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Thursday, May 28, 2009

Sven & Fiero

Because I just realized I never posted a picture of the adorable Sven & Fiero softies from my LAPIN!So far Sven's been staying out of trouble... aside from a minor fender bender with another crazy woman who probably shouldn't have been driving as she was sobbing away as her brother/cousin/exboyfriend whatever had passed away. Luckily because of mob connections, she got my car repaired for free.

And Fiero couldn't stay out of the action, mirrored my accident and had to live in the shop for a few days too.

As S would say "Your cars keep getting hit because you gave them such stupid names. They deserve it."

Wrong S. But I still love you.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Cupcake Veggie Love!

This is such an sweet video. Enjoy!

Cupcakes of the Non Edible Variety...

My relative from Japan is totally sending me this! I can't wait, it looks SUPER cool! If you want to get even more excited, watch the video below :-)



Donut Cupcakes

While these aren't quite on my list of things to make, they do look lovely. Enjoy!

Previous Post: The Turducen of Cupcakes.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Floating Water Bridge. How Poetic

Incredibly cool video/phenomenon. I especially love the music.



"When exposed to a high-voltage electric field, water in two beakers climbs out of the beakers and crosses empty space to meet, forming the water bridge. The liquid bridge, hovering in space, appears to the human eye to defy gravity...

Initially, the bridge forms due to electrostatic charges on the surface of the water. The electric field then concentrates inside the water, arranging the water molecules to form a highly ordered microstructure. This microstructure remains stable, keeping the bridge intact."

Poached from Boing Boing Gadgets.

Enough with the Cupcakes you say?! How about Pumpkin Pudding Toothpaste?

And now for something completely different. Those crazy Japanese people and their weird inventions... here's one for the books!


My relatives in Japan sent me a delightful care package, full of goodies like Cola, and Chocolate, and Pumpkin Pudding, in tubes? While my imagination runs wild with thoughts of Willy Wonka and a complete thanksgiving dinner in a gumball, I'm brought back to reality when I read that these are all indeed toothpastes.

As I constantly do with weird Japanese inventions, I ask myself why? Why would you want to brush your teeth with Curry flavored toothpaste? Then again, being the forever experimentalist that I am, the why part of the question is simple, why not? This is how greatness is born...


So far, I've only tried the Pumpkin Pie. This perhaps might not be the next craze to hit the States, but interesting at the very least. 1 down 5 to go.

Cola, Bitter Chocolate, Kishu Ume, Indo Curry and Eggplant on the cue.

Something to try: The Dudecake. Meatloaf Cupcakes

Savory, not sweet, these certainly are a trick to the eye. Before you barf at the idea of a meat cupcake, I'll save you the grief. As opposed to the Bacon Cupcake which combines sweet and savory, these little devils are pure man.


Bite sized meatloaf covered in colorfully whipped mashed potatoes sounds like a Sunday night dinner to me!

The Meatloaf Cupcake

Margarita Cupcakes

Very similar to my Lemon Drop Cupcakes, these little delights turned out a little st. patty's day. At least I won't get pinched while eating these!


The Margarita Cupcake
1 Box Duncan Hines White Cake Mix (Yep, still lazy)
2 shots of Tequila
3 tablespoons of Lime Juice
Dash of Salt

Follow the directions for the Cake Mix, substituting 1/3 of a cup of water for the tequila and lime juice. Add in a dash of salt for flavor, and a few green sprinkles for a mini burst of color.

Bake as directed. I found it's about 20 minutes for my mini-cupcakes.

Frosting
1 stick of butter (softened)
1 box of powdered sugar
1 shot of Tequila
2 tablespoons Lime Juice

To make a simple buttercream, whip the butter until fluffy. Slowly add in the powdered sugar, half a cup at a time. Add the tequila and lime juice and water as needed until the frosting forms stiff peaks.

Garnish
I rimmed the outside of the cupcakes with sugar :-)

The Lemon Drop Cupcake

As a present to myself and my new baking creative outlet, I invested in an adorable mini cupcake pan from Target! Because really, as great as cupcakes are, who can resist a mini? Especially when they come with a shot of vodka.


But seriously these were my first mini cupcake experiments, and there will be more to follow. If you are finding yourself asking WHY? Why Niki do you keep putting weird things in baked goods, the answer is simple. Why create something that's already been done before? I know I can make great chocolate cupcakes with a buttercream frosting, but where's the fun in that?

As I said. These are experiments. Some may turn out well, some might fail. I'll let you decide.

The Lemon Drop Cupcake
1 Box Duncan Hines White Cake Mix (Yes I got lazy)
1 mini bottle of Lemoncello
1 shot of Vodka
1 Lemon

Follow the directions for the Cake Mix, substituting 1/3 of a cup of water for half the bottle of Lemoncello and a shot of vodka. Cut the Lemon in half. Save half for the garnish. Squeeze out the juice of the other half into the mix, and zest the peel into the mix.

Bake as directed. I found it's about 20 minutes for my mini-cupcakes.

Frosting
1 stick of butter (softened)
1 box of powdered sugar
1 shot of Vodka
Rest of the Lemoncello

To make a simple buttercream, whip the butter until fluffy. Slowly add in the powdered sugar, half a cup at a time. Add the shot of vodka, the rest of the lemoncello and water as needed until the frosting forms stiff peaks. (if you're wondering why mine look so watery, I added too much water and ran out of powdered sugar)

Garnish
Cut the other half of the Lemon into wedges. You can also garnish with dusting sugar.


Enjoy!

The Baconcyclopedia

As you all know about my continued love affair with Bacon... Bacon Cinnamon Rolls, Bacon Vodka and soon to be pictured, Bacon Cupcakes, I thought I'd share this lovely site with you.

The Baconcyclopedia

A guide to all things Bacon!

*and yes, it appears that they taped a piece of bacon to a cat.*

Friday, May 15, 2009

Ramblings - Spa Relaxation Room

I know, I know, I've been super bad about posting lately. I would say, frankly it's because nothing that exciting has been going on in my life...

The highlight of last weekend, amidst the mother's day bonanza, was checking out the Pasadena Showcase House that my mom worked on. There were some incredible rooms (in case you decide to visit, this is the last weekend they're doing it) and my favorites were the guest kitchen and bathroom.

Bathroom, you might ask inquisitively? Yes. Bathroom. Or should I say "Spa Relaxation Room."

You enter through the massage parlor, aromatically scented, listening to the sounds of a babbling brook emanating from the stone tiled waterfall... Then you enter the main chamber, complete with a rain forest shower, mood lighting that changes with the music atmosphere, and a bath tub.

The bath tub was the clincher. It's designed with speakers all along the bottom of the tub... the guest is supposed to fill the tub and submerge themselves below the water line, so they can listen to the vibrations of the music while watching the overhead light show... This is something I could totally see myself doing.

My mom's favorite part was the light up toilet, perfect for sleepy guests to prevent midnight accidents.

In the meantime, I may have to settle for one of these, until I can afford the multi-million dollar house.

The One With...


I think it's finally time to retire my facebook album names. That said, be ready for the next scripted series titles!!

Poached: The Turducken of Desserts

These were too amazing to not steal and repost from an awesome website Cupcakes Take The Cake.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

AGWAM

asian girls with a mission.

Blog Gems...

Apparently these have been around for a while, but as usual I'm a day late.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Quote of the day

"Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she'll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her Give her a little crap and she'll give you shit like you've never seen!"

Thanks A :-)

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Routan Babymaker 3000

Create Your OwnMake a Routan Baby

Creepy. Apparently according to VW (I'm still not even sure how this application relates to selling cars) this is what our baby Hunter will look like.

i want i want i want! MiFi!

I could paraphrase the dets about how awesome this product is, but really I won't do it technical justice, so read about it here in the NY Times. All I can say is... i want one!

*And yes, they do get used on Hollywood sets, and no my life would not nearly have been as cool on P.S. I LOVE YOU without one of these.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

I want. Sheep Pops!


Sheep Pops on Bakerella.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Your mom.

gjk79 (3:35:02 PM): your mom is here
gjk79 (3:35:04 PM): seriously
nicoleiizuka (3:35:17 PM): haha what?
gjk79 (3:35:22 PM): for real
gjk79 (3:35:32 PM): your mom is sitting in the lobby

So apparently my mom was going to a mtg at the Regency Club, and just happened to notice that, yes indeed, my office is in the same building.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Star Trek Prem...

In one word, AMAZING. This is totally going to be one of the best movies of 2009, and ripe for a whole new slew of franchise potential. JJ did a great job reinventing the story to give the actors the latitude to make the characters their own.

While convinced my camera was going to be tossed by security, I left it in the car, but as this was a celeb star studded event, there were tons of pictures to go around (sadly none with me in them, but seriously compared with the talent who'd want to see my mug anyway) Just to give you a rundown of the celeb showdown...

Amanda Bynes, Anton Yelchin, Ben Ross, Brad Grey, Chris Pine, Christian Slater, Clifton Collins Jr., Damon Waynes, Eric Bana, Frankie Muniz, George Takei, Hank Azaria, Hayden Panettiere, Heidi Klum, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, JJ Abrams, John Cho, John Lesher, Jon Heder, Karl Urban, Katie McGrath, Kristin Cavallari, Leighton Meester, Leonard Nimoy, Masai Oka, Matthew Fox, Michelle Monaghan, Neil Patrick Harris, Nicollette Sheridan, Rachel Nichols, Rainn Wilson, Robert Rodriguez, Seth Green, Shawn Johnson, Simon Pegg, Sophia Bush, Sumner Redstone, Tori Spelling, Walter Koenig, Winona Ryder, Zachary Levi, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana

Here are a few of my favs!

CHUCK!!!

NPH, I'm so sad I didn't get to high five him!

And of course, the new LOVE OF MY LIFE.
For more picts, you can check out this article at the Daily Mail.

The new love of my life... Zachary Quinto

Where to begin... I fell in love with him as Sasan the haughty Persian American momma's boy side kick to Tori on So noTORIous (one of the greatest underrated tv shows of our time), and now as Spock he's re-entered my realm of Celebrity Crushes. I think in costume he might even make it to my Friends Top 5 Celebrity Freebie List. Does that make me a trekkie nerd?

I totally would have done Han Solo too...