Anyways, today I took a day for what else...but a Giada de Laurentiis book signing!!! Absolutely vacation day worthy.
First things first. I had to take care of my ticket business...especially since today was the very last day. Supposedly an officer was going to check out my car, you know, to make sure that my car was now legally untinted. But alas, the wonderful city of Newport Beach never lets me down, and no one checked my car. Which was unfortunate because I did have it removed on Sunday. Oh well.
Next, I was off to the newest "it" bakery in Irvine...85-degrees Celsius aka the Starbucks of Taiwan. I must say this is a bit of a misnomer because it is so much more than any Starbucks I have ever seen. Ever. They have a huge spread of sweet and savory breads on the right. But the most exciting part is the dessert case! For breakfast, I sampled the strawberry tiramisu and their iced cold coffee for breakfast. The strawberry tiramisu was very light, and the cake was light, but had great texture and was not overly airy. The strawberry mousse was perfect! Not too sweet and very strawberry...not to mention, it was the most beautiful shade of pink. Almost as exciting as the cake was the adorable little box it came in! Love it!
The box. It's like a Build-a-Bear home!
Strawberry Tiramisu. Love the pink. Love.
Happy and fed, I was off to see Giada! Ok...more like, I was off to wait four hours and then see Giada! I got there super early...9:30am, and waited and waited...and waited. Luckily, Maryn kept me company!
Me and Maryn. She was nice enough to get signed books for her mom and sis! I just got one for myself. Call me selfish.
Cause girls throw signs, too. Too bad my "g" is backwards. Yeah...did I mention it was a long wait??
Then, at 1:oopm...it was Giada time! AHHH!!! :D
Sigh...still an AWFUL photographer in the presence of Giada! Check out Maryn's blog for better pics!
Giada was so wonderful and nice. And major bonus: I had an actual convo with her...albeit a 30 second convo...but still. I'm thrilled!!! We talked about her turkey osso bucco! I have to make it!! Maryn and I were genuinely star-struck...and incidentally enough, we developed temporary Italian accents! Parmigiano Reggiano! Mascarpone! Prosciutto! Ok...guess you had to have been there.
I absolutely cannot get over how much I luv this book. Actually, no, I l-o-v-e it. I want to make so many things! This cook book is so complete with appetizers to drinks to pasta to meats to veggies to desserts. And the pages are so wonderfully glossy and the color scheme is just gorgeous. What to do first! How to decide!
While pondering this, I was off to shu uemura to pick up their fabled eye lash curler. I was chatting with the sales associate there, and she let me know that Giada luvs shu uemura...and she in fact knows Giada's make up artist! Ah! And, in Giada's upcoming Christmas episode, she gives her friends shu uemura stuff...which this lady helped pick!!!
And just when this day couldn't get any better... I saw a fabulous outfit while people watching. It was a woman in a cream suit...with a top hat. Yes, I said it...a top hat. But not just any top hat. It was bedazzled with glitter and jewels! It was totally bling-bling top hat. Like, Lil Jon's sister already. Wonderful.
For dinner, Mike took us to a really yummy Mexican place. They have the most amazing taco deal...3 tacos with your choice of meat, rice and beans for $3.50! How is that possible?? I had 2 asada and 1 carnitas with rice and beans please. The beans were creamy, presumably from the lard, but so yummy. But the winner-winner-chicken-dinner taco was the potato taco. The potato taco had a lot of things going for it...the crunchy taco shell was the perfect complement to the smooth potato filling, which was lightly seasoned. Pure tummy happiness!
The flan, however...not so much. The carmel was uncharacteristically dark, which is a tell-tale sign of overly burnt sugar. The custard had a strange texture...somewhat grainy, but oh well. Next time I'll know just to order extra potato tacos.
I'm going to dream about those potato tacos tonight...I just know it.
2 comments:
I am not sure whether I am supposed to see this post! Because Maryn did not tell me that she got me a signed cookbook too (so maybe it's a surprise!?!?!).
But let me just say...when I saw that Maryn had THREE cookbooks, I instinctually knew that one of them was for ME. And I let out an audible yelp of pleasure. And got a tear of happy in my eye.
you're a loser. your genuine glee from the giada signing really freaks me out. and your 30 second convo with her in no way beats wolf gang puck's hand on my shoulder. or was it kara's shoulder. i can't remember
ps maybe you would've received a nicer response if you got me a signed copy too.
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