Oooo I want this...

Beer good, Chocolate good, Pretzels good.... Put them altogether and BAM! that sounds amazing.
As I was flipping through the June issue of Food and wine I ran across an article named Brew mastery in which everything featured had to do in one way or another with , you guessed it, beer. The article consisted of several Beery Beauties, but the one that caught my eye was the Beer and pretzel Brittle.. OH MAN! It sounds so good... It is made with Rouge Chocolate stout and I am super excited to try it... Lucky for me it is Chicago made!! now to get my hands on some :) sounds like it will go good with a Cubs Game :)

You can find more info here Truffle Truffle

Ode to Bleeding Heart Bakery

I am a total Bleeding Heart Bakery Fan girl. This is not a new thing at all. I know they are all famous now,and one of the best bakeries in the country and Michelle and Vinny are practically TV stars, but when I first fell in love with the place it was over a mocha and a Oaxaca Brownie on Chicago avenue :). Spicy brownies oh HELL YES! I wasn't even about their now highly acclaimed cupcakes ( btw they are amazing!!) ... If they existed back then, I didn't even know it. I was all about that brownie and the lemon bar. It was true love until one day when I found out they were moving.... They where staying in the city but not by my house. It was a sad day indeed.

Well it was only sad until I started making the easy peasy trek to Belmont and Damen to their much bigger and prettier location. The quality is the same if not better and the crazy awesome flavor combos are the cats pajamas (did you say chocolate mole and corn cupcakes ooohh I can have curry on a cup cake too! yum!!!).

Some of my favorite things so far have been:
Mole Cupcake (made to honor Rick Bayless the Mole king and My b day cupcakes last year)
Carrot Cake Cupcakes (DJ Intel's fave)
Sweet potato Doughnuts
Oaxaca Brownies
Lemon bars (omg)
goat Cheese croissant
Strawberry basil orange cake ball
Oh by the way Cake balls are kinda awesome. They are NOT doughnut holes they are the pieces of cake that have to be trimmed off when they make their sculpted masterpieces mixed with delicious frosting-----ooohh ahhhh---- a must try.

Oh and did I mention that I just ordered a birthday cake for DJ Intel? well I did! And they did a wonderful job. I wanted to Zombiefy him on a Carrot Cake and it came out perfect!!
I would expect nothing less for the Challenge champs! Here is a pic:


ohhh here are some cake balls and cupcakes!!:


Now they are doing special Lemonades which and I am completely excited about! They always seem to have something new and amazing. To keep up to date you can follow them on twitter @bleeding_Heart Or go to the site www.thebleedingheartbakery.com or better yet just go to the shop and get your pastry on... :) (my preferred method)
PS they carry vegan and gluten free options!
PPS for my west suburban buddies they have a great location in Oak Park as well. fun times!!!! yey Pastries!

Who's your Papa?

What is not to like about Cream puffs.Good stuff stuffed with more equally good if not better stuff. Annnd welllll if you don't like them ... your soul is probably gone. :) And if you didn't know One of the best places to get Cream Puffs, in my humble opinion, is Beard Papa's.
My Beard Papa's Journey began in the summer of last year when I went to San Fran to visit my gal pal and fellow blogger Miss Dorothea. Several people had told me to hit up Beard Papa's for some world class cream puffs. Alas, I never had time to venture their way and the only other locations at the time were in Asia, DRATS! I was never gonna get one!!
Well, that all ended one fateful day when I was downtown for, get this, A dentist appointment. *** begin dream sequence*** I saw a sign on State and Washington that a Beard Papa's had opened in The new block 37 mall. I had to have one right then and there. It was me versus my newly numbed mouth and tongue and freshly filled cavities. Needless to say I won, well,kinda..I sat in the new mall, still smelling of fresh paint and full of realtors trying to fill the still many vacancies of the mall and adjacent private residences, drooling on myself gnawing on a delicious Beard Papa's cream puff with powdered sugar all over my hoodie looking like a fool and not caring... I will always remember that day sigh!!!... ***end dream sequence***
Since then I have gone back and eaten several with full feeling and function of my mouth parts and they are just as good as I remember. I usually stick with the original puff ( they have an eclair as well as several other varieties) and vanilla custard :) mmm classic! They can also fill them with Ice Cream :)
I recommend this place if you are in the loop and looking for a sweet treat or a dozen sweet treats for that matter.

Here is some info Beard Papa's

Quick Update!

I failed my original challenge. I really wanted juice the other day so I drank it. But I don't feel too bad about it. My water consumption has gone up 100%. I still Love my Bobble. I feel way more hydrated all time, less headaches and I even think my skin is looking nicer :) YEY water!!! I'll keep you posted on this as time goes on. How are you guys doing on your challenge?

Stay tuned for my Sweets and Treats profile on Bleeding Heart Bakery and A guest blogger will share some yummy secrets with you soon too!!! woo hoo

OH YEAH!! Happy Moms DAY all you moms and other women who fulfill that role in one way or another for someone!! :)