wow its been over a month since i've last updated...:(

its been a crazy/busy/fun month filled with projects, due dates and even a vacation :)

i will update my adventures of the food that i ate during the vacation.
this thursday i will be baking so i will update that as well.

can you believe its almost the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010??
i'm excited to see what the new year brings!!

weekend surprise

i received a last minute invitation to go and watch a football game and so i accepted.
prior to watching the game we decided to grab a bite to eat



naga naga was our destination.
cute decor, big fish tank :)












karen and i on our way to the rose bowl




view from out seats. no zoom no nothing. it was pretty nice.


afterwards, we decided to go try out this cupcake store: DOTS CUPCAKES



cute little store....managed to sneak in a picture because getting caught haha


hazelnut cupcake, red velvet cupcake.

it tasted........................like play dough - ____ -
generally i judge cupcake places by their red velvet...
but my goodness i couldnt even finish it.
i ate the top + the frosting and left the bottom.
not good not good.
the hazelnut wasnt very hazelnutty in flavor and it was just bland.
and the frosting was way too sweet.
a bit disappointed. dont think i'll try it again...

cream puffs

wow its been over a month since i've last updated my blog :(
school has been occupying a lot of my time...allowing me to not bake as often as i want to.


a close up picture of some cream puffs i baked last month.



last month, my friends and i went to Jason Mraz concert in LA and before that, we went to this little cafe called " the little door cafe"




super cute place. fairly little and cozy.
we decided to get a couple desserts and head over to the concert....


here are the macaroons.
they were pretty good.
i will try and bake some macaroons this month.

cupcake factory

i had a cupcake order for a bridal shower this weekend.
red velvet with white chocolate cream cheese frosting.
very cutesy and girly :)







a little personal cake for the bride


ready for delivery :)


congrats to the bride!
hope you enjoyed your dessert!

weekend getaway

this past weekend, i went down to sd to help with the leaders retreat.
i, along with a couple others, watched the children while the leaders had their meetings.
on saturday, we had a couple hours of free time.
several of us took a little trip to Heavensent Desserts.




here is the strawberry cake. i actually forgot what it was called...but this one was amazing.
very light in texture and not too sweet.


nice decorative design on their teas


lavender rose cake. i think the first time i got it was a lot better....this round was a little more sweeter than i remember



for my reference so that i know what its supposed to look like on the inside


the tiramisu was good.

had a couple other desserts but i dont know where those pictures went....(i might've not taken them...)


now after having sweet overload, we decided that we needed something salty.
with the help from our fancy gadgets and yelp, we found that we were very close to our next destination.
Mariscos German Taco Truck.
4 1/2 stars on yelp.
so we had to try it
and one dollar sign (cheap)

at this point we were really really full.
we had breakfast, then lunch only a couple hours after, and right after went to heavensent where we stuffed ourselves.
but after reading the reviews on yelp, we decided to get everything everyone suggested

so this truck is parked in a parking lot of a liquor store.
opened only until 7pm, this is a place everyone should try.
the entire menu is in spanish so....you decide what you want to do




let me start off with the fish taco.
this was seriously delicious.
all eight of was amazed at how fresh and wonderful it tasted


marlyn taco. fish flavor. texture of meat. wonderful vegies. perfect when you squeeze some lime juice on it.


garlic shrimp tacos. these were bomb. the shrimps were big and juicy.
nice combo of fresh cabbage and salsa and shrimp ...amazing.


i wish i remembered what this one was called. sorry.
look at how much they fill your tortilla
now the tortilla shell is the size of any corn tortilla
grilled vegis and plump shrimp.
a little on the salty side. it was alright

we then went back to our hotel to be greeted with some steak and korean bbq :)

Pizzeria Mozza

Upon receiving an invitation from a friend, i was able to join some people for a pizza adventure.
we entered this very small restaurant and was quickly seated at a round table.




heres is what we were greeted with.
inside the envelope, there was a post card along with your utensils (fork, knife, napkin)


here's the water container provided for each table.
it was kinda nice how the waiters came around and poured us water everytime our glass was empty.

after looking at the menu, some decided to get some appetizers


oregano salami: very thin slices of salami with a hit of oregano. you cant taste the oregano unless you breathe in a little while biting into the salami.


Bone Marrow al forno: interesting to say the least. i took a bite of it and i must say that i'm not a fan of the texture. it tastes like you're biting into a chunk of grounded fat. the garlic bread was very garlicy and it went well with the bone marrow...

then our pizza's came out.... :)


squash blossoms, tomato and burrata : this was delicious. the cheese on the top tasted soo fresh. it was a little odd because you didnt expect the cheese to be cold. but still very good.

tomato, mozzarella, sausage, salami, bacon and guanciale : i didnt get to try but they said it was very good.


prosciutto di parma, rucola, tomato, mozzarela: this one was pretty good. prosciutto was a bit on the salty side for my liking but other than that good.


ok i dont know what this pizza was....fail i know.....


here is what i ordered :
pizza alla benno: speck, pineapple, jalapeno, mozzarella and tomato : a fancy hawaiian pizza if you needed to describe it...thats how i'd describe it. the jalapeno's were freaken spicy and the speck which is smoked prosciutto was very good (not too salty)


when going to a place you must get dessert right?? :)


Caramel coppetta with marshmallow sauce & Spanish salted peanuts: wow this was like delicious amazing party in your mouth. the caramel coppetta tasted soo good and when you put a little bit of everything inside your mouth it really was a sweet and salty party.



this picture doesnt do justice to this pie.
banana gelatto pie with chocolate sauce topped with whipped cream and hazelnut.
this pie was very good. not as sweet as the other dessert but if you're a banana flavor fan you'll enjoy this.

thank you friends for inviting me to dinner :)

boiling crab

last weekend i went with a couple of friends to boiling crab for lunch.
they crammed us into a cozy table.






its always fun to grab food with good company.


heres our 4 pound bag of shrimp, 6 sausages, 7 corns. we ordered crab, fries, catfish....and an extra bag of shrimp in the end (all with the whole shabang sauce)....
didnt get to take pictures after this bag because i started eating and i didnt want to touch my camera with saucy fingers.

heavensent desserts

its been a couple weeks since i've last baked...
lifes been a little crazy.
started taking some classes at a jc and it made me extremely tired.

i will get some baking in this week....or at least i will try.
its my youngest brothers birthday on the third of sept and i will bake him something good to eat.



so this past weekend i went on a daycation down to San Diego.
we started off at a restaurant called "hash house" for brunch.
the portions are ginormous and so we were able to share 2 plates amongst 3 ppl (we still had left overs).


smoked salmon scramble....the salmon was more like baked....


roasted chicken hash.....a bit dry....


kiwi pomegranate lemonade drink was delicious




off to the zoo we went to see the zoo animals in the scotching heat.
it was soo hot that i gulped down a big cup of lemonade slush.
....it was soo hot that i couldnt catch up to the speed of the slush melting.
to the sake of animal safety, they provided me with a long spoon instead of a cap and straw.




we then went to this nice seafood restaurant titled "the oceanire seafood restaurant".
the menu is printed out on a daily basis.
the fish are fresh. and the waiters are friendly.
their calamari were awesome.
the sauce that they placed on top of the fried calamari tasted like a wonderful balance of spanish meets asian. spicy tapatio sauce, sour cream, and some sweet and sour sauce (almost reminded me of a sweet and sour chicken).
crab cakes were very meaty which is good because they're a bit on the pricey side.
the swordfish was a nice balance of sweet and salty.

i dont have pictures from this place because i really did not feel comfortable taking out the camera..... -____- (i need to learn to be brave with my camera)...but seriously the thought of taking out my camera made me feel like i was going to commit a crime hahaa.

the bathroom here (known was the "powder room") had wonderful accents.
towels instead of paper towels, mouth wash, deodorant spray, hairspray, lotion...
all these things that allows a women to freshen up prior to going back out to meet her loved ones.



ok now time for my reasoning of really blogging this entry.....

so i went once again to this dessert place titled "Heavensent Desserts"
which is "at the corner of 30th and university in north park"
www.heavensentdesserts.com
if in sd its a must that you go here.
during this visit, we had our tea which is a must try (DREAMER) and also tried their "lavender rose" cake. it was freaken amazing.....seriously would come back here to get this again.
here is the description straight from the website:
The Lavender Rose – Our light and fluffy chiffon cake soaked in rose water and vanilla, with a lavender infused crème brulee filling. The cake is lightly coated with silky white icing and topped with a purple fondant flower.

doesnt it just sound amazing?
it was served very cold and it just melted right in your mouth.
the combination of all the layers was seriously heavenly.


heres a picture i managed to take with my phone.
the picture might not make it look appetizing but it really was good.

i'm going to try and attempt to recreate this cake.
it'll probably take a couple trial and error runs but i will really try to come close.

TWD: Applesauce Spice Bars

found of pages 117 and 118 in the book titled "baking: from my home to yours" by dorrie greenspan are something that i'd probably never want to bake after just hearing the name.....

but i did try making them because the reasoning of why i wanted to join baking groups online was so that i'd try making things outside my comfort zone.



does this slice look appetizing?.... i'm not sure but it did taste good :) every bite almost melted in your mouth. took the advices from other ppl and i doubled the amount of the glaze (and i'm glad that i did)....top this off with some whipped cream and maybe even some vanilla bean ice cream and it would've been heavenly.

dinner for three

walk with me as i share how i made our dinner tonight....
so my friend was going to make some stuffed tomatoes and stuffed mushrooms so i decided to follow the "stuffed" theme and decided to go and stuff a chicken (more like a roll)

i went ahead and cut the vegetables into fairly thin strips to that they'd cook quickly



bell peppers, mushrooms, onion, garlic


i pounded the chicken tenders fairly thin so that the cooking time would be very short.
after seasoning the chicken (with salt and pepper), i sprinkled cheese and layered on all the vegetables along with some parsley.


rolled them up, rolled them in egg then panko.
i didnt need to use a toothpick because these chicken tenders were small.



dont they look all peaceful inside the oven? hahaa
i let them stay in the oven for about 15 -18 mins at 350 degrees F.

some of the friends of the chicken roll:


tomatoes stuffed with mushrooms, celery, parsley tossed with balsamic vinegar and dijon mustard :)


same stuffing but with panko crust on top prior to going into the oven


bomb freaken salad....with feta cheese, cranberries, sliced almonds, balsamic vinaigrette yum

we also drank this wonderful sparkling pink lemonade
love the bottle it came in :)

thank you friends for sharing this wonderful dinner with me :)