Sugar Rush

What does one do when finals are looming? Learn to drive defensively and eat lots of sweets of course! I was lent a car by my awesome cousin so we went to all my favorite places: Clementine, Target and then drove the 101 to the 405, got off at Wilshire, realized I was headed towards Susie Cakes so we made a pit stop. All in all, a perfect day. Over by Ameba Records was a food truck I’d never seen before, Buttermilk. Clearly this was a good point to stretch my legs so I got out and try it.

They had some off the wall items, like a red velvet pancake…

I opted for home made cake doughnuts!

YUM! I got sugar all over my phone and my outfit but it was so worth it! There was just enough sugar to be sweet but not too sweet. They were gone in a matter of moments. I love a classic cake doughnut.

After my freeway adventure, which went well, the car was pointed in the direction of Susie Cakes so we stopped by and got another treat!

OK, so the red velvet was good, but it wasn’t as good as the pineapple upside down cupcake! Remember that? They had it but I wanted to try something new. My cousin Joe had the marble cake which I tried. It was truly delish. The cake was moister than the red velvet cupcake. Boy, do I LOVE treats! I did have a bit of a sugar hangover, which I cured with a run. My run was really hard in the middle but the back of my legs are sore in a way they haven’t been before which I am excited about. Today really was a fun day!

Welcome to Spring Break kids!

Yesterday was the first day of spring break! My mom flew in from Chicago. On Monday we’re going to Palm Springs but yesterday we hit starbucks, went to Mozza (so no pictures) and target! After Target we went to third st. and kings road for cupcakes from Joan’s on Third.

First, Joans us such a great shop! Wonderful prepared foods and little snacks. We got a cupcake, which we split. I choose chocolate coconut!

It was really good. Different from Sprinkles, a little thicker but not richer or too thick. It was delicous and the frosting was delicious.

Across the street there is a sign on an empty store front that says “Magnolia Bakrey New York, Coming Soon” so stay tuned.

It’s that time of year again…

Can you spot it lurking in my freezer? It’s Girl Scout cookie time!

Coming out of Trader Joe’s there was a lone Girl Scout and I just couldn’t help myself. After delving into the nutritional facts I discovered that thin mints and shortbread are the two least unhealthy girl scout cookies. Lets be honest, I went with the chocolate! There is 160 calories per 4 cookies. I leave them in my freezer because I love how they taste when they’re cold. Its all about portion control right? 😉

I figured I was entitled to these cookies because it was the last 1L memo weekend! Feeling so good that it’s Sunday night and this weekend is over. Next week is the last week before Spring Break. On Friday my Mom is coming and and the following Monday we’re going to Palm Springs! The weather is getting better in LA (up to the 70’s again) and with this out of the way it’s starting to feel like spring has sprung.

Question of the Day: What is your memo (or stress) comfort food?

It's that time of year again…

Can you spot it lurking in my freezer? It’s Girl Scout cookie time!

Coming out of Trader Joe’s there was a lone Girl Scout and I just couldn’t help myself. After delving into the nutritional facts I discovered that thin mints and shortbread are the two least unhealthy girl scout cookies. Lets be honest, I went with the chocolate! There is 160 calories per 4 cookies. I leave them in my freezer because I love how they taste when they’re cold. Its all about portion control right? 😉

I figured I was entitled to these cookies because it was the last 1L memo weekend! Feeling so good that it’s Sunday night and this weekend is over. Next week is the last week before Spring Break. On Friday my Mom is coming and and the following Monday we’re going to Palm Springs! The weather is getting better in LA (up to the 70’s again) and with this out of the way it’s starting to feel like spring has sprung.

Question of the Day: What is your memo (or stress) comfort food?

Jin Patisserie

Last weekend when my Dad and I were kicking around Venice we decided to stop in at Jin Patisserie for cake and some tea! The courtyard was so cute! There were little tables in the courtyard in front of the house that the patisserie is housed in. It was a sunny afternoon and the weather was perfect for sitting outside and having a little cake.

I ordered the Lavender Gateau cake. It was layer cake infused with lavender, butter cream, bitter chocolate ganache, and lavender sponge. It was so light and there was a slight lavender flavor. The chocolate ganache perfectly balanced out the lavender cake flavor. I highly recommend this cake.

To top it off I ordered Turkish tea! So good and we all know about my love of Turkey. I will absolutely visit this place again. On a similar note, I really loved Abbot Kinney Blvd in Venice. Its such a great walkable area and I can see myself hanging out in cafes and reading a book. Something to think about for the future…

http://www.jinpatisserie.com/

Outrageous Brownies

There are some foods that are just too good. Barefoot Contessa’s outrageous brownies are one of those food items. I am not surprised that she sent these to her husband Jeffrey when he was in college and he ended up marrying her. That’s the kind of power these brownies have. Also, this is Ina’s recipe but my mother is famous for making these brownies. I hope I can follow in her foot steps… and here is why everyone loves these brownies…

Two sticks of butter, one bag of good chocolate chips and three cubes of baking chocolate! Melt them together, take off the heat and let them cool down.

While the chocolate is melting combine egg, sugar, vanilla, and instant coffee grinds. Set aside until the chocolate has melted and cooled down.

Go ahead and combine the egg mix before setting aside until the butter/chocolate mix melts and cools down.

Also while the butter and chocolate mix is melting combine flour, baking powder and salt and set aside for later.

After a while the butter has melted, cooled, and looks so delicious! Nothing is more yummy than butter and melted chocolate!

Then you combine the cooled chocolate mixture with the egg and sugar combination and combine well. Let cool after combined. Otherwise the egg might do some funky stuff…

Then slowly fold in the flour in three parts…

Once the flour has been completely well combined you can add another handful or so of chocolate chips and walnuts (although you can leave out of your allergic).

Take the mixture and put it into a pan and cook at 350 degrees for 15 mins. Rap the side of the pan to release the air from the brownies and cook for another 20 mins. When the brownies are done baking take them out and let them cool completely. Then refrigerate them overnight (make sure to cover in press and seal!)

Like always, so delicious. I truly believe that these brownies have insane power over people. I blame the coffee!

So good! Make them for yourself: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/outrageous-brownies-recipe3/index.html

Note that I made a half portion because the full is too big to 1) fit in my fridge and 2) can feed a small army.

Driving Lesson 2

Hello world!

So tonight is driving lesson #2. This is a good thing. However, this also means that I will lose at least 2 hours of my precious work time this evening. That fact means that my already busy day is becoming busier. I’m a big fan of taking mini breaks during my day but that was just not really happening today. I had class, worked on my forthcoming graded memo, attended a volunteer meeting for the UCLA Public Interest Auction, and sat at a table for an hour selling tickets. In typical Katherine fashion I just signed up for a tabling slot without consulting my class schedule so my hour of tabling interfered with Civil Procedure. I ended up listening to the class on tape recorder and getting notes instead of going late. Oddly it feels less stressful for me to know that I can make the class up rather than going in late, getting stared at by my classmates and seeming like I have been blowing the class off.

So in any case, I ended up with a found hour in my day. As you all know the life of a law student can be pretty stressful (the never ending wait to hear back from places I’ve interviewed with, the emails packed with innuendos that they’ll hire me, the uncertainty of it all) so I decided that I should get out of the law building and take a walk. I was also craving something sweet. My feet led me to a nice sunny area with tables and chairs… AND FOOD TRUCKS!

Our good friends at the GastroBus were there today with a perfect dessert to cure a sweet craving, pound cake with lemon curd.

It hit the spot! The cake was light, but not too light, and delicious. The lemon and raspberry curd gave a subtle sweetness to the cake without being overwhelming. I also got to sit in the sun and get some reading done while enjoying my cake. With all the craziness going on (ramping up for the end of the semester, the summer job search, and for me, the wait to hear from places I’ve interviewed with) it was nice to just sit in the sun with a little pound cake and lemon curd.

My stress subsided slightly and now I have to trot off to Lawyering Skills and then to my driving lesson. Wish me luck!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

“Maybe the Legislature was concerned about the unrestricted flow of baked goods into the market?” –Quote from today’s Constitutional Law class. We were discussing Lochner v. New York.

Since the theme of today’s Con Law class was protecting bakers from having their right to contract taken away from them I will finally write this post about cookies that I have been putting off…

To be perfectly honest, I use the proportions that are available on the back of any bag of chocolate chips. I know that is probably lame sounding but I have a few upgrades that make the cookies extra special and delicious. All proportions were taken from the back of a chocolate chip bag, unless otherwise noted.

The first step is to combine the dry ingredients and set them aside. This includes flour, baking powder, and salt. Then I take the suggested measurement of butter and brown it. This gives the butter an even richer flavor when baked into the cookie.

While the butter continues to melt I combine the brown sugar and granulated sugar in a bowl which I will later add the browned butter to.

Once the butter is browned (you can tell because it will be melted, slightly brown, and it is important that it does burn) I combine and mix with the sugar.

Once the butter and sugars are incorporated evenly I add the egg and vanilla to the mix and combine well. I have but did not use electric beaters for this mix, but it is appropriate to use them at this stage. Make sure, if doing this by hand, that they are combined well.

Once the egg is mixed well, I combine the flour mix into the recipe is three parts. If mixing by hand, this is the part where you really have to make sure that you mix it well!

Then I add the second special ingredient: a teaspoon of Saigon Cinnamon from the Spice House! This gives the cookies the little something extra that makes them totally addictive (thanks Carolyn for this tip! It’s the best!)

This creates a great base cookie. I can add what ever ingredients I want to from this point. This time I decided to add oatmeal and chocolate chips.

Again… it’s important to combine well!

Normally I like to chill the dough before I bake them. Then I make as many cookies as I want and chill the rest of the dough until I want it. In order to bake them I follow the directions on the bag again! I believe its 10 mins at 400 degrees.

They came out looking so good! Yum!

Sprinkes Update

Well, I would like to say that I waited several days or at least one day before I ate the other cupcake. In reality I ate the black and white cupcake a few hours after I had the red velvet one… Better to be bad all in one day, right?

So good… I know that I’m committed to health but this cupcake is delicious! Can’t wait for another Sprinkles truck reappearance.

Christmas Comes Early…

…in the form of the Sprinkles Truck!!!

Today is another beautiful day in Southern California. I was enjoying President’s Day with a lazy lunch in Westwood with my civ pro reading. I was walking down Weyburn and I happened upon the Sprinkles truck! At first I thought it was a mirage. I had heard that there was such thing as the Sprinkles truck, but I never expected it to actually show up in my neighborhood. I hightailed it to an ATM and practically ran back, still thinking it was too good to be true.

There were four varieties on the truck. I decided to get one for now and one for a treat later. I got the Black and White cupcake and the Red Velvet cupcake. They come in little boxes, perfect for saving for later!

Anyway, I went on to have my lunch and when I got home I had my first cupcake, the red velvet.

Oh my god, do I love cupcakes. The frosting is perfect. Sugary, fresh, not too much and not too little. The cake is, literally, the moistest cake I have ever had. Yes, this cupcakes cost $4, but you know what? Sometimes it’s worth it and this is one of those times.

I literally may never leave LA. It’s 80 degrees and sunny today and this city has a roving cup cake truck with possibly the best cupcake I’ve ever had. Any city with a roving cup cake truck can’t be wrong. I’m saving the black and white cupcake for later. I can’t wait til later.

Dare I say that Sprinkles is better than Sweet in Boston? It’s a close call…

http://www.sprinkles.com/

http://www.sweetcupcakes.com/