Caprese Salad with a twist

Couple of weekends ago I was over at a friend's house and his SIL brought the most amazing salad. After devouring almost half of the salad, I finally broke down and asked her for the recipe.

Turned out it's one of those "oh a little bit of this, and a pinch of that", "mix everything together", "that's it", type of recipe.

Er, great.

I tried googling the salad based on the ingredients. None of the results matched what I was looking for. But from what I remember, there were only 5 ingredients. Plus, I was suppose to bring a dish to dtothek and designerish July 3rd BBQ, what better time to "test" out a new dish?

So off to Shnucks. (local grocery store for those out-of-towners).

I bought all the ingredients, chopped and mixed it all up. Brought it to the BBQ gathering, and "thank goodness" it was well received by friends. So without further ado here is recipe for the delicious Caprese Salad with a twist:

1 small container of sweet cherry tomatoes
1 container of basil - iirc it has a total of 8-10 basil leaves in it. Or if you can, pluck it from your own herb garden
1 er... roll? roll, of fresh mozzarella cheese
balsamic vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and pepper

Cut tomatoes length wise. Put in big salad bowl.
Chop up basil leaves. Put in big salad bowl with the tomatoes.
Cut up the cheese into little cubes. Put in big salad bowl. If your friends ask, tell them it's "tofu" or "potatoes". Haha.
Pour EVOO into big salad bowl and mix well.
Pour some balsamic vinegar into a saucepan. Put pan on stove top and turn on medium heat. The goal is to reduce the balsamic vinegar by half or 2/3 of the starting volume.
Pour reduced balsamic vinegar into big salad bowl. Bit by bit. Taste as you go in case the vinegar gets too overwhelming.
Mix well.
Sprinkle some kosher salt and grind fresh black pepper on salad.
Mix well.
Taste it.

I'll have to make this salad again this weekend and post up some pics to go with my super lame instructions. hah. But trust me, this is very easy and very very delish!

Nordstrom

Props to Nordstrom STL for having a twitter account and is using it actively.

http://twitter.com/NordstromSTL

drool

My previous post did not make much sense. I was tired and was just trying to capture my thoughts before I zzzzzz...

Dentist appointment at 8 a.m.
Three cavities (I know, TMI)
Dentist tells me those are all baby teeth.
Does that explain why I am still so childish and juvenile?

To top it off, co-worker asks "Is "dentist appointment" what you kids are calling "hangovers" these days?"

If I could laugh without accidentally drooling, I would've LOLed.

seeking: new "hobby"

Well, the news came down - paycut in effect.
The silver lining is - at least I still have a job.
I know - I am tired of saying that.
But really - I can't complain.

So even though I am in lust - with several Marc by Marc Jacobs purses and watches,
I am placing myself on a ban - a ban light to be specific.

Now I need a hobby - something to distract me from shopping esp when I am stressed or bored.
I want something cheap and good, educational and relaxing...

It is time to re-invest effort back into the things I love.

Funny

old episode, but one of the funniest dialog I've heard on TV:

"... and then I have a Brabus Mercedes 550"
"Tom Cruise is a Brabus fan isn't he"
"I don't know."
"You not know?!"
"We attend different churches so I don't know... I'm at the one with Jesus baby"

Spring cleaning

I got bitten by the spring cleaning bug early this year, and compounded by the fact that I was really having shoes-overload problems.

So off to Target I went to get some shoe organizers and happened to stumble upon the Orla Kiely for Target kitchen hooks which I promptly picked up as well.

In order to add some sort of a hanging storage, I jammed the kitchen hooks in between the two piece of wood when I was assembling the shoe organizer.


The kitchen hooks worked out perfect for my belts, hat and light canvas bags. And I must say I am 99% please with the end result!


My only advice would be to not buy the shoe organizer from Target, but rather, go scour it somewhere else like Lowes or Home Depot. With the one I got, the "cubby holes" are small and they barely fit my 6.5 size shoes. If you have larger feet then the shoes may not fit in the cubby.

St. Louis tops the chart again

Top 10 unhappiest American cities

1. Portland, Ore.
2. St. Louis
3. New Orleans
4. Detroit
5. Cleveland
6. Jacksonville, Fla.
7. Las Vegas
8. Nashville-Davidson, Tenn.
9. Cincinnati
10. Atlanta

Read the BusinessWeek slideshow here.

And to compare and contrast, check out this slideshow on the The World's Happiest Countries. Of course, US is no where on the list.

How you know if it's going to be a good day

Email-of-the-Day from my poor co-worker Chris H:

1. Get up at 5:00 to start work early because you have so much shit to do

2. Proceed to spill an ENTIRE 24oz coffee in your Bimmer because you are gunning it around a corner and forgot that the idiot German engineers don't know how to make proper cup holders.

I felt sorry for him, but yet can't help but crack up laughing. It's unfortunate because I can relate. I've spilled coffee on this puny cupholder in my previous car and man, clean up is NO FUN AT ALL.

Review: Murad Sleep Reform™ Serum

I received a sample of Murad Sleep Reform™ Serum in the mail a week ago and finally decided to give it a try.


So yesterday evening, I tried the Sleep Reform™ Serum in place of two things: my Aveeno Rejuvenating Serum and Aveeno Firming Eye Cream

And then, I proceeded to stay up way past midnight.

This morning when I woke up and saw my reflection in the mirror I was actually quite amazed. This product is simply amazing, my face do not look sunken and my eyes do not look tired at all. It kept my face firm and somehow erases any dark shadow under my eyes. Usually, staying up past midnight during weekends is quite brutal on my face - I used to cringe when I see myself on Sunday morning, but thanks to this miracle serum, not anymore!

Of course as with everything, there is a downside. This miracle-in-a-bottle Murad Sleep Reform™ Serum costs $97 at Sephora, even though money can buy youth, this is still way too rich for my blood.


So alternatively, I will probably end up going with the almost-as-good Murad Moisture Silk Eye Gel and ditch the Aveeno Eye Cream (which had absolutely no effect on my puffy eyes), and keep using the Aveeno serum until the economy improves :)

5 Brands

Via http://5brand.tumblr.com/
Could you define yourself with only 5 brands? It's harder thank you think :)


Here's mine, let me see yours (leave a comment)!