football seasons starting...

now, im not too much of a professional football watcher; but i will hit up some college football every now and then. yes, im all for miami hurricanes. i made some miami hurricane cupcakes before (look at older posts) and now that i look back on it...i am so not pleased with how they turned out. ewwww. hahaha, so instead of making miami cupcakes...im going to make...you guessed it!!! a MIAMI HURRICANES CAKE!!! and just football cupcakes. oh yes, i have it all planned out. i wont be starting this cake till october though. so we can call it..."operation hurricane." (: i always make layouts of how i want my cakes/cupcakes to look on paper. i write down everything from flavors, to colors, to the way the icing is piped. it makes things a lot easier. anyways, i just had to make a post on it because it was on my mind. i think i might take a quick 3 hour nap and then get ready to go look at some more baking supplies. i def will be making a cake in the next month, so keep posted.

shrimp and vegetable shuumai :)

i go to philadelphia every year, and there is this restaurant called saigon maxim that serves dim sum. they roll around with their metal carts and point to cylinder containers filled with foods you've probably never seen in your life. from bbq chicken feet to sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves...yes, they have it all. but theres always that one cart that has pork shuumai...and shrimp shuumai. i never get the pork, so instead? the shrimp shuumai. one word: DELICIOUS. shrimp shuumai is the best, and healthiest type of dumpling ive EVER tasted. it was so light and full of flavor, and i literally have these once a year. craving them latley, i decided to make my own. i found a recipe online, but it used pork; i needed a substitute, so i used some fresh vegetables.

here is what i used to make them:
* 18 pieces of shrimp, peeled, head off
* 1 large portebella mushroom cap, finely chopped
* 2 T frozen or fresh corn, chopped small, not minced though
* 1 T shaoxing chinese wine
* 1 T sesame oil
* 1 T soy sauce
* salt & pepper
* 1 T chopped scallions (green onion)
* 2 T of white onion, finely chopped
* 1 small bag of "petite" or "baby" peas (frozen)

also, you'll need a steamer. i have a pot that came with a steamer seperate that i had to put on top, so i used that. i also used a cuisine art mini prep plus chop/grind machine (aka, food processor. but i dont call it that!). first, i used the chopping machine to finely chop the mushroom cap (of course, dont put the whole cap in the thing, you'll break it! chop it up into smaller pieces first) and i sauteed it and put it in a bowl. next, i chopped up the corn, then the added the scallions. next, i added the liquids; the sesame oil, shaoxing, and soy. after that, i chopped up my shrimp. now i chopped HALF with a KNIFE, so id have nice chunks of shrimp, then the other HALF i put in the chopping machine so it would be kind of a paste. with the shrimp, paste and chunks in a seperate bowl, i put the cornstarch in with the vegetables and liquids. you may need to add more than 2 T...depending on if the mixture isn't pastey enough. then i added the shrimp, mixed it in, and then the chopped onion.

i used dumpling wrappers, instead of shuumai skins because i couldnt find them. shuumai skins are square, and dumpling wrappers are in shapes of circles. with a spoon, place a spoonfull of the mixture into the middle of the dumpling skin. with your fingers, shape the skin around the mixture so that it can stand up on its own and place a pea in the middle. repeat.

oil the bottom of the steamer so it doesnt stick, and place 4-5 shuumai in at a time. steam for about 10 mins. repeat.

oreo cupcakes.

i absolutley hate oreos, hahaha. theyre super chocolatey crunchy cookie outsides embracing a white powdery creamy filling? ewwwwww!!! but, i wanted to do something different, so i made oreo cupcakes. im always willing to try new things, and im more likely to eat something i dont like when its incorporated into something else. for example, i LOVE sushi. but, some sushi has nasty veggies in it...like tomatoes....sweet potatoes...anything!!! but you know what, ill eat the whole thing as long as it has fish in it. :] i used pre-made products, like cake mix and icing and basically added oreos to them.

st. croix, u.s.v.i. cake.

wooooo!!! this was the st. croix cake i made for my boyfriend. it was my first time working with fondant, and i think for my first time i did pretty well. i got all the supplies to make this cake from a.c. moore, a local arts & crafts store. food coloring, fondant, cake pans, etc. i think i spent about... $60 total? yea, probably. i didnt add any flavoring to the fondant, but the actual cake was french vanilla. it was pretty fun, also time consuming. baking in general requires a lot of patience. its not like cooking in a restaurant...you dont just jump back there and send out plates by the minute. you create, you bake, and then you wait. i started at 2 pm and ended roughly around 6, having to rush at the end because i had to be to work at 6:30.

honestly, fondant is probably one of the toughest things i had to cut through. but, i managed to do it. i love baking, and i will definitley keep doing it. and i WILL start using fondant more often.

fondants, cakes, and cupcakes.

yesterday i made a u.s. virgin islands cake, in favor of my boyfriend. His dad was from St. Croix, so of course we all know he has a little bit of island in him, lol :) i will post pics of it later on because my mom left the camera at our restaurant. the cake...is also there. hahaha, but it was SO fun making this cake. i got all the supplies from a local arts & crafts store, but ill talk about that later!

im on my way to get some cupcake supplies...well really one thing but whatever. im basically on a icing tip hunt; looking for the perfect tips to ice my cupcakes with. my dad gave me fresh ideas on what to do with cupcakes, so you will be seein a lot of them since they are small and easy to do, with the fact school starts in 1 week for me. so i will post another blog later showing pictures of my U.S.V.I. cake!