One part RED VELVET, One part CAKE POPS, equals one disco-smoke’n Valentine’s Day.  All the delicious eye candy shot at Disconnected Salon.

Too poor for couture?  Champagne taste on a Prosecco budget?  I know the feeling.  But with a little thrifty shopping and this clever Panna Cotta?  Did I hear hostess with the mostess?

Upcycled dress from my favorite local haunt; Make Good.  Fab Foodie photos by Chad Thompson, of Culinary Creatives.  I’ve been writing for Chad; check out my column, “Dive Deep for Deliciousness“.  Kitschy pics of me by my groovy musician friend Marie Haddad.

Just come clean.  Just fess up.  Haven’t we all left home and come back with some big news?  I have a new tattoo?  I kissed a girl? I’m now vegan?  Well I don’t have any tattoo inspired, girl smooching recipes up my sleeve at the moment, but  I do have a scrumdelicious vegan recipe for anyone that loves warm, moist (yes I said the word moist) banana bread combined with an oozing peanut butter cup. This recipe was inspired and adapted from the gorgeous Jenny of Picky Palate.  My story and recipe was featured in the holiday issue of Bridges Magazine.  And even if you aren’t vegan; you’re gonna swoon for these muffins.  They’re sweeter than any girl’s smooch.

Big thanks to my friend Darryl Taylor for the photography help and City Digz for hooking me up with the vintage Pyrex.  Bisou Bisou and more Bisousssssssssssss.

If Charlie and her Angels were fighting crime today, she’d realize LA wasn’t her scene and decide to take on Manhattan.  The crime is more interesting and the fashion is totes more cutting edge.  LA may be the tits for fresh figs and farmer’s markets, but Manhattan takes the cake when you want to start investigating desserts.  What vixen wouldn’t groove to something made with Angel Food cake, Champagne and shaped like a lollipop?  You can make these in your loft or penthouse; just be sure to leave the bad boys at home.  Recipe HERE.

Photos by Phil DeFalco shot at Voyeur nightclub.  Make-up by Amy Frugard and hair by Disconnected Salon.  The only place to get your inner diva did-done.

The OCD in me really wanted to post this yesterday (Sunday).  But instead I went to Dim Sum for brunch, followed by a party in the hood where I dined on the most succulent fried fish tacos prepared al fresco under a perfect balmy San Diego night.  That was only foreplay to the Mexican chocolate gelato that took me to a place I can’t quite articulate.  And then the Funday really began when I got to experience a live acid jazz jam session until five in the morning.  I rarely say the words “Sundae Funday”, but when I do, there’s no kidding.

You’re never too old or too young to get down, get dirty and have some fun.  Knowing how to shake that caboose is probably more important than knowing how to type.  And having a RECIPE this easy around is key when you’re out until five eh em!

You’re probably wondering how I got these 3 crumbsnatchers to behave for the camera?  I think they remembered this cake I made for them a year ago.  Sweetest thanks to Malashock Dance Company for letting us enjoy a Sundae in the grooviest dance studio around. And when daddy-oh Jaret Malloy snaps the pics?  That’s the cherry on top to any Sundae Funday.

During one hot and sticky day last month when I was wasting a good bit of time twittering with my tweeps, a question popped up asking everyone what they were baking for the weekend.  I thought to myself, “I ain’t baking Sh*t”..  I’ll put together this 2-ingredient cake and go out and have some fun.  God bless everyone that is baking pound cakes and bread from scratch on a Saturday afternoon. So when Bridges magazine asked me to come up with a summer recipe, I had to pull this one out of my bag of tricks. With friends like mine, you wouldn’t wanna be hanging out in the kitchen for hours either.

Find my article and recipe on page 14 in this month’s issue of Bridges Magazine.  Biggest thanks to Claudia Jordan for her mad photography skills.

I was recently fined 21 dollars by the blog-o-cops for not posting a shenanigan in the last 21 days. I wish I could say I’ve been working on my tan, but I promise, I have loads in store for you. Ok, so hopefully I’m off the hook?? Ohhh, before I forget, recipe here.  And twenty-one kinds of thanks to Maureen Crocker for snapping these pics and letting me borrow her 20-something hottie.

And 21 other things I think are just down right bitch’n…. in no particular order

1. Marie Haddad’s lullabies 
2. Staycations at the Lafayette
3. Caesar Salads in Tijuana
4. These naughty knickers
5. Caitie’s Creamsicle and Fig Jams
6. Refix magazine
7. Counterpoint (favorite local haunt)
8. Foodiva’s Kitchen
9. Make Good Boutique
10. Adult ballet classes
11. Warm potato chips from here
12. Clayton’s photos
13. 1950s Pyrex
14. Pound Cake Churros
15. Strawberry Perfume
16. Thursdays in LA
17. New Music here 
18. Indonesian Food
19. The Drake in Toronto
20. Brewery Art Walk (LA’s best kept secret)
21. My hood

Today my blog is 1-year-old and it’s been the best year of my life.  I’ve met more ahmazing people than I ever dreamed possible and reconnected with some pretty rad ones too. I’ve stepped waaay the heck out of my comfort zone and kinda liked it…Next month I’ll be a food judge at the EatRealFest LA.  I haven’t felt this giddy since I was 7-years-old, when the boy with the green mohawk made me a “cocktail”. I’m beyond grateful for all the random bubbles of love this blog has brought. Biggest thanks to everyone that reads my recipes and ramblings.  Hearts and Smooches ya’ll… Now for a little much deserved thanks to some special peeps in my life that are anything but stale.  Exx Ohh, Ex OH!! Phil DeFalco has taken most of my pics in any crazy location I suggested.  I love his sense of adventure and knowledge of music. When we first met he asked me who my favorite bands were and I told him Metric and Ladytron.  He hadn’t heard of either.  Six-months later he took these jaw dropping pictures of Emily.  I hope he remembers me when he’s working for SPIN magazine.

Brenda is my my friend from Junior high school who besides being a drop dead knock out and an English teacher, she’s a killer photographer. And if that’s not enough, she gave me the 2-Ingredient fudge recipe that won this and got me on the morning news.

Mr. Coggan designed my logo, website, and the coolest stickers.  I’ve always known he was suave, but recently learned he pretty much was the graffiti king in LA back in the eighties.  He’s now suave AND fly in my eyes.  Chris… Banksy ain’t got noth’n on you brotha.

This fabulous Katie snapped this shenanigan and this one, I could not have asked for better weekends.  We have a surprise up our sleeve in store, but I can’t tell you yet.  You could stop by her fanpage and ask?

I adopted Tom and Michele a looong time ago.  Tom snapped these glitzy shots and gave me the absolute best advise before I started this adventure, he simply said, “write like no one is reading”, and I think about that statement every single time I sit down and blog.  They’re the BEST…  Muah!!

Colleen snapped this crazy shot and if you can’t already tell, she is an absolute hoot!  When I need to laugh so hard I’m crying…I got her on speed dial.  More shenanigans from us to come. Get ready!!

Rich is a self-taught photo genius that shot thisand this.  And his hottie Cindy is always there to make sure I’m not an absolute disheveled mess.  Aren’t they cute?

Maureen and Adam took some of my first pics and are such a blast to have in my life.  We have some fun planned that I can’t wait to share.  Aren’t they adorable?

For 1-week every June, the Regatta boat races would come to my hometown in southern Ohio.  We waited all year for the shenanigans to arrive; Hawaiian Tropic, polka bands and street vendor munchies; lumpia, funnel cakes, pancit and Bahama Mamas.

Nowadays I’m often times doubled over LMFAO when LA, San Franny, and NYC think they’ve created something new with the fusion-confusion cuisine de jour.  I guess Appalachia has always been hip and just didn’t know it?

Pics by my friend Katie of SideClick Photography.  She’s 5-kinds of spicy! Stop by her Facebook fanpage and tell her to come back to Cali for a visit.. I need more photos.

Recipe here for the trendiest cookies of the summer.

Her home was like my Barbie’s penthouse with an hourglass pool that shimmered like Hollywood. She worked the room in her silver pant suit, suntanned skin, red fingernails, and sky high stilettos. It was late, but no one told me I had to go to bed or to stop eating so many of my favorite cookies. Then THEY arrived in a pack. They were older than me, maybe as old as my sissy and brothers. They had wild hair, were loud and smoked like her. They made loads of drinks and acted silly. One boy had a green Mohawk and made me a Shirley Temple; but winked and said it was a cocktail. I had died and gone to heaven. I was spending Christmas with my grandmum in Scottsdale. I was only 7-years-old. That night I knew I wouldn’t stay in Ohio forever. She redefined the word DIVA. She went to Beauty School when she turned FiTTy $ent. She is why you’ll often times see me with a beehive and why I swoon for hair stylists.  Big bang thanks to Matthew and his Mohawk; courtesy of Disconnected Salon; the place to go when your hair needs a Morphine lollipop.