Yellow Leaf Cupcake Company

2209 4th Ave
Seattle, WA 98121

Occasion: Time for an afternoon snack after a morning at the Zoo and a delicious lunch at Paseo's. Another recommendation that I wanted to check out. You know me and my sweets, it's hard to resist. 08.31.12

Honey Lavender

I understand that everyone has different likes and preferences with cupcakes, but this is seriously one of the best I've had. Not only are the flavors unique, but the cupcake is moist and fluffy and the buttercream frosting is airy, light at the perfect amount of sweetness. I love the fact that the buttercream was super light and not overly sweet. Often times, I find myself scraping off more than half of the frosting, but it was definitely not the case here. The sweetness of the honey and the floral aroma and taste of the lavender. My only complaint is that they could have done without the sprinkles, as it's not my thing.

Definitely a unique variety of flavors

Their most popular is their pancakes and bacon. But my favorite has to be the strawberry passion-fruit. Strawberry cupcake filled with passion fruit filling. So delicious. 6 months later and I still think about it. A must try when you're in Seattle. Other flavors tried were also their keylime pie, redvelvet, earl grey. They have their daily specials, so make sure you call ahead to see what they have.

Piroshky Piroshky

1908 Pike Pl
Seattle, WA 98101

Occasion: Breakfast at this infamous and highly recommended bakery that is 2 blocks away from our hotel inside of Pike's place. Oh how convenient. We got there around 9am and already, there was a line out the door; but luckily it's not too long of a wait (about 10 minutes). 08.31.12

Beef and Cheese

This was probably our favorite one out of the few that we tried.  It was fresh out the oven and the pastry dough was buttery and flaky; almost reminded me of a croissant but even flakier, more buttery and way tastier.  It was flavorful, rich and absolutely fulfilling. We loved it so much we went back for more the next day.

Salmon

I'm really torn about how I feel about this one. I love salmon and maybe because I had the beef and cheese first, but I wasn't expecting it to be wrapped with bread, I was expecting it to be in a flaky pastry like the beef and cheese.  It was too much bread and not enough salmon and the proportions didn't match up.

Close up on the salmon filling.  The salmon was cold and reminded me of a salmon spread/ salmon pate.  Not to say it wasn't good, just not what I was expecting.

Lola

2000 4th Ave

Seattle, WA 98121

Occasion: After a whole morning of being tourists we decided to try some of Giada's favorite eats in Seattle. As featured on The Food network's Best thing I've ever eaten: we ordered their donuts. We called in an order, but when we picked it up, it was happy hour so we decided to sit down and have a drink. 08.30.12

Doughnuts

They're made to order and served with vanilla mascarpone and house made apricot jam.  I can totally see why it's on Giada's best things she's ever eaten list.  I mean what isn't good when it's fresh out the oven, warm and fluffy?  What did it for me were not the donuts itself, but the pairing with mascarpone and their absolutely delicious apricot jam.  I love how they're bite sized.  

Drinks were about 4-5 dollars during happy hour and it got me pretty buzzed.  What a great mid day snack and drink session.  The doughnuts were so good that we placed an order to go.

SusieCakes Bakery

2109 Chestnut St
San Francisco, CA 94123

Occasion: Cupcakes to celebrate my coworker's birthday! 08.22.12

Red velvet, Vanilla, Coconut, Chocolate banana,  Chocolate Vanilla and Lemon

My favorite has to be just the simple vanilla with vanilla frosting.  It's moist and simple. Their special the chocolate banana reminded me of a banana cake except in a fluffier form.  Over all we thoroughly enjoyed each of the cupcakes.  Luckily we cut each cupcake into six pieces each so we could all get a taste of everything.

Joe's Ice Cream

5420 Geary Blvd
San Francisco, CA 9412

Occasion: Nice little dessert after dinner at PPQ!  07.29.12

Green Tea Ice Cream

Their ice cream is not only super delicious, but their portions are also very generous.  I've had my fair share of green tea ice cream from different ice cream shops and I can honestly say that this place has some legit stuff.  It's creamy, it tastes like green tea and it's perfectly sweet.  Love at first lick!!!

Kara's Cupcake

3249 Scott Street
San Francisco, CA 94123

Occasion: Cupcake delivery from Phil!! Thanks! 07.28.12

Passionfruit Cupcake

Vanilla Cupcake filled with passionfruit filling and topped with Vanilla buttercream frosting

This is probably my favorite flavor here! I love the tangy yet sweet filling with it's light buttcream frosting.  It's sweet, it's delicious and it's very light.  Perfect little afternoon snack and perfect little dessert.

Sibby

716 S Railroad Ave
San Mateo, CA 9440

Occasion: Just because... We had a fun filled day that started out with Brunch at Brendas then ended up around the block for some Philz coffee, which led to hanging out at my big sis' place before we headed to SJ. After our little field trip down to the south bay for some Vietnamese grubbing, we headed back to my big sis' place for girl talk/ wedding talk...and of course desserts from sibby's! They only take orders and you must have an order of at least half a dozen.  I decided to order a dozen with the Sibby Sampler that included a variety of their most popular flavors (half for our girls fun day and half for family). 07.21.12

From the top going clock wise: Chocolate & Cream, Cinnamon Latte, Butter Cup, July's flavor of the month: Smore's, Grandma's Chocolate Tea Cake, Red Velvet
My favorite to least favorite: chocolate and cream, butter cup, cinnamon latte, red velvet, grandma's chocolate tea cake then the smore's

The chocolate cakes were a lot more moist than the other ones.  I love fluffy, light frosting cupcakes.  The simpler the better.  Though these are delicious, I've definitely had better.  My fondest memories of these cupcakes were for my 25th birthday.

Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream

2790 Harrison St
San Francisco, CA 9411

Occasion: I had to try these foie gras ice cream sandwiches before the ban.  Since I missed it a couple of times that week, we finally made it on the last day.  Yay for being first in line 06.30.12

Foie Gras Ice Cream Sandwiches

Ginger snap cookies with foie gras ice cream.  The taste of the foie gras is pretty subtle, but the combination of the gingersnap cookies with the creamy sweet ice cream with a hint of savoriness was the perfect pairing for these cookies. I love ginger anything and have the gingersnap cookies as a part of this ice cream sandwich was an absolute plus!

Craftsman and Wolves

746 Valencia St
San Francisco, CA 94110

Occasion: Included in this post are of two different occasions.  First came here with the BFF to try their foie gras cupcake, but unfortunately they were sold out, so we decided to try something else. 06.22.12/ 06.24.12

Peach Cube Cake

Buttermilk cake with peach jelly filling

Amazingly tasty. How could something so simple taste so good?  The buttermilk cake is my favorite.  It was soft, dense yet spongy.  Not overly sweet with a touch of a tangy flavor from the peach.  The top layer had texture of a mousse, nice and silky smooth.

Raspberry cube cake

with coconut, earl grey and almond

It's about $6 a pop, but it's so good.  The cake itself is denser rather than fluffy.  The flavors really take you away.  There was not a lot of raspberry jelly, but as it hit my taste buds, it hit hard and the tartness of fruit burst in my mouth.  It was not a rich dessert at all.  Not only was it so beautifully made and presented, the tastes were phenomenally delicious.  It was so worth the try.

This was what we had come for. The Devil Inside.  Thanks to my bff for the special delivery.

The Devil Inside 

Chocolate muffin cupcake filled with chocolate ganache and foie gras torchon topped with a toffee brittle

I guess it's not a good idea to have something so rich and tasty first thing in the morning.  The cake was dense, the filling was creamy and the foie gras was subtle and not too overwhelming.  The foie gras had a nutty flavor to it.  The toffee brittle tasted burnt which I'm not too big of a fan of.  Overall, it was a great experience, I just wished that the foie gras torchon chunk was bigger and more distinct.  I'm glad I can say I got to try it before the ban. Yum!

Gunther's Quality Ice Cream

2801 Franklin Blvd
Sacramento, CA 95818

Occasion:After Vinson's graduation in the Davis heat, we had lunch in Sac and then dessert here to cool us down a bit before we made our trek back to the city! 06.17.12

50/50 freeze 

You could choose one flavor of ice cream with two flavors of freeze.  I chose their mango ice cream with their strawberry and lemon freezes.  So freaking delicious.  Perfect balance of slushy goodness and creamy goodness.  Mango ice cream have chunks of mango in it and the strawberry freeze has chunks of strawberry.  It's so refreshing and not too much at all.  I love it and i can't wait to go back!  Aside from these freezes, they also have a lot of classic ice cream flavors and ice cream cones and sandwiches.  It's one of those old fashioned ice cream shops that's been around for decades and you'll definitely be up for a treat when you pay this place a visit.

Smitten

432 Octavia St
San Francisco, CA 94102

Occasion: Ice cream on a beautiful San Francisco afternoon.  After brunch at Zazie's I wanted to try this new ice cream spot. 06.15.12

They have their own patented ice cream making machines. How innovative.

Our ice creams made fresh to order.  I love the idea of it being made in front of you.  Left: Ritual Coffee with almond toffee chunks. Right: Fresh Mint with TCHO chocolate chip.

The coffee with the added toffee chunks were a little bit too sweet for my liking, but the mint was delicious.  Yes, it's a little but pricier than some of your classic ice cream places in the city, but it's definitely worth a try.

They have a very limited menu that changes daily.  What I have noticed the couple times that I have gone is that they seem to always have the TCHO chocolate flavor.

Mochicream

Mitsuwa Marketplace
675 Saratoga Ave
San Jose, CA 95129

Occasion: We were in the Japanese Market getting Japanese Ramen and thought might as well give this place a try. After a 9 hour class and dinner, we found out his little cousins were coming over, so we had to stock up on some goodies for everyone to snack on for the UFC fight. 05/05/12

Mochi filled with cream. Definitely different and unique. Mango was a favorite of ours.  Must be eaten within 24 hours after purchase.

Nothing Bundt Cakes

Sunnyvale, California

Occasion: After a 9 hour class, we decided to pick some up since the kids were coming over. Munched on this while watching the UFC fight...It was Mayweather vs. I don't know who. Haha

We got the variety box which consisted of red velvet, chocolate, raspberry white chocolate and lemon and chocolate marble.  Great for parties and get togethers.  They're so cute and nicely presented!  My favorite flavor is the raspberry white chocolate.  Super moist and you can finish it in four bites.  If you love bundt cakes, then here's something you'll like.

Cake cake cake

Occasion: My friend, Ele makes amazing cakes! Check out her blog here: http://elemakescakes.tumblr.com/

Anyhow, Annie and Hang both decided to make Shelly a congratulatory cake to celebrate her acceptance into nursing school! Yay! We celebrated over 4/20 Coachella Weekend #2.  What a trip!

Shelly loves loves loves snoopy, so Ele went with theme of the weekend, snoopy and a some finishing touches with medicine related stuff.

Banana cake with nutella mousse filling. Bomb.

Benkyodo

1747 Buchanan St
San Francisco, CA 94115

Occasion:  Sweet delivery! Perfect Afternoon snack!

Peanut butter mochi

So freaking good.  I never thought I'd enjoy it, but I'm so glad I tried one because they're delicious.  Yes, it will get a little dry and sticky in your mouth.  Nothing that some milk or water can't wash down.  It might not sound that great, but it you should definitely give it a try.  I like peanut butter sandwiches, but not so much peanut butter flavored anything else...so I was surprised to fall in love with them.  The mochi is so fresh and chewy and the peanut butter is so tasty and creamy!

Sweet Things

3585 California St
San Francisco, CA 94118

Occasion: I got this dessert to celebrate the occasion; which was my bff getting matched up to one of her top Pharmacy residency programs.  Little bakery located inside a supermarket.  It's nothing too fancy, but they get their bakery goods from their main bakery across the golden gate bridge.  The cakes and sweets there are super cute and delicious. 03.23.12 

 Red Velvet Cake

Delicious.  I had it for lunch and was so good, that I had to get it for this occasion.  Moist cake, and perfect frosting that wasn't overly sweet.

Icing on the Cake

50 W Main St
Los Gatos, CA 95030

Occasion: Birthday cake from the BF! 03.10.12

Banana Cake with cream cheese frosting 

Simple, moist with perfect cream cheese frosting that is not overly sweet. The bf was right, definitely the best cakes in the bay area! So homey and so delicious.  If you're ever in the area, it's definitely worth getting.  They also have some fabulous cupcakes and cookies.

Ebisu

336 Kearny St
San Francisco, CA 94108

Occasion: Our adventure for lunch did not end at Naked Lunch.  As we were making our way back to the office, we got stuck in traffic in the financial district.  Stuck in traffic, we thought about Ebisu's mochi.  We needed to get off of Montgomery street, so we decided to take a right on Pine.  It must have been our lucky day, as we immediately found parking on Pine and Kearny with 10 minutes left in the meter.  It was a sign that it was meant to be. We grabbed the special of the day and made our way out. 02.29.12

Strawberry mochi with condensed milk 

I've never had a bigger mochi than the ones I've had here.  Filled with one humungous strawberry with condensed milk and some sweet bean paste.  Mochi with a delightful twist.  Definitely big enough  to share and split between a few people. Not your traditional bite size mochi, but still delicious!

Custom Birthday Cake

By AngrybakerSF
Check out his facebook page

Occasion: Custom made birthday cake after dinner at Alexander's steakhouse! 02.25.12

This is the second year I've come to Matt for a custom cake.  Both times I've been satisfied.  Last year, he created an LV briefcase carrot cake that blew everyone away at Henry's birthday party. He still talks about how amazing it was til this day.

After some brainstorming, I decided to create a cake replicating Henry's football fantasy player, Tomy Brady.  If only they had won the superbowl, it would have been that much better.  As far as the flavor, I wanted him to make something different.  There are certain restrictions, due to food allergies, but we decided on a snickerdoodle cake.  Matt had never made a snickerdoodle cake before, so it was definitely something out of his comfort zone.  In the end, his work surpassed my expectations and I was very satisfied with our end result; presentation and flavor. I could not thank you enough again, for creating another memorable birthday.

Snickerdoodle cake with buttercream filling and frosting topped with fondant

Cultive Frozen Yogurt

1998 Union St
San Francisco, CA 94123

Occasion: Friday night snack! 02.25.12

This place brings back college memories.  They started in Davis, CA, where I went to college.  I remember it used to be called Swirls, but due to law suits had to change their name.  Anyhow, I remember coming here at least a few times a week. I'd find any reason to come here. It was hot; this was the solution. I had a bad day; this was the solution.  I was hungry; this was the solution.  Basically any excuse I could find, I'd make my way to this frozen yogurt spot.  They've changed a lot since their younger years, when things used to be a bit more simple.  I love the plain vanilla yogurt they served, but now they have way too many flavors.

I had to stay true and loyal to the plain frozen yogurt, but also got the peach flavor.  Added strawberries, mochi, captain crunch cereal and granola.  I love the chewiness of the mochi, sweetness of the strawberries and the crunch of the granola and the captain crunch.  My kind of snack to wind down on a Friday evening. Oh TGIF!