Noshtopia

Jillian Michaels and So Delicious Like Our Vegan Pumpkin or Butternut Squash Soup

Yesterday on Thanksgiving, I got one of the best gifts, tweets from both So Delicious brand the maker of my most favorite coconut milk based products, and Biggest Loser trainer Jillian Michaels saying, "Yum!" to my 5 minute mostly organic vegan pumpkin or butternut squash soup which used the So Delicious creamer and regular milk.

As a blogger, this is the kind of stuff that makes you do cartwheels even if you are wearing a dress. Okay, TMI but true!

Jillian by the way is also the new spokesperson for So Delicious. You can get a coupon here and save 55 cents off a purchase of Coconut Milk. If you haven't tried their stuff, please do. To say I am a fangirl of So Delicious is an understatement!

I love the So Delicious creamer because although it is targeted for coffee and tea drinks, the creamer can also be used as a "cream" replacement in cooking which I did in my soup. It's really awesome because you can make creamy vegan dishes that top up there with regular cream dishes where you can't tell the difference. This is a heaven-send in my opinion.

And yes, I indeed do the happy dance for my gratefulness!

Real Simple: What I Made With My Turkey Leftovers and The Thanksgiving Feast I Ate

With my Thanksgiving turkey leftovers, I made this warm open faced turkey sandwich with arugula and avocado on top of ciabatta bread with a swab of honey mustard and Brianna's Poppyseed dressing.

For the meat, I sauteed in a pan some onion, diced portobello mushroom, and diced turkey in some Earth Balance soy-free buttery spread until the turkey was just a little crispy around the edges. I love tender meat with some crispiness.

For Thanksgiving, I went to my friend Eniko's house aka @AZToothFairy. This was Eniko's first time to ever make a Thanksgiving meal, and in her new house to boot which by the way has this newly remodeled kitchen that made me drool.

Eniko did an incredible job for her first dinner! In fact, had she not told me that fact, no one would have ever known. For recipes, Eniko used several from the November issue of Real Simple magazine, so as I show you the pictures, I will link to the recipes, and try them you should because, um, YUMMY!

And to add, I took all these photos in dim lighting with my iPhone, and I was happy that I could fix them up a bit to show off Eniko's cooking.

First up is the bird which I never knew that you can buy turkey breast only. I always thought you had to buy all bird or nothing. You can take the breast, put whatever stuffing and spices you want on it and cook it at home. There are rosemary leaves stuffed in there with onions. And yes, there is a whole lot of breast meat...enough to eat for days!

Here's Eniko with her boyfriend Cedric, a very sweet and funny guy, standing with the feast she prepared. Cedric who is from Louisiana also made some Jambalaya using all kinds of sausage including deer which I had never eaten before. The deer was a little spicy but was tasty, not gamey at all.

Besides the turkey, Eniko made mashed potatoes with a white wine gravy, and this Bourbon Cranberry Compote.

My favorite two sides of the evening were these Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Grapes...

...and these Sweet Potatoes with Pecans and Parmesan. Eniko is lactose intolerant and I got dairy allergy so it was great that in her cooking she used substitutes or hints of dairy because well it's only once a year for Thanksgiving. Not saying it's right just saying we're human. In her sweet potato dish, she went very light on the cheese. In fact, so light, you could almost miss it.

For dessert, we had the spiced pumpkin pie with candied pecans which forgive me I cannot find the recipe...

...and various International flavored espresso with foam in it. Now see how foamy my cup is? That is actually almond milk. Yeah! I never knew almond milk could froth up like regular milk. I've seen frothy cashew milk, so again, it's cool that even us with the dairy issues can have frothy coffee drinks.

Here is the to-go container Eniko made for me. Now, the only reason I mention this picture is because I have now met someone who makes a bigger to-go package than my Filipino mom who let me tell you can pack some whopper of to-go plates. I put the espresso cup next to the container so you can get an idea of size. That container I swear weighed like 3lbs lol!

I'm not complaining though because Round #2 today was just as delicious! Hope all of you had a fabulous day of enjoying food, family, and friends.

Expressing Gratitude: My Thanksgiving (& Holiday) Altar

The holiday season has officially begun today with Thanksgiving. Salud!

Over @thekitchn, I loved how they suggested creating a Gratitude Altar for Thanksgiving where you include things that represent what you are grateful for in your life. Not only did I think this was a fabulous exercise in appreciation of your life, I thought it a wonderful holiday decoration for the house along with the tree, lights, and sparkling things because what a fantastic gift to ourselves - the gift of gratitude!

So, I am going to share my Gratitude Altar with all of you :) I'll go clockwise...

• Against the wall is the vision board I created during my trip to Coca-Cola HQ. Creating that vision board was not only the highlight of my trip, it was actually one of the highlights of my year because putting my thoughts and dreams on paper and then presenting it in front of a group of people made those dreams even more real..and made me more accountable...ye gads! Scary but good!

• I love this statue of the man and woman because it reminds me of the kind of relationship I want and why I have been waiting for the "right" guy versus the "right now" guy...and I'll be honest it's not been easy waiting for him because it does get lonely and frustrating. I love how the bodies of the man and woman are intertwined and how their upper bodies and arms create a heart shape - the two are in-sync...connected.

• 2010 has very much been about the heart for me. My New Year's theme was "Live with an open heart." In the vision board, near the camera on the top left, you'll notice a heart next to the saying, "What's been holding you back?" For me, one thing that's been holding me back in certain areas of my life has been closing my heart off not only to people but to opportunities, my dreams, and myself. Yeah, that's a whole other blog post.

• Hanging from the statue of the man & woman is a necklace of a butterfly my beautiful friend Eniko aka @AZToothFairy gave me. The butterfly is another deeply meaningful symbol to me because it represents that I finally feel like I have emerged from a 7 year cocoon stage of transformation, and now get to be that butterfly. Leaving California and moving to Arizona  last year was the stage for emerging into my butterfly state. I am SO grateful for all the kind and supportive folks I have met and the new friends I have made here in Phoenix!

• On the feet of the man & woman is a picture of my family at Disneyland. We took my triplet nieces there to celebrate their 5th birthday. Those three days with them was one of the most magical memories I will cherish forever. Being with my nieces at Disneyland reminded me to continue to see the magic in life and be excited about things.

• There is a pendent of a heart one of my soul BFFs @jenmyronuk gave me for Christmas last year. Again, we have the heart theme and the unique thing about this heart is that it is in unusual shape with a rainbow of colors and was made by women in Ethiopia for The Cunningham Foundation to help raise funds and awareness to boost Ehtiopia. Jen is also someone who has had a profound affect on my life. I'm very fortunate to have a friend like her and my other soul BFF @vicequeenmaria who both really I don't know where I'd be without them.

• The book A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle is one of those books that had such a profound affect on me not only because it helped me so much personally but because I think it is a great reference to how we can grow in consciousness to help raise the vibration of the planet and create more love and peace in the world...which all starts at home with ourselves. We can't have more peace in the world if we don't have peace with ourselves first.

• Yes, that's my iPhone, at least for this photo, because really I can't begin to express my gratefulness for this device in how it's helped me grow my business and stay connected with people. It's like a third arm for me!

• The 3-legged pig is a good luck symbol according to legend in South America and looking at him makes me feel happiness. I bought that pig on New Year's day 2010 in Sedona on a day trip Jen and I took. That day was such a wonderful way to start off the new year!

• The worn out running shoes reminds me how grateful I am for my health and my body's ability to take care of me, now that I am a better partner with the bod. Everything is not perfect in our relationship like any normal relationship, but I have become more in-sync and plugged into my body which I avoided for a very long time. The last 5 years of blogging for me has been to share my own adventures and learning lessons so that I may help and support others going through the same things. I love you body and thank you for being so patient and loving to me especially when I was so brutal to you!

• The statue of the castle reminds me I am a castle builder. One day, I'll share the story of the difference between castle builders and brick layers. The castle sits very close to my vision board because I am reminded and grateful that I am to build castles because that is what I am good at...although I am having challenges with the building of those castles which relates back to, "What's holding you back?" and the heart thing.

• And last is the Tigger which has mixed feelings for me but is actually very symbolic of an important growth lesson I've been in the midst of learning. The Tigger is actually a tough thing right now to put in my altar because of the intense emotions around what this seemingly innocent toy currently represents which to share openly is filled with disconnect, hurt and even some acrimony along with some of the most incredible passion and connection I never knew existed before but got to experience. So why would I put something so polarizing in my altar? Isn't the altar supposed to be filled with only happy things?

Well, yes, but perhaps everything that happens to us is a happy thing but comes to us disguised as something painful and tragic. I know doesn't make sense does it, but hear me out for a second. My friend @josephranseth challenged me one day and said to the effect, "Everything that happens is perfect." Immediately I thought, "How could pain, hurt, disappointment, or tragedy be perfect?"

These situations are perfect in that born from them is an opportunity to experience our greatest learning lessons, our biggest opportunities to change or affect change in the world, or our biggest challenges to become a more loving human being. The only difference between being perfect and imperfect is how we choose to "see" the situation.

I think back to every hurtful, painful and tragic thing in my life, and yes I did experience some intense trauma, hurt, and pain, but those experiences all contributed to my growth, to helping me find my life purpose work, and to helping me become more loving when I'd rather close down.

I think back to when I started Back in Skinny Jeans five years ago and sharing some of my own pain of being raped by a boyfriend, having an eating disorder, being diagnosed with depression, put on pills and being put on medical leave, and becoming a millionaire and losing it all, how sharing all those experiences not only helped me heal but helped many other people in the process many of which I will never know.

With encouragement from my parents, I choose to take those tragedies in my life to use them to do some good in the world instead of allowing them to keep me down, depressed, and a bitter lonely person...all of which I could be right now.

I don't want to be a person filled with hate, regret, or remorse. I want to be a person who continues to have an open heart, who helps to make the world a better place, and is a person filled with more love than dark. I'm also learning that my dark side is actually an ally not an enemy who challenges me to see what I need to heal and work on in myself. We all have dark sides, and if we can see the teacher rather than the destroyer in those ugly parts of us, then we can become better humans. Trust me, I'm no angel, and have effed-up in some monumental ways, but that is human. What matters is what I did to grow and be accountable for.

And I have learned by becoming that butterfly, that all this happens by choice....and in many cases can and will be some of the most painful and hard choices you will make, along with making some most idiotic of choices and smartest of choices, but again in a sense it is all perfect because if we never make mistakes, fall down, or get hurt, we'll never grow, expand, or become a better version of ourselves. I'm not saying it's easy, it sure as hell isn't, but that is the process. We can choose to fight it or learn from it.

So, the Tigger situation is perfect in what it is and has taught me and rightly belongs in my altar because it has challenged my heart both open and closed....this is a gift. I hope that one day, we can come to a peaceful connection. I've experienced it before with other people in my life and believe that it is possible in this situation, maybe not right now but someday. We're just two people having our human experiences. It's all a choice. I can't control other people but I can control how I choose to experience life. And on this Thanksgiving day, in this present moment, I will choose an open heart.

And there you have my holiday gratitude altar! Why not create one of your own, and if so inclined blog about it and share with others. I'm telling you it feels wonderful!

 

Trim Nudges: 7 Tips To Avoid Feeling Like a Stuffed Bird on Thanksgiving Day

 
In my opinion, two of the greatest fashion inventions: stretch pants and putting spandex in denim so jeans can stretch. It's great that we have clothing that can work with us on those days when we over indulge.

On Thanksgiving day, it is very easy to over do it on the food gluttony, and if it's just once year, then heck why not go for it! However, if you're one though who'd like to partake yet want to avoid feeling like a stuffed bird or feel like you have to unbutton your stretchy jeans, here are 7 tips to help you enjoy the food cornucopia that is Thanksgiving.

• Feed yourself with gratitude before food: It's easy to forget, but Thanksgiving is not about food, it's about thankfulness. The bounty of food is actually just another symbol of the abundance we have in life. When you nourish your soul first with appreciation of all the good and plenitude you have, you may find yourself filled up with so much joy, there might not be any room to over indulge on the food.

• Eat breakfast: There is somehow a reasoning that if you avoid eating breakfast, you can save those calories for eating later. However, your body will just get hungrier as the day progresses and you will end up eating way more and faster because deprivation mode has kicked in. Eating breakfast is a healthy way to start the day and keep your body level so you don't end up gorging out of starvation later.

• Workout in the morning: A good way to burn calories and start the food gluttony day is to go for a morning workout. If you have family and friends in town visiting, go on a workout together and get some exercise and bonding time, a 2-for-1. A great exercise with a group can be a walk, a hike, a run, football or kickball in the backyard, or biking.

• Eat slivers versus slices: This tip which I've outlined in more detail here is about portion control yet getting to enjoy a bite of everything on the Thanksgiving table. Of all the things I've learned over the years about food consumption, this one tip has helped me more than any other because I get to enjoy and never feel deprived.

• There will be leftovers: When your brain knows that there will be plenty beyond the present moment, it will help curb that mental temptation of, "If I don't everything now, there will be none left." You don't have to eat everything today. Leftovers tomorrow are good too. You can space things apart and still get to enjoy all.

• Pace yourself: It's easy to pounce on a whole bunch of food early on and then continue to eat during the day with no breaks to give your body time to digest. This requires a small amount of planning, but you pretty much have an idea of what food acitivities you will be bouncing around during the day, so plan out how much and when you'll eat what foods.

• Savor your food: Chew slowly and experience the food you are enjoying. One of the things about Americans is that we tend to use the spoon like it's a shovel, and we just scoop food in as fast as we can without actually savoring the food.

For example, in Europe, 4 hour dinners are not uncommon because people eat slowly, converse, laugh, and really relish the flavors and textures of the dish they are experiencing. Plenty of time and love went into the preparation of your Thanksgiving meal, so equally take the time to savor the food and the time with your loved ones.

So, there you have some tips that have helped me over the years. What are some tips that help you enjoy Thanksgiving without feeling over stuffed?

In 5 Minutes: Mostly Organic Creamy Vegan Pumpkin or Butternut Squash Soup

What astonished you more...soup in 5 minutes or creamy vegan soup? What's even more remarkable is that yes indeed you can make a creamy vegan soup not only in 5 minutes but without any cutting or prepping.

See the lazy chef in me loves cooking this way! And there is some bonus points here for being mostly organic.

With this soup recipe, you can also come off looking like some culinary genius when really all you did was open a can, a carton, and stirred the ingredients in a pot til boiling.

Ingredients (serves 3-4):

• 1 can organic Pumpkin puree (I used Farmer's Market brand found at Whole Foods or a natural foods store. They also have an Organic Sweet Potato and Butternut Squash puree which would also make for wonderful soups.)
• 1/4 cup So Delicious brand Coconut Milk Creamer in French Vanilla or Original flavor
• 1/4 cup So Delicious Coconut Milk Beverage in Original flavor
• 1/3 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 sprig of fresh organic rosemary or a couple organic sage leaves finely chopped

Let's Get Cooking:

Note: For the Coconut Milk Creamer, I used the French Vanilla flavor to give my soup a slightly sweet flavor. If you don't want the sweet side, use the Original flavor Creamer. I used both creamer and milk to get a nice medium consistency. If you just use creamer, the soup will be hearty. If you just use milk, the soup will be on the thinner side.

• In a medium sauce pan on medium heat, pour in the can of pumpkin puree, the creamer, the milk, salt, pepper, and sage or rosemary. Stir until boiling.

• Take pan off burner and let cool down until the soup is warm enough to eat. Serve in beautiful soup bowls and top with pumpkin seeds for garnish.

Enjoy!

10 Last Minute Thanksgiving Noshy Ideas

Okay, Thanksgiving is on Thursday and you still need some side dish ideas. Not to worry because like you I am a last minute planner or I should say a fly by the seat of my pants planner.

You gotta give us some credit for creativity under pressure...which ironically is how I work better, in the pressure cooker.

To start off the food gluttony day, try my healthy breakfast nosh in the photo above which is a protein packed Pumpkin Yogurt Parfait with Bananas and Gingersnap Granola. The parfait is seriously yum, easy to make, and healthy!

From some fabulous foodies around the blogosphere, here are 5 and then some noshy ideas for Thanksgiving dishes including mouth-watering photos which if you can't make the dish, you can at least drool over the picture.

• Simple side from yours truly: Soft Golden Beets With Shaved Manchego And Toasted Pecans [Noshtopia]

• The Well Blog has about 52 recipes of all vegetable dishes good for sides or for vegetarian and vegan options. The pictures alone in the gallery will make you drool like Maple-roasted Brussels sprouts, Couscous Salad With Dried Cranberries and Pecans, and Endive and Radicchio Salad With Caramelized Pear, Walnut-Ice Wine Vinegar Dressing and Blue Cheese Fritters. [NY Times]

• Tropical Twist: Orange-Pineapple Ambrosia Salad [Babble]

• My kind of taters: Boozed-up vegan sweet potatoes [What Would Cathy Eat]

• Straight up: Wild Rice and Cranberry Salad with Sugared Walnuts and Tarragon served in martini glasses [Satisfied]

• Sauce Twist: Cranberry Sauce with Pear & Pomegranate [Family Fresh Cooking]

• Get Your Green-on: Kale Salad with Mango, Red Banana, White Truffle Olive Oil, and Pepitas [Seven Cloves]

• Protein packed grain: Spinach and Feta Quinoa Salad [Closet Cooking]

• Oh stuff me: Chestnut Stuffing with Leeks & Apples [The Parsley Thief]

• Snackage for watching football: Crimson Corn Bacon Popcorn [Simply Scratch]

If you have any yummy quick Thanksgiving side dish ideas, please share the link in comments!

 

That "Healthy" Dunkin' Donuts Pumpkin Muffin Has More Calories Than a KFC Double Down and a Big Mac

On Twitter, I saw that @iTweetFacts tweeted this:

 
I thought, "Naw! That can't be," so of course, I go investigate, and holey cow the fright fest went further than the Big Mac. I took a look at some other seemingly high fatty and caloric fast foods to see what else that "healthy" Dunkin' Donuts beat in calories.

And I say "healthy" in quotation marks because there are plenty of people who assume that muffins are healthy food which they can be if made with healthful ingredients and in smaller portions. However, muffins can also simply be mini cakes loaded with fat, sugar, and calories.

At 600 calories, if you thought that beating out the Big Mac was bad, beating out this next food is worse...because it has more fat and sodium than the Big Mac. That Dunkin' Donuts Pumpkin muffin beats out KFC's Original Recipe Double Down Chicken sandwich which comes in at 540 calories. Oh yeah!

Remember the Double Down, that artery clogging sandwich the interwebs was aghast over a few months ago? It's that sandwich with two thick and boneless white meat fried chicken filets as the "bread" encasing two pieces of bacon and two melted slices of Monterey Jack and pepper jack cheese. Believe it or not, that sucker is only 540 calories. That DD Pumpkin muffin beats it by 60 calories!

It gets worse

Besides the Big Mac and Double Down, here's other fast foods the Dunkin' Donuts Pumpkin muffin beat out:

• At 540 calories - Taco Bell Beefy 5-Layer Burrito

• At 570 calories - Pizza Hut Pepperoni & Mushroom 6" Personal Pan Pizza

• At 520 calrories - Subway 6" Big Philly Cheesesteak sandwich

• And equaling the one 600 calorie Dunkin' Donuts is three Krispy Kreme Classic Glazed Donuts which come in at 200 calories each. That's right you can eat 3 of those sugar bomb donuts for one pumpkin muffin!

So you see, just because something is assumed to be heatlhy doesn't always means it is. In fact, it could be worse than something we deem junk.

Semi-homemade: Pumpkin, Portobello, and Spinach Risotto on Portobello Bowls

This recipe is versatile because it can be used as a side dish or as a main course for a vegetarian meal. The difference would be just use a smaller Portobello mushroom for a side dish portion like in the picture above, and use a large Portobello for a main course portion.

And since I am the lazy cook, the Risotto I used is Lundberg brand Organic Florentine Risotto. Why start from scratch when a box of organic goodness is just as nice I say! This recipe is also vegan and gluten-free.

Yes, it is possible to make a tasty vegan risotto. I also like risotto made with chicken stock. It's exciting to know that dairy (for me with the cow milk allergy) is not required to create a wonderful risotto. Here's another risotto creation I made using Lundberg, "Butternut Squash Risotto with Chicken, Portobello, and Manchego."

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 1 box Lundberg Organic Florentime Risotto
• 5 Portobello mushrooms (4 will be used as bowls, and 1 will be diced into small pieces and put into the risotto)
• 4-5 tbsp Farmer's Market Organic Pumpkin puree (Use 5 tbsps puree if you want a more pumpkiny taste)
• 1-1/2 cup Rice Milk in Original flavor or So Delicious Coconut Milk Beverage in Original flavor (I use the coconut milk to get a slightly creamier consistency.)
• 1 cup water ( The recipe on the Risotto box calls for 2-1/2 cups liquid so I broke it into 1-cup water + 1-1/2 cup coconut milk)
• 2 sprigs of fresh thyme or rosemary chopped finely
• Olive Oil

Let's get cooking:

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

• With your hands, massage olive oil all over the Portobellos that will be used as bowls. The mushroom will absorb the olive oil quickly which is fine. Place the Portobellos on a baking pan and cook at 350 for 8 minutes. Any longer than that, and the mushroom will start to get overcooked.

• Take the portobellos out of the oven and let them cool down.

• In a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat, saute the rice in 1/2 tbsp olive oil for about 2 minutes. Toss in the diced Portobello and saute with the rice for about a minute.

• Add in the pumpkin puree, coconut milk, water, fresh sage or thyme, and 2/3 of the risotto seasoning packet. I don't put the whole packet in to help cut down on the sodium. Stir all ingredients mixing them well.

• Heat to boil and then reduce heat to simmer. Do not cover the pan. Cook risotto for 20 minutes stirring occasionally.

• Take risotto off the burner and let it cool down. Top the Portobello bowls with the risotto and garnish with pumpkin seeds or sprigs of thyme or rosemary.

Enjoy!

 

Get Into My Belly: Crescent Moon Squash Blossoms, Avocado Tempura, and Argentine Honey Dipped Sopapillas

I have never seen stuffed Squash Blossoms before in my life. In this first picture, here is a Squash Blossom with Queso Fresco and Corn Sauce coupled with Seabass Chileno. Isn't that cool?! And besides looking cool, the dish tasted out of this world. I can't remember the last time I had fish that tender. The fish really cut like buttah.

I was really impressed with the creativity of the folks at Crescent Moon restaurant at The Four Seasons Scottsdale up in the mountains of the Troon area here in Phoenix metro. Crescent Moon food is regional cuisine influenced by the flavours of Mexico and Arizona's Sonora Desert.

Let me emphasize creativity because I really love it when I see chefs cook outside the box. But admittedly, I also do have a love affair going on with the Four Seasons Scottsdale place as I reviewed the amazing Talavera restaurant, and ate the most amazing gnocchi with garlic shrimp, sun-dried tomatoes, and basil in a lobster sauce, their dish at culinary event Phoenix Cooks.

Last week, the Four Seasons gang gathered a group of us local foodie bloggers to sample new items on the Crescent Moon menu like the Squash Blossom and Seabass Chileno, and to meet more of the Four Seasons management. I have to say, they are a really warm bunch of fun people at this Four Seasons. I am happily surprised because it's unusual to see higher ups come to these blogger events and actually mingle amongst us.

Tim Houdek, the Assistant Manager of Crescent Moon came up with the sangria recipe they served us that night using Arizona Stronghold wine, and it was scrumptious. I might add that Tim is a very entertaining guy. He had me laughing most of the time!

Here is Executive Chef Mel seasoning up the Squash Blossoms. I'm telling you, I was utterly fascinated by the uniqueness of this squash. The veggie even looked beautiful just in the baking pan.

The other appetizer that had me spell bound was this avocado tempura. First, because I've never seen anyone tempura up chunks of avocado, but secondly, see those squirt tubes poking out the side. Those tubes are filled with a sweet chili sauce.

You put the avocado bite into your mouth first, and then squirt the sauce into your mouth as you chew the avocado. It was like a fun party trick! The little kid in me went, "Squee!"

Seriously, I got that giddy over the whole squirt bottle concept and ate about 5 of these fried avocado not just because they were tasty but because I was having so much fun squirting stuff into my mouth. Okay, I'm simple that way.

Other dishes we sampled which I didn't get good photos of were:

• Guacamole with Housemade Tortilla Chips

• Camarones al Mojo which was Shrimp, a Huitlacoche Empanada with Mango-Habanero Sauce

• Mar Y Tierra – Strip Loin, Prawn, Scallop, Chorizo

And the finale for dessert were these Lime-Scented Sopapillas which you dipped into a Dulce De Leche with Argentine Honey sauce. Okay, can I just say OMG! I would have loved to also dipped strawberries into that sauce and coupled this with a nice champagne. Can you tell I'm thinking of a sexy date night here? The words Argentine honey just sounds so sexy to me.

Yes...and it is so worth it!

Oh and something I did learn, you can have a private moonlight picnic on the Four Seasons grounds and talk about romantic. I just need to find me a guy now :-D

As a treat, here I am with Chef Keith who leads the Crescent Moon culinary team. I went sepia on this photo because I felt arty. Keith is a very cool guy and also tweets so do follow him @Chef_Keith.

Here are the full menus for Crescent Moon's breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Also, if you don't feel like cooking this holiday, Four Seasons is open for Thanksgiving, Christmas day, and New Year's eve.

I'm telling you, check out Crescent Moon and if you get there early do enjoy the happy hour 3-6pm in the Four Seasons Onyx lobby bar because it is surprsingly cheap, like stuff for $5 cheap, and you can watch the sun set. You can find me on the patio sipping on a beer!