Flower number 14: chinese takeout cupcake

Chinese food takeout is such a treat I made it the theme of a dinner party. It's easy decorating, with beautiful gold and red paper goods, and an even easier menu. Where dessert is concerned, I know you're wanting to say fortune cookies. I said cake.

Pinteresting my way through some mouth watering ideas, I came across this beauty from Dots Treats! based in Miami. This was featured on what might be thee cutest cupcake blog, Cupcakes Take the Cake. So, with just a few days to prepare, more than a few states away from Miami, I decided, like any good crafter-baker-extraordinaire:  "Hey, I can do that!" 

Chocolate cupcakes piled high with swirled icing, and sprinkled with specks of gold were the delicious parts. To make them beautiful, I decorated fortune cookies a few different ways. Chocolate melts and red, glittery, sparkles were just what I needed for the marvelous presentation that I wanted.

I can just picture it: you open up your folded takeout container expecting beef and broccoli, but to your surprise, there is a beautiful, candy-coated, tower of cookie and chocolaty cake. Smiles for sure.

Flower number 12: an end of year party

The end of the year amidst tweens who are totally spent after a season of testing is just silly. No one wants to work anymore. We all just want to play. A fun reward for students is a class party because if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. And parties are fun. So. Are. Muppets.

For our Muppet Party, I printed coloring sheets, played Muppet music on Spotify, showed YouTube videos about the making of Muppets, and some Jim Henson projects. And, at the end of the day, we played Muppet Karaoke with our classroom technology.

Of course, the party would not be complete without Kermit cupcakes inspired by Crystal at Simply Being Mommy. Green frosting and Mentos = Smiles.

Piggy Pops were a spontaneous invention. I used giant regular and strawberry flavored marshmallows, food coloring, and lollipop sticks. These are super fun for posing in front of the camera. 

Speaking of posing for the camera, we made a Muppet Photo Booth using a template from Disney Family and some old 3D movie glasses!

Flower number 11: love blooming

Happiness is morning light, morning light.
Darling Koko and blooming calendula tea.

Flower number 7 :: pozole whetta

It's the first cold day after having a week of summery weather (in February?!) To add to this very slight chill, comes the cozy, sleepy, aftermath of startling thunderstorms from the night before. So, I need something to go with my sofa, sweatshirt, blankets, and streaming video: S O U P.

It's pozole! It ain't vegan, or vegetarian of course. Shoot, it ain't even organic. The thing about this pozole is that I made it in about 10 minutes (not adding waiting time for it to simmer). Also, it's cheap, it's low calorie, and spicy enough to get your sinuses goin'. I give you Pozole Whetta:

Ingredients:
1 20 oz. package Tyson Grilled and Ready Fully Cooked Southwestern Style Boneless Chicken Breast Strips
1 box of chicken broth
4 cups of water
1 large can of white hominy (29 oz)
3 small cans of diced tomatoes with habanero chili
1 can of corn, rinsed
1 onion diced
3 jalapeno peppers chopped with seeds
3 Tablespoons Mexican Oregano, dried
1 Tablespoon chili powder
3 tsp New Mexico Chili Powder
cilantro
avocado
sour cream

Directions:
In a large pot, heat the oil, and add the frozen chicken. While it's warming up, chop all the ingredients and open all the cans. Drain and rinse everything that needs to be rinsed. Add everything to the pot. Stir and bring to boil. Let simmer, 20 minutes, or until you feel like it's ready. Stir and taste as it goes to make sure you've got the spiciness to your liking. (This could be organic with better grocery shopping. It could also become veggie or vegan with omissions and substitutions.) Enjoy!

Flower number 2 :: santa babies: A Cookie Memoir

One of my favorite things to do is decorate sugar cookies.

It all started years ago, by watching my mom decorate cakes at home. "It's royal icing," she explained, "it's like glue." I watched how she put the icing in the bag using a spatula without getting it all over her hands and arms. How she piped on clear goo like drops of dew, was mesmerizing.

Early on, I learned that sugar cookie dough has to be refrigerated, and that it tastes so good, like almond extract. I also learned that cookie decorating is a lot like coloring in a coloring book-- but better. You draw the lines. You flood the color.

One year at Christmastime, I used angel cookie cutters to make a dozen little Elvises, clad in what else, but rhinestone jumpsuits. I found just enough time this year to stick to something a little more traditional: Santa. However, they came out a bit "baby" looking.

So, there you go:

Santa Babies

To bake cookies, follow this recipe by Betty Crocker.

To decorate cookies, you'll need to make some Royal Icing, following this recipe at Wilton.

For the Santa Babies (and friends, pictured) I used an icing bag (no fancy tip), with a tiny hole punched out. I used this to do my outlining.

Next, I added about a teaspoon of water to a small portion of that icing, to flood the white parts of the cookies. To do this, you could fill another bag with a tiny hole, but I just used a spoon to drip-drop the icing in, and watch it smooth itself out. I repeated this step in additional bowls, first with red, second with green, and finally, with black. I carefully flooded in the tiny parts of the cookies again, and again, using just a spoon.

Royal Icing can be tricky the first time around, so I've given you some notes below:

Some Notes on Royal Icing:

• Buy meringue powder
• It can harden up pretty quickly like cement, so drape a wet paper towel over your mixing bowl.
• The amount of food coloring you add can actually make the consistency really watery if you don't use gel type coloring. --maybe too watery.
• These cookies took a while to dry, once I flooded the icing. I needed to allow them to dry out overnight before I packaged them. (While in a humid apartment)
• If you're packaging them, simply cut up some waxed paper or parchment paper and place between the cookies.