mint is marvelous

it's been a while since i did a food-related post, huh?  with the heat we've been sweating through this summer i haven't really been inspired to do a whole lot of cooking or baking.  i just saw our electric bill for the month of august and damn near threw up.  eek.

but when i stumbled across this recipe for triple layer fudgy mint oreo brownies (say that three times fast), it lit a fire under my ass to get into the kitchen and make them, pronto.  chocolate mint is one of my all-time favorite flavor combos, and since the rest of the house loves it too i figured it was worth a shot.

here's the basic ingredients - yes, i used a mix.  i was feeling lazy.  sue me.

the recipe actually calls for cool mint oreos, but because my rinkydink local grocery store didn't have them, i picked up the only other option they carried.  i figured it still had an oreo cookie and mint flavored creme in it, so it's all good.

what really sold me on this concoction to begin with was the addition of a minty-flavored marshmallow creme layer.  if there's anything i love more than chocolate mint, it's marshmallow.  yum.

the brownie batter gets mixed up as directed on the package with the addition of some crumbled oreos and then topped with a bit of that minty mix.  a little swirl with a butter knife, and into the oven it goes.

after the brownies are baked and cooled completely, you take some buttercream frosting (either homemade or the kind you get next to the cake mixes - i opted for the former), stir it into the rest of the marshmallow, and spread it on top.

the final touch:  more crumbled minty oreos on top.  trying to smash those chocolate-covered cookies was kind of a pain in the ass, but it was fun licking my fingers when it was done.

so, the verdict?  well, everyone loved them.  the teen thought the brownie needed to be a little thicker, and i probably overbaked it by a minute or two.  but it was nice and chewy, with just the right amount of mint flavor, plus a little crunch from the cookies.  really good.

if you like chocolate mint even half as much as i do, i highly recommend trying this one out.  yeah, it's kind of a pain in the ass with the multiple steps and waiting to cool and all that jazz, but worth it.  way.

duh-nuh-nuh-nuh, duh-nuh-nuh-nuh

[clap, clap]

if you're anything like me, you'll immediately recognize that as the opening bars of the theme song to the most awesome teen drama that ever was.  i'm talking, of course, about 90210 - the OG version.  the one with minnesota twins brenda and brandon, transplanted into snooty ass beverly hills and their friends steve, kelly, donna, david, and my personal favorite character - dylan mckay.  swoon.

i was so incredibly obsessed with this show back in the day.  like, i had a dylan poster on my wall, my house key was on a matching keychain, and although i was glued to the tv every thursday night i still set the VCR to tape each episode so i could rewatch them to my heart's content.  i stayed a loyal fan through all ten seasons, and i bawled my eyes out when donna and david got married on the series finale.  yup, i sure did.

so you can only imagine my delight when this old navy commercial started airing:

like, i literally swooned when jason priestley and luke perry appeared onscreen.  i should probably be ashamed of myself here, but i'm just not.  it was like 1991 all over again.

now, because i love old navy anyway and find myself dropping ridiculous amounts of cash there for me and the bean, i "like" them on facebook.  and as i was perusing my feed on thursday afternoon, something jumped out at me:  something called the "bluesology pop-up denim boutique," a 3-day event in l.a. where ON "experts" helped attendees find the perfect pair of jeans and take them home for free.  a freebie?  hell yeah!  but i honestly didn't even notice the free jeans part, because the next line read like this:   

Friday only, we’ll have special guest appearances by Luke Perry from 12-4pm, and Gabrielle Carteris from 2-4pm.

jigga-whaaa??  did you hear the screeching brakes noise in your head like i did?  i damn near lost my mind.  and despite the fact that it was friday afternoon, which usually means hellacious traffic heading out towards hollywood - plus my need to be home by 6 for a stella & dot trunk show i had scheduled that evening - i knew i had to go.  HAD. TO.

when i showed the event listing to the teen, she lit up like a christmas tree.  "free jeans?" she squealed.  "let's GO!"  i was so amused that we were giddy about this thing for two very different reasons - and that i hadn't seen the free jeans, and she had no idea why i was so excited for those special guest appearances.  so awesome.

we headed out as soon as we picked up the bean from school, and because we were going against traffic we managed to get there pretty quickly.  for a pop-up shop, this space was pretty spruced up for a three day gig.

street parking was shockingly plentiful, and we were greeted at the door by a bubbly, smiling old navy staffer who handed us these:

it was a pretty cool space, and there were all sorts of fun-looking displays set up.  and i'm guessing that because most kids are back in school and it was still mid-afternoon, it wasn't particularly crowded.

and then i spotted him, standing near the jeans bar chatting casually with a couple of folks.  my heart nearly pounded right out of my body and i seriously got the shakes.  i was SHAKING, people!  like, i held my hands out for the teen and they were a-tremblin'.  he was right there!

it was ridiculous, you guys.  i was sweating and nervous and shaky and my head was spinning like i'd downed a dozen shots.  but come ON.  it was dylan mckay, he of the smoldering stare and oh-so-cool sideburns, no more than five feet away from me!  i don't know what i'd been expecting - maybe that he'd be standing in some roped-off VIP-style area or something - but it sure wasn't to find him just standing there where just anyone (i.e., me) could approach him whenever they damn well felt like it.  and i couldn't move.  my feet were glued to the floor and i felt like i was going to pass out right there in front of him.

so i went for a warm-up instead.  i approached gabrielle carteris, former talk show host and ex-ahhhhhndreeeaaaah zuckerman, introduced myself and the girls, and asked her if i could take a picture with her.  she was really sweet, pointing out her own daughter to us and chatting with us briefly before the teen snapped this:

when she walked away, i turned to the teen and said "i'm so freaking nervous.  i don't know if i can do this."  you'd have thought i was doing something incredibly life-altering (duh, it was).  i'm so lame.  and when she nudged me and said "just go," i sucked it up and walked over to him.  i said something really dumb like "hiohmygodiamsuchahugefanicantbelieveiammeetingyouholycrapifeellikesuchadorkandiamsonervous."and then probably a bit of "itslikeiamliketwelveyearsoldorsomethingandmynameiswananditissofreakingawesometomeetyou."

you think i'm kidding.

and he was such a good sport about it.  he grinned at me, standing there melting into a puddle (pretty much literally, i was sweating my ass off) in all my three-pimples-on-my-face and super shiny, sweaty nosed glory, said "hi, i'm luke and it's really nice to meet you" and grabbed me in a big ass bear hug.  he gestured towards the teen and said "let's take a picture, shall we?" and here's my proof that i actually met luke perry:

and this one, too:

he must've noticed that i was still shaking like a damn leaf because he squeezed my shoulder and said "it's okay, you're such a sweetheart!"  oh mah gah, he's so lucky i was so discombobulated and didn't just hump his leg right then and there.  all i needed was that convertible porsche speedster to make it complete.  i asked him what he was up to, and he said "ah, i'm raising my kids!  i've got one in high school and another in junior high, and when they're done that's when i'll go back to work."  i suppose i chatted with him for another minute or so and then thanked him for his time and floated away on cloud effing nine.

when i finally came back down to earth, we headed back over to the jeans bar and picked out a pair to try on in their makeshift fitting rooms.

swag.

as the teen was trying her jeans on, the bean and i sat down with luke in the photo booth.  i hope the hub doesn't smack me for this one - it kinda sorta looks like a family photo, heh.

yeah, he kept his shades on the whole time.  i don't care.  he's dylan freaking mckay, after all.  too cool for school, 24/7.

and hey, old navy?  even though i already love you to death for your fun and inexpensive merchandise...you've got a customer for life in me for this one.  FOR LIFE!

the first day of the rest of their lives

i am officially the mother of a high school senior:

as well as a (transitional) kindergartener.

holy shit.

half crazy

i have about a week and a half-ish until the disneyland half marathon.  holy shit.

you'd think i'd learned my lesson after hating life while training for tinkerbell.  uh, and then for the hollywood half.  heh.  but noooo - my stupid ass couldn't stand the thought of missing out on a run put on by disney, and actually signed up for this one even before i'd finished my first half marathon.  i am such a glutton for punishment.

so i've been doing weekly long runs for a few weeks now, starting with a 5-miler and adding a mile every weekend.  i've been pretty good about going out at least twice during the week so that my running mojo doesn't just quit on me, although they've typically been short ones.  i'm finding myself far too lazy to run more than three miles most days.  and my last long run was last weekend, a killer ten mile trek that started at 6:30 in the morning to avoid the intense heat we've been dealing with for about three weeks now (seriously, mother nature, can we call a truce and end this shit already?  please?).  this weekend i'll do a free 10K fun run with the teen, but since we'll have the bean with us too we'll likely just walk it.  this is okay too, since the avon walk is coming up in four weeks and we really haven't done shit training-wise.

one of my rules is to take water with me for anything longer than a five mile run.  except that i noticed that my hydration belt (a pretty fancy way to say "fanny pack," basically) wasn't fitting me properly anymore.  oh, and there's the annoying way that the bottles would leak on me as i ran.  i'd get halfway through my run and find that both bottles were only half full and my ass would be soaking wet.  not a good thing on all counts.  and after a particularly grueling run that had me feeling really crappy when i finally got home, i realized i just needed to suck it up and replace the damn thing altogether.  after doing some shopping online, i found what i wanted at my new obsession:  lululemon.

this thing is pretty fantastical.  it has three bottles that can ride vertically or horizontally and a pouch that holds my iPhone perfectly along with a pocket for energy gels and keys.  and since i was also getting increasingly frustrated with my armband that would pinch me as i ran, not to mention making for some freaky ass tan lines, it solved more than one problem.

then i also came to the conclusion that my running shoes needed to be replaced.  i'd been doing all of my races in the same pair i'd bought for tinkerbell and had recently switched to training in them too.  and when i inspected the soles for remaining tread, i noticed that they were pretty stinking worn out.  since i'd received some coupons for dick's sporting goods, i decided to head over there to check out their gear.

except that when we got to the store and started looking around at the running shoes, we were pretty much ignored by the sales staff.  we watched as the dude scurried over to help some guy who walked in after we did, glancing over at us as he passed by.  and when we tried to catch his attention to ask for help, he literally ignored us and didn't acknowledge our presence until i put down the shoe i was looking at and loudly told the girls "let's go, they obviously don't need our business here."  finally he spit out a brusque "can i help you?" and we sashayed past, tossing a "no, we're leaving" over our shoulder on the way out.  asshole.

i took to my twitter app immediately, typing out a bitchy complaint in exactly 140 characters, and received a response from the dicks twitter account within minutes.  i was asked to drop an email to their customer service department, and while i was prepared to shine it on and just head to a different store, the teen totally egged me on by offering to drive while i typed.  ha!

but because i had some really good coupons, we ended up at a different store location, where i settled on this fabulous pair of nike lunarglide+3s.

i've never run in nike shoes before - i was told when fitted for my first pair of running shoes that i needed to wear stability shoes.  i've worn nothing but asics for the last year but the only pair that was available carried a $150 price tag, and even with a coupon i wasn't really all about dropping that much cash on shoes.  so i googled these shoes on my phone, and after reading that they're responsive and adapt to just about every type of foot, i was sold.  besides, i wanted some pretty shoes for once, dang it!  those asics were butt ass ugly, and heavy and clunky to boot.  these are so lightweight and cool, i just had to have 'em.  and way less than $150.

so far, i've only been able to do a really quick test run in them - we're talking a mere two miles here - so i'm anxious to give them another shot during sunday's 10K.  they seemed to be okay, but i definitely noticed a difference in the way they felt on my feet, and i want to be sure that they're going to work on the 13.1 miles i'll be doing really soon.

oh, and as for that email to dicks?  i received an automated response as soon as i hit "send," another one from their central customer service department the next day, and then last night one more.  this time, directly from the manager of the store we'd been ignored at - with an apology, a promise to discuss the incident with the shoe sales staff, and a $25 gift card waiting for me at the store.

i guess the squeaky wheel really does get the grease.  thanks, twitter (and the teen).

she be clubbin'

the quest to keep the bean as busy as possible and expose her to all sorts of different activities continues.  the newest thing?  golf.  oh, yeah.

"there are lots of golf scholarships," the hub told me.  we actually had this conversation a while ago, but when i saw via facebook that my cousin had his daughter in golf camp this summer, i figured it was worth a shot.  and the class that i found is actually meant for kids starting at age 5, but when i called and talked to someone at the course, i was given the OK since her birthday is coming up.

the class starts at 8:30, which works quite nicely with her hip-hop dance class at 10.  and she was excited for her first golf class.  she's gone with the hub to sport chalet, where she loves to grab a club and play on the little putting green setup (which is likely for trying out various golf clubs, but whatevs). we got there, checked in, and she gave me the crazy fire marshal bill-style grin as she clutched her borrowed club.

i probably shouldn't have been as surprised at how many kids there were in this class - after all, it is only $5.

it was really hard for me to keep from running over to help her or remind her to pay attention and listen to the instructors, but i did.  i distracted myself by chatting with one of the dads who had a daughter about a year older than the bean.  and it was fun watching her focus so intently on swinging that club properly.

after some stretching and basic instruction, the gigantic class was split into two groups - half went to the putting green, the others to the driving range.  the bean was in the latter group.

check out that form!  proud mama bear, i was.  and she even managed to hit the ball - oh, about every other attempt.  heh.

with about 15 minutes of class time left, they switched places and she lined up with the rest of her group to try putting.

all in all, it was a pretty darn successful first attempt.  i'd been told to ask the instructors after class if she was able to hang enough to continue on, and i was happy when they assured me that she was good to go.  she'd had a great time, and talked about it for the rest of the day.

i wonder how long the hub will make us wait before she gets to take a trip to sport chalet for her own set of clubs.  she's already picked 'em out, even.

mm-hmmm.

a sweaty send-off

this weekend, we said goodbye to brother wan.  he's now off to a whole new life in a whole different state, living on his own for the first time, and far far away from us.  so as of right now, all of the hub's immediate family lives out of state.  well, with the exception of his grandparents and g-wan.  i am sad.

he and the hub spent a chunk of time pulling his stuff out of our attic, sorting through it and repacking it all up into a one-way moving van.  we're still in the midst of one of the longest heat waves i can remember, so it was quite a sweaty time up in the house of wan.  ick.  but i shouldn't complain - most of the time i was inside the air-conditioned house, cleaning and getting ready for a farewell bbq with the grandparents and their aunt and uncle wan.  still, the girls and i went outside to hang out with the boys now and then.  i don't even remember what prompted it, but the teen emerged from her room at one point like this:

and when it came off, she stuck it on me.

while we were out there, i managed to get through some of my own boxes and cleaned out some stuff i'd been meaning to get rid of for a while.  and then we all shared pizza in the garage for dinner while the teen and i pored over brother wan and the hub's yearbooks.  we giggled at the boys' school portraits, cackled at their sports snapshots, smirked at the notes from girls.  it was a good time.

at the bbq, i introduced aunt wan to something we both enjoyed immensely:  the st. germain champagne cocktail.

and the hub dressed up for the occasion.  yes, i did make the stupid face with the same prop in my hand for multiple photos.

the grub was delicious.  man, i could go for a bite of that steak again right now.

i managed to gather most of the party together for a group photo - minus g-wan, who'd ended up calling in sick.  no biggie - brother wan headed up to the mountains for a quick visit before he took off.

the teen probably wouldn't tell him, but she admitted it to me:  she's just as sad as i am to see brother wan go.  he's been in our lives since she was in kindergarten, and they've always had a really fun relationship.  when he spoke as our best man on our wedding night, he mentioned how happy he was to have the cutest little girl as part of his family.  i remember thinking how lucky i was to have married into such a wonderful, loving group of people who welcomed us into their lives so unconditionally.

and the bean - oh, how she loves her uncle wan.  she really didn't understand any of this - "but uncle wan, WHY are you leaving?"

and on the last morning, she gave him one last sweet hug.  if i know him at all, he was rather verklempt at this particular moment.  and i definitely blinked away a tear or two as i watched them together.

even though i'm really sad to see him go, i know he's totally going to make a fantastic life for himself.  he's in his 20s, moving to the next level in his career, with a great personality and a big heart.  we're all hoping he finds a sweet girl to settle down with and pop out some nieces and nephews.  but i'm worried about him too - he knows just one person out there, and i fear that homesickness will hit hard once the flurry of activity dies down.  of course, there are airplanes and telephones and facetime, but it won't be the same as hearing the key turn in the lock and seeing his grinning face coming in with a hearty "what up, yo!" (and the bean echoing that greeting with gusto).  i'm going to miss the incredibly silly and comical conversations we'd have over dinner, talking about plain ol' everyday topics and whatever new video just went viral on youtube.  and it was always fun to bounce ideas off of each other and chatting about cooking and baking.  i would get so mortified at finding out he was coming over for dinner when i had a tater tot casserole in the oven - gotta love serving that up to a cordon bleu-trained chef!  and yet he was always complementary of whatever i put on the table and thanked me at the end of the meal.

so just like his parents before him, we had to watch a truck with his whole life packed into it drive down the street, headed off to a far-off destination.

(those rental trucks are nasty, by the way - all sticky and smelly and gross.  ew)

we love you, brother wan.  travel safe, come home often, and kick some ass out there.  we miss you already.

oh, and sorry i was all sweaty when i finally got to give you a goodbye hug.  guess i should've waited a bit before popping in that yoga dvd.  oops.

awww, you guys made me ink

after our cake decorating extravaganza, we bid goodbye to winnie and headed off in search of something delicious to eat.  and less than two blocks away, we found it:

this, my friends, is a casual sandwich shop opened by none other than hottie chef michael voltaggio.  it's actually just a couple of doors down from his super cool and very popular restaurant, ink.  i've already hit up the hub to take me here for a date night sometime soon.

anyway, because the bean and mini cee were both crashing from the sugar high of decorating cakes for the last two hours, we decided to order our grub and take it home.

i actually wanted one of the girly-cut tees with the ink.sack logo, but i was told that they only came in a size small.  obviously, mr. voltaggio expects his ladies to watch their figures.  hmph.  i haven't worn a t-shirt in a small size in i can't even tell you how long.

check out the glazed-over look in the bean's eyes.  serious fatigue going on here, people.

of course, she goes from that to hysterical laughter over absolutely nothing.  she gets really loopy when she's tired.

i had to add this to my order.  had. to.

i liked the bags we took our sandwiches home in.  look, they're BFFs.

on our way home, we encountered this:

and yes, that's totally going to be an outing for us sometime soon.  we're even going to attempt to drag our friends weezermonkey and tater along with us.

as for the food?  well, here's the cold fried chicken sandwich - the most popular item on the menu, and deservedly so.

one of the pastrami short rib sandwiches may have found its way into my bag as well.

and lilcee was kind enough to slice off a piece of her spicy tuna for me to sample.  verrrry tasty.

everything was super yummy and surprisingly reasonable.  the sandwiches are on the smallish side, but they're packed with flavor and worth every penny.  i'd definitely go again.