Mom's Birthday and Manapua Education

Last week was my mom's birthday! I came down to Murrieta to celebrate, and she chose L&L to go out to dinner!

Score! I love the short ribs, soo good, but the PLUS was that I found out they sell MANAPUA. If I had to live on a deserted island for the rest of my life, I would be completely content with nothing more than a lifetime supply of these babies. Steamed,

baked

whatever! For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, its a steamed or baked bun filled with a barbeque pork called char siu. Here's the inside:

(mouthwatering) mmmmmmm! It's called a lot of different names (char siu bao, siopao, bbq pork bun) because each culture has a different version. They are originally a Cantonese dish, so your best chance of finding one is at a Chinese dimsum restaurant. I haven't tried L&L's manapua yet, but I know it will never be as good as the ones I've had in Hawaii. Those little Chinese women at the Chinatown in Honolulu have some magic that no one else can recreate.

ANYWAYS, I baked the cake for my mom's birthday and as always, she is unwavering in her chocolate love! Good thing I have a great recipe that I can always turn to! I wasn't feeling the creativity that I usually do in my cake shapes, but a little came through with the candles!

Haha can u guess how old shes turning?? Hopefully the delicious cake I made will make up for me telling the world :] HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Food Trucks!

Since I've moved to Orange County, I've had a whole new food world opened to me in the form of gourmet food trucks! This trend has really started taking hold in OC and LA counties, where chefs are taking their food directly to their customers. What is so great about these trucks is that you get real quality bites of food for really cheap! I think the food truck fad has really taken hold thanks to Twitter, because trucks tweet where they'll be that week and even if they're running late!

The first one I ate at was the one I had heard the most about, Kogi BBQ.

A sort of Korean/Mexican fusion, they serve items such as short rib tacos and burritos, and kimchi quesadillas. YUM. I've had the short rib and spicy pork tacos, oh man.

There's a sweetness in the cabbage, beansprout, etc. mix that just makes it SO amazing, I can say they have discovered the secret to a perfect taco! The burrito is just as good, but they throw scrambled eggs in it and call it a breakfast burrito. The best part? $2 a taco and $5 a burrito!

I love hunting these trucks down! I've now got a running list of OC and LA trucks that I follow (through their websites, I'm not apart of the tweeting world!), just biding my time until one comes close enough to me to pounce on! Here's a few noteworthy ones that have my mouth watering:

Crepes Bonaparte-

I am a crepe fiend and always will be. This truck sells breakfast, savory, and dessert crepes for less than six bucks each!

Piaggio On Wheels -

An Argentinian cuisine, Yelpers suggest the empanadas, but I've got my eye on the chimichurri fries!

The Dim Sum Truck-

A Los Angeles based truck. Baked BBQ pork buns=manapua=happy Noelle.

Sprinkles Cupcakes Mobile-

The best cupcakes ever, on wheels! They have stores in LA and Newport Beach, but why go to them when they can come to you? TRY THE CARROT.

Happy hunting!