give me cake

Ever since Megan and I got a Coffee Crunch Cake from Yasukochi’s Sweet Stop Bakery in San Francisco, I’ve been wanting to make one. I found a recipe online for Blum’s Coffee Crunch Cake, which I figured was close enough.

coffee crunch cake.JPG

The cake is a chiffon cake, and the frosting is whipped cream. The “crunch” part is sort of like an airy toffee, I guess. It was fascinating to make–at one point you sprinkle baking soda into the candy syrup, and the whole thing starts to foam up like some crazy witch potion! It was very messy applying the crunch to the cake, but I think it turned out pretty well.
Read on for the recipe …

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Posted in baking | 9 Comments

sweets

Candyswapper membership is coming along well. We have more than 100 members so far! Woohoo! I can’t wait for the first swap!
Okay, so to continue with sweets talk, here’s a book I’ve had for a really long time. It was stashed at my parents’ house, but I found it there the other day and stole it (I got permission from my mother). It’s all about Japanese sweets!

japn sweets cover.JPG

With instructions like these, I might even be able to figure out how to make some of this stuff:
japn sweets directions.JPG

Japanese sweets use a lot of pounded sweet rice and sweetened bean paste:
japn sweets hooded guys.JPGjapn sweets pudding.JPG
Yummy!

Posted in candy/chocolate | 6 Comments

give me candy

Wow, we are building a very nice group of candy lovers! Just remember that you can join at any time, so there’s no pressure to join, say, today, if you don’t want to. Also, becoming a member does not mean you are obligated to participate in each swap. You are free to pick and choose (we believe in free will among candyswappers).
Here’s a button you can download if you want:

candyswap-button.png

The link to the group site is as follows:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/candyswappers/
So for the first swap (the regional sweets swap), I plan to send out an announcement early next week to open signups. Signups will close at the end of next week, then early the following week I will send out swap assignments. Candy should go in the mail within a week if possible. You don’t want to keep your candyswap recipient waiting, do you?

Posted in candy/chocolate | 2 Comments

announcing candyswappers!

So last year I toyed with the idea of putting together a candy swap. I set up a yahoo group and promptly ignored it. Well, lately I haven’t been getting very interesting mail, but I figure if I get the candyswapper group rolling, I would at least be guaranteed some candy once a month, right? So for purely selfish reasons, I now give you CANDYSWAPPERS.

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So here are some things you should know:
– You have to join the yahoo group to participate (duh), and you have to fill out the questionnaire in order to participate in a swap
– We will have monthly (or monthly-ish, depending on how busy I feel) candy swaps. You don’t have to participate in each swap. We’ll have signups for each one
– You must be 18 or older to join (I don’t want any angry parents coming after me)
– International candy lovers are free to join, but please keep in mind that candy sent overseas might be confiscated (i.e., eaten) by border patrols or homeland security folks
There’s lots of other information and guidelines at the group site (yes, there’s a FAQ).
OKAY, so the first swap will be mid March, assuming we get enough members to sign up. I think the theme will be regional sweets, since it will be a getting-to-know-you kind of swap. What do you think?
To join Candyswappers, please go here.

Posted in candy/chocolate | 21 Comments

nomadic sewing

After we moved to our new house last September, I set up my sewing room on the second floor. I was pretty pleased with it until November, when a cold spell hit, and I couldn’t go upstairs without donning several layers of fleece, down, and other arctic gear (we have no insulation on the second floor, and we’re not heating it right now, either). Anyway, a couple weeks ago I moved everything to the basement room, which is now a multipurpose room (guest/sewing/treadmill room). I finally got most everything set up today. It still has a ways to go, but I think it is now functional:

new-sewing-room.jpg

I couldn’t figure out how to make the colors in the panorama blend together. Can you believe I took an online Photoshop class, and I ended it knowing less than when I began?

Posted in sewing | 14 Comments

my day at the mall

Armed with your lip gloss suggestions, I made my way to the mall today. I went to Nordstrom, where a nice boy representing Smashbox smeared some foundation on my face (it actually feels pretty light, but who am I kidding–I’m too lazy to actually use it on a daily basis) and helped me pick out a tinted lip treatment. I had been interested in the Photo Finish lipstick, but the colors were stronger than I seem to wear these days.
I also finally went to Forever 21 to redeem the gift card Peter got me for Valentine’s Day. I, uh, well, okay, so I started laughing when I was in there, because I would never wear 99.9 percent of the clothes in there. I am a T-shirt and jeans kind of gal! I wear fleece! I managed to find one little blouse, but that was it. I guess it’s been too long since I was 21.
Oh, and I did go to Bath & Body Works and pick up one of the Bigelow lip balms. So many of you spoke fondly of it, so I figured something must be going on! Thanks again for all your advice. Stay tuned for the next beauty question!

Posted in General | 5 Comments

more beauty questions

It seems the beauty questions get a lot of you to share your opinions and experiences, which is great and immensely helpful (I still haven’t made it out to Sephora to check out Bare Essentuals, but I will), so here’s another question for you: what are your favorite lip glosses?
Recently I have tried several: Nars, Revlon, and Mark (Avon’s brand that targets teens or some other demographic to which I do not belong). The Nars has more staying power and more pigment than the others. The Revlon is kind of lame, really. It doesn’t have much color, and for these washed out, wrinkled lips, color is a necessity.
Do share your thoughts, please!

Posted in General | 32 Comments

under the knife

Some of you may remember my friend Megan. Two years ago she was fighting aggressive breast cancer. Today she has a clean bill of health. She is having reconstructive surgery tomorrow (Wednesday), which means she will no longer have to worry about the squishy silicone insert popping out of her bra and shirt.

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This little critter will keep her company as she recovers from the surgery. Her name is Kishi (Kishi Joten is the Japanese goddess of luck and beauty, or so the Internet tells me).

Posted in General | 18 Comments

it’s that time of year again

Oh yeah.

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And no, they’re not all for me.

Posted in candy/chocolate | 15 Comments

both dogs are still alive

and my brother is still alive as well, so I guess it was a good weekend (though Berkeley now has some sort of eye issue. His left eye is swollen and leaky). Peter and I had a great time exploring a small section of the Columbia Gorge. We stayed at the Bonneville Hot Springs Resort and got to use the mineral pool and jacuzzi there. Here’s the view from our room:

bonneville view.JPG

One of my favorite features of the place was this sign:
bonneville area of rescue.JPG
They appeared throughout the hotel.
For Sunday brunch we headed east to the Skamania Lodge, which is much fancier and larger than Bonneville. It is also more popular, which is why I couldn’t get a room there! They have a killer weekend brunch with just about every kind of food you can imagine. This was the view from our table:
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We crossed the river back into Oregon via the Bridge of the Gods:
bridge of the gods.JPG
Native American lore states that a natural stone bridge existed where the current bridge now stands. This was my favorite bridge when I was a kid; every time we drove past it, I daydreamed about walking across it and imagined how beautiful it must have been.

Posted in General | 7 Comments