I want candy!

How excited am I that Sephora is now stocking Dylan's Candy Bar bath and beauty products!? I'm a huge fan of anything cake-batter related, scented or flavored, and Dylan's version is second to none! I have a textbook Proustian reaction to the sugary smell of birthday cake. It takes me right back to being six years old and the cakes my parents used to buy for us.

If you're more of a chocolate lover, the line makes a knockout chocolate cupcake product line!

On the subject of sweets, I also just picked up a really delicious Belgian chocolate bar from one of my favorite local gourmet grocery stores, Savenor's:



I'd never heard of the Dolfin brand before, but just reading the names of their different kinds of chocolate bar makes me drool: dark chocolate with fresh ginger, milk chocolate with Japanese green tea or hot masala, or the one I chose: dark chocolate with pink pepper. Soooo delicious! After a week or so of indulging before and after the wedding, I swore I'd go back to my more healthy eating habits, but apparently I'm not quite there yet!

Time to make the paella

A month or two ago, I discovered this fantastic recipe online for a Filipino paella. I found some chorizo that was on special at the time, and wanted to try something interesting with it. This recipe is amazingly easy and it was quite the crowd-pleaser at a barbecue we had at the house over the weekend. It help me get over my reservations about using our cast-iron pan!


The ingredients are all quite easy to find (as long as you can get your hands on chorizo). The only trouble I had initially with this recipe was the annatto seeds (achiote). I was able to locate it fairly easily, however the seeds are unbelievably HARD, and the first time I tried grinding them with a mortar and pestle, I nearly ended up ruining both as the seeds dye everything red that they come into contact with! I finally worked out that the best way to grind the seeds is by using a old coffee bean grinder that we had lying around. It also minimizes the chance of having your fingers (or clothes) dyed.