Favorite Things #40 - Cupcakes

I love cupcakes, anyone who knows me well is aware of this fact. Instead of a cake at our (very casual) wedding we had cupcakes. I ask for cupcakes for my birthday instead of cake. So can you imagine my inner joy when a new friend happened to mention he owns a cupcake business with his girlfriend? I seriously had the urge to hug him and jump up and down like a little girl, but I somehow maintained my composure.

Fast forward to the day after we get back from Amsterdam and I am jet lagged and we have no food in the house. My friend texts me and says he has a present for me and is stopping by. He and his girlfriend had made us cupcakes. Seriously, everyone needs friends like this!!

Those are pumpkin pie cupcakes with pumpkin cream cheese frosting and they were totally amazing.



If you are in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area and need cupcakes I highly recommend Sweet Cakefessions!!

The Best Thing I Ever Made - Sandwiches

I am not a huge sandwich person, but when I do have one I like them to be warm so it is no surprise my best sandwich I ever made is actually a panini! The star ingredient in the sandwich is braised leeks, which I made in this recipe paired with pasta. If you have never made braised leeks before, I highly recommend you at least try that recipe.

If you want to take it to the next cheesy and tasty level, go ahead and try the sandwich recipe



It is funny to me looking back on my blog because I made that recipe in January 2008 and I think my food photography and my blogging have come a long way.

Do you prefer a hot or a cold sandwich or sub?

Amsterdam

I won't bore you with too many words but we had a wonderful time and we already can't wait to go back. Now with some photos!

One thing I have wanted to try since going to Amsterdam the first time in 2008 is Maoz falafel. Tom and I really are not the fine dining type, so street food and things that are quick and easy are more our style. Here is the awesome news, Tom tried falafel...and he LOVED it. We actually ended up at Maoz twice!




I also became a little obsessed with this burger place that was on our street, it was always busy and now I know why. You pick the style of beef you want, toppings and then they cook it up right in front of you.


Not the best photo, but one of the best burgers I have ever had.


Of course we got the traditional Dutch pancakes, mine was cheese and pineapple and Tom's was tomato, onion and bacon.


Not the best photo but this is one of the best things I had there, a smoked salmon, scrambled egg sandwich with sour cream and fresh chives. So simple, but so full of flavor.

And now some scenery pics, and then a photo of one of the very best things I have ever ate in my life...















Finally, the meal I am going to dream about, first of all, here is the view from where we ate...



And this is what I got...

Beef carpaccio with shaved parmesan, pine nuts, arugula and truffle mayonaise served on fresh bread. Seriously, one of the best things I have ever had in my life. I hope you enjoyed all the photos and I will be back to regular blogging soon.

Back from Amsterdam

Well, we are back and life is slowly getting back to normal. Of course now it is time for Thanksgiving and the Holidays, so normalcy will be over again for a while. I will put together a post with more photos but here is one of my favorites of a tiny bar serving many kinds of Jenever, which is a Dutch gin.



I am excited to get back to visiting everyone's blogs! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Favorite Things #39 - Relaxing

We are gearing up for our trip to the Netherlands next week so I am going to be pretty absent from the blogging world for a while. I will try to get one more post in before we go, but I haven't been cooking much and my brain is definitely elsewhere as we plan our vacation.

But all the planning will be worth it when I see this...



This is my favorite beer (Bink) on the table at In de Wildeman in Amsterdam. Sitting here and people watching is one of the best things about being on vacation, just being able to sit back and relax and watch the world go by.

What is your favorite way to relax on vacation?