If you’re like me, you see something while watching TV and it just gives you a craving to eat it.  Well, in some cases, I see something on TV and I want to make it!

Last week I was watching the Next Food Network Star and it that particular episode, one of the contestants was making a Banh Mi-inspired hamburger with mushroom pâté instead of the traditional pâté made of livers.  I immediately thought to myself, “How great! I can try to make this dish when I’m craving pâté – it’s probably less calories and it’s vegetarian, too.”  Not that I’m vegetarian but I do like to eat meat-free sometimes and am always on the lookout for good recipes.

For a whole week, I couldn’t get this mushroom pâté out of my head so over the weekend, I decided I was going to make it.

I used this recipe as a guide but made some of my own adjustments based on ingredients I could find on the fly.

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 small shallot, finely diced
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 1/2 lb shiitake mushrooms, chopped
• 1/2 lb porcini mushrooms, chopped
• 1/2 lb oyster mushrooms, chopped
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme
• 3 tbps chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon truffle oil
• 4 oz cream cheese
• 4 oz truffled goat cheese

Start off by cleaning your mushroom mix by lightly wiping the dirt from them with a damp towel.  Roughly chop all mushrooms and set them aside.

Next, finely chop your shallots, garlic, and parsley.  Remove the thyme leaves from the stems and roughly chop.

Melt the butter in a dutch oven and saute the shallots and garlic until they’re soft and translucent.

Add the mushrooms and cook for a few more minutes until they start to get wilted.

Then add the wine, thyme, season with salt and pepper, and stir occasionally until the wine is nearly all evaporated.

Once the liquid is just about gone, add the parsley and truffle oil and cook for an additional 30 seconds.

Next, break up the goat cheese and cream cheese into a food processor.

Then pour your mushroom mixture over the cheese and process until completely combined.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Transfer your finished pâté to a covered serving bowl and refrigerate for at least four hours to let the mixture set.  Overnight is even better.  If desired, drizzle a little bit of truffle over the pâté right before serving.  Enjoy with toast points or Wasa crackers as an appetizer.

Or do what I did, spread it on a toasted baguette with Vietnamese fancy pork, cilantro, and a fried egg for breakfast.  My personal version of a Sunday morning Banh Mi sandwich – YUM!!!

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San Francisco is a great foodie destination and we love that our good ‘ol City by the Bay gives us Dine About Town twice a  year so that we can keep trying out restaurants we wouldn’t normally know about.

This year, we went to Vicoletto, a quaint Italian restaurant in the heart of San Francisco’s North Beach district, otherwise known a Little Italy.  Normally, Dine About Town lasts for a week or two in January and June, but this restaurant is extending its $36.89 three-course menu through the end of the month.

The prix fixe list has a good selection to choose from (some restaurants have only two or three options for appetizers and entrees).  Here’s what we had:

Starters: Mussels (above) sauteed in white wine with light tomato sauce and fresh basil.

Burrata cheese lightly dressed with cherry tomatoes and arugula served with grilled bread.

Entrees: House made pappardelle with porcini mushroom, grana padana and white truffle oil.

Black ink squid spaghetti with clams, fresh squid in light tomato sauce.  This was a first for us!  Very subtle in flavor with delicious, fresh seafood.

Dessert consisted of the usual Italian suspects: panna cotta with a raspberry sauce and light tiramisu.

If you’re looking for simple Italian recipes, you’ll enjoy Vicoletto.  For the more modern eater, these classics may not wow your palate.

Vicoletto is located at 550 Green Street @ Columbus Avenue in San Francisco.

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What:  It’s a new Estée Lauder collection for summer 2013 featuring a new fragrance from the popular Pleasures line.  POP eau de parfum ($60 US) features pink grapefruit, cassis notes with blends of lily, jasmine, and pink peony.

The POP collection also shows off a bold and bright nail lacquer in Berry Hot ($20 US) and an ultra chic Pure Color Gloss in Fuschia Vibes ($22.50 US).

Why: For the woman who doesn’t shy away from the bold and beautiful!

When: Available for a limited time starting July 2013.

Where: Get yours online at www.esteelauder.com or at counters nationwide.

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Last weekend the Husband and I flew cross-country to New York to spend some quality time with one of my oldest girlfriends and her family.  She loves food just much as we do and showed us the New York that locals know.

We started Day 1 with at Ippudo for some delicious (and overpriced) ramen.  However, I should say that I would gladly pay $14 dollars for another bowl the next time I’m in NYC.  :)

My husband’s bowl of Karaka Men, a tonkotsu broth topped with charsu pork belly, light veggie garnishes, and a hot spice blend.  He also added a soft boiled egg to his bowl for an additional $2.

My bowl is an Akamaru Modern, also a tonkotsu broth with Ippudo’s “secret” miso paste and also topped with charsu pork belly and vegetables.  I opted for a poached egg in mine for $2 extra.  Both bowls were absolutely delicious!  I wanted to slurp my whole bowl but we were on a food mission and had to save room for our next stop – Momofuku Ssäm Bar.

Having just had lunch, we sat for a quickie snack.  Even with a full stomach, this did not disappoint!

This is a massive pulled duck bun garnished with delicious tzatziki, harissa, and pickled ramps.  I don’t usually like meats that are pulled but the tasty crunch of the cucumbers and flavors of the ramps were so divine that I actually crave this now that I’m back in San Francisco.

We followed this up with a couple of pork buns.  I don’t think I had ever seen pork belly inside buns that were as unctuous as these.  I could not wait to bite into this meaty and fatty bun – it was pure heaven.

Momofuku Ssäm Bar and Ippudo are a couple of must-visit dining destinations if you’re ever in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

We’ll have more New York food adventures for you so check back soon!  That city is nothing short of all the amazing things you see on TV! 

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I’m on a total NARS kick right now.  I was feeling a little festive on Cinco de Mayo, and getting ready for the Giants baseball game, so I decided to pull this one out of the archives.

NARS Lal Mirchi is an orange red from their 2012 Thakoon limited edition collection.  I love everything about it – the formula, the creaminess of the color, and most of all it totally evokes a yearn for warm summer weather.

This shade is sadly no longer available on the brand’s website but check out the remaining ones – some of my other faves from the collection is Anardana and we LOOOOVE Amchoor.

This review contains a sample product sent for consideration by PR. We do not do paid or guarantee reviews. For more information, please read our Editorial & Content Disclosure.

Last November when the Husband and I moved into our new apartment, the walls were bare and we were itching to start decorating – ASAP.  The only thing is – we were on a strict budget.  Weddings and honeymoons sure are expensive!!

Here’s what it looked like when we started – we had a few white frames that we purchased from Michael’s and IKEA that we used for our wedding and definitely wanted to recycle them for our home. Don’t you love that we kept our signs from the wedding still IN the frames?!

Now, for our new home decor project, we headed out to Target in search of additional frames to offset the white.  But, as we laid out the frames on the floor and began to put them up, it ended up looking super cluttered.  (Apologies on the fuzzy iPhone picture taken at night!)

That brought us back to Target where we found this shelf ($19.99 US) that was perfect to break up the space to create a little more texture to the wall.

The Husband and I had also created a shadowbox with items from the wedding and decided to add that to our wall.  Not including the shadowbox, our re-purposed wall of new and old pieces allowed us to create nice wall decor for our living/dining room for less than $30 US.  That includes the shelf and two 5×7 frames, all purchased from Target.

Here’s a shot of the finished wall with pictures in the frames – although our keeping our wedding signs would have been quirky, no?  ;)  We have a long way to go with our decor project but at least our teeny city apartment is starting to feel more like a home now!

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I have no idea how to cook Korean food, but I love to eat it.  The other night we were perusing our local Korean market and saw a package of Kimchi Stew and decided we’d try it.

For some reason, I thought it was a soup base that we needed to add to but, to my surprise, when we opened the package there was kimchi and tofu already in it! Nonetheless, we decided to add ingredients to it to give it more of a homemade quality.

Makes 2-3 servings

• one package of Yijo Kimchi Stew
• 1/2 a block of firm tofu, cubed
• 3/4 cup of kimchi, rough chop
• 1/2 shallot, small dice
• 1 egg (optional)
• 1 green onion, sliced

In a small pot, I sauteed the shallots and kimchi for a 3-5 minutes.  Empty the contents of the Kimchi Stew into the pot along with your fresh tofu and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes.  The soup has all the flavoring you need, so I didn’t add any other seasonings.

If it’s too salty for you, I would add 1/4 cup of water to tone down the flavor.  Once it’s ready to serve, turn up the heat so that your soup is bubbling and crack the egg into the pot.  Stir slightly to make sure that it cooks through.

Transfer to a serving bowl, top with green onions and serve immediately with rice.  I skipped the rice because I’m trying to cut back on my carbs and enjoyed this with an egg omelet and sauteed spinach.

My kimchi jjigae isn’t quite 5-star restaurant quality but in a pinch it’s perfect for a quick weeknight dinner when I’m craving inexpensive Korean fare.

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I spent last weekend eating my way through New York City while visiting one of my best girlfriends. We both love food so she took me to Chelsea Market where we took in the smells of delicious artisan creations, and perused jewelry and clothes from local pop-up vendors.

But my favorite memory of Chelsea Market has to be the current “Funny Food” art exhibition from Bill & Claire Wurtzel posted throughout the walls of the entire space. Please excuse my impromptu iPhone pictures that don’t do this at all!

I was so intrigued but the adorable food art that I had to look it up and get the back story as soon as I got home from our trip.  It turns out that Bill had been creating fun food art for his wife Claire for years.   We now get to enjoy his works of whimsy because she encouraged him to start taking photos of breakfast dishes he would make for her.

What started out as gestures of affection is now a book featuring 365 breakfast dishes (and they’re healthy too!).  Bill’s goal with Funny Food is to discourage obesity by inspiring children and adults to create meals that are nutritious, and fun to boot!  I love the idea of playing with your food, do you?

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It’s been years since I’ve visited New York.  And I had forgotten how much I actually like the city until a recent trip to Manhattan to visit one of my very best friends.

When I heard about this exclusive new palette today, I immediately reminisced about our great trip and eating our way through this glorious food city (more posts on that coming soon!).  NARS Hearts New York City and so do I.

NARS Hearts New York City ($75 US) is a great set to travel with – it has everything you need at your fingertips.  I only wish I had it to pack with me on my last trip!  It features four eye shadows, a blush and a bronzer shade.  To complete your weekend jet-set look, it also includes a lip gloss and nail color.

• Eye Shadow
  • Biarritz Neutral cream colored beige
  • Nepal Sheer rose
  • New York Plum brown
  • Galapagos Bitter chocolate infused with gold

• Cheek
  • Amour Peachy pink blush
  • Laguna Brown with golden shimmer bronzer

• Lip
  • Dolce Vita Sheer dusty rose

• Nail Polish
  • Chinatown Deep red

This set is now available online and at select retailers - Barney’s, Lord & Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue, Henri Bendel, and Bloomingdale’s Soho.

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You guys will absolutely die when you finally get to lay your hands on MAC’s latest collabo effort – this time with megastar Rihanna.

RiRi Woo ($15 US) is a super sassy matte red lipstick that’s a remix of the brand’s original Ruby Woo with a RiRi twist.  This shade will be available exclusively online until supplies last, starting May 2nd, 2013. Or, if you’re a concert ticket holder you can snag yours at Brooklyn’s Barclay’s Center MAC Pop-Up Store on May 4th.

So set those calendar reminders as early as possible this Thursday and place your order for what will surely turn into another MAC cult classic.

What’s your cult favorite red lipstick?  Mine is currently extinct and I’ve been on the hunt ever since for a new favorite, could RiRi Woo be it?

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