Hello!

Hey there! Just came back from Europe and I had a fabulous time just walking, shopping, eating, and sleeping! Haha! Story of my life..... If I had to chose five meals of the trip that were outstanding they would be:

Croissants and Hot Chocolate at Cafe Angelina (Paris)

Chocolate Banana Crepe from Le Comptoir (Paris)

Lebanese Food at a place where they only have the name in Arabic (London)

Chicken and the best Plum Tart at 7eme Vin (Paris)

Fabulous Indian food from Malabar (London)

Now, I will go into depth about these amazing meals!

At Cafe Angelina, where we had breakfast in Paris at least half of the time we were there, the pain au chocolat, or in American, the chocolate croissant was so buttery, flaky and chocolatey! The hot chocolate there was rich and every sip was full of fabulous flavor! Everything at Angelina was scrumptious!

My friend, Joanne, recommended that we go to Le Comptoir for dinner. Unfortunately, we were not able to go there for dinner but, we did have the most amazing crepe there for lunch. My brother and I both had decadent chocolate banana crepes and my parents shared a marvelous egg and cheese crepe. We walked over to Luxembourg Gardens and ate our amazing crepes on a park bench. That was by far my favorite afternoon of the trip!

When we had Lebanese food, everything was an adventure. I had never had Lebanese food before other than the exception of hummus and tabouleh. Lebanese food is delicious! I had shish taouk which is chicken grilled in lemon and garlic displayed on a skewer. It was really good and full of spices. For dessert, we had baklava and mint tea.

At 7eme Vin, we had classic French cuisine. My brother and I both had the roasted chicken with rosemary cream sauce and rice and broccoli on the side. The chicken was outstanding. It was cooked perfectly and everything about it tasted fabulous! Then for dessert we had their special which was, what we would call in America, a plum buckle tart. The plums were juicy and sour and the crust was buttery and crunchy.

Everybody knows that London is famous for their fabulous Indian food, so we just had to have Indian food when we were in London. We went to Malabar which is hidden on a dark side street with pretty much nothing else but homes and apartments on it. It was a small space, but the food was phenomenal! My favorite was the yellow dahl which is lentils and other spices cooked together. The dahl was so flavorful and spicy!

There will be pictures and pictures to come!

Watermelon! ;D

Because watermelon is so in season, I cannot wait to try this delicious looking recipe! MMMM! Watermelon lemonade! In fact, we just got watermelon from Whole Foods, so maybe I'll have to try it today or tomorrow! I will totally keep you updated!

http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/07/watermelon-lemonade/

xoxo,

stella

vietnamese tacos...

interestingly enough i found a food truck that has vietnamese tacos. never thought i would come across this....

http://nomnomtruck.com/la/menu/

xoxo,

stella

Pizookies!!!!!

On the last day of school, we always decide to do something special! So, this year, we made pizookies! Pizookies are deep dish cookies with vanilla ice cream on top. They are literally the most amazing desserts ever. They are the ideal comfort food and ought to cheer anyone up! We went to Sur La Table to get our ramekins and we had a bit of a confusion! Get the 4" ramekins if you and someone else are going to split the pizookie. If you are having a pizookie alone, get the 3" ramekins. Have fun eating your pizookies and comment to tell me how they turned out!

http://whiteonricecouple.com/recipes/baked-goods-sweet/chocolate-chip-cookies-a-la-mode/

xoxo,

stella! ;D'

P.S. The batter also makes UH-mazing cookies!

Gjelina!

Hey guys! My new favorite restaurant is called Gjelina and it is on Abbot Kinney. First off, the environment is so warm and comforting. The lights are dimmed and you can sit either at a communal table or at a reserved table. I actually prefer the communal tables. They have fabulous lemonade and AMAZING mushroom, goat cheese, fontina, and truffle oil pizza. Everything blends together perfectly! Gjelina is overall an A+ place and you should definitely try it!!

http://www.gjelina.com/

Cupcake Wrappers and Bakery Boxes!

Hi everybody! Today I was surfing the web and I found these adorable cupcake wrappers and bakery boxes. They are so upbeat and colorful! What I love about the pink bakery boxes is that they are so traditional and classic yet fun and cute! Also, if you don't already know, I am obsessed with polka dots, so I L-O-V-E these cupcake wrappers!!!!! I know that I am just going to have to get them for my mom's birthday, May 8, which also happens to be Mother's Day! http://shopsweetlulu.bigcartel.com/

The Wednesday Chef!

Hey guys! I am so hungry right now (waiting for dinner to be done) and I am getting hungrier by the minute as I surf The Wednesday Chef. The Wednesday Chef is a fabulous food blog with salivating recipes written by Luisa Weiss who live in Berlin, Germany. Here are the recipes that I am going to have to make and tell you guys about! French chocolate granola, maple pecan muffins, chickpea salad with four-minute eggs, arugula and potato soup, sesame noodles, pappardelle with peas and parmesan, and many, many more!!