Keep it simple.

be present in the moment, quiet your mind, and stay grounded. allow your life to become uncomplicated. in simplicity you will find harmony, clarity, and joy.

They make their own Vanilla.

Lola Berry New York - Episode 2 from Lola Berry on Vimeo.


They age bourbon and vanilla beans in vodka for 4 months? hm?

NEW THINGS to experiment with! Thanks to an inspiring lady from Brooklyn!

Anita from Electric Blue Baking Company sent me some awesome ingredients and a lovely postcard. I have mentioned her in the past and it seems she is growing and growing in the food business. Her accomplishments/unique creations continue to inspire me every day. I appreciate her opening up to me and taking time to email me occasionally and sending me ingredients that are very informative and great for me! (Thank you sooo much! You are such a beautiful lady. Someday down the road I hope we meet!) She compacted all these goods in a recycled granola box! SMART LADY :)  I am so excited to experiment. The ingredients - Green Tea (Matcha Powder), Azuki Beans, Sweet Rice Flour and Yuzu Salt. I have been wanting to make green tea cake for quite awhile but haven't been able to find the powder. Anita mentioned Mochi and using it as a fondant alternative. And Azuki (adzuki) beans are used in many Japanese desserts. Researching a bit, it is boiled and made into a paste and often sweetened and just used as a filling in pastries. Some GREAT ingredients to be informed of. Can't wait to experiment and learn more!! These ingredients will also be good options for vegan and staying away from corn products.

Egg Free Cookies

Egg Free Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies and Double Chocolate.  (information/results to come soon!) 

End to February

I got myself a new pretty notebook to start writing all of my recipes in. Instead of having them float all over on random pieces of cardstock! So I will start keeping my collection more organized and safe, and then cake design ideas/sketches will be in my other notebook/sketchbook. All kept together. I also have a few collage ideas in mind. 

Also following is Ginger Bread that I made with a glaze and some sugared cranberries. I kind of got in a cranberry kick and decided I need to have cranberries in more products. Cranberry muffins, bread, donuts..  

They really look lovely too :)

This time last year.

Hela hey helloa Cha Cha

So I've been super busy with my somewhat new job and other things going on. Sometimes you have dreams and want to make plans after plans and have a list of things to do. But sometimes life just happens.
However, I look at the Month ahead and have quite a few projects and deadlines set up. Going to finish my Calendar design finally, A Collage I will complete.. for March 17th I am going to make LOTS of sugar cookies with logos on them for St. Patty's day for a local business, and March 25th I have 2 cakes to design. I also have a logo to create for my brother for a Microbrewery idea and a cake for April 1st. So along with my design job that keeps me quite busy, I have some fun projects on the side to really look forward to this month! I've been starting to rework my calendar - editing photos, etc, and hope to maybe redo some cake typography work for the first few pages of it. Then I plan to bind them with ribbon and then make an envelope/pouch to put each one in. I need to buy some good paper! It seems I have a good amount of things lined up this month. This is the time things picked up last year! March must be cake month with school year coming to an end, birthdays, exams, professors leaving, etc! Lets hope this year.. it picks up and stays up. Or better yet, continues to go up up UP!

A few goals:
1. To get back into experimenting with vegan and allergy friendly goods again.
2. Experiment MORE with my large selection of flours and see what goes well with what - Quinoa, Spelt, Buckwheat, Sorghum, Tapioca, Arrowroot, Brown Rice, etc.
3. More sugar alternatives - Brown Rice Syrup, Zsweet, Agave..
4. Work more with wood (finish "Bite My Cupcake" project first)
5. More Collages and mixed media
6. Yoga/ Develop a more healthy relaxed routine with exercise and better diet
7. Write more
8. Read before bed
9. Extend my research. Spend more time at the library. Learn more complicated things.
10. Pics for blog of creation in the process - baking, mixing, design, etc. And posting steps and techniques/tips. Maybe even document my logo work - sketches/thumbprints in the process and being reworks.
10. Give myself a break

My job is going well. I have learned a lot and been having fun. It is fun to learn about the news media business and how things are gone about.. and meeting deadlines are thrilling. It is really great that I continue to learn more and more about programs. Over time you continue to learn even more you can do in photoshop, It is good to be told to create a certain ad and have to go out of your boundery lines to figure out how to create something a certain way. I've always enjoyed design but have enjoyed working more with illustrator and Indesign, and was never one to mess around in photoshop and be more edgy. I've alway been really clean and neat with my design. But it is good to be getting more into photoshop and learning more about masking, and how really I can put things MORE together in photoshop then I used to. One create a full ad in photoshop, cut/paste, etc. etc. . However, unless doing something with a mask.. I still would never care to throw type into photshop. and dang, I actually seem to love Quark way better than design. It is also good that working with programs and deadlines, I have learned how to work faster and quicker and I continue to do so. Quick keys are very important along with just knowing how to see things and work at a faster pace. My work environment is full of really great - friendly and interesting people. I love them!  I want to learn to manage my time a little bit better though. It is hard to do with the news business, especially my area, not knowing when ads or copy will come in .. But I can figure things out a little better and figure out how to be extra great at my job and also do projects that I want on the side with a schedule and comfortable (somewhat) of a routine. SIMPLIFY. but be very productive. Simple and effective. and enjoying every day.

"The Breakup Cake"

 I had what I thought was a crazy/half asleep thought to make a cake that had ..  A brownie bottom, with graham cracker crust still and then cheesecake ontop. It happens it turned out an AMAZING creation. I think. If only it was egg free! Sometimes half asleep design thoughts or even dreams.. can turn out brilliant! I think a lot of my fun random paper design projects were even thought of when I woke up in the middle of the night and had to quickly jot or sketch in my notebook! Ha! (I haven't woke up in the middle of the night like that for a long time though.) Or thoughts come to your head when you are in other locations or working on other projects. It is interesting how random things, maybe some little thing you come across in your daily routine can just suddenly make you think of  how to create something new or how to complete something. Its funny how you never know when you'll get a creative idea or when something will pop in our head. And often times when we TRY to think of things or try to make thumbnail sketches our minds can't think. Creative thoughts just pop in our head unexpected. Its funny how our minds wander.. and also never stop thinking of new things to create.

This is what I came up with:
A nice thick chewy/fudge chocolate brownie bottom with chocolate chunks, followed by a layer of peanut butter chocolate sauce, a peanut butter graham cracker crust, a thick peanut butter swirled cheesecake layer with crunched up peanuts, chocolate and chocolate curls on top. Chocolate sauce drizzled over top. Chocolaty goodness.

A challenge down the road: egg free, and NO PEANUTS. NO!. I just like to look at things and think of what others would enjoy and like to have fun. My friend mentioned all organic peanut butter and what kind of peanut butter he uses, so it just made me think of throwing peanut butter in and how to use better quality ingredients. And sometimes I get away from the allergy friendly experimenting. Well I mostly have been lately. Sometime I need to make a vow: absolutely no more baking with eggs or nuts. And truly go back to figuring out ways to make these exciting desserts in an allergy free form.. but trick others into thinking its just like those that have egg, etc. Cut the ingredients out of my kitchen all together. Someday.. if I'm going to focus more on this.. I cant have cross contamination.
But for now.. an awesome/Beautiful creation! for those who can have eggs and peanuts!
For the rest of us.. I have an amazing vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe I came up with in the past. When it all boils down to it.. NOTHING beats a good, chewy chocolate chip cookie. Chocolate chip cookies will always be the best :)

First Birthday Cake Set

Cake to serve approximately 50 people for a child's first birthday! The boy loves Dr. Seuss and balloons. The small kids cake and the cake on the left were all white in flavor with buttercream frosting and the one on the left a chocolate cake. They wanted to be sure to have some chocolate cake, so I split the design up into two different cakes! Wanted to include balloons so.. the Cat and the hat is holding a balloon in the right hand, unlike the photo I looked at of him holding a fish bowl. Had to work late that night at my design job – so by the time I was finishing up with the cake, it was getting VERY LATE and I was falling asleep!. But SUCCESS! It turned out great! :)

Ginger Cheesecake

Ginger Cheesecake with crystalized ginger bits and a ginger cookie crust. Cooked cranberries/sugar/applejuice as a sauce on top.