Happy Valentines Day!

I've always enjoyed Valentine's Day ever since I was a little kid. I loved passing out Valentines and candy in grade school. I never thought of it as a romantic day but more of a day to remind you of the people you love and show them some affection. For the last few February 14's I haven't had a traditional Valentine but that doesn't get me down. This year my Valentine is one of my best friends. (I'm so glad she got her Valentine exactly on time!)

Here are some great V-day finds:

Google's doodle skit for today is ADORABLE!



Ryantines (thanks to a friend who sent them to me)

All Ryantines! and Ryantine's Day Mix!

Valentine Memes!

Happy ♥ Day!

Me, a Foodie?!

Yesterday, I stumbled across Yelp's Top 10 Restaurants of 2011. Turns out that I have been to 7 out of the 10 restaurants on the list. Two of the 3 I am missing are in SD, which I don't travel to much, and NY, which I haven't been to since I was 14. So, what does this mean? Does this fact make me a foodie? I certainly do use Yelp to find restaurants (and other places, such as venues and hair salons) however, I don't post reviews or check in or take pictures of food at restaurants (much). Anywho, I'll just continue the way I have been and call me a foodie if you please, however, I have never considered myself one.

On another note, I was surprised that most of the restaurants are in LA and of course it was nice to see an OC restaurant on the list. Represent! Woo!

Creativity

I have a friend who is a DJ and also enjoys making art. He mostly recreates pieces or draws characters (Peanuts are his favorite). One day we had this conversation:

Friend: Do you have a creative outlet?

Me: Not really, well at least like most people think. I make scrapbooks and I bake so I guess I'm more crafty than artistic.

Friend: Oh yeah, you bake but you use other people's recipes so that doesn't really count.

How dare he! Just because bakers are not artist in the traditional sense, doesn't mean they aren't creative. Music producers and DJ's use beats from other songs all the time. When he makes mixtapes, he uses songs from other people and alters it to make it his own. Bakers do the same, they use recipes from others and make changes to make it their own. Also when he makes his art pieces, he is replicating something another artist did already. Does that make him more artistic than me, when I use another baker's recipe?

Don't think so. No, it doesnt!

Budapest: Cakes and Bath Houses

One of the destinations on my backpacking trip in Europe was Budapest. I didn't know what to expect of Eastern Europe and I LOVED it! It's a beautiful city. The buildings are historical and gorgeous. The people are so friendly and helpful!


Budapest is famous for their bathhouses, which have been around since the ancient times. One of our days there we spent the morning sightseeing and exploring the city. Once afternoon hit, one of my friends went off on a caving adventure. (Because of the natural springs, caves have formed under the city) My other friend and I decided to go to a traditional bathhouse instead. On the way to the bathhouse, we stopped by a cute cafe to have a snack and expressos. We got a traditional Hungarian cake, Dobostorte, which had a hard top layer of caramelized sugar over alternating layers of sponge cake and chocolate buttercream filing. We also got the cafe special, which was a chocolate cake that had alternating layers of chocolate sponge cake and chocolate buttercream filling. Both were decadent and delicious!

Dobostorte and The Cafe Special Cake

There are several bathouses in Budapest. One of them turns into a nightclub pool party on summer nights. Since we were there in autumn, we were unable to go to that. The bath house we ended up at was more of a locals place. Since it was a women's day, you could go bare. My friend and I also got 1/2 hour massages for only about $12. It felt amazing especially after hitting the pavement for 3 weeks straight. The next day we went to another bath house with our friend who went caving. It was called Széchenyi, which is the big tourist bath house and it was the most pretty looking one. It was ginormous and all the baths and sauna and steam rooms were coed so bathing suits required. 

The locals bath house

Baking Jewelry

I LOVE ETSY!!!

You can find all sorts of cool things on Esty. While helping my sister find a Harry Potter necklace, I ran across some really cute baking jewelry. Here's what I found...

Cupcake Pan and Whisk Necklace

Tea/Coffee Cup Necklace

Cupcake Earrings

Pretzel Earrings

There are just some of the neat ones I found. They are all soooo cute!!! The pretzel earrings remind me of the ones I was suppose to get while I was at Oktoberfest in Germany. Having one to many steins prevented me from getting them and it would be just silly to get them here. 

Extraordinary Desserts

This past weekend has been a blast! It was Veteran's Day weekend so lots of people were off since Thursday, including my friend Sandok. We were suppose to go up to SF this weekend to see Mayer Hawthorne in concert and at a meet and greet. Unfortunately, matters beyond our control prevented us from heading up there. Luckily, we were still able to get tickets to the LA show, which was AMAZING!!! I'm officially a Mayer groupie!

We took advantage of our days off by also going shopping and to the San Diego Zoo. I've only gone to the Wild Animal Park. It was fun seeing all the animals. Sandok got lots of great pictures.

Munching Giraffes

Sleepy Koalas (Brings me back to Australia)

Hungry Hyenas (reminded me of Lion King)

Playful Otters (I wanted them to hold hands!)

After the zoo, we needed an afternoon pick me up. I couldn't be in SD and not stop by Extraordinary Desserts! We decided to go to the one on 5th Ave. since it was the closest.

We got a couple of desserts and drinks and sat outside to enjoy them and the view. All in which were wonderful!

Apple Tart

Chocolate Banana Tart

It was quite the eventful weekend. Sadly, its over now and its back to work tomorrow morning. 

Norcal Getaway

I recently had a long weekend getaway to Norcal. The reason, or rather excuse for us to make our trip, was to visit UC Berkeley. My sister will be applying for colleges this fall and I was applying for Optometry school, so we wanted to check out the school. I used to think I wouldn't like Norcal, but the more I visit, the more I see myself living there, for a while at least. The weather was really nice while we were up there. This was probably the warmest summer I've experienced in Norcal. Anywho, here are the places I encountered during this weekend. First stop, the Gourmet Ghetto in Berkeley...

Cheeseboard

This place is a lunch hot spot in Berkeley. They only make one type of pizza and one type of salad per day and its completely vegetarian. The only option you have is how many slices you want. They always give you a tiny half slice with whatever order you get. They have a variety of bottled drinks and simple sweets also. On the day we went, the pizza had roasted corn, bell peppers, garlic, and cilantro. The salad consisted of organic mixed greens and a sesame dressing (I think). We sat at a table outside and enjoyed our pizza and the beautiful weather.

 Walking back to the car from Cheeseboard, we saw a sign for a cupcakery and decided to go up the steps to the hidden shop called...

Love At First Bite

Their cupcakes and baked goods at had a really simple and homemade look and feel. I love the fact that they make mini cupcakes. We got a dozen of them with various flavors, red velvet, lemon, strawberry, and chocolate. We also go a regular sized chocolate pistachio. These cupcakes were not a top favorite of mine but they were tasty. They aren't as sweet and decadent as other cupcakes out there. They had a very light flavor and sweetness.

After our first two stops, we left the Gourmet Ghetto and headed to UC Berkeley's campus to explore and check out the school. We stopped by the local Urban Outfitters and American Apparel. From there we headed to an ice cream palor in Oakland called...

Fentons

I was most excited to go here, the original Fentons Creamery. I've always heard lots of great things about this place. I also found out that it was in a scene in Up. Sadly, I've never seen Up, but it is definitely on my to-do list. I could not wait to try their handcrafted ice creams and sauces. There were six of us and we decided to be adventurous and get the banana special substituting the regular chocolate for Swiss milk chocolate and pineapple sauce for cold caramel. Those 3 lbs. of ice cream and toppings were amazing!

Now off to San Fran for the next day, where my sister and I spent the day walking around, shopping, and of course, snacking! We started the day off by meeting up some friends in North Beach for brunch at...

Caffe DeLucchi

It was a nice cafe with outdoor seating. Since the weather was so nice, we sat outside. My sister and I shared the eggs Florentine and the granola and yogurt parfait. Our friends had the eggs Benedict and the crab cakes Benedict. All of it was quite delicious. I still prefer Mama's but this place is a close second.

(Sorry I don't have any pictures from this place)

Our last night in Union City, my aunt took just my sister and I out to dinner to catch up with us. We went to a restaurant in Milpitas called...

Banana Leaf

This place was cracking! There were just three of us and the wait was about 40 mintues. I had never had Maylasian food before this, and the best way I can describe it is that is a hybrid cross of Thai and Indian food. Every dish had lots of flavor. It was a good dinner and good time with my aunt.

(Sorry no pictures from here either!)

We spent the last day of our trip in San Jose. We went to the Great Mall, where I saw the funniest store, 5.7.9.! Immediately, when my sister and I saw it, I turned to her and said, "1. 3. 5." The reference is the movie, Mean Girls. I wish I had gone into the store to see if they really only sold sizes 5, 7, and 9. That would be have hilarious! Later that night a friend took me to a speakeasyesque bar called...

singlebarrel (nope, that's not a typo)

This place has a roaring 20's feel to it. After the bouncer checks your idea, you take a stairway downstairs to a dimly lit bar. All the bartenders are dressed in vests and ties. My friend happen to know everyone that worked there. The staff was super friendly and so where the people at the bar. The first drink I got was an English Cosmo. The bartender recommended it. All I know about it is that is had gin and crushed cucumers in it and it was really good and really refreshing. It was a little on the sweet side for me that night. I wasn't in the mood for sweet for some reason. The other drink I got that night was an Old Fashion, and I definitely liked this one. It's probably one of my favorite drinks. It pretty much bourbon with a little bit of sugar and bitters garnished with a lemon peel. A cool thing they did was put a big ball of ice instead of large ice cubes. I forgot the first drink my friend got but I remember it didn't quite match my taste in drinks. I do remember his second drink was a Pisco Sour, which was nice. The raw egg whites in the drink scare me a bit though. It was a fun night, I can't wait for my friend to come to visit, so we can get craft cocktails in Socal!

(Again, sorry no pictures from this place!)


My trip could not have been any better! I got to go to all these yummy places, see my aunt and cousins, meet up with friends, spend time with my sister away from home, get away from the stresses of my everyday life, and clear my mind. I can't wait to make another trip back up to Norcal soon!