My boss got me a gorgeous scarf for Christmas! She chose this box because she said that she thought it looked like a move that I would make:

Here's a fun little Santa cake that I got to decorate:

I came across one of my all time favorite Christmas photos that I randomly had in a box of stuff that I brought up North with me: David, Grossmutter and Me circa I'm not sure what year but a long long time ago when we were little bubbas!

Started off the morning with homemade cinnamon rolls from SCRATCH from the boss boss! A consolation prize still for our hard work on our 3-tier dummy from Thanksgiving:

And then I came home to find these on my front porch from my PJ boss back in Vegas!

Rain, rain, more rain and...HAIL! Not the best picture but you can kind of get an idea of the pea-sized hail from the other day:

The hole in my closet is slowly but surely getting larger and it doesn't look like the rain is stopping anytime soon! Perhaps they should have fixed it when I told them over a month ago...now it's the size of a softball:


I've tried two recipes lately. The first one was Pasta with Bacon and Cauliflower. It was absolutely delicious! It was nice because there was no heavy sauce. The pecorino cheese creates a creaminess that is just enough. The second recipe I tried was Spinach and Parmesan Dip for our employee potluck at work. It definitely was quick and easy and pretty tasty however Mom's recipe is definitely better! We also had our manager's dinner at Rose Pistola in the city. We had a pre-fixe menu that was served family style. Appetizers were Crispy Squash Chips with Paprika & Garlic and Bruschetta with Stracchino, Pear, Crispy Prosciutto & Truffle Honey. Both were very delicious. For salad we had Roasted Beets, Grilled Treviso, Mandarins & Ricotta Salata, Chopped Salad with Point Reyes Blue Cheese Vinaigrette and Treviso with Persimmon, Candied Pecans, Pomegranate & Honey-Champagne Vinaigrette. The first two were my favorite and the persimmons were delicious in the last salad. For the main course we shared 2 pizzas: Roasted Peppers, Olives & Goat Cheese and Pepperoni, Oregano & Red Onion which were both delicious. We also had Butternut Squash Ravioli with Brown Butter & Sage which was very good too. Hungry yet?! And for dessert, Chocolate Truffle Tart & Eggnog Crème Brûlée and an apple tart with cranberry gelato which I preferred. The owners announced that next year everyone will be eligible for health benefits! Very exciting news. Now I will feel like I have a grown-up job! They also gave us a $100 gift certificate to Nordstrom (which I'm thinking I need to invest in a new rain coat!) and our Executive Baker gave her culinary managers a gift certificate for pedicures and these amazing slipper socks:

I can't wait to see the look on the face of TSA as I walk through airport security in these! Countdown until I get to see my family: EJ=3 days, Mom/Dad/David/Grandma/Grandpa/Hank/Holly/Gibby Goo=5 days!

Being a financially responsible adult stinks sometimes. After talking logistics with EJ about him coming up here for the manager party on Monday, we decided that it just didn't make sense and it was too much money just for a dinner. Sigh. Instead, we'll wait a couple of more days and I can see him in Vegas. EJ usually brings the pups with him to Vegas when he goes to visit and stays with his Dad and step-mom. However, apparently it was a little too much at the house for Thanksgiving and the pups weren't invited back. I'll have to wait until the 26th to see them. Luckily my Dad and brother are amazing and are willing to take the pups in for a couple of days until we get back into LA. We're going to stay at the Hard Rock Hotel for Christmas Eve and Christmas so it will be easier to meet up with our friends. We were able to get an amazing price for the rooms (as if you expected anything less from me!) through Vegas.com. It will be kind of odd since this will be the first year I will not go to church either on Christmas Eve or Christmas and it will be the first year that I will wake up in a hotel room in Vegas with no Christmas tree or stockings (I knew I should have packed the Christmas stuff from El Segundo and brought it up North with me and then I could have brought it to Vegas!) I guess there is a firsts for everything and all I have to be grateful for is that I will be with family and friends.
A while back my Dad had given me one of the first avocados off the tree in his backyard. I love the story of this avocado tree (although I don't tell it nearly as well as Dad does). Grossmutter and Grossvater had just moved into their house and a man came to the front door selling avocado trees. Grossmutter didn't want to get it because it was too expensive but Grossvater convinced her that it would be ok. Uncle Gary and Dad buried their old rusty bumpers from cars underneath the tree and there has been a lot of love and time put into the tree becoming as grand as it is today (not to mention protecting the precious avocados with a BB gun from those pesky squirrels...don't call PETA!) I think that's what makes these avocados a "Hess" avocado...not a Hass or Fuerte...because these avocados have an amazing taste and texture unlike any other avocado you have ever eaten. Good job Dad on loving and harvesting this year!
On a side note (pun intended...Mom and Dad aren't you glad that my English degree is coming into use?!), this ice cream sandwich is absolutely delicious! I convinced myself to buy them since they originate from San Francisco and was glad that I did. Although, consequently, I was at Zumba and yoga today to burn off the calories! Anyway, I had a great day off from work today and totally slept in like a lazy bum (I won't even tell you until when for fear of making you extremely jealous!) Since I won't get to see EJ for another week, we've been chatting via FaceTime for Macs. It's kind of like Skype except you don't have to pay and as long as one person has an Iphone (this would be EJ...hopefully me too in February!) you can use FaceTime. He guided me through the process of using the broiler on my stove (hey, bakers don't use broilers, ok?!) and as a result my little studio is filled with smoke but the ultimate result was delicious. No recipe here, other than perhaps a bit of copyright infringement on my previous employer Beach Pizza, but it was a bed of lettuce with a chicken breast sprinkled with mozzarella cheese and ranch dressing. Thank goodness for technology (I'm sure that comment will come back to bite me at some point, but for now, I stand by it!) so I could show EJ the smoke coming out of the oven and to have him reassure me that I wasn't going to burn the place down (although if I DID burn it down, at least I have renter's insurance!) I hope all is well with you my readers and for my family: I love you and miss you and can't wait to see you soon!

Update #1: The girl from work that messed up the cookies ended up calling me the following day to apologize which I thought was very professional of her and very appreciated. Update #2: I finally tried the Plum Island Sound Clam Chowder from Cooking Light and was a little hesitant at first. The recipe calls for canned clams which kind of creeps me out (I'm not sure why because I totally eat tuna out of a can!) but the price of fresh clams was a little out of my budget. The bottled clam juice also threw me for a loop but I thought I would be adventurous. I'm not too comfortable cooking fish (that's EJ's specialty) so I wasn't sure how this recipe was going to turn out. Minus the Dutch Oven portion of the recipe, I followed everything else and it actually did turn out quite delicious. Nothing like the fresh clam chowder you get in the city but this will suffice for rainy days. Update #3: We didn't win the cinnamon roll contest. We calculated that we had a total of 4 orders that referenced our cake and cupcakes and we lost by 1. The Newport Beach store beat us but at least everyone now knows that our store is a contender although we may be the underdogs! Update #4: I decided to splurge and get my hair semi-professionally done at a beauty school in San Rafael. I was tired of using boxed dye and thought that their prices were reasonable. Needless to say, I should have gone on a day where I hadn't been up since 4am because my appointment was at 6pm and I didn't leave until after 9pm! All they did was a full head of highlights which would normally take about half the time but since they are students they have to stop and have the instructor check everything. Overall, I would probably go back but just on a day where I could sit still for 3 hours and not fall asleep! Update #5: There is a creepy cat (not Eek-like AT ALL!) that likes to walk on the roof in the middle of night and move the rocks around. Here is a picture of the culprit:

Update #6: I did some Christmas shopping and didn't even spend any money! My debit card collects points every time I use it and then I can redeem them for various items. I decided to see what I could get with my points and was able to order 2 things off of Dad's list, 1 thing off of Mom's list, 1 thing off of EJ's list and even a book for myself. I didn't even have to pay for shipping either! Once again, I was pretty impressed with myself. Update #7: I ate my first candy cane of the holiday season. I was trying to get into the holiday spirit but haven't really been able to yet because I missed setting up the Christmas tree (although Grandpa I heard you did a great job and I can't wait to see it!) or hanging the Christmas lights or even just being with family. I can't wait for the next week to hurry by because EJ is going to come up and visit and be my "guest" to the manager's holiday dinner (by this time I won't have seen him for a whole month!) and then it will only be a couple of more days after that until Vegas and then finally Home with the family.

Today was a much needed and a well deserved day off. I started off my day by switching car insurance for EJ and ultimately saving him $40 a month...I'm a great girlfriend, aren't I?! I headed to the Larkspur Farmer's Market and bought some green beans and broccoli and then headed to the grocery store to pick up a few essentials and ingredients for this week's recipe: clam chowder. Then, I headed over the Richmond Bridge to visit with Kim and Eric. I went with them to Bed Bath & Beyond while they registered for their wedding. What a process! We worked up an appetite and headed to eat some Pho and then went through the drive-thru dairy to get an ice cream cone. I helped Kim get together the paperwork for the bridesmaid dresses in Periwinkle and then sent out an Evite for the Bachelorette Party. EJ sent me a ridiculous video from home that made me a little homesick:

The past couple of days at work have been teaching me a great deal of lessons in micro-managing. Yesterday, our baker goofed on one of our cupcakes and it wasn't until the CFO came in and ATE one of them that we found out something was very wrong. This was frustrating to me because 1) the baker knows that she is supposed to try one of every cupcake to make sure that everything is right 2) the people frosting the cupcakes should have noticed that they were not up to par and should not have frosted them 3) I failed to micro-manage and did not check the quality of the product before we opened for the day. Today I got a phone call from my baker at 5am saying she had a flat tire but that AAA was on the way. I told her to keep me posted. She called me back 10 minutes later to tell me that they wouldn't be there until 5:40. I got dressed and headed into work to get the bake started (I wasn't scheduled to come in until 9am but I wasn't about to have the day start off where we would be constantly playing catch up.) I left at 6:30am and came home and went back to sleep for a little bit and then went back to work. The baker made sure to taste the cupcakes this morning and then I thought we were off to a good start. I made sure to micro-manage the girls when they were decorating the cakes because there have been issues with "birthday" being mis-spelled or forgetting to pipe a boarder or just not following directions. I let one girl do a special cookie order that needed to be decorated with black royal icing (powdered sugar and egg whites) and have an inscription written on them. That's where things went wrong. I didn't check her final product and the Executive Baker came into the store and noticed that the inscription was done in buttercream. I have no idea why this girl would have used buttercream instead of royal icing. The cookies could not be saved and we had to cut new ones to bake and frost for the order to be picked up tomorrow. Needless to say I am glad that today is Friday and that I have tomorrow off. Micro-managing seems to be the management style that I am going to have to adopt from now on because I can't seem to rely on my team to work independently. My job would be easier if I could clone myself, fire the others and then hire more of me! Anyway, Mom and Dad I'm sure you have some good advice (because you always do!) that you'll give me about this situation the next time I talk to you but for now, here are my latest cakes:

Wow, I can't believe it is December 1st already! Thanksgiving flew by and I know Christmas and New Years will be here sooner than I know it. Dad gave me an Advent calendar the last time I came home to visit. The Advent calendar was traditionally given to my brother and me by Grossmutter every year until she passed away. It was really thoughtful of Dad to buy one for us this year. Being away from home for the holidays isn't the easiest but it's small touches like this that remind me of what an amazing family I have...thanks Dad, I love you and miss you!