roses

Rose Cake

April 25, 2012 By Misono in Creative Corner, Kitchen Concoctions Tags: cake, cake decorating, rose cake, roses

Yesterday evening was the last of my four week cake decorating classes that I’d been taking this past month, and we were asked to design and decorate our own cakes. For my final project, I created this rose cake. I can’t call it perfect, but as an amateur, I’d say this is one of the best decorating jobs I’ve personally ever done. While I love baking, the decorating aspect of cakes and cupcakes has always been a struggle with hit or miss results. Taking this cake decorating course helped me learn some great techniques, which will hopefully lead to better decorating results in my future baking endeavors!

I’m especially thankful for Dan, who encouraged me to take the classes, and who has been my photographer to document my creations along the way, as well as my taste tester. :)Â I feel very lucky to have a husband who is so understanding and supportive of my various creative hobbies and interests!

Coming Up Roses

April 17, 2012 By Misono in Local Gems, Recreational Fun, Videos Tags: California, dan, Mio, misono, Morcom Municipal Rose Garden, Morcom Rose Garden, Oakland, rose garden, roses, squirrel

On Saturday, we had a family outing at the Morcom Municipal Rose Garden over in Oakland. I didn’t take into account that most of the roses don’t bloom until later in the spring and into summer, so the blooms were sparse! Still, the landscaping and layout of the garden is beautiful, and it was nice to just take a stroll around the grounds and enjoy the gorgeous sunny weather.

Clinging to Mama — Mio has been awfully clingy these days, especially in the house. I can't leave a room for five seconds without her coming after me and grabbing my legs. I guess this is the beginnings of separation anxiety?

There is a walkway in the garden called the Mother of the Year Walk. Apparently, there’s an annual celebration of a special woman who dedicates tirelessly to the community. Lined in tree roses, the walk features bronze plaques honoring each year’s Mother-of-the-Year.

So proud of my little Mio! — Mio is so good at walking now.

Mio pointing at the ducks — She's pointing at the ducks in front of us.

Among the roses — Mio and Mama, among the roses...

A video Dan took of Mio walking about in the garden…

Mio looking at the squirrel — Back in the stroller, watching a scurrying squirrel.

At the top of the fountain stairs — A neat picture I took of Dan and Mio at the top of a stairway of fountains.

Mio struggling to get out — Mio started getting restless and wanted to get out of the stroller again.

On Daddy's shoulder, watching a squirrel.

Squirrel munching on some grass — Squirrel!

Suddenly, we heard a loud noise! — Suddenly, we heard a loud noise behind us!

Alarmed by loud quacking — "What could it be?!"

The two male ducks — A fight had broken out between two territorial male ducks, and they were quacking their beaks off!

I’m excited that the rainy season has come to an end, and that we’ll get to have more fun outings to enjoy the great outdoors! 😀

For the full set of photos, see the slideshow below.

Rose Petal Cupcakes

June 1, 2011 By Misono in Foodie Love, Kitchen Concoctions Tags: baking, buttercream, candied rose petals, cupcake, cupcakes, flower, rose, rose oil, rose petal, rose petal cupcakes, rose petals, roses

We went to a potluck picnic over Memorial Day weekend, and I decided to make rose petal cupcakes!

I followed a recipe I found in the Delicious Cupcakes book from a gift set that I’d received as a gift last Christmas. The cake portion is basically a vanilla cake, infused with a few drops of rose oil, and the frosting is vanilla buttercream — I just used some icing color to give it the pale pink color.

The unique part of these cupcakes were the candied rose petals on top! First, you pluck and rinse the rose petals very well to ensure that they are clean, and then you pat them dry with a paper towel. You then brush them with egg whites and coat them in super fine baker’s sugar and let them dry overnight… and voila! You have candied rose petals.

Here are the rose petals that I used, just after rinsing. (I had wanted cream ones with pink tips, but I couldn’t find them at the store… so I settled with orange ones.)

Here’s what the candied rose petals looked like when finished:

The rose petals tasted mostly like sugar (since they were coated in it), but you could sort of taste the rose petal flavor towards the end, as an aftertaste. I’d say that it’s a nice aesthetic touch and that the novelty of rose petals on your cupcakes is cool, but it doesn’t really add much in terms of flavor to the dessert. It was fun trying it, though! 🙂

One Year Wedding Anniversary

July 28, 2009 By Misono in Local Gems, Milestones, News and Updates Tags: anniversary, bouquet, dan, Foreign Cinema, Medjool, misono, Mission, newlyweds, one year, roses, San Francisco, wedding anniversary

On Sunday, Dan and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary. While I was getting ready to go out to dinner, Dan surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of red roses!

We then drove over to San Francisco and enjoyed some cocktails on the rooftop of Medjool in the Mission. It was a pretty clear day, and we got a breathtaking view of the San Francisco skyline.

Dan and I on the Sky Terrace of Medjool, overlooking San Francisco.

We then headed over to Foreign Cinema, which was only a couple buildings down, and enjoyed a delicious romantic dinner. It was our first time at the restaurant, but everything we had tasted amazing. We didn’t stay late enough to catch the movie showing in the courtyard, but the dining experience in itself was lovely.

Happy One Year Wedding Anniversary! — One Year Anniversary Dinner at Foreign Cinema

Outside Foreign Cinema after a romantic evening.

It was, all in all, a perfect evening.
(See more photos)

It’s already been a year since our wedding back in Northern Virginia, and at the same time, it seems longer than that. Within just this past year, we’ve shared so many more memories together as newlyweds — experienced both happiness and sadness together; we’ve gained and lost along the way — but what matters is we did it together, and it’s true when they say that through it, joy is doubled and sorrow is halved when you share it with each other. But most of all, we cannot forget that we owe it to the love and support of our family and friends that we are here today, happily married and every much in love as we were on our wedding day.