don antonio's

One of the first orders of business upon moving to LA was to find some great Mexican food, which is my absolute favorite. Surprisingly, the best Mexican food I've ever had was in New Hampshire (go figure!), but I knew there had to be somewhere in LA that was on par!

L. and I have already been to Don Antonio's twice. The food is just as good as my favorite restaurant in New Hampshire--or as any Mexican food I've ever eaten--but get this: their huge, cheesy, fill-up-an-entire-plate, I-can-only-finish-half burritos? $5.95. Seriously. And taco truck this is not...it's a really pleasant dining experience. And for two people on a budget, like L. and I are, it just doesn't get much better than that!

Heidi and Spencer frequent Don Antonio's (or used to) (and, I know...), but we haven't seen them in the few times that we've been there. I think they sit in the special "cave" room, which I haven't figured out how to gain access to...yet. Maybe next time...because my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! L. and I are trying to avoid being the car as much as possible because of Carmageddon, but we are driving over to Santa Monica tonight to see Harry Potter!

diddy riese

I am in love.



Completely obsessed.


L. and I went to Diddy Riese, in downtown Westwood, last Friday to celebrate his getting the news that he officially has the research job, and my life has since been forever changed.


Mint chocolate chip with white chocolate chip chocolate cookies. Cookie dough with snickerdoodle cookies. Vanilla with peanut butter cookies. The combinations are endless.


Something tells me the fresh home cooking and trips to Whole Foods, and our after-dinner walks in the evenings, aren't going to do too much for L. and me if we are talking those walks to Diddy Riese every night.


Especially since we'll be living basically right next door.


Especially since those beautiful babies are only $1.50 a pop.



At that price, with our budget, I might just be eating these for dinner. Every night.

Summer can't come fast enough.




[Image 1. Image 2. Image 3.]

Friday Night Sushi

L. and I probably go to Sushi Thai Garden, one of about three restaurants within walking distance of campus (that aren't sandwich/lunch shops...yes, it does get very old, especially when you don't like Indian food, like me!), once a week.

Here's a funny local hint: Students call it Sushi Thai, and professors call it Thai Garden, but nobody calls it "Sushi Thai Garden." It would sound foolish.

I've never been a huge fan of sushi--I don' t like seafood! Have I told you guys that before?--but L. loves to order Dynamite Rolls, and I can actually eat two or three before I start to remember that I'm eating seafood, taste the seafood, and feel sick.

That's progress.

Sorry these pictures aren't great. I always feel really strange using a flash in the middle of a nice restaurant! Oh, the amazing meals I have neglected to share with you guys because of the flash problem.




My chicken dish, which is what I eat when I realize I don't like eating seafood.

This weekend, I bought two incredible trench coats from the Gap outlet. I've been dying for a staple, khaki, long trench for years, and had been stalking $100 versions at Victoria's Secret and Gap. This weekend I decided to make the hour-there, hour-back commute to the outlets to see what they had, and sure enough, amazing trenches in khaki AND black awaited me. PLUS, being the queen of discounts that I am, I got them each for...are you ready? $34. $34!!! That was the discounted outlet price on top of my AAA discount. Do you guys ask for that? If you have a AAA card, lots of outlet chains will honor a 10% discount just for flashing it! Definitely try it.

The coats are a dream. They're stylish, lightweight, and perfect for LA weather! And the night I bought them it was about 50 degrees, with a warm(ish) breeze blowing and the snow melting. Spring was springing. I was so excited that I'd get to wear my new coats almost immediately.

Today, it is snowing. Again. New England FAIL. Thank god I'm leaving for LA on Friday morning...

L.'s Valentine's Day Present (and a giveaway for you!)

Partly to combat the people who claim that Valentine's Day is just a "Hallmark holiday," I never buy anything for anyone when I give gifts.* Plus, there are very few avenues in my life in which I get to put my creativity to use, so I get really excited about the opportunity to make something cute and fun for L!

L. ended up pulling out all the stops, taking me out to a romantic (and delicious!) steak dinner at Mezze, one of the nicer restaurants in Williamstown. He also got us a bottle of champagne and a nice hotel room--sometimes, just having the time to spend by ourselves, off-campus, out of the common room with all our suitemates hovering around participating in our relationship, with no reading packets allowed is the most romantic thing we could do!

L.'s favorite cupcakes are Red Velvet, and so I ran with the idea and decided to modify the recipe and make Red Velvet cookies! I decided to make two kinds--a light, crisp butter cookie dipped in white chocolate, and a thick, rich, chewy cake-cookie sandwich with buttercream frosting. (He doesn't like cream cheese!!! So sad, it's one of my favorites.)

Here's how they turned out:



They were SO DELICIOUS.

I'm trying so hard to eat well this week, but it's going to be VERY hard. Friday we're having L.'s birthday party, Saturday is 100 Days, a senior party (celebrating the fact that we have only--!!!--100 days until graduation!) with an open bar and tons of treats, and Sunday is L.'s actual birthday, for which we're having a mexican fiesta and then the Oscars are right after!

SPEAKING of presents, I have one for you guys because I <3 you! Check back either tomorrow or early Thursday for a giveaway post!! xoxo [*One "store-bought" thing I don't really object to is flowers. I don't expect anyone to be cultivating their own roses for Valentine's Day! Also, if you love to buy chocolates and greeting cards for V-day, that's your thing! I'm just talking about my preferences.]

Peppermint Bark!

I've been craving some Christmas sweets nonstop lately, so yesterday I finally gave into my whims and made a batch of peppermint bark. It was my friend Bianca's 21st, so I made up a little box for her, and the rest I'm planning (trying) to save for the holiday party I'm having with my suitemates on Wednesday, complete with a Yankee Swap, hot chocolate, carols, and Love Actually.

Peppermint bark is SO easy to make! All you'll need is white chocolate chips (I prefer Ghirardelli because they melt so nicely) and some candy canes, and then a double boiler (I just use a glass bowl on top of a saucepan), wax paper, and come cookie sheets!

Melt down your chocolate chips in the double boiler, stirring constantly until smooth. Crush up the candy canes in a bag and add them--more or less depending on how chunky you want your bark--to the chocolate. Using a rubber spatula, distribute the chocolate evenly and not too thickly over a wax paper-covered cookie sheet, pop in the fridge (or freezer, but watch it closely!) for 15 minutes, break it up into small pieces, and you're done!


I've seen some recipes that call for doing this exactly, but then spreading some melted dark chocolate on top of your bark, and then another layer of the white chocolate with candy canes. That could be delicious, but I love this for its simplicity--it only takes about 20 minutes, hardening time included! And I have a LOT of fans now, including my boyfriend, who absolutely loves it (I've already had to promise to make him some every year from now on).

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! I ended class on Friday and am officially done with my fall semester (the last one I'll ever have at Williams), so after one exam this week and some thesis work I'll be heading home. I'm taking this weekend to relax a little; L. and I are going out for beef and broccoli tonight and then going to snuggle up and watch Inception. I've always actually sort of liked finals week because there's so much more free time--even if you have to spend it studying--to hang out in sweatpants and watch way too much tv. Masochistic? Maybe.

Spinach and Artichoke Dip Recipe

A few of you said you'd be interested in getting the deetz on how I made my "Applebee's quality" spinach and artichoke dip I mentioned in my Homecoming post (and also puppy chow, but that's another story/post!), so I thought I'd fill you in.

Disclaimer: I am not an exact cook. At all. I just wing it, taste it, add things if it needs it, sometimes awkwardly try to subtract things (trying to pour hot excess butter out of a frying pan mid-dish? Really hard!), and I never really measure how much of anything I'm putting in. So, I can tell you WHAT I used to make this delicious dip, but I can't really tell you how much!

You will need:

• Chopped spinach (I used frozen, it was much easier!)
• Artichoke hearts
  
• Garlic
  
• 8 oz. of cream cheese (but I think I ended up using 12 oz.)
• Alfredo sauce
  
• Mozzarella cheese
  
• And ignore the onions- those were actually for the spicy buffalo chicken dip!
  

And here's what I did:

1. Coat a pan with vegetable oil and set to medium-low on the stove. Peel as many cloves of garlic as you think you'll like (I used two cloves), press down on them with the flat edge of your knife to release the flavor, and toss them in the pan.

2. Once the garlic is browned and smells delicious, drain your artichoke hearts, separate them, and toss them in the pan.

3. Thaw your frozen spinach (I just zapped mine in the microwave for a few seconds), and break it up, then add to the artichoke hearts.

By now, your pan should look something like this:


4. Soften your cream cheese so that it's easily spreadable, and grab a foil baking pan. Pour the jar of alfredo sauce in and spread it out to fill the bottom of the pan, then add in your cream cheese, and mix it all up. Now, add in about a quarter of the bag of mozzarella.

5. When your spinach and artichoke mixture is warmed through and evenly mixed, add in a handful of mozzarella cheese, and then dump your entire pan mixture into the foil pan with the cheeses.

6. Pop the dip in the oven (I set mine to 350 degrees), and let it bake for about ten minutes, or until it starts to bubble, the cheese melts, and everything is evenly distributed.


7. If you're going to serve the dip immediately, do the following step after about ten minutes. Otherwise, you can do what I did and take the dip out of the oven now, refrigerate it, and do the following step in the morning. Distribute the rest of the bag of mozzarella cheese across the top of the dip, and do not stir! Bake for as long as it takes for the mozzarella cheese to turn a slight golden brown and form a very light "crust" on top of the dip. Note that I did this step the morning after (and was prevented from taking a final picture due to throngs of hungry boys), so my picture doesn't have the mozzarella cheese crust.

Enjoy! The boys are begging me to make this and puppy chow this weekend. Anyone else planning on enjoying some dip, perhaps along with a football game? I love warm comfort food in the fall!