The Cheesecake Factory

The Cheesecake Factory seems like it is a must visit for most here in Salt Lake ever since it opened up. I have been to one in Chicago, Houston, and Seattle. We went to celebrate Heather's birthday and they did a cute little thing with the cheesecake we ordered for dessert. Although the company was fabulous my final opinion is...

Jack of all trades (the menu is seriously a novel, we were making jokes like, "how about the one on page 13, third paragraph down?") master of none.

Granatto's , Oneity, and Luna's Italian Ice

We started the afternoon with a short dance class for Eva then walked over to Caputo's Deli. I asked for a recommendation and he said that, surprisingly, the turkey is their most popular. I told him I am daring and like a lot of flavor so he recommended the Muffaletta or the Godfather. I got the Muffaletta and loved it. It was perfect for me, flavorful, moist, and filling. The kids shared a spaghetti with meatballs and both seemed to like it.

After that we walked over to Oneity, one of my favorite places to buy clothes for Eva and Samuel. It is very... whatever Walmart is not. I love that about this place. They have cute stuff, good sales, and then they actually help people out along the way. They have some really cute summer dresses in right now.

This summer, they are selling Luna's Italian Ice outside their store so we gave it a try. It totally reminded me of those Grandma's Frozen Lemonades that you can buy at football games from the vendors that walk around. It was like a sorbet but a little creamier. I liked it at first, my lime and mango were super tasty, but as with many frozen fruity desserts, I putter out at the end. Seriously, the first few bites are so amazing and then towards the end I fall out of love.

You know how some people are good at ordering? Eva for some reason is just not one of those people. She orders, and then ends up wanting whatever somebody else has. No one wants to trade because she ordered something lame, so sometimes I just order knowing I am going to have to give some of it up. This is her and her "this is too sour" lemon Italian Ice.

I have gone into Samuel's primary class to see his teacher try and convince him to use a crayon other than blue. So, it goes with his food, too. "I want blue," he says. The name was Blue Moonberry.

So, even though all three of us couldn't finish (me, because I am weird with frozen fruity stuff. Eva because it was too sour. Samuel, because how much blue can one person handle?). I would still recommend it because I love Oneity and the first few bites were really that good.

Bellisimo Gelato

This is a photo of Karl "teaching" Samuel to share his gelato.

It seems like gelato places are popping up right and left. Either that or I haven't noticed them so much in Salt Lake before. Well, it seems like this is the year of the gelato for me (I know, I have high aspirations, don't I?).

Even though I love the idea of someone having a great idea, working hard, and making a living off of it, seems like it doesn't always work out. Businesses need that certain oomph (along with my high aspirations, I also have a lot of business know how. Do you like that technical description... oomph?) I am afraid this one does not have it. My lack of experience with gelato doesn't make me a fair judge of the place but I do know I have had better and the atmosphere is, well, boring. They did have coupons in a community calendar but I didn't bring them with me, sad.

Good enough to eat there... with a coupon.

Cards

I haven't been able to get started on scrapbooking even though everything about me wants to. I just get paralyzed by all the choices and I usually don't like my work a few days later. That is why I like to make cards and calanders. I get to make them and then give them away. I made these for our Relief Society service auction. The funny thing is that my friend Paula won them, I would have made them for her anyway.

Girly onesies

Here are some more onesies that I just made. Onesies are great for people like me that want results fast.

The first one I sewed a ruffle on the waist and then sewed a 1 inch grosgrain over the raw edges.

The second one I emroidered three lazy daisies and then made the stems extra long. I also put a tiny scallop around the neck.

The last one I scanned a scrapbook paper that I liked, printed it out on iron on transfer paper, cut it out and then ironed it on. I also emroidered French knots around the neck and the sleeves.

Self inflicted pain called a cleanse

Karl knows better than anyone that I am a sucker for advertising. Someone was very convincing and got me to do this 9 day cleanse about a year ago. Karl's friend was a distributer and gave me his price on the stuff. Otherwise it is a huge MLM thing and you end up signing up for big commitments just to get a discount.

Since I seem to not know how to explain things briefly, here is the long explanation:

-2 "pre cleanse" days if it is your first time ever- eat gross shakes and 500 calories.

-Official cleanse starts. Day 1-2. Drink this gross juice and 8 oz water. You are supposed to mix it in the water but I found that just prolonged the disgusting taste so I just guzzled the juice and then washed it down with the water. I forgot to drink enough water on the first day and woke up super dehydrated. Whoops.

-Day 3-7. Drink 2 disgusting shakes or the new soups. Both were unbearable. I found that a banana blended with the shake helped and the soup I got a huge straw and by the last day I could down that thing in a few seconds no joke. You can also eat 500 calories worth of healthy foods. It was my personal challenge to eat as much volume as I possibly could within the 500 calories.

-Day 8-9. Only have that gross juice again.

-Everyday you take two pills and if you are hungry you can eat these chalky "snacks" that I couldn't ever learn to stomach so I just did without. One time Courtney got me to envision a stale brownie and I could eat one but after that I couldn't focus hard enough and I could only envision chalk. Gross.

So you may wonder, "Why all that suffering?" I love the results. The first time I saw huge difference. The second time a saw a small difference. This last time I was just getting rid of my leftovers and didn't take it really serious. On days 8-9 I ate bacon wrapped pork, a hydrogenated oil dipped ice cream cone, french fries, gross amusement park food, and tub of movie popcorn. Not kidding. I did lose a few so it was still worth it. I also feel pretty good, a little kick off for the summer.

I do worry about messing with my metabolism and stuff like that but I have not patience to get results the good fashioned way. This isn't as drastic as some cleanses like Karl's lemonade diet or anything like that. I think it works because the gross shakes and juices have tons of vitamins that make your body think you aren't starving. It is hard for me because I love to eat so much. I also go in to it realizing that the weight and "toxins" can come back just as easily as they left.

Asparagus, Green Bean, and Hearts of Palm Salad Recipe

I ussually have a few restaurant reviews by now but I am doing this stupid stupid stupid 9 day cleanse. I complain the whole time but I love the results so I am doing it for the third time. I had leftover stuff from the first and second times and so once this stuff is gone, so hopefully this is the last. So instead, I am posting a salad that I love that has totally saved me. I get the munchies at night and usually reach from something chocolatey and delicious but tonight I grabbed a bowl of this and don't feel totally deprived.

Paula, my fellow food adventurist, introduced me to this recipe.

The salad is from Martha Stewart so you can just click on the (longest I have ever seen in my life) link:
http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.aced15a43a1d10e593598e10d373a0a0/?vgnextoid=1944b4317ff33110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextchannel=2ac60eb74ce5f010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=print&rsc=communitytools_tv&lnc=38f9cf380e1dd010VgnVCM

I made it once following the recipe exact. I made it another time substituting a can of artichoke hearts for the hearts of palm and it was good too. For the cleanse I cut the oil in half and used two Stevia packets instead of sugar. Stevia is a natural calorie free sweetener.