Very Sad News

Very sad news came this past Sunday. Mr. Bumblebee's grandfather passed away.

During one of our last visits with him, Mr. Bumblebee gave him a handshake. His grandfather then motioned for a hug, so Mr. Bumblebee reached down to give him a hug, then in the sassy witty tone of his, he said "No! I don't want a hug from you, I want a hug from her!" and he pointed to me.

We are going to miss you Bob.

My mom always said that for every good deed you do on Earth, God puts another golden brick on your house in heaven. Bob, I hope you are enjoying your well deserved castle!

Eva's Caribbean Kitchen

Mr. Bumblebee and I aren't big into Valentine's Day. It's just something we don't go big for. This year was really no exception except that we wanted to try a new restaurant and we decided it would be the perfect day to try something new. So, from a local board that I post at, I got a recommendation for a Caribbean restaurant, Eva's Caribbean Kitchen. Mr. Bumblebee and I had been talking about how much we missed our honeymoon in Barbados. We weren't big into the food there at the time but now we really missed it. So we made reservations and we weren't disappointed. We made reservations and they were pretty booked up apparently because we had to settle for 7pm instead of 6:30 like we had wanted. It's in Laguna Beach right on PCH. Parking was available in an open lot next to the restaurant. The restaurant is themed a filled with exotic Caribbean knick knacks. It looks like a little shack and for a second, I felt like we might be back in Barbados' art district.




It was pretty dark inside and I was using my camera phone so the quality of our pictures isn’t great. We both ordered an Island Caesar Salad to start with.

The salad was so good. There were chunks of pineapples and homemade toasted croutons. The dressing was thick and obviously made with pineapple and perhaps even some coconut milk. It was delicious.

I ordered the Curried ChickenIt was so good. The chicken was breast meat. They were pan fried with banana slices. It was really spicy but the bananas were sweet and almost candied in the sauce. There was also rice and the second I put the rice in my mouth, it took me right back to when we had lunch at the Mount Gaye Rum Factory. It was so authentic. Of course it also included vegetables of the freshest nature.

Mr. Bumblebee ordered the Jerk Pork Loin.It was a tender pork loin roasted in jerk sauce topped with slices of mango and pineapple. The pork loin was served with garlic sweet potatoes and fresh veggies. Holy cow! It was so good. I ate half of his as well as my own food. It was so good. The mashed potatoes were also amazing. It didn't remind me of Barbados' food but it was heavenly.
For dessert we ordered their Cherry Gelato. That was all we really had room for.

After we ordered it, we had realized that we should have ordered two. It was so yummy and full of pieces of real cherries. YUM!
Of course the biggest plus was that they served our favorite Rum, Mount Gaye Rum. They served the rare Dark version as well. So it was so nice to have that in a restaurant setting. Of course we brought home a ton of it from Barbados but it was still cool to find a restaurant serve it too. I had the rum punch, which was nothing like what we had in Barbados but it was still good and Mr. Bumblebee ordered a "Black and Coke" which is Bajan for the dark rum and coke.
So overall, I loved it! It's very authentic food in my opinion and I'd love to do it again for lunch. During the summer they have live steel drum bands performing and the view from the outside patio is beautiful. One thing though, be perpared to be on island time. Service isn't its speediest but it is well worth the wait.

New Addition

So when we got a call regarding a 3 month old cocker spaniel puppy that needed a home...it was going to be really hard for us to say no. I don't have any decent photos of him yet so I apologize. he just never sits still! He's way more hyper than Tess ever was. Tess and him have some "issues" but they are getting so much better every single day. I think in the end they will be best buddies. We weren't sure at first if we were going to keep him or find him a new home but everyday it starts to swing towards us keeping him.


So without further delay....TUCKER

He kept stealing Tess' toys. He would bring it into his crate and Tess would look at me like "MAAA!!! He tooook mmmmyyyyy toy!?!?"

Now he's stealin' her rabbit. It doesn't help that Tess is obsessive about her toys.

Bull Riding....

Pictures from Mr. Bumblebee's birthday gathering. My favorite thing about our group is how much of kids we still all are. We are such goof offs around each other and everyone are each other's best friends.

Me and the birthday boy....aka My HUSBAND!

His free birthday ride...this is the "money" shot

Buddy getting in on some lovin'. Buddy was a pimp and bought all the women roses, including my MOM!

Okay seriously?! How can you not love this face?!I know this post is for Mr. Bumblebee's birthday...but I love her!

Chocolate Chip Muffins

I love to be in my kitchen. I love to cook and bake all sorts of things. But if I had to choose between the two, I love to bake. I bake about once a week and usually half of it goes bad and we have to throw it away. So tonight I wanted to make something that I knew we would eat. So Chocolate Chip Muffins it was. They wouldn't be too sweet to eat in the morning or early afternoon for a snack but yet yummy enough to eat as dessert after dinner.

I think they turned out pretty darn good if I do say so myself.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat an oven to 350°F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

Mix the batter in a bowl, using a wooden spoon, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and the 1 cup sugar on medium speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add 1 egg and beat until blended. Add the other egg and the vanilla and beat until well blended.

Turn off the mixer and scrape down the bowl with the rubber spatula. Add half of the flour mixture and beat on low speed just until blended. Pour in the milk and beat just until blended. Add the rest of the flour and the chocolate chips and beat until blended.

Fill the muffin cups using 2 large spoons, one to scoop and one to push, fill each lined muffin cup with batter. Sprinkle the 1 tablespoon sugar evenly over the tops.

Bake the muffins. Put the pan in the oven and bake until the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 21 to 23 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, set it on a wire rack and let cool for 20 minutes. Tip the muffins out of the pan onto the rack and serve warm or at room temperature. Makes 12-15 muffins.

Bad blogger...

Ok, so I've been a bad bad blogger. But I'm going to try and catch up and stay ontop of it. I think that doing this is therapeutic because I've been a bite edgy since I've been lacking recently. So I left off around my birthday time....::start the time warp:: (put your hands on your hips...hehe)

So I am not a big birthday fan. I don't like them, they always seem to let me know. So I adhere to a strict rule...no big celebrations for my birthday. This year was no exception which makes me so happy! My big celebration was when Mr. Bumblebee bought me a new laptop for my birthday present. HP Pavilion Laptop. There was a benefit to him for buying me the new laptop, he got my old one. Anywho I was happy. Then he was going to take me to my favorite restaurant in Hollywood. I love the stinking rose. Their filet mignon is do die for. I was so glad that he decided to make the drive to take me there. But then I got the best surprise EVER! When we got here my best friend and her boyfriend (Mr. Bumblebee's best friend) were there! I was surprised because the BF has been on tour with Chris Brown for the last 3 months and we all didn't know when we were going to see them. Plus they still live in SCV and we hardly see them compared to what we used to. I was so happy that I had to remind myself that I was in a public place and not to make a huge scene. During the day, Mr. Bumblebee sent me a bouquet of cookies. I love getting flowers just as much as the next girl but I'm a sucker for sending me food. Those cookies are so good! It was also a sweet surprise too. Then, my kids at my school suprised me by being all outside waiting for me to comeback from lunch and then as soon as I walked into the hallway they brought me roses and a card and 80+ kids sang me happy birthday. I was really touched by that gesture. In the card was a $50 dollar gift card from American Express. SWEET! I've only been at the job for 2 full weeks, I'm stickin' around for a while. It was a great birthday.

That weekend my parents came to visit us. Their birthday gift to me was my Disneyland Season Pass, so we went to Disneyland in the pouring rain to renew and then left. But at least I have it again now. I was without it for 2 whole months. Oye.

The next week after that is Mr. Bumblebee's birthday. He turned 25 so we threw a shin dig for him at good old Saddle Ranch. Saddle Ranch isn't known for it's amazing food or anything, more for the bull riding. But Mr. Bumblebee and I and our whole gang has been going to Saddle Ranch since our high school days. It was fun for all of us to reunite to celebrate his birthday at our old stomping grounds. However, I think that is the last time we will visit that place. I had a great time and so did Mr. Bumblebee (although he doesn't remember) but the crowd is gross. My ass was grabbed at least twice and I am just too old to deal with that shit.

I started school...sad day. It's okay though, nothing bad or good to report except that I hate buying text books.

Work is good. I have befriended one girl. She's getting married July 12 this year and so we have a lot to talk about. But her fiance and her just seem to have so much in common with Mr. Bumblebee and I. Sad thing is, S will not be around for long. She's going for her teaching credentials which means she'll eventually move onto better pastures.

Ok, I'll update more often when I can!

p.s. I got a PINK blackberry...oh.so.cute.