A Stroll Down Memory Lane

It's great to take a look back sometimes to see how far you've come.

I made this cake roughly 10 years ago for my high school Bible study group. Standard cake mix with store bought frosting. Mary was our leader and Mix was just the name of the group.

You like rainbow?? Uh huh... that was an awesome use of M&M's... hahaha!

Good times...

At Father's Office

After my photography class this past Saturday some friends and I went to Father's Office in Culver City.

I've heard about this place for a while and how their burger is amazing. Usually, when people hype something up a lot for me it's extremely disappointing. I have unrealistic expectations.. what can I say.

Boy, oh boy this DID NOT disappoint.

Alcohol is not something I take well to. I get what's called the "Asian Glow." The bright pink/reddish tone to all the places I have skin. It gets really embarrassing so I try not to drink but they had over 100 beers on tap. Before we went my friend, Hannah, had sent me this link on Hulu that was called After Hours with Daniel. They apparently pair their beers with their food like wine. So I decided to give a beer a try.

My friend's friend, George, ordered the beer for me so I don't remember the exact name of the beer but it had "nutty"in it. Haha sorry.

George had taken the liberty to order for the four of us and this is what we got.

The BEST sweet potato fries I'VE EVER HAD. It was thick and crispy but moist inside.


Some sauteed mushrooms. Also, very delicious!


Shrimp. It had a little bite to it. Also, quite delicious.

And now.. for the pièce de résistance! Their famous burger.

It was the juiciest and the most delicious burger I've EVER had. Meat was SUPER tender and moist. The onion marmalade added a sweetness to the burger... the arugula added a slight bitterness that offset the sweet onions a bit. Oh man.. I want another one. RIGHT NOW.

We had so much food I could barely finish my unbelievable burger.

Beautiful weather, delicious food, a slight afternoon buzz, with a wonderful company of friends filled with laughter. Life should always be so blissful.

Up Close and Personal

Yesterday, I went to a macro photography workshop at the Calumet store in West Hollywood.

At another workshop that I went to called Getting to Know Your Nikon DSLR the instructor was saying how macro photography is very similar to food photography. Unfortunately, the Calumet here in the OC didn't offer a macro class so I signed up for one that was being held in LA.

They had fake flowers set up with backgrounds for us to shoot. After an hour or so of lecture we got free reign with the flowers. The lens I have wasn't a macro lens so they let me use one. I had no idea there were separate macro lenses. I thought, a lens is a lens... right? Nope.

For those of you that don't know what macro is referring to it's the function on the camera that allows you to take photos that are taken really, REALLY close to the subject. It's the flower picture on your cameras on the dial with the P, Av, S, Auto, etc. I used this exclusively when I started out taking photos with my point and shoot Canon Powershot. It took some beautiful photos!

Of the little experience I have with photography there are 2 things I've learned:

1) It really doesn't matter what kind of camera you have, it's the one holding the camera that will determine a great shot. Use what you have and learn as much as you can before upgrading to fancy shmancy equipment.

2) Do as much as you can taking the shot and less in post production. Photoshopping is wonderful and I can't live without it when it comes to editing my photos but when I take a gorgeous shot and it takes me less than a minute to adjust minor things.. the better.

What did I ultimately walk away with after this workshop?

With a desperate need for a macro lens.

Oh Calumet.. you and your not-so-subtle ways of getting us to purchase your products. You suck.

Chocolate Chip Cookies II

There's nothing more delicious than a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie warm right out the oven.

No milk... no napkin... just straight off the sheet pan and into my mouth. I inhaled 5 before I had to physically remove myself from the kitchen to prevent from eating more.

In another post last year I had an entry with my absolute favorite chocolate chip recipe. That remains unshaken but this recipe I stumbled upon is in close second. I found it while sifting through all of the blog updates I get when I log onto my Blogger dashboard. Someone had blogged about this awesome recipe among other favorite cookies.

What's great about this recipe is that there's no waiting for the butter to come to room temperature. Just melt the butter in the microwave and it's good to go. It also refrigerates REALLY well. You have to chill it a bit before baking them anyway but you can just pre-portion it to the size you want and keep them in the fridge for that almost instantaneous warm gooeyness whenever you're craving it.

I actually had it in the fridge for maybe over a week and it still baked PERFECTLY. Just look at the photos.

The recipe is from Alton Brown called The Chewy.

2 Sticks (8oz) Unsalted Butter, Melted (I did it in the microwave until it's just melted)

1/4 Cup Sugar
1 1/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar (Packed)

2 1/4 Cups Bread Flour (I used King Arthur's Brand)
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
(sift together)

1 Egg
1 Egg Yolk
2 Tablespoons Whole Milk
1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

2 1/2 Cups Bittersweet Chocolate Chips (I used 60% Ghirardelli)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a bowl of a standing mixer add the melted butter and the 2 sugars.
Mix together until the butter absorbs a little into the sugars.

Add the egg, egg yolk, and milk. Mix well and scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Slowly add the sifted flour, baking soda, and salt in 2-3 batches, scraping down the sides of the bowl in between.

Take the bowl off the mixer and thoroughly mix the rest (the center will still be a little runny) with a rubber spatula. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Spread out onto a sheet pan covered with parchment paper. Cover and let chill for at least 20 minutes or until firm.

Bake for about 10-12 minutes (mine were about 2 oz balls) until golden brown around the edges but while the center is slightly under baked.

Let cool completely... no, scratch that.
DEVOUR as soon as it comes out of the oven. Of course, burning your tongue is a chance you're going to have to take... but believe me.. it's soooooo worth it.

On a side note... I'm about to embark on an experiment. I'm going to try and document the process as much as I can but there's a chance I might scrap it altogether. Keeping my fingers crossed that it'll turn out as perfect as it looks in my head... Stay tuned!

Congratulations Hanna and Nghieu

This post has absolutely NOTHING to do with pastries or food. But it does have to do with photos!

One of my good friends got married over this past weekend and I wanted to post some photos that I took of that day.

These are the money boxes my friend had asked me to make.
The groom's side was supposed to mimic the tux.


This one was supposed to mimic her dress.








Bowing to the parents is very traditional in the Korean wedding.


Soooo cute!!!


These are some of my favorite shots.

Congratulations to the happy couple. =)

Welcome to Las Vegas - Bouchon Bakery

This is the last of the photos from my Vegas trip a week and a half ago.

We stopped by the Bouchon Bakery before we went to Jean-Philippe. This little kiosk looking bakery was unbelievably hard to find. It was in a completely different location than where the Bouchon Restaurant was in the Venetian. We almost walked right by it.

Since we had just left the Grand Lux Cafe and were incredibly stuffed and soon were on our way to Serendipity, I wasn't quite up to spending serious cash on the items that the bakery had.

One thing that stops me when I have these opportunities to try these amazing desserts is the lack of cash. I still don't know how to balance my love of sweets with the tight flow of cash AND trying to lose weight. If anyone has any suggestions.. I'm all ears.

I did get one of their famous macarons. When I had asked the counter person what they recommended they suggested the vanilla bean macaron. It was $3.50 for one that was about half the size of my BlackBerry. A good size but $3.50??? Wow. This had BETTER be good.

Yes... it was absolutely delicious. Not too sweet.. crunchy but chewy at the same time and the perfect amount of vanilla flavor. I had to eat it on the go so no photos of me eating it but I practically inhaled it so there wasn't any time anyway.

I was watching that show on the Food Channel called The Best Thing I Ever Ate and the episode was on Guilty Pleasures. It just so happened that one of the places featured was the Bouchon Bakery. Their quiche was a featured guilty pleasure. I don't remember seeing a quiche at this Bouchon Bakery but I will definitely have to try it given another opportunity.

Welcome to Las Vegas - Jean-Philippe Cakes

Just finished watching the Oscars. A few surprises... now I have to watch all the movies that got nominated!

Here are the photos of all the cake displays from Jean-Philippe at the Bellagio in Vegas. Absolutely STUNNING!

Did I say WOW yet? WOW.