Happy Birthday to my baby girl!

Today is the first ever birthday of my baby niece! So happy to have celebrated this joyful day with family and friends. My sis' had the party at this farm like location. It was super cute and very child friendly, which was very necessary cause the place overflowed with kids ;)

The party was rainbow themed and my sis' and her love had made the banner their selves. They also had  colored cups with treats for the kids as a thank you gift. And of course yummie birthday cake!

I was in charge of the birthday cake and let me tell you, making a fluffy vegan cake is very very very hard! Sure you can do fruitcakes or tarts, but an actual cake is a BIG problem. 

I tried many many many different recipes. They all failed but one. And then a few days before the big day, while I was testbaking, that one failed me as well. So you can imagine my frustration and despair. At one point I was close to tears 8{

I suspected my oven to be part of the problem so I tried the recipe again at my sis' and fortunately it worked.

But I wasn't completely convinced yet. I browsed the web again and came across this recipe by Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. Everyone seemed lyrical about their recipes, so I immediately ordered their cute little book and got to baking. 

It was their vanilla cupcake recipe that I used to bake the birthday girls cake. It was soft and moist and not too dense. Now I'm not going to pretend that it's just as good as a regular-egg-cake, but it's as close I could get. In the end we did a mini vegan cake for the birthday girl and a regular-egg-cake for the guests.

Yesterday I was busy baking all day, breaking a sweat over their rainbow theme. I'm so happy things worked out and the cake was yumm. Before I knew it it was finished!

Wow children's parties are super noisy! But so fun. I am exhausted though. Of of to bed now.

Hakata Senpachi

The other day I went for a bite with my good friend Pascal at kushi restaurant Hakata Senpachi.

I have to say this was the first time I really resented my vegetarian resolution since I know their kushi's are really nice (perhaps this was the beginning of my downfall...). Either way I decided to take the opportunity to order some of the dishes I've been wanting to try.
So we ordered some zaru soba, negi miso onigiri, tsukemono and some quail egg, eggplant and mushroom kushi. Pascal also had the karaage chicken and some other kushi's, but I totally forgot which ones.

I've wanted to try zaru soba for a very long time and it was nice, but soba is just not my favo noodle ever. The onigiri however was delicious. You could really taste that it was freshly made and the salty miso went very well with the negi onions. The tsukemono was also very tasty and I love how they still had a bit of a bite to it. The karaage looked so crisp and yummie. Had to really restrain myself!
The kushi's were yumm as ever. I love how they serve them on a plate of chopped cabbage. It looks really pretty and absorbs all the fat from the grill (sorry forgot to take a picture).

And then Pascal totally surprised me with this super cute Hello Kitty phone sleeve he'd bought in Japan.  

 A perfect ending to a lovely evening ;)

Purikura fun!

I love love love Purikura! And just like every other girl that has been to Japan, I went crazy in all the gazillion Purikura stalls. I spend way to much money on it, but it was just too much fun :)

For those of you who don't know what it is. Purikura are the cute l(sticker)pictures you can make in photo booths. They come in all kinds themes, magazine, fashion, beauty, cosplay etc. and in some shops they even have clothes, accessories, costumes and make up you can rent or borrow. You can add all kinds of backgrounds and special effects to the pictures making them super cute!  

Anyways, thanks to this app I can now have some FREE Purikura fun at home!

It's called "Rakuga Cute"and it's the first one from left. It lets you add a lot of bokeh, stars, hearts, glitter and other fun stuff! It also provides a "lightning" feature which reduces any blemishes you might have. Personally I don't mind seeing a spot here and there, but most people like that perfect sheen Purikura gives you. One shot and poof, all your blemishes are gone.

Either way I thought I'd share a cute Purikura edited picture.

I'ts a bit grainy but that's because the picture was taken at night with bad lighting. Just look at those cute hearts, sparks and bokeh! Sigh, I  LOVE Purikura!!!

PS: I also use the other picture apps to add filters etc. The one on the right "PriPri Marron" is a bit of a hassle to work with. You can only use it for portrait pictures but it has some nice filters. I don't really use it but it just looks so cute ;)

I caved...

I caved and ate a smoked mackerel sandwich...  I feel so bad, but it tasted so good!

I had an extremely long day at uni and I needed some good food to get me through. I stopped by this cute little place I've been wanting to try in a very long time. And they had so many yummie things to pick from, but that mackerel sandwich with cucumber and lemon mayonnaise sounded so good...
So I caved and ate it! Every last crumb was devoured by me and my gluttonous mouth.
I should have taken a picture so you could see how yumm it was but it was allready gone and finished before the thought even occured to me... So here's a picture of the shop window.

This picture really doesn't do it any justice so I 'lent' some from their Facebook page to give you a better impression.

Doesn't it all look soooooooo yummie! And they have a super cute terrace in the back so you can have a beautiful view of the canals while enjoying your tasties. The place is always busy and the terrace seats about 4-6 people so you need a bit of luck to get a seat. But if you do it can be bliss.

I have decided this is going to be my "I-have-long-day-and-deserve-something-nice-on-Tuesday-spot."
So if in Amsterdam on a Tuesday during lunch hours, you might just bump in to me enjoying their super delicious items :)