World's Largest Ice Cream Cone

Have you ever secretly to take home those GIANT ice cream cone decoration in front of some old fashion ice cream shops home?  (I did, just like the girl in the picture above).  But wait, they are just a big piece of plastic "pretended" as a big yummy ice cream cone.  I don't need more junks in my garage for no reason.

How about if the ice cream cone is a real one?  Will you take home with you in this hot summer?   British chef Heston Blumenthal made my fantasy come true. He and his team served up the world's largest ice cream cone last weekend as hungry throngs looked on. The giant vanilla scoop (weighed 2,204 pounds); and it took a month to freeze -- was placed on top of a massive cone via forklift. At 13 feet tall, the colossal creamy treat, created using donated ice cream and filmed for TV, set a new world record, besting a 9-foot cone that had set a record in Italy last year. The ice cream was distributed to the masses, but sadly they had to eat it plain because the sauces and sprinkles that had been catapulted onto it didn't stick. IMPRESSIVE!  However, some food lovers complained that wasting food and labors for promoting a TV show is such a stupid idea.

Food is fake, but art is real.

Peter Anton (born 1963 in New Haven, Connecticut) is an American artist and sculptor. His primary subject matter is food with an emphasis on chocolates and other sweets. He creates giant realistic sculptures and is best known for his "bigger than life" boxed chocolates.

Anton treats his food artworks very seriously.  His beginning process of creating his artworks is to eat, smell, feel, study and dissect a new food over and over again in order to hyper-familiarize himself with the new subject. He then begins the long and tedious process of sculpting, carving, sanding, painting, and construction of his mixed media works.

I am sure his artworks could certainly fool you when you first look at it.  Even just looking at the pictures, I really want to lick the box of donuts or touch the giant ice cream.  However, his artworks has bigger meanings than just being looking real. Anton emphasizes:

In my sculptures I like to alter and overstate foods to give them new meanings. I have an innate reverence for the things we eat. Food brings people together and there is no better way to celebrate life. Through the use of humor, scale, irony, and intensity in my forms, the foods we take for granted become aesthetically pleasing and seductive in atypical ways. I like to create art that can lure, charm, tease, disarm and surprise. My sculptures put viewers in a vulnerable state so that I can communicate with their inner selves in a more honest and direct way. I activate the hunger people have for the things that give them pleasure and force them to surrender. The sensual nature of the works stimulates basic human needs and desires that generate cravings and passion. 

Ice Cream Gallery

Summer has not officially arrived yet; however, the tempeature keeps going up each day.  Ice cream is a great way to cure the hotness outside.  If you are an aventurer, the ice creams I am going to introduce to you today will be your "cup of ice cream"=)

I went to Las Vegas during the Memorial Day weekend, and saw a big banner of Lobster Ice Cream at Lobster Me, located inside the Planet Hollywood hotel.  It caught my eyes immediately; unfortunately, we were so stuffed from our very romantic anniversary dinner at Eiffel Tower restaurant at the Paris hotel, so we didn't get a chance to try it.  That even better for adding me an extra reason to go back to Vegas this year=).

The same night, I read an article about an ice cream shop in Hong Kong.  They even take your taste buds farther - Except for their signature French lobster ice cream, they also offer the following unique favors:

French bacon and egg, black/white truffle, foie gras, Japanese sake and black sesame...Check out what the locals said about this ice cream place here.  Since we are going to Macau and Hong Kong this November, even though it might be a little too cold to have ice cream; I still want to put this place on my TO-DO LIST while I am in Hong Kong this winter.

(all pictures are from Yelp.com and OpenRice.com)
 

Cereal Milk Recipe by Momofuku Milk Bar

I remember when I first started my real full time job, the only thing could make me get up early was a bowl of cereals.  I am not kidding, I even craved it when I was sleeping at night and so looking forward to get up in the morning to have that bowl of cereals (sounds totally unbelivlable, but 100% true!).  What made me so addicted to the bowl of cereals were the crushiness from the cereals and the silky smoothness from the milk, but what I love the most was that cereal milk left in the bowl. 

Admit it, you love that cereal milk too!  Momofuku Milk Bar in New York knew how much people love that cereal milk, so they "created" it and sell it at their store (very smart idea!).  Owner and Pastry Chef, Christina Tosi was nice enough to write a book and share some of the Momofuku's favorite recipes with everyone.  The first recipe in the book OF COURSE was their famous Cereal Milk.  If you want to try your hands to make their famous Cereal Milk, Serious Eats shared this recipe on their website and more important, they even converted the English measurement (the book uses English measurements) to American commonly use measurement.  Sweet=)

This cereal milk is very versatile.  You could use it to bake cookies, cupcakes and cakes and even ICE CREAM!  Tea and Letter is sharing the step by step process of making your potentially new favorite ice cream on their website, click here.

Enjoy=)

(All pictures were found from Google Images)

The Best Dessert I ever Ate - Bacon Chocolate Bar with S&P Ice Cream

We don't go to Los Angeles (LA) as often as we want to due to couple reasons (far distance from OC and the horrible traffic and parking situation).  We felt that we did miss out a lot in LA - all the bar scene, fancy and classy restaurants, interesting and unique places and museums...  About a month ago, we decided to take a mini weekend get away trip in West Hollywood area to explore the city and escape our normal busy lives in Orange County for a few days.

The highlight of the trip to me was visiting Animal restaurant, located in LA, by the famous Melrose neighborhood.  I have heard so many positive comments and impressive compliments about this place on different media.  I was beyond excited when we got there.  We didn't make any reservation, so we waited for about an hour and half for our table (not bad for a busy Saturday evening at a hip restaurant like this in LA).  We ordered five small dishes (Pork Belly BBQ Sandwich, Fois Gras with maple sussage and home made biscuit and gravy, Halibut with Peas, Churrizo with Melted Cheese, Marrow Bone with Chumichurri Sauce) for the two of us.  Everything was amazing and I could taste the freshness and well-preparations in each dishes.  Of course, we could not leave the restaurant without having some sweet to end our meal, so we ordered their signature bacon chocolate bar with salt and pepper ice cream and Dulce De Leche.  The Dulce De Leche was average, nothing really special about it.  However, on the other hand, the bacon chocolate bar and the s&p ice cream was delish!  No wonder it was featured on Food Network's show, The Best Thing I ever Ate. 

 

Let me tell you the presentation of the dessert - Very elegant and modern looking presentation.  And the bar looked like a piece of bacon with different kinds of chocolate in between.  The saltiness from the bacon mixed with the bitterness from different kinds of chocolates and the perfect sweetness from the creamy and silky ice cream was a perfect harmony; it was undescribably incredible. 

Dessert Place Review - Mochilato (Irvine, Ca)

After having an amazing Chinese dinner with my husband at Sam-Woo , we headed to Mochilato down the street in City of Irvine.  I had been longing to try this dessert place for a long while.  The place is located inside a stripe mall.  As soon as we walked in, we noticed that the place is pretty new, clean and bright.  It's surely a good place to hang out with big group of friends (they do have few very BIG tables) or just grab a coffee/tea and some desserts with your date after dinner. 

So what is Mochilato?!  Here is the answer from me (not an offical answer, but I guess my answer is 99% correct.)  Mochi + Gelato = Mochilato, get it?!

According to Wikipedia, mochi is a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice (not to be confused with gluten) pounded into paste and molded into shape. In Japan it is traditionally made in a ceremony called mochitsuki. While also eaten year-round, mochi is a traditional food for the Japanese New Year and is commonly sold and eaten during that time. Similar snacks are prominent in Hawaii, South Korea, Taiwan (where it is called 麻糬, Hokkien môa-chî or Mandarin máshu), Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia.  However, when we talk about mochi in the States, we are often talking about the mochi ice cream.  Mochi ice cream and mochi is different (they both made with rice dough; however, one is filled with ice-cream, one without.)

Mochi ice-cream originally created by Lotte, as Yukimi Daifuku in 1981, the company first made the product by using a rice starch instead of sticky rice and a type of ice milk instead of real ice-cream. Mochi ice cream is now an internationally recognized food. Current marketing names include Mikawaya's "Mochi Ice Cream" in the United States (also used by other companies), which began production of what is now known as mochi ice cream in the United States in 1993

I am pretty sure a lot of us had gelato before.  Here is a brief summary about this sweet little treat. 
Gelato (Italian pronunciation: [dʒeˈlaːto]; plural: gelati) is the italian word for ice cream and sorbet. Italians use the word gelato to mean a sweet treat that is served frozen. Gelato is made with milk, cream, various sugars, and flavoring such as fresh fruit and nut purees.

Mochilato serve about 10 different favors of mochis and gelatos daily.  On the top of it, they also serve Beard Papa's cream puffs (the servers inject the filling of your choce to your cream puffs right after you place your order), traditional Japanese and Korean desserts, French macaroons, Taiwanese/Japanese style shaved ice and they also have a simple dining menu.  

Mochi

Gelato

French macaroons

Traditional Japanese and Korean desserts

Drink menu

We ordered two different favors of mochis (mango and strawberry) and 2 cream puffs.  What make their mochis different than others?  They use gelato for the filling instead of ice cream.  It makes the texture softer and less dense and sweet than the normal mochis.  The mango mochi tasted pretty refreshing.  However, the strawberry one tasted a little bits too artifical.  The cream puffs were good as usual (if you have tried Beard Papa's, you know what I mean).  The mochi and cream puff are about $2.50USD per each. 

Beard Papa's cream puffs filled with cream custard

Logo of  Beard Papa's

Bottom: mango mochi, top: strawberry mochi

Inside of Mochilato - new, clean and pretty casual.

Gelato  inside of the mango mochi

Here are address and a summary of my review:

Address and Phone Number of Mochilato: 

14310 Culver Dr., Suite E, Irvine, CA, 92604

(949) 559-1116

Hours:  10 a.m. to midnight daily.
Reservation:  Not necessary, walk in will be better.

Price Range (out of 5):  $$

Service (out of 5):   **** (the cashier lady was pretty patient to us and gave us recommendations of what favors we should get.)

Atmosphere:  Kid friendly

Attire:  Casual (some UC, Irvine students even wore their louge wears and flip flops.) 

Payment:  Cash, debit cards and major credit cards are all accepted

Good for big group:  Yes (they even provide some board games.)

Good for date night:  Yes (the night we went was pretty quiet, music was also quite relaxing.)

Nutella and Banana Won-Ton Recipe

Nutella banana won-ton with vanilla bean ice cream

In the past 2 years, I invited my family and friends get together at our house for a themed dinner on the weekend.  Each time, we picked different themes for the dinner.  So far we have done Germany, Asian, BBQ, Mexican, Italian (twice) and Southern food.  Unfortunately, we have not had the themed dinner for a while due to every one's busy schedule on the weekend. 

I made this very easy but extremely yummy Nutella and banana won-ton as our dessert for the Asian themed dinner.  As many of you might know, Asian or Chinese don't usually like sweet stuffs.  I remember Anthony Bourdain once said something on his show, No Reservation - At a Chinese restaurant, they usually give you an orange at the end of the meal as a dessert.  Yup, that's US!  Asian or Chinese don't usually eat sweet after meal.  If we do, we will probably had some bean soup (green, red or assorted beans) or rice ball soup to end our meal.  Even other Asian countries, they don't usually serve desserts after the meal too.  So when I was thinking of something to make for our Asian themed dinner, I was thinking of something Asian inspired but still appealing to my guests (sadly to say not everyone likes bean soup or other strange tasting or looking desserts most Asian like). 

So I was thinking who doesn't like deep fried won-ton (or food, deep fried food taste so good), and Nutella (surprisingly, my guests had never tried this tasty hazelnut spread before) and banana topped with powder sugar and vanilla ice cream.  Just by thinking about it, it made my mouth watering.

You will need:

1 pack of square won-ton wrappers (available at Asian supermarkets or some regular supermarkets)
1 small jar of Nutella (available at regular supermarkets)
2-3 banana (don't pick those old or "too green" one)
Vegetable oil (for deep frying dessert, I like to use vegetable oil because they taste milder than peanut oil.  But if I deep fried regular food, I would love to use peanut oil for more favor.)
Powder sugar (optional)
Vanilla ice cream (optional, I got mine from Trader Joe's)

lay the won-ton wrapper on the mat and

 put about one teaspoon Nutella spread on the top of the wrapper

(don't put too much though!)

Put a banana slice on the top of the spread

Seal them with water

Heat the oil, and put the won-ton in the wok

Yummy Cupcake Pillow and More

I saw this realistic cupcake pillow on Perpetualkid website.  They look so real and yummy!  I will definitely have a sweet dream if I have one to fall alseep with me.

Despite for the cupcake pillow, they also have cupcake pockets for holding your small items and they also have a big ice cream pillow too.  Have a sweet dream, everyone!

I need a break and a whoopie pie

I have no idea since when whoopie pies have become a trend.  You see them everywhere now, even at Starbucks!  They are a very easy to make little treat at home.  They are also good for party, or put them in a cute box; they would become a very sweet and cute favor for your guests to take home.

I found this chocolate whoopie pie's recipe from Food.com.  They came out taste good and moist, but they are very messy and sticky to roll though.  Since this is my very first time of making whoopie pies, I am sure I could develop a better recipe in future.

Make about 20 pies

Prepare Time: 20 mins

Bake Time: Approximately 15 mins

Whoopie Pie

• 1 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons vegetable oil or 6 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons milk

1. Preheat oven to 425F. Lightly coat cookie sheets with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Whoopie Pies: In a mixing bowl, beat sugar and oil until crumbly. Add eggs and beat well. In separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.
3. Gradually beat flour mixture into sugar mixture. Add milk and mix together well.
4. With lightly lightly floured hands, roll dough into 1 1/2" balls. Place balls 2" apart onto cookie sheets lightly sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Flatten balls slightly with bottom of lightly greased flat-bottom glass.
5. Bake at 425F for 5-6 minutes or until tops are cracked. Cool for 3 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool.

I didn't make the filling.  I have a whipped cream in my fridge, so I just pipe my pies with the whipped cream.  But below is the filling recipe I found on Food.com.  If you are on the rush, whipped cream is a good alternative.  If you have ice cream at home, you could even make it like a ice cream sandwiches. 

Filling

4 tablespoons milk

4 tablespoons butter or 4 tablespoons shortening, softened to room temp Filling: In a mixing bowl, beat together butter and confectioners' sugar. Beat in milk and extract until fluffy.

3 -3 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (OR mint extract is good)

1. Filling: In a mixing bowl, beat together butter and confectioners' sugar. Beat in milk and extract until fluffy.
2. Pipe filling using pastry bag (or spread w/ knife) on to flat bottom of cooled whoopie pie and top with another whoopie pie to make a sandwich.

Seeking Sweetness in Everyday Life - Cakespy

I mentioned that Mr. G and I went to Seattle last year on my preivous post.  During our trip, we stopped by Capitol Hill because I wanted to check out an art gallery + store,CakeSpyShop there and it's walking distance from the hotel we stayed. 

This little store has all kinds of "sweet" treats (sorry, nothing edible though) inside, art works, cupcake stands, dessert stickers, ice cream lamp, dessert wallets, donut t-shirts, just everything sweet...

I was so happy to meet the artist and the owner of Cake Spy, Jessie Oleson (aka head spy) at her very own store.  She is such a sweet and welcoming person to meet with! When we got there, she was about to go out for running some errands. As soon as she saw us, she asked us if we wanted to come in.  She told us she could go later...

Since that trip, I have been following her cakespy blog till now.  Her blog is very fun to read because she interviews different bakeries, ice cream shops, candy shop throughout the country.  Also, she has a lot of great or interesting recipes for us to follow.  Of course, her artworks are also amazing and "sweet" too!  She has a new book coming out and I can't wait to get a copy of it.

 In front of CakeSpyShop (415 E Pine St, Seattle, WA 98122)

(between Bellevue Ave & Crawford Pl) Little Cuppy is welcoming us!

Jessie's art work inside the shop.

 Ice cream lamp inside the shop.

 Jessie and I

I bought some "sweet" postcards from CakeSpyShop.  Look at the little cuppies by the Seattle Space Needle.

New book (Sweet Treats for a Sugar-Filled Life) by CakeSpy (photo courtesy of CakeSpy.com)

Extraordinary Desserts!

Extraordinary Desserts, what a BIG name!  Whoever titled their store with this "extraordinary" name; the store is better to be EXTRAORDINARY!  O well, they are indeed...

Extraordinary Desserts in San Diego, California, offers big selections of gourmet desserts.  Not only their desserts are extraordinary, their tea selection is amazing.  They offer a huge options of loose tea leaves.  Tea and desserts, what a great life! Ane a little background of their chef and founder from their website:

Karen Krasne , A San Diego native, Ms Krasne graduated from the
University of Hawaii with a Bachelor of Science degree in
Food and Human Nutrition, and has spent over 15 year training
in Paris' most distinguished school.  Until now, Ms Krasne returns to France

regularly to train with the masters at Le Notre and Bellouet Conseil,

but her trips to exotic places are what truly inspire the creativity in her desserts.

They have two locations in San Diego, one in Little Italy and the original one in Balboa Park.  We dropped by their store in Little Italy.  Every pieces of their desserts are a wonderful piece of art in their very own dessert "museum".  I appreciate that they use a lot of fresh flowers or edible gold flakes to decorate their desserts.  Also, they fill the dessert plates with some yummy sweet kiwi sauce, chocolate sauce or passion fruit sauce...don't think that it's only for decoration, if you combine everything in one bite, you will know everything is comprising each other.  I had their Napoleon, and Mr. G's cousin and his girlfriend ordered a coconut ice cream and a chocolate brownie.  Their desserts are not cheap, but they are a good size to share. 

Anyways, here are some pictures to share, bon appetit: