Sweet Moments

~ Cora Bean

Last night my husband and I joined Sweet Moments Company‘s Savory Butternut Squash Crostata virtual class – from-scratch crostatas with butternut squash, caramelized onions, and goat cheese with a side of kale salad with honey dijon vinagrette. We both enjoy cooking and have been active meal kit subscribers (currently on Everyplate) since 2020, but neither of us had ever taken a professional cooking class before we learned about

Sweet Moments Company

It’s like joining a live Food Network cook-along, their chefs are SO knowledgable and helpful. Chef Therese (a Scottsdale based pastry chef & culinary instructor) actually formed the company with her husband Brent, with a desire of imparting a passion for creativity and cherished personal moments. They started in Arizona with in-home cooking and baking classes – where they come to you for a fun and intimate learning experience. After the pandemic hit, they moved their classes online – providing live instruction from a professional kitchen, with cameras positioned both on overall and top-down shots.

Our crostatas in action

They send all the ingredients in recyclable and compostable materials, then you join the class online. Last month, we tried out our first class alongside my dad & stepmom who were able to join with us from the other side of the country. Our pad thai & spring roll class was so easy – we’ve repeated the recipe at home a few times since then, and my family also saved the recipe to make again. My dad said that “Chef Therese made us feel like we were in the kitchen with her and welcome. We had a wonderful time.”

A glimpse at our spring rolls

The classes are about an hour long and offer structured instructions at a comfortable pace, with cleanup time incorporated in. You don’t waste any time, and there’s no waiting around. The chefs are also super adaptable – if you’re ever missing a tool or an ingredient they offer perfect improvisations.

With every package sent, they plant a tree with my old friend One Tree Planted AND donate a meal through St. Mary’s Food Bank. The team behind Sweet Moments Company is so sweet, and I love that they’ve partnered with such important charities!

Our final product

My husband’s review of the foods:
Spring Rolls: I’ve never made them before but they were really good. I’ve made the peanut sauce multiple times since!
Pad Thai: Better than any pad thai around here.
Butternut Crostata: I’m not a huge fan of butternut squash but these were really good. The dough was super versatile – I’m planning on using it for other stuff.
Kale Salad: I actively dislike kale and I avoid it. I would eat this every day.

Which brings me to the #1 tip we learned from the second class – MASSAGE YOUR KALE! 🥬 Oh my god, does it make all the difference. Grocery store kale is often very robust and crunchy, just massaging it (literally, like massaging it) while you take out the stems…don’t trust me, trust Chef Therese. It made my husband love a kale salad.

This majestic kale salad in action (with salted cashews, dried cherries & parmesan)

They have so many yummy classes coming up – apple fritters with a creme anglaise sauce, caramel apples, shawarma with hummus & tzatziki, decorated Halloween cookies & cupcakes, even a Thanksgiving 101! It’s super convenient, a great date night, and a great excuse to have a virtual dinner with long-distance friends or relatives. I couldn’t recommend them enough!

Book Online!

Hippy & Witchy

~ Cora Bean

Good Intention dolls are one-of-a-kind infused with a spell, love, reiki and healings crystals. Each one is completely unique with their our personality and intentions – this here is Junalee Pearl 🤍💜

From my girl Maddy at Hippy And Witchy – Junalee is a sweet little Angel here to promote emotional healing. She will show you true self love and acceptance. She is also great at removing negative thoughts. Her necklace has Auralite 23 & Rose Quartz

Her store has all the best stuff!

Shopify Shop
  • Altar Tools
  • Dreamcatchers
  • Pendants & Jewelry
  • Pendulums & Boards
  • & more 🔮✨

Honey Meets Cocoa

~ Cora Bean

These Manuka Honey Dark Chocolate Patties are absolute heaven – a velvety smooth dark chocolate shell with mint, ginger, salted caramel, raspberry, and Arabica coffee fillings


Gluten-free, dairy-free, Kosher certified, with no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. Indulgence you never have to feel guilty about – and with code CORA15 you can get 15% off your order at Pri.

Pri Manuka Honey

I forced Micah to try them with me, and here’s what we thought of each flavor, ranked by our preference.

Coffee

The Coffee Chocolate Patties were shockingly our least favorite – the majority of the “flavor” comes from layers of honey inside the truffle, and the coffee/honey flavor was just a little more tart than I anticipated.

This one has a spoonful of New Zealand MGO 60+ Manuka honey to a shot of our favorite aromatic blend of dark-roasted Arabica espresso – the only ingredients are Manuka Honey, 99% Cacao Dark Chocolate, and ground Arabica Coffee.

Raspberry

Cutting through the silky sweetness of dark chocolate with a burst of raspberry tartness, the natural raspberry flavoring is light and flowery. The honey flavor really cuts through all of them – and that’s certainly not a bad thing!

Ginger

This chocolate is in desperate need of a more distinct wrapper – the red for the Ginger was nearly indistinguishable from the Raspberry flavor. That aside, the honey and the ginger really sing together. The trio of flavors creates an earthy yet sweet and flavorful treat.

Mint

Minty freshness with the sweetness of chocolate and honey – it’s like an earthy York Peppermint Patty. The mint is definitely the most distinct flavor, covering most of the honey taste, making it the perfect anytime snack. Just three ingredients in their purest forms: a refreshing taste of mint, our award winning dark chocolate, and the finest New Zealand Manuka Honey MGO 60+.

Salted Caramel

My personal favorite – it took my tastebuds on a rollercoaster ride.

A creamy flow of handcrafted caramel and New Zealand MGO 60+ Manuka Honey mixed together, encased in a silky coat of rich dark chocolate, with a sprinkle of sea salt. It’s a ride of sweet and salty – my favorite pairing.

The Infinitely Adaptable Lunch

~ Cora Bean

In quarantine, Micah and I have been cooking more. Shoutout, Hello Fresh. It’s inspired me to cook more, and one of my favorite meals is something inspired a bit by their Greek Goddess Bulgar Bowl.

Drain and rinse a can of chickpeas. You can sub your favorite protein, but I’m a garbanzo bean queen
Flavor it. Sea salt, black pepper, garlic powder, smoked paprika, chili powder, roasted red pepper flakes, olive oil.
Cook your protein on an oiled baking sheet. For chickpeas – 425 degrees, 20 min.
While that cooks, chop up veggies. Baby cucumber, shallots, & cherry tomato. Add sea salt directly to them – I’m not sure why but it makes the veggie flavor pop a lil more.
Chop dill!
Mix veggies, dill, black pepper, and a lil splash of your fave Greek vinaigrette.
That’s pretty much it. Placed them in my Clean Lunch’N bento box. Added some pita bread and hummus (with a drizzle of olive oil and some dill fronds). You could add feta to the veggies. You could sub a different protein. You could sub pita for another carb – rice, pearled couscous. Totally up to you.
Lunchbox:
“Chow time!”

Chow time indeed.

Boichik Bagels

~ Cora Bean ~ 1 Comment

Back on March 8th, The New York Times claimed that “The Best Bagels Are In California (Sorry, New York)”. As somebody who considers herself an expert in bagel bae goals 🥯 I had to check them out – Boichik Bagels is located just across the San Francisco Bay in Berkeley.

…but after the popularity of the article, they were booked solid for a full month! The first day they had available for preorder was April 11 – so my husband Micah and I took it.

It’s lucky we did, on Sunday when picked up our babies the line literally looped around the block. Plain, Onion, Salt & Pepper, Everything, Pumperthingel. And with a dozen, one free! A true baker’s dozen. A tub of chive cream cheese and a tub of their pink label whipped cream cheese. We’re in heaven.

Here’s what we thought of each!

Plain

Very good toasted AND untoasted – chewy and fluffy, perfectly crisp on the outside. No pictures could capture the smell of these bagels – it lingers from the bag the entire day after you bring them home.

Onion

My husband’s favorite flavor – he actually preferred these untoasted, as the crispy/chewy/fluffiness had no need to be assisted by a toast. The bagel was perfect on its own.

Salt & Pepper

My husband’s least favorite of the bunch — he says they’re too salty and not peppery enough (he puts loads of pepper on everything, though). I loved the amount of salt – I frequently feel bagels are missing a bit of salt, and this quantity was near pretzel proportions. The black pepper added a bit of a bite to every bite.

Everything

My favorite flavor, my everything. It offers less “everything” than my hometown favorite – and that left me thoroughly disappointed! Maybe I’m a sucker for my hometown, but there’s something about the excessive topping mixed with the spackled cream cheese.

I stand by my Facebook review.

Maybe New York Times hasn’t been to Amesbury, Massachusetts? I do admit these bagels are lighter than air – a mash of this bread recipe and the excessive topping a la Massachusetts would make this perfect.

Pumperthingel

Despite my feelings on their everything bagel, the amount of everything on the pumpernickel bagel SINGS. The two compliment each other so well, the everything flavor only heightens their hearty pumpernickel.

Chive Cream Cheese

Clearly my husband enjoyed this one, because this is the damage done to the tub on the first day. Whipped, light, fluffy – I personally prefer chive to plain cream cheese to bring out the flavor of most bagels. And whipped, imo, is even better – not too heavy, just makes for a light, crunchy, fluffy, heavenly bagel.

Pink Label Whipped Cream Cheese

Light & fluffy, the freshest cream cheese I think I’ve ever had. If the bagels are breaking the bank, you can just use your home spread – while the cream cheese is amazing, fresh, and the perfect pairing to these bagels…the bagels are the real important part here.

Are these the best bagels in the US? Maybe not. But they are DEFINITELY the best bagels in California. It’s the closest thing I’ve had to an East Coast Bagel since I’ve gotten here.