BAKE SALE for Vietnam Orphans!

Hi friends! Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but AP's were extremely hectic/stressful/overwhelming/insane so I needed to take a little break to recover.

Buuut a few weekends ago my NHS Committee had our second bake sale to raise funds for orphans in Vietnam, and we ended up raising almost $600! I went to the MB Pier with Aidan around 8AM and stayed there until 6PM, with the help with many many friends (thank you guys!). I also got a really fun sunburn that has evolved into a gorgeous tanline (hah). Anyway, for the bake sale, I made my usual White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies. My previous recipe from more than a year ago was really out of scale and a little weird, so here is my updated recipe. The cookies are actually amazing and very simple to make so I would 100% recommend you try it out!

Ingredients:
1 cup buter
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
9 ounces white chocolate chips
1 1/2 cup macadamia nuts, chopped

Directions: 
1. Preheat to 350 F
2. In one bowl, beat butter and both sugars with a mixer until well combined
3. Add vanilla and eggs to the bowl and beat until the mixture is creamy and light, and the mixer makes this whipping sound (2-3 minutes)
4. In a second bowl, stir in flour, salt, and soda. Add this mixture slowly into the first bowl, but don't over mix. Stop when a few streaks of flour remain.
5. Add into the bowl the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts; mix until combined thoroughly.
6. Roll tablespoon size balls of dough on silpat or parchment, 1.5 inches apart.
7. Bake for 11 minutes and check. If not done, check in 2 minute intervals. DO NOT OVERBAKE, it's better if you take them out slightly underbaked so that the cookies will be chewy. Remember, they will continue to bake outside the oven!

GARLIC & CHIVES

Yesterday my family and I went to this Vietnamese restaurant called Garlic & Chives in Little Saigon (Orange County). The food was DELICIOUS and relatively cheap AND it was near this amazing boba place called Almond Hause. Here's some of the dishes that my family and I had!!

This is a special kind of rice called crispy rice, and they cook it in this metal pot thingy and the edges get kinda crunchy. The restaurant is called Garlic and Chives, hence the garlic (and onions) on top. I didn't think RICE could taste this good. 

Probably the BEST fried tofu I've ever eaten, and I've eaten A LOT (in Vietnam, San Gabriel, Alhambra, Gardena, literally every Asian place) and this tofu is literally so bomb. The golden exterior is not only crispy but also slightly crunchy, as the outside batter is not thin like most fried tofu. The salty, savory addition of garlic perfectly complements the tangy and slightly spicy sauce that comes with the dish.

Salmon on a cast iron pan. They literally serve this to you on a pan thingy! So everything stays hot and delicious. The salmon is slightly crispy on the exterior, but so soft and buttery on the inside. And the slightly sour sauce that comes with it is the perfect complement to the salmon. And this dish was $9!! And SO filling (couldn't even finish it!) 

Deep fried calamari, my friends. It's not completely coated with breadcrumbs and a flour exterior like most fried calamari. Instead, the exterior is thinly coated with salt, pepper, onions, and garlic. The accompanying grilled onions are incredible and go so well with the calamari. Like the rest of the dishes, the sauce is a MUST.

AND as if this place couldn't get any better, the actual restaurant is so aestehtically pleasing. They literally serve you water in mason jars! 

IF YOU'RE EVER IN OC, GO HERE. Find it in your heart and soul to deviate from the usual Pho and have a taste of authentic, not over-priced, Vietnamese food. 10/10. 

LEMON CUPCAKES!

Hello all; I am so so sorry I haven't really been posting (like at all) but Junior year is pretty rough. However, Ski Week has given me some free time, and so here's a recipe for a DELICIOUS lemon cupcake!! They're honestly my favorite kind to make because they're not too sweet, and they're made with FRESH (and real!) lemons :)

RECIPE:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup softened, unsalted butter (just let it sit at room temp)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2-3 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups of flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons fresh lemon zest
6 tablespoons of lemon juice
------------------------------------
1/2 cup butter, softened at room temp
2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3 cups of powdered sugar

Directions (plus some additional commentary):

1. Preheat the oven to 350F and line your muffin pan (I used a mini muffin pan because they're SO MUCH CUTER)
2. Beat butter and sugar on medium high speed with a handheld or stand mixer for 2-3 minutes, until creamed. 
3. Gradually add in eggs and vanilla, still on medium high speed for 2 minutes. At this point, everything should be well combined. 
4. In another bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add in portions of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, on LOW speed. 
5. Slowly add in the milk, lemon zest, and lemon juice on LOW speed until just barely combined. It's really important not to overmix!!
6. Use a spoon to scoop batter into different cupcake liners. These cupcakes don't rise that much, so you can fill them up almost to the top.
7. In the mean time, make the frosting! Combine all the ingredients in your mixer until everything is well combined, light and fluffy. If you want the frosting to be thicker, add more sugar. If you want it thinner, add more lemon juice or milk! Personally, I like mine really concentrated on the lemon flavor so I did 3 tablespoons of lemon juice. I actually used only 2 cups of powdered sugar because I don't like mine too sweet, but then it's not as thick. It still held its shape on top of the cupcake though:)
8. So, how long you leave them in completely depends on your oven. For me, it took a little more than half an hour. But you SHOULD start checking around 20 minutes, and then in gradual 3 minute increments to ensure the most perfect cupcake. It's ready when: 1) if you lightly press on the top, the cupcake should "spring" or "bounce" back, and 2) upon inserting a toothpick, it should come out almost PERFECTLY clean. A few crumbs are okay, but if it looks wet then it is a no go! 
9. Once you've determined that they're done, take them out. Let them sit in the pan for a few minutes, and then take them out so they can cool.
10. You can frost ONLY WHEN THE CUPCAKES HAVE COOLED. Otherwise, the frosting will melt everywhere and it won't be fun or pretty :(. To pipe, I used a piping bag and a star tip, but you can use a Ziploc bag, or just a knife to spread it on top.
11. And to decorate, I sprinkled some remaining zest on top :) ENJOY! 

Audge

Vietnam Video :)

But wait....there's more! Here's a video summarizing our whole trip. It's long, but I worked really hard on it so it would mean a lot if you would check it out :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TPX0G6JLc4

Again, here are the links to the websites I made for 2 of the orphanages we visited:

thienanorphanage.weebly.com

vinhphuocanorphanage.weebly.com

Thanks for reading/watching!

Audge

Family Fun(?) in 'Nam

Hey there again! Here are some pics of stuff that my family and I did in Vietnam :) Hope you enjoy seeing what it's like there! Also, some stuff that may not be pictured:

• Mosquitos. Are. Everywhere. You can't see them in the pictures, but they are EVERYWHERE. And they're always coming to get you. And once they do, you have bug bites larger than the size of a quarter, all over your body. Fun stuff. 
• Vietnam literally doesn't know what "toilet" is. They do know what "hole in the ground" is, though. Also, I'm willing to bet that their toilet paper sales are significantly less than America. Just a lil thought.
• The traffic is INSANE. I can't even call it that, because there is no traffic. No laws. If you die, you die.
• The calamari is heavenly. Especially the fried calamari.
• It is, actually, possible to get sick of eating too much coconut. 

Alright, here are the photos: (also please bear w/ me, I'm a lil lazy and didn't edit some, so they might look super unsaturated with zero contrast)

Visiting a Buddhist Temple/Orphanage; I really liked the colors in this picture.

We got to hold........wait for it........baby chickens!!

even the crazy kid cracked a smile.

awww!

I mean it was over 100 degrees, which accounts for the ridiculously fake smile (can we just appreciate my skill wow)

there were cats EVERYWHERE. I loved it.

it was SO pretty here and I went jet-skiing for the 1st time!

not sure if I posted this already. 

that's definitely Aidan's thumb, not mine.

what the heck is he doing with his hands? this was at a fishing village outside of HCM.

pretty lily pads!

me n Aidan looking for shrimp

I think I already posted this stuff. But here's a bunch of huge shrimp that we later cooked.

me and my ADORABLE cousin oh my goodness

when you don't know 90% of the people in this picture :/ (yay family!)

Aidan and Aaron having some FUN.

wow.

did it scare you? Aaron made me Perfect 365 his face.

Taken at the crack of sunrise, before 6 AM

SO CUTE

Aidan sleeps everywhere also :)

I CAUGHT IT! Using banana as bait!!

We did see a cow on the beach. Just chillin on the beach.

You do you, cow. Obviously needed to selfie with it. (Or did it really happen?)

Idk.

Pictured again: the huge fish I caught :) using BANANA!

Me n Mama (can we take a sec--her angling of her legs=anorexic??)

Fam Bam! Minus Mama.

proudly displaying my Elephant Pants I got for under $10 (yay sales!)

Fam Bam! At the nicest place I've ever been to in my entire life.

Grandma :) :) :) She made the BEST Fried Banana (it's amazing)

Aw!

When Mama needs to take a picture but you just want to shower and change :/

they sleep. everywhere.

Are YOU missing the stress of AP's? No worries!! Bring books with you to vacations!!!!

nice.

Mother trying to be v artsy/indie 

future life goals

aw! (and this had no saturation added!)

hotter than Jackson Avery from Grey's (sorry)

gross as heck but Family!!

nice.

Parentals ft. family friend and genius son

I'll miss this. But not the mosquitos. 

So that's it for now but I'll be posting other shenanigans later.

Thanks so much for reading!

Audge