A - Amaretto Cake

So, my 2 week adventure with working with recipes that involve the letter A ended yesterday. I actually made this Amaretto Cake on Saturday for a Chinese new year dinner I had with family. I decided not to post it yesterday because there was just too much talk about poop.

I figured with all the Amaretto liquor I have, and the fact that I've never made a Bundt shaped cake, this was the way to go for my family dinner. Plus, its better than making an apple pie, because although I like pie and I do eat apple pie, I just don't like fruit. I wouldn't know how to pick good fruit anyway or how to handle it.

Anyway, back to this Amaretto cake. Who doesn't like liquor in their food?? I especially like recipes like this, because it takes shortcuts like using cake mix, which really saves me from sifting flour, sugar, baking powder, and all that hassle.

The Ingredients
For the cake:
* 1 package store bought yellow cake mix
* 4 eggs
* 1 (5.1 ounce) instant vanilla pudding mix
* 2 Tbsp amaretto liqueur
* 1/2 cup water
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 1/2 tsp almond extract

For the glaze:
* 1/2 cup amaretto liqueur
* 1 cup sifted confectioners' sugar

When I began this recipe, I took out my liquid measuring cup and I was so disgusted! I saw all these white streaks and caked on liquid inside. I tried to scrub the grossness out, but it wouldn't come off! I have no idea what it is, but I decided not to use the cup and just used the measuring cups meant for dry ingredients. Now I need to buy a new measuring cup!



Anyway, after grossing you all out with my measuring cup (seems like I've been doing that a lot lately sorry!) I started off by taking the bundt pan my sister gave me for my birthday last year. I've never used it before, but it has all these grooves that make it look like it would produce an interesting shape. I sprayed the inside with some oil and sprinkled flour around so the cake wouldn't stick to the pan later.



Next, I poured in the box cake mix into a bowl. I used Betty Crocker, but any brand works. I think even a white cake or chocolate cake mix will work. Love cheating with these cake mixes! :D



Next went the eggs, the pudding mix, water, oil, 2 Tbsp of Amaretto liquor and the almond extract. The recipe originally called for 1/4 tsp but I added an extra 1/4 tsp to make it more almond-y.



Mix all the ingredients together. I scraped down the sides once in the middle of mixing.



Once everything is mixed well, the batter is smooth and even in color.



I poured the batter into the bundt pan, and as you can see, not very well. Kinda messy on the sides, but its ok. When the cake rises, it should pick up the batter on the edges.



After baking at 350 degrees F for 45 min, I tested with a toothpick to verify done-ness. Plus it looked golden brown and smelled soooo yummy!



I let the cake cook for about 5 min, and I took the same toothpick and poked a ton of holes at the top of the cake. Can you see them? I tried to get a closer up look, and I let the cake cool for another hour.



While the cake was cooling, I mixed the glaze together. I started off with powdered sugar. To be honest, the hole for my jar of powdered sugar can't fit a 1 cup measuring cup, so I kind of eyeballed it.



Then I poured the 1/2 cup of Amaretto liquor. Notice I'm using the cup for dry ingredients. So ghetto.



I used a fork and just whipped and mixed the sugar with the amaretto. The color came out kind of like cafe con leche and should be a slightly watery consistency.



When the cake was cooled, I poured the glaze over the cake and aimed for the holes I made. The glaze seeps into the cake and makes it moist with Amaretto goodness.



I let the cake sit for about another hour, before putting a plate over the bundt (why does this word make me smile everytime?) pan and flipping it over. Hooray!! Success! The cake came out of the pan easily and you can see the parts of the cake that are a little darker due to the glaze seeping through.



I sprinkle the cake with some sifted powdered sugar and topped with some sliced almonds. I was really happy with how it all came out.



My family ate my cake at the dinner and they all really liked it. My aunt said it could use more liquor! (definitely from my family) haha so maybe next time I'll increase the glaze and use a little less powdered sugar.

I'm pretty glad that I was able to fit in at least 4 recipes these past 2 weeks. I actually tried an Aioli recipe for some pommes frites that I made for the Superbowl, but I never got around to posting about it. Maybe I'll post it for P haha. I'm looking forward to these next 2 weeks. I actually will be in London and Barcelona for a week, but hopefully I can fit in some B recipes :)

Poo Poo Paper

Today, I took my dog Maximus to Santana Row to walk around and meet up with some friends. My friends and I stopped by the Japanese stationary store, MaiDo, which I must say, has some pretty cool things! They have a lot of cute Japanese character import items in the form of pens, pencils, and...

paper. poo poo paper in particular caught my eye (maybe because there was like this giant POO SOLD HERE tag in the display haha)



Poo poo whaaaat?!?! yes. poo poo paper. Maybe this is an old fad, but I've never heard of it before.

The particular poo poo paper I saw at MaiDo is paper made from 100% recycled elephant poo. We opened the sample notebook and you can see the different grains and stringy fibers that were once consumed by an elephant and exited through its rear end. I have to admit. I touched it. Gross. ...and might have smelled it...



Of course, after I came home, the first thing I did was google this unusual thing! Apparently paper isn't limited to elephant poo and is also commonly made from cow poo, horse poo, sheep poo, and panda poo!

I looked up the process, and the diet that these animals eat produce grainy fibrous materials that are great for making paper! They collect the poo, then rinse it until they are left with only the fibers from the grains and bamboo, then they BOIL the fibers in boiling water. ONLY boiling water!! No chemicals like bleach... just boiling water! I guess its a very green process.



I read some reviews, and apparently it makes paper, but its not good to write on. I imagine its like how recycled paper isn't as nice to write on as normal paper. Its expensive too! I checked a site and they sell a small notebook of 71 pages for $8.00! Seems kind of steep, when you can get like a full sized notebook of 100 pages for like less than $1! Would you pay the premium for paper made of poo? The poo paper makers must be rolling in money! Doesn't seem like poo is hard to come by, or very expensive...

Speaking of poo, Max pooped in the middle of a crosswalk in Santana Row. I went to go pick up the poo, but a car drove by and smooshed like one of the logs! I could only pick up 2-3 bits... so embarrassing! I feel bad for leaving the smooshed smear in the middle of the crosswalk. I left the area soon after. haha >.<

Happy Valentine's Day <3 and Happy Chinese New Year! :)



OMG I just realized, I wrote the last entry about Valentine's Day last week, when I had that conversation with Danny and I set it to post exactly on Valentine's Day. How interesting that the highlights of my day today ended up also revolving around poo....

Happy Valentine's Day

True story.

12:57 PM Daniel: i just went poo and it wasn't pretty

1:04 PM me: ....
uhhh
when is your poo pretty....

1:05 PM Daniel: almost all the time

me: LOL

Daniel: have u seen my poo?
wanna see next time?

1:06 PM me: u're the best boyfriend ever

Daniel: yeah

Plane ticket fees

You know what really grinds my gears?

Its been a while since I've gotten my gears grinded in the bad sense. Freaking terrorists really grind my gears. Have you noticed that airfares themselves aren't that expensive, but its the taxes and fees that really get you?

I'm trying to plan my trip to Spain and I was looking at a roundtrip ticket to Barcelona on Lufthansa and the fare itself is $665, which isn't bad right? Well the taxes and fees take the total price to a whopping $1068.52!! Over $400 just in fees!

What kind of fees could possibly add to almost the fare price itself? Well, lets see the breakdown shall we?

Adults
Immigration User Fee USD 7.00
Fuel and Security Surcharge USD 280.00
Passenger Facility Charge USD 4.50
Security Tax USD 2.49
Airport Security Charge USD 17.90
Transportation Tax USD 16.10
Airport Service Charge USD 7.17
APHIS User Fee USD 5.00
Customs User Fee USD 5.50
Passenger Service Charge - Intl USD 39.26
Passenger Civil Aviation Security Service Fee USD 2.50
Transportation Tax USD 16.10
Total USD 403.52

Fuel and Security surcharge... aren't we paying for the fuel in the price of the ticket?! Security surcharge... damn terrorists!! making us use those expensive full body scans at the airport...

Is it just me, or is Transportation Tax for the amt of $16.10 being charged twice? Did they think I wouldn't notice?! Dirty rotten scoundrels!

Plus, some of these are just made up!! Wtf is a Passenger Service Charge?

Passenger Civil Aviation Security Service Fee. Just making a long name of ambiguity doesn't mean its right to charge us for it!

So security fees themselves are
Fuel and Security Surcharge USD 280.00
Security Tax USD 2.49
Airport Security Charge USD 17.90
Passenger Civil Aviation Security Service Fee USD 2.50

Damn terrorists. They win.

Lyon, France

a huh huh huh (deep french chuckle)...

Its been almost 2 months since I was in France, and now that I'm been considering going to Spain in a couple weeks, I thought it would be a good idea to post some of my favorite pics (mostly food).

My trip began in Lyon (one of the gastronomical capitals of France possibly the world), and we stayed at this giant crayon looking hotel. The buildings in Lyon are older and full of history, so there aren't many high rise buildings, so the Radisson Blu hotel sticks out like a sore thumb.



The inside looks nice, kinda reminds me of the Luxor, since the rooms are all around the perimeter of the building. The location of this hotel was nice though. It was close to the main train station in Lyon and the city center (a giant mall and carrefour)



See what I mean? The giant crayon is so out of place haha also, this is a view of Lyon from up on the hill, too bad it was an overcast day. Obviously the architect had some sort of Napoleon syndrome...



There was this giant ferris wheel in the middle of a giant field... but no riders. It was pretty empty. I wonder if the ferris wheel is just up all year around. Makes for a cool picture though.



I wish I stopped here to eat...! Rapido Tacos in France?! plus there's a Century 21 next door? Hella random.



See the giant cathedral and Eiffel tower looking thing on the hill? The cathedral is called Notre Dame Basilica and the eiffel tower shaped thing is just a electricity tower. Notre Dame and Eiffel tower shaped... not too original there, Lyon.



Inside the Notre Dame Basilica. Fancy.



I liked this picture... not sure why its discolored, but it looks cool. Probably one of my favorites of my mom haha



Looks like a dinosaur museum huh? Amazing that it is actually a miniature diarama!? Crazy how detailed it is! This and many others were amazing to see at the Musée des Miniatures et Décors de Cinéma.



Yuck. but cool. also at the musee des miniatures et decors de cinema. You get the idea of what this museum had... pretty cool if you're into movies



Outside of the Musee Gagadne (puppet and history museum), they had this swinging chandelier... Scary! but... its on purpose. Its part of its design. not sure how I feel about that yet but I didn't stand directly under it.



Our lunch break while touring through Lyon. French fries in sandwich. Good. Except the red sauce was supposed to be a hot sauce... it was from a persian place, but it tasted more bitter spicy, so it wasn't very good. I wiped off the sauce and was happy.



So much to say about this sign... UKFC (knockoff?)... says "chicken fried", yet there's an italian man and they seem to be selling 2 pizzas for 11 euro... and it's "hallal"!



After our meal, we checked out the Musee des Beaux Arts in Lyon... they actually had quite a few nice paintings from famous artists that even i have heard of! The museum was HUGE and I would definitely recommend going if you are ever in Lyon.

Outside of the museum was this cool fountain in the middle of this square that had a Hotel De Ville. You know where else there is a Hotel de Ville? Paris. Again, so original there, Lyon.



Ah, food in Lyon. My salad and apertif... everyone has bread for like every meal in France.



My steak and frites.. It looks good, but I personally didn't enjoy the green sauce and the meat was a little charred. Overall pretty good though.



mmm croissants. miss them the most of France. This was a regular croissant and a croissant with chocolate at a chain store called Brioche Doree... and even at a chain store, it was awesome! there's something about croissants in france.... so much better than in the US! I seriously ate a croissant like everyday haha



I should also mention, baguettes! Baguettes are so good! This sandwich looks so simple with ham and cheese but it was AWESOME. Fresh bread, fresh cheese, fresh ham.

I just walked around the mall one day with this in my hand it was so convenient and delicious. Most everyone in the mall was walking around with a baguette in hand. So cliche, but its true.



Saw so much in the 2 days I was in Lyon! I would recommend getting the Lyon day pass like we did. I think it was like 17 Euros per person, and it covered all the metro rides, funicular ride up to Notre Dame Basilica, and admission to all the museums (so you definitely save a few bucks if you pack it in like we did).

In one day we went to :
* Notre Dame Basilicia and Foureviere area
* Musées Gadagne (Historical Museum and International Museum of Puppets)
* Musee des Beaux Arts and Hotel de Ville square
* Museum of Gallo-Roman Civilization (passable... not that much)
* Musée des Miniatures et Décors de Cinéma
* Cathédrale St-Jean
* Maison des Canuts (pass. not really much to see, but the neighborhood around has shops and is just cool to walk around in)

Hopefully I'll get around and post about Paris... I do wish that we went to a michelin star rated restaurant while we were in Lyon. I've read that there are quite a few in Lyon... and Lyon is definitely known for its food, but I will just have to do that when I'm richer to go back :)

A - Artichoke Dip

So, for the superbowl, I found this recipe for Artichoke dip from Alton Brown. Its actually Spinach and Artichoke dip, but I called it Artichoke dip, because I wanted to make it for the Superbowl haha.

I trust Alton because he's all science-y and stuff, so I figure he knows the right combinations for deliciousness. Wow I just made up hella words. Well, I guess I question Alton a little bit, because I read somewhere that he lost a lot of weight by going on a diet of Avocado and Sardine sandwiches. Doesn't sound appetizing to me, but maybe its awesome.

Anyway, I decided to make his warm artichoke dip for the Superbowl. I served it alongside Tostitos scoops and Saltines. Which, by the way, have you heard of the Saltine challenge? You have to eat 6 Saltine crackers in 60 seconds... apparently its one of those impossible things because the Saltines dry up your saliva and its hard to swallow without saliva.

Also, another bit of trivia that I read on wikipedia, is that Peyton Manning has such a competitive spirit that after failing the Saltine challenge, he did it again by stacking all 6 crackers and stuffing them in his mouth at once... and succeeded! I thought it would be a fun mini-game to play during the Superbowl but we all ate so much and were into the game as it is. Plus, we were drinking beer, so I'm sure we were all dehydrated and had less saliva as it is haha

The Ingredients
* 1 cup thawed, chopped frozen spinach
* 1 small jar of artichokes
* 6 ounces cream cheese
* 1/4 cup sour cream
* 1/4 cup mayonnaise
* 1/3 cup grated Parmesan
* 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Alton's recipe called for 1 cup of frozen spinach, but I kind of eyed it. I bought a package of frozen spinach and just poured it into boiling water... my guess is that I had more like 1/2 - 3/4 cup of spinach in the end, but I think it was ok. His recipe also called for 1 1/2 cup of frozen artichokes, but I only bought like a small jar of artichokes in a chili brine. I think it still worked out ok.

So I drained my spinach and added my artichokes. Kinda swiped it a little with a knife to break them down a little.



I microwaved the cream cheese in a bowl for about 45 seconds to soften it and make it really creamy.



To the cream cheese, I added the mayo. I got one of those squeeze top bottles, so I'm not sure how accurate it is, but hey, this isn't baking so its not a big deal if I'm off a little. I also got the low fat mayo... oh and I should also mention that I used the neufchatel cream cheese, which is like 1/3 less fat I think.

I looked it up on wiki and neufchatel != cream cheese! I thought it was the same just lower in fat! eh, close enough I guess. On wikipedia, it says american cream cheese was created when a man tried to make neufchatel. Neufchatel is less in fat and softer than regular cream cheese, so I guess it works well for our dip. Yay less in fat, still good. :)



Next I added the sour cream... couldn't shake it out of my cup, hence the spoon :)



Then, just add the artichokes and spinach to the bowl.



I mixed it all together and it kinda looks like I should have put more spinach. Honestly, I should have paid more attention when I was pouring the spinach into the boiling water... but I was playing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 2 at the same time, so I was rushing to not be AFK for too long. haha kinda embarrassing to admit, but its the truth.



Next the seasonings! I added 1/4 tsp of garlic powder



I was supposed to had 1/2 teaspoon of red chili flakes, but I kinda just sprinkled it liberally because I like red chili flakes :9 I probably should have added more now in hindsight, the chili flakes kind of get lost in the cream cheese.



Next, the 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese goes in. I've never used parmesan cheese in cooking until this week! I'm expanding my horizons! haha



Next goes the 1/4 tsp of salt. I think I should have added a little bit more.. maybe some garlic salt so you get both garlic and salt? It takes a lot of seasoning to be noticed with all the cream cheese and sour cream.



After everything gets mixed in well, I reheated the bowl for a minute to warm everything up, then time to munch!



I actually liked it. I think the cream cheese and sour cream overpower a little, so I would add a little bit more salt, parmesan cheese, and chili flakes. However, I think it was good with the chips and Saltines, because the chips and crackers are salty as is, so it was a nice smooth balance.

I would definitely make this again, and Alton suggests putting it in a slow cooker to keep it constantly warm. I did find it a pain to have to keep reheating in the microwave and stirring, so I would try the slow cooker next time or maybe my fondue pot! :)

The Superbowl

Everyone and their mom is probably blogging about the Superbowl... and I am no exception. haha I had a great time... I had some girlfriends over and they were rooting for the Saints, so in fairness (and my admiration of Peyton Manning), I rooted for the Colts. Even though the Colts lost, I'm not unhappy, because I feel like the Saints deserved their moment :)

However, I will say, I'm very disappointed in Peyton... those interceptions!! They had a chance!! booooooooo. the Manning brothers were very disappointing this year.

There were some highlights! The best commercial ever!!! 18779876401! I assume they are using this as part of the next episode of How I Met Your Mother.

"That, Lebron, is how you shoot a free throw.
Hey, Barney Stinson speaking.
A recording?
No this is really me!
Anyway, glad you called 'cause you sound really special.
Let's get to know each other.
What are your hobbies?
Oh my god, I like that too!
Wow, I'm really feeling a connection here.
You know, I never do this but what the heck.
Let's meet up at MacLaren's Bar at oh, say, 3:45 am on Monday, Oct. 12, 2016.
I can't wait to meet you. I love you"




Also, I found out today that I missed this little gem of a commercial! I don't know how I missed it, but its pretty awesome. Its so short, you would think that CBS would give its own Letterman some more time. With Letterman, Oprah, and Leno all together... the potential!! I wonder if Conan wasn't able to participate because of contract issues.



This Bud Light commercial is awesome! Almost as cool as the coors light knight I saw during Halloween 2 years ago... I want to live at this house haha



I ate too much yesterday. Way too much junk food and beer. haha

The snacks. Made the pommes frites and garlic aioli myself along with the artichoke dip (notice the 'A' theme, so will be posting those recipe adventures soon). Notice Max is sniffing around the pommes frites? That sneaky guy stole like 3 of them! I had to punish him by locking him in his crate in my room until halftime haha



The food. 1 large pizza (half was garlic chicken with tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, ham and spicy sausage, other half was pepperoni, spicy sausage, mushrooms, onions, jalapenos, and sun- dried tomatoes).. gotta love that $10 papa john's deal... my angel hair pasta from the day before, chicken wings, and of course beer. We were 5 and half people - 5 girls, 1 child, and 2 dogs. One and a half of the 5 had to leave early, so it was really 4 of us pigging out haha I'm very impressed with all that we accomplished!!



Not pictured: Bagel bites, quart of ice cream, haribo gummies, almond cookies, 10 lb heavier but happy girls.