Being healthy this summer!!!

What am I making with the above ingredients you might ask?? It's summertime and really really hot in Florida.. so I to be healthy -- got a popsicle mold to make my own popsicles instead of going out and buying those artificial flavored ones. I am very eager to make some with watermelon and curious to see if I can incorporate alcohol in these (obviously can't put too much or they won't freeze!).

Here are the fruits washed & chopped up: berries were on sale at the store this week as well as peaches & nectarines (I prefer nectarines)

Basically, what I did was puree a handful of frozen mixed berries with a splash of orange juice and roughly stir it into greek yogurt. I wanted them to have a swirl in them, not completely mixed. And then I put the fruit into the popsicle molds and poured the yogurt mixture in. Be sure to tap it so air bubbles can escape.

The finished product!!!! even prettier than I imagined them to turn out!!!

Adding to the healthy diet for summertime, I decided to venture into meatless burgers and I made black bean burgers. These contain a lot of fiber! Now, I've never even tried these before so I have no idea if they taste the way they "should" taste. But I am really happy with how they turned out and how they look.
Into these burgers, I put: one 15 oz. can of black beans mashed with a fork, 1/2 cup day old short grain brown rice, 1/2 cup chopped cilantro, 1/4 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes + their oils, 1 ear of corn (kernels cut off the cob), 2 cloves of garlic minced, 1/2 vidalia onion diced, 1 jalapeno diced, zest of 1 lime with seasonings of chile powder, cumin, dried oregano, salt & pepper to taste. Everything but the cilantro & beans were sauteed with the spices in a tiny bit of olive oil before adding all the ingredients together. mixing was the fun part, I guess. Make sure the mixture isn't too wet or else they will not be easy to form into patties. It is a good idea to oil you hands before handling the sticky mixture. I made my patties on the smaller side, so I ended up eating 2 of these sandwiches.. next time I will just make larger patties. I tried to make these really spicy but the beans seemed to cancel that out so I added some chipotle Tabasco onto it when I ate it.
The bread is those 100 calorie "Deli Flats" by Pepperidge Farm in Honey Whole Wheat. I added a small amount of mayonaisse and a handful of spring greens - voila! Black bean burger done. I am really impressed with the taste of these, obviously nothing can replace a hamburger. If I ever became a vegetarian, I'd probably consume a lot of these.
-J

Chicago Trip

So, I recently made a trip to Chicago and ate very well there. Above we have some mini cupcakes from Sugar Bliss - red velvet, carrot cake (my personal favorite), and their seasonal strawberry lemonade. Obviously I need to share all that goodness with you guys. Here is me trying to condense it into what will probably turn out to be a pretty long post. I was there for 10 days and made a restaurant list before I went. I basically was able to hit up all the places I wanted -- mostly places that I have never been to before this trip. I learned that if you see a slow roasted pork shoulder on the menu, you have to get it -- it WILL be delicious. Enjoy!

First off, I stopped by Ulta because the one in South Florida that I know of is just way too far for me to go to. I bought 2 things there: Fancy Fuschia (yes, I know.. ANOTHER nail polish) by Orly, which I am wearing at the moment, and the dual fiber stippling brush by Real Techniques which was created by Samantha Chapman (one of the YouTube Pixiwoo sisters)--these super soft taklon bristles are supposed to be awesome for applying liquid foundation and also help it last longer on the skin. Also stopped by the beauty store in Chinatown and picked up a pack of these hair velcro things that are awesome for keeping your hair out of your face while putting makeup on and a pack of facemasks by MyBeauty Diary (haven't used them yet).

I also went to Urban Outfitters and got this dress (red & black print, I think the apples are so cute!) and wallet in the coral color (so cute and very soft). Just need to make a note to myself: shopping alone is dangerous.. especially in Chicago.

Now, onto the food!!!

Chinatown - there is a restaurant (forgot the name, it's right across from Joy Yee's in the new section of Chinatown) now that features a chef who makes these hand pulled noodles, always drawing a crowd outside the restaurant watching him do his thing. I came here for a quick lunch and decided on the spicy braised beef noodle soup. It was definitely spicy and the noodles were pretty good!

Mia Francesca - Time to experience some italian food in Chicago! I ordered with a friend the Tri Colore sirloin carpaccio (SO GOOD) and the quattro stagioni pizza that featured the waiter mixed up the egg yolk on top when served at the table. I expected the crust to be thinner, so it was quite heavy and we could not eat it all!

Quartino - I forgot to take photos of the other food we got here but we mainly came for the duck prosciutto (2 servings of it in this photo, one with candied fruit preserves and the other with pickled vegetables). IT WAS MELT IN YOUR MOUTH DELICIOUS. At this family style italian eatery, we also got broccoli rabe, pizza margherita, paparadelle al sugo di manzo (homemade tuscan pasta ribbons in braised beef tomato sauce), and the tuscan sausage risotto.

The Purple Pig - "Cheese, Swine and Wine" is the motto here, and we definitely ate our fair share of pig during our lunch here. Here we have from left to right, top to bottom: Fried olives stuffed with chorizo, lardo crostini, charred cauliflower that had these delicious tangy pickles, morcilla (a.k.a. blood sausage) with fava beans, roasted bone marrow with herbs, and milk braised pork shoulder (this was the favorite).

Green City Farmers Market! I miss this place so much. There is so much awesome fresh local produce and always a ton of delicious foods to sample while you check out the spread. We actually spotted Rick Bayless here! How cool is that! We started out with a freshly baked croissant and then were inspired by a cooking demonstration by the exec chef from the Signature Room to make a summer salad with purple asparagus & radishes for lunch, along with bruschetta with beautiful heirloom tomatoes and toasted ciabatta bread sprinkled with thyme & olive oil.

Best lunch ever! It felt good to get in the kitchen to make this stuff, although it was 90+ degrees that day we basically didn't want to do much cooking (hence the store-bought rotisserie chicken).

Bongo Room - I miss this place! Brunch here was always delicious, but we made it for lunch on one of the weekdays. I have to say that if you go here, definitely go for a sweet item because they do those so well, and their savory items are just "eh." Here we have a beef tenderloin nicoise salad, pork loin sandwich with jicama slaw and chorizo omelette (the potatoes are really yummy).

Avec - this was the restaurant that I was looking forward to eating at the most. It usually has a pretty long wait time since they don't take reservations and seating is limited, so we went on a Tuesday night around 6:30 pm and got seated right away! The top 2 dishes were my favorite -- the famous chorizo stuffed medjool dates and the roasted pork shoulder with tiny rock shrimp, harissa, peanuts and hominy. We also got hanger steak, shaved brussel sprouts salad and bucatini with pork meatballs in spicy marinara. Everything was SO good. This is definitely a must-go-to restaurant if you ever visit Chicago. The only sad thing is that we did not have enough room for dessert.

Frontera Grill - Now, anyone who knows me will know that I am a huge fan of Rick Bayless. So it may come as a surprise that I've never had the pleasure of dining at Frontera, but now I can happily say that I have. I took photos of everyone's food, but I ended up ordering 2 appetizers instead of 1 entree. Well, I also had to get the Frontera margarita (it was pretty strong and very delicious). I ordered the trio of ceviches (which included: tuna with mango & guacamole, steamed calamari & shrimp with lime habanero jicama and cilantro, albacore with tomato olives and green chile) and the sopes rancheros (Crispy corn masa boats, savory shredded beef, roasted tomato, avocado, homemade fresh cheese). This was definitely the most expensive meal I had in Chicago but it was well worth it!

The next day we continued on our Rick Bayless eats to have a late lunch at Xoco (left), one of my favorite places to eat in Chicago. I love the soups there and it was very appropriate for this day, as it rained the night before and the temperatures dropped from 90+ degrees to 50 degrees (what the hell, Chicago!?) We got the Chicken Pozole and the Torta of the day which was a Mole Poblano braised pork (the sauce definitely made this sandwich). About 3 hours later, we headed to Belly Shack (right) for dinner. Here I ordered the Belly Dog which features pickled green papaya salad and fried egg noodles - sounds weird but it was AMAZING!! I only wish I was hungrier because I was only able to eat half of this ginormous hot dog. Friends also ordered the tostones which was excellent and came with a garlicky chimichurri , and for dessert soft serve with strawberry sauce, lemon zest & tapioca. Very interesting asian influences that worked really well together with these typical american eats.

Heat - Later that night, we had more hot dogs haha. This new place just opened up in Wicker Park, conveniently located very close to my friends' apartment where I was staying. This late-night gourmet hot dog joint was opened by an ex-head chef of P Diddy's. We ordered the Duck & Orange dog (so good), Char dog, and the Pheasant & Cognac dog. Since it just opened, everything came with an order of truffle fries and free soft drinks. The duck was definitely most savory out of the 3.

Bistro Zinc - we decided on french for my sister's graduation dinner, a bit indulgent and very delicious! I got the Vol-au-vent (stew du jour) with mashed potatoes & puff pastry. Friends got the Truite Sautee (trout pan fried on a bed of spinach in a tomato-caper vinaigrette), Salmon with this awesome charred onion vinaigrette and mushrooms & asparagus, and the quiche du jour that tasted like it had some goat cheese in it.

Feast - my favorite meal ever is brunch. I walked by this place while doing some shopping in Wicker Park and I knew I wanted to eat here. This ended up being my last meal in Chicago. I got the Steak Benedict and my friends ordered Chilequiles and the Garbage Omelette. Their mimosa is made with freshly squeezed orange juice & prosecco. Their potatoes were excellent and definitely filled me up really quickly. Afterwards we stopped by iCream, which is this place that you can create your own ice cream and they make it right in front of you in cuisinart mixers with liquid nitrogen! This process creates such a creamy ice cream, it was really delicious. We decided not to be so bold as to make our own mixes so we went with some that are already made: Mom's favorite (chocolate with nutella and raspberry mix-ins) and Pomegranate Tea (pomegranate green tea with blueberry mix in).

I hope you will get to experience all of this deliciousness in Chicago at one point in your life, but you should go soon before it all changes!

-J

May Hauls

Soooooo, I have been doing a lot of shopping lately, especially since school ended. Nothing like a little (or A LOT) shopping therapy! I finally found the Cosmetics Company Store at my outlet mall (hidden in the Saks Off Fifth store) so that was exciting :). I also stopped by Sephora & Ulta!

~CCO~

Mac Beauty Powder in Summer Rose $15.50 – beautifully packaged blue-toned light pink blush

Bobbi Brown Creamy concealer in Warm Beige $15.50; believe it or not I never used concealer before this. It's extremely easy to blend and did match my skin pretty well before I got tanner after a trip to the beach...

Bobbi Brown Long-wear Gel eyeliner in Thunder Storm (24) $14.75: This is a glittery charcoal liner, which is subtle yet gives enough definition to the eyes. Addicted!

~SEPHORA~

Dr. Feel Good (by Benefit): “a velvety complexion balm” that can be worn alone, under or over makeup used to mattify your complexion and smooth our lines or pores. Contains vitamins C & E. Nice clean scent, still trying it out to see how much I like it.

~ULTA~

NYX Nude on Nude Palette: 20 eyeshadows & 10 lip colors, comes with a 2 double-ended applicators, one for eyes and the other for lips. I am loving these eyeshadows! I never really took the time to wear it before but since getting this, I have loved trying new combinations of different shades and since these are neutral shades they are very safe to play around with. I find that the shadows last pretty well even without a primer underneath. I have yet to try out the lip colors but the Orange one is calling my name :).

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips: 320 Kitty, Kitty (leopard print) and 350 Misbehaved (black fishnet over a shimmery rose gold color). As a nail polish lover, these have always intrigued me so I had to get some.

I also purchased Lolly by Zoya, which is a beautiful matte pink (photo of it in last post!).

Essie Fifth Avenue nail polish-bright red orange (I'm wearing this right now with fingers & toes matching!): I actually found this at my local TJ Maxx store, they were selling these polishes for $3.99, who could pass that up, especially such a beautiful color!??

-J

Happy Summer!

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a bit obsessed with nail polish and have been acquiring quite the collection over the past year. My count is up to 76 bottles right now, which I am kind of embarassed about because 1) is this really necessary and 2) I don't even get to wear most of them. Plus I have very small nails so I have never finished a bottle of nail polish yet, even though I probably repaint my nails (fingers & toes!) 1-2 times a week. That is why all these bottles still look brand new, haha. Anyways, I wanted to share my top nail polish picks for this summer. The weather is so humid and hot here in Florida -- definitely prime time to be showing off your lovely fingers and toes.

First up we have Rage by Orly and 3 Essie polishes: Sand Tropez, Lilacism and Turquoise & Caicos.

Zoya!! Probably one of my favorite brands of nail polish: Lolly (AWESOME matte barbie pink.. seriously if you haven't tried matte polish try this one - it dries SO FAST, pretty amazing!), Caitlin, Maura and Heidi.

Here we have I'm Wired from Sephora by O.P.I. (lovely hot coral), At Berries in the Canaries & Dulce de Leche by O.P.I, and Peachy Keen & Sun Worshipper by China Glaze.

-J

some creations

These are some of my more recent creations. I love key lime pie so much that made another batch of them and stored them in the freezer so that I could have one whenever my heart desired. This time I hand crushed the graham crackers for the crust so it came out more coarse but still held together beautifully. HOW CUTE IS THIS TINY BUNDLE OF JOY???

Here is a semi-failed baking product, and I haven't baked since... I saw a recipe for baked avocado donuts. I LOVE AVOCADOS. They are probably in my Top 5 favorite things to eat. Of course I was gonna give this recipe a shot, plus I had about 5 ripe avocados sitting in the fridge. Since I don't own a donut pan, I decided to convert into muffins and did not make any frosting. While these muffins tasted quite nice and I loved the way they looked - what a vibrant green color! - the butter + oil that the recipe called for made these muffins quite oily. Avocados, by nature, contain a lot of fat. In these muffins, I feel like next time I will opt to leave out the butter -- 1 cup is really too much.

I know that school is over for most people by now, but here are the last 2 lunches that I made to bring to school this spring semester.

At the time that I made this, the weather was really starting to warm up so I was in the mood for a cold noodle salad. Soba noodles it was! I had a bunch of cilantro stems left over from a previous guacamole feast, so I decided to make a vinaigrette with them. So into the VitaMix went the cilantro stems, olive oil, soy sauce, sugar and balsamic vinegar. Everything was eyeballed until I achieved the tasted that I liked. Other than soba noodles, you can basically add whatever veggies you have on hand. I had carrots, cucumbers and green onions. This would be awesome with some pieces of chicken or tofu as well. This noodle salad was great after refrigeration, so it was perfect to bring to school.

This pasta was created because I had a lot of arugula that I got tired of eating in a salad with. Therefore - pasta! I took a can of tuna and pan fried it in some olive oil and a lot of red chili pepper flakes. This created kind of a paste that was full of flavor. Then I added a 14.5 oz can of fire roasted diced tomatoes (+ juices) and let that simmer down to a sauce. After the pasta was boiled, I added it to the pan with a bit of pasta water and added the arugula. That's when I turned off the heat. The arugula wilted and added a nice spiciness to the pasta. This was very filling lunch for sure.

-J

Yay Summer!

Finally found an Ulta near me finally! woo!

Here is what I got. 2 OPI nail polishes: Dulce de Leche (pink based nude) and Ate Berries in the Canaries (magenta). I'm really loving these for summer. I also got some NYX products: 2 lipliners (Nude Pink & Hot Red) and the Eyebrow Cake Powder kit in Black/Gray, "for those Movie Star Brows". It has a wax, a dark and light gray powder and 2 brushes. I've only used this twice so far, but these colors match me much better than the dark brown pencil I used to use.

I also acquired 3 things from the 15% sale for VIB at Sephora. I got the clinique gel liner in True Black, the cute little bottom lash mascara also from Clinique and the Philosophy 3-in-1 Margarita Shower gel bubble bath.

-J

April means spring is here!!!

I know it's May now.. been really busy with school. But all these products pertain to April. Not that it really makes a big difference for me, living in Florida where it is already like 90+ degrees, humid and sunny every day since mid-March. Anyways, spring means new fashions in the stores and new makeup. Here are a few things I picked up this past month.. some bad, but mostly good. Here are my thoughts on these products!

Yes to tomatoes Total treatment Facial Mask for Oil-to-Combination skin: very creamy mask, would be good for times when your skin is feeling dried out. I probably would not repurchase this.

Origins Clear Improvement active charcoal mask: LIFE CHANGING product. This seriously has minimized my pores and my breakouts. The key is to make sure you open your pores before putting it on, either with a warm cloth or steaming your face above a bowl of hot water. Leave it on for 20-30 minutes, and wipe it off with a damp washcloth.

New Burts Bees Tinted Lip Balm: Got this in color Tiger Lily, which is like an orange-y peach color. It smells amazing, kind of melon-y and a bit floral.

Essie Nail polish in Sand Tropez! Awesome nude for the summertime. It comes out as a grey-ish light tan. I love it.

E.L.F. contouring blush & bronzing powder: my Target finally carries E.L.F. products now so i picked this up to try out, haven't used it much though it swatches lovely.

Physicians Formula 2-in-1 lash boosting eyeliner + serum: heard this liquid liner was a dupe for the Dollywink liners, but I'm pretty sure it is not. This liner does not stay on very long at all, at least on me. I tried using it to tightline my upper waterline and it ended up seeping into my eyes making my eyeballs black. I do like the extremely fine-tipped brush thats on here.

Physicians Formula Glow & Mood Boosting Blush in Rose: very faint pink with shimmer, works better as a highlight than a blush. very cute packaging.

That's it for now. Just finished spring semester of school so I will be updating this more often. I have a couple of posts saved up so, expect to see some in the days to come!

-J