Good News & Bunny Food

I've been MIA on my blog - sorry. I've been sick all week. I still have the sniffles, but that didn't stop me from enjoying Easter! 

Josh and I started out Easter at church. The music was great - especially the drummers that were out front and then marched in to start the service. I love our church's music; it really makes it fun. It's like our own Switchfoot at chruch. Another thing I enjoy about our church is their cool marketing. Seriously. It's cool. Below is an image they have for Easter celebrate. Okay, I won't go ultra religious on you, just wanted to give my church some props (not to mention, it's what Easter is really about). 

After a good service, we headed out for a nice Easter brunch at Tilikum Place Cafe. I enjoyed a decadent Dutch baby pancake. It had bananas and bittersweet chocolate to drizzle on top. Josh had their special lamb eggs benedict on crispy polenta. A delicious way to start our day.

Then, I had to get some regular Sunday chores in - groceries, laundry, a bit of cleaning - but after that we were off to celebrate the sunshine we recieved here today. We took a walk along Elliot Bay starting out at the Helix Bridge (you may remember this from another post last year). 

The part was great. People out strolling. Dogs running around. Sun shining down on us. A slight breeze to cool us down. What a great day?! We walked all the way down to the waterfront and art sculpture area. We took a few photos on the way.

 

By 5pm, we were back at our car and ready to head home. I whipped up a yummy spring soup with ricotta toasts. Then, to celebrate a lovely Easter-Spring day some more, I baked a tangerine olive oil cake using the special tangerine olive oil Don and Nada gave us for Easter (this olive oil could deserve it's own post...if I have time).

 

Speaking of desserts, I wanted to give a quick mention to our Pastiera cake at The Fat Hen on Friday. It's a traditional Neapolitan (Italian) cake make for Easter. I'll have to make this next year. Quite tasty.

Tea for Two

Last Sunday, Josh and I did a "test run" for my first day at the Seattle office - the route, parking, timing. But why drive all the way to Capitol Hill without spending a bit of time.

We grabbed some lunch at a cute little restaurant called Plum Bistro. Afterwards, we decided to go check out a tea shop that Josh found out online. I was excited because I just spent the week prior in Chicago where every morning I enjoyed a tea latte from Argo Tea, a cool tea chain that I found (not on the West Coast yet, sad face).

I just love tea lattes. The love for them began when my friend Heather Richardson took me to Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in LA many years ago. That is when I was introducted to the English Breakfast tea latte and the idea that you can have tea lattes other than a Chai tea latte from Starbucks. My favorite now is the Winter Dream tea latte...whoops, drooling.

Anyway, I digress. So, Josh and I took a nice stroll, in the rain (this is Seattle for crying out loud - deal with it), to a new place with high hopes of it being awesome tea especially since our favorite little tea shop in Queen Anne, TeaCup, closed it's storefront (you can still order online).

To our delight, we walked into Remedy Tea, a cute, cozy tea shop. I really enjoyed the way they decorated the store and had the teas organized. They labeled the teas with numbers and then had rows of the jars labeled with the tea's corresponding number. So hipster, Capitol Hill.

 

They had a few options for tea lattes, but back at Argo I had an Early Grey Creme tea latte that I really loved. They had an Early Grey Creme tea so I asked if they could make a tea latte (note: this would be called a London Fog tea latte). They said they could totally whip that up - hurrah. Josh ordered off the regular tea latte menu and got a chai tea latte. We were both very impressed with our drinks. 

 

(I guess with all this tea talk, I'm a tea freak)

We got our teas to go, and walked happy back to our car with a warm cup in our hands.

Yuppified

I think it's time to announce it. Josh and I are yuppies. No, that is too drastic. Let's say we're on our way to becoming yuppies.

I liked how Urban Dictionarysays yuppies "usually congregate in Starbuck's, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and a wide variety of vintage clothing boutiques." Dang. We go to all those places except the vintage clothing boutiques. So, 75% yuppie maybe?

What makes me think we're on the edge now? The fact that we just join a produce delivery service, Full Circle. This service brings fruits and veggies from local farms to your door (or drop off place). This means you get fresh, organic goodness every week.

Our first order was supposed to come on Friday; however, you may have heard on the news or by reading my blog that we had a tiny storm here. That basically stopped everything. Instead our order arrived Saturday.

We opened the box and what did we find:

As you can see, we received carrots, cauliflower, oranges, chard, kiwis, pears, and apples. Some of it's hiding in the photo under the leaves of the chard.

I made the chard last night. This was my first time using it. A friend told me what to do since I didn't feel like scouring the web for recipes. I basically tore the leaves off and chopped them. Then I chopped the steams alongside some leeks. I put some butter and olive oil in a plan and sautéed the leeks and stems. Then, once they softened, I added the leaves. Add in a pinch of salt, pepper, and some crushed garlic. Voila, a veggie side.

This is our trial period. We'll see how this yuppified life goes...

Apple and Pumpkin

One thing you should know about me: I love the fall. That is why we got married in the fall. I love the colors, the flavors, and the crisp feel outside (that's not yet too cold) that is intermingled with the smell of fireplaces. Ahh, sweet fall.

I get this super anxious feeling in the fall. Oh my goodness, so much fall food goodness and not enough time to make it all! Then I remind myself that it's okay to continue fall flavors into the wintertime. There is no law permitting my baking similar foods in the winter as I do in the fall. Whew, what a relief! But still, the "must bake everything now" mentality persists.

Two of my favorite fall foods is...you guessed it...apples and pumpkins. I start gathering recipes - Cooking Light, Real Simple, all my blogs, random Internet searches. I also start looking at old recipes that I could revisit. Then I print or tear them out and a stack begins.

My first recipe of the season begins with a Pumpkin oat muffin. I found it while at the Kauai airport waiting for our fight. I had just had a pumpkin carrot muffin from Kalaheo Cafe. And so this year's fall obsession began.

However, the Pumpkin oat muffins just didn't make the grade for me. It was somewhat bland and just not sweet enough. Where's the sweet spice (think chai)? Josh suggested I "play" with the recipes to see if I could tweak it into a better recipes. So I tried again. No luck. Trash that recipe.

After two failures, I had to have a success. I WANT MY PUMPKIN. I went back to a tried & true recipe. One that I had left in the binder for far too long. Why haven't I made this one in so long? It's from my freshman year of college. One of my floor-mates, Randi, had a loaf that she shared - her mom had made it. I asked for the recipe - bam.

This turned out much better. Much, much better. Oh so much better. Did I say it was better?



But let's not forget about the apples. Oh, I love thee apples. Such sweet and tangy goodness. For a savory dish, I love them with pork. Yum! But you know me, I love sweet things. One of my favorite recipes for apples is an apple cake that my sister got from a friend at Yale. Then she made it for us, and then I got the recipe. But I didn't make this recipe, I wanted to try something new - be adventurous. Who knows where the next best recipe lies?

I get an email every week from Gojee, a very cool recipe site especially for those on iPads. I think they did a good job of compiling food bloggers recipes in a very cute way. Check out their "thinking" phrases (when you click on something, and the computer is "thinking"). Anyway, I got a recipe for Chai Spiced Apple cake. Now that sounds delish. Now I just need an occasion to make it.

Well, Saturday Josh was going to a Duck vs. Husky football game with some friends. Before they had a BBQ potluck. Guess what I was asked to bring? Dessert! Perfect timing. So I make my new cake recipe. Verdict: A winner! The frost on topping just makes it sooo good.



 

Little Dumplings

Last Friday, while I was down in the warm, sunshine of Pasadena, I had my first dumplings. And this wasn't at just any dumpling place. Apparently, this is THE dumpling place, Din Tai Fung Dumpling House. It's a little restaurant hidden in Arcadia of all places. What where we doing in Arcadia, you say? Eating dumplings! (And the fact that we were on our way south to Encinitas).

I have to be honest, I wasn't sure about this whole dumpling thing. Ravolis without sauce? How good could that be? And eating just a bunch of dumplings? Is that even filling? But Lindsay insisted that they were good little dumplings. I would not be disappointed....and, I wasn't.

I didn't just get to digg in to these dumplings. They had a whole system there that I had never seen before. You put your name in and you get a menu and a ticket. While you wait, you fill in your order (e.g. the item and quantity). When you get to your seat, you hand over your menu. Then you get a letter and another checklist. As they bring the different items to you, they circle what they brought. Repeat until you've received all your food. Interesting system.

What we orders: Pork dumplings, Veggie Dumplings, and 2 Pork-Veggie buns. Yes, we like pork. Yes, we like veggies. Deal with it. Look yummy dumplings. And in case we didn't know how to eat, we are even given instructions on our chopstick wrapper...(they should add: worse case scenario, use fingers).



Look at us use those chopsticks...what skills.



Next Up: Learn why I was down in SoCal in the first place...

Beans and Dreams

Coffee Beans and Birthday Dreams. That was last weekend. Yes, I'm writing about last weekend this weekend. I'm bit behind. Deal with it.

Last week marked my last year in my 20s. Sigh. After about the age 26, I started to forget how old I was. Funny thing is, I still feel like I'm 18. Now I truly understand what my parents meant when they taked about not feeling X age (X for my parent's privacy). I think I still qualify as young. Although if you asked my 11 year old self if upper 20s was young, I'd probably disagree. College people seemed old to me at that time. It's all prespective.

For my birthday, Seattle has the Seattle weather - gray and rain. Apparently it'll get nice here after the 4th of July. If only I had a July birthday. No tears though. One can still have fun without the sun (I've learned this living here). Josh and I spent a fair portion of Saturday at the Northwest Coffee Festival.

There were coffee pot of all shapes and sizes on display. Check this out:

 

I will not be using these at home. Look at all the nobs and spouts on the left one. Craziness I tell you, craziness. It was fun to watch the experts at work though. We watched a presentation and they guy was weighing his coffee to ensure the right amount of water. Craziness.

We did taste a few different coffees. Victorola made me a cute little cappuccino. We tried macchiatos and espressos. Personally, I still like the sugar and milk in my coffee. However, you really can taste the difference in beans when you make coffee the right way.

 

Here's a Flickr site that has some cool photos.

I also celebrated my birthday with gifts and some good food. We went to dinner at Mistral. And I of course got myself some froyo.

Here's the cute stationary Josh got me. It's from Minted. It's postcard style and the back is uber cute too. Perhaps you might receive a piece of mail from me.

 

And that's a wrap (birthday gift pun intended).

Not the End of the World

Well the world did not end yesterday. Whew, what a relief! I didn't get quite everything done that I'd hope. Try as I might, I still have way too much to do, and want to do, before our world goes away.

What are somethings I did do? Well, here's a few:

1. Finished a Book: A newfound friend of mine, Katy, she's a recent Seattle transport from Eugene too, recommended a book to me. The book she recommended and the book I finished was called Alice I have Been. First of all, I found this to be a very interesting book. I always enjoy a book that is based off something people know about, but add a twist - like a childhood story or a historical event. This was based on true events (mostly) and very well written. You know when a book is well written when after you finished reading for the moment, your mind is thinking in the same writing style. Or maybe that's just me. After I read, sometimes I start thinking like the book is written. That's a good sign for me that I'm enjoying the book. Another sign is when I stay up way to late reading. Which I did with this one. I read it in two weeks, which is pretty fast for me when I'm busy working (and it's been busy at work). I laughed, cried, and got frustrated as I read this one. I love books that get you so involved that you have a mix of emotions. This wasn't a happy-go-lucky book, but definitely has an different twist to it. I say it's definitely worth the read!

2. Ate some delicious Pie: Josh and I are big-time planning for the wedding these days. Some parts of the planning are more fun then others. For instance, pie tasting! We are probably going with a something different than cake for our wedding...PIE! Our wedding is a fall, Seattle themed wedding (yes, Seattle fall is the theme) so we thought pie would be fitting. Plus, wedding cake is not always that great (frozen and then defrosted, bleh). Pie is fruity and good. It has fruit, so it must be good for you. We thought pie would be fun. And pie was definitely fun to taste! This place in West Seattle was very good indeed.



3. Went to the Beach: West Seattle has some beaches that I can imagine will be great in the summer. It is still a bit cold here and not totally spring/summer yet. We have had some occasional sun and one really nice, warm (warm for me now is 70) weather (warm for me in the past was 80/90...Pacific NW has changed this Cali girl).



4. Started Season 4 of Mad Men: This Netflix disc has been sitting here for a while. It's a Josh & Heather watch together series so I can't watch it without him around. However, he just has NOT been around. He's been traveling - New Jersey, Chicago, Germany - for work. We finally sat down and watched two episodes last night. Now, if only True Blood and How I Met Your Mother would come out with their recently seasons.

5. Saw the sun again in Seattle: I'll just say this, it's been a long winter here. Sun is not so shiney yet.



6. Make some pork chops. Tasty too. Not dried out. Good recipe. And I made some pasta shells. These are always a winner with this recipe.

Now that I know the world isn't over, I did do a few more things just in case. Such as:

1. Tried out Shellac nails: Shellac is the newest thing to the nail industry...it lasts 2-3 weeks with no chipping! Plus it dries instantly, so no smudges. Awesome! I wanted to try it out because my finger nails chip the first day, so I basically stopped getting them painted. Not to mention, I'm super impatient and always smudge them. However, I'm very excited about my Shellac nails and they are super girly, springy pink. I'll keep you posted on how this goes. Today is Day 1. I got them done this morning at Hoa Salon in Ballard. They were so nice there. I even got a shoulder/neck massage as they put my nails under the magic machine thing.



2. Walked the farmers market: After my relaxing, indulging time at the nail salon, I walked around the Ballard Farmers Market. I love this market. I petted a few dogs (a golden, two Akitas, and a mutt), tasting some goodies (applies, juices, bread), ate pizza, and enjoyed the semi-sunny weather. I bought myself some treats too. Pumpkin muffin from Grateful Bread Co. Hard Berry Cider from Rockridge Orchards. And 2 crunchy, spicy Aztec apples. Go Market! (Do you like the photo? I used Instagram).



3. Make some Coconut Pineapple Banana Bread: I can smell it now. I just pulled it out of the oven. Hopefully it's as good as it smells. It's from a recent blog that started following...Joy the Baker. I mean her name is Joy. It was meant for me to follow.

4. Finally Wrote another Post: Sorry, I really have been too busy. Work + Wedding + Life = No posts lately. I'll try harder.

Almost Heaven

I saw strawberries at the grocery store and the idea hit: Angel Food Cake. How heavenly! I love me some angel cake with strawberries and whip cream. Oh so heavenly. And it fits since I'm so angelic-like, right? Just joking.

So I bought those strawberries. And then I bought some mix. Voila, a dessert from heaven and made by angels (aka me). And to me, this is Spring in a box. Although it's dreary outside, a bit of spring inside doesn't hurt.

To start, I have the utensils and mix.



 

 

 

 

 

 

Next you get things mixing. Look at that dollop of happiness. My Grandma Norma always told me that you had to mix longer than the box says, you must get that stiff batter. That's an insider tip. That and she had a brand that she always used. I think it was Betty Crocker, but really it may have been Duncan Hines. Darn my memory!



 

 

 

 

 

 

Then you stick it in the oven to cook things up. And flop it upside down. Don't want it to get sunken. That would be drab. And you trust the angels (see the bottle says TRUST) that it won't topple over.



Now you celebrate and feel like a Angel Queen.



Last you look at the delicious cake and EAT IT.



Now you wish you had some. It's easy...go do it!

And that, my friends, is how exciting my life is right now. That plus a bit of work. But keep any eye out because something exciting is happening this weekend and I'll be sure to share. Stay tuned!

Vitamin D in SD

I'm replenishing my Vitamin D stocks in San Diego right now. I left a rainy, stormy Seattle on Saturday evening to arrive to a sunny, clear San Diego. Sunday morning I woke up, went downstairs to discover I didn't even need a jacket! Not only that, but I could also wear flip flops -- Hot Dog! And dang, I should have brought my sunglasses!

Vitamin D Day 1 - Sunday

We started Sunday by paying a visit to my all-time favorite muffin place...Honeys! Honeys has been a breakfast destination of the O'Neill family for years. Before I used to just around from coffee place to bakery place to find the perfect muffin. Finally, around high school, I found it at Honeys. They have this low-fat, oat bran muffin with fruits and it simply delicious. We've been going there for breakfast ever since. The guy there remembers me since I'm the girl that would buy a dozen muffins before heading back to school, or wherever I lived, and brought them back with me. I would freeze them and enjoy them for 12 wonderful days. I think the TSA people must have thought I was crazy. The legend has continued even in my absence. My parents have also latched onto Honeys. My dad always gets two old-fashioned, plain donuts and tea. My mom switched over the years to the egg, ham, and avocado scramble to fruit, yogurt, and granola bowl. My sister, well, she gets random stuff. Me...the muffin. Then you get to enjoy such treats on Coast Hwy 101 in downtown Encinitas on the sunny patio, or inside. I thought I should dedicate a mini-review to Honeys. People on Yelp like it too. Good memories there. And Keely got to join in the fun this time too.



After a filling up on a fabulous breakfast, we headed off to South Cardiff State Beach to enjoy the sunny day with Keely. I walked Keely with occasional sprints after she begged me with those excited eyes and skip in her step saying, "come on Heather, let's run! Yea Yea Yea, let's goooo!" So I would run, or get pulled, with my flip flops and my arms flapping around trying to keep up (you know, running in flip flops isn't the easiest thing to do). What a nice way to enjoy life in SoCal.



In the afternoon, we headed out to UTC for some shopping. I got myself some Converse shoes with a gift certificate (woohoo). On a sunny day, UTC is fun to wander and shop around. Ahhh. My mom and I also got our make-up done after randomly walking by Bare Essentials, the mineral make-up place. It's actually a cool make-up and we both felt brand-new. We treated ourselves to some new foundation and join in on the mineral make-up fun.

We rounded out the day with a lovely dinner in Carlsbad to celebrate my new job and visit home. I hadn't been to this restaurant before, but it's a little place called Paon. Again, we enjoyed our meal on the patio. Perfection. I had myself a pomegranate cocktail and some delicate, fresh sea bass.

Vitamin D Day 2 - Monday

Monday morning was pretty low-key. Everyone had something to do, but me! I found this quite exciting. Sleep! I love you sleep. I woke up and then looked and the clock and plopped my head back down. The only thing that got me out of bed was a little rumbling in my tummy. With dad at work, mom at her physical therapist, and Johan at school, it was just me and the dog. My mom returned around 10:30am, so then it was off to Peets. I introduced her to the yummy latte that Peet's serves. I could see her eyes brighten after her first sip. I knew she liked it when she asked, "what is this?" And then she's said, "you have to write that down for me!" Then, powered up with caffeine, we went next door to Trader Joe's for dinner groceries.

In the afternoon, it was time to work. I headed over to Vanorsdale Insurance to do some training on Constant Contact. I was handing over the torch on their email marketing. I was quite impressed with my memory on getting to the office - the 5, to the 805, to the 52, to the 15. Whew! I had the navigation system, but she wasn't helping me much - thanks memory! I even walked in and everything looked the same. Memories of working in the summers came running back to me. Ahh, the high school and college days.

For dinner, we had a Valentines Day celebration with friends. We bought some Chick's rotisserie chicken and I make the sides - Trader Joe's 3 Grain Rice Blend and Judy's cauliflower dish (well, it's actually Food Network's recipe, but it's funny how a dish gets someone's name when they make it for a group of people. Now that I've made it several times, perhaps it's Heather's cauliflower dish to some folks). And what better to end a meal then with frozen yogurt from Golden Spoon!

I have Tuesday and Wednesday left here at home...another post to come...

NOTE: Don't get the Vitamin D thing? Check it out. It's a sun thing.

Good Eats

I thought I'd do a random post about Josh and his eats, or should I say Good Eats. My Good Eats is two fold - (1) I'm referring to the television show that Josh watches on the Food Network with Alton Brown called Good Eats - he has the cookbook, and (2) the big smile that comes across Josh's face when he chows down on good eats.

The thought came to blog about this today when we got some lunch. We didn't want anything big and it was already 2pm, so we thought we'd check out the food truck nearby in Ballard. Josh loves food trucks. Seattle loves food trucks. Portland excels at food trucks and stands. It's popular these days. Anyway, today's truck was a Josh paradise because it serves...wait for it...wait for it some more...Mexican food.

It's called El Camion. Josh's mouth watered when we saw words like gorditas, tamales, and burritos. Even more so when he saw chorizo.

Look at that smile. Isn't he cute? See how happy he is?



Look he's picking up the food. See his little head through the windows?



Actually, I have a confession. I like to surprise Josh while he's eating and take a quick photo. We get lots of random pictures of him eating. Check this one out. We're with my friend Irene at Three Girl Bakery at Pike Place Market. I think he's eating a reuben or meatloaf sandwich.



Or this shot of him eating a beignet at Where Ya At Matt food truck.



Some ice cream at Molly Moons (which also had a truck visiting Queen Anne last week - we ate it in the freezing cold).



He couldn't resist the BBQ at Ro Ro's. I had to get a shot of this one.



But in all fairness, I have photos eating too...(I make Josh take them - hehe)!

Snack Time

Top Pot...a popular Seattle treat. How could you go wrong: rain, coffee, doughnuts. It's like peas and carrots; they just go together. Everyone raves about this Seattle establishment. "Oh, those doughnuts are so good." I've direct several Starbucks customers from out of town to the Top Pot location downtown. In fact, Rachel Ray even recommends it as a best bet for java. I believe it was $40 a Day or some show of her's like that. Oh, and President Obama visited it on his Seattle travels too.

After living in Seattle for about six months now, I thought "this place is popular, I better give it a try!" Today was the day. I haven't eaten a doughnut in FOREVER. Seriously, I don't think I have since elementary school (ok, maybe a bit of one in college late, late at night - just a bit though!).

So as Josh and I were having a lovely Saturday afternoon (yes, I had off work!) in Bellevue, we decided to stop by Top Pot. We shared a delicious pumpkin spice old fashioned doughnut. Then I had a cappuccino and Josh a regular old joe.

The snack:



Here's me eating:



Part of the reason that they are so tasty is that these donuts are hand craved, and you can see them working away in the kitchen:



Not to mention some cool logos:



Other donuts places that are pretty famous around the Pacific NW are Mighty-O Donuts, Pink's, and Voodoo Doughnut.

I'll end on some "food for thought"...what is the difference between doughnut and donut?

Eve in the Desert

Surprisingly enough, we started Christmas Eve by heading to El Paseo, the shopping district of Palm Springs. Not because we were behind on gifts, but to go to the Apple Store for some urgent computer help. Don bought a new computer and Josh was helping him get it setup; however, it wasn't going so swell...long story short, they got it fixed after a visit to Apple.

While the guys were talking the tech talk, Nada and I did some pre-Christmas shopping. It seems the sales started before Christmas and went straight through the holidays. With nails yesterday, and shopping today...it was a nice girly, bonding time for Nada and me.

Afterward we met up with the guys again and grabbed some grub at Sammy's. For those of you that don't know, Sammy's is similar to California Pizza Kitchen (CPK). There is a battle within the O'Neill household as to which is preferred. My thoughts: CPK for pizza and Sammy's for pasta or salad.

The afternoon was random errands and then the holidays officially began at 4:30pm. We headed over to Southwest Community Church for the Christmas Eve Service. Now, we went to a service here last Christmas Eve and it was nice, but the skit was, well, it was lame (I was afraid to use lame and church in the same sentence...but it's the truth, and I'm sure it's best to be truthful). This year the service was great. There was singing and more singing. Christmas carols old and new. The sermon was short and sweet and we all enjoyed the service. The only crazy part: they brought in a singing Elvis for Blue Christmas. HA!

In the spirit of A Christmas Story, we had Chinese food for Christmas Eve at P.F. Changs. Don't you remember the part with the goose head and the "ra ra ra ra" for "Fa la la la" - too funny. If you don't remember now, I insist that you go re-watch it right now. Now. I mean it. Now.

After a satisfying dinner, we headed back home for some stocking action. Time is limited Christmas morning since we have to drive out to Encinitas, so we wanted to get the gifts going. Plus, little did I know, Josh had a reason to give me his give to me early on in the Christmas celebrations. You'll see.

So we unwrapped the stockings and received a years worth of chocolate. In fact, we decided the theme was chocolate. Candy bars, truffles, hot chocolate, chocolate jelly bellys. Chocolate. We even had chocolate lava cakes for dessert as we opened chocolates (the others did, I had a huge bowl of gingerbread frozen yogurt - could live get any better?). We also got some handy items like travel size soaps and baggies.

In addition, Josh gave me his big gift to me. Now, this gift covers Christmas, Valentines Day, St Patrick's Day, Easter, and maybe even part of my birthday. Drum roll please...I got an shiny new, small, professional quality camera called a Panasonic Lumix GF1 (the link has some example photos and video - one word, awesome). Now, I can take awesome pictures for the rest of the holiday! (yes, I use the word awesome a lot - it's an awesome word).

After stockings and one gift each, we all went to bed to dream of santa and the day to come.

Yearly Commitment

Every year I am committed to making one Christmas Cookie. If can only make one cookie, this is the one. It's a family tradition. It's heritage; our Swedish roots. These are a cookie tradition I've carried on from my Grandma Norma. She taught me how to make these cookies. Plus, they have a fun name: Pepparkakor! (Pronounced Peppa-Kaka). It is my understanding that "kaka" means cookie in Swedish.

To make these cookies, you must dedicate an afternoon. They are similar to the classic gingerbread and sugar cookie, but a bit thinner and crispy. They are best eaten with a cup of tea or coffee!

How do I make them? Well, let's go through it together.

You start with some dough...



Mix it up. I wish my Cuisinart mixer wasn't broken. It's perfect for this tough dough. Make sure you wear an apron with these bad boys, they get flour everywhere!



Then you roll out the dough, and start going to town with the cookie cutters.



Then you bake. Roll, cut, put on pan, bake. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Then pile them all up.



Voila! The cookies are done three hours later. Now, I'll just put on a pot of tea and have myself a little snack.

The Visitors

Doesn't that title sound like a book? But it's not. Or maybe it is and I don't even know it. Well, either way, it's the blog title for the post about my parents visit to Seattle.

My parents have been to Seattle before, but it's been just about 20 years. We had a family vacation up here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest when I was about 8 years old (ok, do the math and you'll figure out my age). My dad had a Burger King convention in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. We made a trip out of it in typical O'Neill fashion. We went to Mount Saint Helen's, Olympic National Forest, Seattle, and a brief stop in Spokane. I remember loving Seattle even though we only had about a day and a half here. My parents didn't have quiet the same memories; not bad, but just not the best.

With that little story, I was determined to make this trip the best visit for them. Some of the plans were out of my control and I had to pray -- primarily about the weather. The rest I could control and plan in advance. Here is a sample of my game plan:



The weather turned out well for the most part. We had to be slightly flexible on Saturday since we encountered some heavy rain and the fact that our plans took us near the university when there was a big U of W football game. However, we managed to stick to Friday's plans to a tee. Want to hear more? Well, ask no longer. Here's some of the activities and restaurants we enjoyed this weekend:

Activities

• Julep:  Let's start with some background on this topic first. A Seattle friend shared Groupon with me, which is a daily email coupon from somewhere or something in Seattle. A few weeks ago a groupon came up that was a facial and pedi combo at a palor just a few blocks from my store. It was a great deal, so I bought two combos - one for me and one for mom. I was very excited to say the least, so the very first thing we did was get our pedi and facials. That would be mom and I, not the guys. It was quite fabulous. I just may have to return. Our faces were so soft. It was nice.


• Columbia Tower: You might remember this activity from Irene's visit. Josh took my dad up the tower while my mom and I got our nails done. It turned out to be a gorgeous fall day, so they could really see the city (no rain = visibility). I didn't hear full reports back, but I'm sure my dad and Josh talked about where different things were in the distance.


• Pike Place Market: This is a Seattle must for all visitors. It wasn't crazy crowded since the tourist season is over. We did get to see all the pretty flowers and fruits. My dad, in typical John O'Neill style, stopped to look at the meats and cheese very carefully (those of you who have taken a trip with him should know this one). Basically, we had a nice walk through the market. We bought some honey crisp apples since we were lured in by the free apple tasting. How could we resist? The only thing I wanted was find this blueberry guy (he has a commercial even!), but there was some construction going on and apparently he was on vacay. Lucky duck.


• Kerry Park: Of course, we had to make a stop at our favorite Seattle downtown view. It was gorgeous as always. Think Grey's Anatomy. If you've been to my Flickr site, you've seen this site many times already.


• Museum of Flight: Wow, this is a cool museum. I was hooked when we I found the stories about some folks that received the Metal of Honor. We also got to tour an older Air Force One and the British Airways Concorde. Also, there were parts about WWI and WWII, Nasa and Space, and much more. We got to get inside some pilot seats too. I think my dad was in heaven. Everyone had a swell time.


• Bellevue: Originally we were going to head to University Village, an outdoor mall that was like the Forum in Encinitas but bigger. However, with heavy rain and the football game happening, we opted to go to Bellevue instead. Bellevue has a nice indoor mall and just a general pleasant area with good restaurants. We spent our Saturday afternoon roaming the stores and my mom on the Christmas hunt already.


• Ballard Farmer's Market: You've seen this one enough on my blog already to know that this is something Josh and I enjoy. We enjoy it so much we decided to spread the love to my parents. My dad, again, was very interested in the foods and local merchants. It was Halloween, so when I saw the caramel apples, I had to partake...it was good.


• Retail Core: This is the part of downtown Seattle that houses all the retail stores - Gap, Banana Republic, Nordstrom, Brooks Brothers, and all that good stuff. I didn't get to spend this part of the parent tour since I had to close on Sunday evening, but it was a nice closing to the Seattle weekend for my parents.

Restaurants

• Macrina: This is one of my favorite places to get bakery goods. I knew that if I liked it, my parents would probably like it as well. I mean, muffins, cookies, and scones...oh my! And Macrina did not disappoint. My mom declared it was her favorite bakery place. She love, love, loved the fruit coffeecake. My dad mentioned the scones were crunchy, but soft on the inside. Well done Macrina!


• Fresh Bistro: This is our newest restaurant find. It's in West Seattle. Every time we get stuck in this construction and it takes several tries before we get across to the other side of the water. It's been worth it though. Tasty lunch option. You might hear more about this place soon.


• Palace Kitchen: This was the big dinner out in the town. It's a Tom Douglas restaurant, a famous Seattle chef. You may have seen his spice rubs around your markets. The menus changes often, but the chicken is always on the menu. I had it and now I know why. How do they get it so moist?


• Essential Bread Co: This competes with Macrina for breakfast and bakery options. My dad said it was 50/50 between Macrina and Essential. Tough life here in Seattle.


• Purple Cafe: We ate here before moving to Seattle. It's a nice restaurant and wine bar. There are four of them throughout the Seattle area. This time we went to Bellevue. It has a "bit of this, and a bit of that" lunch combo which is awesome.


• Anita's: Crepes. Need I say more? Oh, dessert crepes. Delish.


• Volterra: Josh and I have walked by this place since our arrival and have been waiting for a chance to try it. I had an acquaintance recommend it, then I saw an article in my Cooking Light magazine, and I checked up and saw good reviews on yelp. Sooo...all signed pointed to try it. And that is what we did for brunch Sunday morning. I had these delicious pancakes. Everyone enjoyed. Yum!

And there you have it. The weekend in activities and food with my parents. The weather "worked with us" since our only rainy day was the one we planned for the museum. Otherwise excellent fall weather with all the colorful leaves. It was great to see my parents and share our new home with them. Hurray for a successful and very nice weekend with my parents.

I love you mom and dad! Thanks for visiting!!

Eureka!

I found it! Oh come on, you know what I'm talking about. What else could it be other than the fabulously delicious frozen yogurt. It's good as gold (reference to eureka).

As you may recall, I've mentioned that the frozen yogurt scene here in Seattle is pretty dang lacking. I've only come across the tart, fruity stuff. No cookie, chocolatey desserty froyo. So very disappointing. The only real place I had found was the little cafe around the corner from my Starbucks that served chocolate and vanilla, which never changes flavors but at least it was YoCream brand. I've been surviving off Red Mango. Don't get me wrong, I like Red Mango, it's good; however, it's not dessert and the creamy I'm looking for (oh all right, obsessed with). There apparently is a TCBY in Bellevue and Shoreline somewhere, but that's not very close to us here in the city. Tear.

The other day I was researching on the Internet and came across a place way down in Federal Way. Who knows where the heck that is! The colorfulness and flavors did catch my attention though so I continued onward. Out of curiosity I went to the locations and looked up Washington. Low and behold there was a coming soon for Queen Anne and Capitol Hill. WHAT?!? Josh and I drove to scope out the location it listed. The place looked like it wasn't very far along. Hmm, how much longer? I took it a step further and emailed them and asked about the projected opening. They replied in one day saying it would be late December. Oh boy! I wish it were sooner, but beggars can't be choosers.

Then my sister and I were talking on the phone and she said she thought of me, a new froyo store opened in Pasadena called Menchies. What?! That's the place I was coming here. Get out of here. It's true though.

And another sign...Josh and I were down in Gig Harbor for the day on Sunday. On the way there I saw a sign on the freeway saying Federal Way. Well, my froyo radar went to red alert. Must. Go. Get. Froyo. Deprived. On the way home we set the navigation and hit up some froyo goodness. Menchies didn't disappoint. It was self-serve and also a cute decor. Oh, and I asked and cookies 'n cream is a regular flavor. They didn't have it that day, but I enjoyed some Peanut Butter, Dulce de Leche, and Banana. Yum.

Can't wait until December! Hurry Menchies. Hurry.

Family Fun

Sheesh, stop jumping to conclusions. I didn't go to the Family Fun Center or play miniature golf. Actually, it was fun times with family. And not just my immediate family, but all the relatives. This past weekend I was able to fly out to Chicago (elongate the "a" in Chicago as you say it). Not only was it to visit family, but to celebrate some momentous events. Momentous you say? Yes. Grandma Ruth turned 89 years old and Cousin Erin is having her first baby. Let me tell you about the weekend in bullet points - it's the easiest way and not to mention my favorite.

• Traveling: My flight to Chicago started at the wee hours of the morning on Friday. Eh-hem, yes I know I get up early for work and should be used to it. Let me tell you something...you don't get used to it. period. But it was worth it. The itinerary was having me start in Eugene with stops in Denver at then Madison. Denver was being Denver (crazy weather, etc) and my originally on-time flight was late due to our pilot having to slow the speed approaching Denver and then circling until we got clearance. I get off the plane and run to my connecting flight, but it was closed. Luckily I got transferred to a flight straight from Denver to Chicago. Sadly that got delayed with mechanical issues (mention of starting with just one engine as we taxi to the take-off queue - hmm), then it snowed and possible de-ice, and last we had to wait for our turn. Although all this happened, I (A) still got to Chicago by 3:30 when I was original scheduled for 2:30pm - not bad, and (B) I got some awesome views from the plane at Eugene take-off. Please Note: I tried talking to the Eugene representatives about getting on a different flight because of my tight layovers...they said I'd be just fine...yea right! The return flight was only through Denver and both were early arrivals. Not to mention great views again.

• Erin's Baby Shower: The first day was preparing for the shower. We picked up some delicious cupcakes from Sensational Bites (we also snuck in some apple-ras crumble to snack on that night - yum!). And I did some wrapping extravaganza. Saturday we had a luncheon-style baby shower. It went really well. We had some great salads and cupcakes of course. There were also some fabulous games: (1) Name that Baby - everyone brought their own baby picture, we posted them on the wall with numbers, and people had to guess who was who. (2) Sock Laundry Timing - Erin got a buck of baby socks, mixed up, and had to match & fold them while being timed. Beforehand, everyone guessed how long it would take her. (3) Future Baby Story - a sheet with places to guess the baby's life. For instance, favorite subject or activities as a teenager. On the game topic, I did get in 2nd on the Baby Sock game - just 7 seconds off. Then just chit-chating and whatnot. On an ending note, Erin is a beautiful mother-to-be! Oh, and it's a boy!

• Grandma's Party: Immediately after the baby shower was Grandma's birthday party. It was a party day! We headed to Hackneys (more to come of food) where we had a private room for all the relatives to gather. Practically all the family showed up - the Peru Aunts, Bossharts, Lesses, and O'Neills. We enjoyed some catch-up time with all. The cousins formed a table, and we got to have cuz time. I met Scott's girlfriend, Katie, who was super nice. Man, us cousins are growing up. Grandma got some cake and presents. Just a good ole birthday celebration.

• Billy Elliot: Sunday was a day out to downtown Chicago. We headed over to the Theatre District to see Billy Elliot, the Musical. It was playing at the Oriental Theatre which was very cool inside - ornate and classical (ok, I don't know art decor terms, sue me; I think you get it though). The play was great. I enjoyed the ballet and tap dancing. It was a nice balance of singing, dancing, and story-line. All Elton John music too. In a nutshell, very fun and very worth it. I've had the movie from Netflix to watch beforehand since it'd been a while since I saw it. I didn't get to it before, so now I plan to watch it in the next few days. [Side Note: Across the street we made a quick pit-shop in the old Marshall Fields, now Macys - you'll see pictures on Flickr. I also found an interesting article on Frango Mints.]

• Merkner-Time: More family fun! Monday mom, dad, grandma, and I headed out to McHenry-Wauconda area to visit my Uncle Chuck and Aunt Sue. I also got to meet their little doggies, PJ and Lulu - very cute. Even more exciting was Uncle Chucks Extensive Train system. It was a whole room dedicated to trains. Literally a whole room. The entire space was filled staring with a table and four different train systems. A little town, noises, controls. Crazy. Then we enjoyed lunch together at a near-by waterfront restaurant, Lindy's Landing.

Uncle Chuck's Train System from Heather O'Neill on Vimeo.

• Baby Time: My Uncle Terry and Kellie have the two most adorable kids. Riley (20 months) and Emily (8 months). I got some quality time with Riley on Monday afternoon. In my life I haven't had many babies around, so it was a special time to get to know my newest cousins. It was so fun to bond with Riley (and she apparently looks like me when I was a baby). We played at the playground - when down a slide, roamed around, we played with all sorts of toys at home, read some books, and I watched her eat some dinner and take a bath. So Cute. I didn't see too much of Emily because the poor thing was not feeling well and Kellie took her to the doctor to get checked out - she's okay though.

• Food: According to my parents, there are some must-go restaurants to "hit-up" when we're in town. I don't know if this requirement comes from some childhood memories, that "these are the best" places to go according to many, or just plain habit. Whatever it may be, we must go every visit. Plus, each restaurant has a very specific item that you should order (emphasis should, I rebel and usually get something different based on my eating habits). Like most trips, we managed to squeeze them all in. Here's the list: (1) Gale Street Inn for ribs, (2) Hackney's for ribs, (3) Portillo's for Italian Beef, and (4) Lou Malnati's for deep dish pizza.


• Humor: My uncles have quite a sense of humor. I carried some of this humor back with me. I told the muffin joke and ocean joke to co-workers. They laughed and then said I was goofy. I also showed them the new fist bump, or alternatives to the bump me. Bump it and blow-up and the park-the-bumb.

P.S. Photos on Flickr for viewing. Or check out the video of grandma.

P.P.S. My forefinger feels better from the time off. It gets tired at work holding the milk pitcher and punching at the register. Poor finger.

Scrumdiliumptious

Blog Purpose: To get your mouth watering [Note: Scrumdiliumptious Definition]. Here we go...

Creamy Lemon Crumb Squares - I made these delicious, oaty, lemony things last night. I was very impressed. In fact, I liked them enough to bring to work. And let me tell you, I don't bring in everything (as in the faulty stuff) to work. Seriously people, I have a reputation to uphold; can't give the wrong impression. The recipe comes from a blog I follow, The Pioneer Women (btw, she's become quite big in the entertainment world - might have a movie made). I saw it and thought they'd be fun, spring type snack. They did not disappoint and easy to make!

The Divine Cupcake - Actually, we just returned from this scrumptious experience about an hour ago. A spur of the moment outing on a nice day to get something sweet. Plus we've been meaning to give this place a try for a while now. It's all the rage in Eugene because it has gluten-free and whatever type products. Don't miss interpret me here; I don't mind gluten free so long as it tastes good. I got a carrot cake cupcake while Josh got the red velvet cupcake. Then we got a mini lavender cupcake to share. They were quite good; not Sibby's in San Mateo, but quite good. Pictures Below!

Humble Beagle - Josh and I had dessert at this restaurant last night. We tried the Spiced Chocolate Pudding. It caught our attention on a previous visit, but we just never go to it...until last night. Now, it sounds very Eugene-like (aka hippy, vegan stuff), but it was pretty good. It was quite rich actually. I recall using words like complex and intense. It was a silken tofu pudding. The waiter mentioned that it was a take-off from a New York Times recipe. For me, a few bites was enough as it was very chocolatey, spicy, and rich - all deliciousness though.

Somewhat Recent Baking - I made a few goodies somewhat recently that we've enjoyed. This includes an Apple Rhubarb Crisp, Banana and Chocolate Chip Muffins, and Lemon Ricotta Cookies. However, there was one flop with Snickerdoodles. These were just over baked unfortunately. I'd like to blame our decrepit oven that doesn't close all the way and warms the house up nicely when on (I say this in the early spring when it's cold still). Really, I think it's because I left the dough out on the counter too long while I got absorbed in something else and the butter got too soft and then they spread out too much in the oven...

Northern Exposure

Runners Up (on Blog titles): I had a hard time deciding, so I thought I'd mention these too...Neighborhood Watching, Sleepless in Seattle, Scoping Seattle, and a few others which I've forgotten now so they must not have been that great anyway. Oh and one with following the 5 to the Emerald City, a Wizard of Oz reference. P.S. I didn't watch Northern Exposure so I hope there are no crazy deeper meanings.

The Distance:  The distance between Eugene and Seattle is closer than many would first think. It's actually driveable and takes roughly 4-5 hours. We opted to drive so we had my car and navigation system (we started calling the system Wifey on this trip). Josh did the driving on the way up Friday morning - we got there in 4 hrs 15 mins. I took over the wheel for the majority of the city navigating with some awesome parallel parking. In general, it could probably be called Mrs. O'Neill's wild ride.

Sunday we headed back in the afternoon just in time for the rain to return (so that's an indirect way of saying we had good weather all weekend). And it returned in torrents. The windshield wipers were seemed to be on crack and the rain came down in sheet. Luckily, I got us safely down to Portland. Due to the stressful conditions, Josh took over and drove us safely home. The return drive took roughly 5 hours (longer if you include the stops for gas, dinner, rain, traffic, etc).

Exploration: Take a look at this chart. Now, you can imagine why I was slightly panicked at the amount of exploration and investigation necessary on our ~2 days in Seattle. I calmed down after sitting down and reading though some other articles. And calmed down even more so after talking with our Seattle friend, Andrea. Andrea gave us the low down on all the neighborhoods. In a nutshell, keep north. Our favorite areas included: Ballard, Fremont, Green Lake, Queen Anne (lower), Bellevue, etc. Another fun fact about downtown street names is that they go in twos - two P's, two U's, two M's, and two S's (PUSM sounds funny tho). We now have a much better idea in mind on how the city is setup and where to begin if/when the time comes. Oh, and a Farmer's Market on Sunday = yay!

Non-Exploration: I haven't mentioned yet that Josh's parents were able to join us for our weekend adventure. They were our fearless passengers as we bopped around the city. It was great seeing them and enjoying some time together. Also, we meet up with our friend Andrea for lunch on Saturday (recall: mentioned above she gave some good Seattle tips). We had a nice little lunch catch-up time. We even squeezed in a quick hi and hug with Vince and Jonita, Brown family friends. I guess we not only saw Seattle, but friends/family too!

Food: Nom Nom Nom <-- That's the written version of me munching on tasty food. I imagine you now know that we ate some good food. A few sweet highlights include: banana bread at Columbia City Bakery, orange currant oatmeal cookie and raspberry oat bran muffin from Fresh Flours. As for food, a few savory delights included: crepe at Miro Tea, lunch at Purple Cafe, and dinner at Long Provincial Vietnamese. Seattle definitely has a happenin' foodie scene and the blogs that have been screaming Seattle as the current food trend were not lying.

Frozen Yogurt: I (practically) didn't have this all weekend. Yes, opposed to popular belief I can go without it for a few days without a meltdown. Don't get me wrong, it's tough, but possible. But it turns out Seattle was sadly lacking in this department. I did have the radar turned on though. You probably noticed I put "practically" in parenthesis in the first sentence. This is because I did taste some at a shop in Bellevue called Shnoo. However, I didn't not get a yogurt. For one, it was in the morning and I don't allow myself to eat it before noon (note: a few exceptions). Also, after a taster (or two. ok three), I decided that it wasn't that great. It's the trendy tart stuff and I deemed it just mediocre. Fear not, I have some bookmarked for future ventures north.

Pictures: I'm working on pictures. I forgot my camera, but luckily Don brought his along. I already have a few on Flickr that I took with my iPhone, but more should be coming soon. Keep checking out Flickr.

It was a great weekend and get-away!

Josh & Me in Fremont

The "Big" City

Two notes before you begin this blog: (1) It's not in chronological order, (2) you might enjoy listening to this Cake song as you read - at least the beginning of the song seems fitting at parts because of the hipsterness of the area...Now onto the post:

Here I am sitting in a tiny, cute-as-a-button coffee house in Portland while Josh is hard at work (cool logo/branding too - makes me think of Scrubs ostriches). He's taking an ethics exam that's necessary for lawyers in a some states. Washington doesn't need it, but neighboring Oregon and also California do require it...really it's just in case dash who knows where we'll end up safety. So, while he is busy taking the exam, I'm out exploring.

Exploring is a favorite pastime of mine (aka roaming). I love walking around new areas and finding awesome places such as this coffee house on Alberta Street called Random Order. I ended up on Alberta Street, after roaming around the University of Portland (where Josh has the exam). I took a few shots of cherry blossom trees as well as some nice river views. It's a pretty school. At least, as cool and neat as schools go, but only 20 minutes of exploration is really necessary. Now we transition to...Alberta.

To be perfectly honest, I've been in this area previously. In other words, I'm not exploring a entirely new area. However, I didn't roam much last time and recalled thinking it was deserving of more exploration. For some background the last exploration, we basically were here just to eat and network. It was at a place called the Tin Shed and Josh and I met up with a gal I met through an Acxiom co-worker when I was pursing the Portland job market more vigorously (pre-Eugene living).

I'm excited by my return to Alberta Street. There is definitely one end of the street that the newer and more trendy, hippy. The other end was in more need of growth and stores. Since it was an absolutely beautiful day, I walked the length of the street . To my dismay, most stores don't open until 11am. Ehh, back to the nicer area and find a place to chill (or plop down, to say it in a fun way) for the remaining time. That brings us here, to this moment of me writing this blog in a free wi-fi coffee shop.

<<RING RING>> Josh just called and the exam is over! Blog to be continued...

Okay, now I'm back home in the evening to finish this off. Before I go on to the rest of the day with Josh, I'll mention Friday (note: today is Saturday). Friday after work and an appointment, Josh and I packed up and headed to Portland. We got into town and checked in to our hotel, Hotel Fifty. We got a great deal on Priceline and it was conveniently located downtown. The trip started off really great with a street parking spot right in front of the hotel - that means no paying for pricey hotel parking. Woot! We threw our stuff in the room (ok, we didn't literally throw, but you get the idea), and headed out for a stroll to uptown Pearl District for dinner. I was very hungry, so we opted on a tried and true favorite, Silk. We were not disappointed. It was a awesome meal of fish and curry. We even splurged on dessert of banana bread pudding with tapioca pudding....melted in our mouths. Tummies full, we strolled back to the hotel via Powells Book store. Josh did some final studying and I did random computer stuff.

Back to Saturday before the exam. We had to get up early - ugh, early on a non-work day (boo). Aren't I a dedicated fiancee? We got breakfast at North Star, which turned out to be quite good coffee. That was just a side note since I wanted to mention the breakfast place. Now, back on track. I picked up Josh after he called and we headed back to the awesome coffee shop for lunch. We enjoyed pot pie (Josh) and sandwich-salad combo (Heather). We strolled around the part of the area I didn't quite get to thoroughly. We also got tasty tea at Townshend - btw, we've tried it in Bend before and liked it immensely. So we strolled with our drinks on a sunny day. And if I like anything more than exploring, it's exploring with Josh with me! Heavenly day.

Oh, and that's not it. We drove back across the bridge to downtown and hit up the real mall experience and Pioneer Place. How I missed you mall! I got a free mini-facial (with product sales, of course) at Origins. Josh got a Mac Store "fix" and all we well in the world.

And I'm still going. We ended the fine day at YoCream. You CAN'T, I repeat CAN'T, go to Portland without a stop for decent, real froyo. I was a bit disappointed in flavors, but I still loved it.

After all this, we drove home and here I am. One complaint: I have to open the store tomorrow (aka wake up insanely, inhumanly early). But I I'm going to go watch some How I Met Your Mother and be happy.

Pictures to come soon, Here's some as a preview. Perhaps a video (thinking about it & whether my "old" computer can handle it). Perhaps Perhap. Oh, and in case it didn't make send, the song reference on top is because Alberta, and Portland in general, is hippy and it's a hipster type song.

Heather's Exploration Shadow

Muffin Maddness

You may recall from other blog entries, that I'm on a perfect muffin recipe quest. I'm constantly trying to find the best, oaty muffin recipe - the perfect blend of sweet, oat, and savory. To be perfectly honest, I haven't been entirely successful. That was until yesterday afternoon. Yesterday, I got one step closer to that perfect recipe.

Actually, it was after making yesterday's muffins that I came to the realization that I've been making the wrong type of muffins. I've been making bran muffins when it's really should be oat bran - emphasis on oat. My search would come to an easy close if I was able to get my hands on Honey's oat bran muffin. Sadly, they are unwilling to give it up. With Honey's muffins, I have to buy the muffins in bulk when I go home, carry them on the plane, freeze them, and enjoying them daily until they are gone (which is way to fast). I know it's a bit intense, but I love oaty muffins.

Anyway, these muffins were getting awfully close to my lovely Honey's muffin taste and texture. Close, but not quite there though. I'm going to share this recipe so my fellow bakers can review, contribute, and perhaps even try them out. Let me know what you think. In corporate world, I'd say I'm looking for feedback.

By the way, I ought to share the origin of the recipe. I discovered this recipe on the side of Bob's Red Mill Oat Bran Cereal bag, which I tweaked slightly. Honey's website says their muffins have canola oil, buttermilk, yogurt, applesauce, egg, juices, and fruit. I tried to get as much of these things in this recipe as I could. I might add different fruit next time too (i.e. strawberries or peaches). I know you're tried of reading now, so here's the recipe:

Nutritious Oat Bran Muffins

Ingredients:

• Dry: 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour, 3/4 cup oat bran, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. fresh nutmeg, 1/2 tsp. baking soda


• Wet: 1/8 cup mashed banana, 1/8 cup applesauce, 1/2 cup yogurt, plain 1 egg, 2 Tbsp. canola oil, 1 tsp. vanilla


• Other: 1/2 cup shredded carrot, 1/2 cup dates, chopped 1/3 cup blueberries (optional), 1/2 cup Walnuts, chopped


• Topping: 1 Tbsp. flour, 5 Tbsp. white sugar, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1 Tbsp. butter

Directions:

1. Mix together dry ingredients. Mis liquid ingredients in separate bowls.


2. Combine the two mixtures and stire until moistened.


3. Fold in carrots, dates, blueberries, and nuts.


4. Lightly grease or line muffin tins.


5. Fill 2/3 full. Sprinkle topping on muffins.


6. Bake at 400 F for 20 minutes. Bake 5 more minutes at 350 F.

My Changes (from the original recipe):

• Bake 400 F for 18-20 mins but that's for 12 muffins (I made 6 muffins)


• Added Bluberries, frozen


• 1/3 banana mashed and no applesauce -decided to split


• Added 1/2 tsp. more cinnamon and vanilla


• Added a dash of fresh nutmeg

Oat Muffin

Oat Muffin - Close Up