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Monday, August 23, 2010

Around San Francisco Part II

It was Sunday, and we decided to go the Exploratorium, the museum of science ,art, and human perception. What I liked about the exploratorium was that the building was so unique.. and also romantic. There is a lake full of ducks. It was very beautiful.

Exploratorium, beautiful place...
If your kids love science, this place is a heaven, a lot of fun stuff to do and experiment. They will stay here all day trying all the exciting experiment.




 
Next stop was the Golden Gate Bridge, the icon of San Francisco. It would be like not staying in San Francisco if you didn't make a stop at Golden Gate Bridge. As always, the weather was so cold and windy...

Golden Gate Bridge

Patsy & family

Patsy wanted to show her kids the apartment that she shared with my husband, it was on Haight Street, near Alamo Park. While they were checking the apartment, I was taking pictures of this Victorian houses. A row of Victorian houses facing the park on Steiner Street, known as the "Painted Ladies", are often shown in the foreground of panoramic pictures of the city's downtown area. A number of movies, television shows and commercials have been filmed in or around Alamo Square. The opening sequence of the American sitcom Full House (1987–1995) features a romp in Alamo Square Park with the famous row of Victorians in the background.

Painted Lady
We end the trip with dinner at Vintecello restaurant... really good food. We were too excited and I forgot to take a picture of the food.. Again, it was fun to see the Herzfeld's family and hope to see you again soon..
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Sunday, August 22, 2010

Around San Francisco Part I

Before we got married,   about twenty five years ago, my  husband had a  room mate named Patsy. They used to live on a street called Haight Street, and then Patsy moved  and  lived in Washington DC. Patsy came and visited us  with her husband, Pete and their teenaged kids (Charlotte, and the twins,  Holly and Henry). This trip showed their kids all the places she lived in San Francisco, they also saw where she used to work and where her husband went to school which bringing back their memories. First we went to Fisherman's Wharf, and made a stop at Musee Mecanique, where Pete used to spend time and fall in love with this place. This place is pretty cool, a lot of antique coin operated games such as the "player piano" where you put a coin in and pick a song. The old piano will play that song for you..,here is a picture of a coin-operated old lady laughing so loud. She was very funny


In front of the Musee Mecanique
The laughing lady..

After Musee Mechanique, we went to Ghiradelli Square to have ice cream and chocolate milk shakes.. really good, very rich chocolate flavours.


 Ghiradelli Square
The next stop was the Academy of Science, if you've never been there, you should go there. It's like the whole universe in one roof , an aquarium, a planetarium, a natural history museum and more. My kids love this place, we took a couple trips to this place.


At the Academy of Science San Francisco
The next day, we went to The San Francisco Art Institue where Pete took his Master's Degree. He show us the campus, pretty cool. The campus is located at 800 Chestnut St, and has a beautiful view. While we were there, they had an exhibition too.

Funny exhibition at the San Francisco Art Institue

The view from San Francisco Art Institue

Then Pete told us that he wanted to make a stop at a Pizza place called Golden Boy Pizza. He said that he always went to this place after school. Guess what... the pizza was really good, the best pizza I've ever had.
Golden Boy Pizza

Look at the line to get the pizza.
Yummy Pizza...
Since we were close to Chinatown, we decided to make a stop at the fortune cookie factory. It was a small factory, and very crowded. If you want to take a picture of the woman who made the fortune cookie, you had to pay 50 cents. She won't let you take the picture unless you put 50 cent on the coin box.. So, I put 50 cent, and here is the picture


At the fortune cookie factory
It was a fun day..., kids really had fun and enjoyed the time we had with the Herzfeld's family!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Homemade Oreo and searching for free tutorial

I saw a recipe about this Oreo cookie at mybakingaddiction.com. I decided to try and make it for my son's class party. I put green frosting in the middle and it was so yummy... You should get the recipe and try it. The cookie itself was very soft, I think it's better than the original Oreo cookie.
These are my homemade Oreo cookies...yum!
If you are a big fan of youtube, you can actually learn a lot from this site. If you search for something, they will have the answer. Some people have been very nice giving free tutorials. Some people try to make money by selling the tutorials. Anyway, there is a woman named Mayen and she has been very nice giving free tutorials to people who want to learn how to decorate cakes,it's especially for beginners. You should check out her tutorials on youtube, they can really help you improve your skill. Here is one of her free tutorials, I made a set of baby Elmo, baby Cookie Monster and baby Big Bird. I love them all, they are so cute...

Aren't they cute ???  All made out of gumpaste.
And this one is also from one of Mayen's tutorial..., a pair of baby converse. I made a blue pair and a pink. I used one pair for a baby shower cake.
A Pair of Baby Converse
If you want to learn how to make sugar flowers, you should check this blog : Sweetpetal. Jacqueline Butler has been very nice to share her knowledge on how to make Hydrangeas, Ranunculus, Peonies, and so much more. I really want to try to make Hydrangeas for my niece's wedding. I have ordered the cutter and venier, can't wait to make one. Here is a picture of my roses that I made for practice.

My Roses
I really appreciate those people who are willing to share their knowledge, skill and talent for free. I learnt a lot from those people... Again, Thank you..

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Cupcake

Before I started making fancy cakes, I loved to make and decorate cupcakes. I can do anything with these small cakes. Sometimes I just pipe frosting to make it look like grass and put a flower on top, or if I have time, I will place a bumble bee on top. If I don't want to pipe my frosting, I will use fondant and play with it to create flip flops or the faces of all the kids in my son's class. I made the face on the  cupcake and tried to  represent the kids in my son's class including their teacher too. Here are the pictures of my cupcakes. Enjoy...



I piped green frosting, made it look like a grass and put bumble bees on top

Daisy cupcakes

Swirl cupcakes
I made the faces of all the kids in my son's class
I made these tiny flip flop cupcakes to go with a Flip Flop cake.

Spongebob and Patrick

Monday, August 9, 2010

Vacation

My sister in law owns a cabin in Bear Valley, located between Lake Tahoe and Yosemite. She let us stay at her cabin for couple days.  Great place for camping, hiking, kayaking and swimming at lakes and reservoirs. During Winter, this place is great for skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling and dog sledding.

In front of the Gate, you will see this big Bear



My kids love this place, they spent all day at the reservoir near the cabin, swimming or playing in the sand. One family at the beach were very nice to them and let them play with their paddle board.

My son trys the paddle board
If you drive about 1/2 hour from the cabin, you will see a big reservoir called Union Reservoir. We saw a nice camping near that reservoir.


If you see this beautiful place, you would want a good camera..., for now, I'm happy with the result of my pocket camera.
 
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