Karl Lagerfeld.

You do know who Karl Lagerfeld is, right?!

If you don't... I'm not sure that we are friends ;)

Well, I have this amazing friend at my other job who is truly a fashionista. She is always well versed on the newest fashions lines (especially Louis Vuitton... let's just say I am pretty sure she owns every bag and accessory ever made... haha). Her name is Denise and she is my favorite. She always has the newest "it" bag and knows what hand bag every fashionable celebrity is carrying!

Aside from being ever so stylish, she is smart, fun, and a little older than me... or even my mom... but who cares?! She is awesome and always gives me great life advice. I don't know what I would do without her in my life or how I even survived before moving to California! (I'm sure she thinks the same of me...)

She recently went to Paris with her family and brought me back this little gift...

Yes, it really is, Karl Lagerfeld, the man behind the ever-so-chic Fashion House: Chanel. This limited-edition bottle bears his signature and is currently only available in Paris and now belongs to me :) Thanks Denise, I'm on cloud-nine!



The campaign above was shot by Lagerfeld himself, which features model Coco Rocha sipping the drink which is served up by Baptiste Giacobini.

To Break or Not to Break?

I'm deciding whether or not to have a lazy day since it is Memorial Day (and I have to work in a few hours)....

I need to blog about the great time we had this weekend and the night of Sex & The City (and what I wore, drank, and cooked!) but this is calling me....

If I don't get to it today I will sometime this week :) Hahaha. Stay tuned!

Cooking Madness.

I'm sorry I have been kind of MIA for the last couple of weeks! I have been quite busy and a little stressed out but I'm okay now and trying to get back into the swing of blogging. Meanwhile, here are some of the yummy meals (by some, I mean, the ones that I remembered to photograph) you missed but we enjoyed...

Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic

Yes, that's right, this recipe literally took (40) cloves of garlic, which is about three whole heads. The garlic simmers in this great mixture of the chicken fat, wine, thyme, and seasonings. I had seen The Barefoot Contessa make it on the Food Network before and always wanted to try it but it seemed like quite the process. I mentioned the recipe to Joseph and his eyes lit up so I decided to take a shot... and I scored! We had some friends over and every last piece was gone. I served it with mashed potatoes and corn. For the recipe click here.

Scallops Provencal

Joseph and I were at the grocery store picking up necessities because our refrigerator was literally empty, when we stumbled upon an incredible sale on scallops. I love scallops! So we picked up a pound, some fresh herbs, and a bottle of white wine. I knew Ina Garten would have the perfect recipe for me to use and rest assured, I had all the ingredients in my grocery bags! The recipe was simple and super full of great flavor. I served them over angel hair. Joseph wanted more! You can find the simple recipe here.

Aside from those dishes, I also made homemade spaghetti sauce (I use a combination of my mom's recipe and Joseph's moms recipe) with spaghetti noodles. After every meal, my kitchen usually looks like the picture above.

Thomas Keller.

Have you heard of Thomas Keller?

If not, here's a little history on him:

he's an Award Winning American Chef

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he owns The French Laundry Restaurant in Napa Valley, California

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his culinary background if French Cuisine

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he served as a Consultant for Pixar's Ratatouillie (One of my favorite movies)

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he didn't attend a formal culinary program

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he's from Oceanside, California

Anyways... when I was at Williams-Sonoma in La Jolla a couple of weeks ago, they told me that he would be making an appearance this past week and signing copies of his new cookbook ad hoc at home. I was so excited but knew I had to work... honestly I forgot about until my co-worker Jessica told me on Thursday that she had just come back from a delivery to W-S. I had to think for a second and reacted with "Did you see Thomas Keller?"

She chuckled and said "Is that the old guy that was signing his cook books? He didn't seem like a big deal." I think she read the look on my face and said "Oh, well, who is he?" I felt entitled to explain in great detail in one breath. I also must have explained how devastated I was that she got to see him and I didn't... and how I had to work... etc.

Well, the next day she told me that someone had dropped something off for me...

Yes, she went out and bought the cook book for me. It may not have been the signed copy but I was so grateful and kind of speechless. That simple, thoughtful, and expensive gesture truly left me speechless. Thanks Jessica :)

I told her that I owed her a nice big meal some time soon. She smiled and said "Of course."

SATC.

As the premiere of the new Sex and the City movie comes upon us, I have to think "How am I going to out do the last party?" For the last movie premiere, a group of us close friends that included two of my favorite girls Bethany & Katie, we enjoyed quite a few Cosmo's and Grapefruit Martini's with light hors d'oeuvres and lots to talk about before the movie. I even debuted a new Louis Vuitton bag.

We headed drunkenly to Fleur Cinema in Des Moines because... they served wine :) Haha. Movie + Wine + Popcorn = A little bit of heaven. We had so much fun. After the movie, which included drinking wine, sneaking in little bottles of POP champagne, and some flatulence (the person is to remain nameless....), we headed back to our place for a pool party!

I do believe we resumed drinking, eating, and swimming... which led to the same farting person to lose their top! The night was priceless, which will remain infamous and a memory close to my heart. So, with that being said.... "How am I going to out do the last party?" Any ideas? Perhaps along with my some new favorite girls, K & B can fly out and join :)

I'm trying to develop a new martini.... Here's a sneak peak...

Can you guess the flavor?!

May.

It has been a hectic week. So much going on and so little time. I haven't been posting because we didn't have our internet connection setup at our new place and when we did have it for one day, the next day it was "accidentally" unplugged by the cable company. Joseph was about ready to go nuclear on someone at Cox Cable Company!

Anyways, here are some things you missed...

In honor of May Day (I think this "holiday" is only celebrated in Iowa) I bought some fresh lilac branches at our local florist, except they didn't compare the very fragrant bushes in the Wanek's front yard, but it was a good reminder of home.

I got this salad idea from a friend at work. She halved cherry tomatoes, threw in some fresh garlic & basil, sliced cucumbers and soaked them in balsamic vinaigrette. She ate her "salad" just like that but when I got home, I made her concoction, and I added the greens at the bottom and freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Yummy!

A few days out of the week, I work nights and Joseph works mornings. He usually asks me what I'm going to be doing all day and I answer "Probably cleaning up, washing dishes, working out....etc" but usually I'm shopping online, laying by the pool, or sitting around eating and watching TV :)

So in an effort to make it seem like I really did do something, I made a quick lunch (yes, we eat lunch at 3 p.m.) before he got home from work.... bruschetta! I didn't feel like turning on the broiler so I toasted the bread on my skillet with a little olive oil. It turned out perfect, probably even better than broiling them in the oil because the top was just crisp enough and the center was pretty moist! (And yes, a glass of wine at 3 p.m. is okay)

This post has quickly turned into a cooking exhibit! I had a little store credit from my mom to Williams-Sonoma from Christmas that I hadn't used so I made Joseph drive me up to UTC (a mall in La Jolla which was about 20 minutes away, which now seems like a day trip drive) to use it up on our new place. I bought some hand soap and lotion for the kitchen sink, a sea salt jar for the always-empty salt grinder, and an All-Clad Grille Pan. We came right home and made grilled chicken panini's with home-made guacamole, grilled onions, melted Monterrey jack cheese, and fresh greens. The cost was well worth it!

Savasana.

Savasana.

You might be asking yourself... "Is that some one's name? Maybe Joey's new dog? Or maybe it's a type of food?"

Well, all of those questions are wrong. Last week, I was introduced to the idea of taking a yoga class twice a week in Balboa Park by someone who works at the same company but different location. I thought, "How fun!" I wasn't sure that I was really going to be up to it when the day came but I put into my mind and took the leap this morning.

I am so happy I did it. It started at 9:30 a.m. and lasted an hour. I even walked to and from my apartment to the class which is two miles round-trip! I learned a few new poses as I had attended a couple of classes in Des Moines with my friend Katie.

The instructor was awesome. She's young, cute, and well versed in the yoga lingo. At the end, as I was in the final pose known commonly as "corpse pose" or Savasana, she talked about letting your mind and body be at peace, not thinking about a thing, while keeping your eyes closed. I literally could have fallen asleep in the sun (while someone else farted, which may actually be a compliment for the instructor!)

It was kind of enlightening. After laying there for several minutes, you are to slowly get back into "reality" by wiggling your toes, opening your eyes, and "reawakening" yourself. I felt fresh, awake, and ready to start my day.

A truly great start to the morning!

From Day to Night.

If you know both Joseph and I then you know that we are complete opposites. I'm an Aquarius and he's a Leo, which are exact opposites in the Astrological spectrum of signs. He's laid back and I'm definitely not, he's a night owl and I'm an early bird, he's a saver and I'm a spender... The list goes on and on!

But, what brought this to my attention recently was that we had been talking about the view from our new patio and I told him that I had taken some morning pictures and to my surprise he told me he had taken some beautiful night pictures. Take a look:

To the left is we can see part of Balboa Park and the Space & Air Museum.

And to the right we can see part of the East Village.


You can't appreciate the morning without the night...


Kind of like us... right?! :)