Buttercream Roses

Here are some buttercream roses i attempted to create a few weekends ago!

Enjoy!

 

Adv. Culinary Cake Lab

So in my advanced culinary class, we are learning about baked good! Last week we made cakes (which i’ll share pictures of) and this week we are making pies.

We got to choose/create whatever type of cake we could think of, so here’s a few cakes from my class.

Mine–Choco-Flan; a moist rich chocolate cake topped with a silky flan and layered with a sweet caramel sauce.

Amy’s–Vanilla rainbow cake with a lemon frosting

Taylor’s–chocolate peanut butter cake

Matt’s–Double Chocolate fudge cake

(not pictured)–

Todd’s–Tres leche cake

Tanner’s–Cinnamon Coffe Cake

Mike’s–Pineapple Upside down cake

On top of all this deliciousness, my favorite teacher in the world… Mrs. Dawe decides to bring me the worlds greatest cannoli!! I forget where she said she got it from, but let me tell you! The filling was to die for! So rich and creamy!! YUM YUM!

This week while we started our pie making, we were really sleepy and just didn’t feel like making pie dough, so my whole class decided to revolt, and this is what we ended up doing….

Hope you enjoyed my post

Let me know if you want the recipe to any of these cakes!

Howard High PROM 2012

Here is just a small post about my prom preparation! You know us girls have to get hair, nails, go out to lunch, etc. Well this is how my day started off… I went to school until 10:30. After school, i ran over to starbucks to grab myself a latte to prepare me for the late night, i also snuck a delicious raspberry cake pop in there as well. The cake pop was amazing to say the least and my vanilla latte hit the spot and kept me awake for the beginning of my day!

Then i was off to lunch with my good friend. We ate at a delicious local breakfast restaurant called eggspecations. I ordered the chocolate chip waffles and show ordered the chocolate chip pancakes. The waffles were to die for! I had been craving waffles alllllll week, but i had no idea where to get some really tasty ones. Let me tell you, i know where i’m going for breakfast from now on! YUM YUM YUM!

Now its nail time!! We decided to go with the gel, so we could look elegant and have the nails stay beautiful for graduation next week.

Next, were onto hair… curls curls curly curls!

and finally the dress and pictures…

i hope you all enjoyed my prom preparations…

Eat Bertha’s Mussels

EAT BERTHAS MUSSELS! Have you ever noticed this green sticker floating around Baltimore? Or have you seen it in the north pole? Well this delicious seafood restaurant is owned by my Uncle. They have delicious food! They have killer mussels! They make these spicy mussels now, that are soaked in coconut milk, lime and some other spices! They also have shrimp that’s wrapped in bacon… OH MY GOODNESS! This is a must have if you ever eat at Bertha’s! They are to die for! Here are some things that i ordered…

Spicy Mussels

Shrimp stuffed with crab over the most perfectly cooked white delicious rice, topped with fresh veggies

And of course my mom had to bring cupcakes! I of course ate my favorite mint oreo…

In the bar, Berthas has rearranged their bumper stickers to spell out different things…

I also found this on the door to the bathroom..

EAT BERTHA’S MUSSELS!

 

Challah Bread

As my other post indicates… I LOVE to bake homemade bread. In culinary recently, my teacher taught us how to make challah! I was so excited, that i came home and made it all by myself. Lets just say, were almost finished a whole loaf in less than 5 days! I’m not Jewish, but challah is one of my favorite breads! It had a cake like texture and is a type of sweet bread! I eat it in the mornings with either cinnamon butter or peanut butter! Yum!

After you mix the flour, sugar, eggs, salt, yeast, water and oil together, you have to let the bread proof in a bowl and have it double in size!

Then, you roll it out into three long strands and braid it, just like you would braid hair. Then let it proof again and double in size.

Finally you bake it and enjoy your yummy delicious challah breads!

FBLA–Future Business Leaders of America

This past weekend Danielle, Taylor and I competed at the FBLA State conference. We won first place in business presentation at our region conference, so thus we got to move to states. We gave a presentation on the dangers of texting while driving. We named it “Don’t Drive Intexticated”. At the state level we came in 5th place out of 11 teams. Top 5 got awards, so went home happy with a medal.

This conference was one of the coolest experiences i have ever had! I am so thankful for my wonderful business teacher; Mrs. Metzler, for giving me the opportunity to make it to the state level. The whole conference was a blast! From dances to comedians, they had tons for us business leaders to do! I HIGHLY recommend any student in high school, to be involved in FBLA! It is seriously so much fun and it looks great on college applications!

5th Place!

Opening Ceremony

hahah, so my friends and i all decided to contribute snacks to our hotel room…lets just saw by the end of the three day, about 3/4 of the food was gone! haha

I also ate my first twinkie… let me just say, that will be the first and last twinkie that i will ever eat! hahah i’ll stay safe and just eat my cupcakes haha! Below is me caught in action of eating my cupcake…OH GOSH!

Here is a picture of my Team and my teacher.

(Far left) Mrs. Metzler, then Danielle, Taylor and (far right) Me; Amanda

Panera Bread

I can honestly say that Panera is one of my all time favorite places to eat!!! I take everyone there, i take my dates there, volleyball team, friends, you name it! I think I’ve tried everything on their menu and i have never once been disappointed!

Chicken Tortilla Soup–PERFECTION, with a piece of a whole grain baguette.. MMmmMMM! The flavors are on-point!

Bacon Turkey Bravo Sandwich– YUM! These perfection combinations make this the best feel good sandwich! Sitting by a warm fire or on a cozy couch, this sandwich will make you one happy person!

Sierra Turkey Sandwich– I always do the pick two combo and pick this as my half sandwich! The spread they use on this sandwich is just fabulous! It’s spicy yet sweet and the bread they use really compliments the flavors in the sandwich! YUM!

Garden Vegetable Soup with pesto–This soup is to die for! I know vegetables…YUCK! But not seriously, this soup has so much flavor and the vegetable are perfectly cooked and the pesto just gives it the right tangyness to create one delicious and light soup.

Mediterranean Salmon Salad–Okay, so i had this salad for the first time, last summer. I was worried because why would i get salmon at PANERA…but listen…its AMAZING! The salmon is cooked PERFECTLY to my surprise and the light vinaigrette on top of this salad just binds the whole thing together in harmony!

Roasted Turkey Fuji Apple salad–I think this is the 5th time ive had this salad in the pest 2 weeks…its my NEW FAVORITE! It has a sweet thick dressing and the salad has sweet dried apples, pecans and some cheese that really brings all the flavors together! Literally one of the greatest salads i have ever eaten!

Asian Sesame Chicken salad–This is a classic. I used to get this salad to-go, at least once a week! It is a sweet Asian vinaigrette, with crispy wontons on top. It is a very light salad that leaves you very satisfied at the end!

Candy (sugar) cookie–I can’t ever leave panera without snatching one of these cookies! They seriously bake these cookies too perfection and place the m&m’s so perfectly, that it just makes it the most moist and amazing cookie, that i have ever eaten!

Roasted Turkey Fuji Apple Salad, Chicken Noodle Soup and a whole grain baguette

Specialty Cakes

Kupcakes & Co. can also do specialty cakes. I only have a couple pictures, but here is some things we can do.

Baby shower cake, Made by Anne

Birthday Cupcakes, Made by me; Amanda

Tiffany & Co. Cupcakes, Made by Anne

Cupcakes made for the Blossoms of Hope Gala – Strawberry’s & Champagne (SO DELICIOUS)

Michelle, the owner (Left), Me, Amanda (Middle), and Anne, Head Baker (Right)

Kupcakes & Co. – Easter Cupcakes

At Kupcakes & co., we went very festive this year with our Easter cupcakes! At kupcakes & Co. we also take specialty cupcake orders! Our head baker, Anne, made titanic ship 3D cupcakes last week! They were phenomenal! I wish i had a picture of them!

I made a cookies and cream Easter egg basket,

Vanilla Cupcakes with Easter grass on top!

Vanilla cupcakes with colored icing and eggs

Chocolate cupcakes with peeps on top

Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes (My NEW FAVORITE!) This ganache is one of the greatest and smoothest ganache, you will ever ever ever taste!!!

The Saturday before Easter was insane at the shop! We kept up with the large line and had enough cupcakes to pipe and put out on retail! We were very prepared for the long line, unlike at Great Harvest Bread Company, MD.

I went there to buy lunch for the staff, and i am always greeted with nice and friendly people as i walk in, but not today. They didn’t care, they just wanted to get through the line. My checkout guy (only male i saw working) was very arrogant and made me feel unwanted at the shop, when i spend over $75 on my final bill. I was not greeted nor given one smile. I just felt like i was a huge bother! I love great harvest, so this was a major disappointment for me. People should not treat children differently, especially children spend over $75 and will tell their parents about their horrible experience! I also heard a women yell “Who ever is next in line needs to step up NOW” with a very pushy tone in her voice. Great Harvest was also out of everything! I went around noon, thinking they would still be stocked, but i couldn’t get sprouts on my sandwich, nor ham, nor focaccia bread, nor whole grain bread nor cookies…They just kept listing everything they had run out of. The man told me that they ran out of cookies, so he replaced mine with a brownie and said “don’t ever expect this again, its a one time DEAL”. I felt like i was being yelled at, while i spent a freaking $75!!!! It was very disappointing. I am going to think before i go in to this shop again. While i usually have an amazing experience, this one bad experience, really turned me off… Thanks for the sandwich…

R&R Taqueria – Elkridge, MD (Shell Station)

Yes i know tacos in a shell station… sketchy you say? But NO! I am not a fan of tacos AT ALL! They gross me out and the flavors are just awful! I found out that Guy from Diners drive ins and dives voted R & R best taco dive restaurant, so i decided to check the place out. I went with my co-worker Anne and her husband Chris. I needed some back up, since it was inside of a shell station, in a “not so safe” area. Okay so here are my reviews…

Guy’s signature on the wall…

The tacos were PHENOMENAL!

My co-worker Cathy (who has been to Mexico) said that the food tastes exactly what she had in Mexico! She said it was so authentic and delicious!

The food never gave you a stomach ache and all the flavors were just SPOT ON! You never even get the so called “taco bell burps”! You get a full tummy filled with delicious authentic, tacos, parilladas, sopas, etc.

I can’t exactly remember what this was called, but basically it was two pieces of bread that were soaked in a red pepper sauce, filled with cheese and peppers. It was extremely spicy, but the flavor was so delicious that you couldn’t stop eating it!

the best taco i had, was a chicken one with avocado, and Mexican cheese! it was literally one of the greatest and most flavorful tacos i have ever eaten in my life! I HIGHLY recommend this place! Huge dive, but totally worth trying!

Here is what the entrance looks like!

Overall i would rate this place a 4.5! Only because the location freaked me out… haha