I heart Birthdays

Chocolate Coconut Cake

On the 20th of this month my dear friend Antonio who is in Culinary School with me turned 20!! So for his birthday I baked him a little cake! Along with the class, he loved it! I love baking goods for others especially friends of mine! Happy Birthday Antonio!

Audrey's Big Girl Bed

As of almost 2 weeks ago Audrey sleeps in a new big girl bed. Her crib converts into the bed and now that she walks it was the perfect time! She only sleeps in it for about 2 hours at the most before she wakes up and cries. We still put her in our bed for the night to comfort her but she falls asleep in her bed and is staying there longer and longer each night! Pictures of her new bed to come!

Chili Cookoff

I have entered a chili cook off for the City of Lakewood, but first Chef has to choose the best tasting chili from our class to represent our Culinary School in the cook off. I am the only girl who has entered and this is my first time making Chili! I have entered a Sweet and Mild Cincinnati Chili that is to die for! Everyone had been raving about it which of coarse makes me smile! The final taste off in class is this Friday so stay posted for the winner and the recipe!

School is Back in Session

As of January 3rd I am back to Culinary School and I love it. This quarter we are working with breads both quick and yeast and learning to make and utilize stocks and sauces! Our building is currently under construction and wont be done until right before Feb 3rd which is the first day of our restaurant opening again. So far I have made scones, biscuits, white stock, brown stock, vegetable stock and fish stock and just today we made the perfect croissants. Ill post pictures soon once I can get back in a routine.

P.S. I am SOUS chef for the next month!!

My Birthday Part 2

Part 2 of my Birthday was all about me. Nathan arranged a reservation at one of my favorite Bar and Grills, Wingers. It was probably the best dinner I have had. We talked and laughed and ate and drank for 3 hours before deciding to leave. I have the best friends a girl could ask for. They got me some amazing gifts, which they shouldnt have, but they did! Pictures to come but ill tell you for now. Stephanie bought me this little 4 leaf clover charm necklace that I know wear everyday and her Mom bought me a new Pyrex mixing bowl and measuring cup set which I also have used several times! Robyn and Jason bought me this really insightful book on how to raise an awesome toddler and how to get through the terrible 2's. I cant wait to read it. Samantha my best friend made me this gorgeous Jewelery keep sake box, It is so pretty, I cant wait to show you all in the upcoming posts and finally Nathan bought me my very own E reader from KOBO. It is an LCD screen which is my favorite feature and came with over 200 free books!I am currently reading 3 books right now!After dinner we headed over to Encore a new chic club in downtown Tacoma for some dancing! We didn't stay long because the crowd was dismil. The club is fairly new so we will be giving it another shot hopefully soon. After we left Encore we went to Towers on 6th for 24 hour bowling. I lost the the 1st game but wont by a landslide in game 2. I had an awesome time and it is all thanks to my wonderful friends and family!

NYE

Was pretty low key this year. Nathan and I had date night. We went out to dinner and then a movie. We saw Little Fockers, which I recommend you all to go see. I couldn't stop laughing. After the movie we went and picked up Megan and Sam and headed over to an old high school friend of ours NYE party. It was all good fun, I won not only in water pong, beer pong played with water because I was not drinking but I won this really fun guessing game. The presents I won were super cute, a string of lights, a super adorable robot notepad and a shot of whiskey! Great way to kick off 2011.

Sam losing at Water Pong

My Girls

Less then amused by our Water Pong game

Birthday Part 1

Every year on the actual day of my Birthday, which I share with my amazing Mom, I spend the whole day with family. This year my Grandma came up and spent the afternoon with me making a really cute for the shared birthday. My Mom is a chocolate fanatic so this year I made a Triple Chocolate Fudge with an equally fudgy frosting! Chocolate overload to say the least but oh so perfect. For dinner its a tradition of ours to go to Azteca Mexican Restaurant, my Mom's favorite picture. We get to wear silly hats and eat yummy deep fried ice cream for free. Always a great opportunity for hilarious pictures!

Christmas Away From Home

This year we wanted to take the girls on a Christmas Getaway from the hustle and bustle and just spend quality time as a family! We rented a condo outside of Seattle for the weekend and watched movies and played with the girls new toys and I made some yummy food! It was perfect!