Granola Not So Bars

Every morning, MH has a Cliff bar for breakfast (sometimes two!). This week, instead of restocking on our Cliff bar cases, MH decided to make home-made granola bars.

We searched the net and found a recipe from Alton Brown and combined it with another recipe from the Flour cookbook by Joanne Chang to fit our taste. A lot of granola bar recipes include coconut as a main ingredient and dates as a binder and MH doesn't particularly care for either.

MH decided to use a variety of dried fruits (cherries, raisins, and cranberries) with lots of almonds. They tasted nothing like the processed granola bars you buy at the grocery store and were absolutely delicious! The only disappointing part of them was that they didn't turn out as bar like as we had hoped. Perhaps we needed the Tupperware SnackBar Maker, haha.

Boy oh boy, granola bars are not the healthiest snack for you! MH used half a jar of jam, 6 ounces of honey, and brown sugar, granted it did make approximately 14 bars. After knowing what we put into our granola bars, I cannot imagine how much sugar/sweetener is added to the mass manufactured granola bars. With that being said, I can't wait for MH to make the next batch. After the first day we had them, I couldn't wait for the next opportunity to have another.

Love Is In The Air

Happy Valentines Day!

May cupid's arrow pierce your heart.

Shout out to Ickity for the message-in-a-cookie cutters! I heart personalized cookie messages and hope you do too.

"In the cookies of life, your friends are the chocolate chips." - Unknown

T-100 Days

In 100 days MH and I are going to be married! Two will become one. Crazy pants.

Honey, Take Me To The Moon

After significant debate, MH and I finally decided on our honeymoon destination! To many of our family member's delight, we decided against Mexico, Egypt, and North Korea (j/k). We are going to... drum roll... Kenya and Tanzania for an East African Safari!!!

Photo Courtesy of Google Images and Abercrombie & Kent Travel

Our honeymoon itinerary rivals one of MH's action packed adventures. We will be on the hunt for Africa's Big 5 (lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, and cape buffalo) in: Lake Nakuru, Masai Mara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Lake Manyara, Tarangire, and Amboseli. Then we will spend a couple days relaxing at the beach in Zanzibar.

We also have a 22 hour layover in London on our way home! Fingers crossed we can fit in a few sites while we are there too!!!

Our itinerary is planned, our deposits are paid, and our flights are booked! Now, we just have to get married.

Officially Engaged

MH and I have been engaged for 5 months, our wedding is in a little over 3 months, and there is no turning back. We sent out our save the dates and now we have official photos commemorating our engagement!

@ Battery Chamberlin

MH and I met with Cindy Fong under the recommendation of Carolyn Wong and we fell in love with her personality and work. In contrast to the other wedding photographers that we met with, Cindy's photos, slide shows, and albums were all beautiful, and we felt she presented the most balanced photography package.

@ The Palace of Fine Arts

In late January, MH and I did our engagement session with Cindy in San Francisco. Cindy was great at putting our nerves to ease and was nothing short of wonderful work with. Here are a couple more of my favorites...

@ "Cupid's Span" by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen


@ Baker Beach

I absolutely love our photos and can't wait till our wedding!

Scoops Westside

A few years ago, MH and I discovered Scoops through Yelp and it quickly became my favorite ice cream shop in Los Angeles. Scoops isn't your standard ice cream shop, they do not carry vanilla, strawberry, or even chocolate. Every time you visit the shop you are bound to find new flavors that you've probably never had before e.g. chocolate lemon, espresso peanut butter, & cappuccino hazelnut. Some flavors are better than others, but I have always found a flavor (or two) that I liked.

My only complaint about Scoops is that it isn't particularly close to our house. Located by Los Angeles Community College at 712 N Heliotrope Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90029, going to Scoops isn't always a convenient trip. However, thanks to food blogger turned franchisee/entrepreneur Mattatouille aka Matthew Kang, my only Scoops complaint has been resolved. Scoops Westside is located at 3400 Overland Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90034 and is open for business!

Scoops Westside Store Front

Only two months into business, the store is still growing into it's space. There are minimal decorations inside and out, however don't let that deter you. The ice cream is still great and although prices are a notch higher than the original, I thought of it as a premium for it's convenience.

Ice Cream Case

I had the pandan coconut and pina colada while MH had the black sesame banana and all were delish! You can follow Scoops Westside on twitter to read about their current flavors and treats. If you have the chance to try it, please let me know what you think.