Jin In The Kitchen: BREAKFAST AT TIFFANYS INSPIRED CUPCAKES & playing outside...

I love the movie BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S starring a young Audrey Hepburn!

...Holly living the party life in Manhattan, hoping to marry wealthy to live a care free life...and visits Tiffanys on a regular basis...just to look at the jewels...to makes her days better...

I watched it again on Tuesday and it served as my inspiration for my next batch of cupcakes. I know what you're thinking, "What's up with this girl baking cupcakes everyday?"...but sadly I have nothing else to do with my time. It's my new hobby I guess.

The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Tiffanys, is the famous "Tiffany Blue" color and it's signature packaging - the color palette served as my inspiration ...

I added in food coloring in the mix trying to get as close to this color as possible, but it turned out more green than anything else.

They were pretty interesting to look at once they came out the oven...

Sticking with my blue, white and black motif, I frosted the cupcakes with buttercream...

I really wish I had cupcake liners to cover up the sides, but I never remember that we ran out until I'm gathering all my ingredients, lol. For the black, I crushed Oreos and sprinkled them on top...

JIN'S BREAKFAST @ TIFFANYS (INSPIRED) CUPCAKES

I put the word out today that I was baking, so my cousins stopped by

Here's Cousin Kim with her cupcake...

By the way, admist this whole baking obsession of mine, my family is trying to loose weight. Since I've been feeding everyone cupcakes, Cousin Jan brought over an assortment of donuts today hoping to set my household back, since it's a competition...SHE PLAYS DIRTY!

... so evil!

After packing on the calories, we went outside and played with my camera...

This is their "Vogue Pose"...lol...

Cousin Jan gave me a mohawk before she left - just because...

Hope everyone has a fun and safe weekend!

my wedding day weight issue.

For some reason, as soon as a ring is slipped on our finger, something triggers in our minds and all of a sudden we feel the sudden urge to diet, get a gym membership, a get on the scale every two seconds. When I got engaged in May of 2008, I was about 20 - 25 pounds lighter than I was on my wedding day. My problem is that I am an emotional eater...when I get stressed I bury my face in the refridgerator like a fiend and sneak through drive through windows like a thief in the night. With college, planning a wedding and other personal issues, the pounds piled on. Long time readers of my blog have read about my many struggles with my weight and I've read countless blogs of brides to be freaking out about shedding weight for their big debut down the aisle.

Of course every woman wants to look amazing on her wedding day...but looking amazing doesn't neccesarily mean being thinner. Yes we should eat properly and work out to be healthy everyday - but there's no reason to obsess about your weight just for your wedding day. You're going to look beautiful no matter what! No one is going to care or even notice that you didn't shed those last 5 lbs...no one going to peak inside your dress and point and laugh at you because it's not a size 0. Hell, the size of my bridal gown was comical, especially because they run a size or 2 too small. I ordered my gown custom - my gown measured me as a size 18 in the bust area...a size 14 in the waist...and 12 in the hip...double digits all around, what was I supposed to do cry? I looked hot in my dress!

Eventually I stopped putting pressure on myself about my weight...I was finishing school, working and freelancing - I had no time for it, I was too busy having fun and living my life.

When I received my gown 4 months after ordering it, the thing fit like a glove - I loved the way that the mermaid style showed off my curves!

2 weeks prior to my wedding I went in to my fitting, only to see that it was now huge on me - everything had to be taken in. Between work and running around doing wedding stuff, I was pretty active and somehow the pounds seemed to shed whichout much effort. I don't know how much weight I ended up loosing, nor did I care to step on the scale. What did it matter?

I've been struggling with my weight for a while...I go up...I go down...in large numbers...

Last week mom and I decided to go walking in the mornings. Most of the time we end up walking for about 2 hours without realizing it because we're talking about all sorts of things. I'm not on a diet per say, but instead just paying more attention to what I eat and in smaller amounts more frequently throughout the day. I'm starting to feel better already. I don't have a specific number that I'm trying to get to...I'm not obsessing...but just learning how to be a healthier individual. 2010 is all about me getting myself together in every which way possible.

If you are on a weight loss journey as well, I wish you the best of luck but don't let it consume you - you are beautiful!

PS: My wedding photographer sent me this photo on my Facebook - I'm in love with it!

Jin In The Kitchen: YELLOW CUPCAKES.

After the tragedy that were my Vanilla Cupcakes, I decided to take another shot at making cupcakes. I was originally planning on making Smore Cupcakes, but I thought that was perhaps a little too advanced for the girl who is making cupcakes only for the second time...ever...and just my fourth time baking. So it was back to the easy section of the Martha Stewart website, where I found a simple recipe for Yellow Cupcakes. With Lil Sis on deck as my assistant, we gathered our ingredients and got to work...

I know this might sound stupid...but I didn't know there was a big difference with regular butter and stick butter...the last time I used regular butter which I guess had an effect on the end result...and to top it off, it was fresh out the fridge and not room temperature...who knew all those little things mattered...don't laugh at me...

Who knew my 9 year old sister knew how to perfectly crack an egg...she surprises me everyday...

Finally it started to look more creamy...

I was so excited when it looked like this, and not a watery mess like the last time...

...then the time came to dispense the batter...

At this point, I knew they were going to be perfection...and once we saw them

rising in the oven, it was hard to contain our excitement...

...and when the time was up...

There was lots of jumping...

high fiving...

huging...

screaming...

foolishness...

Anyway...

Time to decorate...

I decided to skip that whole thing and just pile the frosting on. Originally I was going to also make the frosting from scratch, but we didn't have enough confectioners sugar in the pantry...

and I wasn't going to go buy any...so I used some Betty Crocker Butter Cream Frosting...

...let's add some sprinkles...

::drumroll::

YELLOW CUPCAKES by Jin and Jay...

They taste awesome! I wish I could share with everyone!

I hope you had a great weekend!

PS: I know I haven't done any wedding recaps in a while, but I'm trying to wait until I get my professional photos back that I haven't picked out as yet...because I'm a slacker. As soon as I get them, I'll proceed to the ceremony which is where I left off...

PSS: Have you ever seen the episode of The Martha Stewart Show

when Snoop Dogg was on? Hilarious!

fresh air.

Today was the first time I left my house since Sunday...how sad is that? After much thought I went ahead and arranged an appointment to visit the school that I'll be applying to. This afternoon my husband and I made our way over there to see what the Fashion Design program had to offer. I earned my Associates at its sister school, so I already knew what to expect and what questions to ask. Todays visit just re-affirmed that this is what I really want to do and I'm excited to get started as long as the Financial Aid department does what they need to do for me, lol. So anyway, here's what I wore today:

These are my favorite shoes! They feel like sneakers - this coming from a girl who just learned how to properly walk in heels in 2009. They're so comfortable! They're Jeffery Campbells's (which usually retails for around $100 and up) but I found them in a thirft store for $5.00 - major score!

One of the best decisions I've ever made for my hair is stop chemically straightening it. Although it's annoying as hell dealing with hot combs, flat irons and the fear of sweating, I love the luxury of having the choice of my natural texture and bone straight. Transitioning was not cute but the end result is totally worth it!

I noticed that you all enjoyed my muffin post (lol), I actually made another batch last night which turned out even better. I also found a recipe for S'more Cupcakes on Bakerella that I'll hopefully be able to test out this weekend - my family is really looking forward to that :)  I'm really having fun learning how to bake and I'm thankful that you've been sending words of encouragement my way. I'll continue to share my progress...

Have a wonderful and safe weekend everyone!

Don't forget to tune in to the Hope for Haiti telethon tonight! It's going to be on all major networks at 8pm!

in jin's kitchen: BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

After making my baking debut last week with vanilla cupcakes, I decided to try my luck at Blueberry Muffins. There was a house full of family here yesterday, so I had tons of people to try to them out:

I messed up with the blueberries.

I was supposed to add the blueberries last (which anyone with common sense would know), but I forgot...so it ended up beating it to death. However, for some of my family members who aren't fond of blueberry, this was great because they tasted it without it being too pronounced,

I made 10 or 11 and thankfully they're all gone with the exception of two. Although I've taken up this new hobby, I can't afford to eat everything,lol. Luckily for some reason our house is always full of family who stop by, and are willing to be taste testers, lol. I think everyone is pretty shocked to even see me near a kitchen but they've all told me that they're proud of me trying. I was on the phone with my Grandma last night and she told me that she's going to send me some cookbooks from Jamaica (mi love mi granny!)...

The muffins were great!

Everyone loved them!

I think we're having a get together for Valentines Day and I'd really like to prepare something, so I'm going to keep practicing. I also need to start cooking. The only thing that I know how to make are pancakes, eggs and bacon - atleast I know how to get my day started right,lol....pathetic, I know.