November 4, 2009

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, I don’t like wasting a bunch of money trying out new beauty products unless something is highly recommended to me by someone who has actually used the product and has had proven results.

That’s the main reason I buy my hair products at my hair salon instead of wasting money at the drug store. You can try out a new shampoo, conditioner or styling product and know that you like it before you buy it.

When I find a beauty product or a brand that works for me, I’m a very loyal customer! I’ll stick with it for years, like I have with all these:

• Origins favorites
• Great Lash Mascara
• MAC eyeshadows
• Donna Karan Cashmere Mist Deodorant
• Prescriptives Traceless, which is now being discontinued! 🙁

But, one thing I CANNOT seem to find is a lipstick that stays on for more than half an hour!  I still buy MAC lipsticks and MAC glosses because I love the colors but I need something that will last!

A few weeks ago, before our trip to Vegas for BlogWorld, I popped in Ulta as a last ditch effort to try to find a long lasting lip product. I ended up walking out of the store with two new products.

Benetint Pocket Pal

After listening to the sales person at the Benefit counter rave about this product, I end up buying this Benetint pocket pal. This product receives great reviews on Sephora and the salesperson went on and on about it.

Benefit claims that this is the original and still the best lip tint and cheek tint available. This stuff didn’t work for me and it wasn’t cheap! I’m still trying to decide whether or not to return it to Ulta.

It was okay on the cheeks, but not that noticeable and not what I had intended on using it for when I bought it. It appears very dark red in the bottle and is a very thin liquid so it goes on more like a light pink, not red. The sales person told me that you can apply one coat, let it dry, apply another, and another, and keep repeating until you get the desired shade.

I probably tried it on four or five occasions when I applied three or more coats of the tint, then applied the gloss and within a very short time, all that was left was a slight tint remaining in all those little lines in your lips. (Not the look I was going for.)

Lorac 8 Hour Long-Wearing Lip Color

The second product I ended up buying was this Lorac 8 Hour Long-Wearing Lip Color and Ultra Glossy Top Coat.

I’m not as disappointed in this product as I am with the Benetint, but it’s just okay. It goes on smoothly and I like the top coat that goes on with a brush instead of a sponge, but it did NOT last 8 hours on me.

So, back to square one!  I actually know women who have had lip liner and lip color tattooed on their lips! Ouch!! I don’t think I’m willing to go to that extreme!

So, here’s my plea for help!  If anyone reading this has found a great lipstick with some real staying power, please share it with us! Pretty, please? 🙂

~LilSis

November 3, 2009

Apple flickr photo from Ahmed

The other day I found a stack of little bitty note-size flyers at the checkout of my hippie health food store (actually it’s Natural Grocers/Vitamin Cottage).  It was a summary of  the Dirty Dozen, which are fruits and veggies that you should always buy organic, and the Clean 15, which test lowest for pesticide residues. I was a bit surprised at some of these items.  See what you think:

Dirty Dozen
(worst first)

Peaches
Apples
Bell Peppers
Celery
Nectarines
Strawberries
Cherries
Kale
Lettuce
Grapes (imported)
Carrots
Pears

Clean 15
(best first)

Onion
Avocado
Sweet Corn
Pineapple
Mango
Asparagus
Sweet Peas
Kiwi
Cabbage
Eggplant
Papaya
Watermelon
Broccoli
Tomato
Sweet Potatoes

What surprised me? That broccoli, peas, cabbage, tomatoes, corn and asparagus were relatively clean. I always thought that the safest things to buy conventional had thick skins, like bananas, pineapple or avocados.  I’m a bit surprised too that apples are so contaminated.  It’s good to know, so thanks to the hippie health food store for the itty bitty flyers!

These lists were put together by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, and are part of their Shoppers Guide to Pesticides.  You can download the entire guide in PDF and print it out, or you can download the i-phone app to refer to when you’re out shopping.  I think the app would be super-handy since I’d never have the guide with me at the store.  I don’t even remember my coupons most of the time.  If they could only come up with an app for coupons!

~BigSis

November 2, 2009

Oroweat Turkey Club (photo credit: Oroweat)

For anyone who’s trying to watch their calorie and carb intake, we finally have a great alternative for sandwiches! I’m so hooked on these Oroweat Sandwich Thins!

They come in three varieties, Multi-Grain, 100% Whole Wheat and Honey Wheat. The Multi-Grain variety is my favorite!

These are much thinner than an English Muffin yet aren’t dry at all, even when toasted. Myself, I prefer a thinner bread. I don’t want the bread to dominate my sandwich. I’ve been toasting the sandwich thins and they end up a little crunchy on the outside but still a little pillowy on the inside. For being as tasty as these are, the entire roll is only 100 calories, 5 grams of fiber and only one gram of fat!

Since I work from home, I eat lunch at home almost every day.  I’m a creature of habit, too, so I usually end up having the same thing for lunch every day and it’s usually a turkey sandwich of some kind.

The sandwich pictured here is the Turkey Club recipe from Oroweat. It’s a great sandwich choice at only 343 calories and 8 grams of fat.

Turkey Club

1 Oroweat Multi-Grains Sandwich Thins Roll
3 ozs. thinly sliced smoked turkey
1 slice cooked turkey bacon
1 slice reduced fat cheddar
1 slice reduced fat swiss
1 t. honey mustard
red onion, tomato, and leaf lettuce

In an effort to cut back on the calories just a little bit more, I eliminate the bacon and I substitute one wedge of Laughing Cow Light Swiss for the two slices of reduced fat cheese. I just spread half of the Laughing Cow wedge on each sandwich slice on top of the mustard. By making just a few changes, you can have a healthy, filling sandwich for less than 300 calories!

For those of you that are lucky enough to have a Trader Joe’s nearby, you’ll have to try a Trader Joe’s roasted chicken patty on a toasted Multi-Grain Sandwich Thin. I just recently discovered these chicken patties and they are only 140 calories and 4 grams of fat.  For a quick and easy lunch, I just spread a little mustard on each toasted sandwich thin, add the chicken patty, some lettuce and tomato and you end up with another fantastic sandwich for less than 300 calories.

And for a breakfast sandwich, I scramble up some Egg Beaters, spray a couple of squirts of “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” on the toasted Sandwich Thins, add a slice of canadian bacon  and you’ve got a great breakfast sandwich for under 300 calories.

I sure hope these sell well because I would hate to see these disappear from the grocery store shelves as quickly as they appeared! If you give these a try, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

~LilSis

November 1, 2009

So, I thought our Chicken Hat Fashion Show was unique to our little family of kitty pies.  Remember when we tormented featured the furkids in the cutest-ever chicken hat?

Ashy the Poo

A very disgusted TomTom in the Chicken Hat

Bruschi (K's kid)

Brady (K's other kid)

Now, I find out that the Cheezburger cats are working the chicken hat too!  ^..^  I guess we started a trend!  I swear we were first!

I Can Has Cheezburger, and Cute Chicken Hat?

As cute as our cats are, they don’t seem to enjoy modeling as much as the Cheezburger cat does.  Maybe modeling school would help?

~BigSis

October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween from TomTom

When I saw this little witch hat at Petco, I couldn’t resist buying it for TomTom. Can you tell how much he loves it? 🙂

This is actually the only photo I was able to get with his eyes open. He gets so humiliated when I put a hat on him that he won’t even look at me! It’s probably a combination of humiliation and anger. (He’s probably sitting here secretly plotting how he’s going to get back at me for making him do this.)

If you’ve been reading us for a little while, you know that both BigSis and I can’t resist the temptation to stick little hats on our Furkids! We just have a little thing about “Cats in Hats”! 🙂

Since BigSis’ furkids didn’t want to cooperate this year when she brought out the pirate hat, I decided to repost their photos from last Halloween when they were both witches.

I love the witch hat with braids! It looks great on Gaby!

Gaby looking handsome in his witch hat!

And it looks cute on Ashy too!

Ashy looking not too happy about his hat!

We hope everyone has a Happy and Safe Halloween! Don’t forget to set your clocks back an hour at midnight tonight!

~LilSis

October 30, 2009

Just in case you didn’t get enough chocolate overload from the Texas Sheet Cake, this recipe should definitely send you into fudgey orbit!

Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Outrageous Brownies are my go-to brownies.  I love them with walnuts and chocolate chips (cause there isn’t enough chocolate in them already!), but on holidays I love to make them with Oreos instead.  It’s an idea that came from Joe at Culinary in the Country.  For the SPCA Bake Sale last December, I made them with Christmas Oreos and they looked adorably festive.

So here we are at Halloween.  I don’t celebrate Halloween, other than taking photos of the furkids in hats; when they let me. This year, they didn’t let me.  I found the cutest little pirate hat with black ringlets for them, but would they wear it?  Heck, no.

Oh, yeah, and I like to bake.  Just give me an excuse…holiday, Monday, rain, sun, whatever.  Any reason.

This recipe makes a huge amount of fun, crunchy, rich, and cutely Halloweenie brownies.  Go make some friends.

~BigSis

October 29, 2009

Wow! I can’t believe Halloween is only two days away! Where has this month gone? It’s been so warm here in Southern California this month that it doesn’t even feel like it should be Halloween. How can it be Halloween when HayHay has a surf meet on Saturday? It’s just weird!

Luckily, it has cooled off a little bit at night this past week, because for Halloween, I love to make a huge pot of chili to share with friends and neighbors. I’m not sure when I started this tradition, but I know it’s been at least ten or twelve years because I did it when we lived in Texas when HayHay was only 3 years old. I’ve got some great memories of all us parents taking turns either walking the kiddos around the neighborhood trick or treating or staying back at the house passing out candy.

It’s not quite the same now since we don’t have little ones to walk around the neighborhood, but we still love to get our friends together for a bowl of chili on Halloween!

I originally posted my chili recipe back in January for a Super Bowl party, but I’m going to put it up again today because this is such a great recipe to make for a Halloween get-together.

LilSis’ Chili Con Carne

3 pounds lean ground beef
One sweet onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 dark beer
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (28 oz) can tomato sauce
1 can dark kidney beans (drained)
1 sm. can corn (I use Green Giant Sweet vacuum packed)
4 – 5 tsp. Penzeys Chili Con Carne spice*
2 chopped roasted poblano peppers (optional)
1/4 t. cayenne
1/2 t. onion powder
salt to taste
1 T. olive oil

Toppings:
chopped onion
chopped jalapeno
fritos
oyster crackers
sour cream
grated cheddar cheese

*The Penzeys Chili Con Carne spice, formerly known as my secret ingredient, is so different from just a regular chili powder. It’s the reason why you don’t see cumin or a bunch of other spices listed in the recipe. Here are the ingredients in this one amazing spice: ancho chili pepper, tomato powder, ground cumin, Mexican oregano, garlic, coriander, onions, red and green bell peppers, Tellichery black pepper, allspice, cilantro, and cloves. If you don’t have a Penzeys store nearby, you can order online from the Penzeys Spices website.

Saute the chopped onion in the oil in a large saucepan until onion is soft. Add the ground beef, salt and minced garlic to the pan and brown until beef is cooked throughout. Drain the beef and return to the pan. Add the beer to the beef and simmer for 15-20 minutes on medium heat. Add the diced tomatoes and simmer for another 15-20 minutes. Simmer for longer if you want the tomatoes to cook down more. Add the tomato sauce, roasted peppers, and Penzeys Chili Con Carne spice. Simmer for another 30 minutes or so. Add the cayenne pepper, onion powder and additional salt if necessary. (This is the stage where you can adjust the seasonings to your own taste. This isn’t like baking, so add whatever you want here.)

Once you have your chili seasoned just right, add the can of beans and the corn and just heat throughout. This can be served right away or put in a crockpot to stay warm for hours. And, it’s even better heated and served the next day.

I usually set up a buffet style bar and put out all the toppings so everyone can add whatever they like! Enjoy and have a Happy Halloween!

~LilSis

October 28, 2009

This is not cake.  I know that Cook’s Country calls it cake, but it’s not cake.  It’s a slab of rich, dense, ooey-gooey chocolate decadence.

Cook's Country Texas Sheet Cake

I baked this for my boss’s birthday, and I think it went over well! The usual Texas Sheet Cake or Sheath Cake is delicious. In fact, it’s SisMama’s signature cake and the one we all request for birthdays. It’s a lighter cake than this though. Both recipes contain cocoa powder in the batter and icing, but this Cook’s Country version also includes a half pound of semisweet chocolate in the batter! That’s where the fudginess comes in!  I’d call this more of a brownie, but whatever you call it, I call it yummy!

Texas Sheet Cake
(Cook’s Country)

Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs plus 2 yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder

Chocolate Icing
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped

1. For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 18- by 13-inch rimmed baking sheet. Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Whisk eggs and yolks, vanilla, and sour cream in another bowl until smooth.

2. Heat chocolate, butter, oil, water, and cocoa in large saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth, 3 to 5 minutes. Whisk chocolate mixture into flour mixture until incorporated. Whisk egg mixture into batter, then pour into prepared baking pan. Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer to wire rack.

3. For the icing: About 5 minutes before cake is done, heat butter, cream, cocoa, and corn syrup in large saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth. Off heat, whisk in confectioners’ sugar and vanilla. Spread warm icing evenly over hot cake and sprinkle with pecans. Let cake cool to room temperature on wire rack, about 1 hour, then refrigerate until icing is set, about 1 hour longer. (Cake can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.) Cut into 3-inch squares. Serve.

BigSis Notes: I added 1/2 tsp of cinnamon to the batter and used Penzeys Mexican Vanilla, so I used about 1/3 less than the recipe called for.  I used evaporated milk instead of heavy cream in the icing, salted butter rather than unsalted, and toasted walnuts on top in place of pecans.  I baked my cake in a 13 x 9 glass pan, and it took 35 minutes. Cut these pieces small; this stuff is rich! This cake is best at room temperature OR nuked for just a few seconds!  Wowee!!  😀

~BigSis

October 27, 2009

In case you missed our post at the beginning of this month, we went Pink for October to show our support for breast cancer awareness during the entire month of October.

Throughout the month of October, companies around the country step up with pink limited edition products benefiting breast cancer awareness. From laptop cases to beauty products and even applesauce, here are a few of my favorites who donate a percentage of their profits to Susan G. Komen For the Cure.

I LOVE this Komen Milano Pink Ribbon Laptop Case sold on SkyMall. Mobile Edge will donate 10% of the retail sales of each case to Susan G. Komen For the Cure.

The OPI Pink of Hearts 2009 edition nail polish will be sold at specialty retail locations throughout the month of October. If you can’t find it in the stores, it is still available on Amazon. Komen for the Cure will receive a guaranteed $25,000 donation.

Smashbox Photo Finish Lipstick in Babydoll Pink

Smashbox is offering this limited-edition Photo Finish lipstick in their best-selling babydoll pink shade to benefit Susan G. Komen. 40% of the proceeds will go to the Los Angeles County Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Motts Healthy Harvest Appleasauce

Mott’s Applesauce is the newest national sponsor of the 2009 Komen Race for the Cure series. They created several special limited edition applesauces to benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure. I’ve had the Granny Smith and it’s awesome! In 2009, Mott’s will donate $800,000 in connection with their Race for the Cure ® sponsorship, as well as $300,000 for their cause marketing program.  Their total donation for the year is $1.1 million.

Those are just a few of my favorites. Check out Target online to see their huge selection of pink kitchen and housewares products available through October 31st. If BigSis didn’t already have every single kitchen appliance in pink, I might buy her one of these.

Kitchen Aid Toaster

~LilSis

October 25, 2009

In our last post, you were able to catch a little glimpse of us sisters playing around in the Zumanity gift shop. Well, after a lot of thought and many discussions on the subject, plus some expert advice, BigSis and I have decided to bust out from behind the caricatures and expose our real faces!

LilSis and BigSis at Elton's Red Piano

What better time to reveal ourselves than when we’re talking about Zumanity!  You can’t get much any more revealing than that!

This photo was taken at the Elton John Red Piano Concert a few years ago. This was a very special occasion for us as SisMama treated us to the concert and then it ended up being the last trip with were able to take with our Dad.  This is the actual photo we sent to the awesome artist, India Kalff, who designed our header and spent oodles of time helping us with the design of BigSisLilSis.

So, now that you know what we really look like, we thought we’d just go for it and make our very first EVER videos. Why the heck not!  We’re brave girls, huh?  Be kind!  😀  We’re just winging it and having fun!

In this first video, we were on our way to see Zumanity and were really, really excited, and a little nervous/worried, so we forgot to introduce ourselves. In case you hadn’t figured it out, BigSis is brunette and LilSis is blonde.  (No makin’ fun of the accents, okay??  You already know we’re from Texas!)

If we were asked to sum up our thoughts about the Zumanity show in one word, it would be WOW!  In all reality, we were a little stunned after the show and could barely even get one word out. Check it out! (Oh, and notice the creepy lurking guy peaking through the show poster behind us.)  🙂

When we finally snapped out of our Zumanity-induced trances, we did a second “after the show” video with a few more words!

We both really enjoyed and appreciated some aspects of the show.  It is unlike anything either one of us has ever seen, or will see again. The production was incredible and beyond stunning; including the costumes (designed by Thierry Mugler), choreography, contortionism, acrobatics, music, and staging.  It was all truly superb.

One of our favorite performances was the Waterbowl. These two young women swam around in that bowl and performed out of it like they were dolphins.  It was absolutely mesmerizing.  (We added the red heart to the photo so you wouldn’t have to see everything that we saw.  BTW, they do have on itty-bitty undies.)

Zumanity Waterbowl

In all seriousness, to say that Zumanity took this show as far as they could possibly push the envelope – even for Vegas – is an understatement. It’s definitely NOT for everyone. There is a LOT of nudity, plus a drag diva emcee, a kiss between two men, suggestions of lesbianism, and simulations of sex acts that will pretty much curl your hair.  Plus other stuff that we won’t even mention!  We’re still not sure what the scary little horned goat/man creature was about; maybe we don’t want to know!

While Zumanity features incredibly talented people and unbelievable performances, make no mistake about it – this is a very sexually-explicit show. If you choose to see it, be prepared to be shocked at the sexuality and amazed at the performances at the same time.

One last word of advice. Do. Not. Sit. On. The. Front. Row. And don’t make eye contact with any of the characters that roam around. Unless of course, you would enjoy being dragged on stage to have strange men and/or women take your clothes off and perform very suggestive things on you (or to you).

All in all…we guess the final question should be, “would we see it again?”  LilSis says “yes”. BigSis says “nope, once is more than plenty”.  If you’re thinking about seeing this show, we suggest you go to YouTube and investigate some of the videos there so you can make an informed decision.  As for us, we’d really like to see some other Cirque shows since we have a huge appreciation for the athleticism and talent we saw in Zumanity.

*Disclosure: BigSis and LilSis received free press tickets from Cirque du Soleil, with the understanding that we would tweet or post about the show. As you can see, we were very honest about our opinions!