Random cooking!

I wanted to cook the other day but I didn’t know what.  So I took out some chicken thighs and was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with it.  I didn’t want to look up any recipe I wanted to make this all on my own.  Usually I would look up a recipe and just change a couple of things.  Anyways so what I ended up with was: Garlic and herb butter roasted chicken thighs in chicken stock, with roasted carrots, potatoes, and cabbage, with garlic mash potatoes on the side.  So much potatoes right? Well I needed to use the up the rest of the potatoes.

I didn’t use fresh herbs, didn’t have any just used what I had on hand. I oiled the roasting pan and a little bit of oil on the chickens.  Then I mixed garlic and herb spices with pepper, onion powder, paprika, and cayenne.  I mixed half of the spices with 3 tablespoons of butter and sprinkled some spices on the chicken.  I then put about 1 tsp of the butter mixture under the skin of the chicken thighs and put it in the oven at 450 degrees for 30- 35 minutes.  After it was brown and crispy I sprinkled some more seasoning on the chicken and threw in the potatoes, carrots, and cabbage along with half a can or a little bit more of chicken stock and whatever seasoning I had left I sprinkled it all over the vegetables.  I covered it with foil and continue to cook for about 30-45 minutes to make sure the chicken was completely cooked and the vegetables were tender.

Over all everything turned out really good but there are a few changes for next time I make this. First of I needed to add more seasoning the skin tasted awesome but the chicken meat itself was under season.  All because I thought it might have been too salty but nope! Could have added more.  But it’s okay that just means I have to keep working on this recipe until I get it right! :)

E.L.F Package!

My package from E.L.F (Eyes Lips Face) came today! It came early I wasn’t expecting it until Tuesday so it was a surprise.  Yay surprise package! Who doesn’t love that? :) Anyways I bought some nail polish, lipstick, fake eyelashes, eyebrow stencil, and a couple pencil sharpeners.

I like the colors of the nail polish but there are some issues.  First when I open the package there was a strong smell of nail polish I thought maybe one of the bottles leaked or broke but nope the bottle just wasn’t closed tight and I see why it wasn’t closed tight it doesn’t line up straight. Second one of the brushes had some I guess cotton fuzz at the end of the brush.  It’s not a big deal not going to kill me you get what you pay for.

I love buying from elf! So affordable and some of the products aren’t bad.

ELF bottle as received.

ELF Bottles closed tight.

what was on one of the brushes.

other stuff I bought.

Father’s day and Dad’s Birthday Weekend!

For father’s day and my dad’s birthday we spent the weekend at Pala Casino.  It’s a nice casino but I didn’t do much just because my brother isn’t 21 and I didn’t want to just leave alone in the room all day.  They have a bar in the middle of the casino with a stage that has a live band playing daily.  We ate dinner at Choices buffet the choices were good lots of different thing and definitely lots of dessert!  They have 2 chocolate fountain one milk chocolate and the other white chocolate.  Another thing is if you aren’t a VIP or elite card member I guess?  The line for the buffet is ridiculous! You could wait up to 2 hours or even more on holidays!  It is so crazy I rather just eat before dinner rush hour or just wait until it’s after the time most people would eat dinner.  I didn’t get a chance to make it over to the pool just because it was HOT and I tan easily so I didn’t really want to go out there.  But anyways that was my Father’s day and Dad’s Birthday weekend.

Japanese Gourmet Fair at Mitsuwa Marketplace

I went to Mitsuwa marketplace which is a Japanese supermarket the other day with my boyfriend and brother because they were having a Japanese gourmet fair!  I love coming to these and trying all the different Japanese food they offer.  We tried a couple different things, some of my favorite has to be the crab croquettes it was creamy on the inside and crunchy on the outside so yummie melts in your mouth awesomeness!  My other favorite had to be skewered fish cakes there were a lot of different kinds and I really have no idea what I got besides shrimp and octopus.  It was from the same vendor as the crab croquettes unfortunately I did not get the name of the vendors.  My other favorite was waffles with custard cream filling from Kobe Fugetsudo, it was delicious wasn’t too sweet just perfect!  The last thing we got that was ok I wasn’t a big fan the texture just wasn't what I expected, but it was still good it was Takoyaki with octopus from Takoya Kukuru.  Everything at the fair is made right on spot you can even watch them make it fresh and ready to serve.

I love going to Mitsuwa they have a food court with different Japanese food and other Asian food.  Their grocery section is also filled with all things Japanese and Asian.  They also have already prepared food that you can buy for lunch or picnics they make it on site and you can also watch them make it too.  Everything seems so fresh and you know that it hasn’t been sitting there for a couple of days or weeks even.  There is also a small bakery that has some good things but I usually don’t buy anything from there.  I used to go to this other bakery that was in the food court unfortunately it closed down womp womp.  But they had one of the most AMAZING cream puffs I’ve ever had so addicting too bad they had to close. :(

Didn't get to take pictures before everyone munched on all the food!

Just bought a new game!

I just got Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon! I've never played the first one I didn't even know there was a first one.  Anyways I wanted to get Animal Crossing: New Leaf and Donkey Kong Country Returns also but getting all 3 games at once? Yeah I don’t think so.  So it was either Luigi’s Mansion or Animal Crossing but Animal Crossing was sold out so Luigi’s Mansion it was.  So far the game play is pretty good I like it, lots of things to do, things to figure out, and lots of places to explore.  The only thing I don’t like about it is that from what I’ve read online you can’t save in the middle of missions you either have to complete it or start it over.  I haven’t tried exiting during a mission because why would I do that to myself and have to start over if that is the case.   It also auto saves once you get back into the lab with the other guy so don’t have to worry about that.

Let see how long it’ll take me to finish this game.  I made a rule for myself no matter how much I want a game I have to complete the one I just recently bought first before I can get another game.  I hope more fun games come out for the 3DS that interest me.  My 3DS was seriously collecting dust after I finished Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario 3D Land.  I got those games around the beginning of the year so it’s been awhile.

Surprising My Boyfriend For His Birthday

My boyfriend birthday was last week and I’ve been planning to surprise him.  I wanted to make him a theme birthday cake even though I’ve never made one before.  I was pretty nervous but it turned out great! Everything turned out amazing!  I made him a minecraft cake since he’s been playing that a lot with his little brother.

Any who on the day of, my boyfriend decided to come early which was not good for me.  I wanted to decorate the cake in the morning so I was trying to get the cake ready and look nice in a short amount of time.  He ended up having to wait in the car for about 30 minutes extra after he got here.  I really wanted to finish the cake I worked hard on those characters and was determined to finish even if he had to wait longer!

I had him close his eyes until he got seated in front of the cake.  He was pretty surprised and loved it! Making a theme cake is not something I do he couldn’t stop staring at the cake which made me happy!

His second gift was 3 chargers bags and Dead Island Riptide.  I actually had him buy this game himself so he can get the points for his GameStop card.  I told him it was a gift for my brother’s birthday which is believable because their birthdays are in the same month.  The game came with a metal case for people that preordered so I wrote “Sike but I love you!” in the empty case and put that in the Chargers bag.  His face was priceless he was so confused and thought I gave him the wrong present since I said it was for my brother.  He opened it and read the note and was like “What…. Babe are you serious? So where’s the game?” he kept looking in the bag until he found it.

After all that we headed to the beach we wanted to go to Newport Beach but decided to drive down PCH and ended up in Dana Point.  I wanted to take him to Doheny State Beach I remember it being really nice but what I do not remember is that parking was $15.  So we busted a U-turn and went somewhere else.  We found a nice little beach to relax under some big trees, when all of a sudden my boyfriend hears a really loud plane, we both saw it but didn’t think much about it until I saw that it was pulling a sign behind it saying “Julie my darling <3 will you marry me?” I’ve never seen a proposal before it was the cutest thing ever! Even though we never actually saw the couple it was still pretty cute.

Anyways after that we drove up a random hill and found a little trail that overlooks the cliffs and ocean it was amazing!  Loved the view!  We started heading back home since we were an hour away we didn’t want to get back too late for dinner at Claws.  After dinner we headed home since my boyfriend now lives an hour and a half to two hours away.

So that was it, I think I did a pretty good job in tricking and surprising him for his birthday.  I’m glad I could make his birthday one of the best ones!

the final product!

Happy Birthday!

I left my sunglasses at home so he helped out haha

the trail on the cliff overlooking the ocean

D.I.Y Anniversary Card

Now that our anniversary has passed I can post this! This is also my first time posting of any D.I.Y project SO if it sounds like I suck at explaining things and I confuse a lot of you sorry! :) So anyways, I wrote my boyfriend a poem but didn't know how I wanted to give it to him.  So I decided to make him another card I've made him a couple cards before but it’s been awhile.  I think this card is pretty simple compared to my other cards I've made in the past.  Everything I used I already had on hand so I didn't spend any money making this card.

What you'll need:
1.) Fabric Glue or Aleene's Tacky Glue I love using this glue for fabrics or any other crafts it dries super fast
2.) Any color ribbons.  I am using the Green and the Yellow ribbon
3.) 2 of any type of of paper such as; Construction paper, Photo printing papers, or like the one I'm using for this project a plain greeting cards.  I'm sure you can find these at any office supply stores.
4.) Regular scissor and any type of crafting shape scissors
5.)  Some tape

                                   
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

( If you are using Construction paper fold both sheets of paper in half to make the card.
   If you are using Photo printing paper or the blank greeting card like I am this is very important. Fold 1 paper in half glossy side is on the outside.  Fold the 2nd paper with the glossy side facing the inside.  Because later you are going to glue both back sides of the paper together as you can see in the picture at the very top of the page it's a clean nice look on the inside.)


First I taped one end of the ribbon to the back side of the card and measured how much I would need then I taped the other end to the card.   Be sure to check to make sure that the ribbon is straight in the front before you glue each end to the card. You can leave the tape on the ribbon or take it off it doesn't really matter it's going to get covered up anyways.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Repeat the same step if you are using 2 different ribbons.  I decided to do a vertical line and a horizontal line with the ribbon

First picture on the left is the front side.  Second picture on the right is the backside of the card.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

You should have something that looks like this now on the inside.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

See how I folded the second paper in half the front side (glossy side if using Photo paper) of the card is now on the inside.  Now glue the backside of this to the 1st paper with the ribbon

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just use Paint to print out the words and use the scissors to cut it out making nice little designs and glued on.  The hearts I found on Google just search Hearts and a ton will pop up.  Before I glued on the heats I glued the ribbon to the card by squirting a little bit of glue under the middle of each section of the ribbon just so that it is more secured.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wanted to do something on the inside and not just leave it plain so I printed out a bigger heart and wrote in the middle and yes I had to print out a second one because I wrote 2013 instead of 2011 for when we first started dating.  Fail.  Anyways to make it pop out/3D looking I ripped a long piece of scrap paper and fold that in half then fold it making a Z shape and glued it to the back of the heart.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

and there you have it a heart that pops out

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope you all like this! I'm pretty sure I confused most of you that read this.  I didn't take that many pictures because at the time I really had no idea where I was going with the card.  I thought it was kind of cute so I'd thought I would share it.  The color reminds me of spring sunny (yellow ribbon) grassy (green ribbon) and flowers (pink hearts).

Thanks for reading! :) <3