Vegas

I'm so behind with my blogging. I've been taking cake decorating classes for the past month and a half and I was out of town three times in the last four weeks.

The bf and I decided to take a short trip to Vegas around Labor Day. We booked a room at one of the new hotels in the new City Center. We were originally looking at Aria but then we found Vdara -- a smoke-free hotel. I'm allergic to cigarette smoke and since we wanted a quiet Vegas trip, it was the perfect retreat from the busy strip.

The hotel does not have a parking garage so we had to valet the car each time we took the car. The other option was to park in the Bellagio parking lot and take the short walk back.

This is a view from the Rio parking lot. Vdara is the shiny, crescent shaped building to the right of the Bellagio.


This is the covered walkway connecting Vdara to Bellagio.

Here's a view from our room of the escalator connecting the walkway to Bellagio.


Here's a view of the Bellagio pools from our room.


View of the Bellagio fountains at night. The fountain shows were as frequent as every 15 minutes at certain times of the day and we could hear the fountains from our room. I sorta like the crazy squiggly lines as a result of my unsteady hands.


Vdara charges a $15 per day resort fee that includes two bottles of water, internet and pool access. The pool area is now considered a dangerous zone. Here's a sample headline: "Vdara Hotel 'Death Rays' burns tourist." Apparently, the crescent shape of the glass hotel concentrates solar rays in the pool area. The media is referring to this as "death rays" while MGM is prefer to call it a "solar convergence phenomenon."


Here's the entrance to the hotel room.

The tiny kitchen is to the right.


Continue walking and you reach the little living area.


A flatscreen in the living area. There's another one just like it on the other side of the panel. I think it's kinda stupid. Who would have both tv on at the same time without a real wall dividing up the room?


Here's the second tv in the bed"room" area.


I really like the simple decor and the dark wood furniture.


The bathroom wasn't huge.


I loved the Aveda products.


This feature is pretty cool. It controlled the shades.


Here's with no shade.


Here's with the sheer shade drawn.


And the "blackout" shades drawn.


I stopped by the Bouchon right outside of the Venetian Theatre after picking up our Phantom tickets.


I think mine tastes a lot better.


The bf has never eaten at a buffet in Vegas before so I purchased a 24 hour buffet pass. We ate at the Planet Hollywood buffet (I think it was called Spices) after watching Phantom. I forgot to take a picture. The buffet is alright. I don't think I will go back. There are better buffets out there.


Breakfast buffet at Paris. The Paris buffet is a joke. I don't know who rated this as one of the top buffets. We had dinner there during one of our trips out to celebrate my future sis in law's graduation from law school. We hated the food and the service was terrible. I decided to give the buffet a second chance. The French are great with breakfast foods right? Wrong. The food was still terrible and the service was just a tad better. We even paid extra to cut the three hour line.


Lunch at the Lago buffet at Caesar's Palace. I think this buffet is one of Harrah's hidden gems. We had lunch at Lago so the selection wasn't extensive but the quality was great. The service was superb and the best part was probably the lack of a crowd. I tried a little bit of everything but my favorite were the corn, the crab legs and the mashed potatoes. Crab legs are served at almost all the buffets but these tasted fresh.


Our last buffet was at the Carnival World Buffet at the Rio hotel. The Carnival buffet was huge. The food area was the size of a football field. The food was not too bad considering the thousand or so items offered.


They have a nice gelato bar. I think this is the coconut gelato.


If you want to eat at a buffet off the strip, I recommend Lao-Thai Kitchen. They are located at:
1000 N Nellis Blvd
Las Vegas, NV 89110-5318
(702) 453-9188
I think the lunch buffet was $6.95 and although the selection wasn't vast, the quality of the food was superb. The food was made in very small batches so it was very fresh and it tasted like the cook put a little bit of his/her heart into each dish. I had the pad thai, larb, fried chicken wing, sticky rice, papaya salad, oyster sauce napa cabbage, and tom kha gai soup. The papaya salad was made very gringo style but still had great flavor.


Another favorite off-strip places to eat is at Hue Thai on Spring Mountain Road. I really wanted Lee's Sandwiches but they were still not opened. They were supposed to have their grand opening in the Summer of 2010. Maybe next time. I ordered a grilled chicken banh mi and a pork flower roll plate.


And a random picture taken at the Encore hotel. I love the color combination at Encore.


The two pictures below were taken at the Crab Hut in San Diego.

I promise to post a recipe next time.

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Barefoot Contessa's Chocolate Cupcakes (Altitude Adjusted) with Swiss Meringue Buttercream

I haven't been posting much lately. September has been a crazy month. I've been out of town three times in the last month. I hate airports =(

The recipe below is the result of about two and a half months of experimenting. I've been tinkering with this since July. The last batch I made was on September 18. I'm finally satisfied with the results. I'll probably try it as a cake this coming weekend and use it for my final project for my final cake decorating class. (Don't tell the instructor that I'm not using her doctored cake mix recipe.)

It is my favorite cupcake recipe at the moment. Cake recipes with buttermilk always give me the most trouble but I was able to make it work. The texture is not quite as pudding-like as the original recipe but it makes beautiful slightly domed cupcakes. Top it with swiss meringue buttercream and it is cupcake heaven.

Barefoot Contessa Chocolate Cupcake (Adjusted for Altitude)

Ingredients:
2 ½ cups minus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 ¾ cups sugar
¾ cups dutch cocoa powder (Valrhona, Guittard Cocoa Rouge or Droste)
2 teaspoons baking soda
scant teaspoon baking powder
scant teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
½ cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake tins with paper liners. Fill each well halfway with batter. Makes approximately 36 cupcakes.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.


Swiss Meringue Buttercream for Cupcakes

Makes about 9 cups, enough for about 28 cupcakes (The recipe says 28 cupcakes but I was able to frost all 36 cupcakes with extra. Maybe I'm a little stingy with my frosting.)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 10 large egg whites
• 4 cups (8 sticks or 2 pounds) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Place sugar and egg whites in the heat-proof bowl of an electric mixer. Set bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, and whisk until sugar has dissolved and egg whites are hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. Test by rubbing the mixture between your fingers; it should feel completely smooth.

Transfer bowl to mixer stand. Using the whisk attachment, beat on high speed until mixture has cooled completely and formed stiff and glossy peaks, about 10 minutes.

Add the butter, one piece at a time, and beat until incorporated after each addition. Don't worry if the buttercream appears curdled after all the butter has been added; it will become smooth again with continued beating. Add vanilla, and beat just until combined.

Switch to the paddle attachment, and beat on the lowest speed to eliminate any air pockets, about 5 minutes. If using buttercream within several hours, cover bowl with plastic wrap, and set aside at room temperature in a cool environment. Or transfer to an airtight container, and store in the refrigerator, up to 3 days. Before using, bring buttercream to room temperature, and beat on the lowest speed with the paddle attachment until smooth, about 5 minutes.

Original recipe - creates a moist, pudding-like cake with sunken centers.

Adjusted recipe but too much flour - It has great flavor and the texture was not bad but not as moist as the original recipe. The crackled tops indicate too much flour.

Perfected recipe - This is the recipe posted. The crowns are perfect and the cake is moist.

Frosting the Cupcakes - I experimented with two different tips. The huge 16" bag on the left holds a ton of frosting. I am also using a 12" disposal bag. I like to use cups to hold my bags when I fill them. These Rockies souveneir cups are perfect.

Tips: Wilton 1M (Open Star (it's bent so it looks more like a closed star)), Wilton 2D (Drop Flower), and Ateco 847 (Closed Star). For the cupcakes, I used the Wilton 2D and the Ateco 847.

This was frosted with an Ateco 847. The large closed star tip produced large soft serve swirls.

My favorite tip for frosting cupcakes is the Wilton 2D. It produces nice ruffled swirls.

Ingredient/Equipment Notes:

Cocoa: I like the darker dutch processed cocoa for this cupcake. I tried the recipe with Valrhona, Guittard Cocoa Rouge, and Droste. I think they all worked really well. Use your favorite premium dutch cocoa.

Buttermilk: I tried both reduced fat and full fat cultured buttermilk and it did not make a difference.

Eggs: This is a Barefoot Contessa recipe. She likes to bake using extra large instead of the typical large egg. I'm not sure when she made the switch but I read her notes in one of her cookbooks.

Coffee: I brew Lion Coffee's Toasted Coconut coffee but I'm sure any brand will do. I just happen to drink Lion brand at home.

Cupcake pans: Buy the heaviest pans you can afford. I usually use heavy aluminum for my cakes but since I line my cupcake pans, I bought the cheaper heavy nonstick at Sur la Table.

Cupcake liners: I like cute cupcake liners and have a whole collection of them but most of the time (and especially for dark cupcakes), I reach for the plain unbleached grease-proof liners.

Half or 2/3 full? I used to fill my cupcake tins 2/3 full but found that I get much better results filling them half full.

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Lo Mai Gai or Nuo Mi Ji (Chicken and Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaf)

I’m happy to announce that my cake phase is over…for now. I'm taking a break from baking cakes at least until I start my cake decorating classes in a few weeks. I've move on to the food in parcels phase.  To start off this phase, I made Lo Mai Gai or Nuo Mi Ji.  I think food wrapped in leaves deserve their own little category. 

I don’t usually get to eat Lo Mai Gai except for when we go out for dim sum. If I had to choose only one item to eat at dim sum, this is it. I can sit there and eat an entire parcel all by myself. I usually do not because I always feel bad about eating the entire thing.  That's why we always order two or three.

A few years ago, I went to dim sum with a bunch of girls. We then went to the Asian grocery store near the dim sum restaurant. My friend asked me if I could help her find all of the ingredients to make Lo Mai Gai at home. Asian food is complicated in the sense that most Westerners do not possess the necessary equipment or ingredients at home. This dish requires at least one if not two different types of steamers. I’ve been able to get away with just one steamer but it took some experimenting to successfully cook sticky rice without a sticky rice steamer.

I prefer a higher proportion of rice to meat so if you like more meat than rice, decrease the amount of rice to two cups and the broth to one cup. I prefer my rice to not be mushy so I use less broth than other recipes I've seen. You can also change the proportion of types of protein. I like using boneless chicken thighs without any char sui because I never really have Chinese barbecued pork around the house. I think the best part of the filling is the Chinese sausage so I use a little more than what is usually found inside your typical dim sum parcel. You can also add diced shrimp if you’re feeling it. I don’t like the smell of shiitake mushrooms so I rinse them really well and use a measly four mushrooms for the 8 packets. Use more if shitakes are your thing.  Asian food is very forgiving.  Adjust the proportions to your tastes. 

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Spring Fling Cake from The Market in Larimer Square

This is a recipe for the Spring Fling cake sold at The Market at Larimer Square.  It is a very unusual zucchini-based cake frosted with a whipped cream and cream cheese icing and topped with an abundance of fresh fruit.  The first time I had the cake was for a celebration at work.  I didn’t realize the cake cost $150 for the full sheet.  This recipe is for the 10 inch round that retails for $50.  When I lived in Lodo, I frequently walked over to The Market to buy a slice.  A slice cost just under $7.  I think it’s worth every penny.

The cake itself is not hard to make.  It just requires gathering many ingredients together.  The Market usually tops their cake with strawberries, mango, kiwi, black grapes and mandarin oranges. I omitted the blueberries listed in the recipe because I don’t ever recall having blueberries on my cake.  I consulted the picture on The Market's website and I didn't spot a single blueberry.  I also subbed blackberries for the black grapes because I was feeling it.

The recipe below was published by the Rocky Mountain News.   It calls for a 10 inch round cake pan.  I didn’t have a 10 inch round so I used a 10 inch scalloped pan instead.  I’ve also successfully used this recipe for cupcakes by filling the pan about three quarters full.

EDIT: December 2017 

I've been having trouble baking this cake since I moved from Denver to San Diego.  Initially, I blamed it on the oven but other cakes and breads come out fine. I then moved from baking it in my 10 inch Fat Daddios aluminum cake pan to two 8 inch Fat Daddios aluminum pan and finally to two 9 inch Calphalon nonstick pans.  Nothing made a difference.  The cake tasted fine but the texture was gummy and almost uncooked. 

I read and reread the recipe, trying to figure it out why the cake failed.  From the comments below, it looks like others ran into the same problem. It is not a particularly fragile cake so it's shouldn't be so finicky. Then it clicked! The amount of leavening for 3 1/4 cups of flour seems really low. The paltry amount of leavening worked fine at 5,280 feet above sea level but was not enough for sea level.  I tested it out by making half the recipe and doubling the baking powder and soda and it worked! I probably need to tinker with the recipe a bit more but for now, it works.

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Taco Shop Shredded Chicken Filling

San Diego taco shops usually have at least two different chicken burritos on their menus: a shredded chicken burrito and a grilled chicken burrito. The grilled chicken or pollo asado is usually seasoned diced chicken; grilled on a flat top and stuffed inside a ginormous flour tortilla with pico de gallo and guacamole while the regular chicken burrito is simply filled with stewed and shredded chicken. I enjoy both versions but I find the shredded chicken easier to replicate at home than the pollo asado. 

Growing up in San Diego, these taco shops have a special place in my heart.  They are unique to San Diego.  The style is very different from Mexican restaurants found in other parts of the country.  I think it is a regional development due to San Diego's proximity to Tijuana (TJ). Where else can you find carne asada fries?  Most of the shops are independently owned (with a few chains thrown into the mix) but they taste very similar. (Of course there are standouts but you can pretty much walk into any taco shop in San Diego and walk out pretty happy.) 

Looking for a great taco shop in San Diego? Below are a few of my favorites.

JV’s in Linda Vista/Morena: 1112 Morena Boulevard http://www.jvsmexicanfood.com/menu.htm
El Cuervo in Hillcrest: 110 West Washington Street
El Cotixan in Clairemont: 4676 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard

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Coconut Pineapple Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This is the only way I make my carrot cake.  To me carrot cake should be fully-loaded with raisins, pineapple, coconut, nuts, and carrots. 


Coconut Pineapple Carrot Cake

1 cup raisins, plumped by soaking in hot water (I usually use golden raisins but I didn't have enough golden raisins so a mix of golden and dark raisins went into the cake.)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon allspice
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 ¼ canola oil
2 ½ cups coarsely grated carrots
1 8 ounce can pineapple, drained and chopped
1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1 cup walnuts, chopped
½ cup toasted coconut flakes for decorating (optional)

1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line two 9” round cake pans.
2.    Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice in a medium bowl.  Set aside.
3.    Beat eggs until foamy, continue to beat while adding vanilla and sugar.  When mixture is thick, add oil.  Mix well.
4.    Add flour mixture and mix just until moistened.
5.    Fold in raisins, carrots, pineapple, coconut and walnuts.
6.    Divide batter between pans and bake about 50 minutes or until wooden skewer inserted in center comes out clean.
7.    Cool completely and level cake before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 pound powdered sugar
8 ounces (1 brick) cream cheese, cold

In the bowl of an electric mixture, cream together butter vanila and almond extract. Add powdered sugar and continue creaming until mixed. Add cream cheese and mix until light and fluffy.

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