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Saturday, May 28, 2011

A Little [NIKKI JEAN] for a Saturday Night



Songs like this are made for a Saturday Night. Since first hearing this song earlier this week, I've listened to it at least a couple of dozen times. I just makes me want to day dream about wonderful, wonderful things and sigh wistfully....

I hope that each of you will enjoy "Pennies in a Jar" by Nikki Jean this Saturday Night.



Friday, May 27, 2011

Yummm! Sinfully Sweet Sorbets!!!

I could never explain within the confines of this little blog of mine the pure unending love I have of a good, cool, soothing, sorbet. Ice Cream loaded with chocolate and candy and all that good stuff is great... but honestly, 9 times out of 10, I will be rocking a pint of Haagen Daaz Lowfat Raspberry Sorbet.

I have never attempted to make my own sorbet, and I wondered if it would be something easy to do, so I scoured the internet and found a collection of delicious and unique sorbet flavors that will not require a Master's Degree in Chemistry (Just an ice cream maker!) to accomplish and enjoy!!

Mango Sorbet

Recipe Courtesy of Epicurious

Yield: Makes 6 cups

Ingredients:

4 ripe mangoes (about 3 1/2 pounds total)
1 cup Simple Syrup
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice, or to taste

Directions:

Line a baking sheet with plastic wrap.

Wash and dry mangoes. Using a sharp knife, remove the 2 flat sides of each mango, cutting lengthwise alongside pit and cutting as close to pit as possible so that mango flesh is in 2 large pieces. With a spoon carefully scoop flesh from mango sides into a blender, leaving shells intact. With a knife cut remaining flesh from pit and add to blender. Add syrup and lime juice to blender and purée until smooth. Put mango shells on baking sheet and freeze while making sorbet.

Freeze mango purée in an ice-cream maker. Scoop sorbet into frozen shells, mounding slightly, and smooth surfaces. Freeze filled mango shells at least 6 hours, or until frozen hard. Frozen sorbets in shells may be wrapped individually in plastic wrap and kept in freezer 1 week.

Honeydew Sorbet

Recipe Courtesy of Epicurean

Ingredients:

4 1/2 cups honeydew melon -- diced
- melon should weigh about 3 1/2 lbs
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lime zest -- grated
1/2 cup lime juice

Directions:

Mash the sugar and lime peel with a spoon to release the oils. Let stand for 5-10 minutes. Add the lime juice. Pour mixture through a fine strainer into a blender or food processor; discard lime peel.

Add melon, a portion at a time, and whirl until smooth. Add more sugar or lime juice if desired. Transfer to bowl.

Nest bowl in ice water; stir often until cold, 5-10 minutes. Pour chilled puree into an ice cream maker. Freeze as directed by the maker until the sorbet is firm enough to scoop. Serve or place in freezer until frozen harder

Key Lime Sorbet with Ginger Snaps
Recipe Courtesy of Cooking Light

Ingredients:

5 cups water
1 cup sugar
3 (1/8-inch-thick) slices peeled fresh ginger
2 teaspoons grated Key lime rind or lime rind
1/2 cup fresh Key lime juice or lime juice (about 10 Key limes)
Gingersnaps (Make them fresh or buy a box)

Directions:

Combine first 3 ingredients in a large nonaluminum saucepan; bring to a boil. Add lime rind, and cook over low heat 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Strain mixture through a sieve into a bowl, reserving the sugar mixture. Discard solids. Cool sugar mixture completely. Stir in lime juice.

Pour the juice mixture into the freezer can of an ice-cream freezer, and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. Spoon sorbet into a freezer-safe container; cover and freeze for 2 hours or until firm. Serve with Gingersnaps.

Matcha Green Tea Sorbet
Recipe Courtesy of Japanese Food About.com

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp matcha (green tea powder)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 cups water

Directions:

Combine granulated sugar and green tea powder in a bowl. Put 2 cups of water and the sugar mixture in a sauce pan. Heat until sugar dissolves. Soak the pan in a bowl of cold water to cool the liquid to room temperature. Pour the liquid in a freezer-safe container and put it in a freezer. Stir the sorbet every 30 minutes or one hour. Freeze until sorbet is alomost frozen. Serve into glasses.

Pomegranate and Mint Sorbet

Recipe Courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis, Food Network

Ingredients:

1 cup Mint Simple Syrup, recipe follows
2 cups 100 percent pomegranate juice (recommended: Pom Wonderful)
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
Fresh mint sprigs, for garnish

Directions:

Special equipment: an ice cream maker

In a glass pitcher, combine the Mint Simple Syrup, pomegranate juice, and orange juice. Pour the pomegranate mixture in an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. During the last 10 minutes of freezing time, add the mini chocolate chips.

Scoop the sorbet into dessert bowls and garnish with fresh mint sprigs.

Mint Simple Syrup

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 packed cup packed fresh mint leaves

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, water, and mint leaves over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the syrup to cool for 20 minutes. Strain before using.


Peach-Jasmine Sorbet

Recipe Courtesy of Gourmet.com

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb ripe white peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced
1 1/2 cups jasmine syrup
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, or to taste
Sugar to taste (optional)

Directions:

Purée peaches, syrup, and lemon juice in 2 batches in a blender until smooth. Add lemon juice and/or sugar to taste if necessary (keep in mind that sorbet will taste a little less sweet when frozen). Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl, pressing on and then discarding solids.

Chill, covered, until cold, at least 4 hours.

Freeze in ice cream maker, then transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden, at least 1 hour.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

:::drools::: Colorful Summer Shoes!!!

The weather is getting warmer... my wool coat is in storage, and the nail salons are full of women getting their toes brightly painted, so that they can be adorned in a fabulous open toe shoe...

This year, I have decided to take a break from my usual black sandals and add a spice and color to my feet. Luckily, I have a lot of options... some affordable, and some... not so much!!!! Of course I share my favorites with you... you know how I do! LOL


UGG Khloe Turquoise Multi Sandal ($90.00, Zappos)



Facinate Blue Multi Fabric Shoes ($59.00, Nine West)


Red Wyatta Gladiator Sandal ($60.00 Aldo Shoes)


Rebels Rascal Espadrille Flat Multi ($34.50, Delia*s)



CALYPSO St. Barth Tie Dye Stripe Epadrille Wedge Sandals - Turquoise ($29.99, Target)


Leopard Bloom Sandal ($32.90, Alloy)

Which of these are your faves? What colors will YOU be rockin' on your feet this summer? Do tell!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

D-I-Y Nappturaliciously: My First Rollerset!!!

Spring is here in NYC, and I have been in a bit of a rut when it comes to my hair. I was super duper tired of my usual braid outs and sucked up a bit of courage to tackle my very first rollerset.

Going into this, I was very very nervous about using heat on my hair again (I haven't done that in ages, which I attribute to my hairs improving health.) so I decided to do some research on technique, product suggestions, the whole nine... which meant a lot of YouTube time! One of the best videos I discovered is from Trenellm's You Tube Channel and her great 40s inspired rollerset!

The genius part of my plan was that I did it Friday night, after working all day, and after first putting away a mountain of clean laundry.... I am so smart, s-m-r-t, I mean s-m-a-r-t!! LOL Suffice to say I was tired as holy hell when I was done!


From Top Left: Diane Magnetic Hair Rollers, Diane Magnetic Snap-On Rollers (Get the snap-on, they work better!), Creme of Nature Argan Oil Foaming Wrap Lotion, Dabur Vatika Hair Oil, Remington Wet2Straight Flat Iron, Gold N Hot Ionic Soft Jumbo Bonnet Dryer, CD's Healthy Hair Butter, Got2B Guardian Angel 425F Heat Protect Flat Iron Balm... all of which is available at the *NEW* Miss Moon's Musings Shop (Powered by Amazon.com), which you can visit by clicking here - All of the items (and more) can be found in the D-I-Y Nappturaliciously Tab.

After doing my usual wash, condition, deep conditioning and detangling, I separate my hair into four sections and first applied a liberal amount of Vatika Oil and HHB to my hair. I then added the Foaming Wrap Lotion and applied the curler, taking my time to make sure that my hair was wrapped in the curler as best I could with spaghetti arms from hanging up clothes! LOL

I discovered that the Snap-on Rollers work a lot better, and regret buying less of those. Around 1:30 AM (!!!) I was done...




You can see the difference between the snap-on rollers and the ones I clipped to my head. You have to have arms of steel to get them tight. LOL


I think I have the "Jilly from Philly" seal of approval, don't you think?!?

I joyously returned to my bed, where my Gold N Hot Ionic Soft Jumbo Bonnet Dryer was prepped and waiting for me.


I was amazed that I was able to fit all of the rollers under the bonnet without any strain...
My intention was to leave the dryer on my head for about an hour and a half, but fatigue took hold of me and I promptly fell asleep!

I woke up around 4:30 in the morning, burning up from the dryer. I turned it off, and too tired to look for my satin cap, I opted to keep the bonnet on and went right back to sleep (No shame in my game, y'all.. Mama was tiyaaaaaad!!!! lol).

About an hour later, I woke up again, because the rollers were super uncomfortable, and I couldn't take much of it anymore. So I stumbled into the bathroom to take them out. I didn't get a chance to snap a photo of the de-curling.... well, because it was around 5:30 A.M.!!! LOL

I pinned my hair up as best as I could, covered it with my satin cap and I took myself right back to bed.

When I woke up later that morning (Okay, it was 1 in the afternoon)after showering I decided to finish my hair. I am so afraid of heat damage, so I was not looking forward to flat ironing at all.

I first made sure to apply a bit more Vatika oil to my hair, just because I know my hair loves it, and separated my hair in 8-10 sections. I then sprayed each section of hair with Got2B Guardian Angel 425F Heat Protect Flat Iron Balm and applied the flat iron (I decided to use one of the lowest settings, which actually did a great job!). I didn't experience too much of that "frying bacon" sound, which was my fear, and when I finished here were the results:


For the most part my hair seems to be cool with the change, though a few sections were totally "No she didn't!!!!" on me! LOL


The initial responses from my family were varied. I got a "Well, I'll be damned..." (From Mizz Lennid aka Mum), A Shocked Open Mouth Stare (From Big Sis), and a couple of dirty propositions from my honey. He said he liked seeing my hair different, but he did express a preference for my curls!! I told him, "Good.. because the curls are my preference, too!")

What's my response?


I like it... not crazy over the moon about it (It's still too new), but I think I did a fairly decent job for a first try. I plan on pampering my hair when the week is up by deep conditioning with a couple of Anita Grant's Rhassoul Deep Condish Hearts, and then two-strand twisting my hair, which I will leave in for a week.

Have you experimented with rollersets and/or flat-ironing? What are your favorite tips and techniques?