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.

Summer Lovin' Having a Blast...

I am back and alive from Emerald Isle, North Carolina. It took 9 hours to get there and 9 hours to get back (instead of 7 each way) but all in all I have to say it was a bomb diggity trip! I will admit I think Dan and I spent more time sleeping then at the beach, but the sun can do that to you!

Despite putting on SPF like it was my job, I got some sunburn on my shoulder (EPIC FAILURE!) Haha to further my failure I fell asleep in a beach chair so only the front of my legs are tan... uhh... oops?! But that's why I have the rest of the summer to even it all out.

A few highlights of my trip:
1. Catching some awesome rays and attempting to get "brown."
2. Spending time with the boyfriend after not seeing him for a while
3. Hanging out with Dan's nephew and niece. They are absolutely adorable! I can't believe his niece can talk now! My favorite thing that his nephew said was when we were sitting in the living room and Dan had his Ray Bans on and I asked Lindsay (Dan's nephew) who Dan was and he said "He's a dude. He's got sunglasses, he's a dude!" Hahaha! Then I asked if he was a dude and he said, "Yeah! I'm a dude cause I have a mohawk." I wish I was 3 years old again with sweet Spongebob jammies.
4. I think everyone should take a visit to NC... or at least Emerald Isle, NC. Everyone there is so nice! We'd be walking to the beach (like a 10 minute walk from the house) and people driving by would smile and wave even though we had no idea who they were.
5. I really want to try Bojangles!

Christine (Closet Rebel) & Amy (Amynaree) were lovely enough to tag me =)

Tell your readers 10 things about you that they may or may not know, but are true. Tag ten people with the award, and be sure to let them know they've been tagged (a quick comment on their blog will do). Don't forget to link back to the blogger who tagged you.
1. I am 19 and a student @ Unversity of Maryland majoring in Cellular Biology and Genetics.

2. I am friends with Christine aka Closet Rebel in real life. Haha =) Yes, we hang out and go to the mall and munch on sushi together and sit at the Union at school together and even have the same name. She is the one that started out my fascination with make up, which I in turn have hooked the rest of my friends. She's really awesome. You should follow her if you haven't already because I adore her.
3. I've known my boyfriend Dan since 6th grade. I was a crazy Harry Potter fanatic and he told me he'd never watch a HP movie all the way through. Summer of Junior year, I made him come over to my house and forced him to sit through the first Harry Potter movie. He hated it, but I made him come over for all the other ones and that started our movie nights. He hasn't been able to get rid of me since =)

I'm such a creep haaha

4. My first mascara was Lil' Bad Gal...about 6 months ago... it's been all down hill since then haha.

5. I am Chinese, but my Dad was born and raised in Vietnam so he considers himself to be Vietnamese, but my grandparents are Chinese. I am fluent in Cantonese and understand Mandarin and can speak the basics of it. After 15 years of Chinese school, I can translate in pin-ying pretty well but reading the characters is a whole other story. I wish I could speak Vietnamese.

6. I'm what a lot of people consider "white-washed." I can't count how many people have called me a ABC, Twinkie, or Banana. I haven't really figured out how I feel about being labeled this. I mean, it's totally true. I was raised in the American culture, what do people expect? I just hope I never lose my Chinese culture, but as long as I embrace it I don't think I will. Plus, what's wrong with being able to enjoy a Hamburger once and a while but eating chicken feet at dim sum the next day? I guess it's just kinda annoying when people first hear me talk and they respond, "I didn't expect you to speak like that." Or how people who talk to me on the phone before they meet me always say, "I totally expected you to be white." What is that supposed to mean?!

7. I'm currently totally and completely obsessed with the 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT8 and I blame my friend Tony for it. It's kind of gotten sad how much we just text each other and talk about how sexy the Challenger and Charger are and how we dream to drive down the highway, him in his black charger, me in my black challenger, going "vroom, vroom" as we say it. This is now our life goal.
8. I make friends to keep. Through thick and thin. I've been friends with this girlies since who knows when. They've been bffs since like elementary school but they welcomed me with open arms. This picture basically defines our lives for the most part.
This was my junior prom and their senior prom (one of like six pictures that exist from that night). I love them to death. The Crack Pack will live on.

Sophomore homecoming with my best friend since 7th grade. (Brace face...FML)

9. With my Challenger, I want a puppy! Specifically, I want a Wheaten Terrier. Dan promised that he'd get me one for my 24 birthday/Pharmacy School graduation even though he's not a big fan of dogs. All I know is that I want a puppy and I'm holding him to that promise no matter what!
10. I am deathly scared of heights. I can ride in airplanes just fine, but roller coasters scare the living shit out of me. There is a video somewhere in the internet of me riding Superman at Six Flags... it is not a pleasant video. I still don't know how I got coaxed into that.

I Tag:
Anyone that is interested! =) So that means you... yes you! I know you're reading this. Go blog about 10 things so I can learn more about you =)

xoxoxCtang

Boys Boys Boys, I like Boys in Cars

Donna suggested that I do a food post since I haven't done one since... my first post! Although I haven't bought anything that I think everyone should go out and try, I do bake a whole lot so expect some cupcake recipes coming up. I like to bake when I get really stressed or am going through some difficult times. I know my friend Cori said I was like Izzie from Grey's Anatomy (one of my favorite shows!) I went through a 2 week period where I did nothing but bake cupcakes, cookies, and Angel Food cake and to say the least my friends and family totally reaped the benefits. I've decided the first recipe:

Mocha Cupcakes with home made Cream Cheese Frosting

Should be up in about 2 weeks since I have finals and junk next week.

So anyone that has ever driven with me or seen me driving knows that I love jamming out in my car. I'm that person that has their windows rolled down (and back in the day, sun roof opened), arm out the window, blasting their music so loud that the glass is vibrating. This is only in the summer time because I love summers in Maryland (most of the time). It's usually a nice breeze, bright sun, and perfect "jam" weather. I have a very specific Jam playlist for this summer and I just wanted to share it with you girlies.

My iPod who's backlight no longer functions...but I can't live without.

1. Boys Boys Boys - Lady Gaga
This is just an upbeat song that I'm totally in love with. I start shaking my hips and before you know it I'm in a full jam out session. Every time she says "We like boys in cars..." I automatically think of the Challenger. It's so sad that I'm starting to become obsessed about a car. Her whole album is awesome. It's got a little bit of everything: slow songs, pop songs, dance songs.

2. You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift
This is my country/pop jam of the summer. I used to listen to Taylor occasionally but ever since I started hanging out with my friend who's obsessed with her... I haven't stopped listening to her especially this song. I mean... who can't relate to this song? A girl that has a crush on a boy who doesn't notice that she's the best thing for him... sigh. I'm totally the girl in sneakers. Taylor, why must you be so catchy.

3. Jump - Flo Rida feat. Nelly Furtado
"When I say jump you say how high?" The beat is just awesome. 'Nough said.

4. Touch Me - Flo Rida
The computerized intro to this song catches your attention and then you're just hooked!

5. Weightless- All Time Low
All Time Low is a local band that I've been listening to/following since my freshman year of high school. Some of you may recognize them from MTV =) I'm glad they've grown to be so popular. Weightless is one of their new songs for their much anticipated CD due out in July! This song describes my mood for this summer exactly. "This my reaction. To everything I fear. I've been going crazy I don't want to waste another minute here." *cue head bang!* I blast this song all the time when I drive to school and it just puts me in the zone.

6. Fat Bottomed Girls- Queen
It's Queen. No explanation needed.

7. Wonderwall - Oasis
This is such a beautiful but mellow song that's just about love. Just take a listen to the lyrics.

8. Hello Seattle - Owel City
If you like bands like HelloGoodbye or Plushgun. I think Owl City is right up your ally. It's very poppy and electronica sounds but adorable!

9. Baby One More Time... - Britney Spears
That's right! I went old school! I've played this song twice while driving with my friend and we had a grand old time. It's always fun jamming out to old songs and reminiscing.

10. New Soul - Yael Naim
Many of you know this song from the Apple commercials and honestly, Apple knows what's up when it comes to music, I can't even lie. They've featured some of my favorite bands on there Ads =)

11. Chokechain! - 3OH!3
They've gotten hugely popular since their single "Don't Trust Me" released on the radio but this is by far my favorite song by them. "Nice legs, daisy dukes, makes a man go..."

12. Summer Hair = Forever Young - The Academy Is...
The title explains it all.

13. Hollaback Girl - Gwen Stefani
Girl anthem much?

14. That's Not My Name - Ting Tings
I will be the first to admit that this song bugged the HELL out of me when I first heard it but it grew on me... now when I walk to class I find myself shaking my shoulders, singing "They call me Hell! They call me Stacy!" in my head. Yes, I occasionally get questionable looks.

15. Wannabe - Spice Girls
Don't even try to lie and say you don't know the lyrics to this song!

16. Single Ladies - Beyonce
Yes, this song is over played. Yes, the dance videos of this song on you tube are priceless (especially the Joe Jonas one...) Yes, if you like it then you better put a ring on it!

17. I'm on a Boat - The Lonely Island feat. T-Pain
"I got my swim trunks... and my flippy floppies." Another viral video, but for some reason I always have fun blasting this song and rapping the Adam Samberg parts with Daniel.

18. Bust a Move - Young MC
Old rap song = eternal love. Snap your fingers, thrust your hips. "She's dressed in yellow, she says hello. Come sit next to me, you fine fellow. You run over there without a second to lose. And what comes next? You bust a move!"

19. Sugar - Flo Rida
How can you not like a song with a clip from the 90s hit Eiffel 65 "Blue." ( I can still recite most of the lines to that song... damn catchy Italians!) Puts his Flo Rida touch on a classic 90s dance song.

20. The Beach - All Time Low
I'm sorry, but I have to pay homage to my favorite hometown boys. This is the perfect ending to a summer or summer playlist. "They can take take take the kids from the summer, but they'll never never never take the summer from me. It was the very first time I lost my mind for a week. They can make make make me forget the weather, if I never never never wash the sand from my feet. It was the very last time we said good bye to the beach. Showing off our teeth." They basically take the words straight from my mouth. Plus, the guitar riffs allow enough time to insert a dance party.

My playlists are usually 100+ songs but I figure I'd keep it to 20. =) Everyone has different music tastes and I totally appreciate that. I love listening to everything and I mean everything. I listen to indie, folk, oldies, post rock, rap, r&b, techno... If you have any music suggestions let me know! I love adding new songs to my iPod.

xoxoxCTang

"Did you know 'this' and 'shit' have the same letters in them?"

Do you have a major case of the Mondays? (Office Space reference!) I know I did, especially with all this studying.
This past weekend Christine and I went out shopping and here are a few pics from Saturday.
Here's Christine in her Oliver Peoples sunglasses she fell in love with at Off Sak's Fifth Ave.

Haha. I'm a sweater knit me! The same glasses that Christine fell in love with but in tortoise shell! I'm in a desperate need for tortoise shell sunglasses since I have my black Ray-Bans already =(
Here are a pair of sexy Betsyville by Betsy Johnson shoes I totally fell in love with. The bottoms of the shoes were sparkly hot pink! They were $149 and uber high, but so hot. Please ignore my toes and my Rainbows haha. Christine told me to take a picture in the shoes =)

Some silly, but adorable glasses that make me look like effin' Yoko Ono or something.

As I mentioned I got some new stuff from Mac and just wanted to let you guys know what I thought of it.
Left to Right: Lipglass in Florabundance, Plushlash in Plushblack, Lipstick in Honeylove (Matte)

Let's start with the mascara. Plushlash is my new favorite mascara! While I'm still contemplating the Givenchy, I will definitely be using this for the next 3 months. I love this mascara so much that I actually want to use it every day! Here's the breakdown of what I have to say about it:
1. It holds a curl
2. ITS ONLY $12!
3. It doesn't flake or clump!!
4. It does great on volumizing my lashes and it even lengthens a little bit
5. DID I MENTION IT'S ONLY $12?!
This was a recommendation from Christine (Closet Rebel) and boy am I glad I got it. I actually like this mascara much more then Fresh's Supernova and Benefit's Bad Gal. I know I raved about Supernova, but over time the mascara would start to flake and I'd get 'coon eyes (and we all know how attractive that is!). I do not have any flaking with Plushlash and the fact that it holds a curl on my lashes is amazing!

Here's a look at the wand.
Here's a picture of my lashes without mascara (click to enlarge =) ) I have typical Asian lashes that point down and are very short.
With Plushlash! I don't know about you but I'm shocked at the difference.

So I finally got my first lipstick! I've always been weary about lipstick because I see that it dries out lips and I HATE having dry lips. But I instantly fell in love with this color and had to get it.

Mac lipstick in Honeylove.

Words cannot express how much I love this lipstick and I found it on a total accident. Christine tried on this adorable pale pink Shu Uemura lipstick while we were at Nordstroms and I asked the SA if Mac had something similar and she showed me this. While it's not a pale pink, it gives me the perfect nude-ish lip in my opinion. Like I've said before, I've never really liked colors such as Hue or Creme d'nude on me and I have no idea why. But no worries because now I have Honeylove! At the counter this may look a little too beige, but once you see it in the light you see the rosey colors. It's a Matte finish which I adore because I hate when my lips are far too shiny.
Here are my lips with nothing but Palmer's Cocoa butter on them to moisturize so my lips don't dry out.
Here are my lips again just with a flash to see the difference. They're pink... just like most lips haha. Nothing too speical.

Sorry this picture is a little dark but the one with flash didn't come out too well. This is with Honeylove on. The color of my lips are muted but not too much and they still look a little pink. The second picture is just with another layer of it on.

Tada!

Here's a swatch of Honeylove and Florabundance on my hand. My arm is a bit tanner then my face (I hang my arm out my window when I drive so I'm brown on one arm and caramel on the other... FML) so it doesn't really do much justice but you get the point =)

So I tried on NARS Turkish Delight once and totally fell in love with it but I couldn't stand the price tag. I mentioned this to Christine and she said that I should try either Underage or Florabundance. I can't remember why Underage didn't work out for me all I know is that I tried it on and looked in the mirror and Christine and I both shook our heads. Florabundace on the other hand was just perfect. I guess I'm a sucker for those peachy colors.

Top: Florabundance with no flash Bottom: Florabundance with flash

Here I layered Florabundance on top of Honeylove and it made a very nice pale pink color. Again, top without flash, bottom with flash.

On a totally random side note! I went to the car dealership with my friend Tony today after class because he's planning on getting a new car. He's totally in love with this car:

2008 Dodge Charger SRT8.

I am by no means a car buff, but after hearing Tony go on about this car for the past couple of days, I think I have two words that sum up this car. "Vroom, Vroom!" They have one in the show room at the dealer we went to and the guy who owned it previously, traded it in because his wife said it was too fast. The engine is a monster and the inside is huge and I'm pretty sure you can fit 3 bodies in the trunk. I think we spent a good 30 minutes just gazing at the car and sitting in it. Before we went into the show room though, Tony pointed out the Dodge Challenger and I had no idea what it was so we walked over to it. I am not a big fan of American cars but I instantly fell in love with this:

2009 Dodge Challenger SRT8

As Tony would put it: *drool*!!!! It's a completely modernized muscle car. I wanted to see the SRT8 version but they only open it for serious buyers but they did open up the R/T version and it was amazing. While I never see myself buying this car... well never say never haha... but it's just so hot. I think we're heading back tomorrow to test drive the Dodge Charger RT (a step down from the SRT8) because Tony decided that he doesn't need such a high performance car... if I don't survive please know that I love you all.

Until next time, lovers.

xoxoxCTang