birthday dinner recap

Everyone who knows me knows I tend not to make a big deal about my birthday. It’s just not my style. I may crack jokes about the tiaras and such but really, it’s just like any other day. I just like to enjoy the day with good food and good people. I ended up going to Stonefire Grill courtesy of my lil sister Kristine’s recommendation. It was ah-mazing to say the less. The tri tip was excellent! 🙂

We ordered two stimulus packages which came with salad, bread sticks, pizza, and a meat of our choice. We got the caesar salad..I’m not one to brag about salads but holy cow it was hands down the best salad I’ve had.

The breadsticks were okay. I didn’t wow over them like I did the salad. I was looking for the herby flavor but it wasn’t there. It was also a little too bready for me.

We got two pizzas. The first one had italian sausage and mushrooms. I don’t remember much about the toppings but the SAUCE! OH THE SAUCE..it was ah-mazing. I need pizza sauce like that man. The crust was excellent as well. It was flat bread but crispy and delicious.

The second pizza is hawaiian. I would like to rave again about the sauce! 🙂

I wanted to go to Stonefire for the sake of trying their tri tip. I love my meat, what can I say? 😛 Anyway, their tri tip came with two different sauces. One was bbq and the other was garlic butter. The bbq kicked butt! 🙂

Here’s the bbq one

Here’s the garlic..

And last but not least..not dessert but the fire outside of the restaurant

I would like to say that yes, people thought I was strange for taking pictures of every course of my meal. Hey, I’m a food blogger. It’s what we do. Besides, none of us are normal! That would be way too boring. If you haven’t been there, give it a whirl. I recommend the tri tip! 🙂 Thanks for reading.

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

chinese new year!

I hope everyone had a great Chinese New Year! 🙂 Filled with lots of luck, red envelopes, and of course food.
This is a picture of Hainese chicken

This picture is more complicated..there’s abalone, broccoli, carrots, snow pea, water chestnuts, dried scallops, mushrooms, and the black hair like thing in the middle. You might cringe if you haven’t heard or seen it before but make no mistake people. It’s de-li-cious.

This is fish with sauteed green onions, ginger, and soy sauce

Vermicelli noodles are also a staple.

I think these are called water chestnuts? Correct me if I’m wrong..my mom didn’t know what they were called in English and neither do I!

Nothing like bright kumquats to ring in the new year! 🙂

My mom also got me a birthday cake from Cathy Bakery. It’s a mocha cake with strawberries, kiwis, and grapes on top. You probably haven’t heard the combination before unless you’re used to asian bakeries.

That’s me trying to cut my cake while people kept distracting me! Haha

It’s not my birthday yet. I can’t believe I’ll be turning 23 this Thursday. Sometimes time just flies by too fast. Come this June I will be considered a college graduate and possible graduate student. That sounds unbelievably scary. Anyway, have a great Chinese New Year! Gong Hai Faat Toy 🙂

On a side note, I hope everyone in the Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Georgia area is okay. I can’t believe the devastation the tornado caused. The pictures were heart wrenching. For those living in Clay County Alabama, rest assure Team Rubicon will be there if they’re not already there. I have all of you in my prayers.

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

chocolate cupcakes w/chocolate bavarian cream frosting

It’s almost Chinese New Years! I’m super excited to be home this weekend because I know there’s going to be ah-mazing food. I blogged about vanilla cupcakes earlier in the week and now I’m blogging about chocolate cupcakes. I made both to give away as gifts to family for Chinese New Years. Some of the older family members don’t really like chocolate because they think it’s too sweet. I opted to use a classic chocolate mix for the cupcakes. It worked out pretty well because I didn’t taste the overwhelming abundance of chocolate or cocoa powder. I actually cut holes in the cupcakes and filled them with chocolate bavarian cream that I got from Sweet Baking Supply. I was originally going to frost the cupcakes with the same buttercream frosting as the vanilla ones. However, my buttercream was really hating on me so I frosted them with leftover chocolate bavarian cream instead. I topped them with brown jimmies just for decoration.

Here’s the recipe..
Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Bavarian Cream Frosting
1 box classic chocolate cake mix made according to instructions (also add in 1 small box of chocolate pudding mix)
1 lb chocolate bavarian cream
brown jimmies
cupcake liners

1. Make cupcake batter according to instructions. I added the pudding mix because it gives the cupcakes a fluffy delicate texture. I’ve found that adding pudding mix and maybe some whipping cream or sour cream really punches in the flavor.
2. Let all cupcakes cool before frosting them.
3. When cupcakes are cool, cut holes in them and dig out the middle of the cupcake.
4. Fill the hole with chocolate bavarian cream and then allow it to “overflow” so you have enough for frosting the top.
5. Sprinkle with brown jimmies or any kind of sprinkles and enjoy! 🙂

I love this cake mix. The classic chocolate is really great because I’m more of a cake than a frosting person. I always go for cakes that make the frosting instead of frosting’s that make the cake. I enjoyed them without the frosting but since I was giving them away as gifts, I had to dress them up somehow! Thanks for coming by.

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

peruvian stir fry chicken & beef w/noodles

I tried a peruvian chicken recipe from Okie Dokie Artichokie and fell in love with the flavor. The smell itself will make your mouth water. My roommate actually came into the kitchen and asked what I was making. I decided to try it with beef fillet because that’s the kind of person I am. I must say, it taste amazing with beef. I think it was more amazing with beef than chicken. To find the recipe for her recipe, scroll through the right sidebars of my blog and her blog should be listed under blogroll. I’ll be making chocolate cupcakes tomorrow so look out for the recipe for that. I’ve been trying to cook and bake so I could test out my camera and have goodies to give away for Chinese New Year. I can’t wait for all the yummy food I’m going to stuff my face with when I get home! 🙂 It’s going to be so awesome. I get to test out my camera with that too 🙂 I hope everyone is having a great week. I’m super sleepy as I’m typing this because I spent 8 hours at school today. Ya gotta do what you gotta do. You could definitely count on pictures from Chinese New Year!

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

noodles w/stir fry beef & bok choy

The weekend is here! And I still have no idea what I want to do. How awesome is that? 😦 Well..I’m still addicted to taking pictures of the cupcakes I made yesterday. Here are a few more shots of the caramel sauce and heath bar bits.


I’ve also worked my way back to snacking on some awesome chocolate. Albertson’s sells real cheap Cadbury chocolate and it’s DELICIOUS! 🙂 In my opinion it beats the Godiva bars which are over $2 more per bar. I have a soft spot for dark chocolate. I also found these awesome smash bars. They have cereal, chocolate bits, berry bits, and pretzels in them. They tasted a lot better than I thought they would. So much for a healthy snack! And lastly, my love for Dove’s dark chocolate hearts will never fade. Had to get some of those of course 🙂


Here’s the recipe..
Noodles w/Stir Fry Beef & Bok Choy
1lb egg noodles
1 lb beef fillet marinaded according to your preference
1 bag bok choy cut and washed
6 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of water
water for boiling noodles

1. Boil the egg noodles in water until the water becomes bubbly with the noodles in them.
2. Drain noodles and wash with cold water.
3. Pour 1/2 cup of water into the pot/pan (whatever you’re using) and add in the garlic and bok choy. Boil until the bok choy turns colors. The stems should go from a solid white color to a translucent white.
4. In a medium pan, stir fry your beef fillet to medium rare.
5. Add the noodles into the pan and stir fry with beef.
6. Scoop some onto a plate and serve with bok choy on the side.

It’s a quick lunch/dinner that’s pretty filling. I hope you try it out 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

vanilla cupcakes

I’m better! Hooray for sweets again. I’m so excited it’s not even funny. As some of you know, I had a long battle with a bacterial infection starting the day after Christmas until now. I’m almost done with the antibiotics so I should be as good as new in a few days. My friend from New York rolled his eyes at me because I begged and pleaded for a new camera as my birthday present. It’s not my birthday yet but HOLY COW! I love it 🙂 I tested out my new camera by baking up some yummy cupcakes. My current roommate Maggie isn’t a fan of chocolate so I made her vanilla cupcakes. I also saved the rest to give away to family for Chinese New Years. My mother requested that I come home next weekend. She said she doesn’t care what’s going on..how nice of her right? Anyway, I’m a big fan of boxes cake mixes. I always say you can’t go wrong with them but sometimes you can. Red velvet? Not a fan. My sister made some from the box mix once and it was grody. I’m not a fan of red velvet. Chocolate all the way man! 🙂 I used two different toppings. One topping was caramel topping sauce and heath bar bits and the other topping was Hershey’s special dark chocolate syrup and brown jimmies. I aspire to be a cupcake decorator. It’s pretty fun 🙂

Here’s the recipe..
Vanilla Cupcakes w/buttercream frosting
1 box vanilla cake mix baked according to instructions
heath bar bits
approximately 1-2 cups buttercream frosting
a piping tip
caramel topping sauce
brown jimmies
Hershey’s special dark chocolate syrup

buttercream frosting:
4 egg whites
1 cup of granulated sugar
3 sticks unsalted butter

1. Bake cupcakes according to instructions.
2. Let cupcakes cool while you make the buttercream frosting (it takes awhile).
3. Pipe buttercream frosting using a piping tip onto your cooled cupcakes.
4. Drizzle caramel sauce or chocolate syrup onto the buttercream frosting.
5. Sprinkle caramel sauce cupcakes with heath bar bits and chocolate syrup cupcakes with brown jimmies.

Enjoy em! 🙂 I really like the turn out of the pictures of the chocolate syrup cupcakes.

The caramel sauce ones look nice too! 🙂

What can I say? I’m pretty much a cupcake freak. I spend my days dreaming about cupcakes from Dots Cupcakes (Pasadena), Mrs.Beasley’s (Pasadena), and Sprinkles (Newport Beach). Thanks for coming by! 🙂 I’ll be updating more about Chinese New Years and what all the different dishes represent. It’s quite interesting after my mom explained everything to me 🙂

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

cinnamon french toast

To get back in the groove of early morning classes I’ve been making huge filling breakfasts so it will last me until lunch break. People work 9-5 and I go to school 9-5. I usually eat a large breakfast and then a sandwich for lunch with granola bars and some sort of fruit to cover in between. This french toast recipe is pretty simple. So simple in fact I’m not sure it’s called french toast?

Here’s the recipe..
Cinnamon French Toast
3 pieces of sourdough bread
1 large egg (the largest you can find)
1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon (more if you like)
butter for frying

1. Heat your skillet on medium low and melt butter.
2. In a medium plate, beat the egg and add in the cinnamon. Beat to combine.
3. Dip each piece of bread in the egg mixture, turning to coat both sides.
4. Drop into melted butter and cook for about 2-3 minutes on each side. You could turn up the heat after you have all the bread in the skillet.

Hope you enjoy it 🙂 It’s super simple and it screams college kid so that’s why I use it. I would like to use this time to point out to everyone that Top Shot Season 4 will be airing on the History Channel on Valentines Day this year! My big bruhder will be on there. Be sure to look for Chee Kwan as a contestant! 🙂 Also here’s the link to his website (http://www.cheekwan.com).I didn’t even know he had one? Yeah, talk about leaving your little sis out of the loop! It’s all good though. When everyone wants his autograph I’ll be square because I have plenty of them and I have cool pictures of Hello Kitty and mosquito mans that he drew me. He also insisted I put up paper targets that he shot for me. Talk about corruption. Until next time! 🙂

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

eating semi-healthy?

My dad insisted I bring back lots of fruit and vegetables to school so I could keep my immune system functional. I got a huge bag of baby bok choy, a bag of lettuce, and a box of cherry tomatoes. The tomatoes are divine. I love tomatoes. They rock. Anyhoo, I’ve been eating sandwiches and salads for breakfast and lunch. Yes, you read correctly. I eat salads for breakfast. It was a bit strange but hey, I like being weird. It can’t be helped. This morning for breakfast I had a salad with balsamic vinegar dressing and two pieces of sourdough toast. I took this picture with natural light.

The sandwich I ate for lunch was ah-mazing. It was a cajun chicken pita sandwich. I got it because it sounded really yummy and because it was packed with lots of lettuce and bell peppers. I took this shot without the flash, which was a horrible idea! 😦

This last one is leftovers. I had white rice with sweet and sour pork ribs and two pieces of sourdough bread with butter. Hey, I said semi-healthy didn’t I? I had them nicely toasted so they reminded me of California Pizza Kitchens bread.

I’ll try my best to post my french toast adventure tomorrow and hopefully my noodle dish on Thursday. Thanks for reading. And you’re probably wondering but I do know it’s still Tuesday and not Wednesday. While I’ve dreamed of participating in What I Ate Wednesdays..I can’t ever seem to remember to post something for that. Yikes!

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

my awesome mother

For the last two weeks I’ve been coughing, sneezing, and all sorts of bad stuff. This week I’m finally back at school and I got to see the doctor today. It was pretty great because today I finally got to take a 3 hour nap. I haven’t been able to sleep much at home so no sleep and fighting an infection is a losing battle. I have to give cudos to my mother. She tried to provide every remedy she could think of in order to keep me semi-okay before I could come back to school to see the doctor. I curse myself for buying school health insurance. Actually, I curse all health insurance because they make it so difficult. Anyway, before I came back last night my mom made me a send off dinner. All of my favorite delicious dishes minus the shrimp and eggs because I couldn’t eat seafood. She also packed me lots of food because she knows when I’m here I’m too lazy to cook. She made me noodles which were pure comfort food. While doped up on meds earlier I was testing out my camera and using natural light. They came out better than I thought they would.


I have a french toast recipe and a noodle recipe I want to post so hopefully this week will allow me the time to do so. Cheers 🙂

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

beef hor fun

I’m still sick!! I seriously don’t know what’s going on with me. I’ve been taking antibiotics for almost a week and I’m still coughing up a lung. When I saw coughing up a lung, I mean it. It’s some pretty narly stuff, but in a bad way. On NYE, my dad bought some rice noodles and for breakfast I decided on make this dish. It could be found in most Chinese restaurants although I believe the name varies depending on which restaurant it is. It’s super simple and delicious.

Here’s the recipe..
Beef Hor Fun
half a bag of rice noodles
2 teaspoons soy sauce divided
2 teaspoons oyster sauce divided
2 teaspoons black sesame oil divided
salt and pepper to taste
green onions (optional)
a pinch of chicken broth paste
half a lb of beef fillet cut into strips

1. Marinade the beef fillet with a teaspoon of soy sauce, oyster sauce, and black sesame oil. Add chicken broth paste, salt, and pepper.
2. Stir fry noodles with a teaspoon of soy sauce, oyster sauce, and black sesame oil.
3. After noodles are done, place them in a plate. Sear and stir fry beef fillet. When beef is almost done, add in green onions for a quick stir fry.
4. Add rice noodles back into the pan and stir fry everything together.

I hope you enjoy it 🙂 It’s pretty filling. Thanks for reading. I’m off to the doctor.

Fail Sweetly,
Justina