Cheating the Recipe ... and Winning!

I'm very lucky that I've 'bastardized' these recipes and had some reasonable success.  It's all about trial and error sometimes.  It's more fun that way.  Come check out the latest concoctions!

I had originally found this recipe on the back of the of a bulk box of Sour Patch Zombies when I bought them for Halloween.  The recipe is incredibly simple, but patience is needed when you're moulding your little dumplings ... or whatever you'd like to do.  I've scanned the clipping for the original recipe, called 'Monster Toes'.

Late Night Shortbread

So, I couldn't sleep last night with all the excitement and nerves of my BMT Youth Troupe classes performing after ten weeks.  The Theatre Tech class is having a bake sale to support the upcoming youth troupe production of Disney's Camp Rock: The Musical, and just so happens my work friend LA had let me borrow all sorts of fun baking stuff - including a guitar-shaped cookie cutter.

So, what's a girl to do when she can't sleep?  Fish out the secret family shortbread recipe and try it out for the first time.  I'd like to tell everyone at this point it was about three in the morning when I decided this.

Again, forgive the picture, it's from my iTouch.

No, I'm not giving you the recipe.  It's a family secret.  What you do see sprinkled on top are crushed rainbow candy canes, because who doesn't like candy with their shortbread?

The performances went very well, and the cookies sold out rather quickly.  Not bad for the first batch ever.  In life.  Mum, aren't you proud of me?

I'm going to bed now.

The Quickest Way To Santa's Heart - Christmas Baking!

I loved giving and receiving baked goods for the holidays.  Knowing the person took time to make it with love, and you're anything like me, you want to get every detail right in presentation.  Experimentation is always fun, too, adding different ingredients and having a little fun with different recipes.

I've been posting photos on Facebook of the stuff right out of the oven with my iTouch, with some fantastic feedback and demands for recipes.  So, I relent.  Here they are - and the best part is that you can probably mess with 'em a little yourself!

:: Banana Apple Cinnamon Tannenbaum Cakes ::

Meditation #6

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A good idea for those extra beads ...

After a while of actually having this up on my wall, it had suddenly hit me that I haven't shared this beautiful piece of art all of you.

My craftie-bestie Karen - responsible for a certain green dress - took a dive into my destash bead collection with a very ingenious idea.  The result was this beautiful surprise she made for me.

Karen had mounted this beautiful spring day bead picture on layers of recycled cardboard.  She used a paint with a really nice lacquer finish that complements the sheen of the beads oh-so-beautifully.  I think this whole project started off when she saw a collection of acrylic rose beads in the destash pile, she had asked at the time if I was doing anything with them.

I'm currently cleaning up the workspace/dining room right now to make my supplies less conspicuous, so it's in a safe place with no risk of damage.  I'll be finding a new place to hang it with love.  :)

Crystal Lori Boyd: (Paint) Splatter Analyst

I've got a good friend I want you to meet.  She does wonders with the unexpected.

Please meet my friend Crystal Lori Boyd, an artist here in Brampton, Ontario.  I'd like to call her an 'extreme fingerpainter', but I'm worried it doesn't speak of the maturity in her art.  Crystal is what we'd like to call 'green-conscious', using recycled and reused materials in her art.  Most of her canvases consist of cabinet doors, countertops, wood planks, tiles and probably lots more I can't think of but she's used.  She also likes to 'texturize' her paintings by including crumpled materials drenched in paint and moulded much like the splatters on the canvas - her favourite lately being party streamers.  It makes for an incredible effect that adds wondrous depth and dimension.

She confesses that she doesn't use paintbrushes very often, but does most of her creations in paint with her hands.  Crystal had done an interactive art show for Synergy's Grand Opening at the end of the summer, and I'm a fool for not getting any pictures - I had sworn there were some!  Covered in paint up to her forearms and all over her legs, she had produced some beautiful paint in front of a wonderstruck audience.  Here are pictures of some of the finished pieces she had brought with her and completed at the event.

Happy Halloween, Indy Fans!

(EGADS!  This didn't publish!  Damned this Auto-Publish option ...)

It's a great time of year when it comes to being anything you want for one day a year.  This year, I was a zombie at Toronto's Zombie Walk, with a few souveniers to remember the day.   The work-safe costume was the ever-popular Indiana Jones, this time with my official Indiana Jones plush whip that plays the theme song from a button on the handle.

Yup, I'm a geek.  More appropriately, fangirl.  Lemme show you my bunch of official Indiana Jones merchandise gifted and collected over the years.

:: Indiana Jones plush whip - press the button on the handle to play whip cracking sounds and Indy theme :: "Idaho Spuds" Mr. Potato Head, complete with golden idol, bullwhip and theme-playing fedora :: Remote control Giant Ant with Crystal Skull controls, from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ::