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 :/

That ramen place again

Food, glorious food....

It's an ongoing challenge for me and KL to eat through the entire menu at Honda-ya. It's probably not possible, but that doesn't mean that KL and I aren't going to have fun doing it. Which was just what we did once again on a random cold night in SoCal. And speaking of cold nights...why do I have this feeling that we are just going to skip right past the mild spring weather and head straight into warm summer weather in a couple of weeks?

Me grinning after a good meal...a food coma does that to me :)

Wearing Rick Owens Lilies leather jacket, Complexgeometries dress, F21 tights, H&M leopard scarf, Surface to Air wedges and Balenciaga clutch.

Cafe Blanc

I love love love sweets.

Cakes are probably the most wonderful type of food because not only are they yummy, but they look so beautiful as well. My favourite dessert place in Orange County has got to be Cafe Blanc at Newport Beach. KL calls the plaza it's located in a double trap because Cafe Blanc is right next to a bridal gown shop and I like to go there sometimes to drool at the gowns whenever we stop by. ;)

I believe the shop's run by a Japanese chef and his rendition of French desserts are so delicate, not too sweet and just perfect! Since Easter was just round the corner, Cafe Blanc offered a cute Easter bunny cake which was almost too cute to eat! It was really yummy though with a crisp white chocolate shell with a creamy lilac berry mousse. I almost felt bad destroying the cute bunny cake..but it was too delicious to be missed! The strawberry shortcake on the other hand was light and refreshing, amazingly its cream layer was light and fluffy...perfect fruity desserts on a sunny day! The raspberry gelato that came with the cake was sweet, but not overly so and even had chunks of raspberries inside..see, I am getting my daily servings of fruit!

My camera wasn't with me when we dropped by that day, but I am sure that KL and I will be back again and I intend to take a picture of Cafe Blanc's cake counter...each and every yummy cake that they make looks so perfect and beautiful!

What I wore:

Rick Owens gray leather jacket, H&M leopard scarf, Heimstone silk tank, American Apparel tank, Drop crotch pants from Etsy, Rick Owens mummy wedges, Balenciaga bouton d'or work.

Slowly but surely, I am easing leopard stripes into my outfit and my Rick Owens mummy wedges are the most comfy pair of wedges that I own. Someday I vow to own the ankle boots version as well!

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

Happy 4th of July!

Fireworks at Laguna Beach!

It finally feels like summer has come to SoCal - how has everyone's Independence Day weekend been so far?

KL and I finally caught Transformers 2 and I must say that I enjoyed the movie tremendously, despite the lackluster reviews going around. The movie is a pure summer pop-corn flick, just don't expect anything too cerebral and enjoy it for what it is! We caught Transformers 1 during the 4th July weekend 2 years ago so this has definitely become a July 4th movie series for us.

We went to Laguna Beach today to catch the fireworks show...it's always interesting to watch the sky fill up with light and colours and to hear the fireworks fizzle across the sky and explode.

I'll be going back to Singapore for a month and a half, just to bum around before school starts. I hope to have time to post some more, before I fly back on July 10th.

Enjoy the rest of your July 4th weekend! :D

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!

Pictorama: A random night out at Irvine Spectrum

First of all, I am extremely honored to show off this lovely award given to me by Hanh:

Hanh is an extremely lovely lady with an impeccable sense of style. Check out her blog here. It's so inspirational and chock full of pictures of her lovely outfits and yummy food, some of which were whipped up by Hanh herself! I love that the blogs that I frequent are featuring food more and more, I confess to be a diehard foodie and I feel that truly great food satisfies not only our palate, but also our eyes!

A pictorama of tonight's event:

I worn: Rick Owens leather jacket, Lanvin t-shirt dress, charcoal gray ribbed socks, Ann Demeulemeester lace-up boots, Chanel baby cabas and Forever21 necklace.

KL and I went to: Irvine Spectrum

I lusted over: the 13.3" Macbook Pro from Apple. (hint, hint, KL - I need a laptop for college!)

We drank: A humongonous serving of Wetzel's Pretzels' lemonade. (which I'm convinced is one of the best lemonade ever! I always have to fight KL for this.)

Outside: The Verizon wireless store

And ate a cheesedog from Wetzel's Pretzels as well.

Sometimes junk food is just immensely cathartic and the hot, greasy dog hit the spot on this cold night! Yum, yum, yum....

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, everyone! :D

California dreamin'

Today was my last day of rest before I officially head back to work.
I had been holed up at home since last Wednesday because I caught a really nasty cold and KL (my husband) thought some fresh air and sunshine would be good for me, instead of letting me mope around for one more day.

We headed out to the beach near by and this is really one of the things that I love so much about SoCal. The proximity of the beaches, their cleanliness, the people-watching, plus the great boost that the salty sea air gives to my hair!
Plus the huge peanut buttercup ice cream cone that I had cheered me up considerably. I just love eating ice cream during cold days, even thought it may seem counter-intuitive.

Here's what I wore, I basically threw on what I could find with the main aim of keeping warm:

H&M jacket, Alexander Wang henley dress, Falke leggings, Ann Demeulemeester boots, Chanel baby cabas.