True Story: the My Delight Cupcake Truck regularly comes to the park at the end of our street. Seriously! Like, I can (and do) walk down to get my sugar fix.
I may even have friends alert me ahead of time.
Last Thursday that was just the edge of the sugar bowl I ended up diving into.
Without the encumbrances (aka kids), E and I decided to grab a bite to eat and go grocery shopping. AKA “Date Night”
But “wait, the truck is down the street. Let’s walk down first.” Picked up a snickerdoodle and a caramel churro.
Didn’t leave them in the house while we went out – Aaron might come home and well… $10 in cupcakes are not meant to be inhaled by the undiscerning. So on our adventure they went, too.
“While we’re out, let’s stop and pick up my free birthday bundt cake.” OK
After a few other stops we finally made it to dinner, BJ’s to share the $20 Thursday rib special which comes with a FREE pizookie. Can’t say no to free. OK can’t say no to pizookie. I forgot to take a pic before and E wouldn’t let me ask the couple on their obvious first date if I could photograph theirs…
“Well, while we’re down here let’s pop into Krispy Kreme and see if they still have the cookie donuts.”
Bummed that they had run out of the Nutter Butter – that was my favorite. Even more bummed that these were limited time only. Easily the best KK donuts EVER. #bringthemback
Stopped at Target and these just jumped into the cart
The kids (Aaron) had eaten the whole package before I got even one last time! Not even one! This package lasted all the way until Saturday (probably due to the mildly threatening post it note) when we broke them open to taste test with Dennis & Stacey. No one would consent to an unboxing video so you’ll have to assume by the empty package that they were yummy. I continue to be a fan of the Oreo/Pop Rocks mashup.
YES, we finally made it grocery shopping. At that point, I just wanted to be home because 1) I freaking HATE grocery shopping, 2) E was buying boring stuff like vegetables and leg shanks and crap for the kids, 3) the inevitable crash was quickly setting in, and 4) I still had the cupcakes in the car!
Should I be eating all this sugar? Most def NOT! I SHOULD be more consistent with my Plexus regimen. I SHOULD be more balanced in my diet choices. I SHOULD have SOME impulse control. I SHOULD be modeling these things for my children. But I’m also trying to indulge now and then and well… last Thursday ended up being one of those times.
Will there be other “Thursdays”? Probably. I mean… I am, well, ME.
MoralS of the story: 1) ALWAYS visit the cupcake truck when it’s down the street from your house – support small business, 2) sign up to get your free birthday bundt – because it’s frosting even I eat, 3) Thursday’s rib deal at BJ’s is an AWESOME deal AND comes with a FREE pizookie, 4) KK needs to add the Nabisco donuts to their regular menu, and 5) try all the LE Oreos – well except kettle corn, that just sounds gross.
In the interest of transparency, I may have also had a Boston Cream Pie donut from Dunkin for lunch. Shhhhh don’t tell the big guy, he may schedule an intervention.
If you’ve never heard of Chimney Cakes you’re obviously not as obsessed with sweets as me or don’t watch as many travel food shows and videos as me. That’s ok, I’m here for ya.
I’m not sure where I first saw these; probably an episode of Delicious Destinations with Andrew Zimmern or a Facebook video. The idea of a hollow churro that could be filled with additional yumminess sounded even more awesome than the looping churro ice cream sundaes from The Loop in Westminster. BUT, convincing E to go to Prague for donuts? Probably not likely.
Side note – if you’ve never been to The Loop, GO!
So, when I read Nancy Luna’s article in the OC Register about the newly opened House of Chimney Cakes, a plan started. Luckily, the boys and I had a day off today for Veteran’s Day. The boys aren’t usually up for my crazy adventures but once I promised food and no museums and then showed them photos of the chimney cakes they were sold!
So did they live up to the hype? Ummmm YES!
First off, there are a ton of options which tends to overwhelm us so we opted for two combos on the menu – Oreo (duh) and s’mores.
Watching them make the cones in front of us was pretty awesome! Rolling out the dough, loading into the special rotisseries, the dripping buttery goodness, rolling them in the coatings. And then all the topping choices! Wow!
When they take them out of the special oven they actually steam from the top looking like delicious volcanos!
The churro-like cones were both crunchy and soft, and not too thick or bready. They made the perfect vessel for the ice cream and toppings. No mushy cones or drippy mess. Perfection.
Aaron and I shared the s’mores cone which was coated in ground graham crackers and filled with vanilla soft serve, graham crackers, chocolate pieces, chocolate syrup, and a blowtorch toasted marshmallow! There was a surprise Whopper at the bottom of the cone, too.
Justin & Anthony’s Oreo cone was covered in cookie crumbs and filled with swirled ice cream, syrup, and cookies.
Will we go back? What do you think?
Easy parking in the lot. Cones cost us $7.95 each fully loaded. Seating out front. Walking distance to “real food”. Employees were super friendly.
So many things I could have written about over the last month but I just wasn’t feeling it.
There have been adventures…
E and I went down to a cool, private botanic garden in Fallbrook a few weeks ago without the boys. We’ve been trying to spend more time together without them. It’s all about balance and learning how to be a couple again after being 2:5 for so long.
There were goats, lots of rustic crap, and some yummy food.
Side note: this was my first time on the 395 in Fallbrook since the accident and I think I handled it pretty dang well. I don’t think I’ve put last year’s accident behind me but maybe I’m desensitizing a little. Now if I could just stop seizing up every time I see a car roll in a movie.
Last Sunday I asked E if he was in the mood for a sandwich. (AKA easy way to get him to go somewhere that he likely would not have wanted to go in the first place.) My ulterior motive was a scrapbook store that had lost its lease and was having a close out sale. Instead of reminding me that I have enough crap and that I had just been at the expo the day before – all he asked was if it was the store with the comfy chair. Like I said, sandwiches get me pretty far.
Katella Deli for a shared sandwich – after 30 years we’re getting better at sharing one meal rather than bringing home a ton of leftovers. (We’ve officially turned into that old married couple with one meal, two plates, and two glasses of water.) It’s all about compromise and finding something we can both not just tolerate but enjoy. The winner? A combo of pastrami AND corned beef that was taken apart so that we each got exactly what we wanted – his side with yellow mustard and mine with brown and both slathered in coleslaw.
I miss deli SO much! It reminds me of my dad and it is IMPOSSIBLE to find anywhere near us. We both commented on how the sandwiches at Katella seem to be shrinking. I also noticed that the clientele was all our age and older. Although they were packed, like always, I wonder if after we are gone, Katella will be as well. My kids don’t get excited about deli the way we (still) do and I cannot imagine them driving an hour to get a sandwich. I hope I’m wrong.
There was scrapbook… shopping…
I keep sitting down to craft and nothing comes out. Kind of like my writing – over the last few weeks I’ve been dry. I was hoping walking around the expo with Lisa would solve that. All it did was enable me to buy more stuff. When I went to put it away I realized between the expo and the store, I’ve managed to buy a bunch of duplicates. I REALLY need to organize again and get some stuff done. Crop signed up for Thanksgiving weekend so I have the incentive, now I just need the motivation.
I did play with alcohol inks a few weeks ago and made some cool tile coasters that are still sitting in the family room waiting to be sealed. THREE WEEKS LATER!
I probably should get on that. I was so excited about the tiles that I went out and bought 9 more bottles of ink and some more tiles so that we could have a family craft night – ummm yeah… not sure when exactly the planets will align for us all to be home together but it was a nice thought. The newly purchased supplies are also sitting in the family room; a constant reminder that we all lead WAY too busy of lives.
There was also a trip to Sam’s Club the other night to get a ginormous cinnamon roll. Went for the roll, spent over $200 on stuff – mighty expensive pastry. It would have been cheaper to get us all Cinnabons! FYI Cinnabons would have tasted better, too – ours looked NOTHING like the Delish article.
Or caramel apples… I’ve been craving one for at least a month but the one at Myrtle Creek was disappointing and I cannot justify $10 at Rocky Mountain. E saw that they have 13 varieties of apples on sale at Sprouts this week and I suggested that he buy one of each kind and we have an apple taste-off. I even offered to make caramel dip. Nope, not a self-serving suggestion at all. 😉 We’ll see if he comes through when he goes shopping. If so, there WILL be a DIY caramel apple bar in our future!
Aaron tagged along on a trip up to Idyllwild last week. E needed to site supervise the placement of the chapel he designed at Camp Emerson and I went along so he didn’t have to drive up alone. Not sure why Aa came with except that he thought he was getting breakfast which apparently is NOT the same thing as run through the drive through at Mc Donald’s – good to know. After we were done at Emerson, Aa DEMANDED “real food” so we stopped in town. We walked around for a little bit – how have we never walked around Idyllwild despite the hundreds of trips we have made up there???? Happened upon a store that sells HAND-DIPPED ICE CREAM BARS! I search FOREVER for ice cream bars and the one time I find one I am too stuffed from eating TWO breakfasts?!?! Good thing I can guarantee that that will not be my last trip up there so at some point, there WILL be an ice cream bar in my future. Damn you Costco for taking them off the cafe menu! Curses!
There was a bunch of random ass shit, too…
The other night I was getting into bed and Anthony asked me why I was going to sleep in my work clothes. I was wearing Rudolph pajama pants. Either I’m way overdressing for sleep or I need to step up my work clothes from leggings. Probably the latter. Probably not going to happen though. #leggingsarepantstoo
I finally de-Halloweened the front porch. Took that nasty spider web crap off the trees. That shit is worse than tinsel. They’re both like holiday herpes! Aa is already talking about Christmas so I am sure it’s only a matter of days before one of those damn trees is setup in my house.
Speaking of Halloween, we went to Target last week and bought about $20 in candy. When candy is marked down 50% off that’s a shitload of candy. I brought one bag of Reese’s to the office with me because I live with damn locusts. E may have a few bags of Skittles hidden. The GIANT bag on the counter is at least half way down! Locusts I tell you! (In all honesty, it’s mostly Aaron.)
The Mystery Oreos are STILL sitting on the kitchen counter from almost a month ago. We tried them and they were just SO tasty that more than 1/2 the package is still there almost a month later. Since it doesn’t look like anyone is going to eat them, I might need to find something else to do with them – maybe scrape the filling out and use the cookies for a cheesecake crust? Other ideas? Want to know what we thought of them?
That being said, I just saw that they have limited edition Hot Cocoa Oreos out now. Yeah, THOSE will be in my cart, most definitely.
Monday night I finally was able to stand on one leg. WITHOUT FALLING OVER! We’re nearing the end of yoga class so apparently the damn optimists were right and persistence does indeed pay off. Who’d have thought?
Last week, I read Dan Brown’s new book Origin. We saw Thor: Ragnarok. We rewatched the original Kingsman movie in hopes of seeing the sequel which is pretty much not even playing anymore. We still haven’t watched season 2 of Stranger Things – once again trying to find a time when we can all watch it together so that no one is an asshole and spoils it for anyone else. Yeah, not sure when/how THAT will ever happen. It’s been a no go for the new season of Orange is the New Black, too – every time I sit down to watch it some kid starts asking me questions about characters or plot lines or the criminal justice system – sheesh, just watch it from the beginning and stop yammering on so I can hear what they are saying!
One last thing, there may have also been donuts as big as our heads, too.
The last two months of the year are filled with madness. I have an adventure day with the boys scheduled for tomorrow (Veteran’s Day observed). Band is winding down – only 2 more performances to go! 2nd Annual Thanksgiving with the Weiners. Our 18th familversary. Feeding pomegranates to and riding camels – YES REALLY! CHINA!!!! Hanukkah/Festivus/Christmas. E’s last birthday starting with a 4.
Holy shit that’s a lot of stuff – and I’m sure it’s not a complete list! Despite the mayhem and chaos, it will be filled with family, friends, laughter, adventures, and shenanigans. Definitely shenanigans! Because of course they are MY assholes children…
Justin & I found ourselves in LA yesterday… around lunch time.
Me: J, what do you want for lunch?
J: Tacos or Asian. What do you want?
Me: Donuts.
So, tacos and donuts it is.
I’m not going to lie. I have never seen a Danny Trejo movie. I went through IMDb and nope, not a one. But I know his name and his face, so there’s that. When I was cruising the pics on yelp for Trejo’s Tacos, J said “hey wait I know him.” Not sure he’s seen one of his movies either though.
So I might not be an action movie aficionado but 2 things I DO know are tacos and donuts.
1st stop – Trejo’s Tacos on La Brea
J had mexi falafel and brisket tacos. I had the fried chicken and asada tacos. I’m a sucker for fried chicken and asada and both were decent taco choices. The asada needed something creamy to break up the meat. J preferred the falafel taco. Tacos were $4-6 each so not too bad.
Best thing was probably the date sweetened horchata though. Good stuff!
Next up – Trejo’s Donuts on Santa Monica
OMG! Ok I’m kind of a donut snob and I’ll pay top dollar for unique or amazing. These were all three. Super pricey and limited selection BUT seriously some of the tastiest donuts I’ve EVER had.
I had the Flash which was a lemon cream filled donut and a glazed donut with berry icing that, get this, TASTED LIKE BERRY! J had a Dirt & Worms and the chocolate filling TASTED LIKE CHOCOLATE! Imagine that? They also have the horchata there, too. Good to know.
So, will we go back? Ummmm Heck YEAH!
Should I check amazon or Netflix for DT movies and watch one? Jury’s out on that one.
Sparkling Llama 