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Monday, February 28, 2011

let me get s'more of that!
















i (and apparently my friend angelina) am a pretty big fan of the blog picky palate. this woman stuffs everything she can into her chocolate chip cookies. i mean, she stuffs them with anything from a brownie, to an oreo, to candy bars. i wouldn't be surprised if this lady stuffed a chocolate chip cookie inside another chocolate chip cookie. while looking through her site, one of her recipes caught my eye. s'more stuffed chocolate chip cookies. this cookie sounded a little gnarly even for me, so i decided to scale them down, take out the chocolate chips and throw everything in the bowl together rather than stuff them. i'd say they were a success. my boyfriend has the emotional maturity of a blueberry scone and he said "these are pretty good." considering that this was the second nicest thing he's every said to me other than the time he told me i "was his favorite little shithead,"i would take it as a major compliment coming from this guy so these cookies must be the bombdigitydog.





























































Tuesday, February 22, 2011

1967 called and they want their duplex back...

well papa georgio bought a new duplex and failed to tell me that there wasn't one thing salvageable on the entire property including the 110 year old tenants upstairs. i love a good remodel especially when my dad gives me free rein to do whatever i like, but i think this 1800 sq. ft. unit is going to be quite the challenge. i will definitely keep you posted throughout the remodel but for now, here are the before pics...

Dining room
Living room/ dining room









Living room






Dining room















Kitchen






















Kitchen




































Entryway



































Bedroom 1/Office?















Bathroom 1



































Bedroom 2















Hall closet



































Master bedroom















Master bathroom



































Master closet linen closet

Sunday, February 20, 2011

my mustche brings all the boys to the yard...


seeing a man with a mustache evokes a variety of emotions within the beholder and i must admit, i have a bit of a weakness myself for a man with a decorated upper lip. it was my friend's birthday last week and he normally has a very perverted mouth-brow, so i thought this would be a perfect opportunity to make some mustache cupcakes. the party started out at something's fishy, moved on to a mexican themed cocktail party at my friend's house and ended up in a club with three tables adorned with bottles of kettle, veuve, and patron. needless to say this was one of the best nights of my entire life and i think everyone knew it.  but back to the cupcakes. i never actually believed that my friends took copious amounts of adderall because they really had attention deficit disorder but after a night of sushi, sake bombing, pinatas, smirnoff icing, and bottle service, it's clear that their minds are all over the place. i figured i would bring the cupcakes to the cocktail party and since it was "mexican themed" a.k.a. they had a pinata, this chola made her classic snickerdoodle cupcakes and called them "churro flavored." 

here is the process...

first, i made the chocolate mustaches by melting a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips in a double boiler. then, i let the chocolate cool slightly before putting it in a piping bag with a very small tip. (can't remember the exact size) once the bag was filled i piped the mustaches on a sheet of wax paper. for those of you that aren't well versed with the countless styles of mustaches, you might want to print some off the internet and place the picture under the wax paper to pipe over as a guide. once all the mustaches were complete i placed them in the fridge to harden.



















"churro" cupcake recipe


  • 2 2/3 cups cake flour
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons double-acting baking powder 
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup butter 
  • 2 cups sifted sugar
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1 cup milk
  • 4 egg whites
  • cinnamon to taste

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking pan with cupcake liners.

Sift cake flour with baking powder and salt in a medium sized mixing bowl . 

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter until soft; then slowly mix sugar in, beat egg yolks in, one at a time, beating after each addition.

Add milk and dry ingredients to the butter mixture. 

Stir batter until smooth. Add cinnamon to taste.

Whip egg whites until they are stiff, but not dry.

Gently fold in the egg whites to the batter until completely mixed. 

 Fill liners 2/3 full and bake for 20-22 minutes.


vanilla buttercream frosting


  • 2 sticks of butter (at room temperature)
  • 6 cups powdered sugar
  • 8 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
combine ingredients in a large mixing bowl and beat on medium speed for 3 minutes to allow the whipping cream to become light and fluffy. makes enough frosting for 24 cupcakes.













Saturday, February 19, 2011

nana na na nana...gettin jiggy with it

i have been one busy little chola. in the past week i have been a valentine, a house painter, an interior designer, a carpet ripper out-er, a birthday party goer, a kindergarten teacher, a job interviewer, a baker and above all a straight gangster. 

where do i even begin to catch up on all my blogging? 

well i suppose i could start out the friday before valentine's day. my friend angelina invited our girls group to a lovely and quite fancy, girl's valentines day dinner party at her house. those of you who know me well, know this is normally not my "cup of tea-quilla." typically i would either just ignore the e-vite (how creepily twenty-something are e-vites?) or make up some excuse that my baby's daddy was in jail or i was busy getting my eyebrows tattooed back on. but i knew angelinainfoodland wouldn't disappoint and my friends would definitely be the entertainment. upon walking in, i knew i made the right decision when i realized that each of us had brought our own bottle of wine and had extra bottles of champagne saved for dessert. my friends are 75 year old women stuck in 27 year old bodies with a chronic case of verbal diarrhea. nicole-ex temecula beauty queen/crystal meth addict who can't take a joke (in fact i bet she's mad reading this right now), angelina-who makes regina george from mean girls look like mother theresa, angie-the lovechild of jessica simpson and ronald reagan, sheena-the ledge, and whitney who might be the one person who rivals my unparalleled status on the white trash richter scale all came together to discuss life, love, food, bodily functions, and other topics not typically suited for the dinner table. once the wine started flowing the conversation went from really badly awesome, to worse, to awkward and back again...

here is a little peek...

steak and pomme frites
yes that is a red velvet cake heart right in the middle...yummmm
even though i felt like i was on an episode of the real housewives of atlanta, nene didn't come around the corner and rip out my weave and we all had an wonderful time. i have some of the best friends around and despite our dysfunctionality i wouldn't trade them for anyone. except maybe kim zolciak. now that's one lady who needs to be my bff.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

it's a shame i can't have one night stands....

cuz this chola would have a lot more to blog about. but since i have a wonderful boyfriend whom i love very much, my blog and promiscuity must take a hit. looks like you're stuck reading about what i made for superbowl sunday even though i have no idea who even played and drank a bottle of chardonnay rather than eating any of the delicious snacks my very talented friends made. since the other people attending the party weren't on a liquid diet, i decided to be polite and bring an app. and once again, i made another recipe in hopes of pleasing my boyfriend's selectively immature palate. he loves his food to be three things, miniature, italian and slathered with bbq sauce, so the only logical option was to create a bbq chicken mini pizza roll up. they took about 5 minutes to make and turned out great.

  • pizza dough (i love trader joe's brand) 
  • 1/4 cup ranch dressing (homemade preferred)
  • 2 cups shredded bbq chicken 
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves 
  • 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
  • ranch dressing for dipping
preheat oven to 350 degrees. roll out pizza dough into a rectangle shape about 1/4" thick. spread ranch dressing evenly over dough then top with bbq chicken, cilantro and cheese. starting with the long end, roll the dough into a log shape. using a sharp knife, cut 1 inch pieces and place onto a greased baking sheet and sprinkle more cheese on top of each roll up. bake for 20-22 minutes or until golden brown and the cheese is bubbly. serve with a side of ranch dressing for dipping.


Saturday, February 5, 2011

chola in the 'nard...

well i took a little trip down to oxnard, ca. the other day. boy, i love that town. i think it's because i feel like such a big fish in a really murky, dirty pond. maybe it's because having blonde hair down there is about as rare as a two headed unicorn or the fact that i am roughly 50 pounds less than the majority of the children there, but whenever i am in need of an esteem boost, and a great bargain i head down to that little gem of a town right off the 101. normally my first stop is target for a popcorn, icee and a cart full of holiday decorations i don't need, cleaning supplies and one of everything in the dollar aisle-but something was telling me to go to tj maxx. i never argue with my gut feeling, so i immediately skipped my date with the food court and headed over to see what i could find among the rubbish. this chola was right! here are a couple of things i found while bargain shopping in the hood...


Neiman Marcus Lamp $250

TJ Maxx Lamp $49.99
(you all know i'm going to paint this white...)

Crate & Barrel Prescott Tray $59.99


TJ Maxx Tray $12.99 & Basket $7.99


Pottery Barn Sisal Rug 3'x5' $149

Sisal Rug 3''x5'  $19.99


Frames $7.99 ea.
Coral $19.99 & $5.99


Pottery Barn Vintage Wine Bottles $99-$279
Glass Bottles $7.99-$12.99

Sur La Table White Serving Bowls $16.95 & $29.95

White Serving Bowls $7.99-$9.99

Starfish $9.99