A Halloween Baking Story

Once upon a time, two friends met up to bake for Halloween....

They were successful in making these Frankenstein cupcakes.

However, they failed miserably in trying to make melted witches.....

Po desperately hoped that they would throw them in her mouth instead of the trash can.  Po was sad.

The END.

Reflections on 9/11

Today marks the ten year anniversary of September 11, 2001.  I always say it, but again, time flies by so fast.  To think that it has already been a decade...wow.  The memory is still very vivid and I imagine it will stay that way forever.

I graduated high school in 2001.  My graduation gift was a trip to New York City.  I grew up in Connecticut but never really got the chance to visit New York and do all of the touristy things like visit Times Square or watch a Broadway show.  So I finally got my wish in June 2001.  We stayed in the Ameritania Hotel which was right above the David Letterman show studios.  We visited the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, and of course, the World Trade Center.

I remember us walking towards the WTC, our feet hurting from walking so many blocks, but being amazed at the height of these buildings.  I was a little nervous because anyone who knows me well knows that I am afraid of heights.  It wasn't until we actually got in line to go up the elevator that I realized no one was allowed on the outside roof (I thought it would be similar to going to the top of the Empire State building).  The man who guided us in the elevator was telling my parents about some salsa dancing event that occurs outside on the promenade at night.  We flew up to the floor and I remember being so afraid to even go near the windows.  I felt like I was going to faint.  But eventually, I got over it and peered down at the city below.  It was amazing. 

Three months later and those towers were crumbling to the ground.  I couldn't believe my eyes.  It was my first semester in college and I had just left my apartment to go to my math lab.  I hadn't heard anything on TV before leaving and everyone else was in class as usual.  But I will never forget a male student in the corner saying, "The Twin Towers are gone."  I was confused more than anything, hoping that he was wrong or playing some kind of sick joke.  But he was right.

A few years after I had graduated college and was working full time, I went to a week-long crisis responder training.  It was a tough week, and at the end of it all we had the chance to put our skills to practice.  We simulated a group crisis intervention session (GCI) and our instructor had us sit in a circle and talk about where we were on 9/11/01.  After about half the circle shared their story, the instructor told me to get up and lead the rest of the group.  After a moment's panic and hesitation, I got up.  I asked the next person to share their story and the woman goes on to share that she was actually in one of the Towers on the 17th floor when one of the planes struck.  She goes on to share through her tears that she froze.  She remembers someone helping her out of the building.  After that, she says everything just moved in slow motion like a movie.  I could not believe that this practice session had just turned into something very real - and I happened to be the guinea pig facilitator....So what do you say?  What did I say??  I don't remember exactly but I said something to her and the group.  All I remember is her coming up to me and giving me a hug.  But really, she was the one that needed to be applauded.  I can't imagine what she must have gone through.  What she shared was very real and not sugar-coated at all.  While there were many heroes in New York that day, she also experienced and lived through seeing people at their worst.  Nobody can judge her reflections on that day.  It was her experience and she was strong enough to share it with a group of people she had only known for about 35 hours at the point.  I hope she is doing well and that she has some sort of peace of mind on this anniversary.

I remember 9/11 and always will.  I will always think of those people who I had a quick interaction with on a bright and hot summer day in June 2001.  I was just a high school graduate ready to move forward with my life, just wanting to visit a city that inspired me.  A city that still inspires me to this day....

Rest in peace to all those that lost their lives on September 11, 2001.  I love you New York City.

Introducing Cake Pops!

They are a major pain in my neck but...they are cute!  You basically crumble a cake and mix in some frosting and then form and chill the actual balls of cake.  Then you get to dip them in some melted candy coating, pop them on a lollipop stick and you are good to go with whatever design.

These were chicken cake pops I made for my coworker's son's birthday.  The candy coating was difficult to work with on my first try so I tried my best to spoon it around and make it look like "feathers."

Basketballs - this time for my boss's son's birthday!  I piped the basketball lines on with melted chocolate.

Baby Shower Cake Pops!  Candy necklace candies were used for the pacifiers!  :)

Investing in a candy melting pot was a good idea.  It made it a whole lot easier to dip and coat the cake pops!  Yummy!

Blog Title Regrets?

The reason I named my blog "Feathers in My Hair" is because I loved the various fascinators that English people wore at weddings.  It was a random thing I thought about when I had to choose a name for my blog.  I thought it was cute.  I thought it was whimsical.  Now, I'm just like, "Why????"  Apparently, literal feathers in your hair is all the rage right now.  Just one or a few long feathers serving as a strand of your hair.  I don't know what I think.  All I know is that I much prefer the visual of having random feathers just sticking out the top of your head.  Just my opinion.  If you're going to be silly, go all out!  To me, having a feather strand or two that ALMOST blends in with the rest of your hair is right there on the verge of taking yourself too seriously.  I'd rather have the feather factor be all up in my face rather than realizing later that "Wait, you have a feather in your hair!"  Own the feathers, put more in, let them shine!

P.S.  No regrets.  "Feathers in My Hair" is what it is.

Thank you, thank you very much...

     I finally was able to go and visit my nephew in Tennessee this summer.  He lives in a small town in between Memphis and Nashville.  The views on our road trip were just beautiful.  I can't wait to schedule another trip and visit the Great Smoky Mountains.  An amazing part of the trip was the fact that my nephew had no idea that we were visiting.  We drove to his tiny town, watching nothing but fields of corn and silos whiz by.  We pulled up and he comes out and just stares at the car until he realizes that it's us!

   He took us immediately over to his horses, except that they weren't there just yet.  They called them over and they came running up from the meadow and forest.  All five of them!  It's funny...my half Puerto-Rican nephew is a cowboy in Tennessee.  He seemed happy and content with this way of life, no matter if I could never imagine myself living in a similar environment.
    We ended up taking him to Memphis for two days.  We visited Graceland first.  It was funny imagining this grand estate, but the actual mansion is not that big.  But I guess back then it was considered a big house (he only paid $100,000 for it!).  We were given a tour of the inside of the house, as well as the surrounding grounds and additional exhibits.  I always knew Elvis was the King, but seeing all of his records, awards, and posters/memorabilia was just mind-boggling.  After the tour, we saw the gravesite and took pictures.  Another thing that perplexed me was the proximity of the estate to the main road.  There are also neighborhoods on the other side of the fence.  Can you imagine living in a house with a backyard that runs up against Graceland?
     After Graceland, we headed over to our hotel in downtown Memphis.  Right across from the hotel there was Mud Island River Park, which had a mini Mississippi river you could wade in.  It was actually really cool and made to size as it ran through all of the states that it cuts through.  It all ended with a huge swampy pond in New Orleans that led out to a small lake where my nephew and I rode paddle boats.  After that we headed over to Beale Street and some of the other sites in Memphis.

    The next morning we went to the National Civil Rights Museum, which is adjacent to the Lorraine Motel, the site where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.  It was very emotional to go through the tour and see the actual hotel room where Dr. King stayed.  The entire tour was intense and I am so glad to say that my nephew payed really close attention to all of the exhibits.  I was a little scared that it would be a waste of money and he wouldn't want to go in, but he really was standing there digesting all of the information.  After the tour, we headed over to the Memphis Zoo where it was ridiculously hot.

Johnny Cash!

     It was sad taking him back home after our adventures in Memphis, but I truly believe that he had a great time.  When we took him back home, he took me on a ride on his go-kart into the woods!  It was kind of scary but cool to go through the woods and then land in an open field with dragonflies buzzing by as we drove.  It was a wonderful trip, a long overdue trip, but I am so happy I got to see him.  I know he was sad when we left but I just hope that he could focus on the positive and be glad that we got to have fun with him while we were up there.  I miss him already :)

The city where my nephew lived is in between Memphis and Nashville, and that's a long stretch of driving.  We wanted to take him to Nashville with us but it would have been too much driving back and forth.  So as we made our way to Florida, we stopped in Nashville for a day.  It just happened to be the Country Music Awards Fest, but it was so much fun!  We did a trolley tour and saw all of the main sights:  the state capitol, the Parthenon, Music Row, and the Country Music Hall of Fame among others.

So it was nice to meet you Tennessee!  We'll meet again soon!

HOTlanta!

Oh, summer vacations always go by so fast!  This summer I had the chance to go to several places.  I first started of by going to Atlanta with one of my good friends, Mandy.  Here are a few pics of the places we hit on our trip to HOTlanta (definitely not an exaggeration...)

We visited the top of Kennesaw Mountain.  It was pretty hazy so the views of Atlanta weren't the best.  It was a really nice hike though.

RANDOM ALERT!  We visited the Cabbage Patch Hospital!  It was just too unbelievable to pass up.  I had to see a Cabbage Patch being born, and we did!  Mother Cabbage was dilated ten leaves! lol.  I was amazed at how all Cabbage Patch babies pretty much always have that distinctive smell.  I'm pretty sure my own still has that smell (wherever she is - in the attic maybe...)

We visited this small northern Georgia town of Helen, which basically was Epcot Germany x1000.  We went tubing down the mountain river and saw lots of interesting sites, including a dog floating down on his own tube, as well as a baby sporting a real mullet. Really...

Random alert again!  GOATS ON A ROOF!  This was so much fun.  It basically is just this roadside attraction where you can feed goats.  I sat on this bike and wheeled a cup of food up to the goats on the roof (they could come up and down as they pleased).  It was odd, but cute!

I had a great time in Atlanta, and I could talk about visiting the Georgia Aquarium, or Olympic Centennial Park or Coca-Cola headquarters....but, I must leave you with this pic of....milkshakes?!  These aren't just regular milkshakes, folks.  These are liquid nitrogen milkshakes from Top Chef All-Star's winner Richard Blaise's burger restaurant, Flip!  Delicious!  What you see here are the Strawberry Shortcake and some kind of toasted marshmallow milkshake.  They were super light and creamy.  Yum! Cheers to Atlanta!

New cupcake designs

Here are two of my most recent cupcake designs:

I made these Hello Kitty cupcakes for my friend Christey's birthday.  It was my first attempt at using fondant and it was a little difficult.  You can see that some of the faces are a little wrinkled (she needs a little Botox) and that's because I underestimated how quickly the fondant dries out.  But I thought they turned out pretty cute - better than trying to draw the faces by hand with icing like I did last time.

And these were the ones I made for Easter.  Pretty simple to do, but they took a lot of time.  I cut out egg shapes from graham crackers, then iced them with frosting and dipped them in the colored sugar.  Then I piped out the lines with colored frosting and added some decorative hearts, flowers, and other shaped confetti candies.  I loved the colors!

Look back soon for some pictures of cake pops I made.  I've made three so far - they are exactly what they sound like.  Cake balls stuck onto a lollipop!