Xmas 2007

Xmas cookies from my neighbor. Yeah...the tablecloth does not match the season.


In addition to the apple pie, my mom and I made a chocolate fudge cake with coffee frosting (for Xmas Eve), which wasn't all that great...and it was difficult to frost because the frosting kept picking up bits of the cake. I didn't think the frosting was good, and the cake was kinda dry and not that tasty.

Some kind of potato thing with cheese that my aunt made for Xmas Day:

Some of the desserts:

The madelines tasted like soap, and I didn't try the snowman cookies, but the manju (mochi with red bean paste in the middle) was pretty good:

I LOVED these Russian tea cookies:

The chocolate lace came via UPS last Friday! This was the second part of my mom's three-part gift.... It ended up being about five layers of chocolate lace instead of just one (thank goodness).
Here's what the inside looks like (it's caramelized sugar covered in dark chocolate):

Chicken Salad Sandwiches

My chicken salad sandwich, made with raisins, green apples, almonds, & mayonaise...on Safeway's poopyseed/hazelnut bread, which is actually pretty good:


What inspired the sweet and salty mixture?

This is my absolute favorite chicken salad sandwich, which I bought from the Corner Bakery Cafe in Costa Mesa's South Coast Plaza (mall). Ingredients include sliced almonds, currants, and apples. SO good:


I've been trying to find a similar chicken salad sandwich in Berkeley, but the closest I've gotten so far has been the Oba Oba sandwich from Brazil Cafe (still yummy, although it looks kinda weird), which has corn and carrots and no apples or almonds:

* Note:  I've tried Cafe Intermezzo's chicken salad sandwich (in Berkeley), but it wasn't made of apples and whatever else their menu says it's made of...and it was mustardy instead of mayo-y.