Cupcake in a Jar

I finally made the cupcake in a jar to celebrate my cousin Brandy's birthday and my other cousin Emily's belated birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Hope you enjoy!

Thai Erwan

Today for lunch, D and I finally ventured out to Ormond Beach's first Thai restaurant, Thai Erwan. We'd been meaning to try the cuisine since we first heard wind of it at the beginning of the summer, but were often times distracted by other delicious asian eateries (coughedamamecough).

Thai Erwan is located in the same plaza as Peach Valley, TGI Friday's and Noah's Market. So, there is definitely a little competition. Although, none provide the spicy sweetness that accompanies most Thai cuisine.

Nor do they provide the same tranquil environment

as Thai Erwan successfully does. As you walk in your greeted by the sounds of a waterfall that can be heard throughout the entire dining room. And often viewed too! The color scheme consists of a lot of natural dark colors with accents of gold to give it that real asian vibe. With it's great atmosphere, D and I were already loving Thai Erwan before our server even saw us.

They had a lunch special running that enabled us to have their soup of the day and some fruit in addition to any entree. The soup came out piping hot shortly after we ordered and I must say the presentation was beautiful. The chicken and rice noodle soup came with a spring roll on the side and sweet chili sauce for dipping. The spring roll was absolutely wonderful with the sauce and complimented the soup beautifully. There was some sort of seasoning that I wasn't fond of, but it didn't prevent me from finishing most of it off.

Shortly after finishing the soup, our entrees were delivered. D had previously heard great things about the Roasted Duck ($9.95), so he couldn't resist having it for lunch. Pictured above, you can see that Thai Erwan consistently has a beautiful clean presentation. D loved the duck and all the vegetables. I thought it was pretty good myself and was particularly fond of the spicy cashews. When we do cook rice, we work with Jasmine rice, so it was nice to enjoy the same at a restaurant.

I had planned on ordering the Pad Thai, something I knew I would love, but decided when we got there to try the Amazing Beef ($8.50). I'm a long time lover of Thai peanut sauce, so I just knew this would be good. Well as you can probably guess by the picture to the right, I recieved Amazing Chicken. Normally, I wouldn't have said anything, but I really was not in a chicken mood. The waitress was very apologetic and had my Amazing Beef to me in what seemed like record time. I was really impressed by their quick action.

Unfortunately, I didn't find the Amazing Beef to be all that amazing. It was good, just not amazing. The menu describes

the dish with a Thai peanut butter sauce. To me the sauce seemed like it was too peanut butter-y. I think I would have preferred a simple Thai peanut sauce. Don't misunderstand me, it was still very tasty and I ate most of it. But in the past, I've enjoyed a Thai peanut sauce that was not as thick and had a bit more spice to it. I felt like peanut butter was overwhelming the sauce. On the other hand, the rice and broccoli were both steamed to perfection and quite yummy. I think for our next visit, I'll go with my original choice of Pad Thai. That's right, we'll be heading back.

As we came close to finishing our entrees, our waitress dropped off two of these cute little fruit plates for each of us to conclude with. All the fruit tasted very fresh and delicious. It really was a nice touch to end our meal with.

We will be returning to Thai Erwan another day for lunch. The prices are reasonable, the atmosphere is amazing and I really want to try their Pad Thai!

-A

Open: Monday - Thursday 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. and 4:30 - 10 p.m.

Friday - Saturday 12 -4 p.m. and 4:30 - 10:30 p.m.

Sunday 4 - 9 p.m.

Address: 219 E. Granada Blvd. Ormond Beach, FL

Phone: 386 677 0999

Website: www.thaierwanrestaurant.com

Let the games begin!

HAPPY

GATOR

FOOTBALL !!!

I made these wonderful little treats for my mom and sister, two of the biggest gator fans I know. I dyed the insides orange and blue, and the icing green to imitate grass. I also added a chocolate covered almond on top that is suppose to act as a football. Get it? ... football on the gator field?

An experiment in baking...

It's no secret that I love cookies and what's better than having them freshly baked? With little to do around town, D and I set off on an adventure in cooking. I should mention, baking is about the only type of cooking I successfully manage. There were ups and downs, but the cookies were always quickly consumed.

Our first batch was beautiful and scrumptious, but far from perfect. We used butter cake mix and to make some cake cookies similar to the

funfetti cookies I've previously made. We combined the batter with 2 eggs and 1/3 cup of vegetable oil. Everything was looking great. Thinking it would be fun to do rainbow cookies (similar to the cupcakes), we sought out the food color. We kept it simple with green and yellow, thinking at least it would be blue if the colors did mix. But surprise! The colors held together with no hint of blue anywhere.

Lesson #1 Dyed cookie dough colors do not blend.

D and I had a blast mixing the colors and forming our cookies, but I did find that the texture was more like play dough than cookie dough. It seemed like too much oil, which could be explained by the addition of food coloring.

Lesson #2 Add less oil to your cookie dough to compensate for the addition of food coloring.

Our cookies also seemed to spread quickly while in the oven, likely due to the excess of oil. Some time in the fridge might have made the dough easier to handle and prevented such quick flattening.

Lesson #3 Be patient. Let the cookie dough sit in the fridge for 10-15 minutes before sheeting it up.

As you can see, our cookies were large and very thin. They

tasted great, but lacked the fluff of most cookies.

For icing, we decided to use the Pillsbury Easy Frost No Fuss Frosting again after they great results from last time! The icing gave us lots of control to create a wide array of designs, but a lot of the cookies ended up with too much icing. In some instances, the layer of icing was thicker than the cookie.

Lesson #4 Use the classic icing from a can and spread it on, so as to better control the amount of icing on each cookie.

Although the cookies weren't ideal, they will still delicious and gone within a matter of days. Not to mention, I learned a lot from them. Isn't that half the fun of baking? Discovering what works and what doesn't?

Well, a few days later, D and I decided to give the cake cookies a second go utilizing everything that we had learned. But this time it was all about the chocolate.

We used Pillsbury Devil's Food chocolate cake mix for the cookies and the funfetti chocolate fudge icing. And yes, it was nearly a death by chocolate.

We didn't add any food coloring this time, so there was no need to adjust the oil. We simply combined the ingredients to a doughy consistency and let them sit in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.

After chilling, the dough was much easier to work with. We rolled small balls and flattened them slightly with the spoon. Fifteen minutes later at 350 degrees, we had beautifully fluffy cake cookies.

Then after the appropriate time for cooling passed, we had gorgeous cookies!

We couldn't have been happier with the results this time around. Not only were they tasty, but they were everything a cookie should be, including fluffy.

Give this basic recipe a try if your ready to turn your favorite cake into some yummy cookies.

Compile ingredients: Pillsbury Cake Mix, 1/3 cup oil, 2 eggs, icing

Combine ingredients into a yummy cookie dough.

Sheet them up.

Watch them like a hawk in the oven.

Ice the cookies after appropriate cooling time.

And, please, whatever you do, don't make my mistakes! Have fun!

Not what you'd expect from Leonardo..

Hoping to score some delicious white cheese pizza, me and D headed off to our favorite pizza place for a bite to eat. But to our dismay, they we're closed. I thought it was weird, for a Tuesday afternoon, until I noticed the missing fountain machine. They weren't just closed, they were done, finite, adios! So let's say a little prayer and on with the next one...

This brought us to another popular pizzeria in town, DeVinci's Italian Restaurant and Pizza. This local joint is located right across from Ormond Lanes on US1. In search of a white cheese pizza, we didn't have to look at the menu long before placing our to-go order. We ended up with a medium White Pizza (approximately $9.50) and a half dozen Garlic Knots ($2.00). The knots were hard to resist after seeing the fresh ones displayed on the counter!

Although we decided to dine out, the decor looked very warm and inviting. The interior was kind of dim with soft lighting and seemed almost romantic, but a little fancier than what you would expect at most pizza places.

The pizza was Ok. Nothing special at all, in fact, it ranked kind of low as far as white cheese pizzas go. Now, just because a white cheese pizza doesn't have any red sauce, doesn't mean that it has to be bland, but this one kind of was. There was hardly any ricotta or feta. It tasted like a cheese pizza without the sauce, just mostly mozzarella. More ricotta and garlic would have made a world of difference! Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed the pizza and ate two slices, but it's not something I would return for.

The garlic knots, on the other hand, are definitely return worthy! These little bundles of joy are a perfect two-bite size and seasoned with all the right spices, including lots of garlic! Buttery perfection melts in your mouth as soft pizza dough makes your tummy go yummy. And who can complain about the price, $2 really isn't that bad, is it?

We'll be back for the knots and maybe a different pizza. Although I suspect we could find just as great, if not better knots at any other pizzeria. Overall, I wasn't really impressed with DeVinci's this time around.

-A

Open: Tuesday - Sunday (11:30 a.m. - 9 p.m.)

Address: 197 US1, Ormond Beach, FL

Phone: 386 673 2504

Other: $15.OO minimum on deliveries

The best little sandwich shop in town..

We found it! That's right, D and I stumbled upon the best little sandwich shop in town. I've passed this while driving to and from work for a couple of months now and always wondered, "could it be any good?" Well, The Sandwich Shoppe is more than good, it's amazing!

This little breakfast and lunch spot is located in an unexpected plaza on US1 in Holly Hill (1501 Ridgewood Ave. to be exact). Their signs are about as glamorous as the shop name and aren't exactly the most noticeable from the road. So I was awfully shocked by all the bright colors and 50's ambiance that awaited my through their doors! Red, yellow and even green walls surround a handful of counter height tables and stools that looks straight from a 50's, maybe 60's, diner!

After being greeted, D and I quickly found the handwritten menu on the wall and went to perusing. Serving both breakfast and lunch, everything on their menu sounded scrumptious, but after D pointed it out I just knew I had to try the shop favorite, the Chicken Bleu Sandwich ($5.29). D decided to go with the Chicken Cobb wrap ($4.99). It has avocados, need I say more?

Both our entrees were served with our choice of side, including homemade potatoes salad, macaroni salad, cole slaw or tri-pasta salad. Well, you know how much I love salad (not), but thankfully the lady suggested soup as a side instead. They had homemade potato soup available, one of my favorites!

As you can see, the Chicken Bleu Sandwich is a beast! It comes in two separate layers, meaning not two, but three slices of bread. Grilled chicken, Swiss cheese, ham and honey mustard create the top layer while American cheese, mayo, smoked turkey, lettuce and

tomato finish out the bottom layer. Oh and did I mention that the bread is grilled to perfectly melt in your mouth. Oh yea..

This sandwich was phenomenal. Perfect on so many levels. After the first bite, there was an indescribable explosion of goodness in my mouth. The only problem I did have ... it was huge. Perfect for splitting with a pal! All the different meat flavors worked perfectly together and the sweetness from the honey mustard was amazing and really enhanced the taste of the bread. I would order this sandwich every time if I could actually finish it.

D was sold on the Chicken Cobb Wrap after noting an ingredient of avocado, but besides that the wrap includes chicken, bleu cheese,

bacon, romaine, tomato and creamy parmesan dressing. D absolutely loved it. I took a few bites myself and would have liked to have had more avocado, but was still impressed.

The soup was surprisingly tasty. I will admit, I expected it to taste like any other potato soup, but nope, totally different. And in this case, different = awesome. The soup was very thick, kind of like a liquidity mash potatoes. The texture was great, the soup was tasty and I had a blast spooning it. The side portion was just perfect too. Not too much, but just enough to have a taste!

We had a great experience at The Sandwich Shoppe. The food is delicious, the service is outstanding and everyone is really friendly. We've already gone twice since discovering it less than a week ago and I'm already thinking about what I want to order next time for lunch or breakfast!

Did I mention, they deliver! It keeps getting better and better...

-A

Hours: M-F (7:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.)

Sat. (7:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.)

Address: 1501 Ridgewood Ave., Holly Hill, FL

Phone: 386 248 0303

Website: www.thesandwichshoppeonline.com

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Love cupcakes? Check out these beautiful ones created by one of my besties. Don't they look delicious and sound even better?

"Somewhere over the rainbow...

Have you seen anything more beautifully, delicious looking? I think not. I am quite proud of these creations. That's right, I MADE THEM! Me, the horrible cook who prefers to go out for a reason, baked some cupcakes. In all actuality, I love to bake and I'm not half-bad at it either, it's just all that other cooking of real food that makes me stumble ... or almost burn the house down (don't ask).

I recently saw these adorable cupcakes on another blog and decided they would be the perfect "there is nothing to do in this town" evening activity. They were so much fun, easy to do and cheap, I just can't wait for another reason to make them! On the evening of their creation, me and D packed up and headed to Wally World to purchase a few supplies. Since we were experimenting, we went with the smaller package of confetti cake mix ($1), some food coloring (liquid not gel), and a can of Pilsbury's Easy Frost No-Fuss Frosting.

I began by following the instructions on the box! Great place to start, don't ya think? After I had successfully blended all the appropriate ingredients, I evenly disbursed the batter into a variety of bowls. At this point, D joined me in creating various colors of batter. Needless to say, their was lots of smiles and laughter. I mean how much fun does this sound!? I then layered the cupcakes to the best of my ability and sent them to the oven hoping for the desired results.

And Voila! They came out as cute as can be! I couldn't have been happier with the intensity of the colors. We let them chill out for a bit

before applying the icing in a can. I know what your thinking, icing in a can...ew. Well, that's what I was afraid of too, but D suggested we give it a try. With our sweet tooths combined, there was no way we could actually wait to try the icing on the cupcake. Psh. And low and behold, it was actually really darn tasty. It was just yummy as any icing you would expect from Pillsbury, being in a can didn't effect it what so ever. In fact, it just became way more fun to eat. Think cheeze-wiz. Oh yea.

After the cupcakes had cooled, we proceeded in icing them, which was way easier with the can. We didn't have to worry about using a spoon or knife and we were able to create those cute little cupcake icing tops (sometimes). All credit goes to D for icing, by the

way. I just sat there tickled pink with the result of my cupcakes.

Every bite was a mystery! We never know what to expect on the inside. Sometimes there was lots of colors and other times the shapes were just so abstract and fun! We all had a blast snacking on the cupcakes for the next few days. Even the wrappers were fun to google at, all colorful like. I definitely recommend making a batch of these colorful gems. They were super easy, provided a great evening activity and so yummy! I can only imagine how great these would look in orange and blue, maybe to celebrate the start of Gator football. Hmm, could that be my next reason?

Think you might give them a try? What colors would you use, any themes?

Happy baking my fellow foodies!