22 : macaroons

It's no secret we have a sweet tooth, our other posts are proof of that. The other day we picked up these little macaroons at the newly opened Yellow Vase; a bakery/cafe/flower shop (yes this business is all 3, and is oh so cute!).

We opted to split four flavors: pistachio, rose almond, raspberry and caramel. Raspberry and caramel by far were the best. The perfect mid-day sweet tooth fix.

21 : farmer's market

Roaming around the Torrance Farmer's Market this morning made for a very happy and great start to the weekend. We hit the french bakery booth first to grab a couple of ham & cheese croissants to stroll around the market with.

It's a little overwhelming at first, there are so many fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers, pastries, cheeses, olives, etc... Not to mention all the other food being made if you actually want to eat a hot meal there.

Like Costco, there is definitely no shortage of samples at this place. Just about every vendor offers up samples of their goods. The guys at the Mediterranean booth, were sample crazy, giving one sample after the other even before you could finish eating the first! With a sample in each hand, Jen had to resist and say "no" because she didn't have any way to hold them all. Madness. I'm not one to say "no" to a sample... but if we hadn't we would probably still be there and in a massive food coma.

Jen picked up some yummy herb feta cheese and oranges...What did I opt for? Out of all the fruits and veggies, I walked away with chocolate & glazed pecans. Surprised? Jen wasn't, she just laughed.

20 : happy veggie

We're by no means vegetarians, but we do enjoy our share of veggies. Awhile back we were introduced to Happy Veggie, a vegetarian restaurant in Redondo Beach.

Our fave? The Curry Vegetable Masala with soy "chicken"...sooo good! You don't even realize you're not eating meat. Yeah, yeah, we know everyone says that. But really...we're not kidding.

The Spring Rolls are also super yummy! With lettuce, mint, basil, noodles, tofu and "shrimp".

19 : pantone

We cannot live without our Pantone books! For those of you not familiar with the name, Pantone is the color god of the design world. You will never find a designer without one of these handy swatch books. There are literally thousands of pre-mixed ink colors to chose from.

But my question is...with all these colors to chose from, why are there still clients that don't find the "exact" color they're looking for? Are you really telling me that in all of the 180 different blues, none of them are the right color?

18 : tiny mouse

Months ago at Olvera Street, I came across this teeny tiny mouse playing with a mouse trap. I don't know why, but I had to have it. It's sitting on a quarter, so you can see just how small it actually is.

17 : jelly belly® jelly beans

Jelly Belly® Jelly Beans are without a doubt the best jelly bean there is...even if they've gone a little crazy lately.

While we got the relationship to the Harry Potter movie with flavors like "vomit" and "earthworm"...we don't understand why they continued with their new BeanBoozled™ series. In this box, traditional flavors may or may not be what you think they are (rotten egg looks just like buttered popcorn, canned dog food looks like chocolate pudding, etc).

Skunk spray Jelly Belly anyone? No? We didn't think so.

UPDATE: We had our friend Jeff eat some of the BeanBoozled™ beans. He could handle skunk, centipede, pencil shavings, dog food and booger...But rotten egg? That was the one that did him in. A few days later, we cut them in half so we could smell them...the smell made us cough and gag. Jeff, you're our hero.

16 : girard alphabet blocks

Months ago we received a promo from House Industries about their new font inspired by Alexander Girard. As a youngster, my dad exposed me to many great designers such as Charles & Ray Eames, Isamu Noguchi, George Nelson, Richard Neutra, as well as Girard. So I couldn't have been more excited to see that House Industries reissued some fab items from him, in addition to the font. These alphabet blocks are case and point. Who wants standard old blocks when you can have these beauties?


Can you guess what my future children will be playing with?