This past week was so busy, but sooo much fun. I can’t wait to share everything. So April 8th, I whipped up some fish/quinoa/roasted eggplant for myself and some tacos for DJ. Both I have posted more than a zillion times so I’ll spare ya the pics.
BUT what is picture worthy are our severely undercooked tollhouse chocolate cookie gems! MM mm! Peep mega cookie in the background 😉
April 9th after working on some big school assignments, I made a combo of tuna, quinoa, mixed veggies, and spicy mustard. Deej had his taco leftovers.
April 10th, I woke up with some avocado toast/homemade hummus/tabasco while reading some blogs on the balcony.
While reading y’alls posts I got hungry again, naturally- so I made some PB toast with honey. I had to rip this massive piece of bread to fit in the toaster, that’s why it looks attacked, lol.
I worked on some school assignments at Nosh, and nibbled on a kiwi and more PB toast. I’m on a PB Toast kick ever since Trouble Cafe.
In the evening we had a women’s conference at church, and since I was helping with Welcome team we had to be there at 5:15. So, it was either eat dinner at 4:45 or wait until 9:30 pm. Definitely going with 4:45! I made a massive omelette to get lotsa protein with mixed veggies, quinoa, and salsa.
The treats they had for the guests were adorable!! I mean look at those macarons!
The whole outside patio of the church was set up for super cute photo ops for the attendees.
Such a great night praising Jesus with some amazing sisters in Christ <3
On Thursday April 11th, Deej was out of his overnight oats, so I made him eggs, bacon, and PB toast with honey. This meal was very much inspired by Maureen– she always makes yummy looking eggs & toast in the AM!
And whaddya know I made a slice of PB toast for myself as well! Once again, had to rip the bread to fit in the toaster. (It was bread from a client of DJs and OH so good!).
For dinner I whipped up an omelette again and put some green goddess dressing from TJ’s on top. I put that stuff on everything lately. So good!
In the evening I treated myself to a bath with these bath bombs from artnaturals. They smell wonderful, but still nothing beats a Lush bath bomb!
I do love that each bath bomb has a separate purpose- for example one is for strength, one for energy, and one for calmness.
For breakfast on April 12th, I made steel cut oats with mixed berries, protein powder, vegan chocolate chips and some whipped cream. mmm! I’ve been eating this on repeat for breakfast the last week.
And I made DJ his overnight oats so he wouldn’t have to worry about it when he came back from work. This had steel cut oats, milk, honey, Natural PB from Jif, and a dash of vanilla.
In the afternoon I went on a beautiful walk around the neighborhood.
For lunch I made toast with avocado, egg whites, almond cheese, and green goddess dressing.
I then got dressed and ready for a foodie event–I painted my nails too! Time to brighten it all up for spring!
The place I went this night was Culinary Corner Bistro in San Jose. The owners and chef were incredibly kind & fun! They wanted us to get new menu photos for them and just to promote the restaurant in general. They were cracking up at how often we moved dishes to get the perfect lighting and we even went outside at one point to make a spread on the ground. More on that to come 😅
Culinary Corner Bistro is a pan-pacific asian inspired fast-casual restaurant that has options for everyone from omnivore to vegan.
They had such nice little set up for all of us!!
I’m telling ya- the hospitality was spectacular. Time to get to the food.. whaddya think?
First up- their Crispy Peppercorn Wings with caramelized fish sauce! I didn’t sample these, but everyone raved about them.
Next: Crab Cakes with crab meat, Japanese ginger, and sriracha aioli. These were SO tasty. I love crab cakes, but usually when they are too “fried” I don’t like them. Although these were fried, the inside crab flavor was fantastic- so savory. I could have ate this whole dish.
These ahi tuna rolls with mango, avocado, cucumber, with wasabi-ginger soy sauce were some of my favorite! They were wonderfully fresh, had a tiny sweetness with the mango, and the sauce was really yummy. The bites were small enough that you didn’t have to worry about them falling apart- can I get an Amen, Hunida?!
These truffle sweet potato fries below were really yummy! I wouldn’t say they were my favorite sweet potato fries I have ever had, but they were still great. The sauce with them was a scrumptious accompaniment.
So this Thai mango papaya salad with daikon, carrot, and basil with Thai sauce is something I could eat every single day. It was so light, refreshing, but with so much citrus and sweet flavor and a satiating crunch.
Where my meat lovers at? If you go, you have got to try the Grilled New York Steak Pho with Bone Marrow. I am convinced bone marrow is one of the tastiest things you can eat on earth- so needless to say this was PHOnomenal. I tried some of the broth & noodles- and it was mighty good.
The dish on the top is the shaken filet mignon with angus filet wok seared with brandy, red onions, and butter, which people absolutely loved. The dish on the bottom is the BBQ boneless short rib with a lemon fish sauce. I tried some veggies from the boneless short rib and the sauce tasted far too heavy on the sodium for my liking- I’d veer away from that one – it overpowered the flavor. Many of their other menu items are much more fresh & well rounded with herbs and natural flavors.
One of my two favorite dishes of the night is this mahi mahi below with grilled pineapple and mango salsa. It blew. me. away. SO Good.
And for my favorite dish- the pan seared salmon with garlic noodles and seasonal veggies. The garlic noodles were to die for. And the salmon was perfectly crisped skin with an explosion of herbs and deliciousness.
I think y’all will get a kick out of this. In order to get a picture of the full spread, we took all the dishes outside because we liked the look of the flooring. Here’s a little behind the scenes…
Time for the full spread!
**I wrote this earlier in the week & just realized it was published on Good Friday!!! <3 Hope you have a lovely Easter weekend, friends, praising Jesus for His unfathomable love and sacrifice <3 To Him be the Glory!**
Question for you:
- Weekend plans?
xo <3
**Thank you to Tiffi Hung & Hung Tu for hosting us! And to Michelle for inviting us!**
Oh yum! I know a good foodie post, when I get the munchies before reaching the end of it 😛 And you did it again, Cali Gal 🙂 You are guilty guilty guilty of making me hungry, and thinking more and more about booking that plane ticket to CA. But that’ll have to wait, because I re-booked for my solo trip to Denmark in just three weeks!! Yikes!! 😉
Hehe!! I am so glad all this food looked appetizing to youuu! 🙂 Hopefully you got some good nomz after reading this. And yay! I am soooo excited for youuuuu! I know you are probably counting down by the days… or minutes! Woot wooooot!!!! Thanks for stopping in, Cyra 🙂
Oh I sure am counting… It is almost unreal, it’s coming so fast!! I will be thinking about you when I try special food, and I will take more pictures of all the Danish goodies I come across 🙂 Lots of good nomz aheah of me 🙂 (ps. I love that expression… ”Nomz” )
Aw yay!!!! This makes me so excited !!! can’t wait to hear and see all the nomz 🙂 Truly giddy with excitement for you… especially with how challenging this past few months have been <3 Enjoy big time!
Great times and good food! 🙂
Definitely 🙂 Thanks for stopping in, Kathy!
That mega cookie looks delicious. I’m going to have to start doing that when baking cookies. Also those macarons…I die. Swoon worthy!! Funny enough, I told Alex I want to take a macaron cooking class so these ones are just feeding my desire to do so lol.
I feel honored my eggs and toast inspired your breakfast for DJ. I don’t think I’ve ever done pb and honey though so I’ll have to try that out!
That mango papaya salad looks so good! Seriously jealous of all these delicious restaurants near you. It’ll only get better when you head to Austin as well!
This weekend is a busy one for me. I’m heading to a Broadway show tomorrow and then Easter celebration on Sunday. Plus I need to redo an at home mani/pedi and make some food for Sunday. I’m tired just typing that out and thinking about all the things I need to do lol. Happy Easter weekend!
YES! The mega cookie is my favorite- I love taking large slivers of undercooked dough all together – yumm yum.
Oh my goodness- a macaron making class is a genius idea!!! Oohh I hope you do it soon- I’m eager to hear how that goes!
PB & honey is one of our favorite combos- the sweet/creamy/savoriness of it all is really great!
It can honestly be overwhelming just how many places there are around here to eat — I have SO many I want to try before we leave. In particular there is this pizza place that is a must and I’ve been stalking on it yelp like everyday this past week hahah. I’m hoping we can try it in the next couple weeks!
Ah a Broadway show!! SOO exciting- there is nothing like the talent on Broadway- blows me away. I was just thinking I need to re-do my nails tonight too. I love spring nail color options! Have such a great time & Easter weekend, Maureen!
I’ll definite post if we do it! Fingers crossed we can do it soon. Although I’m sure it’ll be post move once life settles down a little bit.
Now I’m pumped to try pb and honey!
Alex and I have a list of places to eat at and things to do before we leave. You should totally do the same so you hit the ones you desperately want to go to.
Okay a few posts ago we were talking about good old High School Musical. Guess who one of the two man actors is in the show I’m seeing…Corbin Bleu!
Yay!! And girl I hear that. I was just thinking I probably should get to packing since we are doing our move in less than 2 months! AHH! When is your move date?
YES! We actually do have an actual bucket list… lol! I’m obsessed with it lately & it literally dictates everything we do. hahah. https://mackmarie.com/2018/08/17/my-bay-area-bucket-list/
Wait- Corbin Bleu is actually in the show?!? That. is. amazing! CANNOT wait to hear all about this.
Ah that’s crazy! We don’t have a move date yet which is both good and bad lol. This weekend we’re going back out to look at places to move. We’re crossing our fingers we find one this weekend.
Okay I totally missed that post! I’ll have to go back and check out all the spots.
Yeah he was! I almost couldn’t take him seriously and just kept picturing him as Chad from HSM.
Ahh fingers crossed for you too!
Haha- I feel like I would have been the same way. It’s hard to shake a character when they are so ingrained into your mind from something else!
I got my nails done last weekend and they are a little similar to the color that you painted yours. Loving all of your food pictures, as always. Your posts always make me hungry HAHA. I love macarons so much and those look so great. I love the setup of that entire area.
Isn’t spring the best time for nail colors?! I love the brightness so much!!
Haha- hope you got some great food after this!!
The set up was pretty adorable! They always go all out for events- so creative. Have a great weekend, Ashley 🙂
now I want a piece of pb toast!
I think it is too funny that you put all the plates on the floor for a photo. On some levels that seems so wrong, but the photo came our really cool.
LOL!! I totalllly know what you mean- it does feel a bit odd but when the creative muse strikes you must listen, teheh. It’s actually a fairly common thing for food bloggers/photographers to do it for the shot. The last couple I’ve went to they have used the ground each time! So funny, huh?
something about putting food on the floor for any reason strikes me as wrong… dirty?
hah, I hear ya.
Awesome post and those macaroons!!!!!!
Thanks, Diane! Aren’t they pretty?! I’d say almost too pretty to eat, but with a heavy emphasis on the ALMOST. haha.
Ok now I want to try pb toast with honey!
And what is green goddess dressing?! It looks amazing.
Ohhhh yes yes try it- so good! And green goddess dressing is a type of salad dressing from trader joe’s that has… avocado, apple cider vinegar, green onion, lemon juice, chives, parsley, olive oil, basil, garlic, sea salt, and pepper! It’s incredible- I put it on nearly everything I can! Thanks for stopping in & have a great weekend 🙂
That papaya salad looks incredible and refreshing! After reading this post I am just hardcore craving a PB and honey toast!!
The papaya salad was just sooo refreshing & I loved the bit of crunch with it!
Oohh yes hope you can treat yourself to some of that PB & honey goodness soon 🙂 Thanks for stopping in!
The cookies beckoned me, fully cooked or not, especially that big one in back. (Aim big or go home.) What a wonderful spread, complete with blooms that rival the blooms you see on your walks. So many foods to try, so little time. Got a giggle on how you had to keep ripping the bread to fit it in the toaster. 🙂
Those cookies are our absolute weakness!! SO yummy.
You are so right- I am trying to make the most of the time off to knock things off the bucket list 🙂 Tomorrow we are going to knock off a couple! And Sunday too! Glad you got a kick out of ripping the bread-hehe. I was able to have a little nibble to tide me over before the toast was done toastin’ that way 😉 Have a great weekend, Linda!
Yes, I could tell it was huge – I used to buy a sunflower bread years ago. A Windsor, Ontario bakery delivered it to a few stories – I swear that that bread was wider than a dinner plate and there was no way to toast it except in thirds. You enjoy the weekend too and Happy Easter!
Hehe- now that bakery sounds like my kinda place!!! Bread bigger than a dinner plate?! YES PLEASE!
We carboholics think alike!
hehe totally!!! 🙂
I love your photography, the macarons look incredible!!xxx
AW thank you so much, love!!!! Cannot go wrong with macarons, right?! xo
I LOVE peanut butter toast. I couldn’t live without peanut butter! Love all of these pictures!! The food looks absolutely incredible!
Weekend plans include helping my parents move and lots of Church!! I hope you have a wonderful Easter!!
xoxox
I thought of you when I was putting together this post 🙂 I know you love PB toast like I do! And thanks girl- so glad you liked these pics!
hope the move went well & that you had a beautiful Easter too, love <3 Thanks for stopping in!
OMG Mack! This looks incredible. Funny, because I haven’t eaten yet, and I was salivating just looking at the photos. You have such a healthy, creative, enthusiastic style with food. I love it.
I hope that you and DJ are having a beautiful Easter. So glad that you have a heart-felt connection with Christ. <3 Blessings!!
Debbie
Aw thank you sooo much, Debbie!!! Your comment just made my whole night. I haven’t always had a good relationship with food- since starting this blog I have fallen back in love with it- so this comment really is affirming & means a ton <3
Thank you for your kind words- I hope you had a wonderful Easter. Sending much love, blessings, and huge hugs to you, my dear friend!!! <3
Oh my gosh, I am literally drooling over here!! Every single thing looks SO GOOD!! 🙂
XO, Katie | http://www.meshkomoments.com
Hi, love!!! Thank you tons for stopping in- just put a huge smile on my face. Glad you liked all the foodie eats 🙂 Have a great week!
Beautiful pictures and I’m loving all of the toast varieties! We love undercooked Tollhouse cookies too but with a little ice cream on top 🙂 I hope you had a beautiful Easter weekend Mackenzie!
Thanks so much, Shan!! Ohhh we gotta start adding a little ice cream on top too! Genius!! Hope you did too 🙂
I hope you had a wonderful Easter Mackenzie!! I love the behind the scenes on the photographing of the food! Not only does all this food just sound wonderful, but your photos are great. Food photography is definitely not my strong point! lol. I love that set up for the women’s conference. It sounds like a wonderful evening. I’m out of honey at the moment, but this makes me want to get some and make some PB and Honey toast! xx
Thanks, Amy! Hope you had a wonderful Easter too 🙂
Awww thank you SO much- this means tons. I am working hard to get better at food photography- and it is definitely a challenge! This is so encouraging <3
Hope you enjoy some PB & honey soon!!
I love that you include some of your home cooking in your posts. I am sure some of the dishes you prepare could rival what you are paying big bucks for at the fancy eateries. There is so much you can do with an omelet and yours look wonderful. Our asparagus is just starting to pop up so I will be making omelets soon as it is one of my favorite things to add.
I hope you had a wonderful Easter.
Hi, Ruth!! Aw this comment just made my night- I always say compliments to my cooking are the highest compliments I could receive 🙂
Asparagus omelettes are soo yummy! Hope you enjoy it soon 🙂 Thanks for stopping in & I hope you had a wonderful Easter too! xo
I used to do that all the time for our toaster too! The bread either wouldn’t fit or we couldn’t get it back out, lol! I got super tired of fighting with the toaster, so we switched to a toaster oven and haven’t looked back! Literally the best purchase ever! And now we bake everything in there too because the oven often seems too big for two people lol. 😉
Also, I totally had an unopened bag of steel cut oats from Bob’s Red Mill that I was looking to give away! I don’t know what I ended up doing with it, but all the recipes I found for steel cut oats looked complicated, so I didn’t keep it, lol. I would have shipped it to you if I knew then that you liked them!
Haha that’s too funny!! We really should invest in one of those conventional oven toasters—hmmmm great idea for a Christmas gift. Too early to start my list ? Lol.
Aww you are too sweet! In all honesty it took me forever to use up these steel cut oats, because I felt the exact same wayyyy. I think they were sitting in the pantry for upwards of 6 months because I didn’t get how to use them, but finally tried this out- soo glad it turned out ok! Thanks for stopping in, Courtney!!
Honestly, I use my toaster oven more than anything else in my kitchen!! 😉
Oh my goodness, so true!! I’m glad you figured out how to use them, though!
It seriously would be SUCH a good investment! And then I don’t have to worry about the size of my bread– haha.
Exactly, haha! Our toaster oven is about the same size as our old toaster so it doesn’t take up much more space. I’ve heard some people are afraid of burning themselves by reaching into it? But I have never burned myself, and actually I got burned pretty often with a toaster, lol!!
Anywayyy obviously I have a love affair with my toaster oven. 😉
Hahah I love it! My mom has a toaster oven & I never have burned myself using it – it so evenly toasts everything too! Wayy better than a toaster!
So much toast! I need to try the PB toast with honey & those macarons look delicious!
That’s awesome you went to a foodie event! The food looks great especially those truffle sweet potato fries!
Off-topic, but I’m working on a post about the worst advice for bloggers & I was wondering if you came across any bad advice.
Yes girl I hope you get to try the toast next time you are here 🤗
Ohhhhh what an interesting question! So this may be controversial but I think the advice that you should blog according to certain rules like length/ type/ schedule can be limiting. Creativity is so important and remembering your piece of the web is YOURS is so important- sometimes ignoring the “rules” is good and actually important 🙂
Peanut butter and honey toast is my go-to before long runs. It’s the BEST.
Those crab cakes…
YESSS! I agree ! The carbs are ah-may-zing for long runs.
The crab cakes were SO good. I don’t usually like them “fried” with that outer coating, but there was actually very little breading compared to the fresh crab ratio. Mmm. Have a great weekend, Ralph!
Hehehe, I LOVE how you guys always make the mega cookie when you bake them. The tuna salad & omelettes look freakin’ delish! & your church seems so fun– the cute photo setups & macaroons! 😍
Your new nail color is SO pretty & fresh, perfect for spring!!
All of the food at Culinary Corner is making me drool. Everything looks incredible!! I love how fancy their food/plating is, yet the portions are still big– that seems hard to find!! & yes, I am over here shouting “amen” about those beautiful rolls being bite-sized. ♡ I still haven’t tried bone marrow but man, those bowls of pho look out of this world & that last salmon dish is perfection!! 😍
Thanks for sharing your foodie outings with us, Mackenzie!! ♡
It just feels wrong to make a batch of cookies without mega involved!! Uh oh now my sweet tooth is acting up!
It was such a fun event!
Aw thanks so much, Hunida!!
YES- exactly- so hard to find a beautiful plated dish that is actually filling!
Aw glad you enjoy the foodie outings 🙂 Thanks for stoppin’ in, love.
I need to start making quinoa at home I’ve had it at restaurants and it was perfect!
I’m STILL on an avocado toast kick cant get enough! I’ve added hummus to it too on some occasions, will have to try it without the egg too lol
PB toast and honey sounds like another good snack. I’m just taking it all in I need a ton of ideas come June for a *dramatic* diet change in my life lol
Omg it’s nice to hear you treated yourself to a bath bomb!! And those look so cool! I love that there’s a purpose to each one and are not the same.
Love the turquoise(?) Nail polish you chose! So beautiful!
I would comment on each dish but I think we’d be here forever lol. It all looks amazing and I think your food photography is totally getting better! Love that you guys took everything outside lol
It’s so easy to make!! Just like rice & always great to have on hand to mix with veggies & whatever else 🙂 That reminds me that I need to whip some up tomorrow.
Girl, avocado toast is so stinkin’ good. Mmmm mmmm!
Ohhh but yes, try PB & honey together! Such a great combo. I like doing PB, banana, and honey together sometimes too.
What are you thinking for a diet change?!
Thank ya!! I rarely wear bright colors on my nails, but spring felt like the perfect time to try it out!
AW thank you thank you! I always get nervous that I’ll be able to “deliver” for these food shoots- so that really means so much!
cool, how do you typically store your quinoa once made? just regular fridge or do you freeze it? and how long does it last?
I’m just trying to cut out processed foods where possible, like I’ll still eat breads and cereals and pastas, but more like the stuff that is unnecessary or not healthy. No junk food.. No soda or juice.. no alcohol lol… uhm.. and just overall more of a pescaterian or vegetarian diet. i will eat a bit of chicken and all of that but I think I’m ready to drop red meat altogether. we’ll see how that goes for me lol.
I just keep it in the fridge! I usually make a dry 1 cup serving at a time and go through it in a week easily. You can freeze it though! I’ve done that before and it held up really well after months.
That sounds like a super clean diet! I am relieved to hear breads are still a go. When people say they are entirely cutting out carbs I vicariously panic hahaha. I couldn’t live without um’! I do loveeee being pesca. I think you will have no problem considering you already have cut so much meat out!
Oh okay awesome! I’ll have to go buy some quinoa and make it and hopefully it turns out well lol
Oh gosh no I could never cut out carbs, carbs are life lol. I just want to try to make more stuff at home and not eat out as often. Of course I have to exercise as well to see better results *fingers crossed* lol
That sounds like such a great and feasible plan!! Have you tried cauliflower gnocchi ? Everyone is raving about it lately. I’m gonna try some I just bought from TJs. It’s amazing how cauliflower can be substituted for so many carby dishes!
I didn’t know cauliflower gnocchi was a thing, I still havent tried cauliflower wings! Lol. I’m honestly so impressed because if it can be substituted like that, I cant imagine what the dishes will taste like. Omg my mouth is already watering
Hehe hope you can try them sometime! I still haven’t made the gnocchi.. I keep planing on it but then something else ends up on the dinner table- maybe tomorrow?! I’ll have to let you know how they are!
If you end up making it make sure you blog about it lol
lol! Of course!! 🙂
That patio is so beautiful – looks like something from a holiday resort! 🙂
keep on killing it 🌟
Awww thank you!! Your comments are truly brightening my day!