Wedding Photo Wednesday #4

Like many couples, Scott and I weren't sure if we wanted to see each other before the ceremony. On one hand, we wanted to stick with tradition, but the Type-A planner couldn't cope with the horrendous logistics that come with having to cram all the portraits in between the ceremony and the reception. "But didn't seeing each other beforehand take away the excitement of walking down the aisle?", you ask? Oh hell no. I thought for sure that the "first glance" moment would've taken the edge off, but I still ended up being a blubbery mess at the ceremony. I walked down the aisle towards my husband, and the fact that I've already seen him in his rented tux or that he's already seen me in a white dress, didn't make me less excited to say our vows in front of our family and friends.

Who am I kidding? We wanted to get the portraits out of the way so we didn't miss our cocktail hour. I wasn't about to miss out on an hour of booze and hors d'oeuvres! Also, I wanted to take pictures when my hair and makeup were still fresh.

Gluttony and vanity: the real reasons why we decided to see each other before the ceremony.





[ Ed Pingol Photography ]

Sweet and Simple Lemon Bars

I am a lazy cook.

I try to channel my inner Thomas Keller, but in the end, the laziness wins out. I hate dirtying up the kitchen and despise washing dishes, so I try to use the least amount of bowls and utensils as possible. But then I realized that I could make something so scrumptious and so delicious that my husband would fall in love with me all over again and gladly clean up the mess I made in the kitchen.

You know where I'm going with this right?

Armed with the knowledge that Scott cannot say no to anything sweet, I cruised on over to my Google Reader and clicked on Bakerella's blog. She recently posted a lemon bar recipe that was so simple I just had to try it. Besides, I already had all the ingredients in my pantry. Except for the lemons. Luckily, the neighbor's loaded lemon tree has clearly grown over the fence onto our property, so it was a quick walk to the backyard, a swift setup of the step ladder, and voila! lemon larceny.

So here's the easy-peasy lemon bar recipe (Thanks to Bakerella and her little apprentice!)



Lemon Bars

Crust:
1 cup butter
1 3/4 cup flour
2/3 cup confectioner's sugar (plus more for dusting)

Topping:
1 1/2 cup plain sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease and flour a 9 X 13 pan

To make crust:

• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and confectioner's sugar
• Cut in butter until combined and crumbly.
• Press mixture into bottom of pan.
• Bake for 20 minutes or until golden.

To make topping:

• While crust is baking, prepare topping.
• In a larger bowl, add sugar, flour, and baking powder.
• Then add slightly beaten eggs and lemon juice.
• Mix well and pour on top of warm baked crust.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes.
• When cool, dust with confectioner's sugar and refrigerate.
• Cut into bars and enjoy them cold!





By the way, the mess is minimal. Two bowls, a baking dish, a fork and a knife. It really wasn't that bad. I just hate washing dishes that much.

Wedding Photo Wednesday #3

The money shot
[shout out to Ed Pingol Photography!]

Spa Day, deconstructed

Jonesing for the perfect Spa Day?! Follow these simple steps!

Take one fabulous friend:


My friend J, at my wedding, doing the robot. She's so fun! And she came with a 2-for-1 coupon for the spa!

Add one fabulous spa:


Burke Williams, Santana Row. Heaven on Earth. Get the seaweed wrap. It's fabulous.

Followed by an unexpected shopping excursion:


Ann Taylor Loft was having a sale!! I needed to replace my ratty old H&M camisoles anyway! [image source]

Add a chick flick:


The husband is out and the Netflix gods had just sent me Bride Wars?! It's meant to be! [image source]

And finish off with the greasiest dinner you can find, one that you can only partake in with the closest of friends. I'm talkin' 'bout:


Wingstop, bitches. [image source]

And that, my friends, is how you do spa day, J&M style.

Five on Friday

I've been shopping (more like browsing) a lot online lately, and one of my most favorite sites to browse is Etsy.com. Here are five of my favorite owl Etsy finds. Why owls? Well, I think they're cute. Plus they love to sing-ah.

1. I would love to get a handwritten note on one of these!


2. Stuffed toy owl -- it looks so cute and cuddly!


3. This would be really cute for a carry-on bag


4. I'd totally carry my goodies from the Farmer's Market in this one


5. For the little night owl in your family

Pan-Seared Flounder with Shallot-Lemon Butter

Last weekend, Scott and I went to Sunset Celebration, a superfun festival shindig thrown by the fabulous Sunset Magazine. We enjoyed sampling wine, beer, olive oils, balsamic vinegars, cheeses... it was wonderful! There was live music, garden exhibits and (my favorite!) cooking demos.

This year, they invited Food Network celebrity chef Robin Miller to Sunset Celebration. I admit, she didn't look that familiar to me, but when my friend Sarah said that she focuses on easy-peasy meals that can be prepared in 20-30 minutes, I was totally intrigued. I picked up her cookbook and was instantly smitten! So I bought my own autographed copy of Robin To The Rescue.


[source]

Monday night, I decided that I was going to try out my new cookbook . I thumbed through the pages and tried out a fish recipe. Lord almighty, it was delicious! The bite from the caramelized shallots, the refreshing tang from the lemon, the creamy, dreamy butter... it was wonderful! Why, see for yourself!



I told you.

If I can make this recipe, so can you. Here's the rundown:

Ingredients
2 tbs. unsalted butter, softened
2 tbs. shallot, finely minced
2 tbs. fresh parsley, chopped
1 tb. fresh lemon juice

2 tsp. olive oil
4 flounder* filets (about 5 oz. each)
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Procedure
1. In a small bowl, combine the butter, shallot, parsley and lemon juice.

2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season both sides of the flounder filet with salt and pepper. Add the flounder to the hot pan and cook until browned, about two minutes per side. Add the compound butter mixture and cook until it makes a sauce and the fish is fork-tender, about two minutes.

3. Rejoice in the fact that you just made dinner in two steps.

*In the cookbook, Robin Miller makes footnotes on how each recipe can be saved for later, or how it can be used for other recipes in the book. She also offers options for substitutions. She suggested that I should "make it my way" with salmon, and I was stoked since I had just bought some salmon from Trader Joe's. She also notes that you can also sub in tilapia, halibut, trout or even skinless, boneless chicken breasts (pounded down to one-inch thickness).

After I removed the fish from the pan, instead of pouring all of the sauce all over the fish, I reserved some of it in the pan and threw a bunch of spinach and tossed it around in the sauce until wilted. Along with a side of white jasmine rice, the spinach was the perfect accompaniment for this dish. And didn't even have to dirty another pan.

I can't wait to try more recipes from this book. I'm a big Robin fan!

Wedding Photo Wednesday #2

This one is dedicated to all you crybabies out there. Go on... let it all out. I have no shame. Crybabies, represent!






I've grown to love my husband's "I don't know why this girl is crying" face. When one sees the same expression at least once a month when one is clutching one's uterus from mind-numbing pain, one gets used to it.




Sister Crybaby


Auntie Crybaby


Another Auntie Crybaby (though she may have just been rubbing her eyes in this one, but we'll put it on the list anyway)


Daddy Crybaby (with Deep Thinkin' Gramps in the background)

There, there. See? All better!

Five on Friday

I'm not meaning to be all theme-y with the alliterations, but I've got 20 minutes left to my workweek and that's just not enough time to start up a new project on a Friday.

This installment of Five on Friday is dedicated to my friend Lani, a passionate dancer whose Netflix queue I always hit up for suggestions. She also doesn't know that I've started this blog. Maybe she has Google Analytics? Anyway...

FIVE AWESOME MOVIE DANCE SCENCES.

1. The final dance scene from "Center Stage"



It opens with a traditional piece from the holy book of Tchaikovsky and segues into some classic Michael Jackson. Oh, and it crescendos with Jamiroquai's Canned Heat. Also, homegirl is sporting some major cornrows.

2. Natalie Wood in West Side Story



She's so pretty. And witty. And bright! What little girl didn't want to play in yards upon yards of taffeta and tulle, sporting a tiara? I sure did. But none one of the other girls in the neighborhood wanted to be my seamstress backup singers though. Haters.

3. Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner



Patrick Swayze! Jennifer Grey! She had spaghetti arms! His partner got herself knocked up! All the makings of an 80's masterpiece! As an aside, my husband and I tried to do the lift in the lake thing pictured above. We failed miserably. One may have almost drowned in the process.

4. Vote for Pedro



Napoleon Dynamite, the unlikely Idahoan hero with a 'fro, helps his homie Pedro win the class presidency by performing an inspired routine to "Canned Heat." Primarily self-taught with the aid of a VHS copy of D-Qwons Dance Grooves, Napoleon nails the moves in this one.

5.Tracy outdances Amber on the Corny Collins Show



Hairspray! *sigh* I love this show. And not only because of teen heartthrob Zac Efron, but I love the way the cute plump girl triumphed over the shrill, skinny blonde bitch. "Whoa!", you say, "repressed childhood emotional trauma?" You betcha.

Which five movie dance moments make your list?

Wedding Photo Wednesday #1

We got married on an amazingly beautiful day in late October 2008, yet it feels like it just happened. I look fondly at our pictures often. I'm not going to go through an entire recap of every single thing that happened, but our photographer (Ed Pingol Photography!) captured so many awesome images that I just want to relive a moment every week. Til our first anniversary. Or when I get tired of our wedding, whichever comes first.

Today, I feel like talking about our cake. Our fantastic, nomilicious cake.





A triple-tiered construction made up of a different flavor on each tier: Banana cake with cream cheese filling, Bailey's Irish Cream cake with irish cream filling, and Lemon cake with lemon curd filling. Om nom NOM.

We hadn't planned on saving the top tier, but the servers didn't end up cutting into it, so we took it back with us to the hotel. However, we were all lost in our two days of married bliss before leaving for our honeymoon that we completely forgot to freeze it. Oh well. I wasn't looking forward to eating year-old-frozen cake anyway. I want a fresh one come October.

Now we just need to decide which flavor to have.

Baby's First Entry

Hey y'all! I finally caved in and started blogging. Now I can't tell you that I'm going to be a marginally interesting blogger, but we're going to try to see how this all plays out. Who knows, my A.D.D. may get the best of me and I would probably abandon.... OOH! These shoes are super cute!

(20 minutes later...)

So why "stanleycupcake"? Well, it's a portmanteau of two awesome things: hockey and baked goods. My husband got me into hockey while he was still my not-husband. At first it took a lot of convincing for me to give hockey a chance (my stance was: "no teeth, no thanks"), but once I turned attention from my $10 cup of Bud Light (such a rip-off!) and nachos (neon orange cheese is the secret ingredient!) and actually watched the sport, I found it really exciting and exhilarating! So I became a hockey fan fo lyfe. More specifically, the San Jose Sharks. Holla!

And as for baked goods... Well, if I need to explain that one, kindly get the eff out of my blog. Thanks.

If you're still reading, clearly, we're homies. We're going to have a lovely time.