Author Archives: Val

Happy New Year!

Posted in Geeky, Personal by

HappyNewYear2014

Happy 2014!  I’m excited about this year.  I’m hoping to improve myself physically, mentally, and emotionally.  Here are some of my New Year’s resolutions:

     ◊  Open an online store and stock if full of amazing jewelry made from gemstones and RPG dice.

     ◊  Continue running.  Gotta break a 10 minute mile!  (I know, I know.)

     ◊  Learn how to take better photos with my new camera.  (Thanks Mom and Dad!)

     ◊  Travel back to LA to visit Hubs’ folks.  Maybe we could attend Anime Expo while we’re out there.  /grin

     ◊  Try hard to be more patient, and in turn more gentle, understanding, and kind.

     ◊  Overcome some of my fears.

     ◊  Be a better friend.

     ◊  Read more books.  On the list this year: The Deathly Hallows; The Eye of the World; The Fellowship of the Ring; the rest of the Divergent series; and Désirée, which I’ve had for years but never finished.  Please wish me luck on my quest to finish Eye of the World.  I’ve gotten halfway through it twice.

     ◊  I have a couple of goals to complete in World of Warcraft: Get the Loremaster title and run Tempest Keep every week until I get the Ashes of Al’ar phoenix mount.  Anara’nel belore!

     ◊ Master driving a stick shift.

     ◊  Become (/gulp) a morning person.  This is pretty much the opposite of my ideal schedule.

     ◊  Learn to make good pasta and bread.

     ◊  Grow as a blogger by photographing more recipes, posting more often, and getting out of the house more with my camera.

Calling myself a blogger feels weird.

I hope our 2014s are wonderful!

Image courtesy of Comrade Foot a.k.a. Jens Rost

S’mores Dip

Posted in Dessert, Easy by

S'mores Dip

Last month my mom went out of state to visit her sister in New England.  While her sister worked during the day, my mom stayed home and found various ways to pass the time.  She happened upon Auntie’s copy of Taste of the South magazine.  She liked that magazine so well that she went to buy her own, but alas, it wasn’t available any longer.  So she went back to the cabin (a cabin!  /jealous) and made photocopies of her favorite recipes from the issue.  This is one of the recipes that she brought home.

S'mores Dip

S’mores are a favorite of mine.  I think one of the draws for me is that they remind me of being a kid.  My family did tons of camping when I was little.  Like the time we camped in Hershey, Pennsylvania and it rained so heavily that our clothes didn’t dry for days.  Ah, roughing it!  At least we had s’mores.  Or did we?  With that much rain, we probably just had unmelted s’mores whilst huddling under blankets.  This hot s’mores dip would have been nice, though.

S'mores Dip

These turn out nice and gooey and messy.  These s’mores are made in a cast iron skillet, and are a super-easy campfire treat.  Luckily, these are also a snap to make in the oven.  Just in case camping isn’t your thing.

S’mores Dip
Serves 6
"Hey, Smalls, you wanna s'more?"
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Prep Time
2 min
Cook Time
12 min
Total Time
14 min
Prep Time
2 min
Cook Time
12 min
Total Time
14 min
Ingredients
  1. 12 ounce bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
  2. 4 cups of miniature marshmallows
  3. Graham crackers
Method - Oven
  1. Preheat oven to 450°.
  2. Grease your 10 inch cast iron skillet with oil, butter, or PAM.
  3. Spread the chocolate evenly over the bottom. Top with marshmallows. Make it as even as you can.
  4. Bake for about 4 minutes. Start checking at about 3 minutes to make sure the 'mallows don’t burn. Unless you like them burnt.
  5. Let it cool a few minutes.
  6. Then you scarf.
Method - Campfire
  1. At home before you go, preheat broiler.
  2. Grease your 10 inch cast iron skillet with oil, butter, or PAM.
  3. Spread the chocolate evenly over the bottom. Top with marshmallows. Make it as even as you can.
  4. Broil 1 to 2 minutes, being careful that marshmallows don't burn. Let cool, then pack up to take camping. This can be done up to 3 hours in advance.
  5. Bake over coals on a grill rack 3 to 4″ above medium-heat coals for 6 to 10 minutes. Chocolate should be melted and gooey.
  6. Let it cool a few minutes.
  7. Destroy with graham crackers. Enjoy the scenery.
Adapted from Skillet S'mores
Adapted from Skillet S'mores
Planet Valeya http://www.planetvaleya.com/

Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival 2013

Posted in Disney, Orlando by

PlanetValeya-Epcot_2733

Yesterday my husband, brother, mother, and I went to Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival.  My husband isn’t a big fan of the Disney parks.  He would rather do most anything than go to any of the parks.  He occasionally humors me, like the first year we were married and I actually convinced him to get a season pass.  What?  Crazy.  This must be true love.  The rest of my family, however, is the opposite.  When my family would come and visit us in LA we would go to Disneyland.  My brother works for Disney.  I worked for Disney back when.  And my parents retired in Orlando to be close to Disney World.  My poor husband.  So when he says, “I would love to go to Epcot for that,” we go before he can change his mind.

For those who have never been, Epcot is comprised of two parts.  The front part has most of the rides and shops, and it goes into detail a bit about the original Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow (E.P.C.O.T.  Get it?) that was Walt’s vision of the the perfect city.  The back half of Epcot is a world showcase.  It features a multitude of pavilions, each styled to look like it’s from the country it represents.  Each country has restaurants, shops, and the occasional ride relating to the original country.  During the Food and Wine Festival this concept is expanded to feature the food and beverages of more countries.  Each has a pop-up kiosk featuring a few small tasty morsels.

PlanetValeya-Epcot-ChicknCurry_2752Trick’n chick’n curry with basmati rice featuring Gardein™ chick’n breast from the Terra kiosk

Please forgive the washed out photo, but I had to include this one.  This was the first thing we had.  Husband and I shared this vegan chick’n curry from the Terra stall.  We are big curry fans, and have tried a multitude of curries both good and bad.  This one was oh so good.  Savory, full of heady spices, and just a touch of heat.  The vegan chick’n was on par with other vegetarian chickens I’ve had.  Which is to say that you know it isn’t chicken.  This was Husband’s favorite of the night.

PlanetValeya-Epcot-bao_2763Mongolian beef in a steamed bun from the China kiosk

I love bao.  This bao bun had spicy Mongolian beef, onions and peppers, fried chow mein noodles, and a spicy sauce.  The bao was nice and sweet, which went really well with the spiciness of the sauce.

PlanetValeya-Epcot-lettucewrap2_2771Lettuce wrap with roast pork and kimchi slaw from the South Korea kiosk

This one takes me back to LA.  In LA’s Koreatown there are a ton of Korean barbecue joints, and all the ones that I went to were fantastic.  When we had a Korean roommate I pored over his Korean cookbooks, and when he had surgery and wasn’t feeling very well, Hubs and I made him a Korean feast.  There aren’t many Korean places in Orlando though, so I had to jump on the opportunity to have a Korean lettuce wrap.  This one was super fresh, with a nice crunchy lettuce leaf.  The meat was juicy and had a great marinade on it.

The Disney parks have a lot of events throughout the year, and this is one of my favorites.  I try to make it every year, and I look forward to going again next year.

So tell me, which kiosk would you go to?  Or which country do you wish they would feature?