mango vanilla pastry cups.

I had this one dessert the other day. Its simple novelty stuck with me.

It looked like a teeny layered parfait. The very small glass was half-filled with vanilla bean pastry cream, topped with tiny cubes of cake, strawberry pie filling and then sweetened whipped cream.

I loved how perfect it seemed for summer. An upcoming BBQ was the perfect excuse to recreate them myself.

vanilla pastry cream.

Don't you love it when you make a list of things to do, and at the end of the day, you've actually crossed off almost every item?

I have always been a list-maker (before I realized during college that they usually made me more stressed, and then I obsessively turned to Google calendars). When I was younger, I would put things like "Brush teeth" and "Make bed" on my summer to-do list, oftentimes after I had already done them, just to feel better about myself.

My list has developed to slightly more important things - like "check 401(k) policy" and "apply to med school." It's a nice day, however, when my to-do list tells me to make pastry cream. I can certainly oblige to that.

coconut cream pie bars.

Whenever I watch tennis, soccer, or any really athletic sport (sorry golf), I at some point appreciate how fit those people are. The thought sometimes continues, in-between admiring Rafa's outbursts of greatness and Djokovic's insane flexibility (can you tell I've been watching the French Open?). Commercial breaks come, and I start to plot out a regime of health foods & exercise to get my heart pumping on the level of the players I was just watching. The game comes back, and an exciting rally reinforces my vow to reform my life.

Eventually, the game ends. And instead of immediately going for a hike or run, I stay on my bed, stalk foodgawker, and decide to make coconut cream pie bars. Well ... everyone has their own thing to love, right?

intense pumpkin pie.

I know Thanksgiving passed, but I heard a Christmas song today that referenced pumpkin pie.

"When they pass around the coffee and the puuuummmppkin pie."

So this pie is still relevant. The "intense" part of the name is a reflection of how I like to live life - intensely. Running the Big Chill (5K) in the freezing cold at 9am on a Saturday? Intense. Breaking down 50 boxes and getting a major paper cut on my wrist at work? Intense. Brushing my teeth this morning? Intense.

Whether you agree with me on the above is irrelevant - just know that making this pie is not a simple process. It is totally different from the pumpkin pie recipe I posted 2 years ago. [Wow has it been two years?!] This one involves a cooked filling, ginger, candied yams, and heavy cream. Sounds pretty good to me so far ..

blueberry roulade.

Classes start September 3, but I did so many new things already this school year - the FINAL year. I stayed up till 4am ... haven't done that since freshman year, probably. I climbed onto the roof of a building at night, and had a great view of the lights and landscape. I will have participated in 5 Dance Marathon events in the past week (RUDM 2014 LET'S GO).

carrot cake whoopie pies.

I've been having the weirdest dreams. Usually, they're random, but lately they've been reflecting what goes on during my days ... and I have to say, it kind of worries me.

Two days ago, I was volunteering at a hospice. I chatted for a while with this 100 year old lady who was so so sweet and kept giving me life advice that was pretty applicable (except for the part where I have to marry my [nonexistent] boyfriend, have kids, and stay at home to raise them). I also chatted with and kept company to some people who unfortunately had dementia. That night, I dreamed I was losing my memory and had to be placed in a nursing home .. at age 21. 

Another night, I was reading a novel (House of God) that has to do with the psychological breakdown of a medical intern. I'm pre-med, mind you, and am not looking forward to the lifestyle detailed in the novel. You can imagine the depressing dreams I had that night. 

As a result, I decided I need to start focusing on more positive things, things I know make me happy. I would say carrot cake whoopie pies make me happy.

coconut cream pie cupcakes.

It's summer.

Okay, well ignore the rain that's been the backdrop of the past couple days.

But in general, it's hot. Tan lines come very easily. Tinted moisturizer is used in lieu of heavy foundation. Shorts are established as an outfit staple, and ice cream becomes a daily indulgence.

Don't you also feel like eating lots of tropical & refreshing things? Like papaya? And watermelon? And acai juice? Mmmm. These coconut cupcakes are an example of a perfect summer dessert.

chocolate chip whoopie pies, with espresso filling.

I reformatted the blog!! It was a lot of work .. had to code HTML and adjust tons of image sizes. I like the new look. It puts more attention on the pictures, which is what usually catches people's attention. Besides my highly entertaining writing, that is.

My hair's in a crazy bun right now. I have headphones in my ears, but no music on. The yellow light of the little bed clip-on lamp is casting dramatic shadows on my hands, emphasizing my newly acquired tan (50 minutes outside is all I need) and sculpting crevices, making everything more angular. It's 11:55 pm and although that's not particularly late, I'm questioning why I'm up.

I feel like the novel I've been reading is influencing my writing a lil bit. Anyway, what I'm not questioning is my decision, an hour ago, to have another one of these whoopie pies. I'll tell you why.

homemade oreos, rose + peanut butter filled.

So I was eating turkey chili just now before I sat down at my laptop to start writing this post. Of course I got distracted and checked up on the food & fashion blogs I regularly read, all my email accounts (way too many), and tastespotting before finally arriving hurr.

Then I got back up to get my new favorite "chapstick" because my lips were simply parched, and I saw that I hadn't finished all my chili .. !!!

Best feeling. The same thing happened with these oreos. I'll explain.

rose cream hearts.

I just beat two worlds in KH1. What else have I done since being home?

Uh, made these beautiful cookies, duh. I adore custard. Custard anything .. crème caramel, egg tarts, bread pudding, the filling of cream horns, eclairs, cream puffs, and lobster tails (aka - sflogliatelle). Look at this beautiful picture of a lobster tail dissection I randomly found. I swoon.

I could continue, but you get the point. And I realized that despite my love of custard, I barely have any custard things on here. So here is one. These rose cream hearts are light delicate cookies which can be cut into any shape (I did hearts), and in-between is sandwiched a filling. I made my filling rose-flavored, with zero food coloring, because I am also obsessed with rose anything, but you can easily make them regular custard-flavored or vanilla.

whole wheat pumpkin cinnamon rolls.

What is the difference between cinnamon buns and rolls? I feel like the icing is different for both. Otherwise, they seem to be pretty interchangeable, from what research I've conducted on the good old world wide web. Which is kinda annoying, I feel like there should be a difference but whatever, who am I to start an occupy Cinnabon movement .. speaking of which, I guess they're also called cinnabons at Cinnabon. What the hell man! It's so important it needs three different names?!

Anyway, let's talk about these pastries, oozing with heavenly glaze and exuding cinnamon-y enticement.

eclair cake.

Here we go with the desserts made from packaged food. But time crunches call for dire measures ...

"orange velvet" whoopie pies.

Hello lovelies. How was this past weekend for you? Good, hopefully?

I traveled a lot this past weekend, but the weekend before, I stayed closer to home. It was a pretty busy three days. Friday was more relaxing than Saturday and Sunday, though. I went over a friend's house to meet my three other friends. We all brought food & scrolled through the On Demand movies on IO for like ten minutes because the cursor was moving soooo slow. And eventually decided on watching No Strings Attached.

Progression of the night? Read on.