Christmas noms 1

With my German oral exam, final exams, Christmas shopping, and work I have had zero time to bake or blog. However, now that I finally have a break I intend to catch back up a bit. I LOVE watching the food network/cooking channel and I saw a Martha Stewart Christmas special the other day and decided to make some of her cookies. In my haste to get these cookies made as Christmas presents I did not get any pictures but I can assure (as can my boyfriend) that they turned out delicious. I made Martha's Noel Nut Balls and Chewy Molasses-Spice Cookies. The latter were by far my favorite and the only ginger bread type cookie I have found so far that I like. Maybe I've just had bad ginger snap experience (I know there's a difference but I had only had the snap so I thought they all tasted that bad). I am going to be doing some more baking before Christmas which is coming up fast. I have also been doing a lot of hand made Christmas presents which I hope to post pictures of soon (probably after Christmas so none of the receivers see their presents early :P ). If you are wanting to make some of your own decorations or just make something as a family, FamilyCircle.com has some great ideas on their site. I hope everyone has their shopping done and if you don't... good luck. More holiday baking, cooking, and crafts on the way!

*Picture from MarthaStewart.com*

Wordless Wednesday

Vegan MoFo Day ???

I am soooo sorry for the lack of posts!! I can't believe how much time flies when you have no free time O.O I will do my best to post a lot for the rest of the month. I will definitely have a great Thanksgiving post for you wonderful readers! I think I'll post a dessert today since it's getting to be that baking time of the year. Have you ever seen that huge, delicious looking cake at Panera? Their coffee cake is suppose to be amazing and I love having a little something sweet to go with coffee so I found this awesome recipe and can't wait to make it for either Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Vegan Coffee Cake

Topping:
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar (light or medium)
4 tbsp Earth Balance, melted
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Cake:
1 cup vanilla or plain soymilk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2-1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup packed brown sugar (light or medium)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
Egg replacer for 1 egg, mixed with necessary water according to package directions (I like Bob’s Red Mill Brand)
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°F
9 x 13-inch glass baking dish, greased
Serves 12

1. Topping: In a small bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, melted Earth Balance and cinnamon, mixing well. Set aside.

2. Cake: In a measuring cup, mix together the soymilk and vinegar to create “buttermilk” and set aside. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and baking powder, mixing well. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large bowl), combine the sugars, oil, applesauce and vanilla, beating well. Add the reconstituted egg replacer, beating on high speed until well beaten, about 20 seconds or so. Alternately add both the reserved “buttermilk” and flour mixtures to the mixer bowl, beating just until smooth.

3. Spread batter in prepared pan. Sprinkle reserved topping evenly over batter. Bake in preheated oven for about 50 minutes, or until a tester inserted in center comes out clean. Remove cake from oven, place on a rack and let cool completely before cutting cake. If desired, lightly dust cooled cake with powdered sugar.

(picture courtesy of Google Images)**

Wordless Wednesday

Vegan Mofo Day 9

Some people (not me) love french toast so it would be pretty upsetting to have to give that up on becoming vegan. But of course, like most recipes, there Is a vegan version that even I find pretty tasty. This recipe is going to be based on serving size but I just eyeball it. If you know how to make regular french toast this recipes should be no problem for you.

Soy/almond milk
Sliced white bread (sour dough)
Cinnamon
Sugar
Cooking spray

Place milk in a shallow bowl. Dip both sides of one slice of bread into the milk. Place into a heated and lightly sprayed pan. Cook until one side is golden brown and then flip. Place onto a plate and add cinnamon and sugar and TaaDaa! Awesome cruelty free French Toasties.

***Beautiful picture courtesy of Naomi

Sushi Cheese Cake

I'm glad I finally have a cake to share with you :) It was my room mate's boyfriend's birthday yesterday and she asked me to make his cake. He loves cheese cake and sushi so she loved the idea I found to put the two together. It didn't turn out quite as pretty as I had hoped but they both loved the taste and how they looked and that's all that matters in my book. Especially since I'm very critical of my work. The chocolate wasn't easy to work with but it didn't take as long to put together as I had anticipated.
More cakes on the way soon! I've had a lot of requests so we'll see how many actually follow threw. Can't wait :)

Vegan MoFo Day 8

YES! Finally caught up. My lovely readers will have plenty of recipes to choose from today ~.^ I gave you more of a summery recipes so now I'll give you a fall/winter recipe. Again it is a stuffed squash dish and is twice as filling as the zucchini. This is also a pretty easy recipe as well as inexpensive. This recipe will serve 4 hungry people but be prepared to feel stuffed when you're finished.

Stuffed Acorn Squash
2 acorn squash
1 cup wild rice (Buying the boxed kind works great)
2 veggie bouillon cubes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
a small yellow onion
2-3 stalks of celery
1/4 cup (or so) chopped walnuts
1 1/4 teaspoon (or so) each dried tarragon and sage
a dash of garlic powder
salt and ground black pepper TT

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Start cooking the rice. I just use the seasoning that comes with the boxed wild rice and then add the salt, pepper, and garlic. But feel free to use plain wild rice.

3. Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Put a little oil on the cut sides and in a casserole dish then put them cut side down in the dish. Roast them for one hour, or until they collapse easily when pushed with a wooden spoon.

4. Chop the onion, celery, and walnuts. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Put in the onion and saute it for about 3 minutes, then add the celery and saute it for around 2 more, then add the walnuts and saute a little longer until the onion is translucent, the celery is on the soft side, and the walnuts are a little toasted.

5. If the rice isn't done yet, turn off the flame and stir in the vinegar, tarragon, sage, garlic, salt, and pepper. If the rice is done add that to the pan and then add the vinegar and spices and continue heating it a little to meld the flavors.

6. Your squash should be done by now so spoon the rice mixture into the cavity and voila! This is a great meal all by itself! Hope you all enjoy it as much as I do. :)

Vegan MoFo Day 7

If you have not gone to Vegweb yet I highly recommend it! It's a whole community of vegan and vegetarian cooks sharing recipes and giving cooking tips. I have found a lot of really good recipes and many of them have become favorites of mine. I prefer recipes that focus on vegetables instead of ones that try to imitate meat meals. This zucchini recipes is great for the summer when it's vegetables are in season and it's very easy to make. This recipe is for one person but can easily be modified to feed more people.

Zucchini Boats
~ 2T olive oil
~ 1 zucchini
~ 1 red bell pepper
~ 1/4-1/2 onion
~ 2-3 cloves garlic
~ Sliced mushrooms (cooked or raw) TT
~ 1/2 c diced tomatoes (canned or fresh)
~ Salt and pepper TT
~ Handful of chopped fresh basil
~ Whole wheat bread crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Slice zucchini in half and scoop out the insides making sure to leave a rim and not poke holes in the bottom of the zucchini (make a boat). Place the insides in a bowl.
3. Add oil to a baking sheet and rub the inside part of the zucchini in the oil and then place on sheet so scooped out area is facing up.
4. Dice onion and add to a oiled and heated pan. Saute till translucent and then add minced garlic. Cook for a minute or 2 and then add mushrooms. If using cooked mushrooms, cook long enough to heat through but if using raw, cook until they have released their juices.
5. Add bell pepper, tomatoes, and zucchini insides. Cook until tender and add salt, pepper, and basil to taste. Depending on the ingredients you use, there may be a lot of juice and so this will determine how long you simmer the vegetables but it usually takes around 15 min.

6. Add bread crumbs and mix to absorb some of the juice and help everything stick together and adjust seasoning. Fill up the scooped out zucchini with vegetable mix. You may have left overs which taste great eaten by themselves.

7. Place in oven and cook for about 30 minutes or until Zucchini boats are tender when poked with a fork. This dish is surprisingly filling because of the amount of vegetables. Even my omni family members love this recipe and it's nice to have when I don't feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen.

Sadly once again not my picture but at least it's one of the actual recipe.

Vegan Mofo Day 6

I LOVE Asian food and they make is so easy to make most of the meals vegan since the focus is on vegetables and grains and only use meat as a flavor element. I recently discovered Sukiyaki and it's become one of my favorite Japaneses dishes. It's a great recipe to use for a hurried meal since you can pretty much just use whatever vegetable you have in the fridge.

• A handful of shirataki noodles or cellophane noodles
• 7-8 shiitake mushrooms
• 1 block enoki mushrooms
• 1 medium negi
• 1/2 Chinese cabbage (or Bok choy)
• 1 yaki-dofu (grilled tofu)
• For sukiyaki sauce:
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 3 tbsps sake
• 5 T sugar
• 3/4 cup water

Chop up all of the vegetables into bite size pieces. Traditionally you are suppose to have a pot on a portable stove and cook everything at the table but I just make it on the stove and everyone severs themselves that way. Mix sauce ingredients and add to pan. Add all ingredients to the pan, making little piles for each different food. Simmer and use chop sticks or a wooden spoon to make sure everything gets cooked in the sauce. Cook until desired tenderness and serve.

If anyone has a tasty traditional Japanese recipe please feel free to share!
*Pictures as soon as I get my hands on some Sake!

Vegan Mofo Day 5

Ok, I know this is kind of cheating since it's not food but now that it's cold I have found myself drinking a soy chai latte at least once a day. Because I of Hiatal hernia I can no longer really enjoy coffee but I find my chai even better. How ever, I am getting tired of blowing $4.30 at Starbucks because they charge me extra for soy...even though it's the same price as regular milk now -_- Sooo I came up with an easy way to make this at your house and save a trip and money.

You'll need:

Chai tea bags
Water
Soy/almond/rice milk (I use almond)
Emulsion blender (or if you're lucky and have money, an espresso machine with a steam wand)
Honey

Since in the cafes they use a concentrated chai blend, one tea bag it's going to cut it. If you use fresh tea leaves or the stingless teabags (which are stronger) one should be fine (or a half filled tea steeper) but you'll need 2 tea bags of the kind with the string if you want that strong chai flavor.
Add 1 cup milk of choice to a sauce pan and turn heat to medium and then add 1/3 cup water. Add tea bag(s) to the milk mix and slowly bring to a boil stirring occasionally.
Once the milk starts to boil, turn off heat and remove tea bag. Now is where you can use the emulsion blender or steam wand or even just pass the mix back and forth between the pan and a cup or bowl until frothy since that's part of what makes it a latte.
Add honey for your preferred sweetness and enjoy on a cold morning! :)
(I did not take the lovely picture but found it on photobucket)

Vegan MoFo 4

What's better on a weekend night with friends than a warm cheesey pizza?! The only problem is, there are (in most cities) no vegan pizza places. Not to worry, you can make your own and it will be a lot tastier than any delivery. After doing a little prep work with the dough, the rest of the pizza takes no time at all. Just add toppings and bake. Whole Wheat Pizza Dough:
1.5 cups warm (115degree) water
2 packets active dry yeast
1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for bowl
2 T sugar
2 t coarse salt
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour

1. Place water in a large bowl; sprinkle with yeast. Let stand until foamy, about 5 min. Brush another large bowl with oil.
2. In bowl with yeast, whisk sugar, oil, and salt. Stir in flours with wooden spoon until sticky dough forms (I usually just use my hands at this point). Knead a couple of seconds into a ball. Transfer to oiled bowl; brush top of dough with oil.
3. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; let stand in a warm spot until dough has doubled in size, about 1 hour.
4. Turn dough out onto a well floured surface. With floured hands, kneed until smooth, about 2-5 min. divide into 2 balls (the whole thing makes an XL pizza).

Baking:

Preheat oven to 450 F. Use a pizza pan or a large upside down cookie sheet and cover with oil. Roll out dough to desired size and thickness. Fill with desired toppings. Bake until crust is a golden brown; about 18-20 min.

My Vegan Fillings:
I usually chop up some fresh tomatoes and saute them with mushrooms, fresh herbs (basil and thyme), and onions. When that is the desired consistency I add it to the dough and then cover either in fresh goat cheese (I know, not vegan but I love it!) or vegan mozzarella. I think that's the only store bought vegan cheese I have liked so far that actually acts and tastes like real cheese. After the pizza is done I top with some more chopped fresh herbs and ENJOY!

WARNING! This pizza (because it's wheat) is VERY filling but you may find it hard to stop your self from eating 3 thick slices. Have fun making your own pizza :)

Vegan Mofo Day 3

I have another healthy tasty breakfast idea for my readers this morning. I love oatmeal and it's even better now that the weather is actually staying cold.

1 c almond milk
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 banana
craisins/raisins TT
Cinnamon TT
Raw assorted nuts, chopped

~ Add almond milk to a sauce pan and bring to a simmer.
~ Add oats, raisins, and craisins. I like adding them now so that they plump up a bit.
~ After oats have cooked for a while and the milk has reduced, add the cinnamon.
~ While the oats finish cooking, place a peeled ripe banana in a bowl and mash with a fork.
~ Add cooked oats to the bowl, stir. Then add the mixed nuts and stir. Enjoy!
~ On days after I work out I like to add some vegan protein to this as well

I have had to work several late nights but tonight I will be done early and can actually make a dinner post as well :) Sorry for the lack of pretty pictures but it still tastes wonderful so I don't mind.

Vegan Mofo Day 2

Due to my terrible internet I have fallen behind already! *sigh* But I shall be caught up after today. I think today I will share the best tofu scramble ever! I use to eat an egg white omelette every morning for breakfast so when I became vegan I started to crave my morning eggs. After trying several scrambles and almost giving up, I found this delicious one in a Women's Health magazine I believe. I've had it for a couple years now so I can't quite remember for sure but I do know the recipe which is all that matters :) Honestly, most of these recipes (and all recipes really) are to taste (TT) so I'll just write it out how I make it.

Oil (just enough for pan)
1/4 block firm tofu, drained/squeezed of excess water
Onion, chopped TT
Turmeric
Black beans
Salt and Pepper
Salsa
Tortilla

1. Heat pan with oil and then add chopped onions. Saute till translucent and just starting to caramelize.
2. Crumble tofu into pan with onion.
3. Stir to evenly heat then add turmeric, salt, pepper, and black beans. Stir again to distribute spices and then saute for another couple min. Stir occasionally to keep from sticking.
4. Turn off heat and add salsa. Mix it all up and then add to your Tortilla for a Mexican breakfast burrito or just add to some toast.

I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as I do! Sorry for the lack of pictures. I will try to add one next time I enjoy this recipe or if someone would like to send me theirs I will be glad to post it. :)

Vegan MoFo Day 1!

This is my first time joining in durning Vegan MoFo so I will try my best to not disappoint! :) I think my plan will just be to share some of my favorite, easy vegan entrees and snacks. Since I just told everyone how good the vegan cookies are that I made I thought I'd start off with that one. I personally enjoy these with dark chocolate but feel free to add caramel, peanut butter, or whatever else tickles your fancy!

2 cups unbleached flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt cinnamon, to taste, optional
vegan chocolate chips, to taste
1 cup raw sugar (turbinado)
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Stir in chips. Make a well in the center and set aside.
2. In a medium size bowl, add together sugar and oil; mix well. Add the vanilla and then add the water; mix well. Add the wet to the well in the dry. Mix it well but be careful not to overwork it. Add more chips if you need to. 3. Spoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Put them in the oven. Bake for 5 minutes and then flip and rotate the sheets (top to bottom & 180 degree rotation). Bake another 4 minutes and check them. The cookies are done when they seem a little bit softer then you want them to be. They will harden up some as they cool. I usually go in two minute increments from here until they get to where I like them.
4. Take them out when they are done and move them to wire cooling racks. If they split or come apart when you try to remove them let them sit on the pan for 2 minutes before transferring them to the racks.
Enjoy!

Sadly this was the only picture with my cookies.

Halloween Goodies

I plan all year for Halloween weekend and then it's over so fast. My friend and I decided to finally have a bake party this year. I made some recipes I had and some new ones but they all turned out great :) I started my day off right with a lovely Halloween green smoothie. So tasty and healthy, maybe it canceled out a couple of the cookies I had later that night ~.^
I spent all day baking for what turned out to be only 9 people but everyone that was there loved my baked goods and we all had a great time. I made my personal favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe that I found on Vegweb. I love playing with it by adding cinnamon or chunky peanut butter and they always turn out delicious.
Next I made vegan red velvet cupcakes with not so vegan cream cheese frosting brains. I usually don't care for frosting but this stuff was perfect! Turned out to be a great consistency and not too sweet (if there's such a thing when it comes to frosting).

I love this time of year for all of the spice and pumpkin recipes so I had to make some pumpkin cupcakes. I topped theses with a thin layer of the left over red velvet icing as well as fondant ghosts. They were so much fun to make and I love the way they turned out!


I wanted Hunter to help me with the baking (just because I love when he helps ^.^) so I waited for him to make the sandwich sugar cookies. I bought the cutters a year or two ago at a William Sonoma sale and was so happy to finally use them. They did a good job but the cookies were so time consuming we were almost late for the party. I'm glad I made them though since they were everyone's favorite. Since I didn't really have the time or the money to get all vegan ingredients, the chip cookies and the red velvet cupcakes where the only vegan items.


Ms Yuki also decided to help by trying to ninja all of the goodies when I was not looking.

We had a great night with our friends and dressing up which is my favorite part of Halloween. I was able to find pretty much everything for my Heather Mason SH3 costume and what I couldn't find I improvised.
Hunter was The Spirit from the movie but didn't want to wear his mask in the picture so he's just dressed as my arm candy ~.^ The rest of my Halloween weekend was spent watching movies with Hunter and studying for my awesome chemistry exam which was this morning at 9am! Thanks teacher ^_^ I hope everyone had a great weekend and is ready for an awesome month of Vegan food with the 4th Vegan MoFo! This is my first time signing up and I hope I don't disappoint! I will try my hardest to post Something vegan everyday like a good blogger. :)

Exams, work, and cosplay!

Sorry for the long dry spell in posts. I'm pretty sure only my family reads these posts anyway but that's ok :D I have been too busy to do much in the kitchen other than quick meals for myself. I had 3 exams back to back last week and several coming up in the near future. I do have a couple cake orders for the upcoming months and will definitely have pictures for Halloween. I can't wait! I love Halloween and this year my friend and I are going to do something I've always wanted to do and that is have a Halloween party with FOOD! She and I are going to bake, make some finger food (nothing fancy we Are college students), and decorate her place. Not totally sure what I'll have time and money to put together but I will take a lot of pictures. My boyfriend and I are working on costumes not only for Halloween but also for AUSA which is coming up in November. I'm going to be Heather Mason from Silent Hill 3 and he's going to be the Spirit (movie version) for Halloween. No, we don't match at all but we're making up for it at AUSA ~.^

(Kisuke and Yoruichi costumes are almost finished!)

More good news! I finally have a job again. It took me two months due to my jobs lack of communication skills with their managers but I've made it on the schedule. They better not try to make me work this weekend during the State game which is my first and only ECU football game or on Halloween. I've worked too hard on both of those to miss.


I was also able to find my Joanna a home over the break! I hated to give her away but I didn't have the time, money, or room to take proper care of her. Plus the person I gave her to built her a custom wooden cage before I even gave her to him so I know he's going to take good care of her :)

Hopefully it will stay cold soon and I can try out some of my hot recipes from my Veganomics cook book. I love fall and the recipes that go along with it ^_^

Win an awesome shirt!

Giveaway time indeed! Who wants to win a rad shirt of your choosing from Akumu Ink?! Of course in the size of your choice in either male or female *^_^*(link on the designs below)

To enter, all you have to do is blog and/or tweet about this giveaway
and leave a comment with a link to your post/tweet, or do both to have
more chances to win (Other forms of promoting this giveaway are
encouraged). A winner will be picked at random.

(click here to see what you can win! so awesome)

Asian Salad

Do you like Panera's Asian Sesame Chicken Salad? I LOVE it! I don't like the cilantro (why do we not call it coriander?!) but everything else, especially the dressing, is awesome. However, unless you want to shell out at least $6-$8 for this yummy salad you're out of luck. Until now! I played around with the ingredients for the dressing until I found one that tasted pretty darn close to the one at Panera. I looked at what some other people had tried but I think mine is the closest. I am very picky about salad dressings so now I can finally enjoy some without having to drive 35-45 min and pay for the overpriced restaurant salads. Hope you enjoy! ^_^

1/2 c Rice vinegar (rice wine vinegar is the same thing, just be sure it's not the seasoned kind)
1/8 c Light (not roasted) sesame oil
1T sugar
2 packets Sugar substitute (or 3 more T sugar if you prefer)
1T or TT lime juice
Boil sugar, substitute, and vinegar till sugar is dissolved. Let cool completely to allow it to thicken a bit. Pour into a tall bowl. Then, with a hand blender turned on medium, slowly add sesame oil till desired flavor. Add juice a little at a time until it's to your liking and then blend again to keep the emulsion. Pour over a bowl full of mixed greens, sesame seeds, sliced almonds, pepper chicken, wonton strips and ENJOY!
The wontons can be easily made by buying some wonton wrappers in the fridge section of your supermarket and slicing them into 1 inch strips. You should probably use peanut oil but I was out so I used safflower oil instead. When the oil is heated, drop 2 strips in at a time flipping once. It only takes about 4 seconds per side if your oil is nice and hot. Remove from the oil just when they start to brown because they continue to darken after you pull them out. Lay on a paper towel or two to soak up the extra oil.

The bread in the picture is whole wheat chickpea bread made by me ^_^

Yuki is finally relaxing a bit after her spaying. She's been running around like a crazy girl since I brought her home yesterday.

Jelly Burgers

I love going to the Grand Asian Market in Raleigh and looking around for new things. Usually I try to buy at least one thing I've never had before and this time I decided to buy Jellyfish. I had never even seen it as a food and, even though I had no idea what I was going to do with it, I bought a bag of natural jellyfish to try out. I found this awesome recipe for Jellyfish Burgers and since I had a ton of red potatoes fresh from the garden I decided to give it a try.

I didn't have everything so I had to modify it a bit but they still turned out amazing. Everyone loved them and there's plenty of left overs for lunch tomorrow ^_^ I hope everyone enjoys the recipe. We had ours with a side salad which was just the right amount of food. So get out there and help Japan eat up their Jelly infestation!

Homemade Vegan Ice Cream

I have been dieing to make some vegan ice cream since it's impossible to find any around here and it's been SO hot! I don't have an ice cream maker but then I found a method to make it with out one. So tonight I tried it out. It was so much fun! I used the directions from this site and the recipe from this Vegan Ice Cream blog. I made Rocky Road with peanuts, pecans, and almonds. It was fun to kneed the ice cream and it only took 15 minutes! My mom stole a taste and we both agree it turned out delicious! I didn't have arrow root or coconut milk so I used soy milk and corn starch. As I said though, it turned out great. Gir liked it as well O.O

Master Clubs Cake

Made another cake for my mom's friend but this time it was a gift for her friends. I'm not sure what it was for other than it was a church event. She gave me a patch to go off of for the design and then I did my own thing (the dots). I was very happy with how it turned out, it looked just like the patch. This one was a white cake with vanilla buttercream. Glad to have all the cake business/practice. Hope they keep coming ^_^ I'll be going back to ECU in about a month but I hope to still find time to work on cakes. I can't wait to get back to school but I'm not looking forward to going back to Greenville, that place has nothing but at least it's only for another year or so. Anyway, Thanks to all my loyal customers!

Sushi Time!

I have been craving sushi a lot this month for some reason. I have actually had it 3 times this month...I know, I'm bad lol But I love it. So, to save some money, I made some for my boyfriend and I on our date night. I attempted to make dynamite rolls like they make at Kobe Japanese Steakhouse. I didn't have the exact ingredients so I just used what I had. I made them with sushi rice, nori, peppered eel (needed teriyaki), lump crab meat, avocado slices, hot sauce spread, tempura flakes, and teriyaki sauce. They turned out pretty and they tasted pretty good but not what I was hoping for. Hunter liked them so that's the important thing :) Also made a really good udon noodle, kale miso soup and served that with left over sushi rice. I made mango Dofu for dessert which was insanely sweet Asian jello. Went to see Predators after that which was REALLY good! Lots of action. I highly recommend it if you like the other Predator and/or Alien movies.

Flower Power

I recently made a birthday cake for my mom's friend. It's a chocolate cake with vanilla butter cream and, what I like to call, Kirby Pink marshmallow fondant <( '.'<). I love how the colors looked together. I love purple ^_^ The only issue I had was after the cake was delivered, it started melting a bit about an hour later. Sadly this is what happens when your air conditioning cannot keep up with the terrible NC heat and humidity. But everyone, including the birthday girl loved the cake. Happy Birthday Maxine!

Bento..er...Plate!

Last Asian one! For today at least... Promise. Not only did I make this nummy lunch but I also made my mom a bento for her dinner before she left for work. Bummed that she has to work on 4th of July but it's ok, going to the boyfriends house instead. Doing a family grill out on Wednesday so I get 2 days of grilling :) I made lightly steamed carrots, broccoli, and zucchini with soy sauce, tuna salad with celery and carrots, a happy rice ball, and some grapes. I guess I did a very good job naming my kitten Yuki; she ate my left over rice and a grape lol Silly little Asian kitty. Wish I had a picture but I didn't have my camera. Next post will be grilled noms :)

Yuki taking a nap after her lunch ^_^

Japanese Breakfast

I have a hard time finding things to eat with all my stomach problems, that's why I went vegan for a while. That's a very hard diet to have when you live in Hickville, NC. I've been watching a lot more anime recently and I've noticed that every dish they eat (and they eat/cook a lot in anime) looks SO good! I would love to move to Japan and eat rice, sushi, and vegetables every day. Since their diet is the healthiest in the world I thought I'd try adding a couple dishes to my every day meals. This morning I made a Japanese breakfast. I have never had rice and miso for breakfast so I had to guess on portion sizes. Even though I only had 1/2c rice and about the same amount of soup, I was stuffed! I couldn't finish my rice which I ate last. I really want to go get a Tamago pan from the Asian Market next time I'm in Raleigh. My tamago turned out alright for using a round pan but they look much prettier when you have the right tools. I'm still not going to eat meat other than fish but I'll incorporate eggs back in I guess. The tamago was not greasy like most eggs I've eaten in American restaurnts. They were light and fluffy and a little sweet. Can't wait to experiment some more! Don't worry, I will have 4th of July stuff to post later =P

Guitar Cake

I finished making a Birthday cake for my friend Joel's 21st today. I decorated the cake to look like his guitar. I didn't have straight wire so I used really thick thread for the strings. The cake is red velvet (so I guess the guitar will bleed when stabbed o.O) with vanilla buttercream. I LOVED making this cake and just HAD to add a cute little dinosaur (inside joke lol). I can't wait to give it to him this afternoon. Happy Birthday Joel! Hope you enjoy eating it as much as I enjoyed creating it ^__^
PS I just made business cards so hopefully I will have more cakes to play with!

BP Oil Clean Up Solution - Save the Beaches!

The Wisconsin-based textile company Monterey Mills has a big heart - they were one of our generous donors at Maker Faire. They've proposed to BP a huge improvement to the booms being used to soak up oil from the water in the Gulf, but their proposal has gotten lost in the tens of thousands of suggestions BP has received, and BP has yet to respond. Check out this amazing demonstration of what wool can do, then spread the word until BP can hear us.

Feeling Creative

There were a ton of cute and very original items being sold this past weekend at Animazement. One of these, which I mentioned in my last post, were sushi pillows. They were very expensive and not very detailed. I decided I would make some instead! I love building and crafting things and, even if the cost of supplies ended up being the same as buying a pillow, I would have that feeling of achievement by doing it myself. So the next day my mom and I went to the fabric store and bought enough for me to make a couple large pillows and then several small. I had never used a sewing machine before so my mom had to help me get started but I got the hang of it pretty quick. I just finished tonight and, even though it's not perfect, I am very happy with it. Not too bad for my first time EVER sewing more than a couple little stitches by hand. I look forward to making more pillows and maybe coming up with my own ideas for crafty, fun toys like at the convention.

Animazing Weekend!

I had an amazing Memorial day weekend! I was able to finish the birthday cake and get ready in time to go to Animazement Saturday. The car cake did not quite turn out like I had wanted it to and in the rush I forgot to take any pictures. I made the car out of chocolate cake layers with vanilla buttercream in between. I carved it into a car, covered it with buttercream, and instead of fondanting it like I should have, I decided to try just using buttercream. I was afraid that if I used fondant that it would cover up the detail work I did when carving the car. I should have know better though since I don't decorating with just buttercream very often. I mounted it on a yellow sheet cake and then decorated it. It looked like a car when I was finish but I didn't feel it was good enough. My client knew it was my first carved cake though and her son loved it so, at the end of the day, that's all that really matters.

Vendors

We headed to Animazement around 3pm which was a LOT later than I had hoped. It wasn't cheap for the all day pass so I wanted to be there as much as possible. We still had a great time though. There were so many amazing costumes and vendors selling their adorable and unique items. There was one lady selling sushi shaped pillows. I thought they were adorable but when I looked at the price I couldn't afford what she was charging. I just can't find reason in blowing that kind of money on a pillow... I did, however, find a stuff Ryo-Ohki for a very low price. I have been looking for that silly thing for at least 6 years now and have only been able to find it for at least $50 or more.
We went to dinner later on and then came back for the Rave. It was my first and it did not disappoint. Hundreds of people cosplaying and dancing around it a lot of fun. People were also dancing with glow sticks which made for some amazing pictures.


I got to go on stage with a group of people and dance! I have never done anything like that before either but I didn't feel nervous at all. It was just a room full of people, having fun, and dancing however the music moved them, there was no judging. We ended up not getting home until around 2am and then watched some Anime until 4am. My feet were killing me since I spent half the night in high healed boots but otherwise I had a great night with my friends. Next year I really want to cosplay. I would have this year but we decided to go the night before so I didn't have time.