12 Things

See that above? I made that *proud*. 5 hours of dedication, sweat, stove heat and a painful foot (I have plantar faciitis), this bitchin French Beef Stew was made (recipe: here)

Making Beef Bourguignon (try saying that 10 times) in my Le Creuset is part of my 12 Things of 2014. Well, half of a goal. Next one will be Coq Au Vin. 

FYI, I used a whole bottle of good Pinot Noir for this stew. My whole house smelled like red red wine. Yum.

Also, baking school is pretty fun. Last week was cake cake cake week and the cake I made was gone in 2 days. A whole cake, I tell you. 

I am enjoying school so much that I'm getting pretty sentimental that it's ending in 1 month :( I made some great friends there and my 2 teachers are super awesome. I am really contemplating on taking the full Advanced Pastry Program, which is a MonWedFri class for 6 months. Oh decisions... decisions... But I think I'm going to do ProBaking 2 next :) So this is still a 1/2 of a goal in 12 Things. Haha.

Wait. 1/2 + 1/2 = 1. Yes. 1 goal completed! *forcing it*

More goals to accomplish! 

Now now, do you have any 2014 goals to do?

Do it! You have all day. All Day.

xoxo,

Rima

cue the accordions.

Oh Hi Paris.

You. Me. The Pillow. In April.

Celebrating me turning 30.

You better flash them lights, Eiffel Tower.

xoxo, Rima.

Things I Love Monday: Grand Canyon

Oh hello there. I hope all of you had a great Valentine's/Presidents Day weekend. I know I did. 

First off, I thought my Le Creuset was my Valentine's Gift (yes, I like to preselect my gifts early) so when he surprised me with this little blue thing below on Vday night, I was surprised and utterly happy (and of course I had that "every kiss begins with Kay" jingle in my head)...

We decided to celebrate Valentine's with a road trip to see the good ol' Grand Canyon. We both never been there before so this was super exciting for us. The driving not so much, but we made it there safely. We left like at 5.30am. Since we were heading East, of course we were greeted by the Sun rising up, blinding our eyes.

Spot the PillowMan.

Of course had to pull over to do a photo-op with the Arizona state sign.

Then after driving for a gruesome 7+ hours (we stopped twice for food and gas), we were welcomed by the majestic Canyon. Literally we were in awe the whole time. The pictures below don't do justice. You must see it for yourself!

Since it was free entrance during Presidents Day weekend (yay), we went back the next morning before heading back home. We saw some Moose passing by. 

So we drove towards east of the Canyon and saw more awesomeness.

We also stopped at some empty land just to act silly.

We stopped at Phoenix to grab some food before heading west on I-10 and of course it was a full moon, so little Rima stopped and said a little prayer and drove back home, while Rob was sleeping away.

 It was a quick yet fun trip. We haven't roadtripped in a while (last time was to Milan, Italy), so it was nice to be able to chat and sing along to our favorite songs, eating junk food, sightseeing, having fart competitions (true couples do that, mkay) and just plain enjoying ourselves. I thank God for sending me an awesome man in my life.

I love you, LuguMan. I know we are the master of cheese, so I thank you for replaying our 2014 song over and over again. I'm not tired of it.

xoxo,
Rima

Things I Love Monday

Well it's Monday night and How I Met Your Mother starts in 2 hours (yipee). Southern California just got bitch slapped with the cold and rain since 2 days ago (we kinda need the rain!). I'm in my sweatpants and a I <3 NY t-shirt and my head is actually bobbling (I get sleepy a lot). Since I have 2 hours to kill, why not share to you things I love that happened this past 2 weeks?

Enjoyed some quiet time before school at the Union Station and La Dijonaise before class

 for week 2, it was custard week so we made Bread Pudding, Creme Brulee and Chocolate Pudding (not pictured). Of course I did my Amelie impression when I ate my Brulee...

via

 My dad was sick 2 Saturdays ago, so I decided to make some Chicken Ball Soup. It was a super hit, I made it again during the week. With the weather being cold right now, this sounds so good. Yummmm... (recipe: here)

 And that Saturday, Rob randomly said, "I've never been to that famous Wax Museum. Almost every big city that I've been to abroad has one!", so we randomly decided to hit Madame Tussauds in Hollywood. It was actually interesting yet creepy. I tell you, it's like the figures are trying to look into your souls. I was creeped out by JLo.

Then after we headed to Koreatown to eat Korean BBQ. If you're ever in town, I really recommend Soowon Galbi. Their Galbi is soooo tender and tasty (I believe they marinated for like 48 hrs?), I'm just drooling right now. Parking sucks (there is a valet) and the wait was ridiculous... But it was worth the 1hr wait. Hahaha...

Had some Sweet Potato Pie and Apple Dulce Leche Pie from I Like Pie bake shop in Claremont. Yum.

For week 3 of school we made Chocolate Souffle (super rich), Pastry Cream and Cream Puffs. The puffs were a hit at home, I made some again. Crazy.

This past Friday was The Chinese New Year, year of the horse. My church wanted to honor our Chinese members so the women wanted to dress up in red for the occasion. So my mum & I hopped on the train to Chinatown and she did some shopping. Lots of stores were closed because of the holiday, so I was glad that she found something for her. We ate at Yang Chow, which apparently is famous. We didn't know until we walked in to it and saw all these frames of famous people with the manager of the restaurant. Homeboy is young yet sooo friendly. His customer service was excellent. Funny, too. He says Jack Black comes there a lot, even before he was famous, and orders MuShu. That made me giggled. They are famous for their Slippery Shrimp, but I don't eat shrimp. We got the deep fried fish and that was SPLENDID. Yum yum yum. I recommend this place for sure!

Of course I had to work on Superbowl Sunday because dumb me scheduled myself that way. But I was actually glad because the game was a blowout. Our shift had a tail-gail potluck and one nurse treated all of us with In-N-Out burger. I know, very un-gluten-free of me. Can't help it. Free and yummy? Hell yeah. Can't beat that.

Well it's February already. That's crazy. Month 1 flew like crazy. 1 month ago I was in Cancun. Time sure flies by.

xoxo,

Rima