Category Archives: Paciugo

Back to the Basics!

     Dairy-free for five days and already my skin is looking so much better. Crap. Obviously I’m happy that my skin is clearing up, but DAMN am I gonna miss my gelato!

I am SO thankful they carry dairy-free sorbets and soy options!
I tried a little variation for breakfast yesterday – MIGAS! I snagged this recipe from Jenna, cut it in half and substituted baked blue corn tortilla chips for regular fried, and shallots for onions.
No cheese, but it was still pretty good!
Green Monstas and Kitchen Sink Salads are back with a vengeance! This one had half a bag of mixed greens, 1/2 of a zucchini sauteed with herbes de provnce, 1/2 a cup of lentils, 1/2 a chopped bell pepper and 1/2 a can of yellowfin tuna in olive oil (the oil drained out, obviously).
I’ve missed these!
The hikes are back as well! Went on an INTENSE one this morning to enjoy the beautiful 68 degree day and now I’m full of happy endorphins!
     Today is bottling day!!! I’ll be sipping some good brews while I bottle my beer (the official name will be posted when I pour the first glass), and then cooking up an amazing meal with my new cookbook from Williams Sonoma! Tomorrow is BREWING DAY!!! I’m heading up the coast to brew with some of my boys from college. 
Have I mentioned how very awesome my life is?
:-D

4 Comments

Filed under beer, bottling, dairy-free, green monsta, hiking, home brewing, Jenna Weber, kitchen sink salad, Migas, Paciugo, sorbet, strawberry balsamic sorbet, Williams Sonoma

January Challenge!

     I make it a point to never restrict myself when it comes to resolutions every year. I find that if I tell myself that I can’t have something, I end up craving it more than ever and then feel guilty when I give in to those cravings. That’s why most of my resolutions included the word “more“. MORE whole grains and vegetables, MORE hiking, MORE monstas, etc. This way, I feel great when I succeed and get tons of health benefits. Win win!

     However… there is one restriction I’m giving myself for the month of January. NO DAIRY!

Oh Paciugo, I’ll miss you so!
Don’t worry, I’m not actually bailing on them – they have plenty of non-dairy options!
     The reason I’m banning dairy is because I find that my skin becomes porcelain when I keep milk products out of my diet. Every time I ditch dairy, my skin thanks me, but I find some excuse (GELATO, GELATO, GELATO) to go back, hoping that this time will be different. This is the final test – if I succeed, I will officially say goodbye to dairy forever, which will probably be better in the end anyway since I’ll be ridding my body of all those added hormones. Yuck.
     On a little more splurge-y note, we celebrated my wonderful mom’s birthday this week! As a final goodbye to the holiday season, we went to Wood Ranch. Meat ensued.
I think I’ve officially fulfilled my barbeque craving. 
At least for this next month :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOMMEEEEEEEEE!

What would be the most difficult food for you to give up?
Life is going to be TORTURE without gelato!

6 Comments

Filed under barbeque, gelato, green monsta, Happy birthday mom, hiking, New Year, Paciugo, resolutions, restrictions, ribs, whole grains, Wood Ranch

RANDOM FOOD ATTACK!

     Food flashback:

Post-work hash and poached egg. Trader Joe’s roast beef hash is delish and has really good nutritional stats! Guilt-free dinner!
Mini-Monsta with some self-promotion in the background. (I don’t normally read my own blog in the mornings – I go through all ten million that I follow first.) :-D
FULL-SIZE Monsta! Lots of spinach and asparagus and frozen blueberries!
Gelato with the Russian co-worker, Veek-torr (aka the non-Russian Victor (I have a weird sense of humor…)) and Vicky.
     Now let’s get to some quick recipes:
Peach-Pumpkin Pie Pancakes
1/2 cup whole rolled oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 peach, diced
1 1/2 cup unsweetened soymilk
     1. Mix dry ingredients together, then add the wet.
     2. Stir until combined.
     3. Pour 1 heaping tablespoon onto greased pan over medium heat.
JUST. LIKE. THAT.
     4. Cook until the tops start to look dry and the bubbles have popped. Flip.
     5. Cook on the other side for another 4-5 minutes (Pumpkin really puffs up the pancakes, so you have to cook them a little longer, otherwise the middle comes out raw. Lucky for you, these are vegan, so raw does not equal salmonella poisoning!)
Toasty brown!
     6. Plate, drizzle with honey and eat!
Yeah. These were a bit raw in the middle. Still delicious and edible, though!
     Next recipe:
Whole Wheat Veggie Pizza
Pre-made whole wheat dough from Trader Joe’s (cuz I’m lazy…)
Whatever fresh veggies you desire
Cheese (again, whichever type you desire)
     1. Put your dough on parchment paper on a baking sheet.
     2. Top with whatever veggies and cheese you want.
My base was zucchini. I grated 2 full zucchinis then squeeeezed the crap out of them to get the water out. Seriously, squeeze these until all the moisture is gone, otherwise it makes for a soggy, icky pizza.
I sliced a bunch of baby tomatoes.
Pre-bake: Zucchini, tomatoes, sliced bell peppers, goat cheese, spinach, smoked mozzarella and sliced onions that were caramelized with a teaspoon of blood-orange balsamic vinegar.
     3. Bake at 450 F for about twelve minutes.
Heck. To. The. Yes.
     4. Chop through the thick crust and devour.
This doesn’t really count as a recipe considering it’s a “throw-a-bunch-of-random-ingredients-together-then-cross-your-fingers-and-hope-it-works-out” type of recipe. I’ll still take credit for it though!
     All that we have seen brings us to tonight:
Punkin for me, 1554 for the roommate.
Twobooswhoeat and I are planning a SoCal blogger meetup soon! It will be just north of Calabasas (might be a bit of a drive for you LA-ians). Who’s in??

4 Comments

Filed under beer, Dogfish Head Punkin Ale, gelato, green monster, Paciugo, pumpkin pancakes, roast beef hash, Trader Joe's, vegetable pizza

Becki’s Car Go BANG!

     I had kind of a rough day. I had an audition for a print job, which I find completely pointless to begin with because I AM NOT A MODEL, and as an added knee-to-the-groin, I got in my first car accident.

     But first…

The day started off well – Peach Pie Monsta with 6 cups of spinach, 1/2 cup of unsweetened soymilk, 1 carrot, 2 spears of asparagus, 1/2 of a peach, 1 lime, a teaspoon of cinnamon and a handful of ice.
Monstas = ENERGY!
     I decided that since I had to be in LA anyway, I might as well make the best of it, so I met up with Malachi for lunch.
Suzanne’s Country Deli – a little local place that Malachi has driven past and always wanted to try. I was up for the gamble!
Sir Malachi!
I ordered the Avocado Sammich – lettuce, avocado, tomato, cucumber slices and a light mayo on whole wheat bread. Simple, but delicious! I could only eat half before I was full.
Malachi got the signature burger and fries.
Dan got the remaining half of my sammich for when he wrapped up at work.
I spoil him ;-)
     After lunch I headed out for my audition. I was feeling joyful, rocking out to some Flo Rida while driving down Vine, and as I switched lanes, someone decided that right then would be a genius idea to peel out of his parking spot and rammed straight into the rear passenger door of my car, shredding off a bunch of metal trip and leaving a groovy scratch along the side. I pulled over on one of the busiest streets in Hollywood with cars screaming by and exchanged info with the driver who “didn’t want nothin’ to do with no poh-lice” and somehow still made it to my audition on time. MAGIC!
I always said that as long as my car still functions, it won’t matter if a few bumps or scrapes happen – but that was before it actually happened to me. I got off lucky, I’ll say that!
I’ll never feel the same joy when I listen to “Club Can’t Handle Me” by Flo Rida.
     The audition went fine after that. They took a few pictures from different angles then had me do a little improv on video. The casting director told me to pretend that a friend had called me and given me great news. My improv went a little like this:
Becki answers phone: Hey Malachi, what’s up?
(She listens)
Becki: Sammiches are half off until 3 today? I am SO there!
(She listens)
Becki: No, dude I don’t do that veggie crap, I’m getting a burger. Your treat, right?
(She listens)
Becki: OKAYBYE!

     The CD laughed. Hey, half-off sammiches are GREAT news to me! If nothing else, I stuck out in their minds for originality, right? It’ll be interesting to see if I hear back considering they were looking for women in their late twenties – which, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, I am not.
     The drive home was spent with quiet music and extra caution, and I wrapped up the afternoon with some fun calls to the LAPD and my insurance company. When I went to work, I decided that gelato would be of great comfort to me. Honestly though, when is it not?
Pumpkin Cheesecake!!! Autumn flavors are out at Paciugo!!!
Everything looks better in macro!

6 Comments

Filed under audition, avocado, car accident, Flo Rida, green monster, Malachi, Paciugo, peach pie monster, Suzanne's Country Deli

A Peachy Day!

     Happy National Pancake Day!!! Did you have any idea it was NPD? Lucky for me, the first thing I do in the morning is get my coffee, then read the blogs that I follow, and Heather had mentioned it and made her pancake breakfast. I looked around my kitchen and decided that I would make Peach Pie Oatmeal pancakes.

Peach Pie Oatmeal Pancakes
Ingredients:
1/2 of a cup of quick-cook rolled oats
1/2 of a cup of whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons of baking soda
A pinch of salt
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 1/3 cups of soymilk
1 large peach, diced
1 large peach, sliced, for garnish
  1. Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
  2. Add the soymilk and blend together (It will look watery, but the oats absorb the extra moisture).
  3. Stir in the diced peaches.
  4. While waiting for the batter to thicken, put the sliced peaches in a greased pan over medium heat to caramelize. 
Caramelization!

       5.  After the pancake batter has thickened (about two minutes), set a greased frying pan over medium heat. (I grease mine with a canola oil spray)
       6.  Plop a heaping tablespoon of the batter into the pan and flip when the tops look semi-dry.

I love the caramelized edges of the peaches peeking through!

       7.  Flip the peaches that are caramelizing in the other pan, then top the finished pancakes with them.
       8.  Drizzle with honey and INHALE!

Inhalation is best done with a beautiful view.
     My morning was pretty much completely amazing. Eating stacks of fluffy, fruity pancakes can do that to mornings, I’ve found. After breakfast, I headed off for a full shift at work. I arrived and opened the cabinet where I keep my purse, and found the most amazing surprise EVER!
My friend who works at Godiva gave me FOUR chocolate covered strawberries! Those things cost six million dollars apiece!!! I’m so spoiled!
     I went out to Paciugo with my new coworker and tried out a new flavor, Vanilla Raspberry Swirl. Hi, my name is Becki, and I have an addiction. The last time I had gelato was at 12:13pm today.
     Lunch was a mini spicy tuna roll with brown rice, followed by a trip to Williams Sonoma, and some light reading.
Yes, those are all of Williams Sonoma’s spices compiled into a pamphlet, which I read cover to cover. I’m weird.
     Speaking of reading, yesterday I finally finished the latest book I’ve been going through.
“Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro. I had to read it before I see the movie. I’m not quite sure how I feel about this one… 
Have you read it yet? What are your thoughts?

     I got home after work to a home cooked meal! My roommates appreciated my pancake-mastering this morning that they made dinner!
They made peach-ginger baked chicken with grilled vegetables on the side. That black stuff on the left is onions, zucchini, eggplant and green beans that have been grilled in a mesh pan until DELICIOUS. Don’t let the lack of color freak you out!
     I’m enjoying a glass of Hard Core red wine, a mix of 29% Mourvedere, 24% Grenache, 27% Syrah, and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s a random blend, but deliciously spicy and fruity at the same time! Tomorrey I have to head to work at 9am, then I get to bail out early to head to an audition for a web series, and continue on to Dan and Malachi’s for wine tasting and risotto making!
Did you celebrate National Pancake Day? What kind did you make?

4 Comments

Filed under Godiva, grilled vegetables, Hard Core, Paciugo, Pancake Sunday, Peach Pie Oatmeal Pancakes, red wine, work

OFFICIAL Pottery Giveaway!!!

     I swear I will finally get the giveaway started, but first let’s have a quick recap of my past few days.

Massive protein breakfasts before work! This had a chicken-apple sausage that was browned in a mini-skillet, then I poured one scrambled egg on top and covered it until it was set.
A single serving of backyard barbeque chips. This is what I resort to when I’m being driven crazy with boredom at work and haven’t eaten in two hours. Plus, it has “even more barbeque”! How could I say no??
Today was the beginning of my three day weekend! I celebrated with my first pumpkin latte of the season! With soy, of course.
It was also my LAST pumpkin latte of the season: much too sweet and I wasn’t even able to finish it. 
I have my newest fashion statement: an awesome new Sprigs Banjees wristband-wallet that I got from REI. REI IS MY MECCA!
There also happens to be an indian buffet across the street from REI, making it EVEN MORE AWESOME!!!
     I also visited (GASP!) a DIFFERENT gelato place today! I went to Melt, another gelato chain, and decided to compare it to Paciugo.
Melt = Gelato FAIL! I’m so grossed out by you guys that I won’t even LINK you! How ’bout them apples? I got a scoop of peanut butter/chocolate chip. It was $3.50 (!!!) for a single flavor, and was grainy, overly thick and gooey – and not in a good way. I had a quarter of this before I threw it away. Paciugo, I promise I shall never stray again!
     Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for! I’ll be giving away THREE of my awesome pottery pieces. These are the three I’ve selected:
I’m sorry.
     If you want some crappy pieces of pottery, here’s what you need to do: Tell me exactly why you need these ridiculous, misshapen and off-balance pieces of pottery, and link to this blog post on your Twitter/Facebook.
     
     That’s right! I’m USING you guys to gain readership, and I’m not ashamed! Bwahahahaha! I’ll pick the three best responses one week from today, on September 24th, and ask for your color preferences for the piece you select. If I’ve already glazed it by then, I’m afraid you’ll have to deal with whatever amazing combination of colors that I’ve used. Hey, it’s a free piece of deformed pottery – I think you can forgive, right?
     Let the amazing comments COMMENCE! And don’t forget to link to this post :)

4 Comments

Filed under Banjees, buffet, Indian Food, Paciugo, Pottery, pumpkin latte, REI, Sprigs

My Pet Hanger, Stan, and How I Lost My Brain!

     Today was ridiculous. Not ridiculous in a, “duuuuude, this wave is totally ridiculously rad!”, but more in a “why is this ridiculous spike sticking into my head while I run around in circles with only socks on?” Exactly. My post will make as much sense as the preceding sentence.

     The day started off innocently enough. I woke up early and hit the trail for my first hike in what feels like forever!

We had a beautiful, 70 degree hike down the hill.
On the way, we saw a DEER!
I was understandably excited.
     The hike was quite intense, and I felt that the best way to refuel would be to hit up an Indian buffet and get a ridiculous amount of food. This ridiculous is the good type.
Spicy chicken vindaloo, chicken tikka masala, veggie-punch-in-the-face-it’s-so-spicy dish, and fried green somethings. It was all amazing, as were the two pieces of garlic naan I used to scoop up all the sauce. AND the gajar halwa (carrot-butter pudding) I had after.
     Then came work. I was scheduled for a full shift, and had to work until 11pm. ELEVEN PEE EM! It all began to go downhill around 5pm. Vicky and I headed out to Paciugo to get hopped up on sugar, and discovered that Paciugo is now offering even MORE opportunities to get free gelato!
PACIUGO PASSAPORTO!!! I got a small with amaretto chocolate chip, rocky road, and peanut butter cookies ‘n milk. Tomorrey, we’ll explore the innards of the passport. It’s extremely amazing!
     About two hours later, I was really starting to lose it. There were no customers in the store, and even fewer employees (“But that’s impossible!” you say!) and I decided it was time for me to adopt a lonely hanger that had ended up at my counter, abandoned by the evil consumer who ripped it from its shirt-brother and discarded it like an empty plastic hanger.
Everyone, meet Stan. Stan, everyone.
And yes, I realize that by now I had completely lost it.
No, I think HERE was where I’d completely lost it.
Vicky was frightened, but she learned to accept Stan for what he is. This is why I love her.
     Vicky, Stan and I headed upstairs for the employee potluck lunch. This lunch consisted of fried chicken, barbeque chips and Coke®. It hurt. So good. After we’d parted ways (Vicky and me, not Stan and me), I received a text message from Malachi. Our insane brain-candy conversation follows:
Malachi: Boo i’m feeling antsy and all my friends are unavailable and it’s saturday night and dan took the car so now i’m just going to sit here doing nothing which i already did all day SON OF A BALLS thanks for letting me vent.
Me: I’m at work till 11pm and i made friends with a hanger and named him stan and took pictures of him for my blog which i will post at 1am.
Malachi: Sounds like you’ve already reached madness. Save me a seat, i’ll be there soon as well.
Malachi again: I’m drowning my sorrows in pepsi and the economist.
Me: I have coke. Not the good coke either. Soda form, not powder. (Disclaimer: I do not use/condone drug use. They will drain the blood from your body and replace it with swamp water and you will die slowly and painfully. So don’t do them!)
Malachi: Ugh. You could always dehydrate the coke, distill it to powder form, and shoot that up your nose.
Me: I need a quick fix idea, not scientific conundrums that take weeks to execute.
Malachi: You can’t rush good science. And every druggie has the rigors of the scientific method to thank.
Me: My problem must be that my addiction isn’t so intense that i appreciate the rigoroditty of the process.
Malachi: As Newton said, and Einstein agreed, ‘rigoraditty is the keystone of scientoriousness’. (Malachi, you misspelled rigoroditty. LAME!)
Me: What is easier to make fun of… A comatose ninja, a comatose pirate, or a small child with ADHD whom you fuel with soda, then tie to a chair and throw popcorn at? (Before you hate me for being an evil child abuser, please remember that I have at this point befriended a hanger and might not be all there…)
Malachi: You are past madness. You are traversing space, time, universe.
Me: There is nothing wrong with desiring to throw puffy food stuffs at children. (See guys, I didn’t recommend we throw anvils at them or anything!)
Malachi: …textual silence…
     This correspondence occupied a good half hour of my time, in which I sauntered around the dark, empty mall and got a makeover a la Vicky. I then proceeded to sprint around the dark, empty mall, pretending to be chased my extremely short zombies, and ended my spazz-out with a cup of lemon pudding cake.
CAKE IN A CUP! And some patriotic mints!
     I apologize if this post has traumatized you in any way. These spazz-outs may occur once in awhile, especially if I’m forced to work insane hours with only a hanger to talk to.
     On a semi-normal note:
I FOUND ME THE PUMPKIN ALE!!!
I shall imbibe tomorrey evening after…work. Le sigh.

8 Comments

Filed under buffet, cake in a cup, DEER, gelato, hanger, hike, Indian Food, Paciugo, potluck, Stan

Monster From Heaven!!!

     Josephine is awesome. She is my bestest friend ever, and I can see a long friendship extending from our short period of time knowing each other. She’s also a magician. She turned this:

1.5 cups of soymilk, 8 cups of spinach, 1/2 of a cup of frozen strawberries, and 2 bananas…
INTO THIS!!! MAGIC!
This was the smoothest, most velvety drink I’ve ever had! I might change the name to Green Velvet. There were no chunks and no chewing! MAGIC!
     After having my amazing, magical, velvety Monsta created by Josephine, our Vitamix (yes, I have named, and laid claim to part of it/her), my roommate cooked up something I haven’t had in a loooong time!
A breakfast scramble with eggs, zucchini, orange bell peppers and LOTS of jalapeño sauce!
     I spent the entire day chopping up an ugly men’s polo shirt (the shirt was ugly, there wasn’t an ugly man) and sewing it into a cute, fitted little v-neck. I had to wear this ridiculous shirt for work, and wouldn’t have been able to show my face in public if I’d worn it as it was. Pictures will come tomorrey!
     I was able to find some time within all my creativity to go get some frozen yogurt with the roommate.
I had a blend of chocolate, birthday cake, and cookies n cream with a small spoonful of peanut butter cups on top from Tutti Frutti.
     Unfortunately I had a random work schedule today, and had to leave the house around 4:30pm. I wasn’t very hungry after my fro-yo but knew that I had to eat something, so I threw together some whole grains and protein.
Multigrain and flaxseed crackers with a little peanut butter, coconut butter (homemade, thank you very much), and banana slices. It did the trick.
     I lasted about two hours at work before my stomach started grumbling, so I made a quick stop to Paciugo for a child size gelato – brown sugar waffle cone and amaretto chocolate chip. After many compliments on my lovely revamped shirt, I headed home to a glass of “red wine” and some Food Network. Tomorrow is yet another day off for me and will involve a brewpub and a viewing of “Step Up 3D“. It’s gonna be an amazing day!
What arts/crafts have you completed that you’re most proud of? Let’s see some pictures!!!

5 Comments

Filed under breakfast scramble, coconut butter, green monster, Josephine, Paciugo, tutti frutti, Vitamix

Finger Foods!

     I had a long, gimpy day at work. Seriously, I limped throughout the entire day, and was very annoying to all the people I whined to. You’re lucky you weren’t there. I was very annoying …and whiny….

     The day started off with a Monsta: Picture omitted because there are just too many, and lunch was a MSTRwBR. Again, picture omitted because of repetition. After lunch, there was a Paciugo -OMITTED BECAUSE I INHALED IT IN 36 SECONDS, AND YOU’VE SEEN TOO MANY!

     Now, here’s what you’ve all been promised with the title: Finger Food Dinner!

Chopped avocados, spicy salsa, roasted chicken, multigrain and flaxseed water crackers, a mix of jalapeno havarti cheese, smoked gouda, and mozzarella with prosciutto and basil, LOTS of romaine lettuce, and a glass (or three) of prosecco.

Three glasses of prosecco. Does this picture look straight to you?
I ate plenty, but never felt overstuffed! Yay, portion-control!

     Tomorrow will be the first blogger meet-up of my existence! I AM SO EXCITED THAT I CANNOT CONTAIN MYSELF!!! And then I have to have a full shift at work. The blog will be amazing, despite the 8 hours at work I have to suffer through – I will be showing up as late as possible to squeeze every second of enjoyment from the meet-up.
     I apologize for the lack of pictures, but tomorrey’s post will make up for it. PLUS more! Have a wonderful night, and a fantastic weekend!
L.A. BLOGGER MEET-UP! What’s on the schedule for your weekend??

2 Comments

Filed under blogger meet-up, gelato, green monster, Los Angeles, Paciugo, sushi

I Fall Down, Go Boom :(

     Twas a long, long day. All was well until I was leaving work, then I tripped and busted up my knee on the stairs, and proceeded to whimper and sniff all the way home. Now I’m blogging with a fatty ice-pack on my knee, and a small glass of red wine that my roommate poured me to help me feel better.

     I started off the day with a Monsta.

5 cups of spinach, 3/4 of a cup of unsweetened soymilk, 1/3 of a VERY ripe banana, 1/4 of a cup of frozen blueberries, a few frozen strawberries, and the juice of a lemon and a lime. The ripe banana REALLY made a difference – really cut out the spinach-y taste and sweetened it up.
     We went on another amazing hour-long hike down to the bridge and back. I LOVE HIKING!!! Afterwards, I refueled with some multigrain and flaxseed water crackers, and a few prosciutto-mozarella-basil slices.
YUM! Lots of protein and some great whole grains!
     I went to work with one goal in mind: to get a free lunch at the farmers’ market. I succeeded! Kinda…
Rainbow chard! Must try soon!
So many things I’ve never heard of!
I ran into my friend Duck-Duck and he joined me on my revolutions for samples. I made about four circles, sampling peaches, plums, sweet breads, apples, orange slices and honey. And that was lunch.
     I wasn’t very full after that lunch – surprise surprise, so I stopped by Paciugo for a child size brown-sugar-waffle-cone, and amaretto chocolate chip to get a few more calories in. As the day wound to a close, I went to Teavana and got a jasmine tea with no sweetener added, and sipped on that while reading “Nick and Norah’s Infinte Playlist” by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan: my current book–>movie. It’s actually turning out to be a good read! 
I loves me some jasmine tea!
     Then I fell. The day was ruined and now I’m going to feel sorry for myself, watch some crappy TV and keep sipping my red wine. I’ve upped my allowance to a small glass a day at most. It’s good for my health – CNN told me so.
Have you ever had a sample lunch? One of my favorites (and also unhealthiest) is Costco!

3 Comments

Filed under Costco, fall down, farmers' market, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, ouch, Paciugo, Teavana, whimper