Chocolate Transfer Sheet

I need to figure out how to use these!! :D Read the instructions three times, still very confused. :'(

You can get these from Sears.com. I swear, they have all the cool baking stuff online, the B&M store's supplies are quite boring. :/

Softball Cake (My Third Cake :)

For the team captain. :) I thought nobody would want to eat the stuff on top, turned out everybody wanted to eat the softball/softball bats. =.= At least nobody volunteered to eat the trophy. :S

Taken pictures from all different angles. :)

Princess Cupcakes

To top it off, I made these "princess" cupcakes. Toppers came from Sur La Table. I meant to use their matching cupcake wrappers but forgot. Haha. At $12 a box, they are quite pricey. Wish they will just sell the "toppers" separately instead of in a box set, but I guess that way they make more moola.

Not very difficult to make, but my proudest work thus far. The blue icing turned out so pretty. ^__^

Emoticon Cupcakes

In addition, I also made these:

Inspiration came from a picture I saw on Pinterest, which came from WeHeartIt. It's not identical (again, the original looked better :(, but they were close enough. Hahaha

Hello Kitty Cake (My Second Cake)

So after my test run two weeks ago, I made a cake on my own for a friend's birthday. I was going to go with a pretty two tiered one then I learned that she loves Hello Kitty. Luckily, I have this Hello Kitty cake pan from Michael's.

I screwed up the first time because I thought perhaps you need more than 1 box of cake mix to fill the pan. What happened inside my oven was not pleasant. >_< Luckily the second time it came out perfectly. Tip: Oil the pan like mad, particularly Kitty's face!!

Completed one looked like this:

I should probably mention that my inspiration came from here. Theirs looked better. >_< But my eyes and nose were 3D, not flat. LOL Accidentally "glued" the eyes too high up and too close together. *Sighs* But using Pocky as whiskers were ingenious!!

Ferris Wheel Cupcake Holder

Wow, this ferris wheel cupcake holder is sooo cute. But $60? :O

Photo credit: Horchow

First Fondant Cake!!

Tier 1

Tier 2



Assembled

Not too shabby if I may say so myself. :D

And suddenly Hubby noticed the turntable that he has never seen before. Oops.

Couple friends' birthday coming up, more chances to practice. ^__^

Solution: Shelves

Now we just need a shell or two to stash the book boxes on. Please try to envision book boxes on them instead of tin boxes. :)

Photo Credit: Collectors Weekly

That ought to give the room a very contemporary look (the storage books are less colorful! >_<). Something like this, maybe. I don't even want to know how much this costs...

Photo Credit: Archi Expo

This one is not too shabby. Yours for the low, low price of $1,395 USD. =)

Photo Credit: Hudson Goods (Homes Are Meant For Living)

Photo Credit: Wisteria

While we are at it, why not go all out and go for something like this?

Photo Credit: Dornob

Photo credit: BID Be Interior Decorator

Well, since I have not yet hit the lottery jackpot, let's stick with shopping at Target and/or Ikea for the time being. =)

Solution: Book Boxes

So if you know me, you'd know that I like knickknacks. All sorts of knickknacks, especially the small, Asian types. I already have a couple of these storage carts filled to the brim:

But as you can see, they are a tad unsightly. And since Hubby bought me this fabulous house, I need a way to keep it pretty... or at least make an effort to make it looks like one of those model houses that we have seen. And I have found my solution, again at Michael's.

They are, as their name implied, boxes that look like books. Ironically I can't find them on Michael's website, so pictures (different style, but same idea) from other sites will have to suffice. These are super expensive though:

Photo credit: Art & Frame Gallery

Photo credit: Premier Home Decor

They weren't kidding about the "premier" part, their pricing is certainly premier. LOVE this set, but $90?? :O

Photo Credit: Premier Home Decor

Also found a bunch on a wholesale site in China. Does a girl have to get into import/retail to get her hands on one of these (at reasonable (?) price)?

Last of all, this set is also gorgeous. According to Google the picture belongs to Spectrum Organizing, but I wasn't able to actually locate the picture on their site.

Photo Credit: Spectrum Organizing

Wow, an entire website dedicated to storage & organizing... maybe I should spend some time browsing through it instead of just nabbing their pictures. =)

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Made another batch of cupcakes, this time red velvet and actually used a recipe I found on Foodnetwork. OH MY GOD, can I go back to being blissfully ignorant? As it turned out the so-called cream cheese frosting is made up of TWO pounds of cream cheese, TWO pounds of butter, AND FOUR cups of sugar!! The only ingredient that will not lead to a slow and gradual death is arguably the 1 tea spoon of vanilla extract! Now I know that slight yellow color in the frosting are straight from the butter. After I made them I couldn't bring myself to eat them at all, though Hubby said they were really good. Can probably half the sugar and decrease some butter next time... maybe look for a "healthier" recipe? :S

I had Hubby took some to work today, I've seen the size of his colleagues ("average" by US standard). If any of them drop from a heart attack three years down the line, is it manslaughter? :O Maybe I should just stick with muffins going forward. :(

My New (Unrealistic) Fantasy

My own cake studio!! =D

Photo credit: Tiny Tower Wikidia

I would look for a real picture, but they are harder to find. LOL

Food Coloring Pen? :O

Should I say amazing? These are supposed to be edible ink. :o

Want. Herb. Garden.

Tried and failed this year to grow herbs/tomatos (is green onion considered 'herb')? I blame Hubby!!

Funny thing was when reading about herb garden, it was said that it will be the "beginning of a life long hobby." I never thought of growing anything as a hobby, probably because I managed to kill most plants that came into my care. To me it's very practical, I only want to grow things that I eat, especially green onions and cilantro that we only need occasionally and it's impossible to stock, and every time we bought a bundle most went to waste (should just pinch some at the grocers ;).

 Photo credit: Wheatgrasskit.com

Maybe growing them indoor is the way to go. These planters are so pretty, but I don't have that kind of window sill room. T.T All these "kits" only comes with white people herbs, where's my green onion and cilantro!! :-o

 

Photo credit: redenvelope

Castle Mold

Forget about Pier1 Imports, I've got to stop visiting Amazon.com.

Discovered this castle cake mold. :'(

Photo Credit: Hayneedle.com

Food Coloring

While reading about cake decorating, it is only normal to question the health effect of food coloring. After all, does red velvet really need to be red? (I know, I know, other than the fact that its called red velvet.) But if it has zero effect on the taste, why ingest anything questionable?

A quick research will, of course, take you to wikipedia -- modern day's answer to just about anything (remember those things called encyclopedia when you were young? Totally dating myself.) There are, of course, all naturally food coloring, such as:

• Caramel coloring (E150), made from caramelized sugar, used in cola products and also in cosmetics
• Annatto (E160b), a reddish-orange dye made from the seed of the achiote.
• A green dye made from chlorella algae (chlorophyll, E140)
• Cochineal (E120), a red dye derived from the cochineal insect, Dactylopius coccus
• Betanin (E162) extracted from beets
• Turmeric (curcuminoids, E100)
• Saffron (carotenoids, E160a)
• Paprika (E160c)
• Elderberry juice
• Pandan (Pandanus amaryllifolius), a green food coloring
• Butterfly pea (Clitoria ternatea), a blue food dye

Pay particular attention to cochineal, it is derived from what, an insect?

Female cochineal
Photo credit: Webexhibits.org

Male cochineal
Photo credit: nathistoc.bio.uci.edu
© Peter J. Bryant










Yummy!

Lighters

The kind of crap you can find online has never cease to amaze me. While innocently browsing for fondant cake, I saw this giant match-shaped lighter.

 Photo credit: Made-in-China.com (go figure)

While looking for a picture of said lighter, I found:

 Photo Credit: DesignBuzz.com

Also these smoke-free ashtrays (where does the smoke go??). Remind me again why I quit smoking?

 Photo Credit: diytrade.com

Unbelievable

Never had I thought there will be one single subject that I can ramble on at least one entry a day; evidently, when it comes to shopping (non-clothing/makeup/essential items), I can find at least one item, if not more, a day. Luckily I don't buy half the stuff I blogged about, else I will seriously need to seek help. Although, Hubby did his Christmas shopping off of my blog list (made it too easy for him), between that and Michael's 50% & 40% off coupons, I might arguably own half the stuff on this blog. UGH!!

That's okay, they say being aware of your problem is half way solving it, right??

Whacky Cake Mold

Continue to discover more fun stuff on Amazon. Now I see how those whacky shaped cakes are made.





This is just a little over my "fun budget." Alternatively, Fat Daddio's brand sells each tier separately, seemingly more stomachable in pricing. Something to think about... once I made my first fondant cake...

Red Velvet Cake Mix II

Evidently I went to the wrong foo foo Safeway last time. Hubby was able to find these at another foo-foo'er Safeway and bought me TWo of these. AND whipping cream also. Is that a hint?

Many years ago I've made this complaint: you try to quit smoking everybody (except for bad friends?) are supportive. Nobody will go "Oh c'mon c'mon, it's just one." God forbid you try to loose weight or watch your cholesterol, and WORSE around the holiday season when it's tradition to give people hi cholesterol count items to celebrate this festive season. And worse yet, even I have fell in love with baking. :-o Who should I make my next victim? =)

Cooold

The weather is not frightful lately, but definitely cold, especially when I am staying home all day long on vacation -- okay, so cold by California standard. So sue me.

The cold weather makes me really want one of these heated toilet seats. =.=