Food + Conversation + Coffee + Cupcakes + Great Friends = LOVE

I invited my friend Ann to lunch yesterday. I took her to my new little hole in the wall restaurant called “Off the Grille Bistro” many thanks to Stephanie & Maria for the recommendation. I go there about 3 to 4 times a week. The food is good and clean. I ordered my usual grilled chicken with mixed vegetables and sweet mashed potatoes and Ann got the parmesan chicken sandwich with a salad. We enjoy each others company a lot, we can talk for hours. We talked about our current and future endeavors. I’m soo proud of Ann her business is growing and growing. I love checking out her latest work on her blog.

We both talked about wanting to check out the new cupcake shop that opened in the South Miami area called Sweetness Bake Shop & Café. Ann treated me to mini cupcakes and coffee. We ordered 5 mini cupcakes in order to do the sample tasting.

The Taste Test

We sampled first The Guayabera: which was a guava cake with guava filling topped with a cream cheese buttercream. Taste Test Results: It tasted just like a Cuban pastry.

Second we tasted the Red Velvet: which was a light cocoa cake topped with a cream cheese frosting. Taste Test Results: the cake part was a little dry, but the frosting was very good.

Third we tasted the Oreo Overload: which was an oreo cake topped with an oreo buttercream. Taste Test Results: We both absolutely loved it. We both like chocolate but not too much and this cupcake was delicious!

Fourth we tasted the Mango/Pineapple: I’m not sure the exact description but it was a yellow cake with mango filling and a pineapple Swiss meringue frosting. Sounds delicious! Taste Test Results: Too fruity, too sweet.

The last one we tasted was the Thrill in Vanilla: which was a madagascar bourbon vanilla cake topped with a vanilla bean buttercream Taste Test Results: YUMMY it was amazing and the best part about it is that Sweetness Bake Shop is featuring purple cupcakes in an effort to promote awareness of Epilepsy, a condition that affects over 3 million Americans 10% of the sales will be donated to the Anita Kaufmann Foundation. AWESOME!

The bake shop was cute and cozy and my coffee was delicious, I was the first customer that asked for half dark and half medium roast coffee. Lol Ann couldn’t help but to take some cupcakes back with her. I’m going to start calling her “Addicted to Sweetness” What I also like about Sweetness bake shop is that it’s a family run business and everyone that works there is so nice and caring. They really go the extra mile for their clients. Congrats to them and trust me Ann and I will be back for more!

Later on that night I had dinner with Javier, Omar and Christiane we ate at Miss Saigon a Vietnamese restaurant. It’s one of my favorites. (Gosh now that I think about it, I have a lot of favorites) When my office was bigger I used to take parties of 8 to 12 people all the time. They loved us and they would hook us up all the time. They serve the Best Vietnamese coffee!

Vietnamese Coffee is as much fun to make as it is to watch. It’s a real treat, especially for those of you who enjoy their coffee strong and sweet. It has A Vietnamese filter which is a small coffee pot. It looks like a hat and sits upon the top of a coffee cup. Inside is a chamber for coffee and room for hot water. It is very basic and simple, and works! The typical way to serve the coffee is with condensed milk (not evaporated milk). This adds a wonderful sweetness and mouth feel to the coffee. When the dripping stops (all the water has passed through the filter), carefully remove the device, set aside, and start to enjoy. Personally, I stir up all the condensed milk; others leave it for the end!

Today I met up with Javier, Omar and Christine for lunch at Jaguar. Gosh you guys must think we are piglets (Well we are…LOL). We only go out to eat whenever we have guest staying at our house (which is basically all the time).

I love Jaguar they serve fresh ceviche! It’s Delicious they have great lunch specials. Go check them out.

Every afternoon around 2:30pm my guy best friend at work Andres stops by my desk to see if I would like to join him for coffee or yogurt. LOL We either go downstairs to our buildings little French Restaurant called “L’Express sandwicherie” for coffee or we walk to "My Yogurt Bliss" for yogurt.

So today it was coffee. I had a shot of espresso and a little mini mini red velvet cupcake from Buttercream Cupcakes...

Thanks for dropping by!

 xoxo,

Mexicans in Miami

My husband’s friend Omar, is in town with his girlfriend from Mexico. He came to Miami not only to see his friend but to also compete. He races remote control cars. You might laugh, just like I did but the truth is this sport is serious and expensive. I went on Sunday to the Homestead Speedway Track to see Omar compete in the World Championship Finals. People from all over the world came to Homestead to compete. Omar came with 18 other people from Mexico in order to compete. It seemed like miniature Nascar, the final race was 45 minutes, each car has to refuel roughly every 5 to 7 minutes depending on the engine. I got to see cars flip, cars crash, some engines giving up, oil changes, etc. It was hilarious to watch and super entertaining, I never pictured myself in that type of environment.

His car!

Omar Horta

Pimp my ride

Representing Mexico

The Drivers balcony

The Pit Stop

                 

                         

Zoom Zoom

Victory Hug!

2nd & 3rd Place were from Mexico

Final results: Omar got second place making him number one in Mexico that competes internationally. He also got a special trophy for having the best looking car. Later on that night I got to hangout with the whole Mexican gang, I took them to Sports Grill to eat burgers and wings!

Thanks for dropping by!
 
 xoxo,

Sick of being average Joe's

My cousin Alejandra and I are fed up of just being average Joe's. You see, last year we both did a complete body transformation. I was transform into a Figure competitor and she was transform into a Bikini competitor. We didn’t take a magic pill or go under the knife instead we put in the 120% hard word, the discipline, and dedication in order to both achieve our goals. We both competed in the NPC and we both won in our categories.

Alejandra 35 years old mother of 3 (Bikini category)

Me (Figure category)

The process takes an average of 3 months (it really depends on your body). To the average person 3 months seems easy and attainable. But the reality is that it’s not as easy as everyone thinks. If not everyone would be doing it. We see it as a day by day challenge and sacrifice.

Alejandra’s last competition was in October and mine was in November, we are not sure if we will ever compete again. “Never say Never” But what we are sure of is that we are done being average Joe's, we want to be fit and maintain a fit look all year round. Our transformations started on Monday, March 15, 2010. I promise to keep you posted on our journey to reaching our goal.

After yesterday's intense workout! (March 16)

Happy St. Patricks Day

Thanks for the support and stopping by!

 xoxo,

Breakfast for Dinner

Do you ever crave breakfast instead of dinner? I do. When I was a teen, we would go out till 4: am and always stop by Denny’s before the night was over. We would either go there because we were trying to sober up before getting home, or we didn’t want the night to end, or we were starving after a long night of partying. I remember I always ordered breakfast no matter what time of the day it was.
Last week my husband was out of town on a business trip, he was arriving on Friday night. I wanted to surprise him with a candle light dinner, but my taste buds were really craving breakfast. I had a feeling that I should ask him if he wanted to eat pancakes for dinner before I make them.

So, I called him…

Me: “Babe, I have a great idea for dinner. I’m going to make you White Chocolate Coconut Pancakes for dinner. Would you like that?

Javier: What! Are you crazy, pancakes for dinner? No, I want to eat real food.

Me: oooook, I’ll make turkey burgers instead.

Javier: I know you’ve wanted to make those pancakes for a while, why don’t you make them for breakfast in the weekend.

Me: Yey, ok I will.
(I posted a picture of the pancakes in yesterday’s post)

I know you might think I’m silly if I told you that I still haven’t adjusted to the hour change. The thing is that I wake up at 4:10am Monday-Friday so I can go to the gym before work. Yesterday I woke up at 4:10am in which it really felt like 3:10am. By 1:00pm I was literally dying at work, I had to use tape so I can keep my eyes open. LOL But once I got home my energy switched turned on and I felt that I had all the energy in the world. The Bigstew came to pick me up and we headed out to the gym to do abs and cardio. I was starving by the time I got home and too lazy to marinate chicken, chop vegetables, etc. So I made myself Breakfast for Dinner…FINALLY!

Turkey & Tomato Scrambled Eggs a la Valeria
with a side of Soy Toast spread with peanut butter

Ingredients:
5 egg whites
1 egg
3 slices of low sodium turkey (chopped)
2 slices of tomatoes (diced)
A dash of black pepper
1 tsp of Olive Oil

Directions:
Preheat a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil. Add the turkey and the dash of black pepper. Cook for 1 minute and then add all the eggs. Scramble until the eggs are fully cook and then toss in the diced tomatoes.

Thanks for dropping by!
 xoxo,

FREE REMOTOGRAPHY SESSION GIVEAWAY

My best friend ANN, an AMAZING South Florida photographer is giving away a FREE photo session!!!

Enter to win a FREE session with Ann!
- 1 hour session at the location of your choice (w/in a 50-mile radius of 33071)
- All images to be edited and enhanced
- Print Package (2-8x10s, 2-5x7s)

All you have to do is comment under her post. 
http://blog.remotography.com/2010/03/burgers-brownies-blogs.html

Please include your first name, first initial of your last name,
and indicate what would you use the session for (for example, a family photo session,
portraits for yourself, engagement session, etc.)
That wayshe can differentiate who the winner will be without you having to post any
personal information.

She will be accepting comments under her post until Monday, March 22, 2010 at midnight.

She will use a random number generator to select a winner and
She will announce the winner on Tuesday, March 23, 2010.
You will be assigned a number according to the sequence of your comment under her post.

If you are the 5th person to comment, then your number will be #5.
She has also removed her comment moderation settings so that she does not have to
pre-approve the comment before it is posted.

Good luck!

Thanks for dropping by!

 xoxo,

Babies are following me...

My friend Sandy finally had her baby on Wednesday March 10th; her name is Ella Nicole Cupertino. I took Thursday off from work so I can spend the day with my college roommates, and Ella up in Boca Raton.

Precious

Roomies :)

Auntie Val

I realized that I have to do a bigger effort to preserve my old friend relationships. As I’m getting older I’m realizing that I have disconnected myself from my old true friends. When I was hanging out with Tara, Bath and Sandy on Thursday I got a little upset at myself that I’ve let just time fly by and that I haven’t kept in touch with them. What I love about our friendship is that we have such a great time when we are together and it always seems like yesterday when we hang out.After vising Sandy and Ella at the hospital we went to have lunch and an afternoon drink.

Beth drinking her margaritta

Tara double fisting 2 x 1 drinks

Beth is homeless she lives out of her car...j/k she is a traveling nurse and moves from state to state.

Next stop...Beth is off to Tampa, FL

Last week, I had a rough emotional week at work. I have reached the point that I want more challenges, and growth. I’m not sure about my future and that worries me a little bit. Because I have been very hard on myself lately; it has lead me to binge eat. I know it’s wrong but I couldn’t control it. Enough is enough and I need to get back to clean eating. My sister in law is getting married in April and I need to loose a couple of pounds.

I cooked these pancakes yesterday morning for Javier…they were Delicious!

White Chocolate Coconut Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup white chocolate morsels
1/2 cup coconut
1/4 cup toasted coconut

Directions:
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth. Fold in coconut.

Heat a lightly butter griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Drop in white chocolate morsels. Flip when bubbles appear on the top. Brown on both sides and serve hot. Garnish with butter, syrup, and toasted coconut.


Yesterday I went up to Coral Springs to hang out with my great friends Ann, Steve and their beautiful daughter Madeline aka Mady (she is a year old). I hung out at their house all day...literally. I could talk to Ann all day and never run out of subjects to talk about. Steve made awesome burgers from scratch…love them, Ann made amazing mashed potatoes and brownies while I got in the pool with Mady and did magic bubbles, kicks and went under water 2 times. Ann and I used to work together. Ann is an incredible photographer; you have to visit her website and blog. I can’t wait to do another photo shoot with her, Ann shoots daily and she gets better and better each and every time. Here are a couple of shots I took of Mady.

The cutest smile

She loves the camera

The Scavenger

She is addicted to her cell phone just like Auntie Val

She is the most scrumptcious munchkin on the planet

Thanks for dropping by!

 xoxo,