Good Things Are Turquoise Bags

This is a charm. It's adorable, turquoise and it's from Tiffany's. YES PLEASE. Oh - except it's $240.

Find it here Tiffany&Co

Travels

I recently took a girls trip to Vancouver with my friend and the food prospects quickly became a tour of their own. I admit, some tasty tidbits were already planned but soon I was turning to Google for info on the "best places for doughnuts". And so begins my review process which I hope will only encourage you to scout these places out. Let's give praise to the doughnut!

After our arrival at YVR and meeting up with my sister, we made a quick luggage drop then headed out to Deep Cove, BC to enjoy my all-time favorite, amazing, one-of-a-kind at Honey Doughnuts. THESE ARE AMAZING and my number 1 pick!

Please make this place a stop on your next visit to Vancouver.

Next we took a stroll in Granville Island and played a little Skee-Ball at Kid's Only market. No- I am not a kid but they still let us in. After winning a small collection of tickets with our mad bowling skills we purchased a travel mascot for the duration of our stay.

This mascot will now be known as Gullivieve.

The gentleman behind this ice cream counter was kind enough to allow her photo to be taken even though we didn't buy anything.                                                                 My main reason for today's escapade was to check out Lee's Donuts at Granville Island Market.   I had never heard of it until I mentioned my doughnut tour to a few people. Google it and you'll find many great reviews.  Lee's offers a good variety of flavors so I chose a glazed and a peanut. Oh so fresh. Melt in your mouth is how I choose to describe it. Unfortunately I don't have a picture because I ate them too fast. Another shop worthy of honorable mention is Duffins. Originally they held the #1 spot for doughnuts on my list but that was before I found Honey's :)  At Duffins you will find a mix of Chinese fast food, torta subs and doughnuts. It is also open 24/7.                           Next came Seattle! Primarily a shopping trip but I did get one doughnut shop into it. I had three on my list but time did not allow and I've already had a Krispy Kreme anyway. (So good) The one stop was at Top Pot Doughnuts on 5th Avenue. I must say I was disappointed here. We bought a dozen which was quite pricey but we wanted to try as many as we could - actually I think I was the only one by this point that wanted anything to do with doughnuts! They looked good but did not taste fresh. The only one I enjoyed was the Apple Fritter so I highly recommend that one. Plain glazed was a let down. Perhaps I need to try them a different time? By this time I was done....no more ...stomach can't take it. But then I saw the mini doughnut stand in Pike Place Market. Cute machinery - very greasy.

cracked ice never looked so good

 I was surfing the internet this morning looking for ideas to renovate a diner I like downtown. It has so much potential but trapped in between the 70's and 80's with a splash of 90's. If only the owners would renovate...this baby could be good! Their fight is that not enough business comes as it is to justify renovations BUT like in the movie Field of Dreams, I say that if you build it they will come.

I love old vinyl and reproduction "old" vinyl is even better because it's not falling apart. That's why I like
barstoolsandchairs.com. Here's what you can choose from to redecorate your diner....

Cracked Ice Red Vinyl

Cracked Ice Grey Vinyl
and imagine if you had the tables to match....beautiful!









Cracked Ice Yellow Vinyl


For those of you with a wilder imagination you might opt for something along the lines of these....

Zodiac Burgandy










Zodiac Gold











Zodiac Silver

everybody likes turquoise

everythingturquoise.com is a blog my friend came across and sent me. It's like finding all the products you've ever wanted in your favorite color, listed nicely on the screen for you. Thank you for this.

Post after post I was in aw at the site of these beautiful things - until I came to my hearts one desire...

 

KitchenAid Artisan Martha Stewart Blue Collection 5-Qt. Stand Mixer

I was googling cupcake information today and came across this site...Cupcake Provocateur.
Now someone was thinking! If I'm going to spend most of my day baking/cooking in the kitchen, then I better have some good looking aprons to wear while doing it. See?...now we both win!

Why Martha? WHY?

Let me start by saying that I loved Martha's  Ruffle Tower Cake.  Just look at it.
Inspired by ruffled tap pants AND pink...what genius came up with this?
To me it is true baking beauty and I would bake it - oh yeah, it became my mission. HOWEVER my hopes and dreams were smashed into a million pieces, (like when you spill those candy sprinkles out of their container), when I tried making the frosting. The instructions look oh so easy but have you ever tried making Swiss Meringue Buttercream? Don't. 2 cups of butter and 6 egg whites later I was whipping away so anxiously waiting to start piping.

It never happened my friends because I didn't get beautiful creamy buttercream, I got a bowl of wet curdled disaster! It was like I'd poured orange juice in with eggs and tinted it pink. How was I going to frost my friends cake with this? I cried harder then I remember crying before. At this time I looked at the recipe I printed from her website and I thought, "I hate you Martha". Yeah I said it. How dare she let me waste all those ingredients AND have to use a chocolate glaze for a three tiered cake!

Oh Lordy...

someone recently celebrated their 40th birthday and got a double chocolate cake.  I went easy on the decorating but holy cow this cake was delicious! I would love to share it with you but a girl has to keep some things a secret :)