yummy cheese pear-ing

I'm obsessed with this gourmet store called Gelson's that's right down the street from us. It's like Whole Foods, but better. I was wandering around the other night and came across this delish looking roasted garlic bread. It's pretty much a great crusty loaf with whole roasted garlic cloves baked into it.

Looking in the cheese area, I decided I was in the mood for a goat cheese and ended up with a seven pepper chevre. I got home and started munching away on thinly sliced bread, lightly toasted, chevre spread on top and a thin pear slive on top. Sooo freaking good. I even got John on board!

In fact, last night (night two of bread-pear-cheese combo) we ended up just eating that and drinking wine for dinner. It was so funny, John stops and tells me: "A, you've got to take a bite and drink it with some wine- it's so freaking good." haha, yes John, that's why I poured us wine. ^_^

Kick Ass Shoes

I figured you only get invited to walk the red carpet at the VGAs once in your life, so why not have some sweeeet looking shoes to strut your stuff in?

I found these super cute shoes at BCBG, supposedly it's their 20th (maybe 40th?) anniversary pair and I had to have them! Their a cute platform heel with large black gems studded all over. I found a dress to match them instead of the other way around. :-D

Fast forward to the day of the award show and first lesson learned: No matter what, do not, do NOT go somewhere fancy on an empty stomach. With a hair appointment @ 9 am and only an iced latte consumed all morning, I found myself rushing home at 1pm to catch the 1:30 limo departure.

As should've been expected, drinks in the limo, free drinks at the show, I found myself quite bombed quite quick. Now insert 8 inch platform shoes.

Long story short, as the night progressed they became harder and harder to walk in. Please see exhibit B for partial damage to said cute shoes.

12 MISSING GEMSTONES!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? I might have been tipsy- but there is no way I was THAT tipsy!! I'm so angry, I want to return these back to BCBG and tell them they were defective. Think it will fly?

Gettin' Discovered!

I decided one boring afternoon to hit up Anthropologie to check out their sales racks. The nearest one was in Santa Monica... right on the beach! I entered and got acclimated to the dimmer lights- when behind me I heard, "Hey, I really like your style, would you ever consider being on the reality show, Survivor?"

Shocked and surprised- I couldn't believe they liked MY Chicago style. I quickly turned around, flattered and excited to chat someone up, only to find the talent scout was talking to a 14 year old Brazilian Model. Now, how do I know she was Brazilian? That's right, she barely spoke English bc she was from Brazil and sadly the agent said, "oh unfortunately, you must be fluent in English. Sorry."

I quickly posed in my best Brazilian model pose, but alas, the agent kept walking.

Still, isn't it funny that random people just get discovered like that? Unbelievable.

Tiger Tiger Woods Ya'll

OK, how crazy has this story gotten? I check my fav celeb sites on Saturday and they're all abuzz with "Tiger Woods Admitted to The Hospital In Critical Condition After Serious Car Accident!"
Yet here we are some 4 days later and we find out:

A) It's likely not from a car accident, but from his POed wife
B) She's allegedly angry because she cheated on him
C) Women start coming out of the woodwork (pun intended)announcing their affairs with Tiger
D) Tiger apologizes for his "transgressions"
E) His alleged affair(s) popularizes both "Transgressions" and "Sexting" in Google Trending
F) Speaking of "trans"....these alleged mistresses that they sort of have a tranny look...am I right? (See above pic)

Here's my questions, why has it the new trend for cheating celebs to come clean and have a press release announcing how sorry they are for their "transgressions"? David Letterman, Tiger Woods...who's next. What happened to the Hollywood that slapped it onto the cover of US and then swept it under the rug, huh?

Also wondering, why they keep refering to his wife as "Supermodel" Elin Nordegren? Gorgeous she is yes, Heidi Klum she is not. Has anybody heard of her outside of her marriage?

At the end of the day, it's a horrible situation that I don't envy anyone having to go through publically. It's just crazy how it all went down.
One big Wham Bam Thank You Mame of celebrity gossip.

Recipe of the Week: Sweet Potato Gratin

So I've been trying to be carb conscious lately. I still love my bread and pasta, but where I can cut corners I will. For example, sweet potatoes. They are supposed to digest so much better than regular potatoes and are just as flavorful. Here is my new favorite recipe, I think of it as a light Sweet Potato Gratin.

4 large sweet potatoes
Brick of Parmesean Cheese
Olive oil
Sea Salt
Pepper

Preheat oven to 375. Peel sweet potatoes and slice into thin slices on a potatoe slicer or side of a cheese grater. Take 1/3 of the slices putinto mixing bowl and combine with a few drizzles of olive oil, salt, pepper and about 1/3 cup of grated parmesean. Layer on bottom cassarole dish and cover with later of grated parmesean. Combine the next two layers of the dish in the same manner, covering the top layer with a liberal layer of parmesean to form a nice crust. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Love this recipe because it's really season and sweet and savory without all the cream and butter that goes into a traditional gratin.