I told you that I made these marshmallow monster cupcakes for the October/November issue of Kokoliving Magazine. In my article, I wrote about childhood memories of my dad being a funny dancing Asian man, while handing out king-sized chocolate bars to the neighborhood kids. So definitely give that a read! But today, I would like to share the step by step photos as well as the story behind my nearly disastrous day making these little crazy cakes!

It all started when I tried to look up a cool recipe online for decorating Halloween treats, and I came across one where it promised to be easy. But that ended up being one big fat lie! Okay, I’m no pastry chef, but I did go to culinary school and decorated cakes at a bakery. So you’d think I’d be able to handle a little marshmallow and frosting from a can. Not with this recipe! See? That’s why I have a love-hate relationship with recipes online. You don’t know which ones to trust. Yeah ironic huh? [...]

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I don’t mean to sound ungrateful towards my hard working mom, but when I was a kid, I had the most boring brown bag lunches ever. I just remember being jealous of my friend’s ever-changing tasty looking treats and artfully crafted sandwiches, while I chomped down on my squished ham and cheese, wrapped in aluminum foil, and sipped my Capri Sun. I wrote about my experience in an article for kokoliving.com’s online magazine, and provided a recipe for an “American style bento box.” It sure would’ve been awesome to sit down at the cafeteria table every now and then with one of those.

Today, I wanted to focus on posting photos and instructions on how to make kid-friendly mock maki that goes inside of the bento. There’s no rice or raw fish involved. All you need are ordinary sandwich ingredients! Here’s the how-to… [...]

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I decided to dust off my Prisma markers and make use of my rusty Adobe illustrator skills from my fashion design days…okay, with some help from the husband too. If you have been following this blog, you may have noticed that I like to draw. One day, for no apparent reason at all, I felt like making a little sketch about the measurements we use for cooking and baking. Umm yeah, nerd alert. I did this mostly for me, so I could always look back at it for reference, but then I decided to share it with you. I’m constantly forgetting how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon, and how many ounces are in a cup. So I wanted to make a little cheat sheet to keep things straight. [...]

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We haven’t had cable or TV in our place for months. And before you think it’s because we’re too sophisticated for it, you are wrong sir. I LOVE my reality shows, and I miss the Housewives and Kardashians more than you know. It was our attempt to save some money and it kinda works. But we will be moving soon, and we will be FORCED to have cable again in our new place. It comes sort of as a package deal with our rent… weird, huh? Oh wells, no one complaining over here. So in lieu of TV, I’ve been watching a lot of “Friends” that we have on our computer. So on that note, in regards to the blog, sorry about last week’s silence, but in the words of Ross to Rachael, “we were on a break!” [...]

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I recently submitted some tips for Summer entertaining to kokoliving magazine, an online magazine, not too long ago, and I think I’m on a giving out tips kick. I realized that when it comes to cooking and food, I’m a forever student. I love learning from others, and then sharing what I’ve picked up along the way. I realized that most of our readers are those that are time-crunched… well, isn’t that just about everybody? So I figured it would be quite fitting to make a post about some time saving tips, namely how to cut down on cooking time. Here are some tips. [...]

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Did you ever go to the store and see those dark green leafy veggies and run off scared? You feel like you want to buy them, but you’re not sure, so you pass them by and stick to your broccoli and carrots…again. Well, don’t fret my pet. Those dark leafy green guys are super healthy for you, so it’s worth exploring them a bit. And with all dark greens, they have a bit of a bitterness to them, so you have to cook them in a way to counter act that bitterness. I guess that’s how you can tell they’re healthy for you, huh? I like red chard because not only is it leafy and green, but beautifully red too! It’s like Christmas on a plate… okay, not really. But here’s how you use them: [...]

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