Monday, April 30, 2007

Bits and Pieces

Hmm, a nice relaxing weekend. *yawn*

~Pedicures are fun. My toes are now painted Nice Color, Eh?

~
I found a girl smaller and thinner than me at the alterations place - remind me never to buy a brown shirt dress that makes me look like a four-year-old dressing in Mommy's clothes...and I'm going to Hell for telling her it was cute!

~Elizabethtown is a nice movie. Check it out. Cool soundtrack (*duh*), Orlando is a hottie and the plot is actually sweet and meaningful. Solid A.

~Disneyland is packed. Go early. The Finding Nemo Sub ride opens/re-opens on June 11th.

~Amazing Race is annoying. STILL.

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Mmm, cake! Doughboys Bakery


Ah, the holy grail.
Doughboys Red Velvet, loved by millions and Oprah...or actually, Gayle. But yeah.

See, Red Velvet I didn't get before. It's just cake and if I want cake, I want marble or chocolate.

But having tried it, now I get it - it's chocolate, just lighter and more subtle. It's different and it rocks.

Doughboys Red Velvet cupcake/mini cake is just that - a massive little cake. It's 4-inches round, 3-inches tall, topped with at least a 1/2-inch of cream cheese frosting. The frosting is topped with crumbles of red velvet...in case you forget the red-red-RED cake is red velvet. ;)

It's moist. It's moist to the nth degree, it's literally wet...which is a good thing, trust me. The fork even makes a slight splotching noise as it cuts into the cake.

*thud*

The cake is delicate, the cocoa coming across just enough to let you know that it's chocolate, but not overpoweringly so. Cutting into the cake and seeing the red, you expect something harsh, vibrant...and the light flavor is the opposite of that.

It's a mystery. A yummy, yummy mystery.

The cream cheese frosting rocks. It's creamy, it's rich. It is just tangy enough, has just enough of a kick to remind you it's cream cheese, but it's also sweet. You can taste the sugar and it actually has a bit of a...well, granular feel, when you bite into it. But it's not too sweet, just sweet enough. It's a nice contrast to the light cocoa-ness of the red velvet, balancing well.

Did I mention that it's moist? Oh, is it moist. It leaves a red ring in the bowl. It leaves red marks on the fork. But? Not in your mouth! Ha!
*drool*

Doughboys - A+!

Doughboys Bakery
8136 West Third Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
323) 651-4202
http://www.doughboys.net

Friday, April 27, 2007

Mmm, muffin! Doughboys Bakery


Because I HAD to go to Sur la Table for baking supplies (the pb tart project continues!), we stopped off at Doughboys for cake and other yummy baked goods.

First up, the spiced pumpkin muffin. We already know my love of the pumpkin in baked goods - pumpkin muffins, pumpkin scones, I want it all. Now. I don't care if it's April, I want it now.

I have to say, aesthetically, this muffin isn't much to look at. It's short and squat, kind of the opposite of Great Dane's massive mushroom muffin. This muffin is 3-inches round by 2-inches high, stubby. It's topped by a single, off-center, walnut.

It looks homemade. In fact, it looks like something I would make - very homely.

But looks can be deceiving.

This muffin rocks. It's moist, it's buttery. It's spicy...the love of the pumpkin baked goods for me is the spicy sweetness - not exactly over-whelmingly spicy, not sickeningly sweet, it's a blend of both. The muffin batter has tons of walnuts inside, whole and chunks throughout.

The muffin is so moist that it holds together when torn, not crumbling very much at all. It's sweet, it's spicy, it tastes like a nice pie...mmm, pumpkin! My fingers even get slightly orange when I'm tearing it apart.

The middle isn't close to dry...it's doughy, it's sooooo good.

Did I mention that it's moist?

I want another one now.
Doughboys Muffin - A+!

Doughboys Bakery
8136 West Third Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
323) 651-4202
http://www.doughboys.net

The Unemployed Weekend

So, I can at least have one weekend where I'm unemployed and not in New Jersey. Hee.
*sigh*

Not much planned, I'm afraid.

Saturday will pretty much be running around day: pedicures, hem my new jeans (I so hope the job is casual, fingers crossed!), Target, Bristol Farms, the market...
Wow, how boring. Ha! *ahem*
The Dad has to work early, so the Mom and I are planning a night of movies and snacks.

And cake. And peanut butter, come on, it's ME.

Sunday is wide open. Maybe I'll practice parking some more. *snerk* Oh, and Amazing Race, which is TOTALLY ANNOYING ME right now.
See, plans just changed. Ahem. Disneyland.

Ahem. Quiet, I tell you. Quiet. ;)
And duh, coffee. *snerk*

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Mmm, cake! Mastoris


Ah, Mastoris. See, I have been here before - S&E held their rehearsal dinner at Mastoris, then we went for breakfast the Sunday after the wedding. Only, comically, I don't remember eating there at all.

Let alone twice in a 48-hour period. I remember WAWA. Mastoris, not so much. The wedding blur, I guess.

Anyway, I saw the place on the Food Network and asked S if we could go. She pointed out I had been and said sure...It's massive. And they serve massive amounts of food. Too bad I was still full from the pb sammie...oops! I went with a light meal of fruit and cinnamon toast (which is a whole other story...)...
But this isn't about the dinner, this is about the cake.

Because Mastoris is a famed diner AND bakery. S warned me that the baked goods, in her experience of the "free kids cookie," weren't good, but when I found out they had chocolate peanut butter cake, I had to try it.
HAD to try it. *ahem*

So I stopped on my way out and got a slice to go. The girl in the bakery literally took a knife and carved out a 1/4 of an 8-inch round whole cake. I was swooning. Then she plopped it in a box and sealed it up, $3.95. *thud*

As you can see from the picture, it kinda suffered on the ride home, but trust me - it didn't have any negative impact on the taste!

The cake rocked. A three-layer chocolate cake with peanut butter buttercream filling...swirled with peanut butter and peanuts. Then? Peanut butter buttercream frosted, the sides coated with peanuts, the top featuring piped rosettes of peanut butter buttercream and drizzled with chocolate.

You'd think it would be heavy, too much, too much chocolate and peanut butter and sugar and everything. It wasn't. The chocolate cake was light and moist, delicate even. The peanut butter buttercream was similarly light, just slightly peanut buttery enough to tell you it was peanut butter. The peanuts and peanut butter in the filling were a nice change of texture and complimented the buttercream and cake perfectly.

It wasn't too chocolatey, it wasn't too peanut buttery, it was just the perfect blending of flavor and texture.

It was yum-o!
Mastoris - A+!

Mastoris
Routes 130 & 206
Bordentown, NJ 08505
609) 298-5650
http://www.mastoris.com

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

I suck at this.

So.

Yeah.

Guess what? Unemployed girl isn't unemployed any more.
I got fast-tracked in the Cal State temp pool...that was the interview I went on Monday, you know, my first real day of unemployment where I had to get all dressed up? That was with Extension Services.

Then I got calls on Friday and Monday about other jobs. They finally got me Tuesday morning when I was back from NJ for an HR thing (uh, NO!) and then another position for the Department of Social Work. I set-up an interview for today, then another person called today as I was walking in the house from Starbucks about a job with another department. I have an interview with them on Tuesday.

Today's interview? 3-month emergency temp thing that is probably leading to a permanent position. It was weird, literally, and I'm supposed to report back to the Dean at 8:30am on Wednesday to start...
Uh, yeah.

I'm confused and apparently employed.

I suck at this! Where is my break, my baking and red velvet and lounging around watching soap operas?!?!

Ahem. D'oh!

Mmm, cake! Perfectly Sweet (Whole Foods)


Awww, it's so....wait for it...perfectly cute! *snerk*
Here we have the Belgian Chocolate Mousse Cake, which is baked for Whole Foods (*ahem*) by a commercial bakery named Perfectly Sweet from Alhambra.

It's a 3-inch round cake on a hazelnut base, probably 2.5-inches of mousse to .5-inches of crust. It's solid, dense and looks dark and yummy.

I think I’m twitching, this is sooooo good and rich and good and rich and good and rich…well you get the idea. It’s a rich dark chocolate mousse, dense and yummy. The crust is flaky and nutty, light and textured. The mousse is so nice...it coats your mouth, it coats the fork – it just coats everything in chocolate-ness. I wanted to eat it slowly, it felt so sinful.

The cake is topped by drizzles of chocolate. It’s simple, it’s perfection.

And because it’s from Whole Foods, the ingredients I can pronounce – chocolate, butter, coffee, eggs, sugar, hazelnuts, unbleached flour, water.

Perfectly Sweet – A.
Seriously? I think I love this cake, it's like a chocolate explosion.

Perfectly Sweet Cake at Whole Foods Market
2655 Pacific Coast Highway
Torrance, CA 90505
310) 257-8700
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

The Peanut Butter Weekend!


I'm back from NJ - alive and well. I know, you are all happy to hear that. ;)

It was fun and relaxing - and full of peanut butter! Hee, I was a happy girl. I walked to Starbucks and got my fix every day, then just played. Yay!

Friday, we went to Asher's Chocolate Factory. Where I sampled peanut butter sorbet candy, which is kinda crunchy and fudge-like. Then we went to a real farm, with cows and a turkey. Where I had peanut butter cup ice cream.

Saturday, we did the Mall!!! How...suburban! Hee. We went to Woodbridge and I got to try P.B. Loco - a yum-o regular pb sammie with granny smith apples, toasted. And then on to Mastoris, where I got chocolate peanut butter cake. *thud*

Sunday it was warm and sunny, so the family stayed close to home. We played in the backyard and I read a WHOLE book. Ha! And S and I ate peanut butter panic ice cream, just to try it out. To make sure it wasn't poison.

Monday...fly home, after going to Target and Wegmans. I know...the peanut butter? A peanut butter cookie luna bar! Ha!

Oh. And you can't carry on jars of peanut butter on a plane, the TSA doesn't like that. Ahem. Don't ask.
But I still say it's not a gel or a liquid.

Hee.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Decompressing...Jersey-style.

Yawn. I know, I've been kind of quiet...well, eating baked goods and kind of quiet.

I guess I'm finally decompressing and remembering how to relax. The problem with being completely stressed and living for the weekends is that when you suddenly find yourself out that situation...you don't know which way is up anymore. At a loss, basically.

And having lots of free time in which to putter. *ahem* Walk to the shore, get coffee.

I'm figuring it out, a little bit every day. I'm trying to keep to my schedule, so up and exercising and all that fun stuff. But here is an update. :)

Interview: The interview went well, it's an emergency temp job for up to 6-months. Not ideal, but something, at least. They will be making a decision next week and let me know. I think I did well, but we'll see. I wore the power-suit and I was confident. Woo!

Car: The Oompa-Loompas have made my car! Hedwig exists! Yay! The time line is looking more like mid-to-late May. The little owl is waiting to go on to the ship, per the mini website!

New Jersey: I fly to Philly on Thursday...the Thursday that will never end! I leave at 6am (AHHH!) LA time and get to Philly at 6pm...I think we have to flap the wings of the plane by hand. Planner Girl has everything all worked out, for the most part, and I'll just be following her instructions - I think I need to be told what to do for awhile. All I know is that we get to try P.B. Loco, and that's a good thing, Martha.

Next Week: Ah, more relaxing. The big plans are to go to Doughboys and then bake cookies. Seriously. And go with the Mom to South Coast Plaza. I'm going to be applying for more jobs and checking out temp agencies. We might even hit Disneyland. Woo. ;)

Hugs to you all!

Mmm, muffin! The Great Dane Baking Company


So how do you top BIG-O CUPCAKES? How about a BIG-O MUFFIN?

*snerk*

This is one big muffin. Like 3-inches in diameter big.

As a result, it was dense, cakey - as opposed to light and...well, less cakey. However, it was not overly sweet - I know that lots of people think that a "sweeter muffin" means cake pretending to be a healthier muffin, but this wasn't a disguised cupcake.

The problem? The dough must be heavy – I have yet to get a chocolate chip muffin from Great Dane that has the chocolate chips evenly dispersed through out it. Weird, the chips are always smashed to one side, which leaves one part of the muffin all lonely. The muffin itself was yummy, but slightly dry. That seems to be my theme lately.

For the record, my favorite muffins happen to be…well, pumpkin, actually. Love the Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cheese, Doughboys Spicy Pumpkin, Bristol Farms Pumpkin – I think I love the moist spicy sweetness. Chocolate chip is OK, but it’s not pumpkin.

So this one wasn't bad, but not the best I've ever had.
The Great Dane Baking Company - B.
They make great cakes, though. *ahem*

The Great Dane Baking Company
11196 Los Alamitos Blvd.
Los Alamitos, CA 90720
562) 493-6899
http://www.greatdanebakery.com/index.html

Monday, April 16, 2007

Mmm, cupcake! Auntie Em's Kitchen


Ah, the BIG-O CUPCAKES!!! And for the record...no, I didn't eat them both the same day. *ahem*

Chocolate Cupcake – Large
It was huge, 2.5-inches by 2.5-inches. It was your basic grown-up chocolate cake, topped by swirl of rich dark chocolate frosting and a bit of rainbow nonpareils.

But? Dry cake. Yummy, but dry. It wasn’t sweet, instead a deeper chocolate cake - hence the grown-up comment. This wasn't a "classroom birthday party cupcake."

The frosting saved it, but the cupcake isn’t supposed to be just about the frosting. It was stiff, perhaps because we put it in the fridge, but it was dark yummy chocolate. Rich dark yummy chocolate. Very rich.
*Thud.*

Red Velvet Cupcake – Large
Same size as the Chocolate Cupcake, a huge-o 2.5-inches by 2.5-inches. I'm happy to report that it was topped by real cream cheese frosting…I approve! Red cake, cream cheese frosting topped with cute little RED nonpareils.

The cupcake was moister than the Chocolate, but still felt dry. The red velvet was red-red-red, slightly less red than Doughboys…and yes, Doughboys still wins. Doughboys is more cocoa-y, tangier and more flavorful. The cream cheese frosting is sharper and more…well, cream cheesier. The Auntie Em's version was nice, but kind of boring – Doughboys is more fun, more…red velvet-y.

Auntie Em's Kitchen Cupcakes - C! Dry. *sniffle*

Auntie Em's Kitchen
4616 Eagle Rock Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90041
323) 255-0800
http://www.auntieemskitchen.com/restaurant.html

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Ah, the *W* Weekend

I know you were all concerned.
No peanut butter sammie mention in the planning post for this weekend.

Snerk, yes, I had a peanut butter sammie! You can all rest easy.

Oh, there was cupcakes, reading, television viewing, sleeping, decompressing, walking, coffee...it was situation normal around here.

Just have to get through the interview tomorrow, more as practice than any real job prospect...then, onward to New Jersey.

Well, first I'm going to Great Dane, for research. Yeah, research.
Then onward to New Jersey. Where we're having lunch at the peanut butter sammie restaurant.
Please. You knew that coming.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Mmm, cake! Torrance Bakery


Well, technically, this is a review of my going-away cake, which makes me laugh.
Oh, does it make me laugh...
Not quite on my mini-cake quest, but, to be fair...a review...

My going-away cake was red velvet, a 1/4-sheet from Torrance Bakery. It was red velvet, with buttercream icing and chocolate pudding filling.

I requested red velvet and got it, so yay!

However, this wasn't the best I've had, that honor still goes to Doughboys.

The cake wasn't as moist and was a deeper, darker red - more towards the cocoa brownish red, as opposed to the shocking red-red-RED of Doughboys. I love me some buttercream frosting, but...not so much on the red velvet, r v should have CREAM CHEESE ICING.

Yes, I shouted that, just be clear.

And I'm not sure about the chocolate pudding filling, at all.

It was cake, it was sugary and it was great. But not perfection, unfortunately. I'd give it a B/B-.

Torrance Bakery
1341 El Prado Avenue
Torrance, CA 90501
310) 320-2722
http://www.torrancebakery.com/

Mmm, breakfast! Auntie Em's Kitchen

How does one celebrate being unemployed?
Well, if you're me, you drag three relatives to Eagle Rock at the crack of dawn.

Ha!

This morning we got up early, well, normal time, and went to Auntie Em's Kitchen to sample some cozy breakfast.
And it was yummy. Too bad Eagle Rock is so far away!

Auntie Em's reminded me of someplace we'd go to in Chicago, a casual and comfortable place to hang and talk.
Which we did. Oh, and eat.

The Mom: Opened-faced Breakfast Sammie of Eggs and Avocado
The AJ1: Eggs with Spinach and Feta, included Potatoes and Toast
The AJ2: Asparagus Strata with a Side of Fruit
Mercedes: Fruit and an Apricot Blueberry Scone (yes, I'm weird)

Thumbs up from all. Personally, the scone rocked...even though I ordered the Cherry Almond scone and I got the Apricot Blueberry, it was fabu. Buttery, cake-y....*drool* And any fruit bowl that includes an apple is wonderful.

Go to Auntie Em's. Now. And? BIG-O CUPCAKES...reviewed later! :)
Auntie Em's - A!

Auntie Em's Kitchen
4616 Eagle Rock Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90041
323) 255-0800
http://www.auntieemskitchen.com/restaurant.html

Friday, April 13, 2007

Brought to you by the Letter *W*

Today will be Wonderful.

Today will be Weird.

Today also starts the Weekend!

Ahem.

Saturday, 4/14
Celebration Breakfast at Auntie Em's Kitchen (BIG-O CUPCAKES!)
Trip to Bristol Farms for Chocolate Chips
*Ahem* Coffee
Apply for 6 Jobs (updated 4/14 - 5, turns out I already applied to one of them! Oops.)
Trip to the Market
Watch lots of TV

Sunday, 4/15
*Ahem* Coffee
Visit Famima!!
Amazing Race
BIG-O CUPCAKES!

What comes after that? Everyone thinks sleep in...uh, let's see a job interview...trip to NJ...Doughboys...the PB Tart test...I'm a busy girl! :)

There will be another update this weekend - a review of the "going away"-cake. Ahem.

This entry is also brought to you by the number *13*.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Sigh.

So how do you sum up my rapidly ending career at that place?

By having him lose my resignation letter.

He eventually found it.
But. He. Lost. My. Resignation. Letter.
WTF?

24-hours left this week...and counting.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Ah, honesty.

Hee. You know that moment you always face when something happens, that instant that you have the chance to change something and you have a second to either do it or not?

Yeah, that doesn't make sense, welcome to my head. *Ahem*

Yesterday morning I was getting coffee - Starbucks was empty (love that Spring break!) and I walked in to be the only customer actually buying coffee. They know me and wrote it up, then the new guy rang me up.

"$3.20, on your Starbucks card?"

Ah, but you see...my drink is $3.50. It's been $3.50 since they raised the price, trust me on this. It's $3.50. And as I handed over my card, I did it. "That's wrong, it's should be $3.50."

He was floored. He looked at me, the register, then back at me. I said it again, "it's wrong, it's supposed to be $3.50. A mocha is $3.50."

He blinked and cleared the transaction, ringing it up again. "You're right, I rang up a latte." He took my card and then said it.
"You're really honest."

Yeah. I am. Hee. There are worse things to be in this world, I guess.

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Weekend, Weekend, Weekend...I love weekends!

But the question is...will I still love the weekends when I'm not working at, you know, that place?

Oh, who are we kidding, I still love weekends!

Ah, the update:
It was relaxing and we were busy...and yet not...Ha!

Applied for all the jobs...cross your eyes, even!
Got coffee (a couple of times *ahem*)
Got pedicures
Got muffins...and cake...
Went to Olives...yum-o!
PB sammie...enough said...
The Easter Bunny came!
Read magazines, watched television
Amazing Race!!!

I love weekends! And?
Next weekend? HA!

Mmm, cake! The Great Dane Baking Company


Yum...

Our next entry in Mercedes's great "she's in love with tiny cakes...who has the best?"-search is from The Great Dane Baking Company.

They have a chocolate decadence cake, a 3-inch round chocolate cake. It's decorated with curls/waves of chocolate, stuck into chocolate ganache. The chocolate ganache isn't hard, like Rossmoor, it's creamy and gooey. The entire cake is dusted with cocoa powder. The sides are also covered in more curls/waves/pieces of chocolate stuck into the ganache.

The cake itself is a moist layer of chocolate cake, topped with a deep layer of light chocolate mousse, much more delicate than Rossmoor. It's not over-powering in it's chocolate-ness, it's just richly cocoa-y. The ratio of cake to mousse is probably 1-inch of cake to 2 inches of mousse. Rossmoor was more like 2/1 cake-mousse.

The chocolate decadence is much more intense, in a chocolate way – where the chocolate hexagon was straight-forward, the chocolate decandence was more elegant and deep. The flavors were similar, but the concept and presentation was markedly different – the clear winner is Great Dane in execution, the chocolate hexagon is great for a cake fix, but the chocolate decadence is an experience…layers of flavor, texture, playing off each other.

Great Dane - A!

The Great Dane Baking Company
(2 outlets in Orange County, went to the Los Alamitos one)
11196 Los Alamitos Blvd.
Los Alamitos, CA 90720
562) 493-6899

Happy Easter!


Woo, the day of the chocolate bunny!

And, duh. Peanut butter eggs. Ahem.
*snerk*

Hope you all have a sugar-filled day. Hugs!

Friday, April 6, 2007

Weekend Plans

Ah, Friday - Saturday-light, as I like to call it. My favorite day of the week, the weekend is looming.

This one should be really relaxing - the Mom and Auntie J1 are coming home tonight from volunteering in New Orleans. The guy with the big fluffy ears and cotton-tail will be bringing some chocolate eggs. Oh, and jobs. Naturally.

So, in no particular order, because I'm not even sure what order this will be happening...
Apply for 6 Jobs
The Great Dane Bakery (Easter Brunch Muffins and *ahem* cake)
Haircut for the Mom
Pedicures for the Girls
Olives (the Dad is working early Saturday night!)
Mmm, Peanut Butter Sammie
Catching up on 12 hours of Food Network stuff with the Mom
Starbucks
Eat lots of Peanut Butter Eggs
Amazing Race!
Bake Cookies? (found a recipe online for GOOEY cookies!)

I'll update later, when the plans (or lack of) fall into place.
Hopefully I can relax some, because I'm clenching my jaw - only six more days to go and next week I've got two lunches AND red velvet. Not a bad week, if you can arrange it. :)

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Mmm, cake! Rossmoor Pastries


Ah, the cure for whatever is bothering me.
I'm speaking, of course, of cake.

This is a chocolate hexagon, from Rossmoor Pastries in Signal Hill. Contact info to follow.

It's a tiny little chocolate cake, topped with a chocolate mousse. It's covered in a layer of chocolate ganache (*thud*), decorated with a bit of whipped cream and berry...this time, a raspberry. A few chocolate (white and milk) shavings and a chocolate curl finish it off.

My review: Not bad. The cake was moist, the mousse light and delicate. Loved the chocolate ganache (*thud*). I'd give it a solid B, it's a good cake. I just think I like Great Dane's cakes better now...which is why my birthday cake is coming from there.

But in a pinch, a cake pinch, it will do.

Rossmore Pastries
2325 Redondo Avenue
Signal Hill, CA 90806
(310) 498-CAKE
http://www.rossmoorpastries.com/

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Karma...and chocolate Easter bunnies!


I'm a firm believer in karma - that niggling little something that bugs you and makes you think twice about a person, activity or that Coach purse you didn't buy.


I was getting coffee last week (*shocking*, I know) and I saw a poster for a charity Easter basket drive for kids in Long Beach. And I figured, why not? It's run by the same guy that did the Turkey Trot and the Haute Dog Easter Parade. They are trying to collect 1200 baskets for local kids - filled with toys, school supplies, grooming products and a little bit of candy.


So after we didn't have to haggle for the car, we stopped at Target on the way home Saturday. I got a pretty purple chenille basket and filled it with a Disney Princess toothbrush/paste, comb, Uno game, SpongeBob jelly beans, Reese's egg...even a chocolate rubber ducky.


It was wrapped up and dropped off yesterday - and when Dad told me, it actually brought a smile to my face, after the day that sucked a lot.


I feel like I'm living in a New Radicals song, but you know what? Some little girl is going to love that pink toothbrush and that's what is important.


Karma. It's all about the karma.