April 29, 2009

My friend SAA left for an awesome trip to France this week for a wedding.  The bride is Cambodian and the groom is German, so of course they’re getting married in Paris! Can you imagine a more unique wedding ceremony?  I can’t wait to see the pictures.

I don’t need much reason to bake, so to wish SAA bon voyage, I made a pastry called Danish Puff.  It’s essentially pate a choux, a dough that is used to make beignets, cream puffs and eclairs.  Not that I could compete with French pastry; I just thought this was an appropriate adios treat, or should I say au revoir treat!  I got this recipe from a coworker almost 20 years ago and I still love it.  You’ll notice there isn’t any sugar in the whole recipe except for the glaze, which I really like.  It’s easier than the results might indicate, so just pretend you slaved all day on this dessert!  Let’s make this baby!

Besides being easy, this recipe is cheap.  These are all the ingredients you’ll need.

You probably have these items on hand already.

Danish Puff

Pastry:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons water

Topping:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 eggs

Glaze:
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 3 tablespoons warm water
3/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

For the pastry, cut the butter into flour using 2 knives or a pastry blender. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of water over, and stir with a fork until dough comes together. Divide into two balls. Pat dough into two long strips on an ungreased baking sheet, about 12 inches long and 3 inches wide.  Strips should be around 3 inches apart.  Set aside.

The crust strips patted out...don't stress about making them perfect!

In a medium saucepan, heat the butter and water to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and add almond extract and flour.  Stir vigorously over low heat for about 1 minute, until the mixture forms a ball. Beat in the eggs (all at once) until smooth and glossy. Divide in half and spread over the strips on the baking sheet.

After the topping is added to the unbaked crust layer.

Bake for about 1 hour, or until topping is brown and crisp.

Halfway through the baking time...getting puffy and pretty!

Cool. Topping will shrink and fall, forming the custardy top of the puff.

Out of the oven and cooling. How easy was that?

Mix all glaze ingredients together with an electric mixer until smooth, adding water by tablespoons until a good spreading consistency is achieved.  Frost the puffs and sprinkle with the almonds.

Voila!

Next time I’m trying this with a dark chocolate glaze, and toasted pecans on top!

~BigSis

April 28, 2009

With Cinco de Mayo only one week away, it’s time to start your party planning! For me, Cinco de Mayo is just another great excuse to host a Fiesta! What better time to invite friends over for great Mexican food, margaritas, and cervezas?

So, if you’re planning a get together for Cinco de Mayo, you might want to check out these E-vite emails that would be cute for a Cinco De Mayo party. I like this Margarita Time theme.

Margarita Time E-vite

Here are a few other sites that might be helpful while planning your Cinco de Mayo Fiesta!

• Take a peak at shindigz for Cinco de Mayo party decorations.
• Check out  Food Networks’ selection of Cinco de Mayo recipes.
• Like tequila? Look at Delish for a great tequila cocktail menu.
• Having kiddos at your party? Check out pinatas.com.

I might have to buy one of these cute mini Parrot pinatas!

I’m excited about planning my Cinco de Mayo Fiesta! Big Sis and I both love Mexican food and hopefully, you do too! Stay tuned later this week for our BigSisLilSis Cinco de Mayo menu.

~LilSis

April 27, 2009

I got home from California to find hairballs on the carpet, but I found ZERO food in the house.  You know how you try to let your perishables all run out before you leave for on vacation?  That’s what I did, which makes sense, but I haven’t had anything to eat for dinner all week except random crackers, string cheese and scrambled eggs.  Sad, huh?

So tonight on the way home from work I stopped at Sam’s Club for a few things.  Did you know that you can get some great deals on produce there?  The first time I seriously browsed their produce department I was shocked.  I guess I expected to find tired old stuff that was past it’s prime, but I’ve never seen that to be the case.  I do find great deals and good quality.

Here’s what I got tonight for under $35.

• Baby spinach – beautiful tiny leaves, triple washed (1 lb)
• Shredded romaine – triple washed (2 lbs)
• Whole button mushrooms (1-1/2 lbs)
• Cherub grape tomatoes (2 lbs)
• Avocados – a perfectly ripe bag of 5
• Frozen sliced strawberries for smoothies (5 lbs)
• Frozen tiny broccoli florets, not the hard yukky stems (4 lbs)

That’s a heck of a lot of food that will make me salads, sides and smoothies for at least a week. If I’d picked that all up at a regular grocery store, I would have expected to pay more than double that price.  The strawberries alone would have cost me more than half of that total amount.  Target has a 12 ounce bag of berries on sale for $3, so 5 pounds at that rate would be $20.  I got 5 pounds for $8.76!  Sam’s also had some gorgeous phaleonopsis orchids, geraniums and ferns today – all at fabulous prices!

The next time you’re at Sam’s Club picking up a prescription or waiting for your new tires to be put on, wander through the produce department.  You might be pleasantly surprised to save some money on your family’s food bill! Oh, and you get 30% off on all the magazines they carry, and you KNOW how LilSis and I love magazines!   If you’ve saved some dough on your food, you can justify a magazine or two!

~BigSis

April 26, 2009

Before we move on to another topic, we’ll leave you with one more post on eyes.  If you could find effective treatment products for puffiness, dark circles and crows feet, what would be the next step?  I would say it’s finding the right makeup application method and colors for your eyes, your face and your style.  It can be tricky, and can take some trial and error.  If you’re in doubt and need another opinion, take advantage of the expertise of makeup artists at your favorite makeup counter.  You know by now that LilSis and I head for the MAC counter, where they have some fabulous MUAs who can help you.  You can even get a free makeup application from the MAC gurus if you make an appointment ahead of time.  I’ve been at the counter on a Saturday afternoon when a bride has come in – complete with veil and fancy updo – for her wedding MU application.

One person who has definitely found a look that suits her and looks gorgeous is Gala Darling of Icing fame.  I’m not sure that I could get away with aqua eyeliner (definitely not during the workday), but Gala not only makes it work but makes it her unique beautiful style.

Photo by Gala

Isn’t this a stunning photo?  Even if these colors aren’t your thing, take a lesson from Gala and just try something new.  It’s really easy to get in a rut with your daily face, and you never know if something else works til you try it!

BTW, LilSis, your spies were right.  I’m absolutely preparing a “Hairball Show and Tell”.  I do have my reasons, so stay tuned!

~BigSis

April 25, 2009

Did I notice results from the University Medical Face Lift WrinkleFree Eyes? I can honestly answer yes to that question! And, I gotta tell ya, I am really surprised. I wasn’t expecting to see a noticeable difference after just one usage.

I’m more impatient than you, BigSis! I used all three products right away.

• First, I used the micro-charged eye patches. Instead of 20 minutes, I might have kept them on for an extra five minutes accidentally. I didn’t experience any tingling or itching at all. When I took them off, I was pretty impressed with the immediate results.  I don’t know if they should go so far as to call it a 20 minute botox because the patches don’t make the lines completely disappear as botox does. (And yes, I admit to occasionally getting my pesky little crows feet injected with botox.)

The true test will be to see how long this lasts.  If the results are still noticeable after a week until time to use the patches again, I’d be sold. I wouldn’t even mind keeping these on hand to use before a special event.

• I liked the 24 Hour Face Lift product also. It really did seem to fill in some fine lines. The only thing I noticed is that it left a little bit of a film around my eyes after it dried. I just put some of my normal eye cream on top of it and was able to put concealer on as normal.

• I only used the nighttime Retinol Cream once and didn’t really notice anything different with that. I didn’t have any adverse reaction but I’ll probably be more careful using this product around my eyes at night. I read one of the reviews about the nighttime cream that stated a few of the women experienced red, blotchy skin. When they reported their results to University Medical, they suggested only using the nighttime Retinol Cream every other night if experiencing any adverse reaction.  But on the flip side, one woman reported the nighttime Retinol totally making her dark circles disappear.

BigSis, even though you are the “older” sister, 🙂 I think I have more problems with crows feet and fine lines than you do because of my skin being dryer.  I guess, in hindsight, maybe it would have been fun for both of us to show “before” and “after” photos.  Ha!

So, I say we continue using the other two products for a full week and then report back with our final review. Now, can we talk about something else? Maybe something a little more fun than puffy eyes and crows feet?

Please tell me that you’re not seriously considering showing us photos of your kitties’ hairballs.

~LilSis

April 24, 2009

When I was in Californie last week, LilSis and I were wandering around SuperTarget in search of the Garnier Nutrioniste Anti-Puff Eye Roller.  We found that, plus this other intriguing product that neither of us had heard of.  It’s made by University Medical and is called Face Lift WrinkleFree Eyes.  The package screams that it’s a “20 Minute Botox” treatment!  Of course, we bought into the marketing strategy…hook, line and wrinkle.  Yep, we forked over our $30 and bought it.

Adios to Wrinkles??

Here’s what you get in the 2-week starter kit, according to the manufacturer’s web site:

~BigSis

April 23, 2009

While we’re talking about tired, puffy eyes, I’ve got a little tip that I’d like to share with anyone who has ever felt this way.  Have you ever sat in front of your makeup mirror after finishing your makeup and realized that you still look really, really tired?  If you’re lucky enough to answer no to that question, then read no further.

I hate to admit it, but it happens to me a lot more lately than it used to. (A little visit to a plastic surgeon would probably help in that area, but I’m a scaredy cat when it comes to talking about surgery so that’s not an option at this point in time.)

If you were reading last week, you know that BigSis and I were on full-blown vacation rules. We had a great time, but it sure showed when I looked in the mirror the next morning.  One day we were all getting ready to go out and I had finished putting on my makeup but still felt like I looked extremely tired. So, I started rummaging through my makeup drawer and I found my bottle of Origins Halo Effect ($17).

I’ve had this product for some time now and have tried using it in several different ways but I was never happy with the results.  I’ve tried a dab above my eyebrows, which was supposed to make your brows look a little lifted, but I didn’t like the shimmer in that area. I also tried it on the outside of my eyes, but unfortunately it just magnified the crows feet. (For those of you that don’t have those yet, enjoy!)

For some reason, I started thinking about the MAC tutorial videos that BigSis discussed in this post. If you watch the video on the smokey eye, at the end, the makeup artist takes a small brush and applies a little light eyeshadow with a goldish reflective to the outside of the inner corner of the eye to create some light in that area. I decided that instead of shadow, I would try using the Halo Effect in the same way. I applied just a little with a pointed Q-tip and was very pleasantly surprised with the result.  I kept just one eye done and compared the two several times and even asked for SisMama and BigSis to give me their opinion. They both said they could tell a difference in the two eyes and I knew it was noticeable when BigSis said “Do mine!”

As I was looking at the Origins site just to make sure that they still carried the Halo effect, I noticed this Eye Brightening Color Stick.  They say that it “Makes your eyes wake up and come alive”.  So, now I’m wondering if I need to give that a try also. If anyone has ever tried this Color Stick, I would love to hear from you!

~LilSis

April 22, 2009

Well, LilSis, I have to say that I’m ambivalent about the Anti-Puff Eye Roller at this point.  I liked how the roller ball felt on my under eye area.  It was cool and felt kind of soothing.  The fluid or serum or whatever you call it didn’t irritate my eyes in the least, which is a really good thing.  I don’t have anything negative to say about it, and the price is excellent.

The Garnier web site says that the eye roller works based on this premise:

Caffeine decongests puffiness and diminishes dark circles
Pro-Vitamin B5 refreshes and hydrates the delicate eye area

Since we’ve seen that caffeine can be an effective ingredient in anti-cellulite products, in theory this product should work.  To be completely honest though, I just didn’t really notice any reduction in puffiness.  We DID have a lot of Mexican food and pizza a couple of times plus Big T’s yummy pita chips, so this may not have been a fair trial for this product.  If you continue to see results, LilSis, I may buy myself one to try under normal circumstances…when I’m not consuming massive quantities of salt!

On the Sister Scale, I’m giving this product 6 out of 10 points, but I’m reserving the right to revisit my review!  What other eye products do we have to talk about, LilSis?

~BigSis

April 20, 2009

After overindulging in Mexican food, pizza, or salty chips almost every day for the past ten days, BigSis and I found ourselves waking with what we call “salt bags”. And no, we don’t just mean puffy eyes! These are called salt bags for a reason!  Seriously scary!

When I first saw Sarah Jessica Parker on the commercial for the Garnier Nutritioniste anti-puff eye roller, I actually laughed.  I’m thinking to myself, ”yeah right, here we go again with another product that claims to just roll away the puffy eyes.”  I was definitely skeptical. I read a few positive reviews online about this product, so we picked it up one day when we happened to be at Target.

It might not have been a fair time to test this product since both of our eyes were much puffier than normal.  I really liked how the product went on with the little metal ball; nice and smooth, and cool since we kept it in the fridge.  I also liked the way that the product dried so that you were able to put concealer right on top of it and didn’t have to wipe it off like some products.

Overall, I do think that this product reduced the puffiness under my eyes.  (Some mornings, I actually used it twice.) I wouldn’t say that it’s a miracle product as they make it seem on the commercial, but I’m going to keep using it. For $13.00, it’s a good buy and I think worth a try for anyone who has trouble with morning under eye puffiness!

What are your thoughts on the anti-puff eye roller, Big Sis?

~LilSis

April 19, 2009

Hi all!  We hope you’re having a most excellent weekend, as we are.  We spent the whole day at the boat yesterday, celebrating LilSis’ birthday.

We’re headed back out this morning, since we FINALLY have a beach day…the first day it’s been warm enough for the beach the whole week we’ve been here!  So guess what?  There’ll be no thoughtful blogging or product reviews or recipes made today!

We’re starting a week long series about eye products tomorrow though so stay tuned.  Have a great Sunday!

~BigSis