2009 Apr 13

Diddy Riese

Posted in dessert

The other week I went to Diddy Riese which is located in Brentwood and a local favorite among UCLA students. Diddy Riese sells freshly baked cookies, brownies, and ice cream, but they are most famous for their build your own ice cream sandwiches. The line is always out the door, but I’m always willing to wait for ice cream sandwiches and especially since their prices are very recession friendly ($1.50 for an ice sandwich). They have a variety of cookies and ice cream to choose from and you can even mix and match cookies if you want. I got myself a chocolate chip cookie sandwich with cookie dough ice cream. I was surprised to see that they started selling Hawaiian Shaved Ice with ice cream (very rare to find outside of Hawaii), so we had to try it. I was happy to see that they had gone the extra step to make it more authentic with flavors like passion fruit. Overall, my ice cream sandwich was great and the shaved ice was good, but it will never beat shaved ice from Hawaii…the ice was just too hard.


Chocolate chip cookies with cookie dough ice cream


Hawaiian Shaved Ice with Vanilla Ice Cream in the middle

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2009 Apr 5

Kogi Tacos

Posted in food

For those of you who don’t live in LA, there’s this new craze involving a truck that sells Korean Tacos (yes, Korean Tacos!). This Korean/Mexican fusion is the brainchild of Kogi BBQ. The interesting thing about it is that they use Twitter to alert their future customers about their whereabouts for the day. Its just like a treasure hunt and your map is your twitter and for all your hard work searching, you get delicious tacos! Sounds like fun, huh? Unfortunately, because of its popularity even if you find the truck, you’ll still have to wait 1 to 2 hours in line to get these tasty tacos. But, there is a way to get around this and cheat. People can head to the Alibi Room which is a Restaurant/Lounge Bar and order the infamous Korean tacos in addition to a variety of other items, but the catch is that the items are $1 to $2 more than the truck. So, last night we decided to skip the truck and head straight to the Alibi Room (I know we don’t get the experience of the treasure hunt, but its all worth it for me if I don’t have to stand in line in the cold for hours).

The Alibi Room was a very small, but modern looking lounge. Most of the restaurant revolves around the bar and there’s only a couple couches with coffee tables. The place was packed, but we were lucky enough to find seats at the bar. Their menu was filled with a variety of Korean/Mexican treats such as Korean Tacos, Korean Breakfast Burritos, Korean Sliders, Korean Hot Dog, Korean Torta, and more! I ordered the Kogi Korean Tacos, which were DELICIOUS! These tacos are filled with Korean Short Rib (a twist to Carne Asada), topped with:

  • sesame-chili salsa roja
  • julienne romaine lettuce and cabbage tossed in Korean chili-soy vinaigrette
  • cilantro-green onion-lime relish
  • crushed sesame seeds
  • sea salt
  • garnished with lime wedge, orange wedge and red radish wedge

My friends ordered the Kogi Breakfast Burrito, Kogi Hot Dog, Pressed Torta with Taro Chips, and Korean Spiced Fries (these were the best fries!). Overall, everyone loved what they ordered and agreed that these were the best tacos they’ve tasted. I only wish that I lived closer, so I could eat them more often.


Picture of the Alibi Room sign outside the restaurant


The Menu


They give you a large playing card as your order number.


My Korean Short Rib Tacos, top left are the Korean Spiced Fries which came with 3 different sauces to dip: ketchup, sriracha, and sesame mayo

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2009 Mar 26

Dots

Posted in dessert

Good news! I was finally able to try out a new cupcakery called Dots. A friend of mine highly recommended this place and claimed it was the best cupcake store. I’ll be the judge of that…

Interior: Cute, modern design. Reminds me of sprinkles.

Cupcakes: I picked out 4 different flavors:

Apple Pie cupcake was good and had bits of apple in it, but it didn’t really taste like apple pie to me, just tasted like a good spiced muffin.

Mint Chocolate was my absolute favorite. The cake was nice and moist, and the frosting had the right amount of mint, but the best part were the chocolate crunchy pearls…they were like tiny thin mint balls covered in chocolate. The texture of the crunchy balls plus the minty frosting and moist cake made this one awesome cupcake.

Strawberry Shortcake was a complete fail. I felt like I was eating a vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting. Where ‘s the strawberry? Well, I think it was the sad little shriveled up piece of nothing hidden inside my cupcake. Maybe they wanted us to find it like a prize, but all I got was a tiny piece of strawberry like it was there by mistake.

Red Velvet was good, but the frosting lacked the cream cheese flavor. So, Sprinkles you get the win for this one.

Overall, I liked Dots (mostly because of their mint chocolate cupcake), but I definitely see some potential and I’m eager to go back to try their other flavors.


Thumbs up on the packaging!


Starting from top left (clockwise): Apple Pie, Mint Chocolate, Strawberry Shortcake, and Red Velvet

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2009 Mar 22

Afternoon Tea

Posted in dessert, food, life

Yesterday, I had afternoon tea with a few friends at the Scarlet Tea Room. It was my first time having tea at this location and I was surprised to find myself sitting in a very formal dining room, adorned with crystal chandeliers and gold fixtures everywhere. I felt like I was having tea at the Ritz Carlton. The tea service seemed pretty traditional, it was a 5 course meal in which we were given a variety of tea sandwiches (with the crusts cut off of course), freshly made scones, an assortment of petit desserts, and different pots of tea. Oh and how could I forget the palate cleanser! We started off with a raspberry sorbet palate cleanser (very fancy schmancy). Overall, the tea service was great, but I have to say that I do prefer going to cozier tea establishments. This place was way too refined for me. And at $40 a person, this is a once in a blue moon tea party for me.


Raspberry Sorbet Palate Cleanser


Scones – We had 3 different types: Cinnamon, Apricot Ginger, and Vanilla


Tea Sandwiches


Very Berry Tea – Tasted like Tazo tea from Starbucks…not one of my favorites.


I need to find myself a tea pot like this. Very cute.


I liked this tea pot design a lot.


Our dessert assortment


Strawberries Romanoff – 2nd dessert course

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2009 Mar 17

Green Treats

Posted in baking, dessert

Happy St.Patrick’s Day!

One of my earliest memories was making rice krispie treats in preschool (yay Kindercare!). And I distinctly remember that we made green rice krispie treats, probably for St.Patrick’s Day. I’ll never forget how fun it was. I think what I was probably most excited about was the fact that they were green. Anyway, as an tribute to my preschool days at Kindercare, I decided to make green rice krispie treats for St.Patty’s Day. I didn’t even need to wear green today because my fingers were green from all the food coloring haha. Sometimes, I cook like I still am in preschool…


It took me more than just a few drops (17 to be exact) to get the prefect green I wanted.


I made one four leaf clover! I was too lazy to make more…

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2009 Mar 12

Designer Aprons

Posted in shopping

Here’s some designer aprons for your viewing or buying pleasure:


Frosted Cupcake Apron by Flirty Aprons- $29, The perfect apron for cupcake lovers.


Mademoiselle Reversible Pink Apron Gift Set by Kitsch’n Glam – $49, Comes with a matching oven mitt!


Coquette Pink Apron by Haute Hostess Aprons – $125, Definitely couture for your apron. If I wore this, I better make some damn good cupcakes.


Owl Invasion Apron by Kitsch’n Glam – $38, Hootie! Hoo! This owl apron is so cute.

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2009 Mar 4

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

Posted in baking, dessert

I never thought I’d be saying this, I made cheesecake. For those of you who don’t know, cheesecake is not my dessert of choice. I had a bad experience once and ever since then I can’t eat it…just brings back those bad memories. But, I found that I can get by with eating cheesecake that’s flavored and helps mask that strong cheesecake taste. Anyway, I decided to make a White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake and this was by far one of the most difficult items I’ve baked. There’s so many things that can go wrong with baking cheesecake…cracks, sinking, and it’s hard to tell when its done. Luckily, mine came out perfect. I really had to baby it the entire process. Although it was quite a bit of work and pretty nerve wracking, I really enjoyed making it and as Carla from Top Chef says, “It’s all about the love”.

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups crushed Oreo Cookies
  • 1 Tbsp. white sugar
  • 1/4 cup butter, melted
  • 6 Tbsp. seedless raspberry jam
  • 2 cups white chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup half-and-half cream
  • 3 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

  1. In a bowl, mix together crushed Oreos, 1 tablespoon sugar, and melted butter. Press mixture into the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan.
  2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a microwavable bowl, melt white chocolate chips with half-and-half in the microwave, stirring occasionally until smooth. In another microwavable bowl, microwave 6 tablespoons of raspberry jam for 30 seconds.
  3. In a large bowl, mix together cream cheese and 1/2 cup sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time. Blend in vanilla and melted white chocolate. Pour half of batter over the crust. Spoon 3 tablespoons of raspberry jam over batter. Pour remaining cheesecake batter into pan, and spoon the rest of the raspberry jam (3 Tbsp.) over the top. Swirl batter with the tip of a knife to create a marbled effect.
  4. Wrap foil around the bottom of the spring form pan to help prevent leakage. Place spring form pan on a cookie sheet. Place cookie sheet with spring form pan in the oven and fill the cookie sheet with water (this technique will help prevent cracks). Bake for 60 minutes and then turn of oven and let the cheesecake sit in the oven for another hour (this will help prevent the cheesecake from sinking in the middle). Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 8 hours before removing from pan.
  5. To remove cheesecake from pan, run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Slowly remove the spring form pan. Decorate with fresh raspberries and enjoy!


Cheesecake ready to be placed in the oven. I love the marbling effect!


All done, no cracks and no sinking! I’m so proud of myself 🙂


Decorated and ready to eat!


An inside look.

So, how did it taste? It was great and I think everyone who loves cheesecake would really enjoy it. However, I thought it could use a little more raspberry jam (personally, I’d rather have a more raspberry and less cheesecake taste), so next time I’ll probably double the amount of jam, just cause I love raspberry.

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2009 Mar 1

Let Them Eat Cake

Posted in dessert

I stumbled cross this bakery’s website and found some awesome cake designs. The bakery is called Let Them Eat Cake by Christopher Garren and I love how creative his cakes are.


Sound of Music Cake – I love how this cake looks like a pop-up book!


Wicked Cake


Mario & Princess Peach Cake – This cake is adorable esp. with Mario and Princess Peach kissing in front of the castle. Love it!


Nightmare Before Christmas Cake – This is my favorite cake! Jack and Sally make great cake toppers sitting under the moon.

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2009 Feb 13

Bake It Pretty

Posted in baking, shopping

I just wanted to share with you all, a new online baking supply store that I like! It’s called Bake It Pretty and they have a variety of unique items. I absolutely love their collection of cupcake liners, best I’ve seen so far. They also have a great assortment of decorations for your baked goods. Here are a few of the items I like:


Animal Print Cups – For your wilder cupcake side.


Bavarian Rose Cups – Very pretty!


Solid Color Cups – These are awesome and so bright! I want each color!


Fancy Foil Cups – I normally use foil cups and these are a new great alternative to plain ol’ silver.


Fluted Flower Cups – These cups are so adorable! They’ll really make your cupcakes stand out.


Mini Bali Candy Cups – Although it says candy cups, you can still use them for cupcakes. These will definitely make your cupcakes look like little jewels.

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2009 Jan 21

Sweets for Your Sweetheart

Posted in dessert, holidays, shopping

Need a Valentine’s Day gift for your sweetheart? I found a few items that might just be perfect for your sweetie with the sweet tooth. Warning most of these gifts are pricey, but hey nothing says I love you more than quality baked goods haha.

Sweetie Pies – from Williams Sonoma, 12 for $49, These Valentine’s Day version of whoopee pies are filled with creamy buttercream in three delicious flavors – chocolate, raspberry and vanilla.


Message Cookies – from Williams Sonoma, $22 for 9 cookies, These cookies are very cute and definitely a step up from your normal conversation hearts.

Perfect Ending’s Heart Red Velvet Cake – $68, Lovely red velvet cake from the same bakery that Eva Longoria ordered her wedding cake from. If it’s good enough for Eva, it’s good enough for me!

Perfect Endings’ Valentine Cupcakes -9 for $69, You get 3 of each: Red velvet, rich chocolate, and chocolate caramel cupcakes. I really want to try these cupcakes since Oprah keeps raving about them and they are on her all-time favorite list.


Glitter Heart & Box – from Dean & Deluca, $125 -This very expensive and completely edible gift is amazing! The chocolate heart box is made with a white chocolate coating that is covered with layers of shimmering edible glitter. Inside you’ll find nine chocolate truffles, three of each; White Chocolate Caramel, and Dark Chocolate with Caramel and hand painted Framboise.

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