Peaches 'n' Cream Muffin

This is a childhood favorite muffin! I remember my mom had a friend who used to own a coffee shop back in NZ and she would bring us some muffins and sandwiches. My favorites were the Peach and Cream cheese muffin and the smoked salmon bagel sandwich. Those were the days where I can savor a snack and read some Baby Sitter Club books (yes I loved those books).

So, now that I have an oven, I decided to recreate something like the Peach and cream cheese muffin. Basically I used my blueberry muffin recipe as a basic muffin. So, beat one and one quarter sticks of butter with 1 cup of sugar until fluffy. Beat in two eggs, one at a time, until incorporated. Now grate in the peels of one lemon. In a separate bowl have 3 cups of flour, one tablespoons of baking powder, half a teaspoon of salt, and half a teaspoon of baking soda sifted and ready. Also, measure out one and a half cups of plain no flavor yogurt. Now mix half the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and fold with a spatula, add in one third of the yogurt and fold, now add in half of the dry and fold, and one third of the yogurt, etc so end with the dry ingredients (4 parts dry and 3 parts yogurt). Sorry if that was confusing.
Now instead of using blueberry... I used can peach slices and also sliced my own cream cheese (about 1/4 inch thick and 1 inch long).

So in your buttered muffin pan, fill half with the batter and then place one slice of peach and one slice of cream cheese on top, then put another dollop of batter on top for each muffin. You can also do this by dicing the peaches and cream cheese and gently fold into batter instead.

Bake at 375F for 30 - 40 minutes or until ready by testing with a fork.

SUPER by Perricone MD

I got the SUPER by Perricone lunchbox set from Sephora last friday. Today, I finally opened it up. The set comes with the acai face wash, detox elixir, and super hydrator. All full size products for $65 (before tax). Before I got this set I tried the hydrator sample and thought it was pretty good so I decided to try the set. The sales at Sephora tried the face wash on my hand and it made my skin so soft and moisturized even without lotion afterwards! Yet today after I washed my face with it, my skin felt taunt and dry... so I sprayed on the toner and put on the moisturizer. Now my skin feels soft but not so moisturized. I don't like the smell anymore! At the store, the face wash smelled so sweet and yummy but on my face it was like two day old wine. I'll give it couple more days and see whether I should return or keep.

It's a value set for sure but still debating on the quality. I could spend that money on just one good moisturizer or have all three... 

P.S - the face wash was so full that when I put in the pump, products spilled out so becareful ! 

The cover 

The Lunchbox

The products

Red Velvet Truffles Recipe

Last year I was in Big Bear with a few friends and we went to Sugar Pine Bakery.  I got this box of white chocolate truffles with red velvet cake inside. I swear I was in heaven until I finished that box. Since I recently moved and have a working oven, I decided to give these a try.

The cake must be very moist so I used store bought cake mix - Red Velvet of course. Just follow the instructions on that. Also buy a tub of cream cheese frosting. Cool the cake completely and then crumble into a large mixing bowl. Use about 12oz frosting for one box of cake. Mix in the frosting and make sure there are no whites showing. Roll little balls or scoop with melon roller and place onto wax paper lined trays. Put into fridge for a few hours to harden. Buy easy melt chocolates (white, milk, or dark) I bought Trader Joe's unsweetened dark chocolate rounds and also some semisweet chips. Melt in microwave or over stove. Dip cake balls in and let dry on wax paper trays. When hardened, they can be place in little cupcake papers and in pretty little boxes.

I gave some to a friend and put them in a little cellophane bag with a twisty.

I have much room for improvements but at least they taste alright.

White truffles from Sugar Pine Bakery in a cute Heart Box 

Gift bag for Judy :D 

Completed chocolates drying on wax paper! 

P.S definitely a tedious thing to make... a lot of time spent on waiting, dipping, and drying... but for personal presents or yummy treats, all is worth it !

Renu Nakorn

Ok, the first time I saw this name I thought of the contact lense solution RENU. But this is actually a Thai Restaurant located in Norwalk, CA.

Came here for my friend's bday dinner. I found this on yelp and it was highly rated. They serve northern and southern Thai food. I think northern is much more interesting, sometimes influenced by Burmese. Southern thai is what we usually find at local thai restaurants - pad thai, yellow curry, etc.

So we each ordered a dish and my favorite were the Roasted Duck Curry and Khao Soi (northern).

The only con is the rice costs $1. It's only rice !!! A curry entree should come with some rice with no extra cost. Maybe that's why most of their entrees are between $7 - $10
Our bill came out to be $65 for 6 people and the gratuity was added by the restaurant.

Oh, one more con, we had a birthday cake and when we asked for it. They just bought it out with the cake still in the box and gave us a lighter and plates. Um... that totally ruined our surprise for our two friends. Basic service dudes.

Spicy Fried Rice with Beef

Khao Soi with Beef (I asked for Chicken...)

Something Angel Wings (My friend said these were not authentic)

Roasted Duck Curry with Pineapples :D

Name unknown - Spicy shrimp salad

Mango Pudding Cake from 85 Degrees for Birthday girl and boy