Maroon 5 - Never Gonna Leave This Bed

More Napa

Finally I'm back from Napa. The class was great, I learned a lot of new and exciting things. Went to the casino one night. Saw some lovely vineyards. And now I'm back!

Here are some fun pictures of a few desserts I made while I was out there.

Chocolate Banana cake topped with brulee bananas

Honeydew Mousse with Tonic Sorbet and Almond Gateaux

Chocolate Mousse on Walnut Pain with Beet Sorbet

Banana Pudding Cake with Butterscotch Sauce and Greek Yogurt Sherbet

Almond Cake with Plum Thyme Confit

Grapefruit Crepes with Campari Foam

Inside out Apple Strudel, pickled raisins, with Caramel White Chocolate Mousse

Those are just a small preview of all I learned.

Getting Close

It's coming right along! WOO WOOOOOOOOOOO!

Napa ( day 1)

Greetings from wine country!

Here's a view of the little inn I'm staying at.


My boss sent me to Napa this week to take a class on Modern Plated Desserts at the CIA campus in St. Helena. So.. today was my very first day of class. We were divided into groups and first on the agenda were dessert canapes.

My partner and I made l'il floating islands... which are hollowed out eggshells filled with a maple creme anglaise, topped with 'floating poached meringue' and caramelized bacon.



Then we learned how to make a "french laundry" classic.. the infamous ice cream cone. Basically its a honey tuile cone filled with creme fraiche mousse and macerated fresh strawberries.


Another group made some homemade marshmallows filled with chocolate ganache served on freshly made graham crackers. They were a delightful play on smores, and they were delicious.


After class I did some shopping around St. Helena and then went for dinner. I even drove past the French Laundry... too bad I don't have an extra $300 to throw down for dinner there.. perhaps one day:)..

Now .. I'm going to take a nap-a.

The Best thing I've Read in a While

I went home Saturday morning to my parents house for lunch and was complaining to my Mom how I'm out of books to read. So she gave me this series of books called The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. Since she gave them to me .. I have not been able to put them down.

Here is a brief description of the book from wikipedia.. fyi it contains spoilers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"

The Hunger Games takes place in an unidentified future time period after the destruction of North America, in a nation known as Panem. Panem consists of a wealthy Capitol and twelve surrounding, poorer districts. District 12, where the book begins, is located in the coal-rich region that was formerly Appalachia.^[7]

As punishment for a previous rebellion against the Capitol, every year one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district are selected at random and forced to participate in the Hunger Games, a televised event in which the participants, or "tributes", must fight to the death in a dangerous outdoor arena until only one remains. The story follows fatherless 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, a girl from District 12 who volunteers for the 74th Games in place of her younger sister, Primrose.

Seriously pick up these books.. you won't be disappointed!

Finally Prom

Well I never made it to a prom in High School.. so when my friends decided to go to an Adult Prom I couldn't pass it up. Finally a chance to wear a prom dress. I was so excited to wear my little pink dress and my sparkly shoes.

~All dressed up and ready to go~

We met at Carolyn's house where my friend Jon came and picked us all up in a limo. He even got me a corsage since it was my first prom:) We then went and ate some Hibachi before heading to an Under the Sea themed Prom. BYOB.

We took tons of pictures and laughed, danced a little, and just had a nice time. Here are a few pictures from the evening.

~where my girls at?~

~Thanks for the Corsage Jon:)~

~Ladies Ladies Ladies~

~My date for the evening in traditional prom pose...lol~

~lauren, me and james~

~he likes to pick people up~

~Cheers to spiked punch~

~prom 2011~

Natalie Getting Married!

Last night was my friends Natalie and Etienne's Wedding. It was fabulous and held at Callanwalde. It was so lovely and Nat looked absolutely gorgeous! I made the cake:) And they had a really fun photobooth. It was a lot of fun!
~the happy couple~

~let them eat cake~

~spinnin' some craaaazy beats~

~fun in the photobooth~
(click to enlarge)

~dancing with Johnny D~

Congratulations to you both! xoxo

pool-gress

So every few days my Dad sends me pictures of the progress of the pool! I'm getting super excited about it. WOOO! Here it is folks.




Hey Scott, see what I did there.. I said Pool and then added gress to it. Kinda like Progress. LOL!.

Vegas (the last night)

So its the Last Night in VEGAS! We go out to Celebrate Eric's Big Birthday! We got a stretch Hummer Limo (it was my first time in a limo...seriously I was soo excited). We were driven down to Fremont Street in Old Downtown Las Vegas. We ate, shopped, and played some games. Before heading back to Treasure Island to catch the Pirate Show. We even brought back some new friends with us. This cute guy from London who said things like.. "Do you fancy a drink? And used words like Jumper= jacket, Rubbish= trash, and said Cheerio. So fun....it's kinda funny because earlier that day my friend Bob bet me that I couldn't go the whole day speaking in an English accent.. and while I lasted a few hours.. the best I could do.. was something like.. "Cheerio you old bean, blimey I do fancy a spot of tea." sad.

~High Rollers~

~Someone is excited~

~"What's a girl gotta do to get some beads"~

~Fremont Street~~ Um.. Leopard is back in.. in case ya'll didn't get the memo~

After that me and Brit decided to stay up all night since our flight was so early the next day. So we gambled all night, walked back to our hotel, finished packing and then cabbed it to the airport at 4 in the morning. It was rough. But Vegas is always a good idea.

Happy Birthday Eric! Hope you had as much fun as I did! xoxo