the rainbow connection

my friend the nurse hit me up a couple of weeks ago to do some elmo-themed cookies for her nephew's birthday.  this worked out perfectly, because i just happened to have an elmo cutter that i had yet to test out, and it looked like a pretty doable design to tackle.  i think i did a pretty decent job, yeah?

but then i realized that there was no way i could ship these things anywhere in this heat without them melting into a big blob of icing.  this heat wave is so inconvenient, yo.  and the nurse lives down in the south bay area - like an hour away.  bah!  but there was no way around it, and so after a few emails back and forth, the teen and i hopped in the car and drove our happy asses down to torrance to deliver the goods to the nurse at her workplace.  she's so sweet - she handed me a birthday present that's clearly from the hello kitty store, and i'm saving it to open until tomorrow.

the teen has been bending over backwards helping me with everything under the sun these days, while i've been wiped out from this stupid bronchitis.  i can't tell you how much i appreciate how hard she's been working to keep everything afloat 'round these parts.  and despite her hatred of driving in traffic, she gladly got in behind the wheel to chauffeur me around on this excursion.  i love her so.

there was something i'd been wanting to try down in this area for a long time - a place that the nurse and other south bay-ers regularly posts about on facebook:

we giggled like 10-year-olds at the chimney.  muahahahahahaha.

inside, not only did they have racks upon racks of that sweet, delicious hawaiian bread but also lots of specialty loaves that looked and smelled pretty darn tasty.

and when i caught a glimpse of this, i knew we had to buy some to take home to the bean.  it brought back memories for both of us - on a trip to disney world back when the teen was about 8, she had her very first fluffernutter sandwich on bread that looked just like this:

there were tons of baked goods at the counter.

we didn't go too crazy, though.  just the rainbow bread, a package of chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies, and some lunch for both of us.  i opted for the mix plate (huli huli chicken, kalua pork, teriyaki beef), which made for quite a torturous ride home.  well worth the wait, though.  i ate every bit of this:

man, i miss hawaii.

happy birthday, baby sister.  i love you and wish you were here.