a little vacation.

I have been away for a few days. My family and I went to Florida to visit the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival. We had the best time...

We stayed at a beautiful hotel and had an awesome royal room upgrade.

We observed all the beautiful floral displays and themed topiaries.

We rode our favorite rides. 

(Mount Everest and Space Mountain being the top two)

I got nervous waiting on line every time. Never fails.

We laughed and reminisced about past Disney trips.

We ate and ate and ate.

And walked so much that we swore we burnt off all our food.

Which is highly doubtful.

We went to bed at 3 am every night.

Sister rocked her Minnie ears while I stuck with braids.

Mom and Brother got to wear birthday pins.

And we all agreed it was a fantastic little getaway. 

xoxo

a floral friday.

5:11 am.

That was the time my brother knocked on my door yesterday morning.

I am not a very good morning person and I can't say that being funemployed helps. Nope, not one bit.

What it has helped is my want to do more, see more, and spend more time with others that I don't normally. And so when the opportunity presented itself to join my brother and his college horticulture club to go to the Philadelphia International Flower Show, I took it.

And I have to say that I really loved this day. First of all, it was quite inspiring to be around so much natural beauty. It's unbelievable how the flowers were so fragrant and vividly colored. I loved being there for fun, just taking in my surroundings, and photographing my favorites. This wasn't college when visiting a trade show was all about a project. I spent the day with my brother and his friends, the kids with the-world-is-their-oyster spirit that I once had (and slowly getting back). Even if I wanted to really participate in their interesting conversations, I couldn't because I do not speak horticulture. Long scientific names would fly out of their mouths every time we approached a new display, it barely sounded English. But they impressed me; they truly love what they study.

And who could blame them?

Now for the food. We walked across the street to the Reading Terminal Market, which is definitely worth checking out when in Philly. It is filled with so many food vendors and there is certainly something for everyone. It was packed of course; the cheese steak line was so long that the whole group passed on it. Instead my brother and I tried The Original Turkey and I am so glad that we did. We split the turkey cranberry sandwich, which was simple but perfection. Fresh soft bread, perfectly cooked turkey, and a great cranberry sauce, it totally hit the spot. It was enough for us to split and I have to mention that he made me smile when he apologized for wanting white bread. 

My siblings know me so well.

He also didn't think twice when I asked him if we could visit the cookie stand that we passed while scoping out the place. How could I not buy a baked good while in a different city? Especially when the word famous is in its name? Exactly. So we headed over to Famous 4th St. Cookie Co. and I bought chocolate chip cookies to take home. I must say I was surprised how pricey they were because they are sold by weight. But they were worth the try. Even when we ate them when we got home hours later, they were perfectly moist with just the right amount of melty chocolate. It was a really good cookie and I am ashamed to admit that I ate all of mine for dinner. whoops.

I also brought home these babies from the show, the orange for my mom and the little white one for yours truly. Brother helped me pick out the best ones of course, a tip is to look at the stem and the one with the most buds is the best fellow for you. growth potential!

Oh and one last thing. I was obsessed with a wall in the convention center that was completely covered in coffee cups, saucers, and spoons. Here is a close up..

buon weekend :)

nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookies.

Time to refill the cookie jar.

It has been empty since my family ate the last batch of cookies within just a few days.
That's what happens when you make them mini and so darn good.

So I took my craving for a chocolate chip cookie, turned it up a notch, and added a dear favorite of mine, Nutella.

As kids, my mom would buy Nutella often and we would eat it on toast as a snack.
I also love it on pretzels, plain rice cakes, and bananas, just to name a few.

Here is how I conquered this task...

First I made a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe, this one always works for me (adapted from All Recipes).

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

3 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp hot water

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Cream together the butter and sugars until smooth.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the vanilla.

Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water.

Add this to the dough, along with the salt.

Stir in flour and chocolate chips.

Drop the dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet, about a tablespoon per cookie.

Now with slightly damp hands (dough is a bit sticky), press down to flatten. 

(I kept a wet paper towel handy).

Drop about a teaspoon or so of Nutella in the middle of each cookie. 

You can use a little more, a little less, I eyed it according to the cookie size.

Now use slightly damp hands again to grab enough dough to cover the mound of Nutella.

Flatten the dough with your fingers, place over the Nutella,
and seal together with the bottom of the cookie.

Bake for about 10 minutes until golden brown around the edges.

Allow to cool, for as long as you possibly can.

And enjoy.

words for thought.

"There will be a time when you believe everything is finished.
 That will be the beginning."
                           -Louis L'Amour

Taken at the Soho Mondrian.

diy cake banner.

To make my mom's birthday cake extra fancy, I made this cake banner...

I have been seeing these a lot lately on Pinterest and Etsy. They are usually made from fabrics or cardstock, but I wanted to make one using materials that I already had at home. 

Now that it has been used, I will most likely end up decorating a card with it or even use it for a scrapbook page if I ever get back to doing that. Here is how I made mine...

sweet moments.

photos from the week.

1. the perfect snack- an apple with peanut butter and granola (try it!), coffee with a straw

2. window shopping at Nordstrom

3. pretty florals around the house

4. my brother's Carvel cake

5. fancy chocolates (that I can't eat until lent is over)

6. my chef's coat :)

a birthday cake and its lessons.

Today is my mother's birthday.

I was SO excited to bake her cake. It had to be super special and beautiful, with lots of love of course.

So I baked it and it was perfect, just like everything I have ever baked.

Sure.

Truth is, the cake recipe did not come out how I wanted at all.

It was crumbly.

And stuck to the pan.

Afternoon wasted. Four layers down the drain. 

But I was not giving up. I was ready to start again. So I did some googling and found another recipe with great reviews. 

Perfect. Let's do this. 

And then I realized something...I was out of sugar.

SUGAR. What kind of baker runs out of sugar?

One who bakes alot, clearly.

I felt defeated. My mother came into the kitchen and tried a piece of the crumbly cake.

"It tastes good." Yes, it did taste good.

She insisted not to waste it away.
I was ready to go to the store, the cake had to be perfect, I mean I was going to blog about it! 

What will all my followers think? hah.

And then it hit me and I knew that she was right. So I got into a real Michaelangelo mode, made some delicious frosting, and pieced that cake together. Nothing was going to stop me from making a beautiful cake, not even myself.

I can be my own worst enemy sometimes, just seeking perfection.
But perfection isn't real. And I am a real baker, which is why I always wanted to start a blog.

Things happen and we have to learn to roll with the punches.

Like when I was making the frosting and the mixer splurted cocoa powder all over the counter and all over me.
Instead of thinking something else had gone wrong, I burst out laughing. 

Crazy-cocoa-covered girl alone in the kitchen. hah.

No use in crying over crumbled cake.

Thank you Mom for all the life lessons you have taught me.

Happy Birthday.