The BIG Day and Cupcake Obsession

I have always been big on celebrating my birthdays, as a matter of fact, I have always celebrated my birthday month, why just limit myself to a day, when there is a whole month. And this year, it's really a big and significant birthday that I am celebrating - 30th!!!!

I am truly and honestly excited about this birthday. I am in place where I always thought I would be at the mature and wise age of 30 (minus the baby...)and happy with my life and why not celebrate this big day in grand style. After all, I am a Taurus and we like things to be done in grand style.

So for my big day, I am planning a party-a fairly big party and according to the hubbs, I am acting worst then for putting together our wedding. I am literary obsessing over everything: Guest list, food, drinks, deserts, decorations, music, clothing, schedule for the whole weekend - I am approaching this like one of my trade shows - full operations plan...crazy, right???

Well, not really. By occupation you could call me an event/meeting planner, so people always have really HIGH expectations of parties that are put together by event planners, and I don't want to let anyone down and mostly I don't want to let myself down.

So what's cooking...all kind of things, but the most stressful thing right now is the cake - do I hire someone to make 50 cup cakes or do I attempt to make it myself or do I buy one big cake...Don't forget I am no baker, so maybe this is not an even to show off my no existent baking skill. I am hoping to resolve this issue today, by visiting couple of bakeries on my way home and put this issue to bed.

TV Dinners

Hubbs is out of town this whole week, which means I am on my own for dinner...I guess I never appreciate it what it means to have dinner ready every night, but for the first time in my life I actually missed home cooked meals. So this whole week I have survived on my version of home cooked meals:

Monday: Le Petit Beure Cookies and Milk - my childhood favorite
Tuesday: Chicken Fingers, mayo and ketchup
Wednesday: American Backyard Happy Hour
Thursday: GMCVB Networking Event at KARU & Y...never again will I repeat this one
Friday: Chicken FIngers, again

I can't wait for him to come home and cook something, anything, just a home cooked home meal. That's all I want.

Overall the week on m so called TV dinners wasn't that bad, but I do have to talk about KARU & Y. I've heard many things about it: cook new place, the IT place, fantastic martinis, great atmosphere, the place to be at. So when I got the invite to the networking event for GMCVB (greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau) and it was going to take place at KARU & Y and I was all excited, my chance to check out THE PLACE and be part of the cook crowd. Networking event usually means free drinks, hors d'ouevres and meeting new people, all usually at no cost, somehow this event, a mojito that I ordered cost me $15.00 - are they kidding me, $15 bucks for a little glass, and I a talking little with a lot of ice. I was outraged. I am still outraged. I really thought that this will be my saving money on food week, but I spent just as much if I were buying food. I bought lunch pretty much every day and I ended up paying every night for something but the culmination of everything was $15.00 mojito. I don't think I have ever paid more than $10 for a drink so this just made me outraged.

So few more hours, and my personal chef will be home and I am hoping for something, just something home cooked. Do you think I should possibly learn how to boil water for pasta???? Nah...not yet. I think I will stick with reading the cook books.

Tootles, until the next cooking extravaganza.

The Restaurant Club goes to the swamps

It was another restaurant club (The Restaurant Divas) night last night and the evening took us to the S. Florida swamps, well not exactly but just about. For some reason I spearheaded the choosing of the restaurant and as part of our club's rules, we alternate Miami-Dade and Broward County and last night was the Broward County's turn and even though I live there I am not really familiar with the restaurants with the exception of the franchises that you see all over Broward. So I started the quest on Google, and I found this place called Cohiba Brasserie.


I was a little sceptical driving to the restaurant as I was driving I was getting further and further from civilization and realizing that I am about less than 2 miles from the S. Florida swamps panic set in as I had no idea what I was getting ourselves into and on top of that the restaurant was located in a really, really strange location - a medical building. What is a fine restaurant doing in the medical building...still to remain a mistery.

I checked out the menu before I got there, just like I always do...no surprises for me and everything looked so good on the menu that I really didn't have to make a decision before I got there because I knew it will all be good b/c it is my kind of food. The problem was there were too too too many choices on the menu that I wanted and I couldn't make a decision. Here is what we had last night and in this exact order - you think something is a little out of order - oh by the way, we always share:

1. Sonoma Salad - Baby Mixed Greens tossed in Balsamic Vinaigrette, topped with Gorgonzola Cheese and Candied Walnuts --> AMAZING...I could come back just for this.
2. Watercress Salad - Tossed with Key Lime Vinaigrette, Heart of Palm, Roasted Pepper and Ripe Grape Tomato --> it's probably not a bad salad, but after tasting SONOMA, watercress salad had no taste - it looked lovely, great presentation, but no taste.
3. Wildberries Almond Basket - Macerated in Cointreau and topped with berries and Mango Espuma --> To DIE FOR...really, really good. The almond basket gave such an amazing contrast to all the wild berries. Another item I would come back for in a heart beat.
4. Charcoal Argentinean Style Skirt Steak - Served with Gorgonzola Mashed Potato and Porcini Mushroom Sauce - this was my personal choice and if I could I would have licked the plate...doesn't it just look so delicious.
5. Charcoal Argentinean Style Skirt Steak - Served with Bed of Yucca Fries and Porcini Mushroom Sauce - I am not a big fan of YUCA, but these YUCA fries was delic.
6. Lamb Shank Braised With Red Wine Sofrito - Served on a Goat Cheese Mashed Malanga, Rosemary Truffle Demi-Glace topped with a Mélange of Baby Tomato Mojo --> I didn't try this one, but the presentation again was amazing.
6.Crispy Peking Duck - Served with Ginger Scented Sweet Potato Mash, Ponzu Stir Fry Vegetables and Passion Fruit Demi-Glace --> I tried the duck and it was good, really good.

Check out the full menu as it is really a good menu. A fantastic variety, a great blend and true representation of S. Florida's flavors that features mostly Latin-based fusion dishes prepared by Chef Ferrer using classic French techniques. In a true sense of the word COHIBA - EXCELLENT, everything about the restaurant was really excellent - environment, staff, atmosphere and food, only one tiny dissapointment was the price of drinks - mojito - $10...ouch and sangria - $26...ouch, this one really hurts, but overall, it was excellent and I look forward to coming back. They have certainly gained a customer as long as I live in S. Florida.

What I Want NOW

Aahhh, what I want NOW - Williams & Sonoma has the most amazing machine that I really want: Delonghi Gran Dama Espresso Maker

A complete and utter perfection that leaves me totally speechless and that is really hard to do because I always have something to say. I think this "What I Want NOW" will just stay that for some time - something I want.

Croatian Travels

We just got back from our visit to Croatia. We attended an amazing wedding (congrats to Ivana & Kruno), met our niece for the first time and spent some good quality time with the family and usually that means home cooked meals, but with so little time this time, my mom did not cook one meal while we were there which I am sure she wasn't happy about. But we did have two of our favorite things: "Toast u Somunu" & "Cevapi".

Cevapi: Ćevapčići (formal diminutive) or Ćevapi (pronounced [ʨɛ'va:pi]) in some regions, is a Balkan dish of grilled minced meat, of oriental origin, found in the countries of the Former Yugoslavia. They may be served on a plate or in a flatbread (lepinja or somun), often with chopped onions, sour cream, kajmak, ajvar, cottage cheese, and so on.



Toast u Somunu: A sandwich in a grilled flatbread with ham, salami, cheese, tartar sauce and pickles. It's even better after one or two drinks.

So the taste of the Croatian Cuisine...according to Wikipedia, Croatian cuisine is heterogeneous and is therefore known as the cuisine of regions, since every region has its own distinct culinary traditions. Its modern roots date back to ancient periods and the differences in the selection of foodstuffs and forms of cooking are most notable between those on the mainland and those in coastal regions. Mainland cuisine is more characterized by the earlier Slavic and the more recent contacts with the more famous gastronomic orders of today - Hungarian, Viennese and Turkish - while the coastal region bears the influences of the Greek, Roman and Illyrian, as well as of the later Mediterranean cuisine - Italian and French.

And the favorite part of my visit to Croatia is constant coffee drinking. I think I have made it very obvious in my postings that I love, way obsess over coffee, but drinking coffee in Croatia takes me to the new levels. It's not even the taste as much as what goes along the coffee drinking - camaraderie, enjoyment and pure pleasure of having a great time. Ah the vacation is over.

Just to let you know, it's the restaurant week. We still have not figured out what restaurant we are visiting.