Current Obsession: Swimming Pool Cakes!

Click on the photo to see who made it. Swimming pool cakes, so hilarious and crazy and fantastic!!!

Rugelach & Honey Cake

Nothing odd about rugelach or honey cake, but they are certainly delightful items... For Rosh Hoshanah (yes, I am Chinese) this year, we went to our dear pal Shira's for a warm Fall dinner... I made rugelach and a moist, flavourful honey cake... the honey cake called for strong coffee (or you could use strong tea -- I used a mega strong cup of tea), orange juice and a myriad of spices, along with vegetable oil... you mix it all up and pour it into a bundt pan! I made a quick glaze using lemon juice and icing sugar, and candied some lemon slices by blanching them in water, then boiling them in simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water, boiled til syrupy) for a garnish.

Recipe for honey cake found HERE. It has the name "Majestic & Moist New Year's Honey Cake" which is pretty much the greatest name ever. MAJESTIC!

I had made rugelach once before and it's so much fun to make... the dough is a mixture of butter and creamcheese, which makes it very rich. You have to chill the dough first and then roll it out like a big old pizza round... you feel like you're making a pizza too. First you brush it with apricot jelly, then sprinkle it with ground walnuts, sugar and cinnamon, then you put your larger "fillings" in... mini chocolate chips and currants for me. I used Martha Stewart's recipe for rugelach, which can be found HERE.

Shana Tova everyone!

Recent Foodtography Snackeria

Me likey a lot food photography. One day I will get to buy my dream lens. For now... some recent snaps I took of recent foodsnacks...

Taste Of Los Angeles

Sorry it's been so long since I chomped it up. Actually I've continued to chomp it up all this time but just haven't had time to snap pics and write about it... ! We went down to Los Angeles for my cousin's wedding in June, and we had a total blast... we ate our way through Los Angeles... a must-do for any trip we go on. I love seeing the foodstuffs that any given city or town or village or weird stop on a long drive can bring you! Rich and I had one day ONLY to explore some of L.A.'s food... we had a huge list... but that day we only made it to 5 spots in 5 hours! ;)

Presenting... the Taste of Los Angeles!

Legendary Clifton's Cafeteria. a 1930s Depression-era cafeteria in downtown Los Angeles.

Great signage!

Love this sign.

A photo of a photo of the pies...

You can't see it too well but picture an "animatronic" raccoon clunkily popping up from behind this wooden facade and catching a fish. Over and over. So excellent.

Main floor, Clifton's

Clifton's pies! Like a Wayne Thiebaud painting!

Clifton's trays all lined up.

The vanilla pudding looked just right! I had to try! With a star-tipped dollop of whip cream. (pretty sure the whip cream was edible oil product)

The hot lunch line! Carved turkey dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy.

Third floor seating! It was roped off but an employee at Clifton's told us to go on up!

Tray of delights: Spanish omelette with side of sausage, unsweetened ice tea with lemon, macaroni and cheese, jalapeno cheese bun, mashed potato, vanilla pudding

"Enjoy"

Reading up on the history of Clifton's

Old Clifton's flyers

The Cliftons! Clifford Clifton, in fact!

Upstairs dining area view

Middle floor dining area: large backlit photographic landscape vistas!

Bye Clifton's!

Next stop: Cactus Taqueria on Vine Street in West Hollywood.

Fish tacos, veggie tacos, rice and beans!

Then, on to "Milk" Bakery & Ice Cream!

Seriously mental. Caramel macarons sandwiching homemade espresso ice cream with toffee and thick swirls of caramel. Blueberry yogurt bar, fresh blueberries in frozen yogurt, dipped in white chocolate and coated with "blueberry crunch." $4.50/each.

This was really good, but sooo large and pretty sweet!

This was perfect. We should've shared this one only,
but I wanted to try two ice cream novelties...!

Next stop: In N Out Burger! The dreamiest fast food burgers in existence. For real.

The menu is simple: burger, soda, fresh cut fries, milkshake. Everything is fresh and local, service is fast. Vegetarians can get a good burger too -- just hold the patty and enjoy the fresh bun, cheese, grilled onions, crunchy lettuce and tomato!

The Double Double (double patty double cheese, grilled onions) I took home for my Dad! Yep, it flew from L.A. to Vancouver.

Iced tea with lemon, ketchup cup

Two burgers, and cheese covered fries!

My burger: grilled onions, cheese. The burger I had on the way into L.A. from the same In N Out had a bigger hunk of iceberg lettuce, but this was still delicious!

Next time we hit L.A. we will go for way more tacos, hit Joan's on Third, go back to M Cafe (macrobiotic super fresh delights) and go to Pure Luck & Scoops (vegan cafe and ice cream parlour!)

See ya soon, FoodLand!
xo

Doggy Birthday Parties

I just made these crazy bulldog cupcakes and sheep dog cake. It got me curious about dog birthday parties... !