Oldest's "My Little Pony" Birthday Cake

This my great attempt at a "My Little Pony" Birthday Cake. When Oldest told me that she wanted a Pink Pony Cake I was all worried and thought that she meant a sculpted Pink Pony in cake- I knew that wasn't going to happen. So this is what I came up with.

A little bit about the cake: I used a plain box cake mix and then divided the batter in 3 parts and added different colors to dye the cake. Then I layered it in the cake pan and baked as normal. The frosting was a challenge for me. I had about 1 Tablespoon of butter in the house and knew Buttercream Frosting was out of the question unless I made a run to the store- which I didn't want to do! I made a call to my Dad (the expert Chef) and he suggested 7 Minute Frosting. Which is what I made and really liked! But it's SUPER sweet! I also was too tired to mix up more frosting to put her name on the cake, so I spelled it out in Fruit Punch Flavored Nerds....such a nerd I am!

I was fairly happy with the final cake. The cake went to school, so I'm sorry I can't tell you how it tasted. But there was nothing left.

What to do? The Approaching Birthdays of Oldest and Youngest

On Tuesday it will be Oldest's, fourth birthday! Yes, Hubster and I keep saying, "Where does the time go?" It truly flies when you're having fun, as the old saying says.

I like to make sure they have a special treat to bring to school/daycare that is homemade. Most likely this will be a traditional birthday cake. The homemade aspect is very important to me as a Mother. My parents always took the time and love into everything I was involved in as a child and I feel as a parent, I need to do this too.

Schools are really cracking down these days on bringing in homemade things to school. I understand the reasons behind this decision: allergies, home cleanliness, etc. Luckily we are still in daycare and they welcome the recognition of your child's birthday.

In June, we plan to move both of the girls to a private school. I'll miss not making the cakes for the parties. I guess it will just have to be even more special with our home celebration and weekend, birthday parties.

I've been asking both of the girls what they would like for their birthdays. Mostly this is in terms of: flavor of cake, theme, colors, and gifts. Oldest has decided on a My Little Pony theme and Youngest likes 101 Dalmatians. I promise I will post details of the creation of these cakes for everyone to see!

We have also been talking about how old they will be turning. Oldest will be 4 and Youngest will be 3. For some reason they both thought they were exactly one year older than this! (5 and 4! Please don't make time go too fast!)

While we were discussing what birthdays were and what they meant, Youngest had a, "kid saying the cutest stuff", moment:

Youngest blurts out, "And it means that people will sing!!" For a second I was caught off guard and didn't really comprehend what she was saying. Then she said again, while wiggling her body back and forth in a little, dance motion, " They will sing Happy Happy!......Happy Happy to ME!" And then I got what she was saying and said. "Yes, the people who celebrate your birthday with you, will sing 'Happy Birthday To YOU'." I couldn't get over that having, the song, 'Happy Birthday,' sung to her, was a highlighted and special part for her. I would have thought it would have been the presents!

Oldest also had a, "kid saying the cutest stuff", moment on our way home from Richmond the other night. It was dark out and the music was playing low in the car. No one was talking and then Oldest said out of the blue,"I think.... I think....I need a party."

I've really been trying to avoid the party with friends thing. I think she's still pretty young and we celebrate as a family and they celebrate at school. So I was silent when these words came out of her mouth. I didn't know what to say. Luckily, Hubster came to the rescue and said, "Why do you need a party?" We had been driving down the road in almost total silence for the last hour. We had talked about birthdays early that morning.

But she held her conversation and said,"Because it's my birthday." So Hubster replied in asking her if she had ever had a party before? Oldest was then lost in thought and we continued driving into the night without another word.

So now I'm left with with that question, "What to do??"

Delicious Vietnam #10; Hubster's ESP and DaLat Vietnamese Cuisine, Richmond, Va

Delicious Vietnam #10~ Đà Lạt Restaurant; Review in Richmond, VA

Yesterday was my only day off for the week and I had planned to attend a Reptile Show in Richmond, Va. Hubster took the day off and we all drove up to Richmond yesterday.

Hubster kept saying things like, "You are sure this show is on and you know how to get there?"

Check.

Check......

Why was he doubting me? His mistrust was making me unsure of myself, so I got up early and checked the website before we left the house. Hubster also looked at the site out of curiosity.

Well, to my BIG, disappointment, the show was cancelled! The Raceway Stadium that was to hold the event knew nothing about it and told me they were trying to contact the person responsible for the website since they had other people asking where the Reptile Show was! What a total Bummer and the start of a crappy day in a city I know nothing about! Hubster's great ESP (extrasensory perception).. I should have called, but ticket sales were there!.... I had just skipped buying any.

So I may not have Hubster's gift of ESP, but I do have my stomach talking to me, and I was planning a chance of good food after a good show. Early that morning I had read reviews for the local Vietnamese Restaurants in Richmond, Va.

We drove out of the Raceway Stadium and drove by one Vietnamese Restaurant before settling on eating at: DaLat Vietnamese Cuisine.

It is located in a strip mall and does not look like much from the outside. There is a TJ Max in this shopping center, a baby store and a cigar store, just to name a few of the businesses surrounding it. Sales must be good because it was mid afternoon and there were only two parking spots. The physical location is: 9127 West Broad Street; Henrico, Virginia - Tel. (804) 762-9330.

When we entered the restaurant it was one, large, dark room, with a bar in the back, with the restaurant's name in big letters on the wall. It was simply decorated, but was ethnically pleasing with Vietnamese art, decorated, window sized, cut outs in the walls.

Once we sat down and started looking at the menu I was a surprised! I have never been to a Vietnamese restaurant with so many choices of Pho, Noodle dishes, rice pancakes, dumplings, and meat dishes. Hubster even commented on the large menu. My experience in the U.S.A. and Vietnam has been that Vietnamese Restaurants sticks to what they make best.

We ordered an appetizer : Banh Cuon Cha Lua.



It was described on the menu as ravioli filled with pork, dry mushroom ears, and herbs. This was a good size for Hubster, our two girls, and myself.

Then Hubster order Mi Xao Don Thap Cam (Crispy Egg Noodles with Shrimp, Chicken, Pork, and Beef) ,(I was late getting the camera out so the sauces and table salad were added before I snapped the picture.)


I had the Bun Chao Tom Cha Gio (Grilled shrimp paste on sugar cane and crispy egg roll). This was all served in a nice sized bowl with chopped lettuce, cucumbers, bean sprouts, pickled carrot, scallions, over a bed of rice noodles topped with crushed peanuts and fish sauce on the side. It was tasty, fresh, and filling for a January day.











The girls each split an order of the Bun Ga Cha Gio (Grilled Chicken and crispy spring roll). This was served with the same vegetables as my dish and the girls gobbled it down! I was careful with the fish sauce even though it was very mild and saw no chili pepper floating in it. This was something that held me back in knowing I wasn't eating food in Vietnam. The spice level was not there- therefore, Americanized (Lets put a very sad face here).

I don't believe they have a children's menu, but you should expect your children to dine and enjoy whatever you do- minus hot spices. Lately I've been noticing that dining, trying new foods, and practicing good manners is lacking here in the U.S.A.

If I was to rate the restaurant on 1-5 stars, I would give it 4 stars- close to excellent. I was surprised that the cooks were very sparse with ginger and Thai Chile (Actually I think it was left out all together!). We made up for this by adding the heat we enjoy with two selections of chili sauces on the table. This is probably a wise decision on behalf of the cooks, being the majority of their dinners are probably non-traveling Americans.

The reviews online posted good for: speed of order to table. I thought this very slow for a Vietnamese Restaurant, but was tolerable for an American Restaurant. The Pho houses we frequent, (which I would not dare call this a Pho house!), are usually faster than fast food!

Looking back at the bright sides of the day, we were together as family and trying a new Vietnamese Restaurant in a city we were not familiar with. It was a great find, and turned a disappointing outing into a memorable one!

Lastly I want to wish everyone a very Happy Vietnamese New Year!

Chúc mừng năm mới!!

It's my year too, I'm a Cat! (Sadly, and inevitably, it will probably be a pretty hard year for me.)

This post was submitted to a monthly blogging event: Delicious Vietnam, which challenges me to become fluent in cooking Vietnamese food for my dear, Vietnamese/American, always on the run, family. Thank you to the creators: A Food Lover's Journey, and Ravenous Couple and most of all- A Big, Big-Thank You to Mai, of Flavor Boulevard for hosting this month's event!

"Flying with Ly Air this Morning Ladies?"

" Ladies, welcome to Ly Air this morning, I am your Mommy/ Pilot/Flight attendant for today. I hope you are enjoying your homemade sourdough bread and Capri Sun Juice pack I quickly handed out while strapping you into your seats. It is currently 37 degrees, a bright and sunny, crisp morning, we will be flying from: Our Lovely Home to Daycare in just a few moment while we warm the cockpit. It is a quarter to ten o'clock and traffic should be relatively light, we will be arriving in approximately twenty minutes."

Yes, I'm wearing Hubster's Bomber Jacket again because I'm so cold here! After finishing the above speech to my 2 and 3 year olds (Youngest and Oldest), Youngest says,"What are you doing Mommy?!" and I say that I'm so happy to be on vacation finally, that I'm going CRAZY! But then I know they love it when I act like this, so I just keep acting silly.

We get to one of the eight lights we might drive through on our route and I come over the speaker as flight attendant. "Trash anyone, trash- trash..oops thank you very much,(it's one finished juice pack) Please make sure to eat your bread so we are finished when we get to our final destination!)"

I start talking about Christmas again and what we will be doing for the next week, that tonight we will go see Santa. "What are you going to tell him you would like for Christmas again?"

Oldest says, "A Pink Pony, a baby-baby Dinosaur, and Pink Dancing shoes like my white party shoes."

And Youngest shouts, "I want a Big, Big Dinosaur that says Roarrrr!"

Now, we will see if they have the courage to tell Santa all this....and if they will sit with him to have their picture taken.

I pull into Daycare, "Thank you all for traveling with Ly Air this morning. It is still 37 degrees, but you be sure to have a blast-in-a-half at school while I go send out Christmas Cards and put our second wreath on the garage that Hubster has been too busy to put up. Love you, and see you this afternoon when we will go see Santa!!! Yeahhhhh!"

Delicious Vietnam #8, Bánh Da Lợn, or Layered Tapioca Cake (this translates to Pig Skin Cake!)

One must say that I am thankful to take part in Delicious Vietnam monthly. It always encourages me in my cooking and teaches me new skills. And as always, my children and husband really enjoy whatever I experiment on. This month I feared I was not going to make it though. My work schedule is eleven days straight so that I can get off to enjoy a long holiday. Not to mention all the other little and big things that need to be attended to: house decorations, Christmas (Snail-Mail) Cards, getting the girls to visit Santa, shopping, and just getting the house ready for my long awaited VACATION! All I really want is to stay calm…..

So I remind myself, “Julia, this is your time to have fun!!!” I do a quick search on the internet and run in to,“Pig Skin Cake” or Bánh Da Lợn or Layered Tapioca Cake.

Although I haven’t eaten any in a few years it again reminds me of my love, Hubster. He graduated college before I did and moved to Dallas to start a job in his career. I couldn’t move in with him until I finished school, and then do to employment opportunities once I graduated, I moved to Maine instead of in with him. This was a trying time in our relationship, long distant phone calls at all hours of the day, what day will come conversations, and then care packages in the mail, “YES!!” In these care packages he would send things like Roman Noodles of different kinds, rice cakes, and Tapioca Layered Mung Bean Cakes. I’d share these goodies with my housemates and as I always do, try to unravel the mystery of how this Tapioca Mung Bean cake- so Non-Western was made.

While I was planning for this month’s event I ran across this blog, Playing with My Food http://pwmf.blogspot.com/2005/10/bnh-da-ln-steamed-tapioca-layered-cake.html. I was really impressed. It looked pretty easy with the correct ingredients and correct equipment, all of which I had or knew where to buy easily. I followed this recipe down to the smallest gram.

Last night I stirred and steamed it up. It was ready to slice in the morning and to share with coworkers at work. They all seemed to really enjoy it. It is just so different to anything Western. And the girls, my two and three year old, well they both ate large pieces at the breakfast table as I was headed out to work this morning. They “ewwed and ahhhed” over it! It must have been the layers and the bright colors.

I also have to say that although this is very common to see at the register as you check out of Asian Markets and doesn’t cost much to buy, it’s good to know that it is relatively easy to make and a lot of fun!

Many thanks to the very talented creators of Delicious Vietnam, bloggers of: A Food Lover's Journey and Ravenous Couple.

If you would like to participate in this monthly event see: http://www.anhsfoodblog.com/2010/04/delicious-vietnam-new-blogging-event.html for details.

Lastly, I would like to say congratulation to Deb at http://www.bearheadsoup.blogspot.com . Please enjoy going to her site and reading all the entries for this month sometime after the second Sunday in December.

Where Have I been?

Where have I been?
I really can’t tell you.
I guess I’ve just been caught up in life!
Thanksgiving was great.
I’ve been keeping up with Delicious Vietnam.
The kids have been getting there bedtime stories.
There have been no trips to the library.
It has been so cold and with the time change it is just so dark when I get off work- we just go home and curl up every night.
I’ve stopped running and cycling for a month now, but really can’t find the time to get it back in my life.
In this way I’m looking forward to getting the holidays over-yet I’m just so excited for them too!
So, I guess I’m just taking a winter break. I do plan to get my Delicious Vietnam entry in this month though!
I’ve been making yogurt and need to do a posting on this….
I also started a sourdough starter the week before Thanksgiving.
I’ve been having fun experimenting with it. ( Another posting opportunity.)
If only I could get my Christmas Cards in the mail this week.

Vegetarian Vietnamese Egg Rolls- Cha Gio Chay (Entry #3 to Delicious Vietnam)

My family seems to be eating much better these days! Delicious Vietnam really gets my mind going about what to cook every month. Hubster enjoys seeing everything I'm learning about his culture and the girls get to taste the other "half" of their ethnicity, cooked by their American Mother, and it's just so much FUN!

When we travel to Vietnam we always go to lots of Buddhist Temples. My husband has a cousin who is a monk. When we visit they cook a huge feast of vegetarian food which is just unbelievable to me. It's the best vegetarian food I've ever eaten in my life and I'm a reformed Vegetarian of six years. (Yes, I went back to eating meat.) It is the best vegetarian food to me because I can't even tell there is no meat, and there is no dairy. Which as a reformed, American Vegetarian, I always felt I over ate the dairy portion of a balanced diet.

Each time we have eaten at the temple they have made Vegetarian Egg Rolls. I'm always careful to try and decode the ingredients. Then I always plan to make them when I return home and never do. So this month I decided it was time! I decided to Google: Vegetarian Vietnamese Egg Rolls. I found two recipes:
http://www.phamfatale.com/id_84/title_Mini-Fried-Vegetarian-Eggrolls-Cha-Gio-Chay-in-Vietnamese/

and

http://wanderingchopsticks.blogspot.com/2008/06/cha-gio-bapram-bap-vietnamese-corn-egg.html

I carefully compared the two and then followed mainly Pham Fatale's recipe. Wondering Chopsticks' recipe had some great information about Buddhist holidays and explanations about the ingredients, but I went mostly with Pham Fatale's Recipe because of the Mung bean, which I remember in the egg rolls I liked so much.

Here is my version of Pham Fatale's recipe:

Yields ~30 rolls

1 pound shred taro root
1 julienned cut, carrot
1 finely diced shallot
1 diced onion
4 cloves of garlic,minced
1 block of firm tofu, steamed and mashed
1/4 steamed mung beans, mashed
2 oz wood ear mushrooms re-hydrated and finely sliced
2 oz glass vermicelli noodles, chopped in 1/2 inch pieces
salt and pepper to taste
Rice papers, hydrated in water for wrapping filling

Directions:

Make filling by shredding taro root in food processor. Add all the other prepared vegetables. Season. Take a small amount of the filling and fry in frying pan to taste seasonings and adjust if necessary. Wrap in hydrated rice paper and fry until lightly golden. Eat with nuoc mam sauce, lettuce, sliced cucumber, cilantro, and rice vermicelli as a giant salad.

Next time I will use the regular egg roll wrappers. The rice paper was crispy, but I know that I prefer the real egg roll wrappers. I will also take out the tofu and add all mung beans. The tofu was too mushy for my liking. I also would like to play around with adding cilantro and mushroom powder like the original recipe used. Sadly, these were not anywhere as good as the ones I had at the Temple. But I plan to keep trying on this recipe since I know they can be so good!

And lastly, I'd like to say, "Don't make egg rolls unless you have time to devote to them." They can be very time consuming but are well worth your labors. Happy Eating!

I'd also like to say thanks you to Delicious Vietnam's founders: http://www.anhsfoodblog.com/ and http://ravenouscouple.blogspot.com/. You can also stay tuned and see the other entries to this event, posted after Nov. 14, 2010 hosted by MissAdventureAtHome this month.