Sugar Coma Festival {Better-Late-Than-Never Ed.}

First of all, hooray, my blog is featured as this week's Featured Blogs by Foodie Blogroll.

Second, I know this is totally lame that I am just now posting this, but in the heat of lavish! event this past weekend in Atlanta (which I wasn't able to attend because I thought I was going to be somewhere at that time but I apparently I didn't have to be -- and of course, by the time I realize that, it's all too late, the tickets are sold out. Oh life.), this was another swanky soiree held by The Broke Socialite (she's such a nice and funny lady by the way) called Sugar Coma festival and I was lucky enough to snag a ticket at the time.

Third, I'd have to admit, this quick post is my way of cutting corners. It has something to do with the very fact that everything in my life is such a whirlwind right now. I haven't been eating at cool places and have taken zilch pictures lately. Plus, it's the week before Christmas and I am far from being done with Christmas shopping. That's how bad it is.

Anyways, hope this would make a feast for your eyes.

These cupcakes are from Cami Cakes. I got to meet little Camille herself, such a cutie! Also, as a self-proclaimed connoisseur of red velvet cakes, I actually adore these babies. Moist, velvety, and topped with rich frosting.

Caramel-filled. Chocolate-drizzled. Cheerful taste buds.

Margarita cupcakes. Need I say more? FYI, the margarita did not get baked off. Let me repeat once again that it did not get baked off. Ahemm, I had mine straight up. These sassy treats were provided by Pink Cupcake Dreams and Peachy Treats.

Caryn's Cakes' strawberry cupcakes are one of the best strawberry cupcakes I've ever had. It's such a simple goodness and the frosting is just right: a tad sweet, not too rich, and still maintains that classic strawberry flavor. I actually bought a few to take home with me.

Sip the Experience is what would happen if Barnes & Noble got married to Starbucks and had an affair with your full- of- homemade- goodness neighborhood bakery. I wouldn't mind sitting there all day getting some work done. It'd be kinda hard to focus with all those luscious desserts calling out my name every five minutes though.

We had to take a break to prevent our glucose levels from going through the roof: by showing our savory spot taste buds that we still care about them. Chicken skewers by Bradford on Bishop on the menu.

See these gorgeous vanilla custards topped with fresh blackberries? Yum. Chris Arpante's mad dessert skills are responsible for them. It's ok to judge the book by its cover this time - because it fully represents the quality of the content.

Nah, these are not jello shots. They're even better.

I didn't actually get a chance to try these, but I'm guessing they're molten lava chocolate cakes?

This Cuban espresso flan is a work of art by private chef Bren Herrera. If you're a coffee lover like I am, you'd appreciate it very much. It's very fragrant and ahh, the texture - it sort of just glides in your mouth.

In the name of (sugary) festivity we trust.

A Jolly Slice of December

I can't believe it's December already. I was just talking to my friend about this the other day: the moment it actually occurs to me that the holiday season has arrived is when I see Starbucks red cups popping up all across town. For some reason, it's like they bring out the holiday spirit in me. And strangely enough, they gently provoke a lot of beautiful memories, those little cups. But really, this mini post has nothing to do with Starbucks or their effective seasonal branding. It has something to do with all the little things that - however fast life's images flash through our eyes due to our crazy busy schedule dominated by everything that has a screen and buttons - can still make us stop for a second, look around, and smile. Because 'tis the season to be jolly.

Here are some of the things that make me smile (and scream for joy). I don't have a whole lot explanation for these beauties other than they're available at the White Windmill Bakery in Atlanta. Thanks to Yoshiko of Yoshiko Photography for sharing some editing tips!

Le Triskell Creperie - A Strong Blend of Nurture and Culture

It was a lazy Saturday and I was looking for a brunch place. Like many people, I turned to Yelp for this kind of guidance. Not that I have so much faith in Yelpers, but at least they can give me ideas of places to go. I found a place called Le Triskell Creperie and decided to give it a try. This little place is located in Buckhead, inside a building called Tuxedo Atrium. And it's tiny. As in it looks like a little cafeteria where you just go in to grab your sandwich for lunch, pay at the register, and take it to go. But something drew me in right from the very moment the French lady smiled at me. Her name is Rose- Marie, by the way. She and her husband, Michel, run this place - just the two of them. I could feel the love already. Plus, hearing them speak French made me feel like I was in the set of Amélie.



Their crepes are called galettes, a type of pancake made of gluten-free buckwheat flour. You know how Michel sold it to me? He said, "The French love it, you should give it a try." There. I'm sold. So I went ahead and got the La Bastille, which had eggs, ham, and Swiss cheese. The eggs were a little bit too runny for my taste, but it might just be me. Truth is, it's not bad at all. The slightly-melting cheese added a nice texture to the merriness of the savory ham and the eggs . The galette itself was crunchy and gave you a familiar taste of wheat flour. It's not as tasty as anything that's made of all-purpose flour - a little bit more on the humble side - and definitely would do a lot more good to your body. My friend got La Pacifique which had smoked salmon, soft white cheese, lemon, and dill in it. The cheese was rich and the dill added some kind of kick to it.



Our visit there was full of surprises. It started when I asked Rose- Marie where in France she's from. She calmly answered, "Paris. And you?" Normally when I'm not so thrilled in carrying further conversation with a person, I'd say Bay Area, California, which holds some truth to it. But I decided to give her an honest answer instead. Hearing that, her eyes lit up right away. She said "Terima Kasih" and yelled "Indonésien" to Michel who was standing in the kitchen at the time. He responded by screaming something in French that I can only tell by its elevated tone that it was indeed full of excitement. Then he came out of the kitchen and started telling us all these stories of how they've been to Indonesia, had stayed in Hong Kong for almost 13 years, and the fact that they're both musicians. How cool is that?

Michel sat with us the whole time and we had a great chat about a lot of eye-widening, heart-warming things. From how the Southern part of France, including the French Riviera, would be one of the best places to go due to its friendly weather and breathtaking scenery, to how the French and the Chinese bear some similarities when it comes to their cooking and how they treat their meat.

Sometimes I think the world is just way too small. Michel was telling me about the hotel that they stayed at in Jakarta. I asked him if he noticed there's an all-girls school right across from it. He went, "I saw them all the time getting out of their cars." Imagine his surprise when I said I was one of those girls wearing the green-checkered uniform skirt and knee-high socks. That I went to the very same school for 6 years. This time it's him screaming some high-pitched, full-of-excitement phrases in French to his wife.

Ahh, it was wonderful meeting them. To top it off, they insisted on treating us to some sweet crepes to-go: the caramel and chocolat maison (homemade chocolate) crepes. Wow. At the time I must have looked like a 5-year-old being treated to her first cotton candy. Or as we Indonesians call it, gulali.

"The Third One said, 'I don't care'" {Halloween Ed.}

Five Little Pumpkins

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate
The first one said, "My, it's getting late.
The second one said, "There are witches in the air."
The third one said, "I don't care."
The fourth one said, "We'll have a lot of fun.
Let's run and run and run."
"Woo-oo-oo" went the wind.
And out (clap) went the light
And the five little pumpkins rolled right out of sight

(From classic children song "Five Little Pumpkins)


Image courtesy of MarthaStewart.com.

Halloween is just around the corner. I don't know if you care much about it, but I don't. I've never been a really big fan of it. There's nothing cute about it, everything's so "scary" (read: ugly) and lots of purple and orange. I love purple, but purple and orange? I'm also not a big fan of dressing up. I do, take the pleasure of seeing other people acting stupid in their costumes, though, especially after a good amount of some liquid courage. But ok, enough with the negativity. Sorry for being such a party pooper. As suspected, I won't be making anything for Halloween this time so I thought I'd just compile some of the (semi) cute-looking treats that I discover online.

For those semi scary-looking cupcakes above (Of course they have been censored, I only pick the ones that still maintain their cuteness factor just a tad bit) and their recipes, go here.


Image courtesy of MarthaStewart.com

Classic whoopie pies! And I honestly think that haunted house cake is such a neato. Pretty cool, ehh? For recipes, click here and here.


Image courtesy of MarthaStewart.com

Here comes the most important part: Halloween liquid treats for the adults. From eyeball martinis to the classic root beer float, take your pick. Click here for recipes.

Food Network has their own collection of Halloween desserts as well. And of course, you can count on the almighty Bakerella for everything baked and everything cute. For her Trick or Treat cake pops, click here.


Image courtesy of Geek Sweets bakery under Creative Commons.

I was scouring the net and bumped into these Death by Chocolate cupcakes by Geek Sweets. Thought I'd share. I think these are the prettiest Halloween cupcakes I've seen.

Happy Halloween!

These images are courtesy of those stated below each of them. I own no rights to any of them. Nothing. Nada.

Buttery Lobster Tails (with Edible Shells)

I might have made it clear in the past that I'm no way a fan of MTV show Jersey Shore. I did write a blog post about the show though. This doesn't mean I have something against Italians (or what they call themselves - guidos and guidettes). I actually love a lot of things about Italians. Well, to be exact, their food. And the size of it.

We stopped by in Little Italy in San Diego because E had been craving for sfogliatelle (some people call it lobster tail) for a while. Sfogliatelle is a seashell- shaped Italian pastry filled with cream. There's a bakery in town called Cafe Zucchero that's really famous for their cannolis and happen to have sfogliatelle as well. We had to call in advance and asked them to save the sfogliatelle for us. They would've run out of those buttery babies had we not done that. Trust me, the person right in front of us actually asked for them and the wait staff swiftly shook her head.

Here's a video from the TV show Cake Boss showing how they make sfogliatelle:



It was such a bummer. The sfogliatelle turn out to be not impressive at all. It was slightly unacceptable to be honest. The pastry shell was not at all soft nor flaky. The cream isn't the freshest and it's a tad bit on the sour side. It tasted like it had been sitting in the counter forever.



The cannolis on the other hand, were such superstars. The ricotta filling was more on the refreshing side, especially with the endearing presence of the succade (candied citrus). And the chocolate morsels added some kind of depth to the flavor of the cream. Dusted generously with powdered sugar, the shell was quite crunchy judging on the fact that these cannolis might have also been sitting in the counter (I'm guessing - for a shorter period of time than the sfogliatelle did?) for quite some time. The crisp texture could've been brought up a notch but it was far from being soggy.



We couldn't help but noticed the long line that's coming out of Filippi's Pizza Grotto. After changing a few words with some people with some foreign accents, we decided to join the crowd. We were in line for over in hour and decided to take our food to go. Not that the old-fashioned, red-checkered tablecloths didn't entice us enough, but I guess the weather's just too beautiful to pass up. It's a good thing that the pizza (or pie, however you want to call it) was actually worth waiting for.

The bread was insanely good. It must have been a really elastic, stretched, and nurtured with love kind of dough. Please note that I might be a little biased since I'm a sucker for thick, hand-tossed crust. The crust had just the right amount of crunch on the outside and once you dive in, it's pure soft, pillowy goodness. And the cheese, it was the freshest, silkiest, best- tasting mozzarella I've ever had sitting on top of my pizza. The toppings and the sauce weren't bad at all but really, the bread and the cheese outshone everything for me.



The goodness buried under the tomato sauce was a meat lasagna. Look at the size of that meatball. Oh my. I can't really say anything about the lasagna since I didn't take a single bite of it. And oh- the pizzeria is also a delicatessen, it has a good selection of Italian gastronomy from dried salami, specialty pasta, to Sicilian olives.

C'est Magnifique Lunch on a Rainy Day

My 3rd anniversary with the boy is coming up next week. Unfortunately, by that time, he'd be halfway across the world already. So we decided to celebrate early. He took me to a little French place on Piedmont in Atlanta called Atmosphere for lunch. The price is pretty fair and the food actually goes beyond my expectation. The place itself is a cute little house with a little bit of a Southern touch and a nice outdoor patio. It was slightly raining when we first got out of the car, so we went for indoor seating.





The server brought us some fresh complimentary bread, piping hot from the oven, which I honestly didn't even touch (I try to do this whenever I'm not that starved). We started off with the cocktail de crabe et avocat, which is crab lump and meat with avocado Napoleon, diced tomatoes, and mango chutney. We were going to order the foie gras poëlé but they didn't have it at the time. But oh boy, our pick was far from disappointing. I had no idea that mango could create such a magical effect when paired with the right ingredients.



My main entree was moules marinières, mussels cooked in white wine, shallots and garlic butter. The mussels were cooked to perfection, very plump, juicy, and flavorful. I really like it when the white wine sauce isn't to buttery sweet and still has the wine flavor that slightly kicks and fully complements the mussels. Perfect balance.



The boy opted for a confit de canard atmosphère, which is duck leg confit with wild mushrooms raviolis, baby carrots, red wine reduction sauce. The duck meat simply falls of the bone. So tender, juicy, and full of flavor. I honestly think that duck meat is one of the sweetest and most savory kind of meat by nature. This dish still maintains a little bit of its sweetness and combine it with flavorful herbs and a subtle kick of the red wine flavor. And oh- FYI, the boy isn't a huge fan of pasta. Want to know what he thinks of the mushroom ravioli? "It tastes like meat," he said. His favorite pasta so far.



The desserts list for lunch isn't all that grandeur, but we went with the server's recommendation of apple tart fine with vanilla ice cream and Calvados caramel. It was pretty good, but not exceptional. And oh- they use real vanilla beans, which is always a plus. The boy actually offered to come back here for dinner but we went to Fogo de Chao instead. Oh well, there's always a next time.

PS: The pictures were taken using iPhone 4G's camera. Apology for them being a little fuzzy.

"I Know a Place Where the Grass is Really Greener.."

Not sure about that, but I can vouch that the food is better.

This post was prompted by the fact that it was 70 degrees in San Diego yesterday and it was an almost heat-wave like weather here in the South. And also, I haven't gotten the chance to show some of the beautiful things that I encountered during my brief stay in the sunshine state. It was a really short trip actually, one of those over-the-weekends. The purpose of it was to attend my cousin's wedding in Del Mar. But we stayed a couple extra nights just so we could make the best out of our $400 plane tickets.

What I miss so much from California is the constant indulgence my taste buds experience when it comes to food. But I won't explain further. Like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, right?


Mitsuwa's tonkotsu ramen has always been a winner. It comes with a bowl of rice topped with ikura (salmon roe) and eggs.


I don't know how Mitsuwa (the little stall is called Kayaba) does it, but every broth that they have in each of their soup dish tastes pretty amazing. This one is a very simple niku (beef) soba that most Japanese places would have but theirs is no doubt the best.



What I really like about this katsu don (chicken bowl) is the fact that the chicken is still so crispy on the outside (juicy on the inside) although the whole thing, including the rice, is really moist. A lot of places don't do it this way.



Oh yes, you recognize that logo. The best fast food chain in the U.S, IMHO. During our 4-day visit, we ate there 3x.


I don't think I've had that many shrimp crepes in my life, but this one was pretty good. We had this for brunch at Opera Patisserie which is pretty famous for its desserts. No, seriously, pastries, cakes, tarts, macarons, truffles, in the most delicate form you've ever seen. Don't hate me for not having any pictures of it. I got 2 boxes of macarons in which I ended up giving to others. Ok, back to the shrimp crepes. The baby shrimps were very-well cooked. I know, the crepes don't look very appealing here but the sauce (which I'm not sure what kind) was incredibly subtle but tasty.


A little touch of Spring awakening to go with my shrimp crepes.


Our friend opted for tomato and spinach quiche. It was slightly (note the word slightly) bland, in my opinion, but maybe because it's all veggies. It just needs a little kick, just a little bit. The crust (my favorite part) is very tasty and crunchy. The boy had salmon eggs benedict with perfectly cooked poached eggs and salmon. The hollandaise sauce had the right level of creaminess, I think. I'm not a big fan when it gets too creamy or too thin and lemony.

I only include pictures are that at least decent enough to post here. Most of the places that we went to don't have bright lighting so most of the pictures we took turned quite dark. We went to Ristorante Arrivederci in Hillcrest for dinner once and the boy had black linguini with shrimp, scallops, in a creamy sauce and I had some serious sea scallops with spinach in a white wine sauce. That was delish. We also drove up to LA, had lunch at Orochon Ramen in Little Tokyo, and had Indonesian food at Ramayani for dinner. Hands down to Orochon ramen's chasiu (pork belly) which I think is the best I've had in the U.S. As for Indonesian food, Ramayani is the most expensive one of all the Indonesian restaurants in the U.S I've been to (note that I've never been to the ones in Houston) but so far is the best and most authentic. And yes, I'm credible enough to talk about authenticity when it comes to Indonesian food. I could talk on and on about this but I hate it when I have no photos to show. Anyways, thanks for treating us to dinner there, my amazing fellow alumnus! It was really nice seeing you and your lady.

Check out the boy's blog for more!

Take a Slow Bite, No Chugging Involved (Late St. Pat's Day Ed.)

The thing that I remember the most about St. Patrick's Day is how every year someone always asks me, "why aren't you wearing green?" Well, that's because I don't have anything in green in my closet. Olive, maybe, but not shamrock-ish kind of green. I just don't like the color on me. That's simply the same reason why I don't have anything in red (and people have the same question also, every year, on Chinese New Year's Eve) or yellow (whoever goes/went to Mizzou knows that not wearing yellow/gold on a game day is pretty much a sin).


But I've been cooking and baking a lot for the past two months. And yes, I'm a beginner, therefore there's a legitimate reason why I had not documented my cooking journey in the past. It simply wasn't pretty.

For this past St. Pat's Day party with the Anthem crew, I followed Smitten Kitchen's recipe for chocolate whiskey and beer cupcakes. These are simply Irish car bombs (I apologize if you find the term offensive) in the form of baked goods sans the alcohol effects. I left out the ganache filling because most of the guests were guys and it's been proven in the past that their sweet tooth isn't as adventurous as girls'.


Since I didn't have much time and my Proctor Silex hand mixer is getting rusty, I used a cake mix (Duncan Hines, never anything else) instead of making my own. Sorry, I know that's just not right. I used Guinness instead of water as instructed for the cupcakes and I followed the recipe to make Baileys frosting. The frosting didn't turn out to be that great, it's a little thin for me (I'm pretty sure that's mostly mine or my Proctor's fault). But when I realized that, that's when the mixer started acting out so I just let go of it.

Weigy has been joking about getting a job as a fortune cookie writer. I thought why not give him the chance to do it. So I let him write "fortunes" for the cupcakes, in which I slipped it in the little shamrock decoration I've made in advance.



Oh and these cute little bottles? Michaels' has them. I picked up the last bag in the store. It says "95% drunk and 5% Irish" if you can't see it.


Unfortunately the Guinness is mostly baked out and you can't really taste the alcohol on the frosting. Adding more Baileys would've made the frosting become thinner and thinner. But still, at least there's something to brag about.


We did the real Irish car bombs that night, but seriously, I have fuzzy memories about that.

ps: This time I don't have to credit anyone for the pictures, I took them myself. But I'd like to credit the camera owner for his generosity. That is, Shawn Borsky of the Anthem Design Group. Thanks, Shawn!