Cake Boss

I have watched Cake Boss for a few years. I am just amazed at how Buddy can get cakes to be so amazing! When his book came out last year I had to read it, but I have not attempted any of the recipes. Rachel had to go to New York last week for work. She was able to give herself time to go to Hoboken New Jersey to see Carlos Bakery..so jealous. But she loved me enough to come back with these:The lovely packaging--

The goodies inside: Chocolate and regular canolis. The chocolate are better, but they are soooo tasty! A chocolate mousse cake (it was ok....not my favorite) a chocolate truffle (SO GOOD-- maybe even better than the canoli. I need to taste it again to decide) and lobster tails. The lobster tails were ok. I mostly wanted them because after reading the book I learned how HARD it is to make the dough. Good, but I liked the others better.

and then me enjoying every bite. (Who cares that I was sick and should have waited!)


Maybe I will need to find me a guy from this area of the world so Buddy can make me a cake...here's to dreaming!
Thanks sis--loved every bite!

Utah

I had a lovely time in Utah mid-Oct. So good to see family and friends. Mostly what I did was set up lunch or dinner dates with friends-- that way I was sure to get in my friend time and favorite Utah places (Zuppas, Cafe Rio, Brick Oven) and I was introduced to Yogurt Stop-- SO GOOD! You get to build your own yogurt concoction and man I do a good job! Maricopa has a Yogurt Jungle which is the same..

Life keep plugging away. I can finally say AZ weather is getting nice. The mornings are cool and the days are under 95 now! YEAH!!!

I am just waiting on a background check and THEN I will finally have my massage license. This has taken forever! But I am very happy with the classes I got to take. I feel like a better therapist now. I will work at Massage Envy...because... I am filling out mission papers! I hope to leave before March. It is crazy, but I am so excited.

Pics of Kauai

I guess SLIDE is no longer doing slide shows so this is how you get to see some more of my pics. I got them from Darlene. I am going to make a scrapbook so if you want to see the whole trip...come see me!

Kauai Day 9

I was the first to leave--Darlene and her Dad flew home on Sunday. But we had to leave the time-share and they were going back to the cousins home. We got to go to a few more shops...and that was about it! When at the cousins I saw these cute critters:

And this was my send-off view from the time share

I think we saw 3-4 rainbows the whole stay. I miss Ono Shaved Ice. And the cooler weather!
I really had a wonderful time! Aloha!

Kauai Day 8

This was Friday-- the last full day on the island. And it rained. I kind of liked it. So, we had seen so much we decided to shop this day. It was fun. We got some good deals on things because it was "sidewalk sale" day. Not sure if that happens every weekend or not (like the going out of business sign that is there year round for us silly vacationers) but it was successful for all of us! Due to shopping we got to tour most of the island too! I really wanted to see a sea turtle--so we went to Poipu beach. And I saw a HUGE sea turtle! (Again need pics from Darlene so I can prove it.) There were several chickens at this beach:

and lots of Plumeria:

They smell so good!!!
Thankfully it did stop raining so we could enjoy this beach. It was really rocky so not much fun for swimming, but still beautiful!
This night we watched "Soul Surfer". It was fun to watch as most of it was filmed on Kauai (as that is where she is from!) I recognized a lot of the places. Great movie.
Good times in Kauai!

Kauai Day 7

Another beautiful day. We decided to drive south for this day. We saw the Spouting Horn



This also had a great place to shop! I love the cheap jewelry! But it is so nice!
I also had to try a Puka Dog. This place had polish sausages...wrapped in a bun...I chose a pineapple salsa and Hawaiian sauce. SO GOOD!

I loved the yellow hibiscus all over the island.

Then we went up to the Waimea Canyon-- the grand canyon of Hawaii

Now that I live in AZ I guess I should go visit the actual Grand Canyon!
Then we got to see views of the island like this:

and then some hydrangea:

Such a beautiful place.

Kauai Day 6

We got up EARLY today. We had to drive to the southern end of the island for our boat tour. I wish I had brought a jacket or sweatshirt with me. I was just so excited for cooler weather I didn't think I would be cool! Anyhow we got to said boat place at 6 AM. We launched about 6:30. We got to have a nice breakfast on the Catamaran. All of us took some dramamine as we left which was a good thing. Poor Darlene should have had more. It was a pretty ride out. They moved quick... we got to stop and watch the Spinner Dolphins. I think we saw about 20 of them. So beautiful! That was really great for me as I LOVE dolphins. We also saw a lot of flying fish--so COOL! We went to around the Na Pali coast. SO beautiful. So many movies have been filmed on Kauai. The guy showed us where the recent Pirates movie was filmed. We went back really slow so we could get good pictures. (Darlene will someday send me those.) The water was so BLUE!!!
We then went to a place where the top of a volcano comes out of the water. This is where we snorkled. Saw some amazing fish. A Sea Lion came to check us out and swam below us. COOL! Then we got to see the "forbidden island" It is a very private island and you really have to be special or $$ to go to it.
The way back-- we went through a place where 3 currents came together. Darlene and I were at the very back of the boat because she had been a little sick on the way out...I was bouncing around like CRAZY! It was fun for me-- like a roller coaster. I made the guys nervous so they finally found a place for me to sit so I wouldn't go flying off the boat (and I really came close 2-3 times.) Darlene's Dad said the waves had to be 20 feet high in some places! I have no idea. The water kept spraying me so I had my eyes closed. I just know it was intense!
Next to the boat charter place was a chocolate factory. YUM!!! I got some great chocolate---I want more!
We went back to our timeshare. It was a "7 hour tour".
A wonderful Day! I can't wait to see the pictures!