A Shrimplicious Father's Day

Today was father's day which is always a special day for me and my family. For those of you who don't know this about my dad....he had a brain tumor about 19 years ago. He had brain surgery to get it removed and went through rehab and recuperation for about a year. Prior to that he had suffered through a lot of pain and not knowing what the problem was. It is a miracle that he is still alive and was able to get back to living a normal lifestyle. So today I am always reminded about how lucky we are to have him around. The day started off not so great however due to my brief visit to the ER. I had the worst stomach problems and had to go to the ER to get it checked out. Everything is alright now, but I missed the breakfast. My sister made Hello Kitty Waffles and a breakfast casserole. Then she went outside to help my dad trim the bushes with Chibi. We treated my mom and dad to massages and then took out food from the Boiling Crab. They ate (I couldn't due to my stomach ailment) shrimp, corn, sausage, and crab legs. It looked so delicious. I think my dad was happy.

Baked Goods: A Humble Thank You

Baked Goods Sampler

Cupcake Bites: Red Velvet Cake covered in Chocolate

As a thank you to the staff I work with, I like to make some sort edible thank you gift. Last year I made my cherry chocolate toffee cookies and scones. This year, I decided to make this new treat I found on a internet blog called cupcake bites. This woman does some amazing things with desserts. Her blog is called Bakerella and it is pretty unique and creative. I took the recipe and idea off her website. Basically she takes some cake and some frosting and mixes it up all good, make little balls, fills a candy mold with chocolate, puts the cake inside the mold, and voila...out pops a cupcake bite. Well, first you have to add some more chocolate then decorate. I thought it was quite cute. It was a little sweet because of the chocolate. I also made a few other baked goodies including Mexican Wedding Cookies, Butterscotch Blondies, and Meyer Lemon Bars. My favorite still has to be the Meyer Lemon Bars. I luckily found some Meyer Lemons at the farmer's market. The mexican wedding cookies are also a good standard. The blondie bar recipe was found at Williams Sonoma's website. It was ok, but I guess I am not a fan of the blondie. I only made one batch of all the recipes which took me roughly 8 hours to prep, bake, and package. I forgot to take a picture of the packaging, but it was cute with a white cake box, brown ribbon, and blue/white label. Incidentally, I needed to take a prescription strength ibuprofen due to the back pain from standing on my feet all day. Though it was worth it to show the school staff how important they are to me!

Wilton Fondant and Gum Paste Cake Decorating Class

Long time ago in between college and grad school, I was on this kick to take a bunch of home-ec type classes. I took ceramics, sewing, and cake decorating. I took the level 1 and level 2 Wilton courses at the Tall Mouse in Cerritos. 9 years later (yowza I am old), I decided that I wanted to learn how to use fondant to decorate cakes since I am not the biggest fan of the buttercream and icing tips. Fondant and gum paste are more pliable materials and you use your hands to mold and roll out creations...kind of like playing with playdoh (which is my job expertise :). So far the Wilton course is informative...but it is just not quite modern. The decorations we are learning include carnations, daisies, fantasy flowers, draping, and other pretty outdated looks in my opinion. But I think with the techniques I have learned, I can produce something more my style. That being said, here is my first cake that I made with fondant and gum paste. I think it looks like a hat.

Chocolate Crafting

Lately, I have been very much into making edible gifts for people. I was first introduced to chocolate crafting when I was probably 8 years old or so. My parents were having a garage sale and my mom made some Easter chocolate lollipops of these bunny rabbits. I remember our neighbor bought the whole bunch of them. Every since then, I have occasionally been making chocolate lollipops or chocolate molds as gifts. They have really come a long way with new molds as well as the way the mold is presented. They even have chocolate molds where you can add a cookie to it (I just bought one that I will make and eventually blog).
Here are a list of places that you can find chocolate and the molds:

1. www.candymoldcentral.com (an online place that I have bought from before)
2. Calico Cake Shop (located in Buena Park. I love this place. They have the most molds I've seen in a store) - www.calicocakeshop.com
3. Gloria's Cake Shop (12453 Washington Blvd, LA, Ca 90066, www.gloriascakecandysuplys.com) - this is on the westside, pretty good supply of cake and candy items
4. Michaels or Joann's (they always have chocolate and basic items. They only carry Wilton items for the most part so it is pretty limited)

The Originator of the Kogi Taco - Alibi Room

I recently tried the famous Kogi Taco Truck one day after running at UCLA where it was camped out. I learned that the chef that created the tacos was working out of the Alibi Room, a bar located very close to the school that I work at. I went to try out the place with my foodie cousin and my sister. We got there around 7pm and it was pretty packed. The Alibi Room is a fully stocked bar as well so you can get your drink on in addition to your taco. We started off with some Korean spiced fries served with a sriracha and mayo sauce. They were so perfectly fried....I could have eated another basket. Then some lady that was sitting near us said that the Vegan Tacos were the unsung hero of the menu, so we tried those. It was just eh for me. But I guess if you are Vegan, you would probably love them. We had the Kogi Tacos of course. I think the pork is the best choice out of the Beef, Chicken, and Tofu. And we ended with some Kimchi Quesadillas which tasted quite interesting. But since I love cheese and I love kimchi...I loved it. This place is a definite must try on my list. Very interesting food and a chill place to hang out and have a drink after work. PS: get there before 8 or there is no place to stand or eat.
www.alibiroomla.com
12236 Washington Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90066
monday-saturday 6pm-12am