Food Pornin'

I noticed that I haven't been talking about food lately (my no. 1 passion). I have somewhat abandoned my other blog about food, Gula & Garam, since like who has the time to commit to 2 blogs, let alone 1?

Anyways, since I graduated ProBaking 1 last March, I have been experimenting on baking and cooking. Lately I have been drawn more on learning how to perfect a cake and actually learning more on Korean food. I swear I am secretly Korean... Maybe in my past life!

I made some Spinach and Bean Sprout Korean Side Dish. Mother went ham on this. It was so good consuming this with a bowl of hot rice and spam. #droolz

These cupcakes were made for a baby shower with a Superman theme (hence the colored frostings). 

One day I was craving Beef Teriyaki. Then I went to the store, bought beef and duh, made Beef Teriyaki. Again, Mother went ham on this. 

This naked Carrot Cake was made for a baby shower at work for a fellow nurse. Her baby's name was Ella, but after the birth of the baby girl, we found out she named her Kennedy Ella. How freakin' adorable is that name?!?!

My Assist. Manager at work challenged me to make a layered Pineapple Upside Down cake. I have never had or made this cake before and now I know why this is a classic American cake. Hot damn this cake was glorious. So for this cake, the top was the Upside down cake and the layers were Vanilla cake with whipped buttercream & crushed pineapples in between. #winner

Another Korean dish. During that nurse's baby shower, my little Korean nurse made Japchae. I asked her what in the world is this noodle dish because it was divine. I made some at home and of course, Mother went ham on it. I ended up making 2 huge foils of this for my church's potluck.

One Sunday morning, Mother wanted Pancakes. She woke me up on a deep sleep (uh, thanks). Mother wants pancakes, Mother gets pancakes. I ended up feeding the whole house. These were so fluffy, even Chimmy was jealous. I really need to practice on flipping dem jacks though!

I made Baked Zucchini & Corn Pasta and it was a hit at home & at work. 

I really do miss taking cooking/baking classes. Unfortunately I can not continue to take ProBaking 2. My school decided to merge ProBaking 1 & 2 into just, ProBaking. I was really sad when I found out about it, but what do you do. Good thing there is Craftsy.com but I still do miss having the human interaction. I guess I will browse around for other classes, like a 1 day course (thru Sur La Table or other schools), and maybe browse on the interweb for future classes/school in Zurich. 

I hope I didn't make you hungry!

- Rima

Wanderlust: Link Up

One reason why I love traveling is food. Trying out food from each area that I visit. As a foodie, I don't mind spending splurging on food. Mmm food. Casey from True Colours Wanderlust series for this month is about Culinary. FOOD! 

 Beer in Munich Airport's Brewery

Paella in Barcelona

Patatas Bravas & Sangria in Barcelona

Artichoke Pizza, NYC

Some traditional food in Honduras

Crepes in Paris

Red Velvet Cupcake, Magnolia Bakery, NYC

 Halal Food, NYC

Gray's Papaya Hot Dog, NYC

Sarabeth and The Filling Station Beer, Chelsea Market, NYC

Peterson Donuts, Escondido, CA

Kat'z Deli, NYC

Frozen Hot Chocolate, Serendipity, NYC

Fish & Chips, London, UK

Pad Thai, Bangkok, Thailand

Thai Chicken Porridge, Thailand

Tea & Coffee Tasting, Ubud, Bali

Deep Fried Duck, Bebek Bengil, Ubud, Bali

Tuna Fried Rice with Eggs, Bugis Road, Singapore

Spaghetti, Milan, Italy

Pizza, Milan, Italy

Gelato, Milan, Italy

Roast Beef, Neuchatel, Switzerland

Oh Man, I am hungry looking at these :) I really love trying out different foods while on vacation. It's a great way to explore other cultures. 

xoxo,

Rima

Happy Birthday, PillowMan

And we're the same age now :) Yes, the Pillow is a little bit younger than me by months and he is my first boyfriend to be younger than me. He may be younger yet he is very mature. 

Gosh I love you.

"You put your arms around me and I'm home" - Christina Perri

We couldn't celebrate on the day of the birthday (I was off but he had to work) so we decided to spend some time in Los Angeles over the weekend. It's nice to spend some quality time together with your other half in another place, out of each other's comfort zone. Being local tourists is a fun way to explore your city, and also a cool way to explore your love between each other. 

We had dinner at Water Grill on Grand St on DTLA. The vibe is chill yet classy. Mainly seafood, the food choices are brilliant (if you love seafood), from oysters to lobsters to fancy fishes. Oh and the wine list is exquisite. Crazy. The service was good and our waitress is so cute with her squeaky voice. 

The Pillow's appetizer. I hurled.

Meanwhile, I chowed down a nice bowl of Clam Chowder. Seriously, this thing was business. So good.

I ordered Fish & Chips and it was yummy, while Rob ordered Halibut.

We also had brunch at Pete's Cafe & Bar on Main St in DTLA. I really love the art deco of this place. Tall ceilings with black & white pictures of Los Angeles hanging on the walls. There is an outdoor patio too if you care to enjoy the street views of DTLA.

I ordered Santa Barbara Smoked Salmon Benedict that was AMAZING. The combo of the smokiness of the salmon with the creamy hollandaise sauce plus the melted egg yolk was phenomenal. PillowMan liked it a lot. 

The Pillow ordered Coconut French Toast. I didn't get to taste some (I was crying inside because I have been bad by eating bread the night before; going GF here...), he said it was delicious. It look delicious to me. Damn.

Then we decided to walk around downtown. Enjoying the nice fall breeze. It's pretty awesome to see the "quiet Sunday" side of Los Angeles. Seeing old buildings always fascinates me, making me think on the history of each building. 

Angel Knoll's/Angel Flights, home of that famous bench from (500) Days of Summer. It looked pretty dead because of the no leaves due to Autumn.

Pershing Square.

I'm glad that we were able to celebrate The Pillow's birthday. We were this close on not celebrating at all because he was supposed to be in Switzerland again for work. At least we celebrated one of us's birthday together this year (we didn't celebrated mine because he was overseas this past April).

Well, my Boo, thanks for being you. For being in my life. For being an amazing person. Happy Birthday.

xoxo,
Rima