Disneyland Vacation

Hot Fudge Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Chris sends me recipes he finds online pretty often.  We mention that they look delicious and normally they just get filed into my brain for a rainy day.  When he sent me these Peanut Butter Stuffed Hot Fudge Cupcakes I agreed that they sounded delicious.  But then... he started dropping hints about them every chance he could get! When I asked him yesterday what dessert I should make to take over to our friends house tonight he quickly responded "Peanut butter filled hot fudge cupcakes? I don't know..." Was the "I don't know" part really necessary?! There was not even an ounce of "I don't know" in how quickly and precisely he responded. I was committed: Peanut Butter Stuffed Hot Fudge Cupcakes it is.  Until I pulled up the recipe and did more that just gawk over the amazing photos.  Check it out here. Or from another website that seems to be the exact same recipe here. I'm not sure which came first.  A case of the chicken or the egg is what we have.  Regardless... did you see that ingredient list?! 25 Ingredients?! I love to bake, don't get me wrong.  But 25 ingredients?! When I told Chris I didn't want to do that he understood but sounded pretty heart broken.  When I got to the baking section of the store it hit me: make it simple, cheat, and end up with nearly the same product.  So here's the solution: a fancy boxed mix and pre-made hot fudge-keeping the frosting the exact same as the recipe.  That's the part that really counts anyways right? I found a fancy box mix that included a separate mix for a fudge chocolatey filling- bingo! Don't be a cake mix snob- there are some amazing box mixes out there that I honestly some times prefer over the dry dense nasty stuff you can get at some fancy bakeries.  Any who... I made up the main mix and put into my  cupcake tins then you put a spoon full of the fudge mix on top and it sinks in while it bakes.  The frosting I made according to the recipe and it was oh so delicious.  Mine was not pipe-able like the ones in the photo though! It was pretty thick so I just did my best to spread it around with a knife. I liked the texture though; it wasn't all whippy like a lot of buttercreams can be.  All was going well until I was moving the cupcakes into the fridge for the night and BAM!

7 Cupcakes hit the ground. I was so upset!!! Chris was on his way over and so I left them until he got here and made him throw them away.  I couldn't handle putting something I worked so hard on in the trashcan.  Ugh!  On the bright side, 12 survived.  I didn't snap the bottom tier of the cupcake carrier to the top.  Disaster.

Well I let the survivors sit in the fridge over night then this morning and I topped them with the gooey hot fudge.  They turned out great! Make sure you have milk on hand though, these things are rich!

Hurricane Harbor

Chris and I were invited to chaperone the St. John's Jr. High Youth Group to Hurricane Harbor.  We had so much fun! Here's the crazy group of kids we joined.

Universal and Blue Palms

 Chris and I headed down to Universal Studios again last week to catch a few of the rides and attractions we missed when we went with the Palla family earlier this summer.  Apparently they had the water features dialed up to 11 because we didn't get nearly as drenched the first trip! 

Later in the afternoon we headed to one of Chris' greatest finds: Blue Palms Brewhouse

We've been there once before and couldn't wait to go back! It's located on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and they have some really unique craft beer and food...yum! One of the greatest perks- they always have a specialty cheese menu.

 

We ended up choosing  the Sottocenere, Manchego, and Pittig Gouda.  Each of which were fantastic, pictures further down in this post.

I started out with the Avery White Rascal.

 And Chris had the Surf Brewing Black IPA

 

All the beer at Blue Palms is projected up on giant screens and as the night goes by and they run out of a beer they instantly take it off the menu.  The menu was pretty wimpy when we were there because the very next day was National? International? IPA Day.  Chris was so sad.  If you know Chris you know IPA is his very very very favorite.  So the fact that they were saving all the tap space for fancy IPA's that he couldn't partake in was a bummer.

 Here is the beautiful CHEESE PLATE! The top left corner is the gouda, bottom right is the manchego- which was pretty soft and flavor packed for that style, and the bottom left is the sottocenere.  It's also served with candied nuts, apples, thin crispy crackers, and a honey balsamic sauce.  I'm not quite sure if I like the honey balsamic sauce, it's a very interesting and complex flavor.  I want to like it, it's just a bit overwhelming for me.

 Blue Palms has a beautiful sausage menu as well- we chose the Pheasant Sausage with cognac, port wine spices, and juniper berries  and the Duck with Foie Gras and Wine Sausage with a hint of butterscotch.  Holy Cow they were good! They're all served with a spicy sauerkraut, caramelized onions, serrano peppers, chipotle aioli and a wasabi spiced mustard.  Mmmm....

The final portion of our meal was their Lobster Mac & Cheese- Lobster tail, cheddar, parmesan, and crimini mushrooms.  Pictured here the mushrooms are on the side because Chris likes to ruin things for me!  Kidding....mostly... I'm determined to convince him that mushrooms are one of the most delicious things on earth, he continues to disagree.

So, if you find yourself anywhere near Hollywood, head down to Blue Palms, you won't be sorry.  The beer alone is worth the trip; the food is just a bonus.

Brown Butter Cookies

Have you been to the Brown Butter Cookies Co. in Cayucos? If not, run don't walk.  They're the tastiest cookies ever. Check them out here. Well I've tried two recipes to try and recreate these cookies and I haven't been happy with either of them.  Once I figure it out I'll post some links to the proper recipe.  Until then, enjoy the photos--those turned out great!

Happy Belated Birthday Jill

Chris' mom, Jill, had a birthday a few weeks ago and requested my white cake with lemon curd filling and white chocolate, cream cheese, lemon frosting.  One of my favorites too! Things were a little hectic that week after making Morgan's first birthday cake that we decided to wait until Chris' sister and brother-in-law and their three kids were in town this past weekend.  Chris' brother-in-law, Don, was just ordained as a Pastor yesterday at St. John's.  It was AWESOME!
In regards to the cake---I've learned in the past few weeks that frosting HATES 100+ degree weather.  This frosting just wanted to puddle down at the base of the cake.  Refrigerating didn't help.  It was determined to give me trouble.  So the frosting at the top layer of the cake it a bit ugly.  I added some white chocolate shavings with a bit of yellow coloring to try and distract from the lack of pretty frosting. While it may have been visually appealing-- blowing out the candles over itty bitty pieces of shaved chocolate makes a really really big mess.  Ooops!!! Didn't think about that. These pics also feature my new lovely cake plate that my Aunt Deba got me!
So... Happy Birthday, Jill! Congrats, Pastor Don! Thanks, Deba!  Did I get everyone?

San Jose Adventure

This past Wednesday-Friday my mom, grandma and I went on a trip to visit one of my grandma's long time friends, Doug, who lives in San Jose and see him in a production of the musical Hairspray. You will be able to tell from the pictures that we spent all of our time eating! What a surprise right?!

Our first night we went to an outdoor mall called Santana Row, which is a beautiful beautiful beautiful area with amazing shops and fantastic looking restaurants. We had a few drinks before settling on a place for dinner. I stuck with wine, mom with beer, and Mimi and Doug went for the harder stuff. We decided that our drinks directly reflected our personalities very accurately!

We ended up eating dinner at Left Bank Brasserie- the steak house we really wanted to go to had a 2 hour wait. There were so many restaurants to chose from I assume they must all be pretty great to be in this shopping area. I decided that instead of ordering a meal I would just steal bits and pieces of every one's plates. That was the best choice I ever made because that meant I got to fill up on FONDUE!! The more I eat fondue the more I appreciate what a brilliant creation it is. Dipping stuff in melty cheese...where has this been my entire life?! How did I only have fondue for the first time about one year ago. Pitty.

For dessert at Left Bank we decided on some fancy french name that we really didn't know what it meant. Okay, in all honesty- the table next to us ordered it and it looked really good and we we're not being good decision makers so we just copy cated their order. Well I'm very glad we did. It was two very light and delicate almond cookies with a creme filling served with tart fresh berries. Amazing!

The second day of our trip Doug took us to Los Gatos to their local brewing company. My mom and I had spent the night before talking about beer a lot so he clearly took note :) For those of you who know me, you know I am working really really hard at acquiring a taste for beer. About a year ago I made the decision that I was going to learn to like beer. What I quickly learned was that I don't hate beer- I hate Chris' beer. Chris and my mom both really love hoppy beers- I, however, think they taste like nail polish remover!! I really enjoy stouts, wheat beers, porters, and I find others I like all the time. Just not IPA's! Those things are nasty!!! Anyways, when I have the opportunity to get a beer sampler I take it. I liked several of these!

Once again we all decided to share our food so we could try the most amount of things on the menu. This sandwich below came highly recommended by our server. I honestly don't remember the name of the sandwich on the menu but it was basically thin sliced tri tip, onion straws, chipotle mayo on a fluffy roll and fries. It wasn't all I was hoping for. Kind of bland honestly.

We also ordered the pesto pizza, which was very very good. It had a simple pesto sauce, tomatoes, roasted garlic, pine nuts, mozzarella, and prosciutto. Tasty!

We skipped dinner after that meal and decided to just have snacks. My mom and I went to Luigis in Bakersfield and bought some treats to share with the group. We found a great salami that was infused with Zinfandel wine, a Gouda that had caramely crystals, a soft cheese with truffles, garlic olives, and garlic crackers. Mmmmmmm

The trip was amazing! Doug's show was fantastic-such a talented group of people. The food was great! I even tried garlic ice cream on the trip home. My mom and Mimi thought it was disgusting; I thought it just tasted like vanilla. What a trip!

Thank you, Doug for allowing us to invade your home and showing us to a great time. Can't wait to come back!