Growing up, science was one of my favorite subjects in school. That is easy to recognize as my professional career is in pharmacy. There were a whole lot of science involved in pharmacology classes. Although science is always fascinating to me, I don't talk about it much at home. Thus, when it comes to teaching science or any related-topic, let just say it was never brought up at home. But recently, we found out that we might have a little scientist in the house! My son loves watching this channel on YouTube called “Jessie and Squeak” and it talks about nature and science. He enjoys watching it, and apparently learned a whole lot more about science.
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~ This posting is dedicated to my son, DinhPhong Aiden. ~ You are a smartest and sweetest boy we know. You have brought so much joy to our lives. You complete our world with your beautiful soul. May your steps in life be filled with rainbows and sunlight. This month has been so hectic that I had to put this blog on hold for a couple of weeks. It seems like it has been years since I last posted something here. As always, I have plenty of things occupying my time in September, and this year was unusually busy as we had weddings, vacations, more weddings and birthdays to attend and that left me no time to finish a post. I promise that I have tried to create a few postings and recipes, but none of them are completed. I am hoping to catch up over the next few weeks, so please be patience with me.
I am going to make these September postings special as we were celebrating my son's 6th birthday over the weekend. This is somewhat bittersweet for me. I was too busy executing the birthday plan, baking cakes and cookies, and crafting invitation that I forgot to think about how my first baby has grown so much, and those emotions did not sink in until the end of the night—an aftermath of a semi-successful birthday party we hosted for his school friends. I'm not going into details, but let's just say my pillow was wet before I drifted into a long needed sleep. This is the cake what I was hoping to "WOW" you as I celebrate my sister's 38th birthday and the blog one-year anniversary. But I am disappointed to say that this cake is a biggest disaster in my entire baking years! I got mixed responses from this cake. Some said they are different and fancy; some did not care about it; my little ones think it is the most "beautiful shoes" cake they have seen. But they are kids right? What do they know about the standard of cake decorating?
My family is a big fan of pandan flavoring desserts. This is the Vietnamese version of vanilla extract. I think I know about pandan extract way before I know about the existence of vanilla extract! A little background of pandan—a tropical plants that are widely used in Southeast Asian for cooking. My mother uses pandan for almost all of her dessert dishes, from steamed sweet sticky rice, cakes to sweet bean soups and pudding. Mom would normally tie the big knot of pandan leaves and toss them in her "coconut milk sauce,” the sauce that I love growing up with. This wonderful, subtle floral fragrance from pandan leaves carries a soft, tropical breeze that is extremely distinctive and pleasing. One of my fondest childhood memories was savoring over baked banana cakes and slurping on pandan-flavored tapioca coconut milk sauce. Let's not forget about swallowing those pandan-flavored iced pudding and yogurt during those hot, humid summer days. Thus, growing up, pandan flavoring has ingrained in me. Of course, we do not use them as much now that we do not always get access to fresh pandan leaves in the Pacific Northwest. But we can still purchase them here and there at the local stores. I feel fortunate that pandan-flavoring is creeping back into my baking life now, and I cannot be any happier. There will be tons of dishes, pandan-flavoring that is, waiting to be experimenting with in the future months.
Who would have thought that you can see peonies in the summer? And it may be even more beautiful than during the late springtime! Although this is my second post about buttercream peonies, I cannot get enough of these beautiful buttercream flowers. Piping these peonies have become an addiction for me. I love the way these light and dark shades of pink blended together to bring out the beauty of this cake. I also like the green leaves encircling the flowers in all of the right places. And of course, the flowing summer sunlight has made capturing these amazing photos possible.
We are blessed to be in the Northwest where summer is filled with delicious fresh fruits. It is even more special when these fruits—specifically blueberries—come from your own garden...or in my case, my mother's garden! I have been craving for cheesecake for about a month now, but I haven’t found the time to bake one for myself. There were always projects after projects, and then some weird bugs hit me hard last week that I had to stay in bed for almost the entire Saturday, which was no fun. So, as soon as I recovered, I insisted to bake this during a workweek, which I usually avoid as I want to spend more time with the kids after a long day at work. This is also another reason why I love (and thankful) for the long summer days.
Do you want to do something a little out of the ordinary? Or perhaps making a fun and easy cake that everyone would love for your next event? This cake is just right for you if you are in a time crunch but still wanting to make a cake to impress your family and friends. This Boba Milk Tea cake is super adorable and takes less time than most fondant cakes that I had previously made. The fun thing is that you will get to hand paint the cake in any bubble tea flavor or color that you like, and boy, the options are endless.
Bathing under millions of sun rays. Walking on the soft, warm sand. Breathing in the fresh air from a breezy wind. Listening to the echo of the ocean waves and the cries from the seagulls. This is a picture perfect for a summer day on the beach. My kids love the beach where they could play with the sand toys, chase seagulls, kick some beach balls, or seek for broken seashells along the shore. We come to the beach so the kids could roam around freely, flying their colorful kites, while my husband and I enjoy some peaceful moments under the sun. The days are longer and oftentimes fill with fun activities, including water parks and picnics—so many things for us to do!
If you need to make a dozen of the basic vanilla cupcakes in 30 minutes, this recipe is for you! These cupcakes are so easy to make, and they stay moist for days. I believe that no matter how many recipes you have in your cabinet, you should always have the best vanilla recipe to go to. This is also the same for cake recipes. After all, vanilla recipe is the basic backbone of all cake recipes. Yep, I'm getting a little carried away, and perhaps being a little dramatic. But we all know that every once in a while, you will have a request for this so good, yet simple vanilla cupcakes, and you can whip out all of the baking ingredients to show your guests that you do indeed can turn something so basic into a major topic that everyone will "wow" for months.
I am so excited to share today's post with you as this is the first Travel posting for my blog! I however do plan on keeping this going as my husband and children are exploring this beautiful world we live in together. I am going to apologize upfront with all of these photos, but that is also another hobby that I have grown to love as I merged into the blogging world.
Some background about this trip. Oregon has been our home for more than 25 years and we never had a chance to explore this amazing beautiful state. We love Portland, Oregon and we are not planning on moving anywhere, anytime soon. |
This website uses marketing and tracking technologies. Opting out of this will opt you out of all cookies, except for those needed to run the website. Note that some products may not work as well without tracking cookies. Opt Out of CookiesAboutTristina TiepNhu Nguyen is a pharmacist by weekday and a baker by weekend. She is also a wife and a mother of two children. Free Cake Tutorials!Sign up for my newsletter and you will be the first to know about my new recipes and cake tutorials!
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