Cupcake Jones - Portland, OR

I actually cooked a few meals over the past few days (including yummy, picture-worthy dishes!), but somehow I kept forgetting to take pictures. Anyway, here are some photos of the cupcakes I bought in Portland a while back.

In the box above: "downtown cupcake brown" and "velvet painting".

As you can see from the picture above, the "velvet painting" is a red velvet cupcake with a filling inside (vanilla pastry cream) and is topped with cream cheese icing and a candied rose petal. How cute is that little pink garnish? The cupcake was so moist and scrumptious. I wish the Cupcake Jones people would open a store in Seattle so I can have my cupcake fix every week!

Are you a fan of cupcakes like I am? What's your favorite flavor?

Por Que No? - Portlant, OR

Before leaving Portland to head home, we stopped at Por Que No? for an early supper. It's a casual "hole-in-the-wall" kind of restaurant with fresh, home-made Mexican food.

I had horchata to cool down in the summer heat. Horchata is a refreshing cold drink popular in Latin America and Spain and is often made with rice, almonds, cinnamon, vanilla and sugar.

Tacos here are really good! We had two types of beef, one pork and one chorizo. The chips here are really good too. Sorry I forgot to take pictures: I was too busy eating! I'll definitely stop by at this taqueria next time I'm in town.

PS: I'm still trying to find a good Mexican restaurant in the Seattle area. Do you guys have any suggestions?

Andina - Portland, OR

Andina in a Peruvian restaurant located in the Pearl district of Portland. I've been there once before and liked it so much that I decided to go back again on my recent trip. They have entrees, but since I like eating a little bit of everything, I ordered some tapas.

Traditional cebiche (bottom right) was very good.

The little specks in the bread are quinoa, which the Incas referred to as "chisaya mama" or "mother of all grains." Bread is served with three dipping sauces: peanut, passion fruit and jalapeno.

Yuca rellena served with cheese sauce.

Grilled diver scallop with soy sauce and brown sugar and crispy onion rings on top. Too bad you only get one scallop!

Beef empanadas with raisins and olives.

Cured tuna loin with guacamole-like salsa. This was my favorite dish.

Finally dessert! I wanted to get a bigger dessert, but unfortunately my stomach didn't have enough room. So I settled with one cookie: an alfajor filled with warm, gooey manjar blanco, which I thought was dulce de leche.

After doing some research online, I discovered that manjar blanco tastes very similar to dulce de leche but is slightly lighter in color. And the main difference lies in preparation. Dulce de leche is made with condensed milk whereas manjar blanco is made with whole milk.

National Cheesecake Day!

Did you guys know that July 30 is unofficially declared National Cheesecake Day in America? To celebrate this special holiday, I went to a local Cheesecake Factory chain for lunch to indulge in half-price cheesecakes! I had Tex-Mex Eggrolls for an appetizer first and then had Chocolate Coconut Cream Cheesecake for dessert. My friend got a new cheesecake they're debuting called Reese's Peanut Butter Cheesecake (pictured in the back). My cheesecake was pretty good! I'd definitely get it again. I tried a bite of my friend's cheesecake but wasn't too impressed. If you're a big peanut butter fan, unlike me, then I'm sure you're enjoy their new creation.

Apparently other cheesecake stores are also having some kind of celebrations, so make sure to check their websites for great deals. Happy Cheesecake Day!