Cafe Darak

Last weekend, I made my way to Cafe Darak, a Korean-owned, vintage inspired cafe that just recently opened not too long ago. I've heard many good things about this little place and have been dying to try it out! While the boyfriend was still in town, what better time to try somewhere new?

This place once again fed my obsession for interior design. It was obvious that the vintage trend was prevalent here and I thought it was quite adorable. I just really enjoyed the ambiance overall. It seemed like everywhere you turned, there was something to look at. For a small place, it had such a comfortable atmosphere where people could just sit back, relax, and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea and munch on delicious desserts.

I actually really liked the fact that none of the furniture or decor really matched.

I loved their collection of vintage cameras and radios.

I cannot stress how badly I wanted to go into the tent and fall asleep. Sadly, there were people in it the entire time.... I could tell that this place had a thing for Volkswagen from some of their signs and small knick knacks lying around, and of course this giant tent!

I thought the little trinkets on their serving trays were a cute touch.

Now finally, on to their food! They had a variety of drinks (mostly tea and coffee as well as common bottled/canned options) and desserts. Going to Cafe Darak I already knew what I HAD to try, and that was their macarons and their Honey Bread. Sadly they only had raspberry macarons left, but it was nonetheless delicious. The center was a little on the sweet side, but also had a slight tartness. Such a flavor had to have been made with fresh raspberries (probably that morning). The macarons were a dollar each which, compared to many other bakeries, is very reasonable. 

"Do you know what my shirt's made out of? BOYFRIEND MATERIAL."

To accompany the macarons, I thought I'd try out their coffee and ordered an iced Cafe Mocha (usually my drink of choice at cafes). I don't like my coffee too sweet, so this definitely satisfied me. It was a good balance of sweet and bitter in my opinion. The coffee that they offer in general costs a little less than a venti frappacino at Starbucks (a little under $5).

I can't tell you how excited I was to try their Honey Bread. After sampling what Bay Area cafes had to offer (those of which were much larger and fancier than this and costing ~$12), I've been on a mission to find anything that compares here in Vegas. The syrup was definitely SUPER sweet, as expected, but surprisingly the vanilla ice cream on top was not, so I thought the two balanced quite well. The bread itself was warm and soft yet still crispy and flaky. Although not nearly as glamorous as what I've had before, I actually really enjoyed it for what it was and I'd say that it was worth the $5.

All in all, the boyfriend and I (and friends) enjoyed our first experience at Cafe Darak and I'll definitely be coming back soon with an empty belly! 

I only wish that this place wasn't so far from my house!

Lemon Cake (Happy 50th Birthday Daddy!)

Some time ago (March 15th actually...whoops), was my dad's 50th birthday! So I thought, what better way to celebrate than with a homemade cake! He has a thing for lemon so naturally I looked toward lemon cake recipes. I ended up using a good ol' Martha Stewart recipe, which can be found here. Personally, I feel like the recipe didn't really work well for me and that the cake could have turned out SO much better. I mean it tasted delicious, of course, but I have this personal standard I'd like to uphold. So in this case, this post won't necessarily be a formal recipe, but a picture guide, because who doesn't like pictures right? But by all means, try the original recipe for yourself and see how it works for you!

Lemon Cake

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter (room temp.)
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt (omit if using salted butter)
• 1 tbsp lemon zest
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs + 3 large egg yolks
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup buttermilk (low fat)

You may be wondering why I've omitted a couple of the ingredients. Well being pressed for time, I didn't read the list very carefully. Those two were meant for the whipped frosting for the original recipe, but I ended up using a different frosting recipe.

I found that 4-5 medium sized lemons were enough for a tablespoon of lemon zest.

After preheating your oven to 350 degrees and greasing your two 8in cake pans, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest in a bowl.

In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, or an electric hand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

It should look something like this.

Mix in eggs and yolks, adding them one at a time, following with lemon juice. Add flour mixture and buttermilk, alternating them, starting and ended with the flour. Continue mixing until just combined.

You'll find that this batter is quite thick and wont rise too much in the oven. I didn't even have to level it, which saves me time for sure.

 Bake for 32-35 minutes and allow to cool in the pans for 15 minutes before removing them to cool completely on a wire rack. 

Use this time to make your frosting! Any frosting of your choice, really. The possibilities are endless! I ended up with a very basic egg white whipped frosting using only egg whites, sugar, and some leftover lemon juice.

And here comes the fun part (and the most difficult part) - putting everything together!

I felt that in this instance, the sweet and slightly tartness of the raspberries would go great with the lemon and I was right, it was so good. (The leftover raspberries and frosting made for a good midnight snack keke.)

After looking at this cake more, I've realized that it looks just like the cake emoji...sweet.

Even though the cake didn't turn out exactly as I had hoped, it still looked and tasted great and my family liked it nonetheless. But of course, there's always still improvements to be made! 

As per usual, there's always more things on the way, so until next time, thanks for taking a break out of your busy lives and hanging out with me!

Monday Fundays

Surprised to see me? Yeah, me too..

Yes, it's been way too long! But with school and work taking over my life, I hope I'll be forgiven for this hiatus.

This past Monday, I had an amazing day with a couple of my closest friends, and what better way to return than with an all around feel-good-day recap!

Our lives have definitely been busy lately, so being able to spend a whole day catching up and relaxing together is a day well spent.

For lunch, we decided that we'd head on over to Settebello Pizzeria located in the District. It was Tiffanie and I's first time there and it was, for lack of a better phrase, the bombdiggity, and really there's no better way to carry on storytelling than over pizza.

Sydney taking pictures of the menu, and Tiffanie staring intently at her bag.

For our appetizer, we decided on the Focaccia, a flat bread with garlic and other seasonings. I swear, I could probably munch on this forever.

Focaccia $5.00

As for our main dish, we ordered the Genovese, and let me just say that I can't describe with words how satisfied we were. We actually almost ordered a second helping, but with our wallets in mind, we refrained from doing so. 

Genovese $14.00

After stuffing ourselves with delicious food and making a quick Target run, we drove all the way across town to finally sit down at Serenade, a Korean tea and coffee house that everyone's been talking about. I've been here once before, and I'm glad I got to go again with these two. One thing the three of us raved about all day was interior design and this place really fed our obsession for the day. 

Serenade layout

Seriously, I loved this window art and it made for such a nice atmosphere.

Aren't my friends so cute?

Sydney and I both ordered a Cafe Mocha (his looked better).

After doing some shopping at the mall and browsing through books at Barnes & Noble, we called it a night and all headed home.

This was the day much needed that got me back in the swing of things (blogging things that is), and now I can say that you can expect more out of this blog. Now with that said, make sure to check back soon for new content!

Cataloging my Addiction: Fall/Winter Pickups (pt. 2)

I've previously featured my clothing items in my last post,"Fall/Winter Pickups (pt. 1)", so if you haven't seen it already, go check it out! (And I apologize in advance for not taking better care of my shoes!)
 

Black satchel: Forever21

During the holidays, Forever21 was having an amazing 50% off all bags and shoes. I've been looking for a good bag for a while; something with structure and a sleek appearance. The shoulder strap is a good length and is adjustable and the bag itself is just big enough to hold everything I need (i.e. wallet, keys, water, lip balm, etc.).

Wedged platform booties: Charlotte Russe

Now, I love Charlotte Russe shoes, but I actually somewhat regret buying these... It was during their BOGO for $5 on Black Friday, and when I couldn't find the other pair that I wanted, I bought these anyways. Shame on me for impulse shopping...

Black "Desert Cool Booties": Forever21

Me and a friend went down to the Strip to look around the Forever21 at Fashion Show Mall. I already had my eyes on the chocolate colored pair of these shoes online, but of course they were out of my size in-store...but luckily, I ran into these black ones - the LAST size 6 they had, and to my surprise, all shoes in the store were 50% and I snagged these for 13 bucks!

Chocolate "Desert Cool Booties": Forever21

After getting the black ones, I knew I just had to have the chocolate ones too. I need more brown shoes anyways, all my shoes are black! In fact, I hadn't even made it home before I ordered these online at, of all places, Taco Bell... but sadly, the 50% off shoes deal wasn't online.

Black wedged booties: Target

It was my mom who actually got me these shoes at Target for only $10! I actually wear these quite often. They're comfortable enough to wear to school on a regular basis without killing my feet, so that's a plus.

Tan wedged booties: Target

Just like the previous pair, my mom also got these for me at Target, and with the original price being $30 each, $20 total for both pairs is practically a steal. 

Cataloging my Addiction: Fall/Winter Pickups (pt. 1)

Since I've started working at the mall again at the end of 2013, I've constantly been surrounded by temptation to do nothing but shop, shop, and shop some more, and with Spring just around the corner, I figured that this would be the perfect time to make this post. So here I am cataloging my Fall/Winter pickups over the past few months. I put them in chronological order as best as I could...heh.

Hi-low black dress: H&M 

I saw this dress in the recently-opened H&M at the mall I work at and instantly felt the need to call it mine. It was a hi-low dress and although I was in love with hi-low just months before, I wasn't really feeling it so I simply just pinned up the back. (It's not on the mannequin because it wouldn't fit without the dress ripping, so...)

Burgundy dress w/ sweetheart neckline: H&M 

This was around the time when H&M was beginning their huge holiday sale. Snagged this dress for $10! (Even though at the time it was still marked 12 or 15 dollars.)

Cropped denim jacket: H&M

White sheer tribal crop top: H&M

Teal V-neck knit sweater | Red scoop-neck knit sweater: H&M

I needed something red to wear to work, (red and black was our Holiday spirit day) and when I saw "BUY ONE GET ONE ALL SWEATERS", I just had to.

Cobalt blue dress: Forever21 

Finally, something not from H&M. Of course being as tiny as I am, and Forever21 sizes often running big, it wasn't a perfect fit, but it was pretty darn close. A few amateur alterations here and there and it fit me perfectly!

Paneled patterned dress: H&M

Another sale dress pricing at $10 that I thought would be nice if I ever had a business casual event or something of the sort. It's a size 4, also meaning too big for me, but nothing a few easy alterations couldn't fix. I've already marked it all out and everything, but still as of today, I haven't found the time to finish it.

Black mesh knitted sweater: H&M

Blue polka dot crop top: Forever 21
Blue/grey speckled cardigan: Forever 21
Black basic circle skirt: H&M

Brown anorak jacket w/ pleather sleeves: Forever21

Loose pink T-shirt: Wet Seal
Speckled Cardigan: Charlotte Russe

This is pretty much my go-to lazy outfit. You can tell how much I wear this shirt by how wrinkled it is (whoops). And I absolutely love Charlotte Russe cardigans.

Burgundy/navy/cream flannel: Forever21

Black/white speckled sweater: American Eagle

Me being the cheapie that I am, I normally don't shop at American Eagle. I love their clothes, but I usually don't get anything. So when they had their Additional 50% Off sale, I knew I had to jump while I could. And I'm glad I did because this sweater is so comfy!

Loose black crop top: Forever21

Cream sweater: Forever21

Army green anorak jacket w/ hood: Forever21

Compared to the other one I bought, (earlier in this post) this one fits so much nicer and the gigantic hood is a nice touch in my opinion. This is one of my favorite pieces to layer with (esp. with flannels).

Red/navy/cream flannel: Forever21

Black/white floral pants: H&M

I've really been into floral prints lately, so in preparations for the spring, I felt that these were completely necessary.

And so this concludes part 1 of my three-part Fall/Winter pickups! Don't worry, parts 2 and 3 will be a whole lot shorter, I promise. To reduce super long posts like this, I'll probably be doing these more frequently because I'm pretty sure I'll still be shopping now that Spring is almost here, so keep an eye out for those!