cake decorating

i have completed course one of cake decorating at michaels!!
yay me!!



cake from the 3rd week.
learned to make flowers.



final cake
learned how to make roses and leaf petals.

next week i start fondant class :)

First buttercream decorated cake !!

i've been taking a class at michaels to learn some techniques on cake decorating.
we learned how to decorate with the star tip.

Casey's Cupcake

Located as part of the Mission Inn in Riverside Ca, this cupcake place is very very cute.
decorated with a lot of white and pink with a couple black accents it just shouts out GIRL POWER!! haha

anyways a very cute place to enter into
makes you very happy and excited i guess.




serveral rolls of different cupcakes displayed for you to choose from



very cute, very girly boxes to package your cupcakes


cute outside seating area.
love the pink table top with black chairs. awesome!





i just wanted to share how the box opens.
its very nice and its easy access to the cupcake.


now the description of the cupcake themselves....
i'm going to say i was not pleased with the taste of their cupcakes.
they just didnt taste very grand.
almost sad to say but i think the box mix tastes better than this place :(
the frosting way too sweet and not too good.
it also has a bad lingering after taste.
that is all.

i tried their red velvet and their lemon one... both had the same frosting and the cake part itself didnt taste too good.
i have a raspberry one waiting for me to try
that one has rasps baked into the cake to we'll see how that one tastes.

Asahi Sushi, Riverside Ca

today, i went to eat sushi with a 2 of my friends.
the best place to go is Asahi.
the ratio is just awesome...so little rice its amazing


green mussels


jan jan rolls (?) i forgot what these were called...but its spicy crabs wrapped with salmon


asahi roll


plate of salmon :)

just a few pictures from our all you can eat dinner.
if ever in the area i highly recommend you go and try them out.

2955 Van Buren Blvd
#D2
Riverside, CA 92503

(951) 637-1313

the address and phone number just in case you really go haha

mystery pecan pies

its about time i did a little baking in the kitchen.
oh how i missed the simple pleasure of baking.

with the request from my mother, i decided to bake some mini pecan pies.
the first time i tried a mini pecan pie was in korea....
my cousin baked them for her daughter and only gave me one measly one to try.
very delicious and made me thirst for more.


with a little bit of snooping...through the internet and my baking books,
i decided to go with paula deens recipe .
i think it sounded the best in my head because its like a combination of a cheesecake and pecan pie.

the easiest thing to do is buy the already made/rolled pie crusts in the fridge isle.
roll it out...
i like to make it a little thinner...esp since i'm making them mini.

roll them out and cut little circles out with a cookie cutter


place the circle pie crusts into your mini cupcake tin.


fill them with the pie filling


top the filling with chopped pecans


top that with the topping mixture.


little peak inside the oven.




finished master pieces


recipe:
-Pie crust unbaked

filling
-8 oz cream cheese (room temp)
-1/3 cup sugar
-1/4 tspn salt
-1 tspn vanilla extract
-1 egg

-1 1/4 cups chopped pecans

topping
-3 eggs
-1/4 cup sugar
-1 cup light corn syrup
-1 tspn vanilla extract

oven at 350 degree F and bake for about 17-18 mins

*no need to bake the crust first...if you do this...they shrink like crazy and its not fun later...
*when filling, try and stay inside the crust for easy removal at the end.

enjoy :)

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...