My brother mentioned he'd like to have the Portal cake for his graduation. Little did he know that I would go ahead and make it for him. Seeing his reaction when I brought the cake out made this so worth it. Recipe I used Pioneer Woman's chocolate cake recipe to make this two layer cake. That recipe was enough for two 9" round baking pans. While the cake was baking, I made the vanilla frosting using a recipe from Magnolia Bakery. Frosting Recipe • 6 tbsp all-purpose flour • 2 cups milk • 2 cups (4 sticks) of butter, softened • 2 cups sugar • 2 tsp vanilla extract Whisk the flour and the milk until smooth in a medium sized saucepan. Place over medium heat and stir constantly. Cook until mixture becomes thick and begins to bubble. This will take 10-15 minutes. Cover with wax paper placed directly on surface and let it cool at room temperature for 30 minutes. In a large bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium high until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the sugar, beating continuously for 3 minutes until fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and beat well. Add the cooled milk mixture and continue to beat on medium high for 5 minutes until noticeably smooth and whiter in color. Cover and refrigerate for exactly 15 minutes (or until it is the right thickness). Use immediately. ------- I used the frosting as a "mortar" to join both cake rounds when I placed one on top of the other. I then coated the whole cake with the rest of the frosting. I got semi-sweet chocolate chips and chopped them up for a bit and covered the cake with them. I then made whipped cream put it in a ziploc bag, cut off the corner and used it to squeeze out those whipped cream circles. Whipped Cream Recipe • ? cup heavy cream • 1 tbsp confectioners (powdered) sugar • ? tsp vanilla extract Put all into a mixing bowl. Beat until soft peaks are formed. Refrigerate for about 10-15 minutes. ------- I then placed whole maraschino cherries on top of each whipped cream circle. Be sure to either wipe off or let the liquid sauce the cherries sit in get dried off/drained from the cherries so that they don't stain the whipped cream circles. Last but not least: place a single white candle in the middle of the cake and light it. The cake is not a lie!

While my friends played video games and drown away in books and magazines. I sipped my Sake while standing in the kitchen with my eyes on the fridge thinking. Then I took the 2 lbs of diced pork chops bought from my usual Flushing chinese market out of the fridge then quickly defrost with boiling water. As I boiled, one of my friend decided to leave so I walked him out. Getting chilly now, I closed the window then turned for the accompanying veggies. I got green radish and a can of bamboo shoots. I kept the skin of the radish and diced them to small chunks. The bamboo juice were dumped then washed with water. *** My recipe 2 lbs diced pork chops or diced ribs 1 green radish Scallion Ginger 1 cup Barbancourt 4 star Rum 1 teas spoon brown sugar 1 cup+ soy sauce 1 can or fresh bamboo shoots star aniseed dried basil leave Heat oil in lidded Wok and toss in diced scallion and ginger slices Stir fry until brown Now add the radish, I like to keep the skin on the green radish because they are crunchy and good for you. The white radish however the skin is nasty like leather. stir fry and drop in the pork. Continue to stirring and let it sit lidded. 5 minutes, open lid and pour 1 cup of RUM. Stir until the alcohol smell is gone. Next give 1 bowl of water and 1 bowl of soy sauce w/ 1 teaspoon of brown sugar" let it boil, add dry basil leave, 1+ star aniseed, pepper, maybe even Jalepeno or dried chilly. Close the lid and simmer on small heat for 30+ (depend on tender/soft) min, turn off then restart to boil and off.