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Monday, April 18, 2016

Our Day Park Hopping from Disneyland to California Adventure

Friday, April 15, 2016

Butter Beer at Hogsmead

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Our Day at Universal Studios

Our Day in Hollywood, Part 5

After we left to observatory, it was time to check in to our hotel, the Hilton at Universal.
We have a great, clean, updated room with lots of space. The lobby had real flowers arranged in large displays.
We then went Universal City Walk for dinner. It's cold here at night! Then we headed back for an early bed time.
Going to see Harry Potter tomorrow!!!

Our Day in Hollywood, Part 4

As I said in my cupcake taste test post, we went up to the Griffith Observatory to eat our cupcakes. The view of the Hollywood sign and the towering skyscrapers of downtown Los Angeles was spectacular.
We walked all around the observatory and saw all of the exhibits. Space is amazing!!!! I'm sad I didn't appreciate all my of science classes in school because our planet, our solar system, our universe is breathtaking and mind blowing. It makes me feel so small and yet so lucky. Lucky to be born on this planet. Lucky to be born in this family. Lucky I get to travel and see these kind of places. Lucky we get to learn new things every day.

Our Day in Hollywood, Part 3 Cupcake Taste Test

While at The Grove, they had a Sprinkles Cupcake so I decided we would do a taste test of chocolate cake with white icing between Sprinkles and Susie Cakes.
I had seen a BuzzFeed Ladylike cupcake taste tear and they said Susie Cakes was best and since Susie Cakes is just a few block away from The Grove I had to try it out.
We purchased two cupcakes at each bakery, the black and white, and something different.
At Sprinkles, we got a vegan red velvet, and at Susie Cakes get got a lemon cupcake.
We took our cupcakes to the Griffith Observatory and sat at a picnic table overlooking the famous Hollywood sign.

Our Review of Black & White Cupcakes
Susie Cakes:
The cupcake frosting was still soft, like it had just been frosted with a light dusting of disk sprinkles. It made it a little hard to get out of the box but also didn't feel stale or old; it was fresh. The cake tasted like chocolate but not too rich. The frosting was creamy vanilla and was a good frosting to cake ratio. The cake was moist and tender, but it started to fall a part after 2-3 bites.
In my mind, this is what you expect homemade, from a cake mix, cupcake to taste like and I loved it!!!!
Sprinkles:
These cupcakes looked professional. The frosting had a slight crust so you didn't get sticky getting the cupcake out of the box. There were chocolate shavings decorating the top. The cake was firm but not dry and had a rich chocolate flavor, almost like dark chocolate. Good ratio of frosting to cake and the cake did not fall a part as we ate it.
Lesley loved this cupcake.

Results: we are split. I preferred Susie Cakes and Lesley preferred Sprinkles. The prices are comparable (between $3.50 and $3.75) and I would gladly order dozens of both cupcakes.

As for the lemon and vegan red velvet. Both were amazingly delicious and I am already craving another one! I am not vegan but I had heard the Sprinkles Vegan Red Velvet was even better than regular Red Velvet. The Vegan was made with coconut oil and it made the cupcake moist and rich. It may have been one of the best cupcakes I had ever eaten.

Our Day in Hollywood, Part 2

We went to The Grove and the attached Farmer's Market for lunch.

Our Day in Hollywood, Part 1

We arrived at LAX at 6:25 AM so we had all day to explore Hollywood, California.
We first went to breakfast at Dialog which was delicious (thank you Internet!).
Then we drove to Hollywood & Highland and explored the Dolby Theater lobby, the Chinese Theater with the star's hand prints in cement. I was surprised about how many "famous" people I've never heard of. The theater plaza closed early as they needed to set up for a movie premier, Mother's Day with Julia Roberts and Jennifer Aniston.
We walked up and down Hollywood Boulevard and saw stars on the Walk of Fame. Again, a lot of people I have never heard of. Lesley said it is interesting that you may be immortalized in stone but it really doesn't mean anything if you aren't remembered.
On to part 2 at The Grove!!