Happy Halloween!

I know I know, two weeks too late. I stayed at work until about 6 pm on Halloween to finish up some things and boy was that a mistake. I sat in traffic for almost an hour. It doesn’t sound that bad, but the drive to my place is about 7-10 minutes so it was ridiculous. Every road I turned to was backed up, I should have just taken the freeway. Then I get home and it’s late, I’m cranky from traffic and it’s raining. I promised my brothers I would take them trick or treating but as we walked out – it started to pour. I let out an exasperated sigh and asked if I could just buy them candy and make it a day. They agreed. (THANK YOU LORD). So Longs got a hold of my wallet that night but it was so worth it. Anyway, just wanted to share some Halloween themed items I took part in that weekend!

141114-01Centerpiece for a Halloween Party – I thought it was very cute! Creative and cute, I loved it.

141114-02Dessert from Little Oven. Here is the graveyard ice cream sandwiches. Cute huh?

141114-03Franken Fluff – a chocolate brownie topped with homemade marshmallow fluff. Yum!

141114-04Bloody Lemonade

This was a special for the Halloween weekend. I figured it would be strawberry lemonade but it was actually lemonade with grenadine. Pretty right? How was it? Um…SWEET. Like SUPER SWEET. Like I kept adding water upon water to the drink to make it bearable. I think I must have added at least half a cup of water to make it normal.

Happy Monday!

Can’t think of a better way to start Monday morning than with donuts! I’ve been having a hankering for Krispy Kreme donuts lately. Blame it on the hormones. I even had a chance to grab some last week but resisted but that was mostly because my co-worker talked me away from it (how’s her yeah? J/K.). Anyway, I’ve been seeing these donuts pop up all around Social Media and I just had to try it! They are Floresta Nature Doughnuts and they are sold in the Ranch 99 Food Court. They are actually housed within Kansai Yamato which is a local mochi company. Okay, I can say this because I am Chinese…they get some grumpy Chinese ladies working there. I am actually surprised that this Japanese confectionary has all these Chinese ladies. English is not their first language and customer service is definitely not their priority. It is very true, you can stand around in front of the shop for a while before they acknowledge you. When they do, don’t expect stellar service. If you can get past all that, give their stuff a try. These donuts are PRICEY. At least $2 each, but I keep hearing how they’re better for you…and well it helps that they’re so cute! I don’t quite know the different flavors of these donuts…they are pretty creative. The “ears” on the donuts are actually almonds! I didn’t know the coating of the donuts were HARD, I figured they were some kind of soft frosting. How are they? Well, they taste like healthier donuts. They’re not bad but not great, nothing I would go back for especially for the price. So why don’t we just look at how cute they are…look but no buy (next time anyway).

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Little Oven – Stars and Stripes Edition

The Little Oven opened up on the 4th of July weekend and has been pretty constant since! Get your butt out there to try some desserts before they close again – I warned ya! Anyhow, don’t let this post dissuade you. One bad experience out of many should not be grounds for not trying the place.

Also, my apologies for being lax on the posting. Last week was crazy but luckily I got through it. We had a training on Saturday so I basically worked 6 days…and it was exhausting. I old you know. Haha and yesterday was crazy weather! The high winds, I was scared our roof would be ripped off already! Then the humidity. My god, this weather is terrible. Every time I had to walk out of my office, I felt like the humidity just wrapped around me. I need the rain to come down and push it out! Hope you folks had a good weekend.

140717-01Coffee Cake – $4.00
It was my first time trying this and shucks…it was so disappointing. The cake was incredibly dry. The topping tasted fine yeah, the cake was disappointing. Was I expecting something different? Is it because I was supposed to be drinking coffee as I ate this so the cake would be moist? Ah, I don’t know. I wouldn’t get this again though.

140717-02Milk and Cookies – $5.00

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My friend gave me a bit of a ribbing for this one. Milk and cookies does sound a bit silly huh? I figured since it was homemade cookies made by them, it would be good! Well this was Kristian’s dessert, he didn’t seem pleased. He liked them but they definitely were just…milk and cookies, nothing special.

So many Little Oven posts: click here

Recipe: Strawberry Poke Cake with Lemon Whipped Topping

Long name for a recipe huh? I didn’t want to call it a lemon frosting because I feel like frosting makes it sound so sweet when it was my goal to make a not so sweet topping. So here is what I came up with! It was my brother’s birthday and I wanted to make him a cake – it was a success! His brothers enjoyed the cake more than him but eh…as long as it was being eaten, it’s fine! Let me share some pictures and the recipe!

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I was running out of icing to write the words so excuse the messy handwriting. Admire the fresh fruit. 🙂

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My recipe makes a lot of whipped topping! So I think you could make a layered cake but it’s hard to do that with this cake…since there’s jello in it. I guess you could do it after the jello sets!

Strawberry Poke Cake with Lemon Whipped Topping

Cake:

1 pkg.  (2-layer size) white cake mix (I used this one)

1 cup  boiling water

1 pkg.  (3 oz.) JELL-O Strawberry Flavor Gelatin

1/2 cup  cold water

Lemon Whipped Topping:

1 tub (12 oz) Cool Whip Whipped Topping, thawed

3 lemons worth of squeezed juice

2/3 can of condensed milk (7 oz. can)

Decorations:

1 6 oz. container of blueberries

1 16 oz. container of strawberries

Prepare cake batter and bake as directed on package for 13×9-inch pan. Cool cake in pan 15 min. Pierce cake with large fork at 1/2-inch intervals.

Add boiling water to gelatin mix in small bowl; stir 2 min. until completely dissolved. Stir in cold water; pour over cake. Refrigerate 3 hours.

Gently combine lemon whipped topping ingredients in a bowl and frost cake in the pan. Decorate cake with sliced strawberries and blueberries as desired. Refrigerate at least one hour before serving.

Notes:
– The frosting has the perfect amount of lemon juice, the condensed milk adds a sweet touch. I really like the frosting because it complements the cake, doesn’t overpower it. 
– The fruits should definitely be used, makes a big difference in the taste of the cake! Delicious.
– Strawberry Poke Cake recipe courtesy of Kraft Recipes, frosting by me! 🙂

Elvin’s Bakery – Kalihi, HI

Yay! My favorite cake currently comes from Elvin’s Bakery. They are a mom and pop shop and create some of the best cakes I have ever tried. My favorite? The Mango Mousse cake! I enjoy the round cake the most because that one comes with a soft cookie lining. Unfortunately the bigger sizes don’t come with the lining…but the cake is great nonetheless! We recently had an appreciation celebration for our student employees and ordered a cake from Elvin’s. It was delicious and a hit! Here are some pictures, we got the 1/4 sheet…

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We did a calculation comparing this cake with the cakes from Deelite Bakery, the bigger sizes (1/4 sheet and up) are cheaper at Elvin’s. Elvin’s is located in the same shopping center as the old Palama Supermarket, give them a try!

IL Gelato Hawaii – Honolulu, HI

Hi folks. It’s been a long week already but I am definitely going to try to keep up with the posts! Lots of stuff is going on but I’m hoping things settle down soon. Hope you folks are all doing well! I’ve been enjoying the chilly weather these past few days, I wish it could stay! Speaking of chilly, I’m here to share with you a dessert I had recently! I’ve tried IL Gelato before at a farmer’s market and really enjoyed it so I was definitely happy to see them pop open at Kahala Mall!

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One Scoop of Old Fashioned Chocolate Gelato – $3.75

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Delicious! I love their chocolate gelato. It’s such a rich and creamy chocolate taste. It was really reminscent of ice cream I had as a kid. It’s hard to explain but just trust me, bugga taste good. 🙂

140319-03Kona Royale – $7.50

140319-04Kristian felt like a Kona Coffee dessert. They didn’t have the actual kona coffee gelato so he tried the Kona Royale. It was very big and jam packed with stuff. I really think this is more of a two person dessert – Kristian could not finish it! How was the taste though? I’ll let him comment since it was his dessert.

Sunny Side – Wahiawa, HI

I’ve heard about Sunny Side for years now but I hardly go out to that side so I never got to try it.  On my productive day off, I decided to hit up Sunny Side on the way to the North Shore.  What a great idea!  I’ve been missing out all these years!  I love the feel of this place, definitely a small business that serves up some great food for us locals.  We got ourselves some breakfast and a slice of their infamous pie.  Check it out.

140110-01Fried Rice Special with Eggs over Easy.  Delicious!  And so cheap…cash only though.  Luckily I knew.  

140110-02Side of hash browns.  Can’t go wrong with this.  I thought it tasted just fine!  Like my art work?  Haha!

140110-03Slice of their blueberry cream pie.  This was mainly for my cousin who is a blueberry freak and she LOVED it.  She’s pretty picky too.  She even asked for it the other day…I guess we’ll have to go back when she comes home again!

Recipe: Spice Cake (shhh…Prune Cake)

So Prune Cake.  Have you heard of it?  I think I’m too young to know of it’s origins but I guess it used to be served at all the weddings a while back?  I’ve been wanting to eat prune cake for a long time now and I don’t know why.  I visited a craft fair a few weeks back and bought a mini prune cake loaf and it was DELISH.  Why am I calling it spice cake?  So people don’t run after hearing prunes.  Why do prunes get such a bad rap!  I really wanted to try to make this on my own to make up for that damn failed mochi donut recipe.  I think I succeeded!  Come and take a look!

131213-01Look at how moist this cake is…it is the most moist cake you will ever taste!

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Recipe: Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Sheet Cake

Happy Halloween…2 weeks ago!  Nah, it’s okay.  It’s still autumn so this dessert still works!  Our division held a Halloween party which included an autumn dessert contest.  As the representative for my office, I took on the challenge and WON!  Yay!  Okay so there were only two desserts entered…but a win is a win.  I shall take it.  I’m not used to eating too many autumn desserts but I think this one came out pretty nice!  Check out the pictures and the recipe inside this post!

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Let the oozy pumpkin goodness lure you in…

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The Little Oven – Part Deux

Did I tell you folks?  The Little Oven is back in business!  Yay!  They recently opened up again and hold hours on Friday and Saturday nights.  I was so happy!   You know what’s even better?  They have been consistently open the entire time!  And I don’t mean that as a cutting remark, really I don’t.  I am one of their biggest fans so I am genuinely happy they are open!  The waiter knows us already – not by name yet.  I think I should learn to introduce myself more to people.  So they’re back to making some great desserts!  About two weeks ago, they served a special called the Autumn Trio.  I am SO happy I decided to try it!  Please join me as we enter dessert heaven.

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A feast for your eyes and your mouth!

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