[Travel] California Trip

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to fly to California to visit my folks and grace my "Lolo's" (grandfather's) 90th birthday celebration.  It's been quite some time since I last saw him and it was a blessing that I was able to greet and dance with him.  Oh yes, it was a ballroom dancing affair. His guests looked much older than we were, clad in their Hawaiian luau dresses and shirts and heated the dance floor like no other!  For those folks, arthritis didn't seem to exist!

It was a relaxing weekend spent swimming and enjoying the California sun.  I was able to eat good fish tacos from California fish grill, bacon fried rice from The Loft, salted mocha from Flurries shaved snowbar and Ube donuts and assorted dossants from Friendly donuts.  Whew!  Way too much food.

We went to Downtown Disney where I saw Olaf... lots of happy and funny Olaf's.

I stood in awe of this colorful wall of Lego bricks... 

The Wall of Lego Bricks

...and amused by these cute fellas.

Lego characters

I also had the opportunity to worship with my aunt at Saddleback Church at the City National Grove. It was very timely because I was reading Pastor Rick Warren's book "The Daniel Plan" that time.

Saddleback Church

It was a fun-packed weekend that was too short.  My evening was cut 2 hours short coming back to Tx and as you might have guessed, it was a challenge going back to work the following day.  I thought it might be jet lag but that would be thinking too much already.

Until next time.  Be blessed!
♥  michelle

[Baking] Chocolate Lava Cake

Chocolate Lava Cake

If there is one person who loves cholocate-y desserts more than me, that would be my husband.  It's his birthday and I thought of baking something extra special... just for him.  We have gained so weight in the past several weeks and it's mostly because of our physical inactivity, being sedentary most of the time.  Yes, I have been baking here and there but it's always "to share" with family and friends.  Well, this Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe is served in ramekins, small enough for one person.  Talk about portion control.

There are many recipes online.  I did my research and came up with my own.

Chocolate Lava Recipe (serves 4, 6oz ramekins)
Ingredients:
2 large whole eggs
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
3.5 oz Scharffen Berger Bittersweet dark chocolate, cubed
4 oz unsalted butter, cubed

Procedure:
1.   Preheat oven to 450C.  Line ramekins with butter.  The ramekins we have are 8oz and are wide rather than tall - I was able to make 3 portions.
2.   Place butter and chocolate squares in a glass bowl and melt in a double broiler (just because we don't own a microwave).   Mix well.
3.   Beat the whole eggs and eggyolks until pale yellow.  Add the sugar and beat until completely dissolved.  Add the vanila and salt.
4.   Pour the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and combine.
5.   Fold in the all purpose flour.  Mix.
6.   Gently pour the mixture into the prepared ramekins.  The cake will be baked in a water bath (baine marie) so place the filled ramekins in a deep dish filled halfway with hot water.
7.    Bake for 15 minutes.  Your cake is done when the sides are firm to and the center is soft (and jiggly).
8.   Take the cake out of the oven and gently run a knife along the side and place a plate and carefully invert the cake.
9.   Sprinkle powdered sugar and top with your favorite fruit (I used mangoes).

It was delicious and my birthday boy loved it!

Enjoy!  Happy baking!
♥ michelle

[Cards] Botanical Birthday Cards

Welcome back!

We have several loved ones who are celebrating their birthdays this month of January.  Here are a few of the "feminine" cards - lots of leaves and flowers.  Lovely, huh?

Botanical Birthday Cards

May your day be blessed!

♥  michelle  ♥

Materials:

Kraft cardstock

Recollections Floral and Leaf Embellishments

Hampton Art Stamp:  PS00337 Botanicabella Background

Versafine Onyx Black Ink

Fiskar's rotary cutter

Tombow mono multi liquid glue

[Flashback] May 2013: Happy Birthday, Mr. C!

May is Mr. C's birth month.  

We hosted a lunch for his teammates and the church choir to celebrate our birthdays.  We did a "Barrio Fiesta" theme with banana leaves and mini buntings on the table.  Food was good:  rice, Bistek Tagalog (beef steak cooked with onions, Filipino style), pancit, fried eggplant, pork barbeque, smoked fish, shrimp, fruit salad and canonigo for dessert.

He had another celebration on his actual birthday.  Read more about it here:  Cinco de Mayo.

Cheers!

♥  michelle  ♥

[Flashback] April 2013: Happy Birthday to Me!

A Blessed Christmas to you, my friend! 

 Happy birthday, Jesus, the Reason for the Season!

Since it's also April Flashback today, .allow me to say Happy birthday to me!  Wooohooo!

Mr. C treated me to a birthday dinner at Azuma Sushi and Robata.  This is one of our favorite Japanese restaurants.  We love the hot rock beef where sliced new york strip is cooked on a hot rock with a special dipping sauce, shrimp tempura, soft shell crab roll and the kamikaze roll.

Azuma Sushi and Robata

 A birthday is not a birthday without a cake, or in my case, cupcakes!

In the complex of Azuma is Houston's Crave Cupcakes.

Houston's Crave Cupcakes

I love cupcakes though the icing can be too sweet.  These 4 flavors are my favorite:  Red Velvet, German Chocolate,  Coconut and Chocolate & Cream.  Waaaahhh!  Aren't the fondant topping cute?

"A gourmet twist on a nostalgic favorite."

Now, that's what I'm talking about.

♥  michelle  ♥

Azuma Sushi and Robata

5600 Kirby Drive #5

Houston, TX 77005

Telephone:  (713) 432-9649

Crave Cupcakes

5600 Kirby Drive

Houston, TX 77005

Telephone:  (713) 62-CRAVE (27283)

[Baking] Star Wars Cake and Polymer Clay Personalized Topper

We celebrated a dear friends 16th birthday and it was inspired by Star Wars.  I made the green cake which is "Pandan cake."  The cake is made using the extract of Pandan leaves.  It is very common in Asian cuisine, mostly used in desserts.  It is very aromatic and makes desserts tasty.  However, I think it is an acquired taste because I know some Asians are not too fond of it.  I called it "Yoda Pandan Cake."

"Youda Pandan Cake" and "Red Velvet Star Wars Cake"

The personalized cake topper is made from polymer clay.  It incorporates some of our birthday celebrants' things:  longboard, violin, red chucks and her red backpack.  It was my first time to make such and it was challenging.

The blue Star Wars cake was made by Jane&Jill cakes.  The cake was red velvet - delicious!  I added the topper which was pretty cool too because the light saber lit up!

I helped out with the table decorations as well.  I printed out the images from MeckMom and added them to chocolate and white chocolate peanut butter Reese's mini cups.

I love helping out in themed parties.  It's fun brainstorming and making the most of available resources.

Cheers!

♥  michelle  ♥

[Packaging Ideas] Cookies in Burlap

Welcome back!  A few weeks ago, I shared with you about baking Pinipig Cookies.

Well, my husband and I sent some of it to Chicago as a birthday present to our cousin.

We placed the cookies in a plastic container and then wrapped it in burlap and tied an orange ribbon.  The cookies fit well in the container but my guess is that it crumbled during shipping.

What do you think about her birthday card?  

I stamped the image using Hero Arts Clings CG315 and added Colorbox pigment inks and embossed it with Judikins clear detail embossing powder.  I like how it turned out... the colors, dimension, gloss and all.

The sentiment is from the Hero Arts CL488 clear stamp set.

I'm into "orange" recently as seen in my projects.  

Remember the orange tulips in my mosaic challenge?

"Orange you glad we're halfway through the week?"

I am.

See you soon!

♥  michelle  ♥

[Focus on Life] Week 28: Pretty Patterns

It's the weekend again, time for Ms. Sally Russick's Focus on Life.  

It's Week 28 and its all about Pretty Patterns.

Let me share with you the card that I made for a friends special birthday.  My friend has a nice garden with different kinds of roses, hibiscus, and fruit bearing trees that her mom planted when she visited from the Philippines a few years ago.  It's her birthday and I wanted to make her a card full of flowers.

What do you think of this card?  Isn't it pretty?  I used a from Hero Arts rubber stamp H5481 Classic Bloom that I bought during last week's trip to the craft store.  I stamped the image using Versafine in Onyx Black several times on a piece of yellow cardstock to make a pretty pattern of happy flowers.  

Hero Arts H5481 Classic Bloom Rubber Stamp

I colored the petals with a combination of yellow and orange colored pencils and the center with shades of brown.  The sentiment is from TPC Studio's "Everday Greetings Stamp" that I heat embossed using Versamark and Judikins black opaque embossing powder.  

Finally, I added Mod Podge Dimensional magic on 2 of the flowers to add a little interest.  I love the gloss!

Did you notice the chevron pattern on the background of the photo?  

Can you guess what that is?

It's the car seat cover.  We were running late for our birthday surprise so I took a last minute shot of it.  Pretty pattern, right?

Thanks for stopping by to see my pretty patterns.  Let's head over to The Studio Sublime and check out other pretty patterns.

Have a wonderful weekend ya'll!  

See you soon!

♥  michelle  ♥

[Celebration] Cinco de Mayo and Mi Esposo Cumpleaños

Welcome back!

Today is Cinco de Mayo which is celebrated in the United States by Mexican-American communities and in Mexico to commemorate the cause of freedom and democracy during the first years of the American civil war.   These days, it is also a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride.

For my husband and I, we are celebrating his birthday plus other things.  

We were pretty busy last week when we helped our friend who was admitted at the hospital while her husband was in the Philippines.  We just thank God for His strength, wisdom, protection and for answered prayers.  She was back home yesterday and her husband (our Pastor) was able to change his flight and arrived this morning.

So, in light of Cinco de Mayo and my husband's birthday, we had a Mexican inspired party.




Tamales, Fajitas, Tres leches, Canonigo and Bolillo

 

We made chicken tortilla soup topped with onions, cilantro, sour cream and avocado,  It was delicious, so they say.  The  yummy and reasonably priced $6.50/12 pcs. pork and chicken tamales and bolillo bread were from Aranda's bakery.  

One of our friends brought Chicken fajitas from La Michoacana Meat Market. 

it came with a "green salsa" which was delicately spiced.

For dessert, I made Canonigo decorated with mango balls.  Perfect!

His birthday cake was Tres Leches topped with slices of mango.  In lieu of a handmade birthday card, I made a mini bunting 

and stamped embossed his name...  simple, not too sweet, yummy and you-know-me, colorful.

How was your weekend?

Now that we're back home and sleeping on our own beds, I'm not too eager to clean and keep up with house duties.   

Now that would be another story.

Have a blessed week!

♥  Michelle ♥

[Card] A Grand Celebration

It's a joy to be invited to very special events such as an infant dedication and a 75th birthday celebration all in one family:  Grandson + Grandfather = Grand celebration!

We do not do infant baptisms in our church but we do infant dedications - it is a Christian parents' way  of making a promise to God that they will prayerfully and lovingly train the child in a godly way, to teach  and to discipline him or her and to help them make a decision to follow God on their own.  Being a parent is a big responsibility and godparents are given the same responsibility too - it goes beyond the birthday and Christmas gifts.

Baby Card

This card is for baby Dean.  I love this baby stamp because it can be used for a girl or a boy.  I coordinated the cuttlebug embossing folder mat with a similar patterned ribbon.  Simple and fun!  

This is for Dean's grandfather who celebrated his 75th birthday.  He is such a sweet, loving and God-fearing man - a truly caring friend.  

Gift Card Tabs

We gave them gift cards that I placed in the card using MS corner bubble punch.

I love how it turned out so I think I will be making more of these since we often give GC's anyway.

Have a wonderful day!

♥  Michelle  ♥

[Jewelry] Candy sprinkles pendant

Instead of "What's in a name" I think the more appropriate title for this post is "What in these names?"

Bright colored Candy Sprinkles... lots of them!

Do you prefer a particular COLOR palette?  I love bright colors because it makes me really happy.  

I made these personalized pendants using resin and candy sprinkles.

This first one is for a birthday girl.

Personalized resin candy sprinkle pendant

This one is for a special lady - it had a horizontal layout which turned out nice too.

  

These pendants came with a leather and /or ball chain necklace and a handmade card.

Enjoy your day!

♥  Michelle  ♥