I burn calories so I can eat them.

I love blogging all the sweet things I made, saw, tasted, and read.  I also like following bloggers, who share the same interest; I am going to dedicate two posts to introduce two blogs that I have religiously been following for a while.

(Pictures from the blog of the Cupcake Activist and Orange County Register)

The first blog I have been following for a while, is a blog called the Cupcake Activist.  Why Cupcake Activist?  Elise Wallace, a girl with a HUGE sweet tooth, a hard-core runner and triathlete and a busy new mommy, writes about her love of cupcakes on her blog, the Cupcake Activist.  You might think cupcakes and running don't go together, right?  Yes, it is in theory; however, it is not in the Cupcake Activist's book.  According to Elise, "She burns calories so she can eat them." (this belief makes her two loves, two very different things living harmony.)  When I first came across this blog, I immediately fell in love with it.  The blog is full of reference and information for those who love cupcakes.  Elise goes to different cupcakes places and writes reviews about what she felt about the places she visited.  It's a good source to plan my trip, so I know which cupcakes places are worth to stop by, and which are not.  She also shares recipe she used or interesting recipes she found online.  Beside sharing her passion of cupcakes, she also talks about her passion of running and competing, and her struggle against sweet especially before each race.  I am NOT a hard core runner or triathlete; however, I am a hard core work out addict, who work out 5-6 days a week.  As a work out addict, I TOTALLY understand and could related to how she feels.

Get started -
how I fell in love with the blog of the Cupcake Activist

run, swim, bike and be happy!

I tried to get as details as possible on the watch

Who doesn't love a pair of hot pink running shoes? 
Mine are hot pink with black=)

Go get the gold!!!

Earlier last month, I contacted Elise, the Cupcake Activist and offered a dozen of free decorated cupcakes for her to try.  We met few weeks ago in a heavy rainy day at the Starbucks in the charming Old Towne Orange (we both reside in the lovely City of Orange).  I was so nervous to meet her at the coffee shop (it reminded me of a blind date, except for I know how she looks like; but she didn't.).  We got to chat a little bits and get to know each other; I love this girl even more than before!  She was a very sweet girl and I could totally tell she is very passionate towards cupcakes (meeting a total stranger, who also loves cupcakes in a heavy rainny day) and running (hey, she just finished running a 5k before meeting me up and started racing again after just 3 month of birth giving.)

To the one and only Cupcake Activist...

Totally ready

Sweat and get some aqua

I specially crafted her some running and triathlon themed cupcake toppers.  The cake is apple cinnamon cupcakes with caramel butter cream.  I am glad she and her friends loved the cupcakes I made for her with my heart (Check out here to see what she felt about the decoration and the cupcakes.).  That was a very plesant blind date=)

Good job, well done!



Bruxie Gourmet Waffle Sandwiches

It's been ways too long to post this entry.  Today, I am going to introduce this little fun restaurant/spot for everyone.  I discovered this little spot totally by a wrong turn.  I was crusing in Old Towne Orange and made a wrong turn, and then saw this little fun retro spot with a lot of people waiting outside (who knew that a "wrong" turn could make it so "right"?!).  As soon as I got home, I googled and tried to find what this line about, here is what I discovered: Belgium waffle + sandwich = interesting! 

Last Christmas Eve was our first visit to their original location in Old Towne Orange.  The owner was there too; he was super friendly and helpful with the menu to the newbies.  After that visit, we barely went there. Why?  Don't get me wrong that their food was super awesome and service was great.  Just that long line outside scared us away.  And waffle sandwich should be eaten at the restaurant, because they won't taste the same after you take them home.  About a month ago, my mother-in-law told me that they opened a new location in Downtown Brea.  Since she heard so much good thing about this restaurant from me; she could not wait to try.  So one lazy evening, we all went to their new location in Brea (not one but twice in a row).  The new location is much bigger and nicer than the original one in Orange.  However, the line was still long, but the wait was fast though. 


Long line, but suprisingly moving fast.

 Here are some interesting things I found online on their website and also some tips I want to give out to all the foodies, who plan on visiting this restaurant:

Brucks-ee

How do you pronounce “Bruxië”?
Brucks-ee!

What does Bruxië mean/How did you come up with the name Bruxië?
In French, Brussels is spelled “Bruxelles”; so Brux comes from the French spelling. Belgie is a Flemish term for Belgium and also used as a slang term for a waffle. We combined the “Brux” with the “ie” from a Belgie and incorporated the umlaut (two dots over the ë from German, which is also common language in Belgium) and the dot for the I (English artistic license) and we came up with Bruxië. The color of the three dots represent the colors of the flag of Belgium).

Pastrimi waffle sandwich

Turkey waffle sandwich

How did they come up with the concept?
Bruxië is the result of the collaborative effort of the three founders; chefs, Dean Simon, Kelly Mullarney and Philippe Caupain who have been friends for over 25 years. The Story – In 1999 Dean and Philippe were visiting Belgium on business. Dean was fascinated with the local farmers markets and street vendors and in particular the homemade waffles. Philippe was born in Belgium and grew up in this fabulous culinary culture. Upon their return to California, Philippe began developing recipes and Brux Waffles born. Over the next several years Brux sold product to some of America’s finest hotels and cruise ships. In 2009 Chef Kelly Mullarney was hired as a consultant to Brux Waffles in hopes of expanding sales to multi-unit foodservice operations. During the collaboration between Dean and Kelly the idea of making this waffle an all day offering was created. While traveling in Asia Kelly experienced dessert style sweets that were offered by street vendors similar to what was observed in Belgium. Because of the unique characteristics of the Brux Waffle, Dean and Kelly began pairing up a wide variety of sweet and savory combinations. The waffle was made thinner and then folded to make it portable…Bruxië AKA “The Bold Fold” was born!

What’s the difference between a Brussels and Liege?
The Brussels waffle is the platform in which all of our sandwiches are made. It is light, crispy and made with yeast. It is not sweet at all. The Liege waffle is more dense and sweet like a breakfast pastry. It has chunks of pearl sugar that gets caramelized into a sugary crust on the waffle.

Do you know Dairy Treet is misspelled?
It’s not misspelled! Before Bruxië came along the building was a restaurant called Dairy Treet. It was established in 1949 and was the oldest hamburger stand in Orange. They offered burgers, fries, and soft serve ice cream. The portion of our menu is a tribute to Dairy Treet.

Tips from me:

Good for big group of people:  No!  Both locations are not really good for big group of people.  So if you want to invite your family and friends to join you to try out this place, keep your group small.  The one in Brea is a little bits better since they have bigger tables.  The one in Orange is a very tiny spot, you will have a hard time if you come with a big group of people (and their parking lot is super small).

Should I come in a raining day?  The last time I went to the one in Brea, it rained quite badly.  However, we got a table indoor, so it's not a big problem.  And they do have cover and heater.

Is it good for to-go?  As I mentioned earlier, it's a BIG NO NO!  Eat there even you need to stand and eat. 

Pumpkin shake

How's their seasonal shake?  I tried their peppermint shake last year, and my mother-in-law tried their pumpkin shake.  They both are delicious; however, since they are so rich and creamy, better to share with someone you love=p.

Grape soda made with 100% sugar cane

How's their soda?  They don't sell typical soda here.  All of their soda are made with 100% sugar cane and they are absolutely delicious.

What's your favorite?  I love their goat cheese spanish and mushroom waffle sandwich with sun dried tomato.  I also love their liege waffles are also great.
For locations and full menu, click here.

Vintage Tattoo Inspired Cupcakes

I was so very happy and flattered when I received an email from Tattoo Artist, Nakota Hedrick from Outer Limits Tattoo in City of Orange, CA.  She wanted to place an order for one of her fellow tattoo artists for farewelling him.  I could never ever dream of I could do some "sort of" artworks for any tattoo artist, not to mention that I was doing some decorative cupcakes for bunch of amazing tattoo artists at Outer Limits Tattoo.  I just recently got some inks from Nakota; she is very talented and skillful tattoo artist (I will talk more about her and my tattoo in my future post.  I am still waiting for my skin to heal, so stay tuned.)

She was very open about any design for the cupcakes.  The only thing she mentioned was heart and she also told me this tattoo artist was leaving the shop, so she wants to surprise him with some yummy treats for the very last time.  I was thinking Sailor Jerry Tattoo will make a great cupcake topper and also the colors and designs are catchy, bright and colorful.  Most importantly, they are classic!

Here are the final products:

Orangina, My Favorite Soda

I don't usually drink sodas.  I used to love it when I was a kid.  All of a sudden, ever since I graduated from high school, I lose interest of drinking them.  However, there is one soda, I cannot image I could give up in my life. 

Her name is Orangina! 

We first encountered each other when I was in France when my family and I were visiting my aunt and her family.  After the first taste of her, I could not forget about her.  I lose touch with her after I got back to my home town, Macau.  Frankly, thing started changing after I moved to the States for college, my sister came home one day and told me that she found her at Trader Joe.  I was in heaven!  We reconnected again!  I seriously missed her during all those years.  I am glad that we reconnected. 

Enjoying my Orangina at South Beach, Miami.

In my opinion, the differences between Orangina and regular sodas are -

Orangina is about half as carbonated as most sodas, sweet but not overly done, with a nice citrusy flavor and slightly bitter aftertaste, like the natural oil from orange peel and probably from the grapefruit juice too.  Imagine you drop a piece of lemon in your water.  Your mouth always has that bitter sweet aftertaste from the water with lemon.

Plus, look at the bottle of her, how could you not fall in love with her curve (I am talking about the small bottle of her)?  LOL!  If you have never tried this soda, you need to go to Trader Joes to grab some for yourself, open it, taste it and you will know what I mean.  They have two different sizes at Trader Joe's:  4 small bottles package (see the poster for the size) for $2.99usd, and the 1 liter bottle you saw from my above picture for $1.89usd.

“Color * Smell * Taste”

COLOR, smell and taste are the 3 important characteristics of real Chinese cuisine.  These 3 characteristics also apply to all baked goodies.  Researchers stated that COLOR does play a very important role in food.  Let’s find out how COLOR affects our appetite!

Blue m&m’s?!

Several years ago, the makers of "m & m's," added Blue colors to its assorted colors-candy bag.  Blue? Why Blue? Although they reported that this was the result of a vote by the fans, it raises a few questions. It may very well be the last color left in the bag after the novelty wears off.  Of all the colors in the spectrum, blue is an appetite suppressant.

Research backs up the idea that certain COLORS suppress your appetite while others excite it. Gary Blumenthal from International Food Strategies reports that, “COLOR and the appeal of various foods is closely related. Just the sight of food fires neurons in the hypothalamus.  For the sighted, the eyes are the first place that must be convinced before a food is even tried.

Here are some COLOR and psychological effects on appetite, as reported by Lifemojo, Wednesday (05/11/2011):

RED    Red is the COLORof the full emotional and very energetic COLOR. This COLOR can increase the rate of respiration and raising blood pressure, and also can increase appetite.

ORANGE       Orange can help increase the supply of oxygen to the brain, producing a refreshing effect and stimulates mental activity.  The COLOR of orange makes people feel comfortable and are associated with healthy foods and can stimulate appetite.

YELLOW       Yellow is a bright cheerful colors. Yellow improves concentration, also stimulates the appetite, because this is related to happiness.

GREEN          Green is associated with natural colors, health and often used to demonstrate product safety. Because of its relationship with nature, green is considered as calming and relaxing COLOR.

TURQUOISE This COLOR can stimulate appetite. This color and orange COLOR combination could even be a combination of colors that ‘delicious’.

After a long reading and learning how all the COLORS affect our appetite, it's time to try our lemon zest vanilla cupcakes topped with orange frosting and home-made candied orange.