Friday, December 30, 2011

From one obsession to another

Now that my quince obsession has been quenched (sort of), it has move on to another, making jam. It has all the fitting of something I would obsess about--something old-fashion, long and somewhat complicated process, handmade and can be experimental. So now I'm a bit jam crazy.

The funny thing is I don't usually eat jam or jelly, too sweet. But I like using it in cookies or recently have been using it as filling for my cakes and cupcakes. I've been envisioning what groupings I can make with cake flavors and jams.

My jam list is beginning to grow. So far I have: quince [done--need to wait for next year], raspberry[done last weekend for holiday gifts], blackberries were a good deal @ costco and some kind of citrus fruit [I have grapefruit in refrig and I just bought meyer lemons] marmalade.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Test Baking

UPDATE: I found the where I got the pear tat recipe. Here's the link: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/409177. And made a second one for the restaurant, pears not as ripe. Would have been better if I waited a couple days. My suggestions is to wait to the pears are really ripe, like "juice run down your arm if you bite into" ripe. It will totally be worth it.

Been testing a few things past few months when I can fit things into restaurant baking schedule. A few needs more testing, one winner on first try. I'm sure the people at work are happy with me testing as many recipes as I can. Got a few pictures to share.

Pear Tart [looks more like a cake]
Been wanting to try out this recipe for ages. Simple, with the minimum of ingredients and I had the perfectly ripen pears for it. The problem is I can't remember where I got this recipe. I'm trying my best to find because it was such a hit at work.

It's has 3 very ripe anjou pears cut into 8ths then smushed into this buttery batter. It takes a long time to bake (about an hour) and in the beginning I thought it was a disaster. Batter looked so soupy from all the juice of the pears, the batter wasn't rising and it wasn't browning. But then about 1/2 way into the baking time, the batter start enveloping the pears and the browning begins. The finish result is a cake-like tart with creamy, custardy, chucky pear center. So delicious.
Pear tart cake


Cooking measurements

Just in case, you ever never to convert measurements, I just found this site to help me figure out approx. how much sugar was in my sweet potato pie per slice. Cool.

http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/conversion_tables.htm

Monday, December 5, 2011

My Quince Obsession

UPDATE: I just realized I never said what it tasted like. When it was cooking up, the smell was very wine-y and intense. The taste is very hard to describe--sweet, wine, port, prunes are few words that come to my mind when I taste it. But the taste isn't intense like what the smell when it was cooking up. Texture is a little chunky. I can see how it would go well with some cheese as the Spanish would do.

Quinces
has been quiet, in the background of my ever crazy mind since I heard the story on npr [Reading up on it, find bath products scented with it, never in the stores, never getting to the farmers' market to see if they have any]. I recently spotted a lonely scrubby quince tree near my route to the restaurant and have been plotting how I could pick me some [on private property, no where to park without getting noticed]. So when someone at work told me she got some from our office fruit/veggie people, I jumped at the chance to buy some.

If you never heard or seen a quince, it looks like a bumpy pear/apple in a yellow green color as you can see above. It's scent is incredible when it is ripe, can be almost too sweet of a scent. It can't be eaten raw, tastes horrible. But has lots of pectin in it, to make it perfect for jams and jellies. Now I have  2 lbs in my hands and I will cook up some jam this weekend to add to vanilla cake or maybe some Earl Grey Tea cake with vanilla buttercream.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Baking Powder

I thought I'd share this link about baking powder from David Lebovitz blog since it is baking season. It's from one of my favorite food blogs--delicious looking food and things about Paris. How can you go wrong.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

My morning walk

myWalk


One of the road in my neighborhood has been close for about a week, meaning all the traffic (crazy commuter traffic) is being diverted up and around to my street. So instead of torturing my carpool mate (with the crazy commuter drivers) I decided to walk up to bus station to meet her. 

Just a quick 10 minute walk, past a river and a wooded area, I decided to take a pic of the fall colors on the side of the road, partially to distract me from the crazy lunatics drive up the hill trying to get to the bus station. I hope I distracted the lunatics enough to slow down for a second.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Friday, November 4, 2011

I haven't posted in over a month

I know, I know. I've been busy, baking every chance I get and I still can't keep up. Cheesecake, cheesecake, cheesecake. aaargh! But this week, I'm hoping to cook up a cheese pumpkin, that I got from the fruit/veggie deliver at the office, to make pumpkin cheesecake and the rest for some pumpkin pancakes. I got the cheese pumpkin because it's suppose be the best to make this out of.

I was also busy baking up some Halloween cupcakes (not my favorite holiday since events of last year) for a friend's son, spiders and ghosts. I didn't realize that black frosting was so hard to make. Thank goodness for the internet. Just touch green to get my black.  I hope the kids enjoy the cupcakes.

Here's some picture of the pumpkins, spiders and ghost. The light orange pumpkin is the cheese pumpkin.
pumpkins spiders and ghosts

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

The past two days . . .

During lunch, I've been listening to npr music and reading on my iphone. I should have started this sooner, it is quite relaxing. I just finished listening to the Wilco and Diego Garcia in concert. And I'm reading "The Girl Who Played with Fire". 

My listening continues with some jazz-Scott Colley Trio as I make sure I have all the piece for my project are ready to upload.

If work could always be like this.

Liberty and Hello Kitty

I love the the prints from Liberty and how can I not like their new Hello Kitty line. I'm not the biggest Hello Kitty fan but these prints are great. I want to make a blouse with Pink Karenkubo Hello Kitty Print.

I think there are few little girls (and maybe a couple of big girls) that would appreciate handmade Liberty Hello Kitty piece from me.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Are Those Granny Squares?

I was looking @ Sartorialist and saw a post about Prada Spring/Summer 2012. Are those granny squares on that pink/teal-ish coat? It makes such a cool patttern and texture. I really like. The navy/orange swimsuit coverup is beautiful. Hmmmm . . . what can I make with granny squares.

Maurice Sendak

I wanted to share this Maurice Sendak interview from NPR. The interview talks about his new book and his life. It was quite touching and a little bit sad at the end when he mentions how missed people that have left. 

I thought it was only fitting to pass it along as I'm volunteering at the exhibit: In a Nutshell: The Worlds of Maurice Sendak at the New Brunswick Public Library.

If you have a chance you should come by and see it. It's a small exhibit that will not take too much time. Also there's closing reception on October 11 at 7:00pm with the curator of the exhibit giving a talk. I heard his talk at the opening was great. I'll be there.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Munchmobile 2011 "Best of" list

I'm shamelessly promoting our restaurant. But I want spread the good news. We made the munchmobile 2011 "Best of" list. And so did our Hot and Sour Soup. Here's the link to the article.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Brownies

Been wanting to test this brownie recipe for a while. Thought that it probably would sell well at the restaurant. So I left the restaurant early today, [I was crabby, not a good mood for being around people] and decided to bake.

First things first, cheesecake. Needed to get this week's cheesecake done. [check]

I've made these brownies before, it is very chocolate-y. Over a pound of chocolate [no, wait, it's closer 2 pounds] divided into 20 pieces. I wanted to test them to see if the customers would like them. And of course, I'll bring some into the office. They are really my official taste testers [last weeks tasting was nutella rice crispie treats, thumbs up].

I must admit this baking sure help my bad mood [or could it be I just need a break from the restaurant].

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Recipes testing and my broken cake

UPDATE: 9.10.11
I crossed off what I tested.
_____________________

With the long weekend here, I'll have some time [one day] to do some recipe testing. Here's my list of what I want to test:

nutella rice crispie treats
chocolate malted cupcakes
plum crumble or crisp
brownies
mango something
chocolate dobash--like Delite bakery in Hawaii--maybe turn into cupcake
cream puffs
mochi something
macarons

My recipe testing list is so long and always growing. Most likely, I will only get to 2 of them. I also have make up a cheesecake. That extra day isn't enough.

As for my broken cake, I tried making one of my favorites, Sour Cream Apricot Cake for the restaurant. It's a very moist and delicate [not too sweet] bundt cake with chopped dried apricots soaked in some kind of liqueur [I used some Applekorn]. I thought it would be great with dollop of whipped cream. Well, when I filpped it out of the pan [I knew it was going to be bad when I had to shake the pan to death], only the bottom half came out, the top was stuck in the pan. I guess I did a very sucky job and greasing and flouring the pan. 

Oh well, not Oat and the staff at the restaurant can enjoy my broken cake. I tried it, it was delicious. Maybe next week, the customers can enjoy, too.

I'll post some pics of my testing soon.

Friday, September 2, 2011

OMG!

UPDATE
The article is up! Here's the link: Munchmobile 2011: Reader's choice trip ends season
Can you tell I'm excited? Happy Reading! 



Ran out earlier to the market to get the Star Ledger. Stop @ SB for an iced mocha and read the article. It was great! We got the Top Dog honors for their Reader's Choice visit. Wow! I'm feeling a little jittery--not sure if it from the article or my ice mocha. 

This whole event has come as such a wonderful unexpected surprise. It makes all the hard work that we have been doing so worth it. Thanks everyone for all the support!


If you can get the Star Ledger, it the September 2 Munchmobile article. If not, here's the link to the munchmobile site. Article not up yet but will post everywhere when it is. Here's what the article looks like.



Thursday, September 1, 2011

CafeBua: Star Ledger Munchmobile

CafeBua: Star Ledger Munchmobile: Check out the Star Ledger, Munchmobile section this Friday, September 2 to read about us. You can also see the article at http://www.nj.com...

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

"In a Nutshell: The Worlds of Maurice Sendak"

Wanted to get the word out about this exhibit. I'm volunteering at the "In a Nutshell: The Worlds of Maurice Sendak" @ the New Brunswick Free Public Library. Opens on September 7, the exhibit runs to October 11. I'll be ther most Mondays evenings from 7:00. Hope you get a chance to come and see it. Sounds like fun!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Live Up to My Superhero Name

My, oh my! I'm sure doing a great job at it. Flashing here, flashing there and most flashing at bedtime, I'm so tired all the time. One day [I hope] a really smart woman will invent something to use these flashes in a productive way.

But wait! I bought myself a mini trampoline, to jump the hotness out of me. I know it's not cool like a stand up paddle board or running a marathon. But only goal right now is to get a good night's sleep and not feel so old and achy.  So if you want a laugh, just think of me jumping on my mini trampoline in the middle of my living room next to my elephant chair, trying to keep my balance and not fall off. 

Hope it works. Will keep you posted.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Clouds

clouds

Quite often on my commute [too long], I see these crazy cloud formations from on coming bad weather that I just want to pull over and take a picture of. But I know better not to cause rush hour craziness by pulling over to take picture of the sky [rubbernecking :)].

But yesterday as I was leaving the restaurant, the clouds were in rare form and I got my picture. They almost looked photohop'ed. You could tell something big was coming, they were moving and changing shape so quickly.

boxes of cupcakes

Just wanted to show off few more cupcake photos. I got a bit obsessed with the batches [most of my recipes make 18 to 24 cupcakes] and how I was going to get to a 100. Ended up making the last box with raspberry [1/2 batch] and red velvet [1/2 batch to event. 1/2 batch to restaurant and the customer's favorite] to soothe my obsession and putting me over 100.

box of Orange Passion

box of Chai

box of White Peach

box of Raspbery and Red Velvet

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

100+ cupcakes

And yes, I'm crazy and exhausted.

Decided to do this project/job a couple of weeks ago. I thought I could get word out about the restaurant and what an accomplishment to make 100+ cupcakes.

Here's some pics of the cupcakes I wanted to share.

naked
Naked

frosted
Frosted

Flavors made: Red Velvet with ganache filling and vanilla cream cheese frosting; Fresh Raspberry with Vanilla buttercream; Chocolate with nutella filling and Chocolate buttercream; Chai Tea with orange marmalade filling and caradomon spice cream cheese frosting; Orange  with passion fruit filling and passion fruit buttercream topped with toffee crunch; White Peach with vanilla cream cheese frosting. 

Hope people enjoy it!

Friday, August 5, 2011

My Giant Weed

It's back from last year.  Does anyone out there know what it is. Is something good that happen to come into my yard and just doesn't want to go away even though I don't even water it? Oh well, it's going to be there for a while as I'm just too lazy to dig it out. I wonder how much bigger it will get.

My giant weed

The funny thing is my gardener came by the other day and to trim our bushes and weed whack everything in sight but left this one. I think it so big that he think I'm actually trying grow this plant/weed. 

Only if my other plants did as well with so little care. Here's one more tomato plant picture. I got to show off something that's doing well.

More cherry tomatoes

My love of old fashion office supplies

I had these for a while and just got around to shoot it. It's old-fashion stickies, I guess. Purple transparent tabs that you slip on to a page or sheet of paper. They are quite beautiful and don't want to use them because they'll get lost. I even love the graphic on the box. [didn't I mention I collect stuff]

Old fashion stickies

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Tiny holes in my t-shirt

I found this link on Not Martha about finding tiny holes in the front of the your favorite t-shirt. Here I was cursing bad manufacturing for these tiny holes in barely worn tees. Come to find out, it was probably me. 

I've been doing random embroidery over the holes to continue to wear these shirts. Most of time, people think I have some on my t-shirt that needs to be brush off. I'm just going to continue with the embroidery when I find more holes (there are more already) and let's see where this goes. Stay tune.

Tiny holes

Friday, July 29, 2011

Update on my vacation to-do list

Things that I can cross off the list:
-worked for WG at the restaurant [I also was at restaurant almost everyday--some days were more work than others]
-baked bread pudding, red velvet cupcakes, chocolate mocha cupcakes, and cheesecake
-made shave ice syrup [can't remember what flavors]
-cleaned my house
-went to icp, had lunch with friend and learned the ins and outs of twitter
-made strawberry ice cream for me and WG to have @ home
-got a new tire for my truck
-got my hair cut and colored
-went to the farmers market got so white peaches for us

Things I didn't get to do
-find my upholstery webbing for the tote bag [I hope I didn't throw this out in one my get rid of crap days]
-layout my dress for cutting
-massage
-plant my begonias
-start twittering [though I started this on Monday]
-and the biggest thing--REST!
I was quite tired after this vacation. Too much to do plus the terrible hot weather and several bouts of sinus headaches. I need another week off. 
[PS: The restaurant is on twitter now, @CafeBua. We starting off slow and been positng links to our lunch special. Will post more and come Fall hope to do some twitter-only promotion. If you are in the area or know someone that is. Let them know about our twitter or facebook.]

Random stuff in my office

I was taking a picture of the second sock when I decided get a few pictures of random stuff in my office.

The Wall of me
drawingwall
A collection of drawings from my office mates. This is what designers do during meetings. A great b/w painting (top right) by Steve Keene that an office mate gave because he thought it would go well with my stuff. It's next to Steve Keene post card that friend sent to me.

My favorite office device
holepunch
is the the silver hole puncher in the red container, next to non-usuable eyeglasses [over the counter magnifying glasses, now too weak, but nice frames]. It's an old metal, very heavy, single hole punch. That I make good use of [more for my crafting or gifts items]. I love the look and weight of it, wish they would make more things like this.

Another coin container
coinjar
Yet another coin container that is slowing disappearing. I think I had purpose for collecting the coins for years. Now with the restaurant, I'm finally making good use of them.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Jade Elephant

Jade elephant
Working another pouch prototype. Just starting to lay things out. I really like this brand of rice bags. Love the imagery and words, but this bag ravels so much. I need to singe the edge to make it stop. Found this check fabric in my crazy fabric stash, thinking of making a front pocket and adding some trim. Not sure what I'm lining it with, most likely a rice bag. Will post the finish piece.

Rice bag tote
Still looking for my upholstery webbing for my tote. I have a little bit of this red webbing but I still need more. I think the upholstery webbing would add more contrast to it. The red webbing is a bit too matchy for me. Maybe I have some other crazy fabric to make into handles. 

Wish I did more when I was on vacation. Just wasn't motivated when I realize I would have to hunt for the webbing. Stay tune for the finish piece.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Cherry Tomatoes

cherry tomato by april_yurie
cherry tomato, a photo by april_yurie on Flickr.

This is second batch of ripening tomatoes. Tomato plant like this very sunny spot near my front door. To the right of it, is my ever ripening chili pepper. It quite giant, only produced this one fruit and has been taking it sweet time to ripen. But at least, I'm getting something unlike last year's zucchini :(

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Hats and Old Ladies


I decided to wear a hat into the city today. On top of being very hot [provides good sun protection], people wear hats in the NYC, so I wouldn't stick out like a odd soul. I've had this hat for years and have tried to wear it on many occasions but never found the right time or place. [bought it right before I started to work in NJ] It has as small brim with a tall crown and leather band. It fits me perfectly and I just like the shape of it on my head.

Fast forward to Port Authority [Bus station NYC], I'm waiting for my friend, hat on my head and people watching as I observe there were lots of people with the same idea that I had--good day for a hat. What I also observed was the majority of the hat wearers with asian, ladies and old.

Sigh. . . . I guess I just have to accept the fact, I'm one of those old Asian ladies with a hat. [but at least my hat was cool!]

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

What I've done so far on my vacation

It's Wednesday and haven't done too much on vacation to-do list. Let's see if my list is getting any shorter. [I won't mention the previous Satuday and Sunday--too crabby]
-worked for WG at the restaurant
-baked bread pudding, red velvet cupcakes and chocolate mocha cupcakes [this is still in progress waiting for my chocolate frosting to firm up before I pipe it on the cupcake]
-cleaned the first floor of the house
-scheduled lunch with friend and icp
-made strawberry ice cream for me and WG to have @ home
-got a new tire for my truck [the 4th tire this year and 1 year before. My commute is hell]

Today
-making my appt for hair cut and massage
-making cheesecake [I'm hoping I can get two done, one to freeze]
-find my upholstery webbing for the tote bag [I hope I didn't throw this out in one my get rid of crap days]
-layout my dress for cutting
-vacuum upstairs

Thursday
-lunch in NYC
-show @ icp
-learn how to twitter with style

Friday
-haircut and massage
-farmer's market
-start twittering [Yes, I've decided to do this for the restaurant--who knew I had this much to say, 2 blogs, 2 facebooks and now twitter. I'm so tired]

Let's see how much more I get done. Stay tune! Hope to post some pictures of the chocolate mocha cupcakes on Cafe Bua blog and fb. [for me, this is my kind of cupcake]

By the way, green highlight text in brackets, [was blue before but conflicted with the links color] is sort me talking out loud to myself, adding more information or rambling. Maybe a sign of being crazy! :)



Monday, July 18, 2011

My summer vacation

Today is my official start to my summer vacation. Hopeful it will not be anything like my Saturday and Sunday--working with a headache and massively crabby.

I have a huge list of things to do for myself this week. If I can get half of it done, I'll be happy. My vacation to-do list:

-get set up with Twitter
-organize my office (so I can find things easier)
-work on some bag prototypes
-plant a few more plants
-cut my hair
-get a massage
-have lunch in NYC with a friend
-see a show @ icp
-sew a dress for myself

Add my weekly to-do:
-bake
-laundry
-clean the house
-bills

And on top of that I'm giving WG break and working for him on Tuesday. I guess I'm going to be busy. At least I know, I have lunch and icp scheduled. Yah!

I hope I can get some pictures from this week.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Flower One Dot coin purse

I found a pattern for these crocheted flower that are joined into a larger piece to make a bag, Mollie's Flowers. I thought it was beautiful and I could make up the flower in my spare time between project. My idea was to make a bag in a neutral color, charcoal or beige so the flowers becomes a texture and just highlight one flower center on the bag as an accent.

First the flowers. I needed to try out the flower pattern with scrap yarn. To see if it was possible to make tons of them in to the bag I wanted. These turn into into pins for x-mas gift for the office. I got a little crazy with the centers and add contrasting yarn and some beading.
flower pins

After finishing the pins, I kind of realized that I think I needed to downsize my idea. The bag I envisioned would take 100s of flowers and I don't think I have the stick-with-it-ness to make all of the same flowers over and over. So I decided on a round coin purse. Fast forward a couple of years. 

Tah dah! Flower One Dot coin purse. An early birthday present for my niece [I'm alway late with gifts--like 6 months late] since she came for a visit a couple of days before her birthday.  
Flower dot coin purse

The inside is lined with some Japanese crepe fabric and the back is a plain crocheted circle in rusty red with red zipper. Hope she can use it.
Inside flower dot

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Sunday in NYC

Kind of got a Sunday off. Took a friend's daughter up to Columbia, she's attending their summer program. Went in by train with all the happy crazy people going into the Gay Pride Parade. The train was mobbed.

Took a cab up (Man! That cab driver made good time) then stood in line for few minutes (I have to say, Columbia sure had their act together) and into the dorm we went. I've been my share of dorms these past few years and these were quite nice. Your own room in 2 floor suite with 3–4 rooms per floor. Rooms were a decent size with air condition (lucky girl). I left her to set up room, she was one very excited young lady. 

Then I decided to walk downtown, to look for some place to eat and get my train back home. Walked past St. John the Divine, so beautiful. Was thinking of stopping but just kept going. It was a beautiful day, low humidity and sunny, just a great day for walking. I walked down to 72 St. subway by then I was a bit hot and sweaty. So I found a diner to eat at then a short hop on a subway to Penn Station. Nice day off with some exercise to boot.

Just wanted to share something from my walk downtown. I saw this beautiful blue door with black scroll work. The color was so beautiful. I think it help that it was against all that white.
blueDoor

Friday, June 24, 2011

Upcycling

Upcycling: taking something that would be thrown out and making something out of it just as good or even better. 

I've been always fascinated with upcycling. I think it comes from three things: 
  1. my parent's no throwing out policy [ ". . . it still good, you can use it." as they weed through my trash] 
  2. love of old stuff 
  3. fear of being a hoarder. 
So I'm giving upcycling a try as I attempt reduce my many piles of stuff.  Using up my yarn is first on my list and I've been making stuff with what I have and not to buy any new yarn (I've already failed in that task). 

Project 1: Not a upcycle project but my attempt to make piles of yarn smaller, I started with WG's yellow socks, I'm on sock 2 and it's looking good. I guess toe-up sock has just enough challenge to keep me interested and but not make too much mistakes. Self-striping yarn rules!


Project 2: My bag (pocketbook, handbag whatever you call it) is always a mess, especially with the cords and the chargers all tangled up in a ball. So I decided to make a cord bag for myself. I frogged (took apart for you non-knitter) a red wool shrug I made years ago that I never wore (too hot for me these days). Decided to use a seed stitch pattern knitted with 2 strands, I love the beautiful simple texture the seed stitch pattern creates in bulky yarn. I knitted in the round for less seaming (yeah! for me, two less seam to finish) I also gave it a flat bottom in stockinette stitch and tucked in corners. On the inside, I lined it with a rice bag, gave it a lime green zipper with red trim. This turns out to be a double upcycle project (shrug and rice bags). I'm thinking I may be making up more to sell on Esty, stay tune.


Front view
SS_CordBag

Inside view
SS_CordBag_inside

Offshoot from my cord bag project: Another thing I collect is vintage trim and I got an idea while I as constructing my cord bag, zipped pouches bags using my vintage trim, rice bags, and contrasting zippers.

Flat view
TotalFatBag

close up of zipper and trim
TotalFat_zipper

I want to try out a tote idea I have with the rice bags and some upholstery webbing (I told you have have a lot of stuff). More to come.

Project 3: have not started yet but will be constructing my secret collaborative blanket for a special Star Wars character. Got the pieces, got the idea how to combine applique, patchwork, crochet and knitting together. The upcycle part: still need couple more square and I may just repurpose some old shirt to make a couple of crazy patchwork squares. Stay tune for sneak peeks of it coming together. 

Other ideas in the the upcycle que: turn old mens dress shirt to sleeping shorts, old hole-y sweaters patchwork blanket,  vinyl banner (our grand opening banner) tote. I hope I can get to at least one of these ideas by the end of the year.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Farmer's Market goodies

Strawberries for this weekend's baking. I'm thinking cheesecake.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A Giant Spider

in my basement. 

I've been trying to get my house together, cleaning things out, everywhere in my house. And the basement is the perfect place on hot humid first summer day. So I started vacuuming stairs and then was going to tackle around my washer and dryer when I saw something in the corner of my eye. I look up at the side of the steps to see a giant spider, inches away from me. Now any spider to me freaks me out, but this was bigger than the usual ones I see. 

I screamed. 

[Now that was useless. Screaming only works if someone can hear you. No one else is home with me, I still had the very loud vacuum running and I was in the basement with the basement door closed.]

I backed away, unloaded the vacuum (had enough sense to turn it off) and ran up the stairs, where I have been since. 

I wanted to do a load of laundry today but. . . what if it's still there. . . .or even worst what if it isn't there. So now I have to wait to Sunday, when Oat comes home early, to make sure the spider isn't anywhere near the washer and dryer.

[maybe I'm be brave and go down later this afternoon. I'm hoping it was just as scared as I was and ran away somewhere far.]

I didn't run away

I know it's been more than a month since I last posted something. I guess I've more busy than I thought I was.

Mom and Dad's Visit
Mom and Dad have come and gone from their visit. They are even back home from CA. Well, here's a few details.

Pre-visit preparation included a major cleaning of the house with rearrangement of the furniture in the living room. Now I really can use the elephant chair.

We visited Princess Annika in Queens. Mom and Dad's first meeting with the Princess. Had a great time. Got slightly lost going home because I missed my exit. No gps, no navigator. M/D are no help. Thank goodness I didn't freak out, I would have still been in queens if I did. Found my way back, lots of traffic. But made it home

Mother's Day went to Rutger's Garden Plant Sale. Got a hanging plant and few herbs to replace the ones that didn't survive this winter. Mom was oooing and ahhing at the azaleas that were in bloom. Here's a picture of M/D in a sea of azalea.

SeaofAzaleas

The only snag of the whole trip was the last day when I took M/D to the mall. D decided to not to come to J. Jill as M and I shopped. I guess we took too long and he decided to find the bathroom without tell us he was leaving. When we come out of the store, he was no where in site. Long story short--D was missing for awhile (well in my mind he was), I walked the whole mall (really fast) looking for him and he doesn't a cell phone or have my cell number. In the end I find him walking back towards where were. I don't think he even knew I thought I lost him. What I learned from this trip to the mall, stop at bathroom before we separate and maybe get a disposable cell just to in case.

Knitting
In between a lot of unfinished projects. Just can't finish anything especially any pattern that needs a lot of attention. Too tired, make too much mistakes, rip, rip rip. But I'm making attempt at toe-up socks for WG. Maybe this toe-up pattern will keep my interest. Here's a pic of the first sock.

yellowSock

Will try to post more often and take more pictures.

Monday, April 18, 2011

I'm so tired and full of anxiety

I need a day of doing nothing. My anxiety is through the roof with taxes and perfomance appraisals. Can't I have one day of sleeping in to 8 and nice massage.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

My day as waitress

Worked the lunch shift and now waiting for the dinner crowd at the restaurant. The waitress got sick and no one else could come in.

After that I go home to make birthday cakes for the restaurant. Everyone get birthday cake tomorrow while suplies last. I'm forcing everyone to celebrate. Haha!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Cafe Bua

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Exhausted!

And that's why I haven't posted in a why while.  I think things are catching up with me. I just feel so tired and just can't seem to make it go away. On top of being tired, I've been fighting a headache and anxiety. I need to workout to get it out of my system but when can I fit in my schedule. I wish I had a week of doing nothing but I really don't see that in my near future.

In my crazy baking life, been trying out some new recipes and adding to some old favorites.

-Earl Grey cupcakes with orange marmalade filling and vanilla cream cheese frosting
-Chocolate cupcakes with Nutella filling and chocolate cream cheese frosting
-Sausage and veggie strata (savory bread pudding)
-strawberry cream cheese scones


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Monday, February 14, 2011

Day off from baking

Tonight I have a day off from baking. But I'm still baking in my head. Trying to figure out what I should test next. Macarons, coco puffs, mochi, sweet or savory empanadas. . . The list is endless. On top of that I'm finding interesting savory baked goods (eggless quiche--so like a savory cheesecake). Hmmm . . . Where should I start. Probably tomorrow as it really too late to do anything. I need to get to bed, to get some sleep. If only I wasn't so hot (temperature-wise, that is).

Sunday, February 13, 2011

I'm so proud of myself . . .

that haven't had a baking breakdown yet with many potential disaster just waiting to happen (But I was very close to tears a few times). Thanks to the handy thing called a the internet. I found a great solution for broken frosting (butter too cold). If you every need the solution, here's the link for broken and too hard frosting.

The latest disaster is a smoking oven as I was powering through chocolate cupcake batter and a cheesecake in the oven. Forgot to put foil around the springform pan and butter dripped in the oven. Suddenly, I turn to see smoke pouring out the vent of the oven. I don't know if it was because I'm so tired or I'm getting use to thing happening. I calming opened the oven, pulled the cheesecake out, I turned off the oven, turned up the oven fan, jiggled the cheesecake to see if it was down, pulled the racks out and started to clean the mess (waited a little bit for it too cool). Thank goodness the cheesecake was done and I think I save it from the trash can. Now I'm just resting my mind from a close call and will start the cupcake in a bit. 

2 days off from work at the end of the week. I hope I get back in to better form. I have some much on my list to do and try. Let's see if I can get some of it done.

UPDATE: baked the chocolate cupcakes without a incident but the frosting... Just when I thought I was minutes away from finishing up the baking for the night, the stupid frosting started to acted up. Got the the consistency that I wanted, 6 cupcakes done, 6 more to go and the piping tip goes haywire. Tried to unclog it but it just didn't want to work. So the last six looks like it got a bit of a perm. A little bit of curly top. But no tears, so I guess I win.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

New flavor cupcake flavor

Chai cupcakes with cardamon spice cream cheese frosting. Trying to be creative with what I'm baking. Saw a recipe for Milk Tea cupcakes from justjenn and thought I could adapted it to a using Chai tea and with a cardamom frosting.

Here's some picture of the cupcakes, before frosting and after. I just took a bite and this may be a new favorite. Nice mild chai tea taste with a little bit of spice from the frosting. Not overly sweet. Added so lemon zest to the frosting. Hope people like as much as I do.

12 chai cupcake cooling

With frosting

Monday, February 7, 2011

Granny Squares needed

I just read about the crochet a rainbow project on sarah london's blog. She asking for donations of granny squares to make up blankets for the people who were affect by the flood in Queensland and Victoria, Australia. 

I usually go to her blog to see the bright and color images she has up of things she is making. I have such fond memories of granny squares. And have done many projects with them. I thought I send out the word to my crochet friends about this project.

Go to crochet a rainbow on sarah's blog for more info. You need to sign up. I'm signing up today. Hope you can join me on this project.

Finished Product

Here it is after it's chill overnight. Pretty easy cheesecake or could it be that I didn't have to glaze all those strawberries that made it seem easier?

Serving with a quick and easy fresh blueberry sauce. I hope they like it. 

Lemon curd marbled cheesecake

Sunday, February 6, 2011

I've baking up a storm

for the restaurant that is. I'm trying to keep thing separate but it is very hard when most of my life as of now revolves around the restaurant. And of course, I suck taking pictures of the final product. But I thought a list would be a great way to show off what I've up to with thumbs up/down if it did well.

So for the last 2 weeks I've baked:

2 apple pies (traditional)--thumbs down
1 apple pecan crumb pie--thumbs up-sold the whole pie in one shot
2 strawberry cheesecakes--thumbs up
1 bread pudding*--thumbs up
1 mango bread pudding*--thumbs up
1 peach bread pudding*--thumbs up
1 recipe strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese frosting-thumbs up
1 recipe chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting--thumbs half way. I wasn't that happy the way the frosting turned out. Need to rethink that. Taste great if you love chocolate.
2 chocolate haupia (choconut pudding) pie --thumbs up
2 rice pudding--not sure

And in the oven right now is lemon curd marbled cheesecake. I'm about to make a fresh blueberry sauce to serve with it.

Cheesecake seems to be the customers favorite. And of course because it takes the longest to make. I'm trying this new one (the one in the oven). I hope people like it.

On my list of recipe testing:
Thai tea milk shakes--in process**
Matcha milk shakes--in process**
Chai cupcakes with cardomon cream cheese frosting
Matcha macarons with azuki filling
Matcha syrup for our shave ice
Mochi with azuki filling and if that work and people like it maybe whole strawberry with azuki filling

Off to check the cheesecake and to start the sauce.

* can be served with vanilla sauce made with condensed milk
**there goes the stress diet pounds.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Hawaiians in the middle of NJ

I know I said I wouldn't post about the restaurant here but I thought this story would be more of an appropriate at Princess Hot Flash. 


It's so funny why draws us Hawaiian's together. I knew there were a few running around in Central NJ but in the middle of winter after 6 snow storms, who would have thought shave ice would be the drawing point. 


After seeing the article about the restaurant in the Courier News, Several Hawaiians have come in the past few weeks. And how we could go on about the our love of our favorite icy sweet. I've been serving up a ice cream, azuki beans, fresh fruit, shave ice top with either strawberry or brown sugar syrup and condensed milk. And so far, it seems like a hit. 


Hope more Hawaiians drop by and give us a try.