Nihao, Cupcake!

Red Chinese New Year Dragon Cupcake Cake with Chocolate Pretzel Wings

My youngest son's birthday landed on Lunar New Year (Chinese New Year) this year. And as you may know, it is the year of the dragon, so what cake is more fitting than a red (color of celebration) Chinese dragon cupcake cake for the occasion?

My middle son was born in the year of the dragon, so this is his year too! Quite a serendipitously special year for our family since we are living in China, to boot! And this is supposed to be the best year of the dragon as well as the best year of the 144 year cycle (12 cycles of 12 years). Not bad!! 

I'm especially proud of those chocolate pretzel wings that I came up with an hour before we had to leave the house to take the dragon to school. My original idea was a horrible failure, in fact, I knew as soon as I opened the package of the fruit tape that it wouldn't work, so I didn't even try. When in doubt, turn to melting chocolate - it is so easy and you can make anything you want. 

I drew the outline and bones of one wing, put the drawing under waxed paper, I traced the three bone areas with a thick line of chocolate and then placed the pretzel sticks down, Then I filled in the wings and coverd the handle pretzels with a lot of chocolate. Then I flipped the drawing over, traced it through to the other side, followed the same steps as above to make a new wing that was the mirror image of the first wing. Then I placed them in the refrigerator for around 30 minutes and they were done! I did have to saw off the ends with a serrated knife because the handles were too long to stick into a cupcake. But otherwise they worked perfectly! PHEW!

And here he is with the goodie bags he made for his class. (I'll post more details about these in a future post.) That is his drawing of a dragon dance complete with lanterns. THe back side says Happy New Year inside a latern surrounded by fire works. I did not coach him on these drawings but based on the amount of detail they include, there is no mistake he has spent half of his seven years in China!

There's nothing like making a cool dragon cupcake cake (special cakes made by mom are one of our family traditions) and putting together some homemade goodie bags to make a little one smile! It is all about the simple things, isn't it?

I'm linking up at Simple Things Sunday today.

HealthIER {Yet Still Delicious} Chili

I made up my own chili recipe last night. I used a few different recipes as inspiration, but in the end, it is my creation. It turned out pretty tasty, if I do say so myself and it was fast and painless - just my kind of dinner to prepare.

 

CHILI

1 to 2 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

2 pounds of lean ground beef (the leaner, the less fat, of course)

2-14 ounce cans of tomatoes (I used whole, but diced is probably better)

1-14 ounce jar of tomato sauce (we used basil spaghetti sauce, but you could use the equivalent of canned sauce or spaghetti sauce with sausage - any flavor that you think will go well with chili spices)

1 medium to large onion, finely chopped

3 to 4 cloves of garlic minced

1-14 ounce can of black beans

1-14 ounce can of red beans (kidney)

1 Tablespoon of cumin

1/2 Tablespoon of coriander

1 teaspoon of oregano

1 teaspoon of salt

1 Tablespoon of chili powder (optional)

1 to 2 whole carrots (chopped to a texture that will please your family - we grate or blend in the food processor) (optional)

 

Add the oil, over medium to high heat, brown the beef in the bottom of a dutch oven, stirring with a wooden spoon. Add the diced onion & garlic until onions are translucent and fragrant. Add the tomatoes & tomato sauce while stirring. Cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain and rinse the beans and add them to the dutch oven (consider blending the beans and onions in a food processor if your children don't like vegetables or beans). Add the rest of the ingredients cumin through chili powder mixing well. Simmer over low heat for 15 minutes or so. Or until tomatoes soften and chili thickens and flavors are integrated.

ENJOY!

Art Journaling & Project Life {Weekly Photos [Nov 19 - 25]}

I am so excited that I have finally been able to make progress on my Project Life album so I am starting off with a photo of my completed page! My photos finally arrived. I hadn't inserted photos since mid-July. Now I am working on adding the journaling and the ephemera. That is the time consuming part.

 

I had fun with water colors on several of my journaling cards to highlight certain words. And as you can see above, I did some stamping and watercolors on the back side of a journaling card. It's all the influence of my art journaling. It is so much fun I don't want to stop playing.

 

Here's my DIY Date Card/Weekly Title Card. I cut a piece of patterned paper down to 4x6 (I used a 6x6 paper pad) and swiped a few coats of gesso on it to make a space for stamping the week's dates. I let the gesso dry between coats.

I bought Project Life in 2010 and never finished my album. I tried again this year using the same kit and half way through I decided there were a lot of the journaling cards that I didn't want to use because I didn't like the colors. 

I sorted through all my journaling cards and set aside all the ones I didn't want to use. The rest I divided into color families so I could use them all on one page to bring a sense of unity and flow to each two-page layout. WIth the remaining cards, I have been using the backside and adding my own personal touches to those. Nothing fancy.

I plan to use 

Project Life Core Kit - Amber Edition, the DIY date cards, & the Grid Journaling Cards to finish up my 2009 album & make my 2012 album. I may also buy the Clemntine Core Kit to mix it up a bit. Those two kits and some of my own personal touches using the Grid Journaling Cards, may even get me through 2013! We'll see.

But what I can't wait for are the Signature Black & White albums and the Amber album. I love that beautiful orange!

Before we get to the photos, here is what I bought on Black Friday (in addition to the Amber Core Kit:

Photo Pocket Pages - Big Pack of Design A (60 Pages)

Big Envelope Pages

 

6 x 12 Page Protectors

Not a Project Life/Becky Higgins brand product, but a totally great addition to a PL album. I can't wait to use these:

Photo Protector - 6 x 12 for 4x6 Photos - Horizontal 10 pk

Before black Friday, I had two boxes of these in my cart:

100 Journaling Cards - 3" x 4" with Grid Design

but they are now sold out! Hopefully, they will have them back in stock in time for me to get a couple extra boxes before I return to China. Fingers crossed! 

 

WEEK IN PHOTOS

Saturday, November 19

Braden wanted to make a scrapbook page after he saw me create this one, so I let him pick out a couple of photos, some supplies and go to town. It turned out great!

 

 

 

Sunday, November 20

We went to Ikea to find a coffee table once and for all. The only one we were interested in buying was sold out! They won't be back in stock until January so we still don't have one. Our Ikea tradition is ice cream cones after typically one+ hour of shopping. I pass, though, since I don't like vanilla ice cream. They are only one kuai each (approx 15 cents).

Monday, Nov 21, Tues, Nov 22 & Wed, Nov 23 - NO PHOTOS: it was a rough week and I was so focused on other things that I completely forgot! I will insert significant emails and maybe some news stories of the week. Paul was in Singapore.

 

Thursday, November 24

Nicholas talked us into going out for dinner on the "real" Thanksgiving even though it isn't a holiday in China. We found Grandma's Kitchen and walked there through the embassy area adjacent to our apartment building.

 

Photo #2

It was fun to go out. (The table next to us was full of people from Major League Baseball [MLB] working in Beijing.) The food was not so good, but the dessert (I had apple pie) was pretty good. Next year we'll try NOLA instead!

 

 

Friday, November 25

Nicholas' poster advertising the Upper Elementary Winter Concert was featured in November's Friday assembly.

 

Photo #2: The night before our big Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday. I spent the day food shopping and baking pies and sweet potato casserole. The sweet potato casserole is the one thing non-Americans have never had yet think is delish! I need to double the recipe next time so we will actually have leftovers. Another guest had never had pumpkin pie and raved that it was delicious. Perhaps he is hinting at something... too bad they don't sell frozen crust over here or I'd think of making him one of his very own!

 

Now for a glimpse at my latest art journal pages. I hope to keep this up even after my class is over on Thursday. :(

 To See everything PROJECT LIFE on my blog, click here.

PROJECT LIFE INSPIRATION FOUND ON THE WEB

A beautiful album documented on a blog in Finland.

 

ART JOURNAL UPDATE

My internet is has been annoyingly slow on some days so it makes watching the videos for my class almost impossible to watch. What I usually do, is load the page, click play on the video, walk away and return a few hours later after the entire thing has played through once, then I replay it.

 

On really bad days, the internet is so slow that I lose all of my pages even the ones that alreay have videos ready to play. So, on those days, I skip watching videos. This happened alot last week so I've skipped over one of our two page spreads and moved on to the next assignment. I'll go back to it when class is over. I have a thing about 'keeping up with class.'

Besides, once I saw what we were going to be doing, I could hardly wait to get started. This totally reminds me of doodling I did as a kid. I'm not exactly sure at what age. The huge difference, though is the addition of water colors. I've never worked with water colors before. They make the doodles look sooooo cool! I love this! 

It couldn't be more fun.

 

It was so much fun that I forgot to write my journal entry for the day. I'll do that when I am done posting! Oops! 

 

Some details photos...

 

 

 

 

 

To see my ART JOURNAL posts, click here.

 

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to link me to your blog if you are posting completed Project Life layouts. Or give me your best Project Life tip. I'd love to hear.

Or do you art journal and blog about it? I want to stop by and see. Please link me to your blog so I can be inspired!

{A Menagerie of Halloween Cupcakes}

Back to cupcakes. My children's school had International Day on Friday. Since Halloween is an American holiday, I thought what better cupcakes to make than a menagerie of Halloween cupcakes! Originally the plan was to make an American flag-esque cupcake cake, but at the last minute I talked my son into these cuties. I get bored easily and would rather make five different types of designs rather than one big design.

I think these are all new designs for us. Many of them are all over the internet but we've never made them before. These were all easy to make and of course are really cute!

I love the little details. Just adding eight little legs on to this mini M&M gives this cupcake a personality.

This Peeking Monster Cupcake is so easy and so cute! He is good for those cupcakes that don't come all the way up to the top of the cupcake liner. Fill that space with frosting and push in as many candy corn as can fit, add two Necco wafers for eyes and with a dab of vanilla icing stick on two mini M&Ms and add pupils with chocolate frosting. Couldn't be easier or cuter!

 

Another super easy and cute cupcake. The teeth are Tic Tacs and the eyes are mini M&Ms. Super easy!

 

These spider cupcakes are a little tricker but with a few tips, they are easy too. To add the black licorice legs, I took a 'naked cupcake' and with a toothpick, poked four holes in each side of the cupcake. With a simple toothpick hole, the licorice laces slid right in. I then frosted the cupcake with chocolate icing, dipped them in chocolate jimmies (sprinkles) and then added red mini M&Ms for eyes. So cute and easy too. No special talent needed!

 

I only had a few cupcakes left to decorate. I was tired of decorating mummies, green monsters and spiders, so I started dotting a cupcake with white spots, added some mini M&Ms and thought they looked kind of like eyes, so added the pupils and ended up with a alien-esque multi-eyed cupcake. Or it could just be colorfully decorated!

 

This one looks even more like eyeballs and it is even easier. It is just white dots of icing topped with a dot of chocolate. A little bit cute and a little bit creepy.

 

Another fun batch of cupcakes made! I'll be doing the same thing next week because it is my son's birthday and I'll be bringing cupcakes for his class. He wants me to make monster cupcakes that look furry and have big bulbous eyeballs (lollipops with gummy candy rings around them) - tune in same time next week to see how those turn out!

This is the 28th post in a 31 Day series: Creative Inspiration. Check out all the posts here.

To see anything about FUN CAKES & CUPCAKES on my blog, click here.

Even more Halloween cupcake ideas in my photostream on Flickr.com.

31 DAYS of INSPIRATION: Day 23 {Halloween Cupcakes}

via www.marthastewart.com

This is the 23rd post in a 31 Day series: Creative Inspiration. Check out all the posts here.

These adorable bats are found at MarthaStewart.com.

And more cute and easy Halloween Cupcake ideas from MarthaStewart.com:

via www.marthastewart.com

 

Here is a list of 25 ideas for Halloween themed cupcakes at partycupcakeideas.com.

via partycupcakeideas.com

 

via 3.bp.blogspot.com

These spider cupcakes are super cute and couldnt' be easier. Just remember to give your spider eight legs or your cupcakes will be mere insects!

 

These are the cutest Eyeball Cupcakes I've seen in a long time. I like the added dimension of the donut holes. If you don't want to get this complicated, you can just use candy and frosting and skip the donut holes. I found thme at BHG.com where they have a ton of other very cute Halloween cupcake ideas.

 

Here are a bunch of cupcakes I made a couple of years ago for Halloween. There are three-eyed aliens with pretzel stick antennae cupcakes, chocolate & candy bug cupcakes, blood shot eyeball cupcakes, chocolate black cat cupcakes, white chocolate ghost & skull cupcakes, jack-o-lantern faces made from chocolate and chocolate bat cupcakes. These are all quite simple to make with ordinary ingredients and candy.

For ideas on how to make the toppers made from chocolate, go to this post on making chocolate toppers for cupcakes.

 

via vernellc.typepad.com

I love these gravestones from Vernell's blog: Ole Talk. What a cute idea - effective, yet simple. She also has a link to a recipe for pumpkin cupcakes - yum!

I have to make some American-style cupcakes for Friday's International Day and then Monster birthday cupcakes the week after. Any good ideas?

To see anything about FUN CAKES & CUPCAKES on my blog, click here.

 And to find out what Halloween cupcakes I ended up making this year for Halloween 2011, click here.

 

Even more Halloween cupcake ideas in my photostream on Flickr.com.

31 DAYS of CREATIVE INSPIRATION:: Day 19 {Oatmeal Scones} - A HealthIER But Still Delicious Recipe

This is the 19th post in a 31 Day series: Creative Inspiration. Check out all the posts here.

You may have noticed that I didn't end up publishing a blog post yesterday. My goal of 31 days of posts isn't coming true! However, I will still meet my goal of 31 posts in 31 days since I have already posted more than once on some days. That is the way to put a positive spin on the whole thing.

I have had my crash days. I was on my own for 8 days - meaning my husband was out of the country. It wears me out having the kids to myself not only during the school week but on the weekend as well. A large reason I get so tired is because I like to stay up late into the night. And when my husband is gone, I tend to stay up far later than I should yet still have to get up at the crack of dawn to get all the boys ready on time.

Tomorrow the boys' school has parent/teacher conferences. My husband is out of town again (but just for the day - thank goodness), but that means I not only have to take care of three boys but I also have to be at school to see 19 teachers! YES, 19 teachers!!! Can you believe that? I am not going to be seeing them all. I had to prioritize with that many within a ten hour period.

A friend offered to help me out by having my youngest son over in the morning to play with her daughter who is also his friend. The older boys are supposed to come with me any way as the older grades have parent/teacher/student conferences.

So, to thank her for her generosity, I whipped up a few batches of HealtIER But Still Delicous Oatmeal Scones. It was also my middle son's 4000 days of life celebration (he discovered this over a year ago and marked it on the calendar), and since these are some of his favorites, I had two reasons to make them.

And it is a great CREATIVE thing to share with you!

These are not traditional British scones. They are more an American twist on the British creation (which I LOVE and miss since I no longer live there). American scones don't do British scones justice. They are like a completely different animal with the same name. That being said, these are still quite tasty in their own right. Here is my kids' favorite recipe:

HEALTHIER YET STILL DELICOUS OATMEAL SCONES

3 cups old fashioned oatmeal

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup oat bran

1 cup unbleached white flour

1 tsp salt

4 tsp baking powder

2/3 cup sugar + 1 tbsp.

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup non-fat milk

2 sticks of cold butter cut into 1/2 inch pieces.

 

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Spread oatmeal on baking sheet and toast for 8-10 minutes until oats become fragrant. Remove from heat and cool. Reserve 4 tbsp to sprinkle over work surface. Set the rest of the oats aside. Reduce oven heat to 450 degrees (F).

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and vanilla. Reserve 2 tbsp in a small bowl. Set aside.

In bowl of a food processor, combine dry ingredients (reserving 1 tbsp of sugar). Pulse a few times until well combined. Sprinkle 1/2 inch pieces of butter over dry ingredients and pulse 12-15 times at one second intervals until the consistency of cornmeal.

Pour the flour and butter mixture into a medium bowl. Add toasted and cooled oats, stir to combine. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and fold together using a silocone or rubber spatula.

Sprinkle 2 tbsp of reserved oats over your work surface. Take half of your dough out of the bowl and place on work surface. Shape into a 7 inch circle. Flip over and make sure both sides are sprinkled evenly with oats on work surface. Using a sharp cleaver or other sharp knife, cut the circle into 8 wedges. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg mixture over the top of each scone. Then sprinkle each scone with the reserved sugar.

Using a metal spatula place the scones approximately an inch apart on a non-stick baking sheet (you may also use parchment paper). Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack.

Repeat with the remaining dough. Makes 16 scones.

ENJOY!

I'll be back tomorrow (hopefully) with the paper folding fun you can use for scrapbook pages.

Adorable Halloween Cupcake Idea - AllYou.com

via www.allyou.com

Look what I found! How cute are these Halloween Cupcakes?! They are cute enough for other occasions too. What about a picnic, summertime birthday party (think boys, bugs, dirt, magnifying glasses and butterfly nets, maybe even a bug house) or a bake sale at school? Just change up the colored sugar and the icing and make them match the theme of your occasion. Maybe yellows & reds or what about blue and orange. Just a few little changes and these can be very versatile cupcake designs.

For all things CUPCAKE on this blog, click here.

 And to find out what Halloween cupcakes I ended up making this year for Halloween 2011, click here.

Even more Halloween cupcake ideas in my photostream on Flickr.com.

31 DAYS OF CREATIVE INSPIRATION: Day 7 {Healthier (But Still Delicious) Cottage Pie}

This is the 7th post in a 31 Day series: Creative Inspiration. Check out all the posts here.

Creativity doesn't only happen through the arts, but can easily happen in the kitchen. Today I want to share with you my version of one of our family's favorite dinnertime recipes. 

I am forever trying to find healthy dinners for my kids. It is especially challenging to get my oldest son to eat healthy because he refuses to eat any kind of fruit or vegetable except apples. Every kid has a battle they are going to fight until the death and fruits and vegetables are are his. He has wore me down in that battle of wills and I admit defeat!

But I have a trojan horse! I got creative in the kitchen! 

So, what is my trick to get him to eat like an herbivore? My trusty food processor. Every vegetable gets mutilated in that machine. He knows I do it now. He watches me. But if it tastes good, he'll eat it enthusiastically.

Here is one of his favorite dishes packed full of veggies! My friend from Ireland first turned me on to the idea and I found a recipe for shepherd's pie and ran with it altering it quite a bit to fit our family's taste.

Healthier (But Still Delicious) Cottage Pie (same as Shepherd's Pie, but with beef).

This is not your traditional recipe for cottage pie.

The potato topping:

• 5-6 medium to large russet potatoes
• 1/4 cup non fat milk
• 2 ounces unsalted butter
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 egg

The filling (cottage pie is traditionally made with peas & corn but we replace it with broccoli & zucchini):

• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 medium onion cut in 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 bunch of broccoli
• 1-2 small or medium zucchini peeled and cut in 1/2 inch pieces
• 3-4 cloves garlic, chopped coursely
• optional: 1 14 oz can of cannelini beans, drained (I'm always looking for ways to add in extra fiber)
• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons tomato paste (in a pinch I use catsup)
• 1 cup chicken broth (if I used canned broth, I often pour in all 14 ounces)
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons freshly chopped rosemary leaves
• 1 teaspoon freshly chopped thyme leaves

Peel the potatoes and cut into 1/2-inch pieces. Place in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Set over high heat, cover and bring to a boil. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

While potatoes are cooking, prepare the filling. Place the canola oil into a 12-inch saute pan or wok and set over medium high heat. (OPTIONAL: Place all the vegetables [except garlic] & beans into a food processor. Pulse in 1 second bursts until desired consistency.) Once the oil shimmers, add the vegetable (except the garlic) & bean blend and saute approximately 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic, stir to combine and cook a few minutes longer. Remove from heat and place the vegetable blend in a bowl. Set aside. Place the beef, salt and pepper in the saute pan and cook until browned and cooked through. Drain of any excess fat. Sprinkle the meat with the flour and toss to coat, continuing to cook for another minute. Add the tomato paste, chicken broth, Worcestershire, rosemary, thyme, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer slowly 10 to 12 minutes or until the sauce is thickened slightly.

Once the potatoes are boiling, uncover, decrease the heat to a simmer and cook until tender and easily crushed with potato masher, approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Place the milk and butter into a microwave-safe container and heat in the microwave until warmed through, about 20-30 seconds. Drain the potatoes in a colander and then return to the saucepan. Mash the potatoes and add the milk, butter, salt and pepper and continue to mash until smooth. Stir in the egg until combined. Fluff the potatoes with a wooden spoon.

Add the vegetable blend to the beef mixture, stir until well combined. Spread into an 11 by 7-inch glass baking dish. Top with the potatoes. For best restults, start spreading them around the edges to create a seal and smooth with a rubber or silicone spatula. The seal prevents the meat filling from bubbling out during baking. Place on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 25 minutes or just until the potatoes begin to brown. Remove and let sit at least 20 minutes before serving.

I hope by sharing this recipe I've INSPIRED you to get CREATIVE with recipes you want to try to make them healthier as well as fit your families needs. I'm changing recipes all of the time. To see other RECIPES I've made healthier, click here.

 

31 Days of Creative INSPIRATION Series (Links to all posts in the series up until today.)

Introduction

Day 1: Design Your Own Cupcake

Day 2: Storytelling Sunday

Day 3: Scrapbooking (Week in the Life Album)

Day 4: Everyday Photojournalism (Project 365/Project Life)

Day 5: Family Photo Fun - FAMILY x 12 BLOG HOP

Day 6: Links to Creatively Inspiring People (all writing a 31 Day series)

Day 7: Healthier (But Still Delicious) Cottage Pie

Other topics in the works for my 31 Days of Creative Inspiration Series: 

Photography - I answer the question, 'How do I know if I should buy a DSLR camera?', Find out who INSPIRES me; Photography Pet Peeves, Family Photo Fun ideas from around the web.

Recipes - my husband's delicious salsa, HealthIER (Yet Still Delicious) Recipes

Scrapbooking - My favorite mini album, 30 minute scrapbook challenge

more Cupcake Ideas, craft ideas...

AND LOTS, LOTS MORE (I'm posting for 31 Days straight, remember?!)

And to find more than 700 other blogs participating in the 31 Days series, go here. There is a huge variety of topics to choose from.

 

Make Your Own Contemporary Chinese Folk Art...

Watch for me at Rebecca Cooper's blog, Simple As That, this Friday (tomorrow) when I will be featured on her Friday Craft Day.

I'll be sharing a fun 'craft' inspired by traditional Chinese folk art.

Lots More Cupcakes....

Can you believe it? More cupcakes!

Yet another bake sale. My older two boys' school has an annual fundraiser in which the kids organize everything. They decide where they money will go, how they will raise money and organize all kinds of booths to do it -  a guess how many booth, bounce houses, manicure station, face painting, arts & crafts table, cafe with entertainment, car wash, obstacle course, etc. They organize volunteers, make signs, etc, etc. This was my personal contribution - cupcakes! That is no surprise. Oh, and I also volunteered to be a wandering photographer, so I will share some of those photos soon.

Making those cupcakes is quite a SIMPLE THING but it makes me happy every time. It is a lot of work and I have to plan my week for plenty of baking time as well as decorating time. But it is rewarding and it means a lot to my kids. They get so excited when they have an event that needs food. They always volunteer me for cupcakes. I love when they get into it and when they help me decide which ones to make. My only criteria are that we can find the ingredients relatively easily in Beijing and they aren't too difficult so I can make a lot in a reasonable amount of time.

Nicholas helped choose what to make this time. He really wanted me to make these pie cupcakes. I must admit, those are the last ones I would have thought he would choose.

I chose these for variety. I get bored making too many of the same ones.

Nicholas didn't want me to make these because he said Easter is over. In my view, rabbits are always in fashion and it is the year of the rabbit so that would be true, especially this year. And we attempted to make them red since that is the Chinese color for celebration, but they turned out more like dark pink. Oh well. They are still pretty cute.

And this picture makes me think of that Sesame Street song - Which of these is not like the other? Which of these just doesn't belong? (I'm sure those aren't the exact words, but hopefully you know which song I mean.)
I also made more bird's nest cupcakes like I did last week for our other school.

And here we are in the taxi on the way to the FUNraiser, buried in cupcakes.

The ideas for the rabbits came from FamilyFun.com, the pies come from the book Hello, Cupcake (I strongly recommend it if you like decorating these kinds of cupcakes or want to learn. They have excellent instructions and a fun blog with tips.), the mad scientists came from googling - just saw several photos from different locations and copied and the bird's nest cupcakes I made up by combining different recipes for nest cookies and using them as cupcake toppers.

To see everything CUPCAKE related

on my blog, click here.

Click here for CUPCAKE BAKING TIPS from my guest blogger, Vernell.

 

In a few hours at 8 AM PST come back to my blog for the monthly One Little Word Blog Hop for Ali Edward's class at Big Picture Classes. This month we have 21 people showcasing their monthly project for April.

The class is still open for registration at BigPictureClasses.com and once you sign up, you are welcome to join us for the next blog hop. We do it every month on the 1st. Just send me an email.

Come hop around and see what the students did for their April projects.

Self-Timer Madness

The simple thing that made me smile this week is the SELF-TIMER on my camera. All of these photos were taken on Saturday with the SELF-TIMER.

We were cooking together in the kitchen and I wanted to catch us interacting together. I love what I captured.

My camera allows me to take as many photos in a row as I want (I'm sure there is a limit - I don't know what it is). I set it to take 10 in a row. It can't do that many in a row without pausing to catch up. The first 4 or 5 take immediately and the rest are taken randomly as the camera 'catches up.'

I love how it did that. Then it caught us naturally. The first 4 or 5 photos were typically awash, but the rest were great. The biggest trick was getting it to focus in the right spot. Sometimes I was lucky, sometimes it was off, but the expressions overshadowed that lack of technical perfection.

We spent so much time in the kitchen on Saturday. First making homemade lasagne.

Then sugar cookies. I agreed to make sugar cookies if the kids helped me since I don't like making sugar cookies if I can help it.

It was the kids idea to spell out Easter inside the eggs.

Sunday Night at the Blog - Meal Planning

WEEKLY MEAL PLANNING

This will be my third week sitting down on Sunday and planning the meals for the week. I cannot tell you what a life changing thing this has been for me.

Before I tried meal planning, most nights as dinner time approached, I didn't know what I was going to make. I often started dinners later than I should have so my kids ate not so nutritious snacks to fill them up until dinner was ready.

The few nights that I decided what I was going to cook early in the day, I often could not find the right ingredients easily or I would forget a key ingredient so the meal would have to be postponed for a day or maybe more.

Sometimes to remedy this recurring dilemma, I would make the kids a quick and easy meal that they loved, but that I hated and refused to eat - like macaroni & cheese from a box or chicken breasts smothered in cream of chicken soup.

That left me hungry. A peanut butter sandwich and a yogurt smoothie is fine every so often in a pinch, but when it became the norm, I knew something had to change. I felt hungry and unsatisified more often than not and filled up on anything random in the house - sometmies that was a piece of toast, other times it was a graham cracker with icing! Gross and horrible. I couldn't believe how bad my eating habits had gotten. Back in the States it was so much easier to throw together a quick, healthy & satisfying meal. I was lost without Costco, Trader Joes & Whole Foods!

When I got desperate enough, I decided to put in a little effort on the front end of the week and try meal planning.

I saw a HUGE difference in the first week. I chose four or five meals from my favorite cook books and online resources (cookinglight.com; foodnetwork.com), made my grocery list, checked my cabinets and fridge to see what I needed and spent an hour or two on Monday collecting the things on my list. I wasn't able to find everything but by the time I needed an item, I had managed to find it some where on my normal route. I had to make some adjustments - moving a meal, trading a meal, but it was so nice to know when I woke up in the morning what I was going to make that night!

It felt so good!

I planned meal prepartion into my day. If I knew my day was going to be busy, I chopped vegetables the night before. I chose time consuming meals to be made the day I scheduled to be at home all day.

And this past week, I had a stroke of genius! There were 5 onions on my shopping list which indicated to me, I was going to need a lot of chopped onions throughout the week, so when I got out my first onion to dice, I kept right on dicing through to my third onion. The extras I put in a Tupperware container and froze them. Time saver right there! They were ready for my next two recipes!

None of these ideas are new. But they feel new and exciting when you haven't been utilizing them for a few years. And when they are needed so badly!

It is kind of hoaky and cliche, but it feels good to be able to feed three hungry boys delicious and nutritious meals when they come home ravished from a long, hard day at school.

My confidence and self-esteem as a mother has climbed a few notches over the past two weeks! So, I'm not giving it up!

Meal Plan Monday, Week 3

Monday - Chicken Satay with broccoli (try to find Chinese broccoli recipe so B & N will eat)

Tuesday - Falafel

Wednesday - macaroni & cheese by request (Nicholas) - p. 287 in The New Best Recipe Cookbook (adding in a can of rinsed cannelini beans pureed for protein and fiber, using canola oil spread in place of butter)

Thursday - Salmon Cakes with

Friday - Take out from Annie's & Mom and Dad out for dinner

Sat or Sun - Lemon Chicken other day leftovers

Bird's Nest & Baby Chick Cupcakes: Step By Step; Perfect for Spring or Easter Celebrations

Making cupcakes!

Here's how to make these simple and easy super adorable Spring or Easter cupcakes!

To make the batter, I use a box mix. I used to make all my cakes and cupcakes & icings from scratch, but that took up too much time and the part I enjoy most is the decorating so something had to give. My brand of choice is Duncan Hines. I do change the directions a little - 2 cups of milk + 2 tablespoons of vinegar (let sit for 5 minutes before adding to the batter), 4 eggs and the amount of oil specified on the package.

This is an idea from Hello, Cupcake - put the batter in a ziploc bag and cut off the corner. IT is supposed to make the process neater. I do have less drips on my cupcake pan, but I still find it messy in other ways. I don't do this every time.

Bake.

Now to start making the nests. Start with a 10 ounce bag of marshmallows or in this case 300 grams. I had these in the cabinet and was hoping it wouldn't matter if I used white and pink marshmallows.

First melt some butter. I used the directions from the Rice Krispy website. I believe this is 5 Tbsp of butter (2.5 ounces).

Add the package of marshmallows and melt over medium heat while stirring constantly until mixture is totally smooth. Remove from heat.

Six cups of shredded wheat. I ended up using 7 of the large pieces broken up. As soon as I removed the marshmallows & butter from the heat, I added the crushed up Shredded Wheat pieces. Stir until well coated.

 

While the mixture is still warm (or hot) and soft, begin shaping the nests. When they are too hot to handle butter the back of a spoon to scoop out and use the back of a second spoon to shape the inside of the nests. After a few minutes the mixture will be cool enough to handle with your clean, bare hands.

Make the same number of nests as you have cupcakes.

You will need 3 jelly beans for each nest. Or you could use chocolate eggs. I was stocking up on jelly beans. I found a few bags packaged for the local population (on the left). The others were at the import store and are from Japan.

Since we need to put the nests on top of the cupcake, the cupcake top cannot be rounded. They must be flat. If yours came out like this...

You will need to cut off the top using a serrated knife.

Frost the cupcakes green like grass.

 

Fill each nest with 3 jelly beans. I put matching colors in most of my nests.

Place one nest on top of each green frosted cupcake.

 

Aren't they adorable?

BABY CHICK CUPCAKES

I like variety so I wanted to make one other design of cupcake. I needed a triange of orange and was planning to use the corner of a Starburst. But it seems that one of my children had been helping himself to the Starburts one by one and when I opened the bag, the two Starburts you see in this photo were the only ones left! Not an orange one in sight. So I had to improvise. I found these rainbow Twizzlers in my candy stash and thought this bright orange one would be perfect (looks much more orange in person). So I cute them into squares first and then cut again at an angle to make trianges. I needed one for each cupcake.

These white Fruitips are perfect for the eyes but there were only 7 total so I only had enough for 3 cupcakes.

 

Dark chocolate frosting in a ziplock bag with the tip cut off (just a tiny bit - maybe 1/8 inch). I used this to put a pupil in each eye. I hold the tip straight above the place on the eye I want, squeeze gently and as the icing hits the spot I want it I make a gentle circle until I get the size of the pupil that I want.

 

For the rest of the eyes, I found this icing writer in my stash. It is made by Wilton. It was a gift from a friend - thank goodness I had this! Otherwise my chicks would not have any eyes! I used the lid of the icing writer to stamp a circle on the icing and I traced the outline and filled it in to make perfectly uniform circles!

 

Here they are with their adorable little faces. Be careful where you place the elements of your face - especially the eyes. THat is what will give your cupcake its character. The little tuft of feathers on the top was originally 3 orange jimmies - which I don't have nor can I buy here in China. So, I improvesed and used three orange flower sprinkles. You can see a better glimpse of their shape in the last photo of this series.

 Here are the cupcakes on my cupcake tray just before I had to cart them to the school in the rain.

 

I had one extra cupcake that I frosted green before I remembered to cut off the rounded part - so what to do? I added some green decorator sugar and a few flower sprinkles to make a cute spring cupcake! These are the same ones I used to make the feather tuft on the chicks! If these are too small for you to handle placing them correctly on the chick, try using a clean, sterilized tweezers.

  What's your favorite Easter or Springtime Treat? Tell me in the comments.

I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial and that you enjoy making these adorable, yet very easy (espeically the chickies) spring or Easter cupcakes!

Have a great day! And if you celebrate - Happy Easter!

To see everything CUPCAKE related on my blog, click here.

 

Click here for CUPCAKE BAKING TIPS from my guest blogger, Vernell.

Meal Plan Monday

I have to make this a quick one. My daily photos for the week will be up before (or on) Tues.

This week's meals are:

Mon: Chicken soft tacos

Tues: Shepherd's Pie (trying it in the slow cooker - then will top with mashed potatoes when it comes out and brown the top for 10 minutes or so.

Wed: Moroccan Stew & Chicken Satay

Thurs: Lasagne - I will try this Slow Cooker Recipe

Fri: Leftovers

Sat: Falafel

Sun: Salmon Cakes

 

Easy & Very Cute Spring Cupcake Ideas from around the web & Beijing in 3D

 Check out these Adorable & EASY Springtime Cupcake Ideas

from around the Blog World.

Let me know what you think. As I mentioned before, I will be making lots of cupcakes for two upcoming bakesales (April 23 & 29) and needed some cute, easy ideas that make a powerful impact to uphold my cupcake decorating reputation with the school set here in Beijing (not hard to do since nobody bakes let alone decorates!! Hehe!).

via www.goodtoknow.co.uk

Thanks to Deb for the link to these adorable & easy butterfly buns. I love finding out about common and useful websites from other parts of the world that are completely unknown to me!

 

originally from Familyfun.com

 

via www.google.com

 

via www.marthastewart.com

 

via www.google.com

Click here to see how I made the chick cupcakes.

 

via www.thepartyanimal-blog.org

 

via www.foodnetwork.com

via www.marthastewart.com

 

via sites.google.com

 

To see everything CUPCAKE related on my blog, click here.

Very soon I will be posting:

*step by step instructions (with photos) of the cupcakes I make this weekend.  DONE:  Click here to see the chick cupcakes and 1 other cupcake design I made for our bake sale today, including step by step instructions with photos.

Click here for CUPCAKE BAKING TIPS from my guest blogger, Vernell.

Are you making treats for something special? Easter, perhaps? A spring party? Leave me a comment & tell me your favorite homemade Springtime or Easter treat.

 

Simple Things that made me Smile This Week:

The whole family in 3D glasses!

Big Brothers (the Geges):

Little Brother (Didi):

Dad (Baba):

Youngest son (xiao erzi) & Mom (Mama):

We rode our bikes to Chaoyang Park this past Saturday and spent a few hours at the Sony Explorascience Center. Our admission included a 20 minute film in 3D. I think they were giving us a sampling of what it would be like to own a 3D TV. We watched about 10 minutes of the World Cup in 2009 and 10 minutes of underwater footage. The second half was the most fun.

The rest of the Explorascience Center reminded me of a mini-Exploratorium in San Francisco.

 

Qing Ming Festival Recap (Beijing)

Living in China, we often get days off for certain Chinese holidays. However, since there is such a disconnect between China's past traditions and its people of today, there isn't much to do to acknowledge or take part in these 'celebrations.' In a way, China is in the process of rediscovering and reconnecting with its past. In fact, it is my understanding that only in the past couple of years have they added back these ancient traditional holidays onto their national business calendar.

Qing Ming is one such holiday. Wanting to do more to participate in the local culture, something I've loved about living abroad in the past, I jumped at the chance to sign up for this class to make traditional Qing Ming pastries, as soon as I discovered it.

It turns out that the pastry school, The Fig Tree, is located only a block or two from our home and is run by the mother of a girl who rides on the same school bus as my two older sons! A good friend of my husband's, who was born in China, wanted to come along and bring his family. He admitted that even he wasn't familiar with this tradition. To his credit its origin is from a completely different part of the country than his hometown. Our Chinese teacher said that she does have a similar tradition in her province.

A LITTLE HISTORY

The following information is from the handout given out at The Fig Tree:

One of the traditional customs of the Qing Ming Festial was that no fire was to be lit on the day of or before Qing Ming and that everyone could only eat cold foods, without being able to use a fire to cook or warm the food. This custom had been traced back to two sources - the Cold Food Festival when people were prohibited from using fire to cook food for the whole month of March. And the story of the Qing Ming Festival. It has been theorized that at some point in history, the two traditons converged to become what we know as the Qing Ming Festival today.

Nowadays most people only know the Qing Ming Festival as a day where everyone is expected to go sweep their ancestor's graves, wherever they may be. Prepared foods including cold pastries have long been part of the sacrificial offereings brough to the ancestral gravew. The types of pastry offered vary greatly according ot regional differences.

 However, in the Shan'xi region, rural families still make a pastry bearing the name of the hero Jie Zi Tui, who died for his principles and values. His admonition to his pupil king to be 'qing' (cliean, uncorrupted, and "ming" (brilliant) became the name of the holiday ordained to commemorate his death.

Here is our class in photos:

Putting on our chef hats.

Weighing and measuring out our ingredients.

Kneading the dough.


Shaping our various animals.

Top view of our classroom.

Our dough shapes ready for the steamer.

Here they are steaming in the steamer.

A close-up view.

After steaming, we painted them with ordinary food coloring.

Then we baked them in the oven for a few minutes.

And here's how they turned out.

  The decorations of dots (sometimes with clusters of five) are the traditional way of painting these breads in our Chinese tutors province.

While mine were still soft, I threaded some string through them by poking a hole (making a tunnel) with a sharp pencil. I now have them hanging in my house for decorations.

 

To see all of our creatures, go to this post.

They all turned out pretty cute, huh? It was a very fun afternoon and a great activity for the kids.

 

COMING UP ON THE BLOG

*Sunday, April 17 - Alphanumeric Blog Hop for fun! This one is hosted by blog friend, Mel from her blog, I Speak Melsh. Stay tuned for more details. This one sounds very, very interesting...

ONE LITTLE WORD Blog Hop

*May 1 - OLW Monthly Blog Hop (One on 1) - I host this blog hop every month on the 1st. It is a blog hop for students of Ali Edwards' One Little Word class at Big Picure Classes. You can still sign up for the class as well as the blog hop (if you are a student). For the class, go to BigPictureClasses.com and for the blog hop, go to the OLW classroom message boards and there is information on how to sign-up in the Chit Chat section.

FAMILY x 12 Mini Blog Hop

* May 5 I will have a mini blog-hop to showcase my monthly personal project FAMILY x 12. If you are taking a monthly family photo (or would like to start) and would like to join us for a little support, motivation and light accountability, leave me a comment or send me an email and I'll be in touch with the details. (A family photo can be whatever you define as family, even if that is just you and your spouse/partner or you and your cat [dogs count too]!)

Cupcakes Then (Sports) & Now (Insects & Scorpions)

I love blog posts that do a retrospective. Where they go back in time and compare what was happening in the past with something going on today. They are so cool. So, when it was the prompt for Blogging for Scrapbookers today, I had to alter my planned post a bit.

My original plan was to share my latest cupcake creations. So I decided to go back in time and see if I had created any fun cupcakes last year around this time and to my delight, I had!

THEN

These cupcakes I made for sports day at the school of my two oldest boys last April. Click here to see that post.

NOW

Below are some cupcakes I made for a field trip picnic that I helped chaperon this past Saturday. My older two boys volunteered me to bring cupcakes since I am slightly well-known around the school set for making decorative cupcakes.

Admittedly, the community here is easy to impress since a decent cake is hard to come by in Beijing where very few people bake, let alone have ovens. And nobody decorates anything! It is really not part of the culture. So, when I bring my creations, I get showered with acolades.

I'm sure once I return home where I am just another creative mom in the crowd of other creative moms, I may suffer some withdrawls wondering quietly to myself why nobody is gushing over my hours of hard work.

I'm sure I'll get used to it. And the nice part will be the privelege of being around others who also like to create and getting inspired by them and their great ideas. I miss seeing birthday cakes that my friends lovingly plan and make for their kids.

So, not much has changed. I'm still making cupcakes! In fact, another bake sale is coming up for Earth Day, so I better start figuring out what what to make for that event. Any ideas? I'd love to hear them.

Most of these ideas come from one of my two favorite cupcake books: What's New, Cupcake? and Hello, Cupcake! Another favorite resource for fun & easy cupcakes is Family Fun.

 

Click here for CUPCAKE BAKING TIPS from my guest blogger, Vernell.

More Cupcakes to help Japan

Braden's school is having a 3 day bake sale to raise money to help the victims in Japan. Not only have we been busily making and decorating cupcakes over the past two days, but we stopped by the sale on the way out of school to indulge in a few treats. Here Braden poses by the sign.

Last night I made big ladybugs (ladybirds), grass with ladybugs & monkeys. I chose these because they are cute and not too difficult to make. And I could make them with things I had around the house.

A close-up of one of the monkeys. He is made out of one medium sized cookie with the top 1/4 cut off, one small cookie/biscuit/cracker with the two sides cut off and used for the ears, two chocolate chips for eyes, black decorating gel for the nostrils and red icing for the mouth. 

Here is a close up of the ladybugs on the grass. They are simply red M&Ms decorated with chocolate frosting. I put the frosting in a ziploc sandwich bag and cut a very small hole in the corder and just drew on the details. So simple! The larger ladybugs' details are made with chocolate frosting but the hole in the sandwich bag is a little larger to get a thicker line down the middle of the back as well as the nice plump spots on the back.

We Love Japan Cupcakes

Braden's school is having a bake sale this week to raise money to help the victims in the tsunami & earthquake that ravished Japan this month. Braden picked out this style from my What's New Cupcake? book. We changed the words on the conversation hearts to match the spirit.

The cupcakes either say JAPAN, LOVE, We love Japan or We {HEART} Japan.

Don't forget to send a donation to the Red Cross to help out Japan!

Valentine Cookies

IMG_9037.jpg, originally uploaded by Xnomads.

I was so impressed with Reece. I made some Valentine sugar cookies just for him. They are his favorite and I meant to make them at Christmas but never got around to it. It was late in the day and I was proud of myself just for getting these made for my family. Reece, on the other hand, was set on decorating them and giving them out to his friends. He insisted. He did everything, including instant hand delivery!

I love this kid even if he does need a haircut!

Birthday Celebration, Making the Super Hero Cake & Some Awards!

We've been celebrating birthdays around here for the past week and a half. A week ago Saturday we finally had a tenth birthday party over two months late and then this past Saturday we began celebrating my youngest's sixth birthday. But birthdays don't seem to fit into just one day, they linger. I can't fit it all in one day. There's just too much to fit in. There's the friend party (usually on a weekend), there's the actual birthday, there's the celebration at school and then there are all the traditions you do every year that often spill over into other days if you can't squeeze them into the birthday. I think we have finally completed celebrating 6!

At our house the birthday child wakes to a decorated house (simple streamers and balloons and one Happy Birthday banner), a decorated chair in the kitchen and balloons strewn about the house, they also get to choose a sugar cereal (but this year Braden opted for homemade chocolate chocolate chip marshmallow waffles), they also get to choose a restaurant for dinner and then if their party is not on their birthday we have some kind of cake with candles and song on the actual day (often just leftover cupcakes) and finally I have to videotape their annual birthday interview. Someday, I plan to collect all of these and splice them together into one chronological video for each child. (I'm currently in the process of converting all of our analog video tapes (Hi8) to digital using the Canopus 110 so that this task will be easier.) Anyway, the point is... that is a lot of activity to squeeze into one day! This year our restaurant dinner went too late and we decided to order ice cream so the family cupcakes got pushed back to Tuesday since Monday night there was too much homework. So, cupcakes, candles, song and birthday interview were finally done last night and said six year old got to stay up later than normal just to get everything all complete.

I love doing it all, mind you! Love it! That is why we have so many traditions and why I make sure they all happen. It is interesting to type them all out because it isn't until then that I realize we have so many and wonder if maybe I go a little overboard. Maybe I do, but I'm OK with that!

So on to the birthday recap as well as a walk down memory lane of the past six years with our youngest child...

BRADEN IS SIX

Only a few days old. Spending time with his new big brothers.

Dad gives him a bath at Grandma's house.

Our gorgeous boy turns one. Mom made him a lion cake.

One of my very favorite photos of all time.

He has always loved sports. He spent hours in the backyard playing baseball.

With big brother, Nicholas

A family photo celebrating Braden's 3rd Birthday.

As soon as Braden could hold a crayon, he has loved to draw.

 And he has an affinity for cuddly animals.

From a photo shoot in his bedroom. He still loves pandas and his collection keeps growing.

On our visit to Hangzhou for Thanksgiving.

Playing dress up with one of his brothers. Batman and an alien super hero.

 

Super Braden...

Dressing up for Western night at his school. Food was Thanksgiving fare.

Blowing out his candles on his cupcakes last night.

Braden's 6th birthday interview:

What do you want to be when you grow up? A super hero whose super power is shooting tornadoes like Red Tornado

What is your favorite color? black, blue, red, green, orange

What is your favorite game? Checkers

What is your favorite TV show? Scooby Do Mystery, Inc.

What is your favorite book? Tin Tin

What is your favorite song? I don't know.

What is your favorite DVD or movie? I think it is Magic School Bus (received a DVD set for his birthday but hasn't yet completed one episode. We don't watch much TV around here.)

What is your favorite subject in school? Everything! (with a little prodding, he admited to Yoga, English and reading)

What do you like to do at recess? play games, especially freeze tag

Who is your best friend? Sean

Who is your favorite person? Nicholas and Mom (after a brief pause) and Sean!

Where is your favorite place? Grandma's house

What is your dream vacation? To go to Everything Island and Africa to see all of the wild animals.

What is your best memory of being 5? climbing up a rock wall

What is your favorite hobby? playing Wii, is that a hobby?

What is your favorite video game? Spore Hero

What is your favorite toy? Lego helicopter

What is your favorite food? ice cream - chocolate

What is your favorite dinner? cereal (all kinds), pancakes & waffles

What is your favorite restaurant? I don't have one

What is your favorite fruit? strawberries

 

NOW FOR MY FAVORITE PART OF ANY FAMILY BIRTHDAY - THE CAKE!

The birthday boy wanted a super hero cake just like the one for his 4th birthday. He sketched for me the few minor changes he wanted. I did my best to accomodate.

First we started off by making some accessories made from colored white chocolate. This is so much easier than it looks. I simply melted white chocolate chips for a minute or two in the microwave, added a bit of Wilton candy coloring (can be found at Michaels, Joanns or any craft or kitchen store), put it in a ziploc sandwich bag, cut the tip, spread out a sheet of waxed paper and then went to town. For the Super 'B' and the splat shapes, I sketched these out and then put them under the waxed paper and traced. The waxed paper sits on a small cookie sheet which I put in the fridge to harden. DONE!

Next we needed a skyline. I put these Graham crackers in the microwave for a few seconds to soften them a touch. I took a sharp knife and trimmed them into these shapes. I then melted some semi-sweet chocolate chips and dipped them so they were completely coated. I then took some of my yellow colored white chocolate in the same ziploc bag with tip cut off and drew on a bunch of windows.

We then took the chocolate covered Grahams with windows, coated the back with frosting (Since the decorating process is so time consuming, I no longer make my cake or frosting from scratch. My canned brand of choice is Duncan Hines. I never thought there was a difference until I did a taste test between Duncan Hines & Betty Crocker. DH won by a landslide. I think BC is hardly edible. I encourage you to do your own taste test. There IS a difference!) and then placed each building on the second layer of the red frosted cake.

Here is a close-up of the first two layers. You can see we added the Super 'B' on to the front of the cake and used the white chocolate (turned yellow) letters to spell out Happy Birthday on either side.

 
And here is the final cake. The birthday boy added all the action figures. It was entirely up to him how many to add and where they stood. Their legs are pretty thin for their bodies so we had to press their feet pretty far into the cake. I like the birthday child to have as much control over the design of their cake as reasonably possible.

We also a little accident with most of our chocolate art just as we were putting them on they fell to the floor and most shattered. Luckily the 'splat' signs survived mostly intact. Both lost a spike, but we used them anyway. Using melted chocolate, I adhered a popsicle stick to the back of each 'splat' so we could easily add them to the cake.


 And here is the back view. We made some star candy molds using Wilton molds that I found for $1 (on sale) at Michaels. Molding chocolate really couldn't be easier.

Such fun!

I'VE BEEN GIVEN A BLOG AWARD!

I just received a blog award today!
Thanks Rebekah (http://istampscrapcraft.blogspot.com/) I'm honored!

There are a couple of conditions for the award:

You have been TAGGED and want to participate? Then create a post where you post the 'LOVE BLOG' image. You should also blog the person's link that gave you the award and inform her/him that you accept the award.You can then choose 3 - 5 favourite blogs which you also link in your post, then each blogger will inform you that they have been tagged.

Please choose any blogger that you feel deserves the award, but consider choosing fellow bloggers who have a good blog with a smaller readership (say less than two or three thousand followers) this will help bring less known good blogs to light by exposing them to more potential readers.
My recipients are welcome to chose whichever blogs they want regardless of the number of followers. It is just something to consider.

Now the hard part is choosing who to pass along the award to. As Rebekah pointed out on her blog, this award is a nice way of creating visibility to some of us who are followed less and/or just starting out.

Here are some of my favorite blogs that I think deserve this award:

Rachel B's World (rachelbsworld.blogspot.com)

Kiley @ Gogovivi.com

Lee @ Linar Studio (thelinarstudio.typepad.com/embracelife)

Danielle @ scrappindanielle.blogspot.com

Lisa @ Recklinghausen Musings (lisahausmann.blogspot.com)

Jill @ jillconyers.typepad.com

 Please hop on over to their blogs and check them out! You'll be happy you did.

Still to come... BEST SHOT WEDNESDAY.

 

Simple Things - Cute Food

I'm trying to get back into the habit of blogging again after my break for our trip home for the holidays. The trips back and forth always throw me off for awhile. I thought I would start this week off right by joining in once again with Rebecca Cooper's The Simple Things. (I hope my links are working. Typepad seems hit or miss with them. Let me know if they don't work.)

Isn't this little guy cute? It's a turtle (in case you couldn't tell)! You can probably tell that I overcooked this little guy, but I think he is adorable nonetheless. For me he represents so much more than an over cooked hotdog wrapped in a crescent roll (made from scratch, mind you). I had another birthday party this weekend after my ten year old's belated party last weekend. So, I have been on creative overload. One of the things I love about planning birthday parties for my kids is collaborating with the birthday child so that he (I have three boys) gets what he wants and feels special. One of our ideas was to make some hot dog snails that we saw online at littlenummies.net.

I gave the snails a try, but wasn't too successful with them. Mine kept falling over so I ended up with little creatures with sidecars. Our alternative was to make turtles by simply cutting the shell with a circle cookie cutter and adhering it on top of the wrapped hotdog with some beaten egg and a pastry brush. I used a pizza cutter to put the marks on the shell. If I hadn't have turned my attention to frosting the cake in the last few minutes of baking time, they would have been perfect!

In the interest of time, I decided just to make simple pigs in a blanket, so these cuties never made it to the party. But, that didn't matter in the end. My son and I had a great time coming up with something creative and making them together. Over cooked or not, this little turtle served his purpose.

And now that we know what we are doing, we can try them again for the next party.

Stop by tomorrow for the Layout A Day (LOAD) Blog Hop. Some of us participating in LOAD this February are sharing what we do to prepare for the month long challenge of creating one scrapbook page a day!

And you may also be interested in the One Little Word Blog Hop I am organzing for the class of the same name over at Big Picture Classes taught by Ali Edwards on February 1. We will be sharing our January project and any thoughts we had about our word over the last month. (Again, let me know if these links aren't working and I will see what I can do.) And if you are enrolled in the class and want to join along, leave me a comment or email me privately and I'll add you to the list!

Thanks for stopping by!

Camping Cupcake Cake & Science Cupcakes

This weekend we finally celebrated Nicholas' 10th birthday with his friends. He turned 10 way back in November but due to some procrastination on my part, a 3 week trip home to the States as well as a few things out of my control, we didn't make his party happen until yesterday.

As is the tradition in our family, I made a cake for the party. It's a fun tradition. I always consult with the birthday boy and come up with a design that is doable and fun for me as well as exciting for them. This year Nicholas didn't think he wanted any special themed cake. Sad about this since I love doing this for my boys, I searched around until I found something I thought he might like. And he did. It was this camping cupcake cake that I found on the Hello, Cupcake blog a few months ago.

I submitted this photo for The View From Here challenge at Gogovivi.com's blog.

After choosing the camping cake way back in August, Nicholas' party ended up being at a Science place, so for the additional cupcakes it made sense to make them related to the science theme. After a quick google search, we found some really cute ideas and here is what we came up with:

A collection of mad scientists and some beakers. Cute, huh? I think they are adorable if I do say so myself. I couldn't believe my luck when I found some jelly beans at a Chinese convenience store next to my son's school just when I needed them. I have never before seen jelly beans any where in Beijing! And it turns out when I got home that my ayi (housekeeper) ate the few jelly beans that I had brought back from the States! I don't know what it is with her and fruity candy. She did that once before and it was also special candy that we are saving. Otherwise, she is a pretty darn good employee. I'm not sure why she just doesn't ask! Next tsime I'll buy her some as a souvenir.

 

Click here for CUPCAKE BAKING TIPS from my guest blogger, Vernell.

Woodcarver

via www.nativity.com.cn

Going here tomorrow to pick up some gifts. I think it will be fun to see the factory where everything is made.

KITCHEN

The older boys' school is finally having their World Culture Day. It has been postponed twice. Once due to a neighborhood blackout so the school had no electricity or water. (Not sure how they justified not closing down the school, but then TIC. Ha!) The second reason was because several of the lower elementary classes were closed for a few cases of Hand Foot & Mouth disease.

I have spent most of the day in the kitchen making American favorites to share. Homemade cornbread, brownies & oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

Web Discoveries

I don't usually post about things I find on the web, but I've found so many good things lately, I thought I would share a few!

This fun 2011 calendar from children's author Jan Brett's website. It is a free download!

This link for DIY ice cream in a jar is right up my alley. They have packaged it up to be given away as a wedding or shower favor, but I love it as a gift for any occasion. And in my world, ice cream is not just for summer so I wouldn't be against giving this as a holiday gift for neighbors, friends and even teachers! In fact, I think I might make some up for my son's Kindergarten teachers because just this past Thursday I was a special guest in the classroom and I taught them how to make ice cream in a ziploc bag! Everyone was amazed that ice cream could be made so easily and in a bag! I bet they would love to be able to take this mini kit home and make some for themselves.

I've also discovered Giver's Log today. I already love this blog because in the short time I've been looking around I've found so many great homemade gift ideas. What I love about it is that they are simple yet meaningful. Exactly the kind of gifts I like to make. I like something that is easy yet makes a big impact. They also have a section about pretty wrapping. I haven't had a chance to look around there yet, but it sounds exciting too. Can't wait to go check it out. And there's much more too - sections on Teacher's Gifts, Hostess Gifts, Party Favors, and lots more - trust me! If you are a homemade gift giver, you can't pass up this resource!

If you like my discoveries, let me know!