Sunday Funday with the 4Foodies

This post is a little belated, but word on the street is that we’ve got a few readers asking why we haven’t been posting any of our culinary adventures lately. Well, the truth is, we’ve been busy – and kinda broke! But whenever we get together with our friends Brittany & Wade, we become the 4Foodies, and we always end up with a crazy food-related day! We spent the Sunday of Labor Day Weekend bouncing from one food quest to another!

crabpot This picture accurately depicts our happiness in discovering that The Crab Pot features $3 mimosas and bloody mary’s from 11-4 every Saturday & Sunday! We can’t recommend sitting out on that sunny, scenic patio and sipping cheap beverages enough! (By the way, The Crab Pot is fully endorsed by Ed, who says it is probably his favorite restaurant in Long Beach. He can’t get enough of “The Feast”) We sampled a crab cocktail, and it was alright – but those $3 drinks induced a huge craving for something else. So, after we’d had our fill of champagne and crab, it was off to the next location that offered something with Brittany & Wade’s “HIGH CRAVEABILITY RATING” …. “THE SPECIAL” at Joe Jost’s!

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Apologies for the dark iPhone photo, but The Special is a hot dog that’s split down the middle with a pickle in it, resting in a cozy bed of rye bread, cheese and mustard. Brittany says YUM!

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Even more legendary than The Special, Ed and Wade are showing off Joe’s famous pickled eggs! Apparently, you gotta get an egg when you go to Joe Jost’s. Wade insists for a good pickled egg experience, you must chase your bite with a peperoncini. So, I even tried one – and as I represent the “sometimes-finicky” segment of the 4Foodies team, I have to admit that after getting over the initial shock value, they weren’t as bad as they sounded! :)

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Amongst all the drinks, specials and eggs, we decided nothing could be more fun than to rent a Duffy boat and cruise around Naples for an hour.  So we gathered two more couples and hit the open sea! We had lots of yummy wine and our favorite pita and hummus from the best Farmer’s Market ever – the Long Beach Southeast Farmer’s Market at the Long Beach Marina, that we scored earlier that day. This is why we live in Southern California!

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Man Overboard! Wade couldn’t contain himself – he had to jump in.

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An awesome 70’s style silhouette pic of Ed & I – so cheesy!

After our escapade on the boat, we went back home to prepare for dinner! Wade swears by “the fish guy” at the Farmer’s Market – and he always scores amazing seafood from him. You see him cut it right in front of you! He’s always got fresh, sushi-grade fish, and Wade always ends up with a masterpiece! He bought swordfish and he made homemade pesto and pasta to go along with it – so there was much to prepare! Wish we would’ve gotten some pics of Wade’s fantastic dinner – but we’ll have to take more next time. Consider it a reason to come back and check up on us!

The verdict is in – and Labor Day Weekend, although gluttonous, was the best ever!

Danna & Jarod’s Wedding!

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Last Saturday, two of our dearest friends got married in Lake Arrowhead.  Danna has been Ed’s best friend since they were 18 – meaning now, they can officially say they have been friends for 1/2 their lives!  Danna was Ed’s Best (Wo)Man  at our wedding, so he got to return the favor by being Danna’s Lad of Honor at her wedding.  I was a bridesmaid too, which made things fun –  we got the unique opportunity to be on the same side of the wedding party!  Since Jarod was also a groomsman at our wedding, favors were being returned all over the place.  Both Ed & I felt very honored to be a part of such a beautiful wedding.

The wedding was really cool, because it was like a mini-destination wedding – we all got to stay at Arrowhead Ranch for the weekend. Because we were in the wedding party, Danna & Jarod hooked us up with a cozy little cabin!  Here is the infamous Cabin 6:
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The location couldn’t have been more awesome.  The ceremony took place in the ampitheater, outdoors among the trees.  It seemed so magical – as one of Danna’s cousin’s put it, it was like being right in the middle of a Midsummer’s Night Dream!

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Also really cool, our other dear friend Rebecca made Danna & Jarod’s wedding cake topper!  It turned out perfect. Rebecca also made the cake topper for our wedding … it’s fun to look at them both!
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Danna looked absolutely gorgeous of course:

And the rest of us girls didn’t look so bad either!

Ed was dashing as the Lad of Honor:

The stunning ceremony location:
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And the bride & groom even cut their cake with Lord of the Rings swords!

We are just so happy for Jarod and Danna! They are a perfect couple – and we love them both dearly. Congrats, Jarod & Danna – the “Wild Mountain Kobers“!

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Lemon Cake Craftiness

To celebrate Danna’s upcoming wedding, of course we had to throw her a bridal shower.  I was lucky to have co-hosted the shower with her cousin, and fellow bridesmaid, Colleen and Danna’s Aunt Mary.  In honor of the bride, I decided to make mini-Lemon Cakes, as Lemon Cake is Danna’s favorite dessert.

To begin, I found these awesome mini-loaf pans from BakeItPretty.com.  I LOVE this site – so many amazing things, because presentation is just as important to me as the taste!

There were 50 guests, so I needed to make 50 Lemon Cakes …

Then, I made little tags to go with the cakes:

And finally, the finished products!

My only regret is that I failed to get a picture of the bride and a lemon cake!  Congratulations, Danna!

The Great German/American Reunion of ’09!

We were FINALLY reunited with one of our dearest and best friends ever – Andreas, and his awesome and very cool girlfriend – Catherine, after almost 6 long years! Andreas lived here in the U.S. for 6 months in 2003 and became part of our crew almost immediately. We had some of the most fun times ever during that time, and were very sad to say goodbye once he had to return to his homeland in Germany. The three of us (Danna, Ed & I) were so sad in fact, that three months later, we went to Europe to hang out again! That’s when we got to meet Catherine. But it’s been a long time since 2003, and we were so happy to have Andreas & Catherine with us. We seemed to have picked up right where we left off, and we had some seriously good times!!!

It’s tough to believe I didn’t take many pictures, but we managed to do a lot. We had a great dinner at Tantalum, went to Olvera Street, saw a show at the Troubadour, experienced Canter’s late-nite style, had a lot of laughs at Old World Village, and even enjoyed what all Germans come to America to do:

Eat an In-N-Out Burger!


(Seriously, it’s no lie – The Germans are always excited about In-N-Out).

Anyway, that’s just the stuff we did with them when we were off work … on their own they managed to fit in Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Naples, Belmont Shore, 4th Street (Vintage Row in Long Beach), The Pike, Venice Beach, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, The Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Palm Springs – and that’s just while they were in SoCal. They even experienced Northern California, because they flew into San Francisco and stayed for a few days, then drove down PCH hitting up Carmel and Monterey before arriving to stay with us. Those Germans are thorough!

But sadly, yesterday was time to say goodbye again after two fun weeks. Ed & I took off work and we hooked up with the rest of the crew, and had one last fun day! We started things off right with a “proper American breakfast” – at no other place than one of our old school faves: Park Pantry.

It was just like the old times!

Andreas & Catherine – we officially just started saving up for our trip to Germany TODAY!

When Carrie gets Crafty …

Our friends Crystal & Jason are having a baby boy in April, so I thought it would be fun to throw a shower so we could all buy them some really hip baby boy stuff!

As soon as the date was decided, my mind immediately went to party favors – and I decided to try my hand at some fancy-schmancy cupcakes. I started googling to find great food packaging ideas, because as a designer, I also think about presentation! In my search, I came across these darling cupcakes from Fancy Flours and I knew I had to incorporate that wrapping somehow!

Lucky me, once I told my dad about my plan, he offered to help. He contributed some of his homemade frosting from his famous cakes, and a little icing help. Thanks, Dad!
(Here he is in action, icing one for me)

After the icing was done, it was time to embellish! I found the cutest little cardboard patterned animals from Martha Stewart … they were too awesome to pass up, so I worked them into the motif:

The final touch was getting them wrapped in their individual cupcake boxes … they were favors afterall, so I needed them to be easy for people to take home with them!

Rhinoceroses, elephants, bears, ducks, horses, kitties …

I also decided to make another diaper cake, because I like the fact that it’s a gift that’s sure to be used. This one had 70 diapers in it, and a pair of Black Chucks on top!

Both Ed & I are really excited for Jason & Crystal and we can’t wait to meet the new little man!