"I gotchu babe"

Journie likes to remind me that she always has my back- with a "careful mommy" and "I gotchu babe" she's the sweetest. So I had to show her that her favorite phrase is also a song and now we may be listening to this for weeks.

 Also if these visory bangs and long locks inspire you- well you know who to see. 

YO MAMA!

Made a sister trip to Yo Mama! in charming downtown Tosa (no that wasn't meant to be funny or rude). It's a frozen yogurt heaven! Cutely decorated, delicious flavors, tons of toppings and plenty of seating- this place gets two thumbs way up and I'm not even that crazy about ice cream.

20. Smitten Martha's Strawberry Cake

Playing with babies and i-phone apps and making strawberry cakes on rainy days...and reading food blogs.

I took this recipe from smittenkitchen who had adapted it from Martha Stewart- it's the bomb. Super easy to make and a great way to nurse a summer cold!

Journie's Great grandpa and Great aunt and uncle pop over for some dessert and to surprise her with a hand crafted crib and comforter set for her babies!!

whip cream tastes the best eaten out of your hand.

Strawberry cake:

6 tablespoons butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups  all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pound strawberries

Pre-heat oven to 350 F and butter pie plate.Combine dry ingredients in one bowl minus sugar.

In bowl number two mix butter and sugar together then add in milk, egg and vanilla.

Slowly beat in bowl of dry ingredients. Pour batter into pie plate and top with halved strawberries until you can't fit any more in- you should use up the whole pound. Bake for about an hour or until a knife pierced in the middle comes out clean!

top with whip cream and enjoy!

CORN: a la mexicana

Okay so corn on the cob and summer pretty much go hand in hand and tonight we just had our first taste of summer. From the streets of Mexico, to my kitchen, to your computer here is a very guilty tasting summer treat. Like if corn soaked in butter wasn't bad enough-
 spread some mayo on top of butter,  a little Salsa Valentina or cayenne pepper, and top with grated parmesan cheese and there you have it the most unhealthy vegetable ever! I dare you to make it this summer or pick one up at EL REY- you won't regret it...or maybe you will...

Insta-summer.

19. JIAOZI

Sista, sista collaboration- Chinese Take-out! After a late night trip to Half Price Books we decided that the next big time dinner would be something asian inspired thanks to a book I picked up. So a trip to world market, emperor's kitchen and a grocery store later... we had the perfect asian fusion style dinner!

We called these wontons- but they are really called JIAOZI- and they are pretty awesome dipped in a little spicy siracha/ rice vinegar mixture!

Combine the filling:

11oz cabbage finely chopped

dash o salt

1lb ground pork

minced garlic

3 table spoons soy sauce

1 table spoon rice wine

2 table spoons sesame oil

1 table spoon finely chopped ginger

1 table spoon cornstarch

CASING?

you can either buy dumpling wrappers at your local chinese grocer or make your own .

we picked up the dumpling wrappers for times sake.

put about a teaspoon of filling in each wrapper. pinch together. drop a few at a time in boiling water and let cook for aprox 8 min. scoop out and enjoy!

The rest of the meal consisted of some homemade egg fried rice, my steak and broccoli udon noodle dish ( see previous post) and our jiaozi.

In the words of Journie "weeee yippie!!!" it was delish!

(Chinese take out boxes- thanks to Emperor's Kitchen's donation and Cassi's artistry!)

Thief

Thank you Thief Wine for always giving me great wine suggestions and opening right across the street from where I work- and for hiring awesome employees. You rock.