Virginia is for Lovers

It's been a while since something's been up. The excuse? Laziness and time consumption with the new www.foodied.com blog.

This past week, we took a trip out to the East Coast, Virginia to be exact to visit the Shinn parents and Toffee. After that visit, we both had a greater appreciation for the Bay Area life, especially the food. However, the shopping there was great since tax was half of what we're used to paying here.

We took a one day trip out to D.C. and took some tourist-y pictures to fulfill my year one scrapbook, aka: Our Adventure Book, volume I.

We also visited this awesome museum, Crime and Punishment in D.C. which gives a medieval to present day walk through with crimes, weapons and everything else in between.

Overall, it was a nice trip - a 5 day getaway from the regular husslin' and busslin' of life here. We did miss our little Dottie a lot though. When we came back, this is where Dot was while I was busy unpacking everything...

We missed home... it's nice to be back!

Plants vs Zombies

So, what do you guys do at night now? (Look below...)

... yup, we're addicted! (Not on this crazy level yet.)

Mischievous Dot

I woke up one morning to use the bathroom (Dan was already out of bed)...

... come back and discover this little rugrat taking over my side of the bed! (Don't worry, she's clean... got a bath the night before)

I turn my back for a few seconds to start dinner and here's the mess I see...

You're lucky you're such a cutie Dot...

Two Meanings, Same Deed

Recently, a friend told me what option she chose for her date night - homecooked dinner and a movie. Perhaps it's the way it was worded or what not, but it sounded pretty date-y and fun. But after sleeping on it and thinking about what we do in the evening time, I realized that we do the exact same thing! Homecooked meal (mostly made by yours truly) and a movie afterwards, since that seems to be the simplest option for two lazy bums. Why doesn't that exact same thing seem date-y or romantic in my eyes? Well, it's cause I do it practically every single day! In conclusion, don't choose so many of these homecooked dinners and movies because once you get married, that's what you'll be doing on most weeknights anyway.

Our Baby

Food, Friends & Fun

Here's what our dining area looks like when there's 10+ people coming over to eat and hang out...

A lot more food came later, this was just the people who showed up on time.

Introducing... the COOLBAR! We should've done this in the summer when the weather was warmer and people could utilize the Coolbar to the max! After closing up the Coolbar, we learned that the insulation is great - the ice lasted three whole days!

Now I wish I had taken more pictures... there was quite a bit of food and we're still munching on some leftovers (four days after the party).

The Land of Cupcakes

Upon looking for deals on cupcakes for my niece's upcoming 1st birthday, I decided to venture out and check out what kind of cute cupcake designs are out there, and here are three that I thought were really cute... but not practical. I decided this year that I'm more of a practical person - ie: good light European cream over pretty fondant (where fondant ALWAYS tastes like crap)!

Yeah, if I were into Super Mario Bros, the last one would be really cool... but I'm not. What would be amazingly cool is to change cupcakes into Minions (yes, after watching Despicable Me, I've been into this whole minion craze, especially the one eyed ones).

But anyway, even though these cupcakes are cute to look at, the insides probably just taste mediocre. In the long run, I think I'll just go with your typical classic cupcake with the awesome frosting.

One of my favorites (very rich, but delicious!) - Icing on the Cake in Los Gatos.

Oh! On a side note, I should really learn to bake... cute little bakeries make a KILLING off these things!