Bodum milk frother

chocolate chai latte with extra foam! w/mallow and valrhona cocao powder.

A quick post before bed. I finally got myself a milk frother and it's quite awesome. It's small and wonderful. I've been meaning to get one for years.

making stuff up

I've been craving some kind of baked goods since I woke up this morning. Some how I feel I should at least put something in the oven instead of buying a ready to serve pie from the market. At first, I was thinking of getting a box of pre-mixed Betty Crocker, just add milk, pop it in the oven and call it a day. But what's so hard about taking an extra step? I have the same disease with running. I'll go out for a few miles then I'll say, "what's one more?" Before I know it, I've gone from 4 to 10 miles. What's the extra mile? I have plenty of eggs and milk at home, I just needed some flour and when you're at a place like whole foods how could you settle for pre-made? I spotted some almond meal/flour and it was over from there. I attemped to make french macarons years ago and failed badly. oh! how naive! So I decided to try again and...

FAIL!!!

what mine look like....

they turned out just a tiny better than the last time I tried.

what they are supposed to look like...

picture and recipe taken from here

They tasted like thin almond cookies which is still yummy, but I was not satisfied. So I took a simple cupcake recipe, replaced butter with avocados, added valrhona cocoa, chai tea and some spices and voila! mini chocolate chai spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and chocolate to top it off.



and madeleines too cuz the mini cupcake tins were full.

no recipes for these because I literally threw stuff together.

P.S Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Starbucks of Taiwan

85
Diamond Jamboree Shopping Center
2700 Alton Parkway, Suite # 123 Irvine, CA, 92606
Tel : (949) -553 -8585
BUSINESS HOURS :
MON - THUR 7AM - 10PM
FRI - SAT 7AM - MIDNIGHT
SUN 8AM - 10PM

The first 85 Degrees Celcius Bakery opened in Irvine in Sept. I tried the milk tea and it was just the way I like it, not too sweet. Their pastry selection is pretty good as well. It's a shame my stomach isn't bigger. There's so much I want to try, especially the taro flavored ones. oh well, next time. I'll definitely have to come again.

San Diego yummies

Mille Feuille
3896 5th Ave, San Diego, CA 92103
This was a very cute place but the food was just okay and the dessert choice didn't satisfy. Seeing as how there are many more options in SD I probably won't return here to try other items.









Chocolat Cremerie
509 Fifth Avenue
San Diego, CA 92101
(619) 238-9400
This place was even cuter with more than okay food. I love the cow logo all over the store, on the plates, cups and food tags. I had a chocolate chai latte and it hit the spot. The gelato is quite something too. mmm...yum!

Finishing SF

To finish up my SF post...here's a few more pics. I wasn't going to post the rest, but I have to mention La Note in Berkeley. I heart them very much. French is probably one of my favorite types of food if not the favorite. Everything was tasty. This was my carb load before the big run.






La Note
2377 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA