apple cinnamon french toast

work has been keeping me real busy this week; its been hard to find time to post

but i can always find time for a french toast friday post!

this morning i made taylor 

bite-sized french toast with cinnamon apple with chopped walnuts

 what you will need for french toast and topping:

half apple thinly sliced

two loaves bread, cut into fours

cinnamon

two tablespoons milk

two eggs

a pinch all-purpose flour

two pinches brown sugar

one teaspoon vanilla extract

tablespoon butter

half cup water

handful chopped walnuts.

instructions:

let me start by saying i don't have exact measurements of any of the ingredients. a pinch here, a pinch there... i kind of eyeball everything so be ware when following this recipe.

french toast:

1.) chop each loaf of bread into quarters

2.) mix together, cinnamon, all-purpose flour, eggs, milk, vanilla extract, and brown sugar.

3.) dip each bread square into the mixture and saturate each side for at least one minute.

4.) add soaked bread to a greased saute pan at medium heat.

5.) flip bread pieces every so often until both sides are golden brown

6.) remove from heat.

apple topping:

1.) melt butter into small pan over medium heat

2.) add thinly sliced apple pieces, dash of cinnamon, water, dash of brown sugar

3.) heat for about 5-7minutes, stirring occasionally.

4.) remove from heat

5.) plate the french toast and pour apple topping over the top, including all the juices (makes for a great syrup!)

lastly, add chopped walnuts and whipped cream

...and viola!

happy friday

enjoy the beautiful weekend to come!

waffles: a little chocolate, peanut butter and banana

a new tradition seems to have set way in our little home.

waffle wednesdays!

this morning i made waffles with semi-sweet chocolate chips (for the sweetie)

with chopped organic bananas. melted peanut butter and warm maple syrup

i asked tay whether these were really good or just good, he replied "ugh, they're too good"

success!

i don't really eat any of these morning treats otherwise i'd be a billion pounds. but, i do get to lick my fingers and do teeny-tiny taste tests, so i can agree with taylor that these waffles were too good! taylor's body hasn't quite figured out the concept of gaining weight yet (must be nice...) 

its been a week since my accident and things are getting easier. i still need a lot of help from tay to do the big stuff. how lucky i am to have such a loving b to take care of me when i'm not 100%

summer days

 summer has officially arrived and the news couldn't be better

everything is a little bit brighter, smiles are a little bit bigger, and love is a little big stronger

things i love about the summer:

saturday night cinespia, walks on the beach, the sun, warm weather, strawberry season, frequent san francisco weekenders, dockweiler bonfires, ocean breezes, ice cream, girls annual summer trip, long summer nights, sun dresses, breakfast smoothies, bbq's, driving with all the windows down, thursday night santa monica concerts on the pier, mojitos, tuesday night jazz in hollywood and friday night jazz at lacma, picnic baskets, sunflowers, swimming pools, and so much more

happy summer friends

enjoy this long, vibrant, beautiful day

fathers, sons, uncles and bbq

what a lovely father's day it was spending it with my family during the day and taylor's family in the evening.

there was plenty of food at the donsker father's celebration

we had horderves, bbq'd, drank wine, and closed off the night with some yummy treats!

since i could't drive to get gifts, i decided my gift to everyone would be summer-y, chocolate dipped bananas. i got the recipe here 

i scrapped together some treats around the kitchen and decided to adorn my frozen bananas in chopped peanuts, sprinkles, cut-up reese's pieces, granola, and coconut; each banana with a unique combination.

 on the way to manhattan beach (where taylor's grandparents live), taylor's mom (cecilia) and i stopped off the side of the road at "lenny's bbq truck" to pick up some whiskey glazed baby back ribs and mac 'n' cheese. our mouth's watered as we watched lenny and his wife cook up a storm on the barbie

 once we got there. we popped open the wine, brought out the appetizers, turned on the bbq and cooked turkey burgers and [more] baby back ribs

then, we ate...and ate some more.

 and even though everyone had stuffed bellies, it didn't stop us from moving on to dessert.

which was cheesecake, sugared strawberries and...

frozen bananas!

 i felt terrible after realizing the granola i used on some of the bananas contained pecans

taylor is very sensitive. he had to take a benadryl to ease the allergic reaction

so he was pretty much a walking zombie the rest of the night

good thing it was already late so he didn't miss out on too much of the father's day fun.

i hope you enjoyed your time with your fathers.

here's to tomorrow being the official first day of summer

woo-hoo!

the metal yard

since i'm incapable of driving, well i wouldn't say incapable, but rather "driving impaired"...

i had to hitch a ride back to the valley with taylor yesterday.

on the way to, we had to go downtown to the metal yard to pick up supplies for a project he's working on for a client (a concrete tabletop to go along with the concrete sofa he built: check it out here)

so he put on the ol' levis, strapped on his work boots and stuffed his leather gloves in his back pocket, and away we went.

who knew this grungy metal yard would be a picture taking wonderland!

i was like a little kid in the candy store, wandering off and taylor telling me to be careful i don't run into anything or get hurt

i followed taylor around like i was his paparazzo while he measured things, lifted things, inspected them and talked with the workers. i had no idea what they were talking about or what he was looking for, but it didn't matter because i was in my own world. i wondered if people thought he was a famous builder because i had two cameras around my neck and i was shooting like there was no tomorrow. i like to think they did and i imagined he was.

this young gentleman showed up with a gorgeous display of cut oranges. he passed them around and i was lucky enough to get one. i sat on this steel chair and enjoyed this juicy treat. later he came up to me and was flirting in spanish. i told him i had "un novio" and pointed out to taylor. he seemed to care less.

so taylor found his pieces and picked up some pre-ordered stuff at will-call and we were done.

have fun with your dear fathers and enjoy the beautiful day.

i'm going to a father's day bbq with taylor's family and i'm so excited for it.

i made chocolate covered, frozen bananas that i can't wait to share with them everyone!

happy sunday!

museum wanders

last night taylor and i ran over to the lacma to enjoy some free jazz and modern art

but little did we know the jazz ended at 8pm

(bummer.)

so we opted to roam the grounds instead

we wandered around renzo piano's new building and was quickly shoo'd away by a security guard who was having a little too much fun with his whistle.

then it was off to the light installation in front of the museum

where we people watched and had some laughs.

the news keeps getting better

i woke up bright and early this morning to get my cast today.

well let me rephrase, i woke up rainy and early...

i was a little nervous because i could see how swollen my hand was underneath my splint 

it seemed it was actually getting worse!

i said a little prayer that all would go well and that i wouldn't need surgery

and guess what?

I DON'T!

the nurse cut off the splint that the e.r. doctor had put on me the day of the accident

i was a little squeamish and the site of my hand. it looked like a lolly-pop: 

a skinny arm and a ballooned-hand.

ack!

the doctor showed me my x-rays once again and explained to me how the bones will heal and what i should be aware of in the weeks to come. you can see where my bones broke (i circled 'em in orange for ya)

then came the casting, which i thought was pretty cool. it is in some ways like sculpting. kudos to the orthopedic technician for doing an awesome job.

the news was good:

 the doctor said i was pretty lucky that my breaks were not displaced and pretty well aligned, therefore surgery is not necessary. he also said that i'd only need a cast for 4 weeks, not 6 weeks (yippee!). lastly, he encouraged me to work on flexing my fingers on my right hand each day until i can straightened them and to practice making a fist. i was so excited by this news because i thought i wasn't allowed to move my phalanges at all.

the only bad news is that i'm legally not allowed to drive. according to california law, i'm considered "driving impaired". good thing i moved out and can walk to work. i don't know what i'd do if i was still commuting from the valley. i guess things just happen in the right order.

here are some pics of my other scrapes and cuts...

i also have a huge scrape on my stomach but i didn't want to show a picture incase you'd feel bad after seeing my washboard abs

(hah, i wish!) 

i'm much less achy today and my face isn't so swollen anymore. i'm just terribly tired as i haven't had much sleep in the past 3 days. 

::yawn::

anyhoo, i treated myself to a chai latte from caffe luxxe after my hospital visit...

because i deserved it, gosh-darnit!

and it was extra, extra yummy today too.