gROEwing up

Happy Birthday, Roe!

You are...
the mama
the organizer
the enforcer
the sanity
the glue that holds this FLAN together!

I'm so happy you were born and brought into my life!
Love you!

Please leave a comment with a birthday wish for Roe or your favorite memory with the woman.

<3 C

strawberry margarita cupcakes

It started when my good friend, Anica (who's also my fashion photographer), wanted to bake cupcakes one day. Since then I've been on a baking craze, especially cupcakes that's alcohol infused (highly influenced by my friends here, of course). Since Cinco de Mayo was this month, I wanted to bake something with tequila in it for my friends so I decided to bake these strawberry margarita cupcakes.

This cupcake recipe was taken from The Baker Chick but I did a little tweaking to the recipe (see below).

Cupcake:
3 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
3 limes, zested and juiced
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

Strawberry Tequila Puree:
1/2 of 16oz container of strawberries
1 lime, zested and juiced
1/2 cup of Patron tequila
3 tablespoons of sugar

Frosting:
1 cup shortening
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups of powdered sugar
1/3 cup strawberry tequila puree

Directions:
Preheat the oven  to  325˚ F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt and stir with a fork to blend. In a separate large bowl, combine the salt, sugar, and eggs and blend together with a mixer (I don't have a stand mixer so I used a hand electric mixer instead). Next, beat in the lime zest, lime juice, and vanilla extract into the mixture. After it is all blended, mix in the dry ingredient by alternating it between the buttermilk and dry ingredients until it is all incorporated. Divide the batter evenly into each cupcake liner (about 3/4 full) and bake for 20-22 mins, or until a toothpick is inserted in the center and comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool and remove from the cupcake pans.

In a blender or food processor, add the strawberries, tequila, sugar, lime zest and lime juice and puree until there are no more strawberry chunks (I used a little over half of the 16oz container).  Set aside.

In a large bowl, creme the shortening and butter until it is fluffy. Next, add 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar at a time while alternating between the 1/3 cup of strawberry tequila puree.

To fill the cupcake, I used a spoon to spoon out about half an inch of cake out of the middle and filled it with the strawberry puree.

Spread the frosting over the cupcake with a spoon or use a piper to pipe on the frosting. For garnish, you can use limes but I used strawberries instead because it is the Fresh Pick of May 2012 :)

 My friends seem to enjoy these cupcakes, I hope you do too! :)

instagram: phuphubear

<3, phu

phu's white tee

Hello hello! :) I'm going to admit, I didn't own a white tee till about a month ago which is probably why my remix is the last haha. As mentioned in my introduction, my eyes are instantly attracted to colored tops/dresses and a white tee doesn't fall into that category. For years I've tried on different types of white tees and I didn't like any of them. But hooray! I found this tunic white tee from Zara that is a keeper. :)

white tee: zara; shorts: forever21

bracelet: old navy, toms: nordstrom, belt: forever21

I was super comfortable hanging out with my friends on this day in my remix outfit. The belt I used to tie around my waist is the belt that came with the shorts. I even went fancy one day at work by dressing it up with more accessories and a blazer. :)

necklaces and bracelets: h&m and forever21; toms: nordstorm (instagram: phuphubear)

I hope you readers learned new ways to style your white tee through my girls and I - I sure did! :) 

<3, phu

life-locked & color-blocked

Good morning, readers! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  Last week, and this past weekend, was definitely eventful.  I've made some changes to my life, may have been a little hasty, but I'm locked in now, no going back.  I believe it was a good decision and that the future will be great!

I'm thrilled to say that I also got to hang out with some life-long friends this past weekend.  I haven't seen some of for awhile, but it was great seeing friends that I have met through the years.  A timeline of my life, if you will.

I found this simple sheath dress when I was taking advantage of Forever 21's friends & family day with some of my girls.  It's been awhile since we all shopped together.  It was a quick, time-limited trip, but it was well worth it.  This was probably my favorite piece in my haul and I couldn't wait to wear it out.    I knew immediately, that I wanted to wear it with my orange red UO suede pumps.  The smallest size they come in is a size 6, so I bought these Dr.Scholl's gel cushions, and they did they trick.  I pulled out my new and trusty Longchamp bag, threw on some of my favorite accessories, my new birthday sunnies, and headed out.  As for the dress, unfortunately, the material is wrinkle friendly, so I'll have to make sure the next time I wear it I won't be sitting down often.  Aside from that, it'll definitely be a go to dress in the coming months.

{Outfit}

Dress & Scarf: Forever 21

Blazer: H&M

Shoes: Urban Outfitters

Watch & Sunnies: Kate Spade & here

Necklace: J.Crew

Purse: Longchamp

Arm Candy: Stella & Dot, O.co, Asos

Thanks for reading and joining me today!

<3 roe

Readers: Have you made any life changing decisions for yourself lately?  and/or what will be some of your go to pieces this summer?

moola for college and loan$

Happy Friday!!

Since Roe blogged Mint Green Savings, I felt that I need to share how I do some of my online shopping. Like many people, I have student loans (boo to them!) from my undergraduate degree that I, unfortunately, have to pay back. If you have loan(s) from Sallie Mae, Upromise is a great way to do your online shopping because you get a certain percentage back from what you spent that can be directly deposited back to your student loan payment. I suggest comparing the percentage of money you get back on both websites (if you are using Ebates), since one may give back more than the other.

If you're still in college or want to save up for college or your children's college, the amount you get back can be allotted for that. You can also register your credit/debit cards so that when you use it at participating restaurants, you get money back, as well. Get $$ back for eating?! YES PLEASE! Whatever money you receive back from Upromise, you can decide what you want to do with it. How awesome is that?!

Thank you for reading our baby flan, especially audiences in other countries! It's an awesome feeling knowing that we can reach out to people outside of the United States. :)

And just because, another picture of how beautiful Chicago is. Have a wonderful weekend everyone! :)

at BP bridge in Millennium Park (instagram: phuphubear)

<3, phu