Luckily, many of those places are soon coming to LA!

These are my favorite places in the city where we ate:

         Evergreen Diner
         Da Gennaro Italian
         Treat House rice krispie treats
         Rice To Riches tapioca pudding
         S'Mac macaroni and cheese
         Capital Grille
         Luke's Lobster lobster rolls
         Shake Shack burgers
         Magnolia Bakery
         Brooklyn Bagel Co.
         Thai Terminal

Bubble lounge in our hotel, Night Hotel.

Breathing wall at NBC Studios.

Times Square.

Brooklyn Bagel Co. Sesame Bagel with Sundried Tomato Cream Cheese.

The Highline.

The Beautiful Flora at the Highline.

Modern Art at MoMA.

Across the Corridor at MoMA.

Still Life #30 -Tom Wesselmann 1963.

My favorite speakeasy with an awesome secret entrance, PDT. Not sharing too much more information on this...shhh...

Absinthe at PDT.

Intrepid Sea, Air, &Space Museum. 

Ray's Pizza!

World Trade Center Memorial. 

FDNY.

Central Park from a Different Perspective.

Beekman's Beergarden.

Labor Day Fun in Palm Springs

Labor Day is coming up this weekend and I know a lot of you out there are going to want to get out of town for some R&R. Palm Springs is a hot spot for many Los Angelites and the city, which I used to think was boring and monotonous, is becoming more and more trendy and fun. If you're going out there for the weekend, there are a few spots I want to share that are a definite must go!

Checked in at the Saguaro Resort.

Dinner at Birba restaurant.

Burrata salad. 

I wish I took more pictures of our food here, but the Tricolore Salad is to die for and I've tried to recreate it at home many times. Also, they make the ricotta cheese fresh in the restaurant and is a great cheese to add to pizzas.

Then it was onto dessert at Crave Dessert Bar...

Creme brulee in a chocolate shell.

Blossoming hibiscus berry tea. 

Then it was onto breakfast the next morning at Cheeky's...

Two fried eggs on top of an heirloom tomato and arugula sandwich.

Sourdough french toast with salted caramel and bananas. 

Eggs Benedict with a twist. Poached eggs and hollandaise on top of bacon on top of buttermilk biscuits.

The menu at Cheeky's is seasonal and changes all the time, but these dishes are amazing and are greatly paired with honeydew mimosas and, of course, a bloody mary.