An eventful four days on the east coast..

I'm finally back from my trip to New York and New Jersey, and man am I wiped out: back with terrible dose of the common cold. But nonetheless, the trip was well worth it. So what was the best part? Good company, food,.. and surprisingly, beautiful weather. My friends and I made it our goal to eat only authentic east coast foods including: Lombardi's Pizza (original NY pizza), Rice to Riches (seen in the movie Hitch; rice pudding + toppings!), Bobby Flay's Burger Palace (where you can "crunchify" anything.. meaning you can put potato chips in any burger), Nellie's (Monmouth's signature late night college student food), NY Cheesecake at the Roxy's, Stewart's Root Beer, and New Castle Burgers.

















































Monmouth University has a beautiful campus where it is home to President Woodrow Wilson's summer estate and the movie Annie was filmed. The university has preserved the estate and has transformed the rooms into administration as well as classrooms.

























On our last day, we encountered one of the wierdest things.. they were giving out milk generated by cloned cows: "Cyclone Milk". We were all kind of iffy when trying the product, but Justine went right at it.

Lazy Sunday

Today, I didn't do much by watch the Food Network, hours of movies on HBO such as 21, baking red velvet cupcakes with my little sister (Mmmm..), and then pigging out on Thai food with the family.







I'll be leaving for New York and New Jersey in a day, I'm so excited! The only thing I'm not looking forward to is the 40 degree weather compared to sunny Socal's.

One of the many reasons I love my job:

Working in child-care has probably been one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever had; No explanation needed.

I've been spoiled lately..

I came home to a bright and shining Cuisinart Hand/Stand mixer sitting on top of my kitchen counter, which has probably been at the top of my wishlist-of-baking-supplies for a while now. :) Brandon thought he could try to cover up his surprise by saying it "came in the mail". ;)













So whats the first thing I baked?

Brandon's Favorite - Oatmeal Raisin Cookies!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 sticks (6oz) unsalted butter; softened but still firm
3/4 cup light brown sugar (firmly packed!)
2/3 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups rolled oats (Use Quaker Old Fashioned or Quick Cooking, Do NOT use instant)
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour; sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups dark seedless raisins
1/2 cup walnuts; chopped (optional)


Instructions:
(1)In a bowl or an electric mixer (heh, heh, heh) or mix by hand, beat butter with sugars for around 3 minutes. After mixture is creamy, beat in one large egg and vanilla extract.
(2) With a wooden spoon, mix in oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, raisins and walnuts.
(3) Drop heaps of cookie on an ungreased cookie sheet, and make sure you place them around 2 inches away from each other (because cookie will grow around 2 times the size)
(4) Bake for 10-12 minutes, keeping a close eye until edges are golden brown. If preferred, bake until center is golden for a crispier cookie.
(5) Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes before transferring onto cooling rack.

Recipes makes around 20-26 cookies.

Wah-lah! You've got yummy oatmeal raisin cookies. :)