loser cookies

why does it seem like the lakers lose EVERY christmas day game?  oy vey!

it made it rather bittersweet to work on a cookie order for the day after christmas.  i'd been asked to do a hundred basketball-shaped sugar cookies in laker colors for an office open house, and with the bean asleep and the rest of the family off doing their own thing during the afternoon of christmas day, i got to work.

i'd made most of the dough earlier in the week, so i got to work on mixing a couple more batches before i started on the rolling and cutting.  it went pretty quickly, and the table i'd asked the hub to set up in our still-unfinished breakfast nook was perfect for spreading them out to cool and frost.

man, let me tell you - tinting the frosting in purple and gold was a bitch.  i'd busted out my kobe jersey to use as a guide, and i found myself using ungodly amounts of gel coloring to get it just right.  the gold wasn't too hard, but that purple - good gracious.  i mixed in drops of violet, regal purple, a bit of red, some navy blue, and a little black.  and even when i finally gave up, it still wasn't exactly the right shade.

i outlined all 100 cookies first, and then thinned out the rest of the purple frosting for the flooding process.  i am so not good at drawing perfect circles freehand.

i'd also thrown in some gingerbread cookies and trees for a post-christmas BBQ treat.  now those, i'm getting pretty good at.

flood!

i went back and drew on the lines for the basketballs, but when i was done i wasn't quite thrilled with them.  they just didn't look right, but i couldn't figure out what was missing.

but i was pooped.  so i cleaned up and went to bed.

the next morning, when i got up to check on my creations, i took one look at them and realized what they needed:  an outline in gold.  luckily, i'd saved the rest of the frosting.

somewhat better, right?  and lucky for me, they weren't being picked up until hours later.  so i turned on the ceiling fan to help move the drying process along and left them alone.

while i had the frosting bags out, i remembered that i'd cut out a few extra shapes with the leftover cookie dough.  look, mini lakers:

and laker cupcake cookies!

they dried fairly quickly, and when i was sure they were ready (and while the bean took her nap), i got them all bagged and tied with purple ribbon.

i just heard from my customer, and she said they were a big hit.  yay!  i knew they were tasty (duh), but i was happy to get confirmation.

now, let's just hope the lakers get their shit together and start winning again.

food makes up for bad basketball

i spent all day yesterday thinking it was sunday. ha! i get confused pretty easily.

it started out with lovely, yummy dim sum with r and one of my other awesome cousins, lakerfan. yes, his name could totally apply for pretty much all of my family, but when i think lakers, i always think of him. we've managed to make a tradition of sorts whenever r is in town to get together and grub down on some tasty little treats at various dim sum places, and today's venue was full house in arcadia. it's not my favorite place, but it's easy to get to and cheap as hell.

to r's surprise, the hub (not a big dim sum fan) actually came along this time. it'd been quite a while since she had seen him, so it was nice for them to catch up a bit. and the bean had fallen asleep in the car on the way, so she spent the entire time cuddled in her daddy's arms. although we don't keep the house silent for when she sleeps, it was really noisy in there and we were pretty amazed that she snoozed so soundly.

as we were seated, out of the corner of my eye i spy a little person walk up to lakerfan and tap him on the shoulder. and when i focused my attention on him, i realized it was a family member i haven't seen in a long time. we turned our heads and saw his little brother and dad sitting at a nearby table. and why is this significant?

well, this was m's family - close family of that man. and i hadn't seen them (nor anyone on that side of the family) in over a year - not since the teen and i quietly sat in the back of the church at her memorial service. as r and lakerfan got up to go and say hello, i struggled silently with the decision of whether or not to join them. i glanced frantically at the hub, who encouraged me to go, and so i did, wondering with each step whether or not i would be welcomed or ignored. i really hoped for the former, as my relationship with m's husband (to whom i was actually related to) had always been a good one.

my worries were laid to rest as i received not the icy glare i half expected, but a warm smile. i went in for a hug and was hugged back, and my overwhelming feeling of awkwardness dissolved instantly. we all chatted for a while, and then we said our goodbyes and went back to our table.

i often ponder how it would go if i ran into anyone from that side of the family while out and about. and i must say that out of all the folks to stumble upon, i'm really glad it was them. i've thought of them often and hoped they were doing okay in the wake of their devastating loss, and they seem to be doing well. i guess i didn't really doubt it - i always thought of them as a close-knit, loving family. life goes on, and i hope they're living it to the fullest.

oh, check this out - i was so stoked when i went to fill the gas tank in the pri-YES!:

hell, the X5 took twice that - and more. although i admit that i miss the little luxuries and gadgets in that car, every time i think of this (and watch the real-time mpg display consistently show 30+), i forget all about 'em. i. love. my. car.

i also got a really brilliant idea today for a fun road trip to do this summer with my little family. we caught a showing of "cars" on the disney channel the other day, and i suppose i was subconsciously influenced by it, because i think it would be fantastic to road trip along the original route 66 - all the way to chicago! while this may sound like lunacy to some, it's actually something i think the teen would dig. there's so much history and fun stuff to be found all along the route, and we'd cross eight different states along the way. i'm reading that it's historically incorrect to go from west to east, so we may just make up our own route to chicago and then hit up 66 on the way home. i'm finding so many different sites and blogs with helpful information, maps, tips, etc. and i think it'll be super fun.

to cap off our weekend, the hub picked up stuff at the grocery store to make dinner that we could enjoy as we watched the laker game. check out these ginormous hunks o'meat:

we had some broccoli & cheese and stuffed baked potatoes to go with them:

and i'd baked some delicious chocolate & peanut butter chip cookies earlier today. holy cow, i'm gonna explode.

at least dinner was good, since the lakers sucked ass tonight. sheesh.

fucking lakers.

goddammit. how in the hell could they fucking SQUANDER a 24-point lead? ugh.

i'm still so mad i could spit. SPIT, i tell you!

sex and the O.C.

i was totally excited to meet up with a group of fun girls, from L.A. and the O.C. we were getting together for an early showing of "sex and the city" and then having lunch afterwards at irvine spectrum.

after leaving the bean and the hub with a bottle, pureed baby food, and hugs and kisses, i hopped in the car and stopped at starbucks for some caffeine before getting on the freeway. i was pleased to note that there wasn't a bit of traffic on the road, and even with my ten-minute-wait at the 'bucks, i managed to pull into a parking spot at the spectrum right at 10:30 (our designated meeting time).

i found the girls - kim, claire, tater, ashley, aline, and ruth- waiting in front of the theater. a few minutes later, FGD and liz joined us, and we trooped up the steps, got our tickets, and headed inside.

we didn't quite occupy an entire row, but close - and i was excited when the lights finally went down, got through about 329784698237 trailers, and the movie began at last.

i loved it. i knew it was a long movie (2 1/2 hours-ish), but i didn't care, and it didn't feel like it. i was a fan of the show, and so i'd been looking forward to seeing how it played out on the big screen. the only thing i'll say about the movie itself is that even if you didn't watch the show (i only really got into it after the DVDs came out. i'm too cheap to subscribe to hbo), there's a nice little recap at the beginning that'll catch you up enough to understand what happens.

btw, for anyone who lurks on the O.C. nest board, the sniffles and giggles that came from our row of happy viewers proved that we DO have hearts. and they're not cold and black ones, either.

afterwards, we gathered outside and discussed where to eat. we were all hungry (having bypassed the theater's concession stands), and somehow it was left up to the L.A. girls to decide. aline piped up, though: "i have a gift card to cheesecake factory. i'm just sayin'."

we laughed our asses off as we thought of how horrified the monkey would be at our choice, and headed inside to be seated. as we got settled, ashley and i both put our movie ticket money on the table for kim, who'd helpfully provided us with $7.50 tickets from costco, and we both giggled at our quarters. when kim saw these, she pushed two of them towards FGD and the other two were left sitting on the table, sad and forgotten.

until the server arrived.

he was overly cheerful - probably excited over being the lucky server to wait on a table of hot girls. heh. and he gleefully scooped up those quarters, saying "oh, i see my last table left me a tip, great!"

i could. not. stop. laughing. holy shit. it was so fucking funny - and as he forgot my coke and brought me a water instead, and then left poor ashley sitting there waiting for a good 15 minutes after the rest of us had been served, it wasn't hard to believe if he'd gotten stiffed for a tip by the previous patrons. heh.

i ended up ordering a giant belgian waffle, topped with chocolate chips and chantilly cream - but only because aline said "oh good, i won't look so bad ordering strawberry shortcake." yup, that's right. there's not a lot i won't do for a friend. that's just the way i roll. of course, i threw in a side of bacon, which made the table giggle. i don't know why it was so funny. really. hmph.

tater's strawberry french toast tower:

claire's chicken hash:

kim's crab hash:

liz's vietnamese spring rolls. and her iced tea - which seemed to be freshly brewed. this is a good thing, except that it was served to her with about two sad little melting ice cubes. and we just found it hilarious when the server said "um, would you like some ice for your iced tea?" i cracked a lame joke when he left - "yeah, because right now, it's just tea.":

ashley's monte cristo sandwich, which was STILL wrong even after the long wait:

and FGD with her delicious salad - and you can see how excited she is to eat it, being in the first two weeks of the lovely south beach diet:

i was a little leery of asking server boy to take a group picture, and from the blurriness of it, you can see why:

oh, well. outside, there were hugs all around, and then everyone split up to either shop, meet up with ILs, or head on home. i was in the latter group, along with tater, liz, and kim. on the way to the parking structure, i sent wistful, longing glances at the pinkberry i had to leave behind:

after that waffle, there was no way i could possibly have any of that tart, creamy goodness. sadness.

i managed to get home pretty quickly, and found the bean and the hub playing in the living room. i love how she lights up when she sees me after i've been gone for a few hours. it just makes my day. and i cuddled her after nursing for a bit, and we both fell asleep until it was time for tip-off - game 2 of the celtics-lakers finals.

i made a lovely pupu platter of trader joe's goodies, and then we dined on bbq'd steaks with roasted corn and asparagus risotto for dinner.

those damn lakers. i didn't lose faith (although the hub did) until the very last ten seconds.

"where the hell is that mvp?" i asked.
"not in boston," the hub replied.

on to game 3! hopefully the home court advantage'll kick in.

no. more. fro. yo.

okay, so it got a little ridiculous. after i picked up the teen from school, we headed out to claremont, where there's a SELF-SERVE ce fiore.

oh, yes. i was picturing a lovely cup of mochi with yogurt topping. the teen was only slightly amused, but i was giddy.

thank goodness for the navi, because i would have totally passed the shop without it. it's stuck in a shitty little strip mall, right next to a cvs pharmacy. but we found it! whee!

after a taste test of the peanut butter yogurt, the teen opted for a small cup of it with heath bar topping. she pronounced it "delish" and dug right in.

as for me, i had so much fun serving my own yogurt, watching it twirl down into my cup, that i ended up with more than i'd intended. and then i headed over to the toppings bar and damn near emptied the container of mochi bits. ha!

the bean had some, too. yogurt, not mochi. i think ce fiore's original flavor actually has a slightly bitter aftertaste, and i'd say the bean agreed. but she kept coming back for more!

next time we go, we're so going to try a yogurt-topped waffle.

and now i'm thinking that all three of us are pretty yogurt-ed out for a while. really! i don't plan on going out of my way to get yogurt for at LEAST a week, maybe two. ;)

we went home, i pulled out my OG kobe jersey, and watched my beloved lakers go down in flames. damn.

hey, whatever. it was only game 1. we'll bring it in the next game.