I love swanky hotel bars

At the Biltmore Los Angeles

Almond Bark!!

My mother in law makes this incredible treat called almond bark. Comments such as "it's the perfect blend of salty and sweet" and "it's my fiancées favorite" are heard often. She's always claimed it's so easy, and on Christmas Eve, I got a demo. This is my attempt at writing down the recipe...


Ingredients:
Dark Chocolate chips from Michaels
White Chocolate chips from Michaels
Trader Joe's dry roasted, salted almonds

Tools:
colander
two microwave-safe bowls
two wooden spoons
two forks
several cookie sheets
spatula
1-cup measuring cup

Instructions:
1. Empty the almonds into the colander, stir them around to get rid of some of the separated skins (these end up looking a little junky in the final product, so just try to minimize)

2. Place cookie sheet on stovetop, and turn burners on lowest setting possible. You are just trying to warm the sheet so it's not cold for the next few steps, it DOES make a difference.

3. Place 2 cups of dark chocolate chips into microwave safe bowl, heat approximately 2 minutes (depending on your microwave). Take out, stir a little to make it more liquid-y, then stir in 1 cup of almonds. This is your dark chocolate mixture. You will do the same in the other bowl, with the white chocolate, same ratio. While the dark is heating, you can be mixing white, and vice versa

4. Look at your cookie sheet, and imagine a large checkerboard with dark squares and white squares. This is the pattern you will make when you pour the mixtures onto the cookie sheet. Pour approximately fist sized portions onto cookie sheet, leaving space between pours for where the opposite chocolate will go

5. When the sheet is full (between 1/4-1/2 inch height), take two forks, draw X-patterns into the choclate, to mix it up a bit, so the different chocolates SWIRL and overlap, but don't fully MIX. Use the spatula to smooth top if needed

6. Place in refrigerator to chill. Break up many hours later with hands or hammer (?) into various bite-sized and larger jagged chunks. Remember- it's home-made, it should look it!

Coco Renos for lunch

Hash House a go go

Sent from my iPhone

Remembering a good friend

Breakfast at the Coffee Cup

Taco Mesa

One of the best things Orange County has to offer. They got a paint job recently, I hardly recognized it in ballet-slipper Pink. Worth going to 19th Street in Costa Mesa just for this gourmet taco shop. 

 I was so hungry, I only took one pic of the food. Next time.. mañana...

They know how to do hot carrots.
There's even cauliflower in there!

Christmas Enchiladas

Bueller?

Holiday party on the boat