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 :)

Snickery Squares

while looking through the cookbook (baking: from my house to yours) i came upon this recipe for the snickery squares. sounded delicious and i checked the TWD website and saw that they already did this recipe long ago so i figured i'd try it out.

today i had dinner plans to meet up with some friends for a friends birthday. this played as the perfect time for me to try out this recipe.




good combo i would say....i needed to make the dulce de leche...i dont think i cooked it long enough....actually i know that i didnt cook it long enough...but i got tired hahaa....

happy birthday grace!!!

Trattoria Farfalla

ok let me share with you the little journey my friends (olivia and angela) and i took at this little restaurant called trattoria farfalla. i swear our server must've thought we were crazy for ordering so much hahaa

start off with their:

bread with olive oil infused with the flavors of sundried tomatoes and garlic



started our course off with calamari fritti with arrabiata sauce.
calamari was layed on top of cut romane lettuce. the arrabiata sauce was perfect.



tagliolini con gamberetti zucchini - this one was very good. its on the lighter side. filled with a lot of shrimp, garlic, and zucchini....might've been my favorite from the night.



gnocchi alla bolognese . this was my first time trying gnocchi...interesting to say the least. the sauce was good..it almost had a floral kick at the end....gnocchi kinda has the same texture and taste of a korean "dduk".........i dont think i'll gnocchi again (i'm not a big fan of dduk)


scaloppine del giorno - almost looks like veal cutlets. covered with a pureed spinach? not sure and then mozzarella. served with a side of potatoes and vegetables.

dessert - plating if a little weird haha not pretty at all but the taste is good.




tiramisu - very light. i kinda wish they didnt use the plate they used. could've placed it on a white plate and it might've looked better. we tried it because they said it was home made. couldnt really taste the expresso or even the liquor....


tarte della nona - this was pretty good. the crust tasted almost like the thin pie crust. the center was a custard tasting similar to a creme brule but much thicker....it even had chocolate chips inside it. and on top there were pine nuts. next to it was a big ugly blop of whipped cream that kinda looks over whipped.

TWD: classic banana bundt cake

yay to my first week of participating in TWD's baking :)

this week called for a banana bundt cake
i dont own a bundt pan yet so i figured i'd bake them into muffins.



they came out perfectly
the recipe called for 28-32 mins for this size but i took them out a couple mins before that



heres one up close...

oh and i added some mini chocolate chips because i had some left over from the weekend


they're pretty delicious
not too sweet.
i kinda wish i put some nuts in them but i didnt have any and i frankly didnt want to buy any haha

high five for me for successfully completing my first TWD baking.