happy in hockeywood

This past Thursday was an EXCELLENT day in LA Kings-land... especially for people like me who own a Dustin Brown jersey and at least one, if not two (shut up!) Rob Blake jerseys.

"Captain Crush" Dustin Brown, acting as his own agent, negotiated his contract a season before it was set to expire and is now a signed, sealed, toothless member of the Kings through the 2021-22 season. He's the first LA King to touch the Stanley Cup and he sends players on opposing teams flying through the air at mid-ice. Oh and he scores goals at really clutch moments too. So YAY! My jersey will get more than two years of use :p

And then, in a more controversial move (because some Kings fans are stupid, hold grudges and don't understand how the team owners like to screw over the Player's Association [go research Rob Blake leaving the Kings to play for the Avs and/or the Sharks... I can't remember which one was him sacrificing himself for the union]), the Kings named my second favorite player of all time -- Blake -- their new Assistant General Manager. So this means my favorite player of all time -- Luc Robitaille -- and Blakey, who played together during the beginning of my Kings fandom, and quite honestly are the two main reasons I became such a huge fan, are now reunited in the front office of the Kings. Now let's just hope Blakey is as good at nurturing and retaining talent as he was at throwing hipchecks.

All this, plus the facts that the 2013-14 schedule was just released, and tomorrow is the day I get to enter the Kings virtual online seating system and potentially improve my already pretty okay seats, has me very eager for October to get here. Go Kings Go!

things that make me smile: summer fruit

When I was a toddler, I had a red splotch on my back that my mom and grandma swore looked like a strawberry. As a result someone bought me a cute dress with a strawberry on it that I think all of my living relatives own a copy of and that my mom decided to sketch out as a big piece of art ... which she then decided should hang in my house in the exact spot in my bedroom where the previous owner also had a sketch of a young child. 

I tell you all of this because in addition to (or maybe in spite of  ;) the above, I LOVE strawberries! They are not only my favorite fruit, but quite possibly my favorite food on the planet. So summer (aka strawberry season) is a faboo time for my sweet tooth and taste buds. 

But strawberries aren't the only summer fruits I adore. Here's a peek at what is currently taking up at least a quarter of the space in my fridge right now (thanks to a trip to the Costco refrigerated room today ;) 

Why can't these be in season all year like boring apples are?

Cherries! Love them! Hate that they cost so much :(

Green grapes. Red grapes. As long as they're seedless, I don't care :)

Nectarines! I always forget how much I love these till I buy them. 

PS: I'm also a huge fan of plums, but don't have any to take pics of right now. Boo.

PPS: My LEAST favorite summer fruit is kumquats... if you've ever been to my backyard you know why.

an awesome four-day, food-filled weekend

Sadly, the awesome 4th of July four-day weekend is coming to an end. It started out cray-cray as I prepared for my annual BBQ (under my new "pergola"), but by Friday, was super-relaxing and fun. Here's a recap of a great weekend packed with good friends, food and fun!

The BBQ

While I will never be Martha Stewart, when it comes to gardening and party throwing, I am getting better. I have a bunch of 4th of July decorations I've been using outside for years. But this year, I decided to make the indoor buffet table look more fun. 

Inspired by a recent Hawaiian birthday party I attended, I created fun buffet table decorations out of red rock candy sticks, blue and white gumballs, and stars and stripes pinwheels I got at Michaels.  

I also used those pinwheels, plus a block of foam and blue painters tape, to create little food labels. (And for those of you making fun of me/my OCD, some people can't eat certain things, so a caring hostess labels things on the buffet table :-p)

Speaking of food, this year, rather than hot dogs and hamburgers, I decided to actually make food that required some thought and prep work. I kept the hot dogs for the kids, but then was debating between shrimp and carne asada. I couldn't make up my mind, so I made both!




Upon hearing I was making grilled shrimp and veggie skewers, a co-worker suggested that -- rather than soak the sticks in water -- I should soak them in white wine. This, he said, would prevent the food from having a popsicle stick aftertaste. So I broke out a bottle of Two-Buck Chuck and poured it into a casserole dish and soaked the skewers overnight.







I didn't get around to eating any of my chili-lime shrimp (marinated with a variation on this Bobby Flay recipe) but the veggies I ate, including these gorgeous red onions, tasted great and included no wooden aftertaste. ;)

Last Sunday, after driving by for four and a half years and thinking, "I need to go in there for carne asada one day," I finally went into the Vallarta Market and got carne asada, fresh tortillas, salsa, guac and churros (!!! five minutes from my house!!!). Then I did a test grilling run for family dinner at the 'rents. 

It came out pretty good and, emboldened by my first attempt at making a marinade from scratch (guided by master chef Mom), I searched the interwebs for a similar but slightly different marinade recipe.

I found this one, prepped it Wednesday night with some slight variations so the meat could marinate overnight (that's it marinating at left :) and then on Thursday grilled it up to yummy deliciousness!

I think carne asada is now going to become a staple of summer grill nights! Did I mention is was delicious?




In addition to shrimp, carne asada, veggie skewers, hot dogs and Aidell's yummy chicken apple sausages, we also grilled up corn (with yummy homemade lime butter provided by Diana). Here's the grill in action! Thanks to James and Dad for helping me grill in the heat :)

After grilling, it was time for dessert-a-palooza, with fruits and sweets provided by Diana, Maureen and Erin. Over the last three days, I've tried all of these and can attest, they were all amazeballs! (Note: the recipes I'm linking to are just similar recipes I found online, not necessarily the ones my friends used.)

Hamburger Cupcakes

Berries with cheesecake frosting

White chocolate-covered strawberries

Red, white and blue parfaits

"Brookies"  (aka a brownie with a cookie in the middle!)

Saturday Playday

On Saturday, the poker people (minus one) convened on Maureen's pool for a swim and lots of food, including BBQ leftovers, fruit, In-N-Out french fries, and a lot of new food Maureen felt the need to make us, cuz she's the hostess with the mostess. 

When not eating and swimming, we were entertained -- for a while -- by looking over the deck wall at the street below every 20 minutes to compare and contrast the different "Star Tours" tour buses driving by on their way to Justin Timberlake's gate and security guard booth, then turning around to go back down the hill. One of the tours blares "Sexy Back" as they drive up the hill. We don't like that one. 

Following pool time, I came home to do exciting things like laundry. I also lit the inaugural fire of the season in my chiminea. 

I have decided I might be a minor pyromaniac.... I was highly entertained by keeping the fire going for two hours. I also toasted the marshmallows I wanted to toast on the 4th of July but didn't (see photos of five desserts above) and made some smore's. More yummy deliciousness. Now I need to go figure out how many times I can make it to Pop Physique this week to work off all this food!

bye scuds... and thanks for getting your face smashed

A little over a year ago, Rob Scuderi got his face boarded into the glass at Staples Center by Steve Bernier of the New Jersey Devils in the first period of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals.



Bernier received a five minute major penalty. What that means to you non-hockey people, is the Kings had a one-man advantage for five minutes. But unlike a normal power play, when once you score, the power play is over and the penalty ends, on a major power play the penalty doesn't end when you score. It goes the whole five minutes. You have a man-advantage for five whole minutes. And you can score as many times as you're able during that power play.

The Kings scored three goals in that five minutes, putting them up 3-0 in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals with a series lead of 3-2 games. The Devils were deflated. And the Kings and crowd at Staples Center were not only able to breathe a bit, but were totally fired up on their way to a joyous celebration 50 minutes of play later :)

Today, Scuderi -- as an unrestricted free-agent -- left the Kings for a better deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He's the first significantly contributing member of the 2012 Championship team to leave the Kings.

Scuderi (aka Scuds) was one of our veteran, reliable, stay-at-home, help-the-newbie-D's-get-their-footing defensemen. And for that, he will be missed.

But he will always be remembered for sacrificing his face (and coming back to finish the game!) the night the LA Kings won their Stanley Cup! And I wish him well.

the "pergola" is done!

While talking about my fabulous new patio covering during my 4th of July BBQ last night, four of us got into a debate about a veranda (which is what I've been calling it) vs. a pergola. I was told I have a pergola (which has a latticed, open roofed covering vs. a verdana which is a completely covered roof). So now that I've been corrected (and have also confirmed said correcting on wikipeda), here for all to see it my new shade-creating, non-paintchip-raining PERGOLA.  Thanks for the two weeks of hard (hot!) work Vince!