jewels likes

mostly things that catch my eye, but sometimes in a bad way :/
Nov 24
Permalink

food items & pairings i will never understand

- chocolate with chiles, orange/orange peels, bacon, most savory flavors; just not good

- cold melon soup; why not just eat the melon if you want something refreshing?

- bacon obsession; i never thought bacon was that special

- rose, lavender, and other floral flavors that make food taste like soap

- yorkshire pudding; bland bland bland

- cooked carrots (unless in cake); hello, yucky mush

- coffee glazed short ribs; the coffee is overpowering

- smoked salmon; i just don’t like it haha

- cheese and rice; texture wise, this is awful

- pine nuts; the flavor just doesn’t seem edible

- hollandaise; so rich that it always makes me gag

- grape flavored things; always remind me of dimetapp

- poached apples or pears; always taste like applesauce to me

- cranberry and orange; tart + tart = why!?

- pumpkin or sweet potato ravioli; just not good

- sugarcane juice; reminds me of saliva

Comments
Sep 15
Permalink
Interesting!
“In China, Starbucks produces its own mooncakes during the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival.”
I love finding out about regional specialities in big corporations like Starbucks and McDonalds - even though everything is still super commericalized.

Interesting!

“In China, Starbucks produces its own mooncakes during the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival.”

I love finding out about regional specialities in big corporations like Starbucks and McDonalds - even though everything is still super commericalized.

Comments
Sep 09
Permalink

recipes conquered this week

(no pics because i was in a rush most of the time)

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

- Made these as a thank you gift for Vishal for letting us crash at his place for the CAL game.

- Ack, can’t find the recipe that I used. All I remember is that it included both white and brown sugar :/. Substituted chopped up Lindt White Chocolate Coconut bars for white chocolate chips.

- These were a huge hite with everyone but me; I discovered that I hate macadamia nuts in cookies.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

- Out of everything I have baked, this is probably my best recipe. The basic recipe is not mine, but I’ve made several tweaks that make this THE BEST CARROT CAKE EVER!

- I got about 30 cupcakes out of this

Ingredients:

4 eggs

3/4 cups canola oil

½ cup apple sauce

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

3 cups grated carrots (3-4 large carrots)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

3/4 cup raisins (soaked in Bailey’s for 4 hours or overnight)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan (or prepare muffin tins for cupcakes)

2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, apple sauce white sugar, brown sugar and 3 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes (16-18 minutes for cupcakes), or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

3-3/12 cups confectioners’ sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy

Comments
Permalink
Comments
Aug 29
Permalink

Mini Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes

Here’s another Martha Stewart cupcake recipe! These were amazing. The pictures above show how I used a whole Oreo cookie as the crust and how the cookie shows through after the cheesecakes are done. Pretty easy to make and delicious - definitely a keeper!

Also - I have a new respect for food photographers. I can’t take nice pictures for shit and it’s quite difficult to make the food look nice.

Recipe

  • 42 Oreos, 30 left whole and 12 coarsely chopped
  • 2 pounds cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 275°. Line standard muffin pans with liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each liner.

Beat cream cheese at medium speed using an electric mixer. Gradually sugar, beating until combined. Beat in vanilla.

Drizzle in eggs, a bit at a time. Beat in sour cream and salt. Stir in chopped cookies.

Divide batter among pans. Bake for about 22 minutes or until filling is set.

Cool completely on wire racks. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Remove from pans just before serving.

Makes 30 cheesecakes.

Comments
Aug 27
Permalink
Coconut Cupcakes Adapted from Martha Stewart’s recipe 
Last week, my mom requested that I bake for some dinner guests. Keeping in mind that these were older, very traditional Cambodians, I decided to stick to traditional Asian flavors. Mom specifically requested cupcakes since Cambodians don’t have ready access to simple ingredients like flour and vanilla extract. I chose Martha Stewart’s recipe for coconut cupcakes - but with a few tweaks. I felt that using a full cup of coconut milk would be too rich, so I halved that and substituted a half cup of 1% milk. You may also be wondering why they are green. The answer is that I flavored these with both vanilla and pandan extracts. Baked in rose molds, these were a huge hit :).

Coconut Cupcakes
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s recipe

Last week, my mom requested that I bake for some dinner guests. Keeping in mind that these were older, very traditional Cambodians, I decided to stick to traditional Asian flavors. Mom specifically requested cupcakes since Cambodians don’t have ready access to simple ingredients like flour and vanilla extract. I chose Martha Stewart’s recipe for coconut cupcakes - but with a few tweaks. I felt that using a full cup of coconut milk would be too rich, so I halved that and substituted a half cup of 1% milk. You may also be wondering why they are green. The answer is that I flavored these with both vanilla and pandan extracts. Baked in rose molds, these were a huge hit :).

Comments
Aug 24
Permalink
Was looking around at Halloween costumes for Pickle and came across this - SO FUNNY! The outfit is funny on its own, but add the poor dog’s expression and props and the picture is $$$. HAHA!

Was looking around at Halloween costumes for Pickle and came across this - SO FUNNY! The outfit is funny on its own, but add the poor dog’s expression and props and the picture is $$$. HAHA!

Comments
Permalink
Movies that are unintentionally funny - G.I. Joe
My sense of humor is fairly strange as I was giggling throughout most of this movie. Most of this was due to Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the super awkward Doctor with Darth Vadar-esque breathing mask. I couldn’t help myself everytime he was onscreen with his awkward voice, walk, mannerisms, etc. etc. Also hilarious were the similarly awkward silent ninja and the various x-rayed animals.
Other movies in this category: Twilight, 500 Days of Summer (yes, there were intentionally funny parts, but I seriously laughed at the whole thing)
Note: Not making fun, I actually really liked all of these movies - I just happened to find them funny, too!

Movies that are unintentionally funny - G.I. Joe

My sense of humor is fairly strange as I was giggling throughout most of this movie. Most of this was due to Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the super awkward Doctor with Darth Vadar-esque breathing mask. I couldn’t help myself everytime he was onscreen with his awkward voice, walk, mannerisms, etc. etc. Also hilarious were the similarly awkward silent ninja and the various x-rayed animals.

Other movies in this category: Twilight, 500 Days of Summer (yes, there were intentionally funny parts, but I seriously laughed at the whole thing)

Note: Not making fun, I actually really liked all of these movies - I just happened to find them funny, too!

Comments
Aug 21
Permalink

"...and a chocolate milk for the lady."

Being in San Jose sucks, really bad. I can’t stand being here/at home. Pretty much all of my friends have stuck around their respective schools instead of coming back home and I have nothing to do/no one to hang out with. That being said, tonight I had a really nice/unexpected time hanging out with one of my favorite people - Joey. I haven’t seen or really talked to him in months (the last time being pretty embarassing and involving too much alcohol/too little self-control) and he’s here just for the weekend for his sister’s wedding. All we did was drive around and talk for around an hour but it was as easy and as fun as it always was. I really missed him and was sad that we’d both done such a bad job keeping in touch. He’ll be busy in San Diego (for now) and at med school (later) so I won’t get to see him other than on these random occasions once every 6 months or so, but that’s sort of always been enough for us. I love this about our relationship and I really hope that time/distance/experience doesn’t get the better of us.

Comments
Aug 18
Permalink

how can this be?!?!

I’ve given Pickle flea meds for all the 9 months that I’ve had her, yet I discovered 3 fleas on her today. She is now quarantined and I can look forward to vacuuming and de-fleaing for the next 2 weeks or so. WHY! :(

Comments