Going Away Party -- Derby Style

Jason and I were quite surprised this weekend when my family threw us a surprise going away party with a Kentucky Derby theme! My sister Angie had a dress for me to change into and a pretty hat of course. Unfortunately she couldn't find a nice seersucker suit to borrow for Jason so he had to wear his street clothes. No worries Jason, we'll get you one in KY ;). Of course farewell parties are bittersweet: we're headed on a new adventure but sad to be leaving our family and friends =(. I'm waiting for more photos from Angie and Devona but here are some from our camera:

I walked in the door and was greeted with a pretty hat and a mint julep of course =)



Anna in her white hat



We had a bourbon tasting contest. I tried all 5 but only got one right!



Mint Julep cupcakes made by Sara Godinez. These were REALLY good!



Angie and Mike the mint julep bartenders =)



I wonder if people really drink these in Lexington?



Angie the Southern Belle =)



My sweet nieces and nephew =)



Here I am decked out in my derby clothes. My sister actually borrowed the dress and a hat from her friend who used to live in the south so this is the real deal =)



A tired looking Benji ... it was a hot day!



Okay, so not everything was done in southern fashion. We had to have a pinata at our last party! I think this is my only shot of Jason b/c he was the one taking the photos. He's crushing Strawberry Shortcake!



Looks like I had one too many mint juleps!



Here I am with my mom and dad



I need more photos from the party so please email them to me!!!


Last weekend Devona and I ran in the Nike Women's Fitness Festival in Sacramento. It was a fun run and it was pretty running around the capital. This experience was much better than my last race -- that half marathon where I felt like I was dying! Jason brought Anna and Ben and it was fun seeing them each time we lapped around the capital.

Devona and I before the race



Here I am after taking off ... just kidding! This is the lady who won -- everyone else is far behind her. After the race Anna had her pretty little ruffle socks pulled up and she told me it was b/c this lady had her socks pulled up =)




I found out last week that I am going to be an assistant coach with the Girls on the Run foundation in Lexington. Girls on the Run is a non-profit educational program that uses running and training for a 5K as a means to educate and prepare elementary school girls for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living. I think it's a fantastic organization and it will be a great way for me to get out in the community. The girls I coach will be at the elementary school in our neighborhood which makes it super convenient as well. Here's the link if you want to check it out:


www.gotrlexington.org



Here's the recipe for the Mint Julep Cupcakes!



Mint Julep Cupcakes

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon mint extract
4 eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup bourbon (or whiskey)
1/2 cup Creme de Menthe

Icing
3 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon mint extract
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
milk

*****

Directions:

Cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 350º F, and grease or line 30 cupcake cups.

Combine salt, baking powder, and 1 3/4 cups of the flour. Beat butter, sugar, eggs, and extracts in a large mixing bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Add the milk and liquors to the batter, then the rest of the flour (1 cup). Mix as little as possible, just until the batter comes together. Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake cups. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Let cool.

Icing
Combine the powdered sugar, salt, extracts and melted butter and beat until creamy. Gradually add milk until the texture is right for piping. When the cupcakes are completely cool, pipe or spread the icing on top. Garnish with cake sparkles or sprinkles, a straw (trimmed to size), and mint leaves.

*****

Well, that's it for now! Off to more packing!

Best Bar Ever!

Happy Memorial Day everyone! We actually had a pretty quiet weekend but Jason had yesterday off which was a nice change of pace for him. On Sunday Jason and I drove down to Muir Woods by San Francisco and went on a nice little hike. It always seems unreal that a place so beautiful and serene is so close to the hustle and bustle of San Francisco.





Although Muir Woods was beautiful, the super exciting part of the day for me was that we went to Pizzeria Picco in Larkspur which I heard about on the Food Network. Mario Batali stated they have the best pizza in the US and that "the margherita is so good it'll make you cry". Strong words coming from Chef Batali so we added Pizzeria Picco to our day trip since it was close to Muir Woods!


Well, we arrived at 12:05 PM -- 5 minutes after opening and the place was already packed (always a good sign that it's a good joint!). Since the outside seating was full we sat inside at the bar where we were quite close to the pizza oven and we were able to see the cooks preparing a lot of the food. I can't speak for Jason but it definitely was the best bar I've ever been too! Although they serve wine at the bar I was much more excited about seeing all of the pizzas being baked for 90 seconds in the 900 degree oven and also that they served DELICIOUS ice cream from a local creamery at the bar -- how awesome is that???

I ordered the Marin pizza: thinly sliced potatoes, rosemary oil and mozzarella. I know this sounds like an odd combo but it was absolutely scrumptious! Every time I took a bite I kept thinking "how can something taste this good?".

Jason ordered the margherita with prosciutto. A symphony went off in my head when I took a bite of Jason's. I had a hard time deciding which one was better but I woke up Monday morning thinking about the Marin pizza with the potatoes so that one is the winner for me =).

The vanilla ice cream was mouth watering! It really didn't need any toppings but I ventured out and tried their oddball topping: olive oil and sea salt. I know, sounds crazy but there was a sweet and salty party going off in our mouths. Next time I'm going to try their take on magic shell. It's the hard chocolate coating like at Dairy Queen except that they use really good gourmet chocolate.

I guess you can see that Jason and I were pleased with our lunch =). After going to Italy and having pizza there we have not been easily impressed with American pizza but we were very happy on Sunday. We really wanted to walk around town until we had enough room to eat again!



The weather has been really bizarre for California lately. I don't recall it ever raining after April but it rained last week and a little yesterday as well. I took Anna and Ben to get ice cream and they ate it outside in the rain-- easy and cheap entertainment for their mom! I took these photos before it really started to rain so the kids are still dry . Everyone was looking at us like we were crazy though. I'm sure life goes on in Kentucky when it rains and we won't get so many strange looks out there (hopefully!)

Anna is wearing their "super helper cape". That's what she named it =).

Here are a couple of other photos from last week:

Anna and Ben with their Grandpa Jim. They think the lawn mower is very exciting!

Here's Ben being "Ben" =)

In honor of our yummy food that we had at Pizzeria Picco here is my recipe for Parmesan-Rosemary Roasted Potatoes. Not nearly as good as what we experienced and they definitely won't make you cry but they are still very tasty =) :

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

6 Yukon Gold Potatoes thinly sliced (as thin as you can slice them)
About 3 TB of extra virgin olive oil
1 TB kosher salt
1/2 TB black pepper
1 TB minced fresh rosemary
3 TB butter melted
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Lay sliced potatoes on a sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper and rosemary and mix well with your hands spreading the potatoes out so they are not layered on top of each other. Roast for about 25 minutes until they are golden brown and a little crisp. When they are hot out of the oven drizzle with melted butter (just enough to BARELY coat so it may be less than 3 TB) and then sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese. Gently toss the potatoes around to evenly coat them. Sprinkle with a little more salt if need be. They might clump up a little but whoever gets the clumped up potatoes is the lucky one at the table =).