The best gift anyone can give you is inspiration! I usually make my own birthday cakes and today I was planning on making a standard rosette cake. My husband surprised me in the morning with the amazing Nordic Ware Haunted Skull Cake Pan (purchase here) so I was determined to use it to make my birthday cake. Halloween has always been my favorite holiday so this would be the perfect cake for me. I decided to make a Triple Chocolate Cake, since you don’t use a lot of buttercream with this cake, I wanted to use a cake that would be delicious on it’s own and this chocolate cake is absolutely amazing! This isn’t a sponsored post for Nordic Ware (even though I wish I…
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Continue ReadingMy family loves it when I make Chocolate Flan Cake (recipe here), so I created an alternate version for my favorite season, Pumpkin Flan Cake. It’s creamy flan on top of a moist pumpkin cake with a caramel topping –…
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Continue ReadingYou won’t find this dish in many Vietnamese restaurants, but every Vietnamese family makes this dish at home, especially around Lunar New Year (Tết). It’s one of the most flavorful and delicious dishes—the pork belly is braised in coconut water…
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Continue ReadingCostco Samples have a magical way of influencing our eating habits. On a routine shopping trip my daughter tried a sample cup of Tasty Bites Madras Lentils—and proceeded to talk about them the entire trip. I reluctantly conceded and went…
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Continue ReadingThese Japanese BBQ Short Ribs are inspired by the ones I get at my favorite local izakaya, Kappo Honda. I’m not sure if this is a common dish that you can find at other Japanese restaurants, because I don’t really…
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Continue ReadingOui is Yoplait’s best yogurt, minimal ingredients are used and the yogurt is cultured in adorable glass jars – it creates a creamy texture without any thickeners or straining. The coconut flavor is one of my favorites, my copycat of…
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Continue ReadingMy favorite potato salad has to be Japanese Potato Salad, its creamy, slightly tangy and the carrots and cucumber give it a wonderful texture and flavor. Kewpie Mayonnaise is a must have for this recipe! If you haven’t tried Japanese…
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Continue ReadingThis is a Vietnamese fusion dish that was inspired by the spaghetti and meat sauce that I grew up eating. I’m not completely sure what ingredients went into the version that my mom used to make, but I know there…
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Continue ReadingIf you’re from Southern California you can understand my obsession with Tommy’s Chili Burgers. Their tomato-less chili con carne is very unique to the SoCal Region, often found smothered on anything you can imagine—from fries & hot dogs to burgers.…
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Continue ReadingThese Crab Rolls are very similar to Lobster Rolls, without all the extra work. I used lump crab meat and tossed it with a few other staple pantry items. These are so quick to make and they are absolutely delicious.…
I started this blog to photograph & organize my recipes so I can share them with friends & family. I hope you find something that you enjoy making on here. Like my Facebook Page below to get updates when I post a new recipe.
-Van
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