pumpkin spice cupcakes w/honey frosting

last night I made pumpkin spice cupcakes for the first time. ryna helped me... her first time baking! and of course... just like a kid should... she licked the spatula and bowl clean. anyway... cupcakes came out GREAT. i think i'll be making these for thanksgiving this year in cake pop form. oh and... a pumpkin spice cupcake makes a great breakfast pastry and goes great with pumpkin spice latte! =)

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cheaters

since my nutrition & fitness program ended last tuesday, i haven't worked out. between long hours at the office working on this major product release, packing, and preparing for a baby shower... i haven't carved out any time for me & my body. i really need to re-prioritize.

this past saturday ended up being a super duper cheat day b'coz i spent the day helping host a baby shower and well there was really nothing i could eat that fit my nutritional guidelines. i had a choice of street tacos, sushi (which was long gone before i realized there was any), and an endless supply of desserts. after trying really hard to avoid everything outside of the guidelines, i broke down. mike and i figured the day was already shot... so we decided to top the night off with carbolicious foods that we would really enjoy... pasta! following the baby shower, we drove down to mdr for dinner at c&o trattoria. i love this place. i love the food. i love the location. i love the ambiance. i love the service. i love the decor. i love the group karaoke sesh of 'that's amore!'. it's amore. what a night! we had garlic knots, caprese (4 servings) and shared an individual serving  size of fettuccini alfredo... we. were. stuffed. we ended up taking half the pasta home for our roomie to finish off.

went back to the guidelines the last 2 days, but today... i had vermicelli dry from saigon dish. and you know what... it wasn't even good!! geez, shoulda stuck to greek yogurt as i have the past 2 days. i cheated and now i feel cheated! sigh... lesson learned... don't over do it... indulge but don't over-indulge... drink a glass, not the whole bottle... i hope i've learned my lesson b'coz i have long way to go back to a size 5.

i think i'll avoid my scale this week... just can't face it after all the cheating i've done.

 

I'm at MANPUKU, BITCH!

look out weekend 'coz here i come... the weekend came... i attempted to conquer... and utterly failed. but i had fun doing it.  part 1...

we kicked off the weekend friday night with dinner in the oc with eric & jane... two people we don't get to see enough... so this was a real treat! =)  we initially attempted to introduce eric to anjin, but the wait was 2 hours. that wouldn't give us enough time to enjoy the food and make it to his hotel to freshen up and to the club. we ditched our place in line and headed over to california shabu shabu... the wait was just as long. ugh. we were running out of time and our stomachs were running low on energy... we turned to yelp!

yelp! showed us the way to manpuku, japanese BBQ.

with 4 stars based on over 100+ reviews, we had to give it a shot... and not to mention, they were seating immediately!

to avoid any further delay, we opted for the party course for 4 for $100.  it included everything you see here.  food came out all at once and were quite overwhelmed with where to start.  i really enjoyed the yukkejan soup... it's like a spicy beef stew.  the only downside to the evening was our grill was turned on 'you like it well-charred, right?' high and the first batch of meat cuts, rib eye steak, was cooked too well done and kinda chewy.  oh well, one out of a dozen other plates gone wrong isn't so bad.  the pork short rib was delicious with the lettuce wraps and the salted prime short rib just melts in your mouth.  by the time we finished the salad, soup, rice, pork short rib lettuce wraps, and salted prime rib, we were about to throw in the towel until we looked up and remember we still had a whole plate of assorted meats and another plate of scallops & shrimp!!  time to move a notch on the belt and prep for another round.

we. were. stuft.  aside from good food, it was definite good company.  mike and i rarely go out to dinners with friends since most of his close friends either live up north or are unable to meet up due to scheduling conflicts and most of my friends live an hour away and now have kids to look after.  it was especially a real treat to be able to catch up with both jane and eric considering how rare it is we're free at the same time. thanks eric & jane for meeting up!  definitely will not be the last time we eat at (in eric's words) MANPUKU, BITCH! =)

 

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oc fair 2011

you know, the only reason i go to the oc fair every year is for the food.  i'm amazed to learn someone has thought of something else to deep fry.  this year... kool-aid.  i had to try it.  sure, it's total calories surpasses my daily caloric intake.  sure, it's probably loaded with enough sugar that it should come with an insulin shot.  sure.... but it's worth it.  it's worth experiencing it just once.  you only live once.

 

deep fried kool-aid.  as you see in the photo looks like doughnut holes, pancake bites, hush puppies.  i assume the kool-aid is mixed into the batter, causing the change in color.  but that isn't enough.  there's kool-aid powder mix mixed into the powerded sugar that's sprinkled on these lil red balls of doughy goodness.  how do they taste, you ask?  like a doughnut hole with cherry flavored kool-aid.  it was surprisingly delicious.  more than i can say for the krispy kreme chicken sandwich they had last year.

although, deep fried kool-aid was not my favorite deep fried morsel at this year's fair.  the blue ribbon goes to the deep fried BROWNIE. it's a biased opinion, since i'm already a HUGE fan of brownies.  last year, the award went to the deep fried oreo, but that has now been retired b'coz i have found a new indulgence.  like the oreo, the brownie is soft and chewy on the inside.  drizzled with chocolate syrup and everything just melts in your mouth.  both require a tall glass of milk!  now... when is someone going to make deep fried mac & cheese!?!?

the mister wanted garlic fries and so our mission began... until... it came to a quick halt.  australian potatoes?  whatever it is they're doing down under... i wanted in on it!  smothered and covered slices of deep fried potatoes... it just sounds dirty... and dirty it was.

 

aside from the food we managed to squeeze in some time to check out the ice museum. it's making its first appearance at the oc fair this year.  the wait in line wasn't nearly as bad as it appeared; only 15 minutes.  with about a dozen ice sculptures, the time spent inside the giant ice box was under 10 minutes.  great way to cool off from the summer sun.

here are some additional photos from the fair...

 

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would you like some fruit with your cake

celebrated kenzie's 1st birthday yesterday at the hacienda country club. this was her birthday cake!! tons of fruit and very tasty.  there was soooo much cake left... nearly half, or was there more?? anyways, t'was delicious and tasty.

 

the rapture is upon us

this lil dude disappeared!  oh noes! it's the rapture! ..... of my tummy. =)

 

tweeny twelve

ryna wanted to have a slumber party for her birthday this year and so we did.  at first i wasn't planning on doing anything since i only allowed 3 friends to spend the night... but the planner in me creeped out.  it went from ordering pizza and baking cupcakes to putting together a full spread.  and i couldn't host a party without goody bags!  managed to pull everything together in less than a week which is a record for me, but this is also the smallest party i've planned/hosted.  i'm so happy with how the decor and everything turned out.  the girls had a blast and so did i.

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