Cupcakes & Harry Potter

Hola Chicas , as promised:

Mocha Cupcakes with Cream Cheese buttercream!

Materials you'll need:

• muffin liners
• cupcake pan
• mixer (optional)
• 1 large bowl
• 1 large mixing bowl
• 1 cup/mug
  

Ingredients for Cupcakes: (makes approx. 14 depending on how much you fill the liners)

Dry mix:

• 1 1/3 cup of all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder ( I use Hershey's)
  
• 1 tsp. baking powder
  
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  
• 1/4 tsp salt
  
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)

Coffee Mix:

• 1 1/2 tsp instant coffee powder (depending on how much you like coffee you can add up to 3 tsp. or more. I ususally use 1 1/2 tsp when I make 6 cupcakes because I love love love coffee) I use Neastle Taster's Choice and I've also used Foldgers before
  
• 1/2 cup hot water (I added 3/4 cup since I used 3 tsp cause it looked a bit dark)
  
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup of whole milk (I used 2% and it was fine)

Wet mix:

• 1 stick of softened unsalted butter
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 large egg

1. Combine all the ingredients in the dry mix in a large bowl and sift together. If you don't have a shifter just use a whisk or a fork and mix everything together evenly. :)
2. Mix softened butter, sugar, and egg in a large mixing bowl until creamy.
3. Add 1/2 of dry mix into the wet mix until the lumps are gone.
4. Combine instant coffee, water, milk, and vanilla extract in a large cup.
5. Add remaining dry mix and coffee mixture into wet mix and combine until creamy and lumps are gone.

6. Line the cupcake pan with your liners and fill liners with your cupcake mixture until about 2/3 full (most recipies say 1/3 full but I love muffin tops!). I usually use a 1/3 measuring cup and pour it in. I find it a lot easier and cleaner. Just make sure you don't go over the liner :)
7. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees! To check if done, stick a toothpick into a random cupcake if it comes out clean then you're good. Allow them to sit then eat alone or top with cream cheese frosting!

Cream Cheese Buttercream

- 4 oz. of softened cream cheese (half of the little tub)
- 1/2 stick of unsalted butter
- 1 tsp. of vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup of powdered sugar

Mix butter and cream cheese together then combine remaining ingredients. I put the frosting in a container and top the cupcakes to serve :) I put it in the fridge and it's fine.

Its so lumpy!

Ahhh! This is what I'm talking about :)

The final product:

The amount of coffee I use has varied from batch to batch. The review on this batch so far is that the inital taste is chocolaty but the coffee comes at you as an after taste. So I'm thinking a bit more coffee next time. I'm used to making half the recipe so that might be it haha. But they always turn out pretty good.


I spent some quality time with Donnasaurus Rex & the M. Bros (haha like Mario brothers!) and it was so much fun. We hit up Charm City Cupcakes and I have to say... they make the best cupcakes in MARYLAND. No lie, I've never had a better cupcake in my life. It was moist... the frosting tasted like... HEAVEN! And that's saying something since I HATE frosting... I'm a buttercream slut/fattie. But their "frosting" wasn't even frosting... it's it own catagory of decoration! I wish I had my camera with me to take some awesome pics but it was a negatory. We ended up catching dinner at this Vietnamese resturant that looked pretty promising. Haha in our epic failure, when we went to go pay we didn't realize that they didn't take credit cards. Good thing we had cash on us and were able to pay the bill and leave a bit of a tip before we left.

We ate a bunch of food but both of us forgot to bring our cameras so unfortunately there are no pictures of our wonderful time together :( Hopefully the next time we go to Baltimore I'll have my camera ready and going!

My buddy TK and I planned a little chill trip after our final the other day. We've been planning this trip since the third week of our summer class just to have something to look forward to after a depressing final haha. He's been known to jam in his car and I vowed to bring my camera along. He was skeptical about me bringing my camera along (as he should have), but I won't upload any of his jam out videos because I still want to have a friend after I post this haha. But I will show this:

Hahaha! His face is priceless when he realizes what I'm doing.

We had planned to go to Koh's Buloogogi in this town center but when we got there... it wasn't there anymore. Turns out that they moved and I didn't know it so we ended up paying $2.50 for 15 minutes of parking. TK knew of this other Korean place that was about 10 minutes away so we drove over there. I can't remember what it's called or what we got (he ordered in Korean...) and was so hungry I didn't take pictures, but! I do remember that we ordered Galbi which is similar to Bulgogi but the short rib version. They were effin' DELISH! I just googled a few terms and apparently we had Doenjang Soondooboo, which is a kind of tofu soup with a broth made to your level of spicy-ness with different kinds of meat or seafood and it came with kimchi, pickled radishs, rice, and spicy cucumbers. All I know is that it was freakin DELISH.
I tried to get a shot of TK's dream car... a Dodge Charger cop car hahaha but was unsuccessful.
We actually got "lost" for a bit but the navigator in my head with the little map got us back to the right road. We were driving on this long country road for a while and he totally jammed to B.Spears but I didn't catch on video :( At last! We got to Caliyo!

Tony's first taste of my obsession! MMMMMmmmm :)
Tony's concoction: mango and honey dew frozen yogurt twist, pink grapefruit frozen yogurt, rainbow sprinkles, gummy bears, M&Ms, skittles... and there may be peaches in there haha
Mine: half mango froyo, half honey dew yogurt, gummy bears, peaches, boboa, mochi!

Hahah I was really happy about caliyo and that I was done with summer classes.

Tony was happy about something. Probably about the yummy yogurt... and our sweet jam session and overall fun time haha. I didn't even realize it until he mentioned it but he looks like Mashimoro!
So I LOVE Harry Potter.To say the least I was UBER UBER UBER EXCITED for HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE. It's been ages since I've read the books ( I want to re-read them soon though) but I've been waiting for the new movie to come out for a while... I'm still mad that they pushed it back till now but all that matters is that I got to see it. Of course I had to go to the midnight showing...

Dan waiting for my friends to arrive at the theatre so we'd all go in at the same time. He's wearing my glasses. =P
My favorite: Sour Patch Watermelons! I ate Rasinettes during the movie but I also bought these!

I'm not going to lie. I was mildly disappointed by the movie. I thought it was going to be so much darker (similar to the setting of the book) but I found myself laughing more then anything else. I can't lie, the chemistry in the movie is undeniable and the humor is genius! But I missed the big battle and the quality stuff that made the 6th book sit on the edge of your seat while you read. I don't want to ruin the movie for anyone but I'll defiantly be seeing this movie again. Lavender Brown was PERFECT... I know my best friend is still upset that the original Lavender from Prisoner of Azkaban got replaced by some crazy white girl but she played the character so well it's insane.

So this post can't be ended without SOMETHING about cosmetics. My Palmer's Swivel stick has been at it's end for a while now and I always wondered how much was left once it doesn't come up anymore... so I decided preform a little bit of surgery.
I used an Xacto knife and cute off the top (I turned it so whatever was left wouldn't get cut of course) and then I swiveled it back up and popped out the remaining cocoa butter.
There's hella lot left! I'm using this little nub until I run down to the very end cause I'm currently broke as a mo :)

Sorry for the total lack of posts. I've been trying to get organized since I finished class and I have a new job as a hostess on the weekends :) Not to mention I'm trying to live up my summer since it's my first one since my Senior year of high school.

Coming up in future posts:

Angel Food Cake!

Until next time, lovers

xoxoxCtang

p.s. Anyone have any recommendations on must haves from their make up collection? I've been trying to buy something new to add but I haven't seen anything that has caught my eye. Whether it be something from the drugstore or Sephora or what now :) Thanks ahead of time.

I Came, I Saw, I Devoured and Conquered. (Picture Heavy)

The day started out with sheets of pouring down in Maryland, but my daddy ventured through it and drove me and Christine to Baltimore and to drop us off at the station for Bolt Bus. The ride was fairly smooth since there were only 15 passengers on the whole bus and I passed out for most of it. We were 15 minutes outside of New York when the bus's radiator decides to just give. We waited about an 45 minutes for another bus to come pick us up and we arrived an hour later then planned. But all that matters is that we made it here and we found our hotel no problem.
First thing I must mention about Bolt Bus. THEY OFFER $1 FARES! You read right. $1. The catch? They only have a limited amount of them and you have to book early (i'd say a about 2 weeks) to jump on this awesome deal. They offer $1 fare to start selling seats on a bus but after those seats are gone, the price goes to $10, then when it starts really filling it goes to $13 and so on. If anyone is from the Baltimore/DC area I definitely suggest taking Bolt Bus to NYC (despite the little breakdown problem we had). It is quick (takes about 3 to 3.5 hours) because they don't stop at any rest stops, cheap! (our tickets were 43 dollars round trip for two people! that's 7 dollars less then Greyhound's round trip for 1 person!).
The bus has wifi (dan cam along for the ride too haha) to keep you entertained! ( even if it's a bit sluggish), and there's extra leg room so you don't feel cramped! The hours are pretty good too. Considering Bolt Bus is owned by Greyhound I have no idea why it's not more popular. On both rides there were only about 15-20 people, but then again we were commuting between NYC and Baltimore. There was a DC bus before ours and the bus was PACKED. But I just suspect that the DC bus would be a little louder with all those people. The AC on the bus works fine and like I said, the seats are so spacious and have plenty of leg room. Not to mention it drops off about 1 DC block away from the metro so it's way convenient. It drops off on 10th and H street NW so you're right next to a Metro Center (Blue, Red, and Orange Line!!) They also go to Philly&Boston!!

Day 1: Times Square, Flatiron, Koreatown, Hell's Kitchen

When in NYC there has got to be food and lots of it. The first place we hit up was:

Rickshaw Dumpling Bar
61 west 23rd between 5th Ave and 6th Ave

I just realized I'm really short. Christine && Me in front of Rickshaw! We both got the Peaking Duck dumplings and they were DELISH!


Christine's Peaking Dumplings because I'm currently at a lost to where my camera is. As you can see their dumplings are thin skin and you can have them steamed or pan fried. We both got them pan fried and their lightly fried on the bottom so they're still a bit chewy on the sides. Each dumpling comes with a different dipping sauce. With the Peaking duck you get a Hoi Sin dipping sauce which I LOVE!
At Rickshaw you can order 6 or 9 dumplings individually or get dumplings in a combo with soup or salad. The price is pretty good. I got 6 duck dumplings and a Thai coffee (AMAZING! Anyone that loves that perfect balance between coffee and cream sweet with a hint of bitterness will love. Even better then Cafe Su Da in my opinion) for a little under $10. Well worth it.

Then it was off to Koreatown for unknown goodies. Arty and Jeff (Christine's Beau and Beau's friend) wanted to give Pinkberry a go so the closest one I knew was in Koreatown. Plus, I wanted to see if I could stock up on any cosmectic goodies. Well, there were no cosmetic goodies BUT! I did happen to find false eyelashes! (EEP!) I found them in two different places, both recommended by M. Morning Glory (i think it's called) had Shisem eyelashes (YAYAYA!) for $5 not including tax. BUT! Then there was a store next to Pinkberry that had Shisem eyelashes for $4 with tax! The selection is smaller at the store next to Pinkberry but it's a dollar less! I don't really know the differences between the two sets that i bought since I can't read korean but I will be asking my Korean friends.
After Koreatown, we headed up to Hearld Square for some H&M and Forever21. I ended up just buying a cute little dress and blue t-shirt at F21. Then it was to Times Square where we checked out Toys 'R' Us! They had so many cute little themed sections!
The Empire State Building... in LEGOS!
A knight... in LEGOS!
A mechanical moving T-Rex in the Jurrasic Park side of Toys R Us and it roars and everything

Then it was off to Bubba Gump in Times Square for dinner before the boys headed back to MD. It's a themed restaurant from Forrest Gump and it's really cute. Everything in the restaurant is Forrest Gump related right down to the food.

Bubba Gump Restaurant

They have signs that say, "Run Forrest Run" or "Stop Forrest Stop" to let any of the waiters know if you want anything.
The table.
Christine and I got the same thing; Shrimper's Heaven. Chilled Shrimp, Coconut Shrimp, Tempura Shrimp, and their yummy fries. It's kinda gross that I actually ate it all.

So after the boys left to go back to Maryland, Christine and I lingered in our hotel room for a bit. Then I remembered Kyotofu! A place I found thanks to New York Magazine! It didn't close until 1:30 am and served dessert so we decided to go!

Kyotofu
9th Ave (between 48th and 49th I believe)
There is only one word for this place: AMAZING! I got a chocolate molten mochi cake and it was the lightest, yet amazing thing EVER! It had little blue berry chips and the mochi on the inside was just delite! It also had a little green tea matcha cream and it was perfect to even out the sweetness. I have to admit, the soy chocolate milk was a bit much but it did calm down the chocolate taste from the cake.

Christine got this amazing soy sundae that looked AWESOME and tasted like amazingness. Everything was so pretty!

I'll defiantly be going back to this place and trying their sweet tofu which is what they're known for. They also serve dinner if you're interested in a full meal. There's a bar in the front where you can sit and enjoy your food and people watch or there's a dining room in the back that looked really cute. It's small so don't miss it!


We also got a few things to go. The guy actually only gave us one of each instead of two of each, but we called them when we got back and he brought us our yummy pastries in under 30 minutes and added a few macaroons. We got a Green Tea Cupcake and a Green Tea roll. I'd stick with the cupcakes if I were you. The roll was just a bit off and not very Green Tea tasting.
You can't see it but the green tea cupcake is so green on the inside! And they gave us mini green tea cupcakes too after we finished our dessert.

After being stuffed with food we went back to the hotel and decided to try on our new false lashes. Hahah to say the least it was an interesting time

Christine's looked fantabulous.

I, on the other hand, cannot take a decent picture ever. Side view of the falsies and my double chin.
Here's a close up picture of my eyes taken after I got home. One with falsies and one without.

Then it was bedtime! Hi Christine!!!
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Day 2- Chinatown, SoHo, East Village, West Village

So the day started out in Chinatown to get the Family some yummy pastries they requested. My favorite bakery in Chinatown is Tai Pan on Mott St. My grandmother goes there everytime she goes to Chinatown to bring me and my brother back pastries.

Tai Pan Bakery

Pineapple Buns!! My brother's favorite so I had to get him a few.


These are my favorite. We call them Nai Yio Bao or translated to Buttermilk Buns. Their a soft airy bun with yummy buttercream smushed in between like a hot dog and sprinkled with coconut.
Last but not least, my Lao Po Cookie or Wife Cake or Sweetheart Cake as some people call it. I think Tai Pan sells the best Lao Po cookie in Chinatown. One order of it comes with 2 cookies and each "cookie" is HUGE. As you can see from the picture its like the half size of my face! And it's soft and flaky and the inside is nice and soft with sesame seeds. MMmm. I just had one for breakfast and it was awesome.

We dropped by 22 Pell St Salon to get Christine a haircut but the stylist she wanted wasn't there yet, but we went back to the room to drop off all our pastries and then we went back and got her hair cut. I found the salon from one of Fuz's videos and Christine got the same stylist she did, Nelson. I think he did a pretty good job and he seemed really into what he was doing. If I need a hair cut next time I'm in NY I'll probably go there. After Christine got her hair cut we went off to SoHo and then off to the Village.

SoHo

Uniqlo
I heard about Uniqlo from my friend Michelle. The prices are very similar to H&M and as Michelle said, "the style here is much more Japanese." Their pretty well known for their Jeans that are only around 30 bucks a pair. I tried on a few but my only beef with them is that their pretty high waisted, which I can't rock for the life of me. But on the bright side they offer free tailoring of their jeans so even if you're short but you find an awesome pair you're set! I bought a cute checkered scarf that was on sale for 10 dollars.

My new scarf!

We also dropped by Girl Props but didn't find anything and stopped in So Good Jewelry to look at some sparkly jewelry, but we were in a bit of a time crunch and hadn't even gone to the Village yet which was our big mission!

West Village

Marc Jacobs

I LOVE the Marc Jacobs store in the west Village. Last time I went there I found the cutest hats (my mushroom hat that I lost :( ) and wallets and little accessories. If you get lucky they tend to have some really good sales! My cousin went there once and she's a MJ addict like me. They were having a 60% off sale and she stocked up.


I only bought this little compact that I actually saw last time I was in NYC. It'd so cute!

Beard Papa's

Beard Papa's is another suggestion that my friend Michelle gave. It's a cream puff bakery chain that is based in Hong Kong. There's one in the West Village and another in the East Village. We only got one to start and see how it tasted and I must say, it is heavenly! The cream is filled into the puff when you order it and the cream itself is nice and cool and not too sugary like I was expecting it to be but still packed enough flavor to make it sweet. They have different flavors on differnt weeks of every month. When we went it was Earl Grey but I decided to stick with the original to start. Definatly a must try. It looks just like the picture.


Yogurtland
This place is AWESOME! It's self serve and has a bunch of flavors! They had Lychee!!!!! I had a little bit of lychee, green tea, and strawberry. Not as good as Pinkberry or Red Mango, but it's pretty yummy for .49 cents an ounce.


East Village

Chikalicious, Dessert Club
204 E 10th St

The prices for the cupcakes at this place is actually really good. I think it's 1.75 ish for the regular flavors and 2.75 or something for the premium flavors. They are pretty small but I think their perfect and not too sweet and still moist.Red Velvet, Mocha, and Carmel cupcakes! I haven't eaten them all yet, but I did have the red velvet today and it was yummy even though it's about 3 days old and were in the fridge since I've been home Thursday. ** If you ever refridgerate butter cream cupcakes please allow them to sit oustide for a few minutes to let the buttercream soften**

Dessert Truck
Location changes depending on time. Check their website/twitter for up to date location.

So after Ippudo we were still a bit hungry. Well, we were in New York and surrounded by food! We went to the Dessert Truck to get something to bring back to our hotel. I first heard about this place from Bobby Flay's Throwdown on Foodnetwork (where I found/heard half of the food places we go to in NYC) and wanted to give it a try because I thought their truck was so cute! And their bread pudding looked really yummy. Everything is under $8, I believe, and they only have about a 6 item menu. We both got the Bread Pudding, which is what they challenged Bobby Flay to. Their bread pudding comes with either a vanilla sauce or a bacon sauce. I wasn't adventerous enough to try the bacon sauce but everyone in the show seemed to like it a lot.

This is the Dessert Truck on St. Mark's and 3rd Ave in the East Village. You can't miss it!
The Bread Pudding with Vanilla Sauce. Even the bag is cute!
Christine digging into her bread pudding.
My bread pudding after it was half eaten. SO GOOD!

Shake Shack
23rd St between Madison and Broadway, in the Park.
hours: 11 am to 11pm

My single Shackburger! I don't know what they put in it (crystal meth!?) but it's so good... and addicting... and yummy.
Me chowing down... hahaha it's kinda gross how much I eat.Devoured. Fries, Burger, and hotdog.
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Day 3

It was time to go home. We checked out of hour hotel, hung out at Dean and Deluca for half an hour and went down to Penn station. I was sad to leave but happy to come home. Daniel picked us up and we just hung out at mi casa for a while.

School starts on monday and I'm not happy about it but I gotta get it done. I'm gonna get ready and head out to VA with Christine and Manda!

xoxoxCtang