frenching

after missing out on the last book club meeting, i was excited to be able to join the fun for february.  it was hosted at my friend 10yt's house, and because she practically lives in mexico (okay, it's just south orange county), my friend lilcee and i decided to carpool.

our book was a really fun one to read - a wonderfully written young adult novel called anna and the french kiss.  our friend jess had been raving about this book for a while, but i'd totally put off reading it until i kinda had to.  heh.  but i bit the bullet, ordered an electronic version for my kindle app (which i adore - i can read on the iPad and my iPhone and it always keeps track of where i left off), and got to it.

and i LOVED it.  seriously, it was such a fun and easy read - i finished it off in one afternoon.  i couldn't put it down, and now i either want to go to paris or send the teen to school there.  heh.  she'd kill me, but still - if she ended up with an experience like anna did, she'd end up loving me even more for it than she already does.  anyway, if you ever get the chance - hell, make time for it - read this story.  it's so fun.

10yt turned our book club gathering into a themed party, asking us to bring something french if possible.  and of course, i had the perfect thing:

haha!  they're a little different, though: i ground some unsalted roasted peanuts and replaced half of the almond meal in the macaron shells.  and then i went wild and sprinkled a few chopped peanuts on top, too.  when i asked for any special requests, 10yt said "strawberry!" and our friend ashley said the best macaron she'd ever had was a "peanut butter & jelly" from some patisserie in vegas.  so i decided to combine the two and filled these with a strawberry cream cheese mixture.  i think they turned out pretty well, and i didn't have any leftovers to take home, so there you go.

the other delicious offerings:

insom decided to put a twist on her contribution and brought something related to the book - yogurt and fruit parfaits, just like anna had at the beginning of the story.

if courtney didn't bring her delicious taco dip, there might be a riot - regardless of whether it fit the theme or not.

and jess brought her adorable doggy.  isn't he cute?

APK brought these, and since she's about to give birth, we were just excited to see her and didn't care about the theme.  plus, you can't get mad over donuts.  krispy kremes, to be exact!

we had a great time, and when it was time to head out, lilcee and i decided to meet up with a few others for a quick stop at a place we'd wanted to try for a while - mochilato.  it's fresh, chewy mochi wrapped around creamy gelato - kind of like the mochi ice cream you find at trader joe's, only better!

there were lots of flavors to pick from.

we decided to skip this:

and opted to choose two flavors each to share.

i liked the cute little pitchers of water to share.

these were delicious - reminded me of my very first taste of mochi ice cream in vegas, waaaaay back when i was pregnant with the bean.  i thought i'd bring some back for the teen, but she declined.  crazy!

our next book is that tiger mom one.  haha!  i'm getting ready to download that puppy onto the iPad, too.  what shall i bring that is asian-themed?  i guess i have to do something other than macarons for once.  bah.