Duckie Love

A few weeks back, my nephew celebrated his 2nd birthday. He loves ducks. So his mom, Gillian, made these awesome cupcakes.

See, don't they look delicious? There were two cupcake flavors (chocolate chip--which I had--and coconut, I think. Can you believe I only had one?). They were topped with chocolate ganache (not frosting) and hand-piped buttercream ducks. Happy Birthday, Sam-o.

You have to check out these beauties. Like I've said in the past, I'm not good with baking. I'm not terrible either. I can bake a cake most days. But this, I've never seen a flock of ducks look so sweet...except maybe the roast ducks hanging in the Chinese markets. But then again, those would be savory ducks.

Mmmm, I'm getting hungry.

Wow, Let's Go to Yucatan!

First of all, my apologies (especially Lisa who has shamed me into this ;-/) to all my readers for being such a delinquent blogger. My excuse is moving out-of-state and not having internet at "home" for weeks, busy unpacking, preoccupied by the (I'm told) fleeting good weather of Portland, and Scramble on Facebook...

Just to catch up a little bit, before leaving Pasadena, home of the Tournament of Roses, to move to Portland, the "City of Roses," (Yeah, can you believe it? I'm not even a fan of roses, or maybe I will be.) Danno and I take my sister, Valerie, and her husband, Braulio, to El Portal Yucatan/Mexican Cuisine.

We had just spend the entire morning and part of the afternoon at our beloved garage sale spot on Vermont Ave. in Los Feliz getting rid of some jun...I mean, good stuff. Actually, we did sell an A/C unit, some bookshelves, and jewelry. Anyway...

I've never been to Yucatan but the food at El Portal Yucatan Restaurant sure makes me want to go. Val and Braulio got the specials (above is the delicious paella. I sometimes forget how much I love mussels...when I was in Belgium and France back in 2004, I think I o.d.-ed a little since they were good, everywhere, and friggin cheap)

This scrumptiousness on the left is the special grilled steak (I believe it's a skirt steak but maybe my sis or our cousin, the butcher, can clarify). Danno had the fish tacos and I got the chicken mole enchiladas. All were exceptional. I've never experienced a miss there. Except now I miss it.

Sigh, go east a little from Old Town on Colorado Blvd. It's just across the street from Vromann's Bookstore. And if you go, send me pictures.