BIG HUGE OOPS!!!
So May I was quite busy setting up the babyshower for the bf's friend~
I'll upload some pix below~
It was a really nice shower in a tea room here in Pasadena. The food was absolutely delicious! I was sooo surprised! Normally I'm a big bread/sandwich person...but wow...never had I had tea with sandwiches that tasted this amazing!!!! XD
I'm in love
SCONES were to DIE for!
I've tried to stick to the 2 sale-a-month...but that idea seemed to translate better offline than online =P
Mother's Day came and no sales online but definetly offline!
Also I bit the bullet and ordered what I thought were decent beads that normally I would think twice or thrice before purchasing due to the price...but I have to say......price really does make a difference!
eep no time to upload pix sorry...will try to do this at home ^.^
Taxes too High, California Cows on the Way to Oregon.
In protest to higher taxes, California Cows are now proceeding to Oregon.
Growing Up Without A Cellphone
My daughter in-law sent an email that took me down memory lane, and may do the same with you.. I promise you, that it will make you smile and brighten your day...
"When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning.... Uphill... Barefoot... BOTH ways yadda, yadda, yadda And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!
But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in Utopia! And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!
I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!
There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!
Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to whip us! Nowhere was safe!
There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!
Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and screw it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car.. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?
We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!
There weren't any cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MY!!! Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.
And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!
We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!
You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your couch and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!
There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-finks!
And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!
And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!
And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were lucky, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!
See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or any time before!"
Thought I should share this, and I hope it brought a smile on your face.
Much hugs,
Autumn
Fess Parker's Doubletree Resort's Chef's Table
Last night, I had the pleasure of attending an exclusive first time Chef's Table event at the well known beachfront property, Fess Parker's Doubletree Resort. Events like this demonstrate why the Fess Parker's Doubletree Resort is one of the premiere event venues in all of the tri-county area.
The Chef's Table began with a cocktail reception in their fine dining restaurant, Rodney's Steakhouse, where I was greeted by their entire sales and catering staff as well as their general manager, Mathew LaVine. I truly appreciated the interaction with their team as I do many events there as one of their preferred vendors and I always look forward to further building on those relationships.
We were served hors d'oeuvres of their Habanero Tomato Gazpacho and Avocado Puree topped with their Corn Relish. Both were paired with Morgan Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. We were then introduced to, and escorted by, their Executive Chef, Kirk DeLong, into the hotels main kitchen.
We all sat around a demonstration table of food and fire as Chef Kirk, as well as his Executive Sous Chef, Jake Prelas, and Sous Chefs James Marcinonis and Luis Del Mercado, made us a fabulous sampling of a five course menu. Because we were all surrounding his table, we got to experience each and every step as though we were making the food ourselves. We enjoyed the scents of truffle oil and mushrooms as our first course began. This included Santa Barbara's very own blackened Channel Islands Sea Scallops served over a bed of Sesame Oil marinated seaweed salad and topped with Shiitake and Enoki mushrooms which were sautéed in rice wine vinegar and accompanied by an Indonesian chili paste called Sambal. I am very familiar with Sambal, as I married a Dutchmen whose mother was raised in Indonesia. She makes THE BEST spicy peanut sauce that drips with Sambal and brown sugar. It is difficult to get good Sambal in this country. As a result, we have friends and family members who routinely bring extra suitcases of the delicious condiment every time they visit from Holland. We could not live without it!
Our second course was an elegant presentation of Acorn Squash and English Pea Risotto served alongside a Parmesan crisp in a tall martini glass. The Parmesan crisp took the dish to another dimension of flavor. Fantastic!
Our third course was a Rosemary Lamb topped with their Tomato Jam and served with their White Bean Cassoulet drizzled with a Balsamic reduction. And again with the Truffle Oil!
Our fourth course was a Roasted Venison Tenderloin with dollops of Blackberry Compote atop Braised Collard Greens.
Wait, it did not stop there! Executive Sous Chef Jake Prelas, had just returned from a seminar taught by the president of the US Pastry Team, Chef En Ming Hsu, held at the Guittard Chocolate Studios in Los Angeles, Ca. The seminar covered classical French Pastries, technique, and current pastry trends. Using his newly acquired skills he created their Butterscotch Pudding topped with freshly ground Hawaiian Sea Salt. By far the best pudding I have ever had. He even made us hot butterscotch that he individually dripped over our already exquisite pudding!
To top off our evening, we were presented with their Deconstructed Key Lime Pie and two types of coffee. They requested that we taste the two and share our preference. They had recently considered with the idea of changing their coffee to a more well known brand. It was a majority vote, stay with the original! After our applause, we ended the evening with an open table where we had a fruitful discussion about the more recent desires of our clients, current trends that we had been seeing, and suggestions we may have for the hotel's service and food menus. By doing this, they continue to compete with the ever changing industry. This impressed us all because it underscored the willingness of the hotel staff to open themselves to constructive criticism. Executive Chef Kirk DeLong, was most amenable to our suggestions about how he could further improve the hotel's menu. In addition, we informed the sales and catering staff of how they could further communicate to our clients about food and beverage products. This allows us to better cater to our clients specific requests by providing more options, more creativity, and more ways of thinking outside of the 'banquet box'.
The Chef's Table began with a cocktail reception in their fine dining restaurant, Rodney's Steakhouse, where I was greeted by their entire sales and catering staff as well as their general manager, Mathew LaVine. I truly appreciated the interaction with their team as I do many events there as one of their preferred vendors and I always look forward to further building on those relationships.
We were served hors d'oeuvres of their Habanero Tomato Gazpacho and Avocado Puree topped with their Corn Relish. Both were paired with Morgan Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. We were then introduced to, and escorted by, their Executive Chef, Kirk DeLong, into the hotels main kitchen.
We all sat around a demonstration table of food and fire as Chef Kirk, as well as his Executive Sous Chef, Jake Prelas, and Sous Chefs James Marcinonis and Luis Del Mercado, made us a fabulous sampling of a five course menu. Because we were all surrounding his table, we got to experience each and every step as though we were making the food ourselves. We enjoyed the scents of truffle oil and mushrooms as our first course began. This included Santa Barbara's very own blackened Channel Islands Sea Scallops served over a bed of Sesame Oil marinated seaweed salad and topped with Shiitake and Enoki mushrooms which were sautéed in rice wine vinegar and accompanied by an Indonesian chili paste called Sambal. I am very familiar with Sambal, as I married a Dutchmen whose mother was raised in Indonesia. She makes THE BEST spicy peanut sauce that drips with Sambal and brown sugar. It is difficult to get good Sambal in this country. As a result, we have friends and family members who routinely bring extra suitcases of the delicious condiment every time they visit from Holland. We could not live without it!
Our second course was an elegant presentation of Acorn Squash and English Pea Risotto served alongside a Parmesan crisp in a tall martini glass. The Parmesan crisp took the dish to another dimension of flavor. Fantastic!
Our third course was a Rosemary Lamb topped with their Tomato Jam and served with their White Bean Cassoulet drizzled with a Balsamic reduction. And again with the Truffle Oil!
Our fourth course was a Roasted Venison Tenderloin with dollops of Blackberry Compote atop Braised Collard Greens.
Wait, it did not stop there! Executive Sous Chef Jake Prelas, had just returned from a seminar taught by the president of the US Pastry Team, Chef En Ming Hsu, held at the Guittard Chocolate Studios in Los Angeles, Ca. The seminar covered classical French Pastries, technique, and current pastry trends. Using his newly acquired skills he created their Butterscotch Pudding topped with freshly ground Hawaiian Sea Salt. By far the best pudding I have ever had. He even made us hot butterscotch that he individually dripped over our already exquisite pudding!
To top off our evening, we were presented with their Deconstructed Key Lime Pie and two types of coffee. They requested that we taste the two and share our preference. They had recently considered with the idea of changing their coffee to a more well known brand. It was a majority vote, stay with the original! After our applause, we ended the evening with an open table where we had a fruitful discussion about the more recent desires of our clients, current trends that we had been seeing, and suggestions we may have for the hotel's service and food menus. By doing this, they continue to compete with the ever changing industry. This impressed us all because it underscored the willingness of the hotel staff to open themselves to constructive criticism. Executive Chef Kirk DeLong, was most amenable to our suggestions about how he could further improve the hotel's menu. In addition, we informed the sales and catering staff of how they could further communicate to our clients about food and beverage products. This allows us to better cater to our clients specific requests by providing more options, more creativity, and more ways of thinking outside of the 'banquet box'.
If you are considering Fess Parker's Doubletree Resort as your venue, you will find that it's staff is informative, interactive, and dedicated to supporting local businesses so that you are provided with the freshest local ingredients making your stay a memorable one.
Well Done!
Well Done!
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