Thursday, May 31, 2007

Mmm, cookie! SuVan's Cafe and Bake Shop


Mmm, peanut butter.

This is a cute little bakery across the street from Starbucks near my Aunt and Uncle's house. I saw them. I read about them in TimeOut. I had to go.

So the Mom went to Starbucks and I went to SuVan's.

A peanut butter chocolate chip cookie. It was 3-inches round, very home-made-y. The peanut butter dough was studded with bittersweet chocolate chunks.

It was moist, it was buttery. It was good. Yum-o!

SuVan's - A!

SuVan's Cafe and Bake Shop
3351 North Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL 60657
773) 281-0120

Hedwig!


*ahem*

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

*clutching my head*

Is it possible to be hung-over without, you know, actually drinking?

My head is thumping, I think it's finally getting over the cold/sinus-thing and is now protesting everything that happened this weekend. *snerk*

It's a short week, and yet it will be so long. I have graduation tomorrow...well, the department has graduation tomorrow and that means I have to haul ass today to finish up projects that I never got last week (re: name-tags and programs, I'm having KP-issues!).

What I'm thinking about? Hedwig. Coffee. Friday. Breakfast with Chip and Dale on my Birthday. And? Watching The Muppet Movie with my parents on Saturday, in celebration.

I'm not sure if that's sad or not. Let's go with NOT, OK? ;)

Monday, May 28, 2007

Birthday Fun (part one!)...


Yum-o!

And? I got many Mini-themed presents. Snerk. Too funny.

The party was relaxing and fun. The food rocked and the red velvets? Dude. :)
Everyone climbed all over Hedwig and checked her out - they all approved. *ahem*

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Well, would you look at that?


Huh. Those look like keys to a Mini Cooper.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Mmm, cake! Rolf Patisserie (Whole Foods)


Seriously, what is not to love with a cake named Death by Chocolate?

Hee.

This was my back up cake, in case the Tiramisu was lacking. And it was. But that was for another review, this is about the chocolate goodness that was Death by Chocolate.

It was a wedge of sliced cake, in a cute little plastic container with a spork attached. Hee.

And wow, was it chocolate. Chocolate walnut brownie base, two layers of chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream filling, iced with chocolate buttercream and decorated with chocolate curls.

Ahem. I wish I had more now.

It kind of looked like it had been dropped a few times, but that didn't really hamper the chocolate-y coma that resulted. In fact, the layers had completely separated into individual segments, but the it tasted good - I think that speaks to the quality of the product, really.

The whole mess was moist, buttery and yummy. The buttercream was kind of grainy, but really, that was because it was ice cold and I was impatient and didn't wait. Snerk.

Rolf Patisserie - B+.

Rolf Patisserie
4343 Touhy Avenue
Lincolnwood, IL
847) 675-6565
http://www.rolfpatisserie.com

Whole Foods Lakeview
3300 North Ashland Avenue
Chicago, IL 60657
773) 244-4200
http://www.wholefoods.com

Friday, May 25, 2007

Mmm, entrement (mousse cake)! Vanille Patisserie


I so wanted to be impressed by this place and the mousse cake. And I was. Kind of. It was as small store front in Chicago and it felt both homey and very refined, all the cakes and macarons beautifully displayed.

I got a tiramisu entrement and a chocolate macaron. I ate the macaron first, but the picture sucked. Sorry.

French macarons are made with egg whites, creating a pastry that is crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside - think of a dome of meringue, with filling. Yum. This one was delicate and chocolate-y. It was about 1.5-inches in diameter and a nice treat.

The tiramisu was light and delicate, made of marscopone mousse, coffee mousse and a thin layer of cake. It was soooo pretty, 3-inches round and about 3-inches tall. It was decorated with lines of chocolate and a little chocolate sign for the pastry shop.

Adorable!

But kind of lacking in execution. It was airy, it was kind of just there. All I remember is that it tasted lightly of coffee. That's it.
Oh well.

Vanille Patisserie Macaron - B.
Vanille Patisserie Tiramisu Entrement - C.

Vanille Patisserie
2229 North Clybourn Avenue
Chicago, IL 60614
773) 868-4574
http://www.vanillepatisserie.com

Mmm, frozen custard! Scooter's Frozen Custard


When we were in Chicago after the big birthday trip last year, it was freezing. It was November and it was COLD! Well, cold to me. Anyway, one of my Aunt's teacher's was newly pregnant and craving a milkshake.

In Chicago.
In November.
Brrr!

The Aunt, in an effort to make the girl happy, suggested the Uncle try Scooter's. I was intrigued. Scooter's?

Scooter's, it turns out, is a local frozen custard shop in Lakeview. It's like all of four blocks from their house and was closed. *ahem*
But I was intrigued. They close for the winter and re-open in March. So when we went in May, I insisted we go to Scooter's.
And, comically, it was all of 51 Degrees when I ate the custard. *snerk*

By their definition, frozen custard is ice cream that has less air whipped in and has less ice crystals, making it look like soft serve but taste very creamy. That's way too scientific for me, I don't really care. All you need to know is that they have several standard flavors, they make a special flavor of custard and ice every day, they make concretes (custards with mix-ins) and shakes and are now open.

By the way, today's flavor: Key Lime. Concrete of the Month: Blueberry Pie

I got a small concrete: chocolate custard with peanut butter and peanut butter cups. And wow, was it creamy. Creamy goodness. The peanut butter butter, because the custard was cold and it was cold out, was frozen slightly. It was all chunky. And the peanut butter cups were huge chunks.

Yum-o. It tasted like a mix of my two favorite ice creams: Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Cup (peanut butter ice cream with peanut butter cup chunks) and Haagen Dazs Chocolate Peanut Butter (chocolate ice cream with swirls of peanut butter).
*thud*

Go to Scooter's.
Scooter's Frozen Custard - A.

Scooter's Frozen Custard
1658 West Belmont Avenue
Chicago, IL 60657
773) 244-6415
http://scootersfrozencustard.com

Birthday Weekend, Version 1.0

Yes, I'm a princess - my birthday is more like two weeks of planned fun. Woo!

*Ahem*

Now if I could just shake this cold/sinus thing, life would be perfection...*snerk* Sunday is the family celebration, which means they will all be here...cleaning is required!

Saturday: Dust, Bristol Farms, Market, Starbucks, Vacuum, Finish Favors, Hof's Hut
(I'll need pie after the dusting and favors, trust me.)

Sunday: Doughboys (first thing, ahhh!), Deliver cake to Auntie J1, Starbucks, PARTY!!! Oh, and red velvet, yum-o!

Monday: Crash, big time. Hang with the parents and just crash. We're going to enjoy the new backyard and BBQ. Sounds so nice right now.

Hugs to all!

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Mmm, cake! Dinkels Bakery


Awww, Dinkels. The Aunt and Uncle better not move from Lakeview, because I love Dinkels. It's sooo cute and old-fashioned.

Dinkels is famous for their butter cookies and other baked goods. Me? I love the huge-o cupcakes! Hee.

This is a Dinkels Chocolate Chocolate Dessert Cake - it's awfully cute. It came in a little round saucer container and I fell for it immediately when I saw it in the case.

It's a 3-inch round mini layer cake; it has layers of yellow cake with chocolate buttercream filling. It's iced in another layer of chocolate buttercream and then has a layer of chocolate ganache with a cute little design in white chocolate on top.

The cake was super yummy and moist. The chocolate buttercream was light - it's real buttercream, as opposed to the toxic faux-buttercream stuff. It was slightly chocolate and balanced well with the cake. But? The ganache, which I LOVE, was grainy. It tasted grainy, it looked grainy, it was grainy.

I did some research online - grainy ganache is due to over-mixing it, this caused the cream/chocolate mixture to actually get too cool too quickly. Who knew?

So, the cake kind came across as ehhh....Props for the cake and buttercream, major points lost for the ganache.
Dinkels - B- (for the ganache, basically).

Dinkels Bakery
3329 North Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL 60657
800) 822-8817
http://www.dinkels.com

Monday, May 21, 2007

Joining the Real World


Do you ever get the feeling that you are one step out of sync with everyone else?

No?
Ok. Just me then. ;)

Our weekend was really successful, even though I got sick. Sore throat. Ick. No sleep and a sore throat. It's going to be a fun week. But the party is this weekend (yay!) and Monday is a holiday. Woo! Day off!

Hugs to all!

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Mmm, cake! Creative Cakery


Another local product - this one available around Southern California and online nationally. They started in Long Beach and expanded...

Creative Cakery Bakery took over the spot of my favorite bakery EVER in the Market Place. Yes, I'm still bitter, it's been like 15 years and I STILL miss Revels. Mmm, cake. Marble cake, chocolate buttercream...*thud*

Where was I? Oh, yeah. Creative Cakery. They make bundt cakes, which are kind of nostalgic and cute. I understand that baking them is often a bitch, because they sometimes refuse to un-mold themselves, but I've never tried it.

This is a "Just For You"-sized Chocolatey Chip Bundt Cake. It's roughly 3-inches round and 2-inches high. It's a chocolate cake with chocolate chips covered with a cream cheese frosting.

Ehhh, this one was just OK. It was actually a dry chocolate devil's food cake, kind of disappointing. The chocolate chips were semi-sweet, which provided a nice bit of tang to off-set the chocolate cake, but the cake was just dry.

The cream cheese frosting was sweet. Way too sweet. I like a sharper contrast to the sweetness of the cake and this just added to the sweetness, too much so.

Well, they can't all be winners. Ahem. Sweet, bland and boring. Oh well.

Creative Cakery - C.

Creative Cakery - The Market Place
6467 East Pacific Coast Highway
Long Beach, CA 90803
800) 224-4261
http://www.creativecakery.com

Mmm, pie! Hof's Hut Restaurant and Bakery


Another local entry. I always imagine I like pie. I like the concept - something in a crust. I imagine that I love the filling, the buttery texture of the crust.

Then I have it and I get cranky - the crust makes me annoyed because it lacks flavor and the filling? Ehhh. Thanksgiving is always a battle for me. I mean, pumpkin pie and I should be thisclose, you know?

But I liked this pie, from Hof's Hut. Hof's is a local Long Beach institution that spread through Southern California, but it started here in Belmont Shore. That one has been replaced, but it's still a local hang-out. It's almost a "chain" (ack!), but not quite, from my perspective. Honestly, we haven't eaten there in years...I think I was in high school. I was always terrified of the place as a child, they had a magician. I hid from him and what could possibly be more fun that having dinner while keeping your eyes dead center on your tablecloth to avoid the wandering annoyance?

The individual size pie is 5-inches round by 3-inches high. It's chocolate cream, the filling in a buttery crust and topped with a round swirl of whipping cream and chocolate jimmies.

First impression - this isn't a canned version of whipping cream, this is the real stuff. Light and airy. Very nice.

The chocolate cream filling is delicate and light, not over-whelming. It's a real custard, as opposed to chocolate pudding. It's yum-o!

The crust is buttery and flaky, freshly baked. It has the perfect amount of crust-to-filling for the small pie, not too much for the little dessert.

Hof's Hut Chocolate Cream Pie - A+!

Hof's Hut - Long Beach Marina
6257 East 2nd Street
Long Beach, CA 90803
562) 598-4070
http://www.hofshut.com

Friday, May 18, 2007

Plans, Plans, Plans

Ah, I love weekends.

This weekend is all about catching up before the birthday party. Well, that and having red velvet cake. *ahem*

Saturday: Breakfast with the Aunties, because...well, because. Then running around to finish up details for the party. Job searching. And peanut butter. Hee.

Sunday: Pedicures, shopping for plants, parking practice (*grrr!*) then New York plotting. New York! Yay!

I'll probably update a few times, I have a backlog of reviews. Ha!

Chicago, continued...


Ah, where were we? Oh, yes.

Sunday, Mother's Day: We all woke-up rather slowly that morning. The Uncle made all the Moms a great breakfast, lucky for me, cousins/faux-Aunties could have it also - fruit, eggs, bagels and bacon. *thud* Ames got her Mom a new cell phone, mine got a Starbucks card. Ha!

We went to Armitage (neighborhood/street) to shop, where I got a great new blouse and a custom designed handbag. *drool* I don't have an addiction, I don't! Then we went to the Aunt's parents house for a Mother's Day/Birthday dinner. It was yummy (Pompeii!) and fun to catch up with them all. I love hanging out with her family, it's soooo....filled with brothers and sisters! ;)

Oh, and there was Dinkels. *thud*

Monday: Going home day. The Aunt and Uncle went to work, Ames went to Grandma's (with syrup on the back of her dress, how I ask you?). The Mom and I went to Dinkels to search for chocolate croissants (weekends only!), then had breakfast at Wishbone. Mmm, warm banana bread...

And? The waiter at Wishbone told me I was the healthiest ever - carrot juice (interesting), banana bread and a big bowl of fruit. *snerk*

Anyway, we went to Whole Foods to stock up on travel supplies, then dropped the stuff off before going to Starbucks. And Su Van's, a neighborhood bakery I hadn't been to, for a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie, because HELLO....?!?! That's when the fire erupted, after we got back to the house and we were waiting for the town car...

Sirens, fire trucks, traffic, helicopters...Lakeview is relatively quiet and suddenly? Smoke, confusion. Luckily it wasn't any neighborhood icons. Whew.

Onward to O'Hare, then a LONG flight home.

I want to go back. NOW!

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Chicago...what we did...


It was a fun weekend, for sure. After getting up way too early on Friday and watching two American Airlines employees fight in the Starbucks line (*seriously*), we hit the Windy City.

Friday: Airport Express stood us up and we took a taxi to the house. Ahem. We dropped our stuff and the Mom got to look around the newish house before we headed for coffee and...well...cake. Ah, Dinkels. Mmm, Dinkels. The Aunt came home and we headed to pick-up Ames. Dinner was a nice place in Bucktown, Jane's Restaurant. People kept telling us how cute Ames was. *snerk* Got custard at Scooters and fell asleep.

Saturday: Woke-up and headed to breakfast at Victory Banner. Where I resisted the peanut butter and jelly-stuffed French Toast. Hee. We headed to the Lincoln Park Zoo, where every animal was asleep. Hee. On the way back home (*nap time*), we stopped at Vanille Patisserie, which was very French. Got a treat for dessert, then on to Whole Foods to prep for our baby-sitting gig.

The Lakeview Whole Foods is so much bigger and well-stocked. I'm just saying. Dinner was, of course, a pb sammie. Ha! The tiramisu was OK, very light and airy and yummy...just not what I was expecting. We crashed shortly after the kid did and the parents? They made it home from the fundraiser at like1:30am. Ha!

To Be Continued...

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Sigh.

Is it Saturday yet?

How about now?

I don't want to go to work today. I don't want to work tomorrow. I pretty much don't want to go at all.

They can all pound sand.

Did I mention that I'm tired? Just a wee bit?
*ahem*

Oh, well. This weekend will be fun:
Doughboys breakfast and planning for New York. Yay! New York!

Monday, May 14, 2007

Um, FIRE!!!

For a minute there, I was really worried...
Massive amounts of black smoke and fire trucks and news helicopters...
Dinkels? Starbucks? Whole Foods? Wishbone?

Actually, an office building across the street from all those places, right near the M&M house though.
Dude. We need to get to the airport soon and Lincoln is shut-down. D'oh!

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Happy Mother's Day!

So, I'm not a Mom, but my Uncle made all the Moms brunch, so yummy! :)

Happy Mother's Day, everyone! We're off to do some window shopping (oh, shopping!) and then have a nice dinner with the Auntie's family.

Last night was kind of successful:
Dinner was yummy (peanut butter sammie!), but the Vanille stuff was just OK. Kind of ehhh. A review will follow.

Fun. Yay!
Bacon. Mmm, bacon...
*thud*

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Ouch.

You know that headache I get from not eating enough and clenching my jaw and traveling? Yeah.
*ooowww!*

Ahem. It's a beautiful sunny day in the Windy City. So far we've:
~Walked to Roscoe Village and had breakfast...at a vegetarian restaurant...promoting...spiratualism and transcendentalism...or something. But the pumpkin bread was warm and rocked. Ha!

~Went to Starbucks.

~Went to the Lincoln Park Zoo, where we saw the Lions (sleeping), the Bears (sleeping) and other animals. Hee. I bought Miss Ames a cow. Stuffed, of course.

~Went to the hoity-toity Vanille Patisserie place. It was...snotty, in a good way. Tiramisu for tonight, yum-o!

~Walked to Whole Foods. Got cake, just in case the Tiramisu blows. Ahem.

Hugs!

Friday, May 11, 2007

Chicago, the Windy City...Brrr!!!

Well, we made it. And so far we gotten coffee and I've gotten cake at Dinkels, so life is normal for the Mom and I...
Ha!

The flight was good, I read the whole way. It was a huge 767, but not totally packed. Nice.

I'm not quite sure what the plans are, but O'Hare is lovely, as always. It's sunny, but very windy and chilly. Well, chilly to me, at least.

And? Dinkels! Hee.
Updates to follow!

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Mmm, cinnamon roll! Sweet Jill's


You know, occasionally, I go insane. I haven't reviewed many local places (local is Belmont Shore local) and I had promised myself a cinnamon roll and coffee from Sweet Jill's the first Monday I was unemployed.

But that Monday I got dressed up and went on a job interview, so no walk to the Shore.

So I decided to end my unemployment with coffee and cinnamon roll. Because they smell so good when we walk by and...what's not to love? Gooey! Warm! Gooey.

Uh, never again. Ever. *thud*

The huge-o cinnamon roll from Sweet Jill's is literally 4-inches by 3-inches. It's huge. It's gooey. It was cinnamon-y. It was iced. It was...over the top.

It had layers of cinnamon sugar. It had layers of icing. It was buttery. It was gooey. Did I mention gooey?

Mmm, sugar. Gooey, gooey sugar. It was soooo sticky that I ate it with a fork. I got an end piece and it was crunchy and yummy.

Until about two-thirds of the way in, when I felt ill and shaky and wanted to die. I think I went into a sugar coma. Even now, remembering, I am craving a huge glass of water.

So it was good. But never again. *ahem*

Sweet Jill's Cinnamon Roll - A (at the beginning)/C- (at the end).

Sweet Jill's
5224 East 2nd Street
Long Beach, CA 90803
562) 438-4945

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Chicago!

Yay! I so can not wait - in less than 48-hours I will be on the plane to visit Miss Ames! Yay!

*ahem*
I'm excited, can you tell?

So far, our plans are pretty loose. I want to go to Vanille Patisserie and Scooters. Mom needs to be shown Dinkels (*ha!*) and the neighborhood. We're baby-sitting Saturday night - Whole Foods run! Ames wants to go the zoo. Yay!

It will be a fun Mother's Day, for sure! :)

Mmm, cookie! Marceline's Confectionery (Selma's Cookies)


Now this is a chocolate chip cookie. *thud*

Per Marceline's (and Selma's website), this is a Chocolate Chip Supreme. It's 3.5-inches wide, like the Snickerdoodle. I just love that word, snickerdoodle. *ahem*

There are three types of chocolate in this cookie: semi-sweet, Bavarian chunks and milk chocolate. It also has toffee chunks, a little surprise. I warmed it up (and had it with ice cream) and dude....! It was gooey and warm and gooey and warm and gooey and warm...it smelled fresh baked!

Like the other cookie, this one isn't overly sweet - despite all the chocolate and toffee. It's nicely balanced, slightly salty. Because I warmed it up, it was hard to really tell the consistency of the dough, but it was cake-y like the snickerdoodle. And warmed? It was perfect!

Mmm, chocolate chip cookie. *thud*

Marceline's Chocolate Chip Supreme - A+!

Marceline's Confectionery
Downtown Disney
1580 Disneyland Drive
Suite 104
714) 300-7922

Selma's Cookies
http://www.selmas.com

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Mmm, cookie! Marceline's Confectionery (Selma's Cookies)


Oh, how do I love these cookies?

Marceline's Confectionery is the candy shop in Downtown Disney. A little research revealed that they don't bake the cookies...in fact, the cookies are made by Selma's Cookies - they make cookies for two major (*ahem*) theme parks in the United States at two bakeries...one in Las Vegas and one in Orlando. *snerk*

Whatever, cookies.

The snickerdoodle is 3.5-inches wide, yum-o! It's a pale pretty yellow, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Snickerdoodles are defined as sugar cookies with a crackle-y top. Only I would say they aren't that boring, because that just sounds...boring.

The snickerdoodle is cake-y, dough-y. It's dense and rich. The exterior is perfectly crispy, the interior thick. The cookie is slightly sweet, but not like a sugar rush.

I love this cookie, it's plain and simple. It's not too complicated or over-done, it's a cookie.

Mmm, cookie.
Marceline's Snickerdoodle - A.

Marceline's Confectionery
Downtown Disney
1580 Disneyland Drive
Suite 104
Anaheim, CA 92802
714) 300-7922

Selma's Cookies
http://www.selmas.com

Monday, May 7, 2007

Hot!

Oh, I love Santa Ana winds! Hot! Warm! Hot! Warm!
Hee.

~Did much running around Saturday, got most of the birthday party sorted out. Yay!

~Night at the Museum was cute, in a the kids would love it way. Not quite what we wanted, but it was good.

~Mmm, peanut butter sammie!

~Doughboys was lovely, as always. Mmm, Red Velvet! Muffin! Cookie! Coma! *snerk*

~Amazing Race is finally over. I know, I love the show, just not so much this season. New season starts when???

And it's a short week, woo! Yup, I'm off to Chicago on Friday - the munchkin wants to take us to the zoo...and I found a new bakery...and Scooters! Woo!!!

Sunday, May 6, 2007

Mmm, muffin! Bristol Farms


Ah, pumpkin in May. Well, April, it's from last week, but yeah. Pumpkin in the off season!

Is it Fall yet? *thud*

Well, here is Bristol Farm's version of a pumpkin muffin. It's smaller than Doughboys, 2-inches wide by 2-inches tall. It's kind of plain and unadorned...there were some random crumbs on top, but I have no clue what they were supposed to be. Just crumbs, I guess.

It smells sweet and spicy, but as you can tell it's much paler than Doughboys muffin. It's kind of blah looking. The pumpkin flavor is slightly stronger, but it's also much sweeter. The muffin itself is much dryer and crumbled as I broke it apart.

You know how much I like dry stuff. Ugh.

Sweet seems to be the over-riding thought. It's not as yummy as Doughboys, in fact, I'm kind of unexcited by the muffin. It tastes more canned...not as fresh as Doughboys, which I mean...come on...I know it's April, they are all canned at this point. But the Bristol Farms muffin tastes canned. This muffin tastes exactly how you think a pumpkin muffin should taste, which is fine.

Boring, but fine. My fingers didn't' turn orange. *shrug*

Bristol Farms - B-.

Bristol Farms
2080 North Bellflower Blvd.
Long Beach, CA 90815
562) 430-4134
http://www.bristolfarms.com

Saturday, May 5, 2007

Tag, I'm it!

A - Available or Single? Single...and my dating pool just really expanded...cute boys!!!

B - Best Friend: Hmm...Planner Nazi!

C - Cake or Pie: Please. CAKE.

D - Drink of Choice: Starbucks Non-Fat, Decaf, No-Whip Mocha. The non-drink.

E - Essential Items: Cell phone and lip balm.

F - Favorite Color: Pink.

G - Gummi Bears or Worms? Gummy anything!

H - Hometown: Long Beach, CA

I - Indulgence: Coach. Coach. Did I mention Coach? And flip-flops.

J - January or February: February...now that I don't have to build baskets for Valentine's Day!

K - Kids: Fill them full of sugar and return them! Quickly.

L - Life is incomplete without: Cake.

M - Marriage Date: As if.

N - Number of Siblings: None...explains a lot, huh?

O - Oranges or Apples? Apples.

P - Phobias/Fears: Dying. How boring.

Q - Favorite Quote: "You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face... Do the thing you think you cannot do." -- Eleanor Roosevelt

R - Reasons to smile: Cake, travel and coffee.

S - Season: Late summer, when it's not too warm and So Cal is pretty...much...on fire because my favorite are the Santa Ana winds. D'oh! But I love me the warm winds!

T - Tag Three: Chris and Creedence, Planner Nazi!

U - Unknown Fact About Me: The only Californian that drives less than people in New York City.

V – Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals? Uh, both. I'm a freak - I'm mostly veggie (due to the diet), but occasionally...dude, BACON!

W - Worst Habits: I like to be in control. Of everything.

X – X-rays or Ultrasounds? Ultrasound. I don't know why, though.

Y - Your Favorite Foods: You think I'm going to say cake. PEANUT BUTTER anything. Well, maybe not peanut butter fish/seafood. But anything else.

Z - Zodiac: Gemini...

Mmm, cake! Doughboys Bakery


Another huge-o mini cake/cupcake. *thud*

This one is a Double Chocolate Brownie Cake. And is it ever. Ha!

Like the Red Velvet (*thud*), this one is 4-inches round by 3-inches tall. I love it. Massive and tiny, all at the same time. It's pretty simple, a brownie base topped by chocolate ganache with a single walnut on top. It's ratio is about 2-inches of brownie to 1-inch of ganache.

The brownie is fudge-y, which I like, rather than more cake like. It doesn't really crumb and break apart when you eat it, rather it breaks off in chunks - it's moist, as is everything I've had from Doughboys. The dough has massive walnuts throughout, a great counterpoint to the chocolate.

The chocolate ganache isn't as rich as Auntie Em's, but that's not a bad thing - it's just less dark chocolate, more semi-sweet. Mmm, semi-sweet. It's luscious and creamy, thick and chocolate-y. Yum-o.

It's like free-basing chocolate. And trust me, that is never a bad thing.

Doughboys Brownie Cake - A+!

Doughboys Bakery
8136 West Third Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
http://www.doughboys.net

Friday, May 4, 2007

Yawn. Yeah, what day is it?

It's Friday, right? Right? I am so confused, nothing like going from unemployed to employed mid-week to cause brain meltdowns.

D'oh.

Well, it's almost the weekend, which is cool. You know I love the weekends.

Saturday, 5/5: AKA, the day we run around like mad
Haircut!
2nd Street Beauty (product!)
Bristol Farms
Just Alterations
Creative Cakery (*ahem*)
Starbucks
Market
Watch Movies, Eat PB Sammies

Sunday, 5/6: Amazing Race Finale Day
Doughboys (*ahem*)
Alin Party
Amazing Race

Oh, I'm the life of the party!!! Oh, and I need to look for a jobs again. Just in case. ;)

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Day Two...and? The Weekend!!!

Well, I lived through Day One...which means today is Day Two, or the day it starts to make more sense. Hopefully today I can wander around campus more and get my bearings.

You know, find the Starbucks. Important stuff like that. Hee.

But I'm kind of glad to be back in a routine, even if the academic world is completely opposite of everything else. Because...I love hearing that my hours are "8am to 5pm, for you, I guess..."
*snerk*

As for this weekend...running around...getting coffee...watching movies...cake...
More on that tomorrow.

Hugs!

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

A Poll for Saturday

Ok, readers...all three of you, I believe...

I'm conducting a poll for the upcoming weekend. The Dad is once again working early, so we (the Mom and I) are left to entertain ourselves.
And feed ourselves, but that is a whole other issue. *ahem*

On the subject of movies, which should we watch:
~Armageddon (the Mom hasn't ever seen it - I think we need Animal Crackers)

~The Muppet Movie (a classic)

~Night at the Museum (neither of us has seen it)

~Pride & Prejudice (the new version, neither of us has seen it)

I wanted Newsies, but was told that to endure that she'd have to make me watch one of the Lord of the Dance DVDs and I couldn't do it. So no singing newsboy hotties.

Thoughts?

Mmm, cookie! Doughboys Bakery


Now this is a cookie. Check it out on the bread/salad plate! Dude!

The double peanut butter cookie (*thud*) is 5-inches wide. 5-inches!!! It's huge-o! It's a soft yellow color, covered in peanut chunks and smells divine.

It's buttery to touch, but not greasy. As with all the other fresh baked items from Doughboys, it's moist - breaking off pieces, the cookie doesn't crumble, it just gives. An added bonus? Some of the peanuts fall off, leaving left-overs for the post-cookie sadness. ;)

The cookie itself is sweet and nutty, just right...Baby Bear. It's not too much peanut butter, it's not overly sweet. The dough is cakey, doughy - just on the verge of being underdone, which is my favorite because it's not DRY. There are also peanuts in the dough, nicely mixed in.

Mmm, peanut butter goodness. The cookie rocks, it's soft and peanut buttery. Yay!

Doughboys Bakery - A+!

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