Key Lime Cheesecake Pie

J and I just got back from our Bahamas cruise (Majesty of the Seas, 4 nights). This is the third time that we have done this itinerary and ship. It stops in Nassau Bahamas, CocoCay (RCI's private island) and Key West. One of my favorite place to visit in Key West is Kermit's Key West Key Lime Shoppe. I always have to get a slice of key lime pie and also some key limeade. This time I bought a bottle of key lime juice to take home. Tomorrow we are going to J's parent's house for dinner,  I decided to make a key lime pie.

Key Lime Cheesecake Pie

• 9 or 10 inch graham cracker pie crust
• 1 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup of key lime juice
• 5 egg yolks (save the egg whites for meringue topping for later use)
• 8 ounces of cream cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk, key lime juice, cream cheese and egg yolks on medium speed with the mixer. Pour the mixture into the pie crust. Bake for 25 minutes. Turn the oven off and let the cheesecake pie stand in oven for another 20 minutes with the oven door open at least 4 inches. Remove the cheesecake pie from the oven then let it cool on the counter for about 30 minutes then refrigerate. 

You can either make a meringue to top the key lime cheesecake pie or top with whipped cream.

What to do on a rainy day??

It's been a while since I last posted due to the fact that I was sick for almost a month. The first week (right after I got back from CA) it started off just as having the sniffles then it got worst but I attributed the sinus congestion to being allergies. Then by the last week of April, I felt like I got ran over by a truck. 

When I finally went to the doctor that Tuesday, it turned into severe upper respiratory and sinus infections. He prescribed me antibiotics/Robitussin AC and told me I have to stay for at least two days before I can go back to work. I finally felt better last week. I think this was the sickest I've been since I've been an adult. So of course for about a month I didn't really do much of anything besides going to work and going to sleep after I got home. 

Since the weather is really shitty today I figured I would just stay home and try to clean up the house since I couldn't do much of anything last month. Besides cleaning, I also made some yummy foods for dinner. I made a big pot of Japanese Chicken Curry for me, Chicken cutlet with bruschetta topping for J and chocolate chips cookies.

Corporate Restructuring=Trip to So. Cal?

Normally when companies have Corporate Restructuring it means it's time to fine a new job since the company is not doing well financially. Well, that is not true when it comes to my company. Our business have grown significantly in the past few years that the old structure is not functional anymore.

When my ex-manager called me into his office a month ago, I thought I was getting the bad news. It was very nerve racking since I have been very dedicated to my job since I started last November. Boy, was I wrong. He wanted to let me know that I will be under a new department and sadly he will no longer be my manager. I'm still working in the same office, pretty much have the same job and still at the same desk but I now report to higher ups in TX and CA.

This means my coworker Maribeth and I get to go to our HQ in CA. Where in CA? My old home sweet home, Irvine! When my family first immigrated to the US,  we lived in Irvine and Tustin. Every since after college, I haven't been able to go back too often. Even when I'm back there, I don't normally go back to Irvine and Tustin.

 The last time I went back was the end of 2009 for my aunt's funeral. I still have a lot of family there but since my business trip was only for a few days, I only got to meet up with my super talented brother Josh one of the nights for dinner. Even though it was very hectic I had a really great time meeting everyone at the HQ and also got to see how much Irvine has changed!

Huntington Beach

Newport Beach Pie

In-N-Out cheeseburger animal style! 

Baby Shower Cupcakes for Work

My colleague James and his wife are expecting their first baby! All of us at work decided to throw him a surprised baby shower/pot luck. Me being me, of course I had to bring dessert. I decided on making chocolate cake filled with Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream and top with Whipped Ganache frosting. I also decorate the top with fondant cut outs. Can you guess what the baby's initial will be??

I brought 12 to work and let J bring 12 to his co-workers too.

For the cake part, I used Ina Garten's Beatty's Chocolate cake recipe. Makes 24 standard sized cupcakes.

For the Swiss meringue, if you are only filling the cake with it, you want to divide the recipe by 5 since it's a lot of buttercream.  I made a big batch so I can freeze it (last up to 8 weeks in air tight container) for later use. The recipe I used is from Sweetapolita.

Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

• 1 cup of Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream
• 2 tbs of strawberry preserves

Beat the ingredients together until well incorporated. If the mixture is runny, beat in some powdered sugar (2-3 tbs). 

Chocolate Ganache Piped Frosting

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 12 oz semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 tbs light corn syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbs room temperature unsalted butter

In a double boiler, melt chocolate chips in heavy whipping cream. Take the melted chocolate mixture off the heat then mix in light corn syrup and vanilla extra. Let the mixture cool (room temperature). Whip in the butter with your electric mixer on high speed until the mixture is a whipped frosting consistency. 

Blackberry Oatmeal Bars

I recently saw this Strawberry Oatmeal Bars recipe from The Pioneer Women and couldn't believe how easy it is. I knew I have to try it. I love cookies and bars with oats in them! I think it's because I feel that they are healthier than regular baked goods since you get extra fiber from the oats.

Since I don't have any strawberry preserves on hand, I used blackberry and lingonberry preserves. I also drizzled some honey on the top of the oats.

The end result is freaking delicious!

Blizzard of 2013- Chinese New Year

To be honest, I really didn't think this snowstorm would be so severe. I thought ok, the most we'll get is  20 inches and things should go back to normal by Saturday night. Boy, was I wrong! In our area in CT, we got between 36-42 inches dumped on us within a 24 hour period.

 It is now Sunday and majority of the roads in CT are still not plowed. In our driveway, there are about 3 feet of snow. Our regular plow guy is so busy that who knows when he will get to our house. I worked from home on Friday and most likely I will have to do the same again on Monday.

Where's the stairs??

Street? What street?

5 ft of snow drifts on the deck! 

So on top of having the epic snowstorm this weekend, it's also Chinese New Year. We were suppose to have a big dinner for Chinese New Year's Eve on Saturday night but since everyone is trapped in their houses, the dinner consist of J, me, my parents and my cousin Tina who's been at my house since Thursday night. For our New Year's Eve dinner; we had hot pot, chicken, fish and some sort of smoked fish egg roe thing.

While being stuck inside, we've been pigging out. Friday night I made banana bread. Saturday night Jeff made some brownies from a box mix. It's now Sunday and I just made some blueberry coffee cake muffins.

Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffin
adaptation from Ina Garten's recipe
makes 16-24 muffins

• 12 tbs of unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 extra large eggs, room temperature
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 8 ounces (1 cup) sour cream
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tbs lemon zest
• 2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 half-pints fresh blueberries
• sanding sugar (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the muffin pans with paper liners.

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Turn the speed of your mixer on low and add the eggs 1 at a time then add the vanilla, sour cream, milk, lemon zest. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mix until all the ingredients are incorporated. Fold in the blueberries. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pans. Fill each cup to about 3/4 full. Sprinkle the sanding sugar on top of the batter. Bake for about 25 minutes or until the muffins are lightly browned on top and when inserted a tooth pick into the center of the cake, it comes out clean. 

Woodland Themed Cakes

Remember the 60th birthday cake I did for Danielle's mother in law? I got really feedback from Danielle and she even asked me to make cupcakes and a smash cake for her son's 1st birthday!

It's a lot less time consuming this time around since Danielle already got these super cute animal fondant toppers to put on top of the cake. The cupcakes consist of chocolate and vanilla cakes with chocolate  and vanilla American buttercream. I was thinking about making Swiss Meringue buttercream but thought the American buttercream might be more appropriate for a kid's party plus the frosting is easier to decorate with. The smash cake is in the shape of a tree stomp consist of vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. 

For the vanilla cake, I used the Flag Cake recipe from Ina Garten's, "Barefoot Contessa-Family Style" cookbook. It's not exactly a diet friendly cake consist of six eggs, sour cream, plenty of butter and sugar. The result is a wonderful tender butter cake great for cupcakes or use for stacked cakes. 

For the chocolate cake I just stick to my trusted Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" chocolate cake. For the frostings, I used Sweetapolita's vanilla American buttercream recipe. I used the same frosting recipe as the base for my chocolate frosting. Adding good quality melted dark chocolate to the vanilla frosting and adjusting the amount of milk to get to the right frosting consistency. 

Since I've been extremely busy with work this week, I didn't start baking until last night (6:30 PM). Took all night and I was finally done around 12:30 AM. Not bad for having to bake and decorate 48 cupcakes and a little stomp cake.

 Danielle picked up the cakes this morning and I hope they like the cakes since in the past she's only had my cakes frosted with Swiss Meringue buttercream. 

Used coconut flakes and sanding sugar to make it look
like snow. 

Super cute toppers!