Cakemix.

So it was my best friend, Natalie's, birthday this month and when thinking of where to take her out, I thought, yeah we could go to a nice dinner and be ordinary OR we could do something that is fun that we both love. Now, Natalie and I love to bake and decorate and we often share recipes with each other, so I found this place, Duff's Cakemix in West Hollywood that let's people use their creativity and love of baking to decorate their own cakes!

Chef Duff is from the TV show Ace of Cakes and he is the owner of this cake making studio, so you know there were tons of cool and professional tools to use to decorate the cakes. He often tapes his show in the studio, in fact we missed him and tapings by one hour! You start with a pre-made cake...we chose their flavor of the month, pumpkin chocolate chip! Then we chose fondant as the topping in our favorite colors and used dye to make additional colors of fondant. Lastly, we added some toppings like edible glitter and candies. These are the cake and designs we created...a very happy birthday to Natalie! :)

Our starting cake.

Some designs we created.

Our final product!

Happy Birthday Natalie!

Breakfast in a Cup.

The other day, I was feeling inspired by some Pinterest pictures of breakfast foods and I came across an egg cup picture I thought was so adorable so I decided to attempt making it. What's better than bacon and eggs for breakfast all rolled into a cup sized treat? They turned out very good...both for the tastebuds and the eyes!

Ingredients:

• Unsalted butter
• Eggs
• Bacon
• White or wheat toast
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Cupcake or muffin tin

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Melt the butter on low heat and lightly butter a cupcake or muffin tin.
3. With your hands or a rolling pin, flatten the toast.
4. With a large cup or cookie cutter, cut out circles from the toast (about 4 inches in diameter).
5. Then cut the circles in half and press the halves into each cupcake pan overlapping slightly (1 circle per well). Fill any holes with leftover pieces of bread.
6. Brush bread with remaining melted butter.
7. In a large skillet, cook the bacon until almost crisp. 
8. Lay 1 bacon slice into each bread cup and crack an egg over each.
9. Season with salt and pepper.
10. Bake until egg whites are just set 15-20 minutes. 

Donut Friend.

Donuts are one of America's classic desserts. It's not only police officers who love them. But donuts have kind of been put on the back burner in lieu of more popularized cupcakes and macarons. I mean let's face it, donuts haven't really made a comeback since Krispy Kreme came around and introduced a whole new level of decadence to the glazed donut. Anyway, since I love donuts, I've been on a search for some good donut shops. A lot of the places I've tried going to, however, have had long lines, ran out of their products, or just send their products to other bakeries. That's pretty snobby if you ask me...in fact, one of those places was named "Donut Snob".

Last week, however, I found out about Donut Friend...a quaint, new donut shop in Highland Park with some pretty amazing combinations of ingredients in their donuts and even a build your own option! The donuts were to die for and what I love about this place is that its not....well, snobby. They don't pride themselves on selling out of their products and they want to serve everyone who enters the store.

My friend opted for the build you own option, which was great. I indulged in Nutellavision and Walnut Voodoo. Both were amazing and I will definitely be back there again!

Nutellavision: Nutella and a dash of olive oil inside a traditional donut, topped with a sugar glaze.

Walnut Voodoo: a traditional donut stuffed with cream cheese, toasted walnuts, and a drizzle of maple syrup.

Emmys 2013 Fashion

These are my picks for this year's best dressed actresses at the Emmys! I wasn't blown away by much fashion this year, but of all the dresses, these are my favorite, fashion forward, and most flattering ones. Who made your list?

Sofia Vergara in Vera Wang
Kate Mara in J. Mendell
Kaley Cuoco in Vera Wang

Barley Salad.

The other day I came home from work and I was starving. Trying to keep a healthy diet, I didn't want to order out so I looked around my pantry for ingredients to quickly make something. I found a bag of barley and also a few different vegetables in my refrigerator so I decided to make a salad. For a makeshift recipe that I just put together, it turned out really good!

Ingredients:

• A handful of cherry red tomatoes
• A handful of small yellow heirloom tomatoes
• 1 cucumber
• 1/2 an avocado 
• 3/4 can of kidney beans
• 1 cup of barley
• crumbled feta
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon honey
• salt
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil

1. Cook the barley according to packaged directions. Usually, boil 1.5 cups of water to every cup of barley and add the barley when boiling. Put heat on low and let absorb for 30 minutes.

2. While the barley is cooking, wash and cut all the vegetables and strain and wash the kidney beans. Keep in mind, you can use any number of vegetables in the salad, these are just the ones I had in the fridge. 

3. When the barley has cooked, drain and let it cool.

4. To make the dressing, whisk the honey and vinegars. Add in olive oil and salt and whisk.

5. Mix the barley, vegetables, and kidney beans.

6. Top with crumbled feta.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

The other day, I was feeling like I hadn't baked anything in a long time so I decided to make my favorite dessert...cupcakes! Now, like many others, I am guilty of taking the shortcut at times and using boxed cake mix. However, I thought some aspects of the cupcakes should have my own twist to them so I added some mini Reese's cups to the bottom of the cupcake and I made my own peanut butter frosting.

Peanut Butter Frosting:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 5 tablespoons of unsalted butter at room temperature
• 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup heavy cream

1. Mix confectioner's sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt on medium low speed until creamy.

2. Add the cream and mix on high speed until mixture is light and smooth.

(recipe courtesy of Ina Garten)

New York, New York

After a long school year and grueling work project over the summer, I was in much need of a vacation so my boyfriend and I traveled to one of my favorite places, New York City! Even though I have been there countless times, there is always something new to explore and discover in the city. Of course there are also always some old places that never disappoint. Below are some of the highlights of my favorite places in New York. Not to say that there are still many, many places, restaurants, and bakeries I have yet to see in the city. Luckily, many of those places are soon coming to LA!

These are my favorite places in the city where we ate:

         Evergreen Diner
         Da Gennaro Italian
         Treat House rice krispie treats
         Rice To Riches tapioca pudding
         S'Mac macaroni and cheese
         Capital Grille
         Luke's Lobster lobster rolls
         Shake Shack burgers
         Magnolia Bakery
         Brooklyn Bagel Co.
         Thai Terminal

Bubble lounge in our hotel, Night Hotel.

Breathing wall at NBC Studios.

Times Square.

Brooklyn Bagel Co. Sesame Bagel with Sundried Tomato Cream Cheese.

The Highline.

The Beautiful Flora at the Highline.

Modern Art at MoMA.

Across the Corridor at MoMA.

Still Life #30 -Tom Wesselmann 1963.

My favorite speakeasy with an awesome secret entrance, PDT. Not sharing too much more information on this...shhh...

Absinthe at PDT.

Intrepid Sea, Air, &Space Museum. 

Ray's Pizza!

World Trade Center Memorial. 

FDNY.

Central Park from a Different Perspective.

Beekman's Beergarden.