i heart cupcakes (literally!)

chocolate cupcakes with [raspberry] buttercream

i've been craving cupcakes lately. but instead of having to chose one of the many cupcakeries in dc or alexandria, and then having to make a decision on what flavor i want (too many choices!), i just decided to make my own. and since i had a limited amount of ingredients in house and only mini muffin tins, i ended up with mini chocolate cupcakes with raspberry buttercream. very v-day, don't you think?

mini cupcakes + mini hearts = big cute!

now, i just have to figure out what to do with all these! do you want a cupcake?

to do: eat in san diego

some of the offerings at chocolat on fifth ave (taken by camera phone) | san diego

i arrived in san diego yesterday to 80 degree weather (sorry dc'ers). during the superbowl, i had seen the forecast, but felt a little weird digging into my summer clothing storage for tank tops in february and decided against it. fail. people here are in shorts, tanks and flip flops. i'm poorly prepared in my short sleeved light sweaters and slacks - i am here for work after all. luckily the warmer weather only lasts until sunset, then it's a nice 65-70 degree evening. i LOVE it here.

miss danidee and i decided to have a catch up over sushi and sake in the gaslamp quarter last night. and instead of going to uber-chic [read: overpriced] nobu, we went to not-trying-as-hard, not-considered-as-chic, but uber tasty taka, known for it's "gourmet sushi" and authentic taste. needless to say, it was wonderful. we sat outside and enjoyed the weather while people watching and listening to a street performer in a full on double breasted suit (plus hat!) sing classic songs on the corner.

we tried to be adventurous and order a sushi style shrimp that apparently had a garnish of a shrimp's head with still moving antennae but since they were out of season, we opted to try a fresh quatro of seaweed salad. the seaweed was not like the usual marinated salad but instead fresh "kelp" (as dj called it when she saw it) with a sesame ginger dressing. the server warned us that some were adverse to the taste since it was pretty much tasted like sea. it was great! the textures of the different types seaweed were interesting and the sauce was a great compliment.

after ordering the usual favorites of unagi and salmon avocado, we opted to try special of bluetail tuna sashimi (it was so dark red that it was like magenta/purple ish). also, dj introduced me to a new taste of scallop sushi. raw scallops! who knew?! it was so fresh that it wasn't fishy, but so soft that it kinda just melted in your mouth. yum! this is the way sushi should be, everything was so fresh!

our meal was completed with a concoction that i learned from logorrheic - plum wine mixed with sake. since plum wine is so sweet, the sake mixes perfectly to make a tasty cocktail, with a great punch. surprise, you're tipsy!

finally, to top off the night, we had to check out the gelato place, chocolat (we had eyed it on our way up 5th ave). they sold all kinds of crepes and gelato, made from cocao from south america and africa. it was so pretty. and yummy. they had some more adventurous flavors but i opted for my favorite combination of chocolate hazelnut. dj ended up with two: a spicy chocolate and strawberry. this is a definite place to check out while walking around the gaslamp.

ok, time to work. more san diego to come later!

recipe: adobo

chicken adobo a la leah

inspired by mike's post, i got a craving for a good downhome filipino meal of adobo chicken tonight. and while he challenged his readers to an adobo throwdown, the reality is, there will be no winner because each family's adobo is slightly different, per the different regions of the philippines and quirks of each cook - in my case, my lola [grandmother].

my grandmother, mama, made the BEST adobo ever. however, there was no formal recipe passed down. all i remember is that it was heavy on the garlic, and i remember it was drier than most adobos -- most have a sauce -- an "au jus" if you will. after talking about it to my mom a long time ago, she mentioned that mama maybe used a cooking method of 'pinapasa' which literally means, 'to be squeezed'. i have yet to find a recipe to use this method but from what i understand, mama would take the chicken out after simmering and re-sear it with more garlic. needless to say, it was yummy.

i'm kinda 'a throw things in a pot and edit to taste' kinda cook. so here's my semi-just-now-made-up "recipe" for adobo (sans the extra pinapasa step). my recipe is for a smaller portion for 2-3 servings.

• 1.5 lbs of chicken wings, drumsticks or thighs (you can use breast, but it will probably be drier)
• 3-4 cloves of garlic depending on size
  
• 1/6 cup of soy sauce
  
• 1/6 cup of distilled vinegar
  
• 1 bay leaf
  
• 1 teaspoon-ish of whole peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon-ish of sugar
• salt and pepper to taste
  

1. salt and pepper the chicken - don't be too generous - you'll be adding soy and peppercorn later.
   
2. sear chicken in a hot pan with just a drizzle of oil. once the fat from the chicken renders, you'll have more than enough fat to keep the chicken from sticking. in fact, you'll have to drain the pain later on.
   
3. drain pan but leave about 1 tablespoon of fat in the pan.
   
4. lower heat to medium and add garlic. saute garlic for 1 minute.
   
5. splash a little of the soy sauce and vinegar in pan and scrape with a wooden spoon to de-glaze.
   
6. add soy sauce, vinegar, peppercorns, and bay leaf. simmer, add sugar, mix, then add chicken.
   
7. simmer on low for 40 minutes, turning chicken periodically to ensure chicken cooks on all sides.
   
8. taste the sauce. add salt and pepper to taste.
   
9. serve over rice. if you're not down with eating whole peppercorns, make sure to pick them out!
   

enjoy!

belated inauguration stuff

for the millionth time, inauguration was amazing. i'll spare you the details -- i know almost a week later people have been oversaturated but i don't want my pictures to fall into the black hole of memory cards. this blog is, afterall, for posterity.

here are my some of my favs from the weekend. the others are up on the flickr site (with details).

WE ARE ONE: INAUGURAL CONCERT

wesley was at the mall at 5am. what an amazing day for such a great kid!


after waiting 4+ hours for the concert, people started climbing trees...

and finding seats on the port o' pottys (yuck!)...


and just being fun.

mood of the weekend: hopeful for CHANGE


INAUGURATION DAY

7:00am vs 10:00am

watching the sun rise with 1.9million of my best friends

a sea of people

"office of president of the united states..."

just think: family circus

liveleah and kitas' adventures at inauguration 2009
getting there, getting out, and getting fed: a 13 hour journey.


click to see commentary, time estimations, and restaurant fails and wins along the way.

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photos coming soon!