Cream Pan

May is almost over and I am nearing the end of my first year in MBA school. Where has all the time gone?!

Still over the weekend KL and I decided to check out a very famous Japanese bakery in Orange County. Very famous, because if you check out the bakery, Cream Pan, on Yelp, there's nothing but endless raves about their baked goods, especially their strawberry croissants. Needless to say, I had to experience the food for myself - what could be so spectacular about strawberry croissants?

The place is really nondescript, with no indication of the culinary treasures inside :P Coincidentally it's tucked away in the plaza next to Honda-ya. When I was there, I got the legendary strawberry croissants, an azuki (red-bean) cream pan ("pan", パ ン is Japanese for bread), a peach danish and a pork-katsu sandwich box.

Peach danish:

Pork-katsu sandwich, a little pricey at $6 but chock full of ingredients!

And the baked goods, the strawberry croissants and azuki cream-pan. Because of all the hype over the strawberry croissants, KL and I decided that we could not share and we each had to get one.

Close-ups- first, the heavenly azuki pan!

...and the delicious strawberry croissant:

Verdict? Strawberry croissants - GOOD! The crust's flaky and the cream sweet but not overly so, balanced nicely by the tangy sweetness of the strawberries. But the one that I enjoyed most of all is the azuki cream pan. In fact, KL did too, so much so that we ended up fighting each other to eat it. The sweet red bean paste complimented the fluffy light whipped cream perfectly, all encased in a crispy pastry shell. Definitely try out these two items if you ever stop by Cream Pan.

My outfit for the day, harem pants are perfect for pigging out:

Wearing American Apparel cardigan, complexgeometries top, H&M harem pants, Ann Demeulemeester lace-up sandals, Balenciaga clutch.

I have to say though, if you want to try out the food at Cream Pan, BE THERE EARLY.
These pictures were taken during our second trip there, the first time we went to Cream Pan was in the afternoon and their shelves were swept clean. Seriously, now I understand why!

In the upcoming weeks I will be holed up in a study room somewhere finishing up on group projects and mugging for exams, so expect slooooow updates :/

A night at the izakaya

Friday night, KL and I decided to head to one of our favorite dinner/supper places, Honda-ya in Tustin for some grub. It's hard to find a places that serves good food and stays open late in Orange County (Honda-ya's open till 1am).

I love the atmosphere - service's great and it's unpretentious. I love the slanted roof and the knick-knacks they litter the place with! Sometimes all you want is great food and beer to go with the conversation and in this aspect, Honda-ya delivers. Their grill selection is spectacular and one of the must try is their grilled bacon scallops - it's heaven on a stick! Unfortunately I wasn't feeling too well so there's no picture of any grilled items this time.

What I got instead was yellowtail jalapeno (this is something that KL and I get every time, love the taste of sashimi with the yuzu sauce), spider roll, tako yaki (my favorite Japanese street food ever!) and chashu ramen. Honda-ya also serves complimentary pickled cucumbers as appetizers which I find to be light and refreshing. At this point, KL and I have pretty much made it our personal challenge to go through every item on the Honda-ya menu ;)

What I wore for my dinner date with KL:

Wearing H&M khaki parka, H&M blouse, H&M leopard scarf, F21 leggings, Ann Demeulemeester lace up boots and Balenciaga clutch

Out for Dim Sum

Over the weekend KL and I decided to head out for some dim sum at the much hyped Capital Seafood in Irvine. It was great to sit down and have a nice lunch with KL, something that we haven't been doing since I was crazy busy with school and him with work. The service at Capital was great; unfortunately I can't say the same about the food. I was expecting to get my socks knocked off given all the great reviews online, but the food was just....okay :/

And looking at the food pictures, I think one of the first things I want to get when I start working again is a D-SLR. I love my point-and-click Lumix, but I think SLR pictures seem so much "warmer".

It was a gray and overcast day, unusual weather for this time of the year in California, but it was a great chance for me to break out my oversized Ozetta warmer and relish the last remnants of the chilly winter weather.

Wearing oversized leopard jumper from ShopNastyGal, Ozetta warmer, black Balenciaga clutch, Forever21 leggings and Ann Demeulemeester shoes

Food fun and pictures galore! Vegas Dec 2009

My finals were over 2 weeks ago and I should be updating this blog obessively. But something happened that I'm not ready to blog about...before I received the news, KL and I managed to go on our annual get-away to Vegas. We always tell ourselves to go somewhere that we have never gone before and were debating between visiting friends in Seattle or Dallas..but somehow in the end we always end up in Vegas at the end of the year! We are definitely creatures of habit, I guess!

Unfortunately the drive to Vegas this time wasn't as magical as last year's. I swear, a layer of snow over anything just makes any place a gazillion times more beautiful..though I could be biased as I haven't seen snow that much in my life :) Before the Big Sur fire, KL and I used to drive up Highway 1 frequently - I love the ocean and the views along Highway 1 is easily one of the most breath-taking, but sometimes the desert just provides a desolate beauty that's all its own...

The view from outside my hotel room, Vegas is really a city made for the night.

Coincidentally, the latest development on the Strip, CityCenter was slated to open on the very first night that we arrived. Yes, there's a lot of noise about how CityCenter will be the savior of the Strip, despite its involvement with Dubai World and lackluster condo sales. But it's something totally new, so my husband and I had to check it out.

Strolling along the overhead bridge that near CityCenter, the cold weather was a good time to bring out my favourite Ann D multi-lace boots again.

Wearing Aoyama Itchome dress, Zara coat, Falke leggings, Ann Demeulemeester boats and Miu Miu Coffer.

An interior view of Crystals, the retail center of CityCenter.

Most of the shops are not fully open yet, but there's a Lanvin store that's slated to open in 2010 - I'm really excited about that, even though I don't see myself spending money there any time soon ;)

Me fooling around with the signage outside the Lanvin store..hey it featured an Alber Elbaz illustration! Hmm..I am such a fashion nerd :p

Wearing Rick Owens leather jacket, F21 grey sweater, Ann D skirt and boots, Miu Miu Coffer.

The next day, KL and I ate at the Vegas outpost of Pink's, which is a hot-dog institution in L.A! It was our brunch so we decided to go for the works! At the bottom is the Mushroom Swiss Cheese dog, the name itself is pretty much indicative of what's inside. At the top was...hmm, the Mojave Desert dog? I'm not too sure about the name, but there comes a point where a hot dog stops being a hot dog and becomes a personal challenge...this hot dog was definitely that! A giant spicy Polish dog with jalapenos, salsa, guacamole, melted Swiss Cheese....hmmm the calories are definitely worth it!

KL and I also tried a new restaurant at Atria, the casino-hotel at CityCenter. There were so many choices but we only had one night, so we ended up going with Sage. Sage is a restaurant owned by Shawn McClain and markets its cuisine as "contemporary American". I'm never one to care about how my food is categorized, as long as it's great I'm happy! In this case I can honestly declare myself one happy customer! KL and I had a great time at Sage, our server was great and the meal started off well with an amuse-bouche from the chef. Unfortunately though it was really pretty, KL and I wolfed it down immediately, so no pictures! But I do remember tasting artichoke and foam :p

We got to choose from two types of bread, a bacon baguette and sour-dough baguette which we could dip into Australian sea-salt and house-whipped butter.

KL and I wanted to try as much of the menu as we reasonably could but there was no tasting menu...so we ordered 2 appetizers and one entree to share.

Appetizer 1...Escargot and Pork Belly Agnolotti.

The green foam that you see is actually parsley, blended with red wine sauce. I tried the escargot and agnolotti but not the pork belly. KL absolutely loved the mouth melting texture of the pork belly, I loved how the agnolotti complemented the escargot and the sauce and everything was tied nicely together with a taste of citrus..I suspect lemon?

Appetizer 2..Pacific Yellowtail Crudo.

This was my absolute favourite of the night! I loved it so much that if I had to choose one dish to eat for the rest of my life, this would be it! The dish contained hamachi slices which were so fine and light that it made for really great sashimi, with pine nuts, mushrooms and truffles that grounded the dish with its earthy flavor. The dish contained a yuzu sauce which worked surprisingly well with the nuts and mushrooms..I think this dish really brought the best of the earth and the sea together.

Entree..Roasted Day Boat Scallops.

I love scallops and I liked this dish. However after tasting the inventiveness of the 2 appetizers, I really wish the dish was wittier. The scallops acquitted themselves competently as a dish, though I felt that the red wine sauce might have been a little strong for the scallops, but it's a good dish nonetheless. However the red wine sauce did work beautifully with the oxtail, which was braised to perfection.

After that it was time for the sweet stuff. Sage offered a selection of pastries and dessert wines, but we decided to try the pastries instead. KL and I ordered 2 desserts to share...though I highly suspect that in the end, I ate most of them ;)

Warm sugared beignets with jasmine tea cider.

I have to say I am not a cinnamon fan, but this was good. The pairing of the jasmine tea cider with the beignet was clever as it balanced out the overt sweetness of the beignets. I loved the bitter sourness of the jasmine tea cider, the delicate scent of jasmine was really comforting.

Malted Valrhona Milk Chocolate Dome.

Dessert is truly not dessert with something chocolate :) The butterscotch foam and nuts went well with the chocolate dome and it provided a sweet ending to my meal, but overall I wished the desserts were able to delight me as much as the entrees. To end the meal, KL and I were given orange chocolate syrup, compliments of the chef. It really felt like we were drinking hot chocolate, with the aroma of orange coming in later as an after-taste. It was a great ending to a fun meal.

And to all, a very Merry Christmas and a



Take Care! :)

Transformers

Wearing Ann D white wrap top, American Apparel tank, Zara drop-crotch pants and Rick Owens wedges.

Whoever came out with transformable clothing is a genius!

This is the first time that my Ann Demeulemeester wrap top from S/S 09 makes its appearance on my blog. There are so many conceivable ways to wear this top and the three examples that I have shown are only the tip of the iceberg!
I probably change the way I tie the top every time I use the washroom (TMI much :D???)

And the Rick Owens mummy wedges..at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I just can't get over how comfortable they are, vs. their height!

Shoes, shoes, shoes!

I have been feeling under the weather for the past two days. So, please excuse me if I haven't replied to some comments and emails yet. I woke up on Tuesday with an inflamed tonsil on the right side of my throat and a slight fever. Hopefully this will go away soon..my throat doesn't hurt that much anymore but I can feel a cough developing. Darn, I hate to be ill during summer, especially with a long weekend coming up!

But onto happier things. I was looking through photos taken during my birthday week and those of you who have been looking for a cheaper alternative to the Ann Demeulemeester S/S 09 boots may be interested in the picture below:

The photo was taken in Laguna Beach, but the store was already closed when I took this picture. I couldn't go in to investigate further, but these seem to be under a Jeffery Campbell line called "Limited edition"? These seem really close to the Ann D's and even KL thought that they were the same ones that I had. The best reproduction of the Ann Demeulemeester lace-up boots that I have seen by far! Even the multi-bow sandal next to the Demeulemeester look-a-likes are a decent alternative to the Marc Jacobs bow sandals this season!

A recent acquisition from my Vegas trip:

Givenchy s/s 09 booties

I got these on super-sale from a shoe store at Wynn. Love love love the huge zipper running up the boot, plus the cowboy boot details. It's like a bad-ass, shoe-gone-wild version of a cowboy boot, which suits me just fine, given that I always depend on my accessories to add that extra zing to my outfit. They are really comfortable and run true to size...expect to see them featured in an outfit post soon.

And another shoe-porn picture:

Rick Owens S/S 09 multi-strap booties

I call them my mummy (as in Egyptian) boots! They are in the colour dust and the multiple straps remind me of the fabric strips that are wrapped around mummies. The wedges may look deceivingly high and intimidating, but they are really comfortable! I have no problem walking in them!

Vegas baby!

I gave official notice to my manager last Friday. Now going back to school has never felt more real! Some of you out there might be aware that I had decided to pursue a full-time MBA program at the start of this year. It was really time to go, from the moment that I received offers from the schools that I had applied to, it has been a struggle trying to motivate myself to put in the hours and the effort that I used to. The reason for the change in my attitude is finally out in the open and I guess I can "slack" easy ;)

For my birthday on June 11th, KL and I decided to re-visit a very familiar city. We went back to Vegas!
We got a room at the Signature hotel at the MGM Grand, which is a really great place to be! I had great difficulty leaving my room every day and I still cry when I think of the jacuzzi tub in the bathroom - I miss it so much!

What I wore for the car ride from Orange County to Vegas. As you can see, comfort is of utmost importance:

F21 tee, Elizabeth and James pants, Dries Van Noten sandals

A shot of the view at night from our room:

One of my favorite stops in Vegas (besides Barneys at the Palazzo ;)), is the Bellagio Conservatory and Botanic Gardens. As the name implies, it's a magnificent display of landscaped gardens, meant to invoke the essence of each season. Besides changing the displays with each seasons, I think Bellagio also comes up with new displays for special occasions like Independence Day and Christmas. When KL and I were there, it was the Summer display.

The flower ferris wheel that dominated the display:

Ladybug! One of the very few insects that I am not squeamish about:

I love how rosebuds were used to recreate the snails' shell. It took me some time before I coaxed the right expression out from the snail ;)

Lovebirds!

They were so cute and couldn't stop grooming each other. Some of them were already asleep when KL and I were there (it was 11pm plus after all!) as the lights were switched off.

And of course what would a blog post be without food? In place of a cake this year, KL told me that I could pick whatever sweets I wanted from Payard!
Macarons from Payard - the chocolate and strawberry ones were heavenly! I can't remember what flavours the other colours were, I think I need to go back there for a second tasting!

More sweets from my sweet:

On the left is a little slice of berry heaven named Joie, complimented with a dark chocolate-hazelnut creation named the Louvre. I have a hard time deciding which one is better, so I'm gonna cop out and say I love them all!

On the day of my birthday itself, KL took me out for dinner at the Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill. I have always said that I wanted to try out this restaurant whenever we were in Vegas (yes, even though I know it's so much nearer to drive to the one in L.A.), so my wish was finally got granted ;)

Our appetizers:

Left: sweet corn crab fritters, right: chilled tomato gazpacho

I ordered the sweet corn crab fritters with a zesty aioli while KL got the chilled tomato gazpacho with a dollop of crème fraîche and croutons. Halfway through, I had to give up my fritters to KL...veggies are his Kryptonite and he can only stomach so many mouthfuls of "veggie stew"! My apologies for the photos everyone, it wasn't a candle-lit dinner, but somehow the pictures turned out darker than expected!

For the main course, I ordered grilled tuna with a red onion salad, while KL had beef filet, with herb creamed corn, pesto and balsamic.

Dessert! Apricot melba with toast almonds, vanilla ice and raspberries! No fighting here, we each got a share.

Then it was off to catch the Criss Angel's show, Believe.

It seems that the reviews for this show weren't too good but I have to say it's really bad at all! Just don't expect a usual Cirque du Soleil show, this show is really more of a "Best of Mindfreak" performance with surreal imaginary thrown in to link up each illusion. Personally I felt that the "links" were really the weakest part of the show, some of the performances felt a tad too contrived at time, but in all fairness I did enjoy the dancing bunnies. That's all I should say I guess, without giving too much of the show away.

Lastly, I shall sign off this post with pictures of my birthday outfit, worn with Dries sandals during the day and my trusty Ann Demeulemeester lace-up boots at night!

Lanvin dress, various necklaces from F21 and Made Her think, Dries Van Noten sandals (left), Ann Demeulemeester lace up boots (right)