It's officially been a year...

It's been a year since I've been home from graduate school. I wish I could say I've done much in the year but I haven't. I've been looking for jobs and being incredibly unsuccessful. I got rejected by the Global Health Corps again (that was earlier this year). Unsuccessful dating too. I think I've gained like 15 lbs. Ugh. Overall not a very successful year.

What I can say though is that I've gained friends and have made friendships stronger. Albeit that some of my friendships have grown weaker, I have matured and have been able to let them go. Or in the process of letting them go. It's just one of those things that happen as people get older I think. You start realizing which relationships are worth the effort and which ones aren't. One way I've started to handle it is by asking, "Does this person value me as I value them?" I know that sounds incredibly selfish but honestly, why should I put in effort into something when the person receiving it could care less about how much I care for them? I'm not talking about romantic relationships here, I'm talking about friendships. Take my best friend for example. She and I see each other maybe twice a year if we're lucky. We don't even talk every day. But we know that we have each others' backs and when we do talk or hang out, I know on my side that I never feel like there's some kind of ulterior motive from her. Like she's not using me for something. Sometimes with other friends I do, and that's when I get moved to stop pursuing. Or if I feel like I'm doing that to them you know?

ANYWHO. Like I said before, I have gained friends and for that I am incredibly thankful. One of which is Miriam. She is possibly one of the funniest people I know and the fact that she grew up on the East Coast is a breath of fresh air. She tells it like it is but also is unafraid to tell me/us (her small group) where she stands with us. I like that. I like that she's frank about how she views us and that she doesn't feel like she needs to sugar coat. You don't hear that kind of honesty always. I'm pretty sure she doesn't read this but I want to wish her a happy birthday and also, I made her this Chocolate Souffle Cake. 

Recipe from Tartine. She and her family loved it! 

Here's to a year of being back in the United States and to my new friend Miriam!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Last night while studying for my first real test of my first semester at Cañada, I decided to bake red velvet cupcakes for my old clinic that hired me back because they desperately missed me (okay the last part may be a tad exaggerated). I made cream cheese frosting for the first time ever in my life too! But this definitely wasn't the first time I made red velvet cupcakes. The first time I baked them was also for Valentine's Day but I dusted powdered sugar hearts on them instead! Kind of a fun, less fatty thing to do I guess? Anywho, the cream cheese frosting, though, was super easy to make and definitely was a nice contrast to the red velvet.


The REAL baking came in right when I came home from work. I decided to try my hand at this recipe: Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Nutella whipped cream. SO much respect for this person because they developed the recipe themselves! That's my huge hurdle for ever truly pursuing baking. I am waayyyy too far from being creative enough. But in any case, they were a hit! I'm so so happy. I really liked how the mixture was light and airy. I didn't think it was going to make for moist enough cupcakes but they were really good! And of course the Nutella whipped cream was freaking great.

This is the finished product. Some were hearts others were circles. 

I am so definitely making these again. To make them taste "darker" I actually only used 1 cup + about 1/8 cup of sugar. I mean there's so much sweetness in the Nutella you really don't miss it.

Also I wanted to say that a year ago today one of my best friends (who actually just got married last week) was visiting me last year in Ireland and we had an amazing Valentine's Day dinner which my then boyfriend was nice enough to let me have with just her. But I didn't know what was coming.. apparently. Haha. That's another story for another time. 

So all in all, I hope everyone had a fantastic Valentine's Day, Red Day (if you're Korean) or dia de San Valentin if you espeak espanish! Those are the only cultures I know well so I swear I'm not leaving others out on purpose!

First baking post

About a month ago, I baked a cake for my dear friend's birthday surprise party. A few years ago my sister got me the recipe book for the bakery, Tartine, in San Francisco which I love! I finally decided to try my hand at one of the recipes, the Devil's Food Layer Cake. It was SUPPOSED to look like this:
It was WAY less labor intensive as I feared and also kind of fun. Baking is definitely a destressor for me but until I get to live in my own house, it's still kind of stressful (with my mom breathing down my neck and telling me that I have too much of everything or I'm making a mess).

What the bakery's looks like

ANYWHO, the cake ended up looking like this:

At my house right after adding the crumbs

After my friends decided to dress it up and add a cute little flower... I think it looks great!

It was a HUGE hit! I was super happy mostly because I did only 2 layers instead of 4 and cut down on the sugar a lot. If you want to know the recipe... let me know!