Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Pay It Forward - Who's Getting a Package from Redondo Beach?

Thank you all so much for the kind comments you left on the Pay It Forward post, I really appreciate your time! I finally put the names of everyone who said "I'm in" in the drawing this afternoon. As soon as my son got home from school, I asked him to draw the name of the lucky recipient for me. And...the winner is:

Mary of Mitten Machen Blog! CONGRATULATIONS, Mary!!! Please email me your address and a package from Redondo Beach, California will head your way early next week.

Remember, the idea is that once you receive the package, you should find someone to 'Pay It Forward' to!
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I would like to share with you some photos from my garden as I haven't had anything much to share lately. Hope you will enjoy them:)




My roses are so big and healthy, my husband has been taking very good care of them.



I forgot the name of these beautiful flowers, I have a lot of them this spring.



The only one cherry tomato I have left from last summer! Can you see the yellow buds?

All my herb plants died from the rain storm last month, this is the only one that survived.


This is my "Owari Satsuma Mandarin" tree. It's looking great, isn't it? The flowers are blooming and they smell so sweet and wonderful!
Hopefully, I will be back with more photos of my garden very soon:)

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Pay It Forward!

Last Thursday night, I was SO so happy to see a package from Scotland waiting for me when I came home from work. It was a Pay It Forward gift from Mangocheeks of Allotment 2 Kitchen, one of my most favorite blogger friends who has been sharing such amazing vegetarian recipes which most of veggies come right from her very own garden!



Thank you SO very much, Mangocheeks! It was very kind of you, I'm really really grateful for all the lovely gifts you sent me!










Mangocheeks sent me a beautiful Scottish Stirring Utensil made of beechwood and not one but two lovely tea towels made of 100% cotton for my kitchen. The first one has Scotland map and the second one has traditional Scottish Recipes on it. How wonderful! I loved my gifts so much and so did my family, we will enjoy them forever!


As told by Mangocheeks, "Pay It Forward" was started by fellow bloggers in the U.S.A. The idea is to send the lucky recipient something local. The recipient then has to Pay a gift as well.


Now it's my turn to pay it forward. Please leave a comment on this post and say "I'm in", if you'd like to receive a package from Redondo Beach, California. I will come up with a way to choose the recipient on Sunday, March 28, 2010.


Let's have fun!

479 Degree Popcorn

Hello Everyone!

Yay!!! I'm back blogging again! You have no idea how much I missed all of you, my dear blogger friends! I just needed some time off from blogging to get organized in the past month.

Last month, my blog was selected as the winner for the Foodie Blogroll "comment to win a 479 Popcorn-organic popcorn sampler" contest. Thank you so much, The Foodie Blogroll!

I was super excited when I received these wonderful organic popcorn samplers from 479 Degree Popcorn. To be honest with you, I am not a great fan of popcorn but my son really is! I was very happy to win this contest because I thought my son would enjoy them.


The first night, my son picked the "Black Truffle + White Cheddar" as he is a big cheese eater and he loved it so much. My husband tried some and he said it was GOOD. I tried a little and it wasn't calling my name!



The next day, I opened up the "Chipotle Caramel + Almonds". Oh My Goodness! It was delicious or what! I loved the rich flavor of organic caramel with chipotle chili, the yummiest and crunchiest toasted almonds that I wished I could have more, YUM! My son and I were fighting over this bowl... "Mom! you said this is for me only... you said you don't like popcorn... you said you wanted to try just a little....." Oops!



Later on, I started to feel greedy over these flavorful popcorn and I announced that I loved them and they were MINE! I didn't remember when I opened the third and the fourth ones which were "Madras Coconut Curry + Cashews" and "Ginger Sesame Caramel". We ate them so fast and I forgot all about taking photos, the only thing I remembered that I got to eat most of the coconut curry one because my son didn't like it that much. I think they should have put more cashews in that bag, it would have been perfect!


We saved the best for last, it was "Pimenton de la Vera" which has a wonderful aroma of smoky Spanish Paprika, organic tomatoes and onion, YUM! I still remembered the taste of smoky, sweet and salty all at once. Mmm...Mmm!!!

Believe me, you don't need to be a big fan of popcorn to enjoy this gourmet treat!