Shove It

Hopefully that last post did not traumatize anyone too much.  Whether it did or did not, this next post is gonna be a good one.  Because I am posting about FOOD again!

With the weather getting warmer now in San Diego... well, warmer than it was earlier this year (I understand we didn't get the same winter everyone else in the country did, but hey, it was a winter for us), I started reminiscing on this past Winter Break when I went to Lake Tahoe with the fam bam.  We hung out mainly in South Lake Tahoe and on our trip ended up finding an amazing FOOD FIND THAT I CANNOT WAIT TO GO BACK AND EAT AGAIN.

What is this delicious food I have ranted on about without even mentioning the name of you ask?

EuroSnack Inc: Frog Dogs & Belgian Waffle!

Now, hold up.  Before you freak out, it does not involve eating real frogs or anything, and the "Frog Dogs" were actually Hot Dogs!

This was me, because I AM Batman, and I Enjoy Frog Dogs

What made these hot dogs amazing I should say is that Frog Dogs are not served in typical hot dog buns, but fresh, crunchy, filling baguettes with a delicious sausage placed inside.  What's really cool about the little kiosk EuroSnack Inc. is the way that they prepare the Frog Dogs.  They take the half baguette you are about to enjoy, SHOVE IT (you get the title of the post now?) into these metal spike, squish the interior "meat" of the baguette, and squish it against the walls to make room for the sausage.  Then they squirt ketchup and/or mustard into the new slot in the baguette, and place the heated delicious sausage inside for you to enjoy.

LOOK AT IT!

It was amazing!  And what makes it so much cuter and approachable and Awesome, is that it is all in a kiosk of sorts.

You can find these kiosks at a bunch of ski resorts in Lake Tahoe like North Star, Squaw Valley, and a bunch other ski resorts (and I just found out thanks to the internet that they have them in CANADA! This Got Better).  We ended up buying more than one hotdog anytime we found a EuroSnack at the ski resort we were visiting for the day and were basically just dreaming of a larger Frog Dog that we could indulge in and drool over to eat up.

JUST...LIKE...THIS

Also, in case you were looking at the menu above of the different foods they eat.  They pretty much just sell beverages and Frog Dogs, but they also sell Le Wafe, or better known as Belgian Waffles.  If you have ever had the belgian waffles they sell at Jamba Juice, they are sort of like those, but because they are EuroSnack, they have their own pizzazz (not to be mistaken for pizza but to be read as pii-zazzzz).  They were pretty good but considering it was actually winter with snow and all that jazz, the warm hot dogs definitely hit the spot.

Like no kidding, those hot dogs were amazing and we discovered them halfway through our trip which meant that we knew we were limited on time on being able to enjoy them.  So we ate them a lot.  We sort of were going through withdrawals when there wasn't a EuroSnack kiosk at the ski resort we were visiting for the day, or even worse, when we finally left Tahoe and headed back home and would no longer be able to enjoy the Frog Dogs.

This was basically us, impersonating hot dogs and dreaming of a better tomorrow where maybe, just maybe, we would find a EuroSnack near our home or wherever we would be for the day

I CANT WAIT TO GO BACK TO TAHOE AND EAT MORE FROG DOGS

Not So Precious but Not So Bad

So if any of you remember one of my earlier posts or if any of you have checked out my tabs (Just Add Popcorn), it has been my goal to watch all 250 movies from IMDBs list of top 250 movies of all time.  I have been trudging through very slowly and when I can I burn through a movie and happily cross it off my list.

One of those movies... or actually, four of the movies on the list... are the three Lord of the Rings Trilogy movies as well as The Hobbit (the first one so far).  I mean, of course they were on the list after so many Oscar nominations and wins but admittedly I had not sen any of the movies.  NOW HOLD ON DON'T FREAK OUT! 

(this is a LOTR representation of how people usually react when I would say I had not seen any of the movies ... me being the elf lady)

I finally watched all four of them and surprisingly enjoyed them.  We went up to Lake Tahoe during my Winter Break and while we were there I burned through the first two and then watched the third one once I got back only to end up watching The Hobbit the following night.

Anyway, the main point of my blog post is that I think people should actually give the movies a chance.  A big reason I was very hesitant to watch any of them was because I found them to be geeky, weird, and dumb.  And I apologize.  The second one was actually my favorite one too I should add! Even though Gollum was in it who as a kid scared the begeezus out of me and still grosses me out (I feel like he is just cold and clammy and ew)

Ew

But essentially I gave in, realized I would eventually have to watch them since they are on the list and fully enjoyed then.  So I guess all I am trying to say in this somewhat short post is that no matter how weird or "not your type of movie" a movie may seem, you should give it a shot ... at least if they have good ratings.

No matter how out there they may seem...

Diabetic December

In the words of one of my SD friends: "Tis the effin' season"

I know it may be January and this post is titled with December but lemme just say last month was a lot of fun and deserves a post about it.  Winter Break is almost done for me and athough it will be sad to leave home and go back to San Diego.  I think my gut needs it.

I left San Diego cooking all of my meals which were just brown rice and chicken and SMALL PORTIONS to come home and find delicious home cooked meals everyday from my mom and a lot of going out to eat more delicious food and I think I am starting to pay for it but UGH ITS ALL JUST SO GOOD.

I just thought I would share with you all a little bit of the best desserts I had this Winter Break.  Also, sorry if the title is misleading but I DO NOT HAVE DIABETES ... but after eating all that I ate I have no idea how that is.  

Every year it is a tradition that my mom and I make Christmas Cookies together.  This has been going on for 6 years now we realized and were very surprised after calculating because we thought somehow it was only our 2nd or 3rd year.  Another tradition is our changing patterns of whether or not we share with people our cookies.. it varies every year depending on how generous and hungry we are feeling (this year we did not share with anyone... hence this post).

CHECK OUT OUR PRIDE AND JOY FOR CHRISTMAS 2013

These were our jelly cookies, the ones on the left were our "challenge" for this year.  We had never made them and they were pretty difficult to make since the cookies were fragile (hard to spread jam) and also you should know that the centers are supposed to be Christmas Trees... supposed to be.  The ones on the right we have been making every year and are my traditional favorites I usually eat 2 or 7 of them not too many 

The bars on the left are another set of "cookies" we have been making every single year and are my Mom's favorite and indeed are pretty dang good.  They have white chocolate chips, craisins, pecans, condensed milk, and clouds from the heavens.  OK but NO YOU GUYS LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THESE COOKIES ON THE RIGHT - this was our first year making them and holy crap they are mainly the reason we did not share treats this year.  They have chocolate, pretzels, and TWIX chunks in it and I LOST IT WITH THESE COOKIES THEY WERE GOOD.

But HOLD UP! There was more! We all have a bit of a creative side in my family and also hold the tradition of making sugar cookies which we later decorate as we please.

Now I know you are dying to know and YES I did make that cow and I also should let you know I made the Santa with the beard on the bottom left... the original cookie was a Christmas Tree shape but the oven did not like that and deformed it so I worked around it.

NOW THESE BABIES ARE MY PERSONAL FAVORITES OF XMAS 2013 BAKED GOODS

(cuz I decorated them)

They are just regular cupcakes but my mom found this marshmallow snowmen idea online and I let my creative side out (1. on the far left you can see a "melting snowman" 2. in the far back [hard to miss] is the "KING SNOWMAN" I dubbed him lastly, 3. is that guy on the right with half his head missing and a surprised expression on him... his story is that he was hit by a snowball and is still recovering from the shock haha)

Mmmmmmmmmmm it was all so good .... but guess what, it did not end there, 

and I am so glad it did not end with that

These delights are my expertise which I actually made back at school when my friend was down in the dumps and when my dad saw them on Instagram he made a personal request for some to made while I was home.

Their Name? Nutella-Mallow Pillow Pockets ... yes, that is their full name and they deserve each bit of it with how delicious and savory they are.  In case you could not tell from the name, they have nutella and marshmallow in them and are fluffy and crispy and chocolatey and marshmallowy and delicious and oh no I am drooling again.

We had them for post-dessert dessert while we watched a Christmas movie with some Hot Chocolate my sister had made and I decided to take the vanilla marshmallow that was all warm and gooey and lathered it on top and Oh Crap I Should NOT HAVE DONE THAT because my heart stopped, went to heaven, and wrote a personalized thank you letter to the angels for allowing us to have such goodness on Earth.

SO MUCH DESSERT AND DELICIOUSNESS IN DECEMBER I DO NOT KNOW IF MY BODY WILL EVER RECOVER FROM IT ALL BUT HONESTLY I THINK IT IS OK

Outside? Nah, Let's Stay In

I'm not sure if it's because college kids tend to be "less financially secure" than others or if I am actually, (dare I say it) growing up but lately, I have kind of found it unnecessary to actually go OUT to have fun with friends.

I love my friends back home who haven't gone to college yet, but I kind of noticed this summer that now that I am back home, I prefer just hanging out with friends at someone's house: talking, playing videogames, watching movies, eating, or whatever.  They however can't seem to be able to make plans where we JUST STAY IN 

oh god I think I'm actually entering the adult part of adulthood

For example, I went out with my friends who are entering college this summer a few days back and we went out to dinner, drove around town, and then watched a movie, only to end up walking around downtown until it was finally time to head back to someone's home and sit for a bit.  It was fun and all and I thought it was what I enjoyed until yesterday...

Yesterday I went over to a different friend groups' house and played LEFT 4 DEAD, MARIO PARTY 8, INJUSTICE, MARIO KART, ate pizza and pie and then dipped once it was late.  

And I Loved Every Minute Of Last Night

I don't know if it is all college kids or just my group of friend of college kids but it was great, we lounged around, laughed and shared stories, looked up funny youtube videos, and ate fattening products all within close distance of a nearby restroom instead of having to hold it in when you actually leave the house being unsure of which restroom is sanitary or not.  Also! There is always food at someone's house! and if not, you can always order pizza! (we actually ordered pizza yesterday AND ate pie that a girl had bought for us from a nearby bakery)

I LOVE JUST HANGING OUT AND BEING CHILL WITH FRIENDS and I actually really enjoy when we are all so comfortable with each other and aware of how much we care about each other that there are those moments of consensus where everyone ends up on their phone for 2-3 minutes, and everyone just checks up on their lives (Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram etc.)  Like really, have you ever noticed that?  When you hang out with a good group of friends, it isn't out of boredom or of distaste of the crowd, but there is typically always that moment where we all just go on our phone and then come back to reality to see what other shenanigans are left.

I love all of my friends and greatly enjoy whenever I get to spend time with any of them, but you know, if we can do whatever we are doing indoors in the same area with a lot of food next to me... It's much more preferable

.