Red velvet, shrimp and a whole lot of tiredness

For the past few weeks or so, I've been wanting to bake a red velvet cupcake. It all started I think when I went to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. It was my first visit ever at this establishment and I had no clue what to order. I was in line wondering what to get when I caught a glimpse of frosting. Then as I looked closer at the label, I read "red velvet cupcake". From the first bite I knew that I had to make one for myself. Mind you that it wasn't my first time tasting a red velvet cupcake. That bite at Coffee Bean inspired me to want to bake one for myself. And today, B and I decided to attempt to make our first ever red velvet cupcake; not from a box, but from scratch. I was excited not only because I was fulfilling my craving of wanting to bake, but because it was our first time baking together. TEAMWORK all the way! Surprisingly, the cupcakes turned out really great albeit us baking it longer than the designated time. Here are two of the cupcakes we made; the frosting for the second was inspired by Starbucks red velvet cake frosting.

B and I were also inspired to make Giovanni's Kahuku shrimp after we spontaneously decided to visit their truck yesterday. People have been saying that it "broke da mouth" but for $13 a plate, it was more like "broke da wallet" and in this case, B's wallet. I've lived here on this island since I was 6 and it was my first time to ever eat Kahuku shrimp cooked in a shrimp truck located up north of the island. The flavors were good but in honest truth, it's not worth the drive nor my (bf's) $28 = 2 plates ($13) + 2 bottles of water ($2). By the way, we've learned our lesson; to bring our own water bottle.

Anyway, our first attempt turned out alright. We actually looked online for a recipe and found a great site. The shrimp that were cooked closely resembled Giovanni's. Unfortunately for us, we put too much flour on our shrimp which led everything to thicken up. Regardless of that mistake, the flavors turned out pretty good. Attempt #2 will definitely turn out much better than the first! :) Here is attempt #1: