{A Cactus in Seattle}

Which is actually a not-so-creative play on words for Cactus, the restaurant, one of my must visit destinations on a trip to the beautiful northwest. Thankfully, my mom enjoys a trip to this restaurant as much as I do, which makes it a tradition I look forward to every time I fly home.

We stopped in for lunch on an overcast day, after circling forever for a parking spot (damn you Kirkland!). Thankfully we were seated right away since the hunger was in full force and I'm sure I had a crazy look in my eye. Chips and salsa for the table could not have come more quickly, and were warm! Mmm nom.

My one request while home for vacation was that we didn't eat any mexican food, considering the saturation of mexican restaurants in my neighborhood. I do live in Phoenix after all. BUT I gave myself a little wiggle room since Cactus is a mixture of mexican, southwestern and spanish cuisine...which is completely different. Plus look at the menu! Couldn't pass it up.

{Carnitas Yucatecas}

{seafood enchiladas}

The entrees, which we split, were ridiculously good. Good enough to eat multiple times a week, good. I also highly recommend the butternut squash enchiladas, tortilla soup, navajo bread, or any of the salads.

{Peppermint Crinkles}

Although the season of peppermint has come to an end (well, for normal people. I plan to still order americanos with peppermint until atleast march), I had to share this recipe for peppermint crinkle cookies my mom & I made over the holiday break. Just in case there are any of you out there who are not ready to say goodbye to pepperminty goodness...or christmas for that matter.

Crinkle cookies always remind me of my mom. I think she told me once that she loved them as a child, and I remember baking them for the first time with her when I was young. I love the way the cookies look, all individual and unique, like snowflakes.

{sugar & eggs}

{melted chocolate}

{combined wet}

{combined with dry}

Painstakingly, this dough needs to be refrigerated for atleast a couple hours, but we let it sit over night. The peppermint extract & chocolate needed a little extra time to party together, before making the fun little balls into cookies. It is so worth the wait, the flavor was incredible when these were done!

A coat of granulated sugar and a heavy coat of confectioners sugar on the little balls make the cracking nice and obvious. Beware, the dough is sticky and this part gets kind of messy. Which is why my mom got the task of rolling the balls! I stuck to the sugar coating.

Aren't they just the loveliest? I packaged most of the cookies up and gave them out as gifts, which seemed to be a big hit! 

Peppermint Crinkle Cookies

adapted from Bakers Royale

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons spooned and leveled all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
• 2 3/4 cups sugar, divided
• 1/4 cup of canola oil
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and warm, not hot
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 2 large eggs
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 ½ teaspoons of peppermint extract
• 1 cup powdered sugar

- In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

- Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until melted.

- Beat together 2 1/2 cups of the sugar, the oil, butter and corn syrup to blend. Beat in the eggs, egg yolk, vanilla and peppermint extract. Beat in the melted chocolate.

- Add the flour mixture and beat in on low speed.

- Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

- Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Line bakesheet with parchment.

- Roll the dough into 3 inch balls. Pour the remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar into one bowl and the confectioners’ sugar in another bowl. Roll each cookie dough ball lightly in granulated sugar first, then very heavily in confectioners’ sugar.

- Arrange cookies 2 inches apart. For a chewier cookie, bake 10-12 minutes. Bake one sheet at a time.

{A glorious year, a review}

 {snaps from Seattle}

Another year has passed and I am constantly in awe at how fast our lives fly by. It is truly difficult for me to stay in the moment, to not look ahead and wish for the future to be here now, and yet one day I wake up and that is exactly what has happened.

2011 was a fantastic year. I may not have gone on a wild european vacation, or made the crazy decision to jump states (like I did in 2010), but this year was filled with personal growth, new friendships, big love and a more mature outlook on life. Looking back, I think this is the happiest I've ever been. Here are my favorite highlights.

January: I celebrated the New Year in Seattle, attended my first NBA game, and made the leap into semi-fashion blogging by signing up for Kendi's 30x30. A big step for me, I've always preferred to be behind the camera, not in front of it!

February: The month came quickly as I continued to go strong through the 30x30 challenge. No wonder they call it a challenge, taking outfit photos is a lot of work! Props to all the full time fashion bloggers out there. Chris & I celebrated both a mellow and fancy valentine's day, and continued the month of love by attending my good friend's wedding. The evening was beautiful, you could see their happiness radiating though all the guest's faces. And I cried. Kind of a lot. Wrapping up a busy month, my martha stewart soulmate (Sarah) & I planned and hosted an oscar party.

March: I stumbled on the gloriousness of Phoenix's underground food truck ring, and I continued on my 30x30 path while my best friend Devin came in town to visit my new home. We packed as many activities in as possible, like going to Caramelpalooza, I took her to my favorite coffee shop, froyo shop & of course in-n-out, and we toured the vintage shops I had been dying to check out. At the end of the month, I attended the Arizona Blogger Meetup, and met so many wonderful new people!

April: The weather continued to heat up, I baked a lot of goodies, took a mushy walk down memory lane, and celebrated a three year anniversary with the sweetest guy.

May: A little website called Pinterest totally rocked my world (nerd), I celebrated my awesome mother from afar, had some very fun dates with the boyfriend to barnes & noble (nerd), a mexican fiesta and pottery designing (super nerd). I fell in love with the Phoenix Public Market, which peaked my interest in shopping local, then jetted off for a business/play trip to Las Vegas! Made it back in time to celebrate the boyfriend's birthday.

June: I kept trucking away on decorating my apartment with a fun dining room DIY, got visited by my mom! We traipsed all over Arizona visiting Sedona, the Grand Canyon, Phoenix Public Market and more.

July: Chris & I decided to spend 4th of July in San Diego with my friend Bianca, and I celebrated my one year anniversary living in Arizona! Bianca was the best hostess for my first trip out, taking us to the Aquarium, Balboa Park, and USD. I forced Chris to stand in line (for 2 hours!) so I could see HP7.2 at midnight, and we had an ideal Arizona summer weekend. Some of my bestest friends surprised me with a visit to Phoenix.

August: The month was filled with blog related events! First was a mini meet-up at Arrogant Butcher, a retail event at DownEast Basics, blog chats at Lux, a preview of a newly updated local movie theater and right at the end, an fall preview event at Neiman Marcus. I started my first weekly feature, Finding Inspiration: Links, and launched my page of eats & treats: nosh!

September: I daydreamed of fall temperatures (it's still an inferno in AZ!). Chris took me on the fanciest date I've ever been on, and spent the dreamiest evening spinning atop a building looking at Phoenix's views. We decided to spend the next weekend celebrating my birthday in California, had an amazing breakfast in Santa Monica, breakfast in San Diego and I was reunited with my favorite friends for the WSU game. Then my friend Sarah took us out to dinner at the most amazing dessert place. Chocolate heaven. At the end of the month we jetted off to St. Louis for gardens, football, drool worthy BBQ & more breakfast!

October: My friend Jess & I ate our weight in tacos, I saw a hipster documentary, and received the best gift ever. I was featured in the local pub Phoenix New Times, and celebrated halloween while admitting my potterhead obsession with a fun DIY.

November: What a crazy fun month! A couple blogger friends & I were asked to attend the Karen Kane fashion show in Scottsdale, I met fashion guru Ken Downing (!!) at a Neiman Marcus Event, and Project Ethos as well. I made my favorite appetizer of the year, and saw the Cardinals vs. Rams game for the second year in a row. Feeling frazzled by all of the inspiration out there in the world, I checked out for a weekend and went to visit Devin. Thank goodness for best friends. My mom came out for her yearly Thanksgiving visit, and my aunt & uncle joined in the fun. It was a family packed weekend!

December: Chris & I rounded out the year with a last minute, SUPER fun, roadtrip to California. We got to say goodbye to our friend Sarah, who is off on a new life adventure. Finally, I returned home to Seattle for the holidays. I stayed with my mom, saw almost everyone of my great friends & family, celebrated christmas, stayed out past my bedtime and barely slept the entire time. It was fabulous.

After all that...I'm exhausted. Welcome 2012!

{A New Year & Fancy Shoes}

New Years Eve 2011 was such a success. My friends & I piled aboard an Argosy Cruise in Seattle, and sailed around on a beautiful, clear night. We drank champagne, saw fireworks erupt from the Space Needle, and eventually kicked off our shoes and had a wild dance party. Apart from a few rocky waves that nearly knocked me over, and a very slow bartending staff...the night was perfect!

Dress: Francesca's, Belt: Banana Republic, Boots: Vince Camuto

My last purchase of 2011, I decided to go out with a bang. I saw these booties from across the store and knew it was love. Some pushing from my mom to put my practicality aside for a moment, and all of a sudden I was checking out. Probably the best decision I made all year.

Hope you all had a fun & safe evening!

{Holiday Cheer}

My annual christmas blog break started a few days earlier than expected, and I couldn't be happier. I'm back in Seattle for this first time in a year, days have been overcast, foggy and beautifully dreary. 

{my mom's beautiful red & white themed christmas tree}

{mother & daughter christmas pants}

{my ornament to chris}

{chris' ornament to me - look familiar?}

{my favorite early christmas present from the boyfriend!}

Wishing you all the merriest happiest last days of the holiday season, dear readers! Posting will be back again in the new year. Until then I'll be baking up a storm, visiting with friends & family, and trying to get sick of the rain. I'll of course still be posting to instagram (find me at: sparklefarkle!), and of course to twitter. Happy new year!

{Lunch at Liberty Market}

Over the weekend I took a trip to downtown Gilbert, to meet up with my good friend Ashlyn, her sisters & adorable nieces to take some family Christmas photos.

We grabbed lunch before starting the shoot at local favorite, Liberty Market. In my year and a half of living in Arizona, I'd still never made the trek out to Gilbert. They have the cutest downtown area, with new restaurants & boutiques opening up,  like my personal favorite Postino.

Liberty Market is actually a restaurant, contrary to its name. They do sell their delicious menu items in a walk-up format, as well as wine and cool european drinks in a cooler at the front. So maybe you could consider it a market if you really wanted to.

As you stand in line with your paper menu deciding what to order, you're forced to walk along side a long cold case filled with triple decker cakes, past salads, bread pudding and other delicious looking treats. Which makes it really hard to focus on ordering normal food and not skipping straight to dessert.

Thankfully, my Italia salad filled me right up with some leftovers to take home. Mixed greens with oven-fired tomatoes, salami, dry cured sicilian olives, artichoke, garbanzo beans, basil, pecorino-romano, croutons, and some amazing lemon vinaigrette. Enough toppings? I didn't even have to make any substitutions! Which always happens. I do still want to go back to try the red velvet cake! It looked incredible.

{There's a hole in this cake!}

The Christmas countdown is officially on. Days are filled with holiday shopping, scrambling to finish my list of to-dos before Seattle, parties & end of the year get togethers. Saturday night was my company's holiday party at the Phoenix Country Club. I love getting dressed up & seeing everyone get fancy!

We called it a night pretty early, since Sunday we were planning to wake up early & celebrate our Christmas together. The faster you go to sleep, the sooner Santa comes, right? After tearing through some seriously amazing presents (the man seems to always know exactly what I want!), I made Christmas brunch & we sat and watched football for the rest of the day. I napped twice and never took off my pajamas. It was glorious.

For brunch, I went the typical bacon & eggs route, but also made a bundt coffee cake. Bundts always remind me of my big fat greek wedding.

{for the cinnamon layers}

{secret creamy ingredient}

{mix wet & dry}

{makin layers}

Sour Cream-Streusel Coffee Cake

Adapted from Epicurious -- via Bon Appetit

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups (packed) golden brown sugar
• 4 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 4 1/2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 16-ounce container sour cream

- Preheat oven to 350°F and butter a 12-cup Bundt pan. 

- Mix first 5 ingredients in small bowl.

- Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into medium bowl. 

- Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until blended. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. 

- Mix in vanilla. Mix dry ingredients and sour cream alternately into butter mixture in 3 additions. 

- Beat batter on high 1 minute.

- Pour 1/2 of batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with half of cinnamon mixture. Spoon remaining batter over.

- Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool cake in pan on rack 10 minutes. Turn cake out onto rack and cool.

- Enjoy!

{Finding Inspiration: Links}

I wanted to share this lovely custom item made by A Vintage Poster, that I created for my best friend Devin's birthday. Shout out to Sara for being so lovely to work with, who managed to translate the exact image I had in my head with one of Dev's favorite quotes, into this poster in a few short emails.

This weekend is my company holiday party, last minute gift scrambling since Chris & I are celebrating our Christmas early (I'll be in Seattle for the actual day) which means SANTAAA comes on Sunday! Hooray for two Christmases. So looking forward to peppermint hot coco, Christmas brunch and hanging out in matching green&red plaid PJs all day.

Now some links for you to enjoy this pre-holiday weekend!

{gift}

• For those of you who are huge fans of blogging queen cupcakes and cashmere (if not...living under a rock, much?) her new food/cocktail/DIY book is now available for pre-order!
• Adorable eco-friendly bags for your green friends. I use bags like this whenever I can to do my grocery shopping! Hippie trait passed down from my mom.
• This ornament, dying. Buy it for everyone you know.
• DIY hair pretties for friends with baby girls. Couldn't be easier to make! Over at Ballpoint+Pen.

{inspire}

• Typography artists are so incredibly talented!
• This dress. I don't know where I'm going to wear it, but I'm pretty sure it needs to happen immediately.
• This one too, for that matter. Cocktail party? Brunch with friends? Anyone need a date to the Oscars?
• I realize I'm nowhere near ready for this time in my life, but I cannot get over these phenomenal invitations by Plura Belle Calligraphy. The details! The colors! The font! Drool.

Happy Friday!

{The Beach House}

If I were to live in Laguna Beach, I would eat at The Beach House all the time. I would meet up with my BFF Lauren Conrad, who lives right down the street (her parent's house that is, the one on the show! Even though it's for sale. Still counts.) I would be fabulous and wear sunglasses on the inside the entire meal, because of the wild celebrity-filled evening I had the night before (or actually wear them because it's so bright inside).

We were just visiting, but I got to pretend I led an MTV reality show life for at least an hour over brunch. It was a beautiful but chilly morning, and Sarah's mom recommended we eat at the Beach House because of it's beautiful views and good food.

Our wild night had included game night & lots of wine instead of celebrity sightings, but I would have to assume it was more fun. We sat close to the window so the tourists, everyone except Sarah, could stare out at the beautiful blue ocean. We could hear the crashing waves hit the rocks our entire meal, it was wonderful.

Us arizonans freaked out over the sight of water, but can you blame us? We don't have anything nearly as beautiful in our dry, dusty state. Listening to the dull roar of rolling waves, and the caws of seagulls while sipping coffee waiting for our food to arrive was just lovely. When I grow up I think I'll need to be near water.

The egg people at the table, including myself, got an eggwhite spinach omelette, steak & eggs, and egg scramble with bacon. They all came with these amazing fingerling breakfast potatoes, that I'm convinced I could have finished off an entire bowl of them. They did need a little mustard though. Sarah's breakfast stole the show. 

Granola crusted french toast. Which instantly made me regret not ordering the riccotta buttermilk blueberry pancakes with lemon blueberry compote like I had been eyeballing. Always go with your gut when it comes to Sunday brunch.

We took some hilarious pictures standing outside in the sun. No amount of "3...2...1..open!" could make for good pictures.