The Future is Friendly

Hey friends.

I haven't mentioned this before, but as the time is here for transparency, I must come clean. This blog began as an assignment. No, not some creative outlet or medium for free speech, a graded classroom project.

Not that the idea of creating such a blog hadn't crossed my mind at times, but it took the push of the Western Seminar titled "From Tweet to Blog to Book" to not only inspire, but require the creation of such an online journal.

And boy am I glad I took this class. Not only is it a break from the monotonous day to day college curriculum, but also the chance to create something wonderful.

As well as keeping me up on my online presence, it keeps me honest on my physical creative being as well. It's so easy to say "I'll do it later" or "I'm so busy" rather than just sit down, take time for yourself, and make something you've been wanting to.  Or even better, spend time with someone not just studying across the table from them or next to them in a loud bar, but actually being present with someone and creating something together.

That's the biggest thing I miss as school has created more constraints on the way I spend my time.

And bottom line, it's worth setting aside what needs to be done for a little bit to do something purely because I want to.

So this blog remains. And as I grow and learn how to speak visually online, this blog will grow and become more. I will always have ideas in the back of my mind and now, with the ability to share and this positive accountability, I owe it to this newborn baby to continue. It can be for those creative souls out there looking for ideas, the bored internet browser, my curious mom, and also for myself and the joy it brings me.

So though it began as an assignment, it will continue as a choice, and one I'm extremely excited about.

Pick Up the Pan

It's one of those weeks. One of those times when you just can't sit down so you have to remind yourself to shower and eat meals and sleep. One of those times when the basic needs go out the window because the higher needs of success and designing things and getting an education and trying to keep your friends seem much more important. It's one of those weeks.

So I forced myself to cook. No, not microwave, cook. Between the instant rice, instant oatmeal, and last weeks leftovers, I had to remind myself that I still had a kitchen and hands and the capacity to make something fresh.

Granted it's an omelette, but this is one darn fine omelette. Some sautéed onions and peppers, grilled turkey, sliced up bacon, and gooey melted soy cheese all wrapped up in a hefty blanket of eggs.

My plan was to not need food later that day, and I succeeded. This mouthwatering delight turned food baby and powered me for hours.

If this doesn't make your mouth water, then you're either not a college student or you're vegan.

That said, it could have been my personal drought of good food or really just a luckily great combination, but for me this was the omelette of omelettes. Really gosh darn fantastic.

Its funny living with 5 roommates because I see we all go through that same cycle, and I think that some of our best foods come out when we've gone without cooking for so long. Have you ever made anything awesome when you've gone without cooking for a while? I'd love to hear or see what your own "taste famines" have created.

Oh sweet coffee break

So this week I had the need to thank someone for their help with a previous project. He leads a similar life to my own: minimal sleep, maximum coffee intake. As such, I concluded that the perfect way to show my appreciation was with the one thing generally missing in this daily routine, delicious homemade sustenance.

The answer, coffee cake.

And as I was mixing it up, it only seemed time and cost effective to whip up my own gluten-free batch to get me through the week.

I googled "starbucks coffee cake" and with a few minor tweaks for the Gluten-free version, it came out incredibly delectably. I've enjoyed it thoroughly up to this point. I was hesitant to follow through on the call for pecans, but I'm glad that I did, it really rounded out the flavor.

For the recipe go here

All packaged and ready to gift.

And to eat..

I highly recommend this one! Eat up.

Shoes Fit for a President (or Prime Minister)

In honor of Presidents day this week, as well as a looming shoe order, I tried my hand at a time lapse video of their creation. The order called for one Denmark shoe and one American shoe, and this is what became of it...

Gosh that video download process was unreal. Took me over a week to figure out, as the URL kept coming up empty. Glad to see it's finally working out and I can now share.

So my first time lapse, and much too long to watch without skipping along, but enjoy and let me know what you thing of this style of presentation. I have one on the way of The Great Room Rearrange of 2013.

Here's some other shoes I've worked on in the past as well.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Lovely Loving Berries

With this cake "business" I operate, I often get requests for all sorts of random treats that have nothing to do with cake. I can't say that I'm not flattered, but sometimes I find myself fairly lost. So when I was asked to do a few dozen chocolate covered strawberries I should have said, "Sorry I don't really do that." But against my better judgement and the fact that the kindest man wanted to give them to his wife and two daughters, i folded. 

After $20 of wasted chocolate that i burnt, things went pretty smoothly. Lesson learned, double check your internet sources. The first website that I looked at about chocolate dipping suggested using butter to mix with the chocolate. WRONG. As soon as all of the chocolate started turning to crumbs before my eyes, I went back to the computer and found that butter contains water which makes the chocolate seize. So later I found that it's vegetable shortening that I wanted to use the first time. So on I went. 

And the best part? There were a ton of extras...

Barrel-o-Apples Spread

Inspired by my favorite blog MoreDesignPlease, I decided to make a sweet treat that keeps on treating, apple butter!

I had a wonderful time cooking, canning, and decorating these adorable little jams to share with my classmates. Plus my roommate helped out, which always makes any baking time so much more enjoyable. We made some Gluten Free biscuits to go along with the spread, though since I've tried it with all sorts of baked goods whenever I crave something sweet. 

Here's how they turned out. It tasted a bit like congealed apple sauce, but it's a nice change from berry jams.  I can't wait to do this again with other spreads. If you feel so inclined, you can find the recipe here: recipetips.com. (I did end up having to use a stick blender to get out some of the apple chunks if you do try this recipe yourself)

What a Winter Week

What a week. It's been wild trying to get everything done for my design classes, like 2 hours of sleep a night wild. I would take this opportunity to complain, if I didn't love every second of what I was doing, but that's not the case. 

Our studio is like a casino, no windows, bright lights, and time goes warp speed. And it's amazing. Jamming to whatever comes up on Pandora, cutting and molding cardboard through endless paper cuts and hot glue burns, and getting to know those diligently working around me, through the delirium and creative energy. I truly love it. 

But when my roommate reminded me that I promised to make cupcakes for her fundraiser tomorrow I had to put it aside for as short of time as possible, and jam out some halfway pretty treats. 

I remembered a trick my boss taught me about dipping the frosting in sugar to make it look crystalline. With it being winter time I decided to expand on that, make them white like little snowballs, and make a complementary cupcake with a simple swirl and silver dragees. 

Overall I'm happy with the rapid turnout. So if ever you need a quick and beautiful cupcake, grab the sugar and sprinkles and don't hold back!