Make Your Own Shamrock Shake!

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Crazy as it might sound, I’d never tasted one of McDonald’s Shamrock Shakes prior to last year. I can’t say that I was totally won over by it, but I know many people have been, and now comes this glorious and probably obvious news: you can make a Shamrock Shake at home!

According to Kelsey Banfield of Babble.com (by way of Yahoo), there is a recipe out there that comes thisclose to replicating the McDonald’s original.

Recipe after the jump. Also, please note that you will probably kick yourself for not being able to figure it out on your own.

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Testing My Site With Tiny Wings!

What’s my favorite new iPhone game? Tiny Wings! The game made its big splash last year, but I finally decided to download it two weeks ago, and it’s been a whimsical, glorious ride. Far more enjoyable than Angry Birds, if you ask me.

So why am I sharing this? Because I need to post something on my blog quickly to test out its speed.

Don’t Be Scurred

If the blog looks a little weird, it’s because I’ve disabled all the plugins and switched to a basic theme temporarily. The site has been very slow for me on the backend, and supposedly if I disable everything, it should speed up. Everything will return, and hopefully, I will isolate the plugin that is slowing things down. If I don’t, well, then I am going to cry. Video to ensue.

Thanks for your PAYSH.

Mixology 101 Serves Sweet Cocktails At The Los Angeles Farmer’s Market

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Los Angeles’s Farmer’s Market at Fairfax and Third just received a healthy dose of booze. Mixology, to be specific. The airy new bar Mixology 101 opened up this week, ready to serve a lengthy list of cocktails (over forty at last count) as well as beer, wine, spirits, and various bites. Steered by acclaimed bartender Salvatore Calabrese (known affectionately as “The Maestro”), the airy watering hole — located up a flight of stairs adjacent to Sur La Table — offers pleasant views of The Grove and The Farmer’s Market, and while gazing upon Zara or Banana Republic might not be everyone’s cup of tea, the space is actually a nice hideout from the masses of slowly-ambling shoppers down below. For some, that hideout might be necessary because, let’s face it: The Grove is somewhat awful. Packs of tourists, annoying teenagers, slowly-moving confused people — it can be a disaster. Lord knows anyone who visits needs a stiff drink or two. But will Mixology 101 be the place for that? Or will it fall in line with all the other restaurants and bars at The Grove: average and overpriced.

Last week, I was invited to a media-comped preview event for Mixology 101 where I was allowed to sample some of the bar’s signature cocktails (as well as a few bites from the new restaurant next door, Planet Dailes). Pictures and impressions after the jump…

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REAL HOUSEWIVES OF OC PHOTOCAP: Vicki Screams, Gretchen Cries, and Alexis Gets A New Nose

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Is there anything better than an epic party disaster on The Real Housewives? Probably not. Last night’s Real Housewives of Orange County delivered just that — thirty minutes of ridiculous screaming, crying, and angry accusations. It all began last week when Tamra invited Slade to Bunco night with the girls. Clearly this would lead to disaster in the wake of his nasty comedy routine, and sure enough, the fallout last night was loud and teary. Awesome.

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REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA PHOTOCAP: Party Central. And By ‘Party’ I Mean ‘Idiot’

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What is there to say about this week’s episode of The Real Housewives of Atlanta? It was the same old crap: Peter and Cynthia hosted a party they couldn’t afford, Marlo and Sherayay had a disagreement, Kim yelled at Sweetie, Nene yelled at Bryson, Phaedra ogled a dead body, and Kandi made a weird face that seemed to say, “Errraaaaagggh.”

Yes, it was business as usual in Atlanta, but that’s not to say it wasn’t entertaining. The aforementioned party was Peter and Cynthia’s black tie one year anniversary party. You read that correctly: ONE year (not ten, not twenty, not fifty). ONE year party. As Lawrence noted in the episode, aren’t people supposed to just go get a damn dinner by themselves? Not Peter, who admitted that he needed to throw a lavish party to impress the people that they run with. Who are these awful people they “run with” and why would you want to “run with” anyone who would force you into poverty just for the sake of a good party?

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SHAHS OF SUNSET: Persian Ughs

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Bravo finally premiered The Shahs of Sunset last night, and I can happily report that I both love it and hate it all at once. On the one hand, it’s rather riveting in a car-wreck sort of way. On the other hand, it’s filled with mostly hideous people who proudly measure their self-worth with designer labels. Of course, that’s sort of the basis for all great Bravo shows, which means that at the end of the day, I will become hopelessly addicted to this mess, and I’m okay with that.

Shahs of Sunset (appropriately abbreviated to S.O.S.) is a perhaps one of the more unlikely reality shows to appear in the wake of Jersey Shore. That latter zeitgeisty sensation has ushered in a wave of programs that aspire to highlight certain ethnic groups, starting with Italians, leading to Russians (Russian Dolls), and now arriving at Persians. To many people in the country, it’s likely that this may be their first time really being exposed to the Persian stereotype, but for those of us in LA, we see a lot of it, and so it was with a morbid fascination that I tuned in, hoping to both rubberneck on the flashy Persian lifestyle and perhaps be enlightened too. Still waiting on that latter experience…

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