This Week for Dinner – Weekly Meal Plans, Dinner Ideas, Recipes and More!: the goods

Category: the goods

Thursday, August 19

The Avery SocialLuxe Lounge and an amazing weekend in NYC!

I’m finally sitting down to write about the 2010 Avery SocialLuxe Lounge. Ah, SocialLuxe. Even now, two weeks later, I don’t know where to begin! The party was a-maaaaaay-zing. Our sponsors were wonderful, the location was off the HOOK, and throwing the party with Allison Czarnecki and Marie LeBaron was by far and away the best part of it all. I simply feel grateful for the chance to be a part of it.

Allison, Me, Marie – The Dream Team

Warning: this is a long post. But it’s FUN and represents a year of my life, so I just gotta make it a big ole monster post of SocialLuxe fabulousness. (If, after all of this, you are still dying to see and read more about SocialLuxe, we have a pretty sweet Flickr page here, and we’re collecting posts about the party here.)

Pre-party preparations

The Avery SocialLuxe Lounge took place on August 5 in New York City at Arena, near Bryant Park. We had 350 wonderful bloggers in attendance, including this unbelievable list of VIPs. UNBELIEVABLE, right?

The Bloggess (Funniest BlogLuxe Award Winner, 2009 VIP), Megan Jordan (Velveteen Mind), Christine Koh (Boston Mamas)

This year Avery was our title sponsor for the event. They were wonderful. Their conference survival kits for each guest were adorable and totally useful to boot. We absolutely adored working with Avery.

In addition to Avery, we had a whole slew of amazing sponsors. Frito-Lay, International Delight, Stride Rite and Ghirardelli were all at the party, providing their own unique and fun twists. Celebrity designer Heather Thomson was also there helping women to feel yummy with her Yummie Tummie line. (These waiters were also wearing Yummie Tummie products…which they admitted to loving.)

This year we featured a very special non-profit organization, Drop In and Decorate. They were at the party to meet bloggers, educate them about what the organization does, and gave guests the chance to design cookies to benefit the Center Against Domestic Violence of New York. Drop In and Decorate is definitely worth checking out, so click on over to their site!

SocialLuxe is all about the pampering. Hair, makeup, henna, manicures by OPI and the most fantabulous aromatherapy massages by Aveda really rounded out the evening. I could have sat in that massage chair for hours.

The swag was sweet, too. It was SO fun giving each guest a giant bag full of wonderful goodies. From totally delicious smelling Scentsy products to totally classy gifts from Cambria Cove to totally awesome face cream from StriVectin to totally rockin’ headphones from Skullcandy…and so much more. It was nuts!

This is what stuffing 350 bags looks like

Shabby Apple provided the three hostesses (including myself) dresses for the weekend. I can’t even tell you how many compliments I got on my Frida K dress. I sure was glad I was wearing it that night…made me feel all confident and stuff. And, confession time, I wore it again two nights later.

SocialLuxe was a TON of work, but it was worth it, for so many reasons. Oh, and I won the Tastiest BlogLuxe award with dear sweet Ree, The Pioneer Woman! Yippee! (Don’t miss the list of all the winners here.)

The weekend didn’t stop there. The BlogHer conference was just as overwhelming as ever, with over 2000 bloggers in attendance. The highlights of the weekend for me were two more parties.

Ree (The Pioneer Woman), Jaden (Steamy Kitchen) and Elise (Simply Recipes) held a cocktail party on Friday night, where I finally met Matt Armendariz from Matt Bites and got to hang out with the David Lebovitz. And I’m officially in love with both of them.

Some of my closest and favorite blogging friends, at Ree’s party…Kristen, Me, Allison, Rachael, Marie and Kami (Photo from Justin Hackworth)

And on Saturday night I had the chance to attend another cocktail party hosted by NATE BERKUS. He was super sweet and I love him now even more than I did before. I honestly can’t wait to see his new show in a few weeks.

Oh, and then I danced the night away at Sparklecorn, one of the official BlogHer parties. I haven’t danced like that since college. It was a BLAST. (And I make a brief appearance in this video, thankfully hidden behind some crazier girls than I…)

I’ve gotta say, New York City treated me well.

Oh! I almost forgot. Not only did I get wined and dined in NYC, but I also became an official minivan mom. That’s right, I had me a Swagger Wagon for my East Coast trip this summer. Toyota provided me with a Sienna to use the whole two weeks I was out East. It was fabulous having it on our family vacation on Cape Cod and, surprisingly, it was even more fabulous to have it in New York City for SocialLuxe. It hauled people and boxes of stuff equally as well and I don’t know what we would have done without it. And, once ‘Jersey Jane’ kicked in, I could handle driving that van in the city as well as any cab driver.

Cate and Anna loved having the van…they sat in the way back the whole time we had it and Cate was enamored with the sliding doors. And, because they look too cute (and hardcore!) in Skullcandy headphones, we of course had to do a rap album cover photo shoot.

After all, this is a swagger wagon…and my girls know how to swagger. No diggity, no doubt.

Posted by Jane Maynard at 12:55 am 29 Comments
Categories: travels
Friday, August 13

I’m in love with my dish soap
I know, I know…how can someone be in love with dish soap? Here’s how:
- I finally bought myself an olive oil dispenser to put my dish soap in. I’ve been wanting to get one of these for years and finally thought about it while I was simultaneously standing in a store that sold them. I was honestly giddy on Tuesday when I came home with this dispenser. I know, this isn’t an original idea, but that doesn’t make it any less awesome. And I LOVE the dispenser that I found. Isn’t it beautiful? (I’m also kind of loving this orange ceramic one as well. I’m committed, but maybe one of you can buy it in my honor? P.S. I got mine at Kohl’s in case you’re wondering.)
- I love Costco’s Kirkland brand environmentally-friendly liquid dish soap. It’s clear, it has a nice light scent and it cuts through grease. I normally love Method for environmentally-friendly products, but their dish soap wasn’t powerful enough for me. I was so happy to discover that the Kirkland version works fantabulously.
Now you can see why I’m in love, right? My soap is pretty, it works great on grease, and is nice to the environment to boot. Too bad it doesn’t make me want to do dishes more. I guess I can’t expect my soap to work miracles on top of all the other great things it’s doing!
Posted by Jane Maynard at 10:47 am 17 Comments
Categories: the goods
Friday, July 30

Ice Cream and the Cape

Cape Cod and ice cream go hand in hand. I think every town on the Cape has an ice cream shop, most often selling homemade ice cream and with a loyal following claiming that that particular ice cream shop is the best on the Cape.

Our family visits Ice Cream Sandwich in Sandwich, MA every year. Usually we plan an ice cream night and go just once. This year? Um, yeah, we’ve been eating a lot of ice cream. Let’s not count the visits. No, really. No counting allowed.

By the way, I have created the perfect ice cream cone. Homemade waffle cone with homemade black raspberry ice cream topped with chocolate jimmies.* Heaven, people. Heaven.

*When I’m not in the northeast, I call sprinkles ‘sprinkles.’ When I’m here, I do as the Romans do and sprinkles suddenly become ‘jimmies.’ I think that’s because if I say ‘sprinkles,’ suddenly everyone within a 5-mile radius is looking at me like I have lobsters crawling out of my ears. Locally caught lobster, of course.

In case you were wondering about the rumor that the phrase jimmies is racist in origin, it’s not true. No guilt necessary when ordering your ice cream!

As I was researching all of this very important information, I discovered sprinkles/jimmies are also called “hundreds and thousands.” Romans or not, THAT is a mouthful. I am decidedly too lazy to ever use that particular phrase!

Posted by Jane Maynard at 8:23 am 16 Comments
Categories: travels
Monday, July 19

Random Fun Stuff

First off, if you voted for This Week for Dinner in the BlogLuxe Awards, thank you! We are one of the Top 5 Finalists for the Tastiest category! Yea! Thank you thank you thank you for voting. The winners will be announced at the Avery SocialLuxe Lounge on August 5. Everyone cross your fingers for the next two weeks! And be sure to click over to the BlogLuxe Awards page. The list of finalists makes for some great summer reading! There are just so many wonderful blogs out there, it’s kind of amazing.

Second, if you’re feeling like doing a little shopping, head on over to Shabby Apple. They’ve got bunches of stuff on sale for 20% off, including Swim and Fitness. Which is why am even writing about Shabby today…

Pictures from Shabby Apple

I recently got this bathing suit (click here for the top, click here for the bottom) and these yoga pants and I LOVE THEM. I can’t believe how many compliments I’ve gotten on the swim suit. And the yoga pants? Talk about slimming – the top is nice and snug with a super duper crazy wide waistband, so you can suck it all in without having to hold your breath all day. Also, the fabric on both items is really nice quality.

Shabby Apple did not provide me with these items. Our good friends were involved with the design of the swim and fitness lines, which is why I tried them out. I’m so glad I did! Happy shopping!

Posted by Jane Maynard at 11:22 am 6 Comments
Categories: the goods
Wednesday, July 14

Food and Fun with Thermador

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Thermador’s gallery kitchens in Scottsdale, AZ. Thermador is a luxury kitchen appliance maker that has been around for years and years and years. Julia Child had Thermador appliances, which automatically makes me want them more. Last week Thermador announced their new steam convection oven to a group of 20 bloggers at their gallery kitchens, instead of in front of traditional media in NYC. I was so happy to be included in that group of bloggers and had a great time getting to know the folks at Thermador, learning about their products, and spending time with some pretty amazing bloggers. Oh…and eating…and eating…and eating some more!

I could write pages and pages about the trip and the food we ate, so I’m going to try to keep things as short as possible. And while Thermador did pay for my trip, rest assured everything I am writing in this post is completely sincere. And might I suggest you check out the White on Rice Couple’s beautiful summary of the trip…their photos are fan-freaking-tastic, which is not surprising because they are fan-freaking-awesome. But I digress.

Let’s start with the gallery kitchens. They were BEA-U-TI-FUL. And humongous. Like, I could fit my entire apartment in one of these bad boy kitchens. When am I making my million bucks? I’m ready.

How fun would it be to work at this place every day? Especially with super nice and talented gourmet chefs cooking food all the time.

When we arrived bright and early in the morning, we toured the kitchens and then were treated to an amazing breakfast prepared by the Thermador chefs. We gathered some pretty amazing recipes that day, both from lunch and breakfast. Once I make some of the recipes at home, I will be sure to share them with you. Promise.

After breakfast, several of the Thermador products were demo’d for us. People, I’m sold. All I need is a house and a budget for a luxury kitchen and I’m so there. And, can I also say, I think I would choose their electric or their induction stovetops over the gas range? I know, this sounds like crazy talk. Everyone loves gas more than anything, right? Thermador’s gas ranges are pretty sweet…but, so is their electric stovetop, which has all kinds of fanciness. And the induction stovetop? Downright high tech fancy schmanciness. Chef Kyle says it’s his favorite. I believe anything Chef Kyle tells me.

See that little blue thing next to the pot? It senses the temperature of the pot and stuff. It’s smarter than a person and cooks rice perfectly. No joke.

We then had the chance to help cook our lunch. Poor Kristen here ended up making the beurre blanc sauce for the salmon wellington. She stood there at that big old frying pan forEVER stirring and stirring and stirring. Plus she got to feel all uncomfortable while everyone took pictures of her. Total blast for Kristen, I’m sure. She assured us she had fun. The sauce came out beautifully, by the way.

How cute is that crème brûlée? Food tastes better when it’s cute, right?

Look at that backsplash thingy suck up the steam like a Dyson vacuum. Whoosh!

And that full sheet of roasted vegetables fit in the giant oven no problemo. Did I mention my whole kitchen could fit in that oven? Again, not exaggerating here. Okay, maybe a little. But not much.

Here’s the salmon wellington.

And the beef tenderloin? Cooked to perfection…which brings me to my final point and the whole reason we all went on this fabulous, food-filled trip…

The Steam Convection Oven.

Photo courtesy of Thermador. All my shots came out FUZZY.

It was soooo cool. And since it’s only $3000 and has to be installed in a wall I don’t have, I’ll be getting one in no time. {Insert sarcastic smirk.} Seriously, though, this oven is great. You can cook with steam only, steam-convection combination, or true convection. You can do pretty much anything in there, and reheating food is also nicely done using this technology. I’m excited about the prospect of baking artisan bread in one of these puppies and potentially having it replace the microwave. Like I mentioned, there is no stand-alone version and it is kind of small…but it would meet most cooking and baking needs nicely.

Phew. I’m done. Like I said, there will be some fun recipes for me to feature as a result of this fabulous trip. Oh wait! I’m not done! A few pictures of the group! (Tina listed out all the blogs in attendance here, definitely worth checking them out!)

And…a picture of my dear friend Lindsey (formerly of Cafe Johnsonia, currently of Fresh Clean Start, who went on this trip for Design Mom). Lindsey was one of my very first “blogging friends” and has since become a “real” friend. She even wrote a guest post for me way back in the day and is the source of this amazing potato soup. It was so fun to come together years later for such a great trip. Funny where life takes you.

For real. I’m done. Thank you, Thermador!

Posted by Jane Maynard at 6:22 am 22 Comments
Categories: travels
Tuesday, July 13

Instant Yeast, the new love of my life
When I went to my pastry chef friend Faye’s bread making class (which I still need to write about – I’m such a slacker!), she used instant yeast and said it’s the only kind she uses. Since I do anything Faye tells me to do (at least with baking!), I hopped on over to Smart & Final and grabbed a pound of Saf-Instant Yeast.

I used it for the first time this weekend for pizza dough. And I fell in love. If you are scared of using yeast, this yeast is for you! I don’t know about you, but I’m always worried that the water I dissolve active dry yeast in is too hot or too cold. Since you add instant yeast directly to the dry ingredients, your worries are over!

Here’s a little run down on how to use instant yeast.
- Use about 20% less instant yeast than the amount of active dry yeast called for in a recipe.
- Add the instant yeast directly to your dry ingredients.
- When substituting into a recipe that calls for active dry yeast, be sure to add the amount of water you would have dissolved the yeast in to your wet ingredients.
- This handy website over here gives a good description of all the different types of yeast. For instant yeast it says you only need 1 rise. The first rise is replaced with a 10 minute rest and you don’t have to punch the dough down. (P.S. That website I linked to also has a great conversion chart for the different types of yeast. Just sayin’.)
So, there you have it. I doubt I’ll ever go back to active dry yeast. As for where to buy instant yeast, my local Safeway does not carry it, but my Smart & Final does (where it’s only around $4). You can also order it on Amazon, which is just downright handy.

I’m going to make sure Faye reads this post and pipes in with any information I forgot!
Posted by Jane Maynard at 8:33 am 14 Comments
Categories: the goods
Tuesday, July 6

Cruisin’ with My Girlies

Today is a sad day. “My” Lincoln MKT is being taken away from me. Yeah, yeah, I know “Ford” actually “owns” the car and I also know that I was perfectly aware that I would “only” have it for two weeks, but I’m still mad at the {very nice} dudes who are driving to my house as I type to take back the nicest car I’ve ever driven. If only I had 50 grand lying around…

Here’s the Lincoln MKT at Albion Basin in the Little Cottonwood Canyon near SLC, UT – hands down one of the most beautiful places on earth. That sparkle on the front of the car? It just comes naturally to the MKT, kind of like Ken doll’s sparkly smile. (Yes, I just saw Toy Story 3)

Ford provided us with the Lincoln MKT for our trip to Utah last week. We’ve had a lot of fun with this car. In some cases, too much fun (keep reading to get the dirty details!). The MKT drives like butter, the THX sound system is OFF THE HOOK, and every little detail to make driving more comfortable is covered. USB port with amazing entertainment and navigation system? Check. Blind spot alerts and rear back-up camera? Check. Retractable screens in the backseat windows for the kids? Check. Extra swish of the windshield wipers a few seconds after the initial swishes to get rid of those last few drops that always drip down? Check. Adjustable brake and gas pedals? Check. Ambient lighting with 6 different colors to choose from? {No, I’m not kidding} Check. Heated rear seats? Check. The biggest sun roof you ever did see? Check. The list goes on and on.

This car is not perfect. The gas mileage is not so good, which is what you would expect from this size car with a powerful engine. Every time a call came through on bluetooth, I had to readjust the volume. (Yeah, I know, rough life.) My rearview mirrors and pedals always reset whenever I turned the car off…which drove me nuts. But Nate is pretty sure this is just because I don’t know what I’m doing. He’s probably right.

Also, my grandma kept bumping her head when she would get in. She said she was ready to buy the car, but the head bumps changed her mind. Then she laughed. And, as you can see, she was perfectly happy tooling around the Wasatch Mountains with the girls and I.

And that giant sunroof I mentioned? It was AWESOME for looking out at the mountain peaks as we climbed the canyon. Even the girls in the backseat had a great view on our adventure.

I do have to say, the MKT car was a cop magnet. I don’t know if I was driving differently or if cops just really like pulling over fancy cars, but I got pulled over TWICE. I haven’t been pulled over since high school, people. The first time I met a policeman in the MKT was because of a speed trap, and I wasn’t even going that fast. And the whole time the uber-friendly CHP officer was writing my ticket, he was asking me questions about the car. NOT KIDDING. New rule for police officers – no car questions allowed unless you let the nice mom of two off the hook!

Incident #2…Allison, Marie, Kami, Alma, Carina and I decided to ‘cruise’ Park City the Friday night of the Evo conference. We had our jams pumping and our dance moves ON. A {bored} Park City cop saw a car full of non-speeding, law-abiding “girls” (little did he know they were all married moms) hug the white line once or twice and decided to pull them over to see if they were “okay.” Keep in mind the “girls” were completely sober and driving the speed limit, not a broken traffic rule to be found. When the cop realized this was a pretty “boring” pullover, he actually told me I had a warrant out for my arrest and had us going for a good 30 seconds. Is that even legal? I don’t think so. Allison is convinced he was in fact a stripper cop. I guess we’ll never know…thank goodness!

So, there you have it. My two weeks with the beautiful MKT. Big thanks to Ford for the opportunity to review the car!

Posted by Jane Maynard at 10:21 am 5 Comments
Categories: the goods
Tuesday, June 22

Salt & Pepper

I’m feeling pretty passionate about my salt and pepper lately. So I think I need to tell you about it.

First, I’m loving kosher salt. I love the coarser texture it has versus table salt and, unlike a salt grinder, I don’t break my hand getting enough to use in recipes. I’ve been using it in almost everything I’ve been cooking lately.

Second, and you need to listen carefully, Penzey’s Freshly Ground Pepper rocks the spice world. Seriously. I haven’t used my pepper grinder since I got this stuff. Sounds crazy, right? Maybe…but the flavor is just so good.

That’s all for today. Happy seasoning!

Posted by Jane Maynard at 6:00 am 8 Comments
Categories: the goods
Friday, June 11

Party Food: Pork Tenderloin, Crostinis & Grilled Radicchio

In addition to all of the amazing desserts at my little party for my friends, I had some pretty fun recipes to work with as well. As I mentioned in the original party post, Calphalon and Williams-Sonoma gave me two beautiful non-stick skillets and Michael Symon’s debut cookbook, Live to Eat. I used a few of Michael Symon’s recipes for the party after happily tasting them at a technique class at Williams-Sonoma.

For an appetizer I served Grilled Crostini with Goat Cheese and ‘wichcraft Tomato Relish, a recipe from Williams-Sonoma. These were SO easy to make and delicious. The ‘wichcraft Tomato Relish went very nicely with the goat cheese and was a big hit!

For the main dish, I served Michael Symon’s Pork Tenderloin with Heirloom Tomato Salad alongside Grilled Radicchio with Orange and Balsamic. Fancy schmancy, right? They were actually pretty straightforward recipes but still made me feel all gourmet and stuff.

So, there you have it. You have virtually experienced the entire party. Thanks for joining us!

Click here to download a lovely PDF with more of Michael Symon’s recipes.

Posted by Jane Maynard at 6:00 am 3 Comments
Categories: the goods
Wednesday, June 9

A Little Party for My Friends

Last Saturday I threw a little party for my friends. It all started when I received a PR blast from Calphalon and Williams-Sonoma. They were wrangling up food bloggers to throw parties on June 5 all across the country. They provided me with two of their new pans, a few little goodies and $100. I decided this was a good excuse to do something for a small group of close friends who deserved a fun afternoon out with the girls.

The party ended up being lovely for so many reasons. The weather was perfect, time spent with friends was so lovely, and the food was fabulous!

Normally parties are a chore for me, I’m not really the party-throwing type. But I had a blast doing this party! I was able to wrangle up some of my own contacts to really step things up. Sure, a Calphalon spoon was nice to give to my friends, but they deserved more. We ended up with some amazing food, and goodie bags that I was bursting at the seams to give to my friends. I wish I could have invited all of you, but my patio just isn’t big enough!

So…on to the fun stuff! Tomorrow and Thursday I’ll share the recipes from the party with you, but today it’s all about the goods.

Cambria Cove was amazing. They sent a cake from Elegant Cheese Cakes, filled with three layers of delicious cheese cake. Elegant Cheese Cakes is based in Half Moon Bay and the cake gets shipped to you. Can you believe this cake gets shipped in the mail? It’s a miracle!

Cambria Cove also sent a giant box of Norman Love chocolates, which are not only completely gorgeous but also really fun and tasty to eat.

And both of these gorgeous serving trays? Cambria Cove again. Without them, my serving table would have been only half as beautiful!

A few words about the cheese platter while we’re here. Alouette sent their Extra Creamy Brie, which was very tasty with a thin, mild-flavored casing. I also bought some Honey Goat Cheese from Trader Joe’s (there in the back)…it’s my new favorite cheese.

Now for the gift bags.

What could be in there? I can’t wait to show you!

Dillon Rogers was AMAZING and gave everyone a triple wrap bracelet. I have a few things from Dillon Rogers, including my own triple wrap bracelet and this lovely necklace. Everyone loved their bracelets.

P.S. Dillon Rogers is offering a special discount for all of you! Use the code DINNER to receive 20% off the entire website! I suggest you get shopping! I honestly, truly love their stuff and am so happy to be able to help get the word out about this great company.

Cambria Cove also stepped up and gave each guest one of these beautiful Voluspa candles and this Cherub Collage journal. The Cambria Cove signature gift box is almost gift enough on it’s own! But of course the things inside are just lovely.

I emailed my dear friend Ree, The Pioneer Woman herself, to see if she could swing some cookbooks. She did, because she’s awesome like that. And she even signed them. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again…Ree Drummond is hands down the best lady. LOVE HER. Okay, my daily Ree worshipping is done.

Scharffen Berger sent each person one of their folios….mmmmmm….

…Alouette sent everyone their own Extra Creamy Brie to take home…and Calphalon provided everyone with a non-stick-friendly utensil.

Phew. Are you tired yet? Seriously…it was SO FUN giving everyone all these lovely things. Thank you to all the companies who shared so generously!

Like I mentioned, the original idea for the party came from Calphalon. They sent me the Unison Non-Stick Griddle & Grill Pan set (which I am actually loving, by the way) and Michael Symon’s debut cookbook Live to Cook, which is where I got several of my recipes for the party. I will definitely share recipes during the rest of this week, including my own rice and grain concoction that ended up being sooo yummy.

Posted by Jane Maynard at 7:51 am 42 Comments
Categories: the goods
Tuesday, June 8

Fresh Eggs

My friend Anna has chickens. Seven chickens to be exact. In her backyard, right here in Suburbia, U.S.A. I love it. I think she’s cool for doing it. Her kids love it. Yesterday when I stopped by her house, she gave me a half dozen fresh eggs. When I say fresh, I mean FRESH. As in, I-saw-her-take-eggs-out-of-the-chicken-coop fresh.

These are officially the freshest eggs I’ve ever eaten. The girls and I made scrambled eggs for dinner last night and they were delicious. We made cookies, too, and I only have 1 egg left! (That 1 egg, by the way, is sitting on my counter. Why? Because it can and I love it.)

Here’s another shot of the eggs in all their dirty, fresh-out-of-the chicken glory. Aren’t they beautiful? I want chickens. Wait, what’s gotten into me? A few fresh eggs and I’ve completely lost my mind!

Anna agrees, these are the ‘orangest’ yolks we’ve ever seen.

Posted by Jane Maynard at 8:13 am 14 Comments
Categories: the goods
Thursday, May 27

French Butter Crock

Last week someone commented on here asking if I have a french butter crock (a comment which seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth, by the way), to which I answered that I had a friend who used one and always thought I might get one but never had. Literally the next day I saw a Butter Bell on sale at Sur La Table. Of course I snagged it and I love it!

French butter crocks keep butter fresh by sealing it away from oxygen. And the crock keeps butter at a perfectly spreadable consistency – not too hard, not too soft. It’s like magic. You just fill the pot about 1/3 with cold water and then invert the cup of butter into the water, changing out the water every three days or so. I plan to change out my water whenever I run the dishwasher so I don’t forget!

I have a Butter Bell brand crock. I’m very happy with it. The red color is really cute, and it comes in lots of other colors, too. Le Creuset makes butter crocks as well, and their version holds 1 1/2 sticks of butter, as opposed to mine that only holds 1 stick of butter. I also love how the Le Creuset crock looks (just like how I love how everything they make looks). I’m sure you can find other brands out there, too, if you like shopping around!

I will never go back to our old butter dish. I’m completely sold.

Posted by Jane Maynard at 11:41 am 19 Comments
Categories: the goods
Wednesday, May 19

A Sweet Ride for a Sweet Tooth
As you know, I took a roadtrip last week. I drove alone with the girls to Utah. That wasn’t the original plan, and thankfully Nate was able to join us on the ride back…needless to say it was quite the adventure! We had a great trip, spent time with family, and ate lots of goodies.

GM provided us with a brand spanking new 2010 Terrain to use for the trip. When we got the car it only had 400 miles on it! It was definitely a SWEET ride. I’ll tell you all the reasons I loved driving the Terrain (and a few of the things I didn’t love) in a bit…but first, let’s have some dessert, shall we?

My uber sweet tooth was able to track down plenty of yummy desserts while we were in Utah. We were in Provo for only one night and were able to spend $50 on all things bad for you and enjoyed every bite. I have concluded that Provo, UT is to dessert what Dublin is to beer.

For the 2010 This Week for Dinner Provo Dessert Tour we hit three places: The Sweet Tooth Fairy, Gloria’s Little Italy and Shirley’s Homemades Bakery.

The Sweet Tooth Fairy is a relatively new bake shop in Utah (locations in Provo and Draper) with delicious baked goods of all kinds, and the shop itself is adorable. Their cakebites were featured on Rachael Ray’s show…and you can order them to be delivered anywhere in the country! We arrived just before closing, so they were almost out of everything…but we were able to get our hands on some delicious cupcakes and the famous cakebites (coconut was our favorite flavor!).

Gloria’s Little Italy is a great Italian restaurant in Provo…yes, apparently you can find good Italian food in the middle of the Rocky Mountains! I’ve eaten dinner there before, but for this trip we focused on dessert. I ordered a tasty and freshly filled cannoli because we all know I simply cannot resist that dangerously rich dessert. We also ordered two slices of cake, which were heavenly. That cream filling you see there? Oh what goodness.

For breakfast we had chocolate eclairs and a variety pack of sweet rolls from Shirley’s Homemades Bakery. Yes, I have a serious sweet tooth, but I swear to you I only eat eclairs for breakfast on special occasions (and yes, I do believe kicking Nate’s butt on drums playing Rock Band is a special occasion). The sweet rolls are great, with the perfect amount of icing. Orange and cinnamon tie for first place in my book.

Just when I thought the desserts were over, we decided to have dinner at The Dodo our last night in Salt Lake. (P.S. The BBQ dip turkey sandwich with salad and house dressing is one good meal. I had it twice while I was in town!) The Dodo is also famous for their amazing desserts. We ordered FIVE different kinds of pie (hey, there were 7 adults to feed!) and they were all mighty tasty. Everyone’s favorite was the Banana Cream Cheese Pie. In fact, I’m going to try to recreate that one at home. My second favorite pie was the Avocado Lime Cream Cheese. The flavor was pretty amazing.

So how did this sweet tooth like her sweet ride? I really liked driving the Terrain a lot. I’m not a huge fan of the crossover in general…if I buy a bigger car one day I want it to seat more than 5 people. But honestly, this was a really fun car to drive. And our model had lots of bells and whistles, so it’s been hard going back to my SUPER basic sedan. But I’m surviving.

Things I loved about the Terrain:
- USB port – I really really love this – being able to easily charge and listen to our iPods and iPhones is the best
- Remote keyless entry, with a button that opens the back (I used that all the time) and remote start (we didn’t use this except for fun…but if you live in a hot or cold place, it is pretty darn handy since you can program what temperature you want the car to be when you get in)
- Bluetooth wired through the car speakers…I LOVE using my phone with this feature
- Rear view camera – now that I’m not driving around with this great feature I realize how much I used it. I loved having the rear camera, just gives additional peace of mind when backing the car up.
- It senses if there is a person in the passenger seat and turns the airbags on and off accordingly. It can also tell if the passenger has their seatbelt on and beeps if not (it totally busted my mom)
- Tinted windows (the girls loved this feature although they didn’t realize it…but I didn’t have any complaints about the sun all 2000 miles we drove the car)
- The “Infotainment” System was great and included XM Radio (which was really great to have driving across the barren desert) and the GPS navigation system
- There are about 10 different menus for the driver side dash – it can tell you how many more miles your gas tank has, your instantaneous MPG, etc, etc, etc…and it was super easy to use.
- Cruise control
- Good MPG (better than my Ford Taurus for sure) and high safety ratings
- The two-toned black and brown leather interior was really nice.
The thing I didn’t love:
- The brake pedal was WICKED high. I have a size 8 foot (pretty average) and my toes barely reached the pedal if I kept my heel on the ground. Driving on the freeway this wasn’t really an issue, but driving in town it was pretty annoying actually. I think other GM cars have an adjustable brake pedal, but unfortunately this particular car did not.
All in all it was a great car to drive for out trip! In Nevada a guy at a gas station stopped Nate to say, “Wow! Is that the new Terrain?” Yeah, that’s right buddy, we only drive the latest and greatest.

After sitting in a car for 2000 miles and eating way too much sugar, I think it’s time for me to go work out…for several days straight. Or maybe just watch some TV.
Posted by Jane Maynard at 11:50 am 11 Comments
Categories: travels
Friday, April 23

Cambria Cove Mother’s Day Giveaway – $150 Shopping Spree!

When I shared the Raspberry White Chocolate Cake a couple of weeks ago, a few of you noticed my completely gorgeous cake stand:

I love my cake stand. I mean really love my cake stand. Last summer, Cambria Cove gave all the BlogLuxe Award winners a $100 gift certificate to their site. I had a really hard time deciding what to get (they have so many beautiful things), but I eventually settled on the large milk glass serving pedestal from Mosser Glass. When I talked with Cambria Cove about doing a giveaway for all of you, they kindly sent me the small and medium pedestals to complete my collection (thank you, Cambria Cove!!!). Aren’t they so pretty?

Now that I’ve gushed about how happy I am with my cake stands…time for a giveaway, don’t you think? Cambria Cove is giving away a $150 shopping spree! One of you lucky people will be randomly selected to choose whatever you like from their wonderful website! Same drill as always – simply add a comment to this post by Midnight, PT on Wednesday, April 28. Your comment can be anything, but I think you should go window shopping over at Cambria Cove and tell us what you would spend your not-so-hard-earned money on! The winner will be announced on Thursday, April 29. That’s right, the winner will have time to get some shopping done for Mother’s Day! (Although, I won’t tell if you spend it all on yourself!)

Good luck!

Posted by Jane Maynard at 5:00 am 355 Comments
Categories: the goods
Thursday, April 22

Sprinkles Cupcakes!

Remember my riddle from Sunday? I told you that this picture…

…pretty much spelled out an upcoming “secret” post for this week. No one figured it out until 10 minutes before I hit publish on this post. Go Andrea! Anybody else got it? Come on, the answer is right there all over Cate’s lips…

…and that answer is…Sprinkles!

I ate my first Sprinkles cupcake last week. And it was mighty tasty. I took my girls after school one day as a special treat. They of course were in heaven. And, I have to admit, I was pretty happy too.

I’ve been resisting going to Sprinkles. The whole concept of paying $3 for a cupcake seemed kind of extravagant to me…and whenever something is so trendy, I tend to assume it’s been over-hyped. After having gone to Sprinkles, I will say this…their cupcakes are very good. They taste homemade, which is the highest compliment I can think to give a non-homemade cupcake. I’m not turning cartwheels or anything…I mean, it’s a cupcake. But I will definitely go back for the occasional “special treat.”

The shop is very cute and it was so exciting for my little ones to stare at row upon row of cupcakes…and then get to pick one of their very own. And then dig in and make a huge mess and eat all the frosting without one peep from Mom.

We tried a variety of flavors. Cate had double chocolate. Anna had vanilla. I had Red Velvet and Chocolate Coconut (no, I didn’t eat two…I split them with Nate…I swear!) I actually really liked each flavor a lot…but Chocolate Coconut was my fave!

Darnit. Now I need a cupcake.

Posted by Jane Maynard at 9:04 am 12 Comments
Categories: the goods
Tuesday, April 13

Arizmendi Bakery

Last week I happened to be in Emeryville, CA…my good friend Lindsay used to live there, so I called to find out if there were any good bakeries we could swing by quickly while we were in town. She guided me to Arizmendi Bakery. The girls and I grabbed a few goodies and a sourdough baguette and ate almost everything by the time we got home!

Arizmendi Bakery is a worker-owned cooperative that grew out of the Cheeseboard, a famous Berkeley-based cooperative. If you’d like to read more about it, click here. It’s interesting and classic Northern California.

All of the baked goods we purchased were tasty…but the sourdough baguette is where it’s at, my friends. The texture was perfect and the sourdough flavor was subtle and well-balanced. The baguette was good just by itself, but when we got home Cate asked for a piece with butter…good call, Cate. I think I just had bread and butter for dinner that night and was completely satisfied.

Posted by Jane Maynard at 10:18 am 20 Comments
Categories: travels
Friday, March 26

San Francisco International Chocolate Salon

Last weekend Nate and I attended the San Francisco International Chocolate Salon. It was a LOT of fun. We went without the kids, the weather was spectacular, and we stuffed ourselves silly with chocolate.

Pictured: Chocolates from Marti Chocolatt

The Chocolate Salon is an open-to-the-public event where oodles of chocolatiers and confectioners come show off all their chocolatey goodness in a hugemongous room at the Ft. Mason Center.

We tried some very “interesting” chocolates (chocolate bacon, anyone?) and some really great stuff. I have to share some of that goodness with you!

There are so many companies I could write about, but I’m going to focus on our favorite. Marti Chocolatt is based in Los Angeles and is the one company we actually purchased something from. Marti does a fantastic job integrating chocolate with very unique and sometimes unexpected ingredients. Our favorite Marti chocolate was the ube flavor, purple yams in dark chocolate.

The umeshu flavor, Japanese plum wine in white chocolate, was also quite amazing. And the jasmine citron? The only word I can think to describe this chocolate is intriguing. I am normally not a fan of flower-infused foods, but this jasmine chocolate was very appealing. When you eat it, it’s more like you’re smelling flowers than tasting them. It’s hard to describe. Marti Chocolatt took first prize in our book.

Of course there were many other amazing companies, and I just can’t write about all of them. Here is a small sampling!

As an artist, I absolutely adored these truffle bars from Sterling Confections. The truffles do in fact taste great, but I love the visual concept more than anything.

Plumeria Flours makes these beautiful chocolate covered Oreos. I’m not a big fan of Oreos, but I actually did like these. Plus, they’re so cute!

I couldn’t help but snap a shot of these pretty (and tasty!) white chocolates with flowers from Robyn’s Chocolates and Confections.

I have to tell you about one more chocolate we tried. By far the CRAZIEST chocolate we tasted was from Vice Chocolates. It was called “Vixen” – a passion fruit truffle with Thai chili, jalapeno, and cayenne, decorated with white chocolate and a caramelized red pepper on top. I’m pretty sure she said it had all the different taste flavors – Sour, Sweet, Salt, Bitter, and Spicy. And BOY was it spicy. I have a pretty high tolerance, but that one got me for sure. I’m glad we tried it!

We were completely chocolated out 2 hours into our venture. I don’t think that has ever happened to me! I am so happy that the event was at the Ft. Mason center…beautiful views of the Golden Gate bridge, Alcatraz, downtown and the Bay Bridge. Such a lovely spot and a morning to be remembered!

Posted by Jane Maynard at 11:27 am 6 Comments
Categories: travels
Tuesday, March 23

Sweetarts Jelly Beans

Three words: Sweetarts Jelly Beans. Three more words: I’m in love.

Easter candy is the BEST. Am I wrong? Nope. I’m not.

Posted by Jane Maynard at 9:39 am 26 Comments
Categories: the goods
Thursday, March 18

Lovin’ My Magnetic Knife Holder

I’m loving my latest kitchen space saver discovery, which has actually been sitting in my drawer for over 10 years…until now. When Nate and I got married, his grandparents gave us a magnetic knife holder. For a while we didn’t have knives that needed holding, and then once I had knives, I used a drawer. Now that we’re in a kitchen with no drawers, the magnetic knife holder is a necessity. And you know what? I should have hung it up years ago – I love it!

My knives are super handy and accessible now, I can see exactly which knife I am choosing, and they are safely out of the reach of my children. If you have a LOT of knives or a block set, then you may not need this. But, even then, this holder is a nice space saver and keeps your most frequently used knives at your fingertips.

There are quite a few different styles and sizes of holders out there. Click here for my simple, straightforward model (which is also very affordable). This stainless steel holder is nice and sleek, and I love this bamboo holder.

{Thanks, Grammy, for getting us this great gadget so long ago!}

Posted by Jane Maynard at 12:31 pm 17 Comments
Categories: the goods
Wednesday, March 17

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone! Look what I found at our local bagel shop today…

I love Posh Bagel in Menlo Park (the best bagels I’ve found in the Menlo Park/Palo Alto area, by the way – and this is saying a lot coming from a New Jersey girl). Now I love Posh Bagel even more for making these CRAZY green bagels. Seriously, that is GREEN. I thought my 5-year-old would jump for joy when she saw them. Nope, all she said was, “Yuck.” So much for fun green food.

Speaking of green food, when I planned my menu this week, I totally spaced it on St. Patrick’s Day. So, here’s our real menu for today!
- Green Chicken Piccata
- Green Mashed Potatoes
- Asparagus
- Green Lemon Bars
Feel free to share your own green food ideas! Hope you have a grand green day!
Posted by Jane Maynard at 12:38 pm 13 Comments
Categories: the goods