Unidentified Flying Cupcakes

Personal Fault

2005-12-31T20:52:00.000-08:00

I'm one of those people who can't sit still, unless I'm sleeping. Or reading a really good book. Or stuffing my face. Long story short: I'm leaving. Well, sort of. I'm not deleting this blog, for the sake of the few friends I have here. I am, however, advancing my knowledge of HTML (represent! w00t) by styling my own blog. I also like my own space, kind of like a home. I don't really want to be associated with any particular thing. Yeah, yeah, I'm uptight and fickle...your mom. I had a really great break and it inspired me to go revisit my creative side. So, here I am:
http://geocities.com/kokodango/
I'm getting hosted soon, so I'll post the new address. Oh, and Happy New Year. >____< Cheesy.

Long Time No Post and Why I Hate Olive Garden

2005-12-23T20:32:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I havn't been here. Pretty much because life around Christmas is absolutely murder. -ous. Merderous. I have been studying my a$$ (that's sensored for my curse-free friends, sorry guys) off for finals. I'm really getting scared about the big people up top who are looking at my semester grades and shaking their heads. Anyway, oh so why do I hate Olive Garden? Because it sucks pencils. As I explained to my father: why would I waste 10 bucks more on a crap salad or lame soup when I could eat awesome Ramen (Maruchan forever) for 35 cents? It doesn't make sense. But I do give in and go there for two reasons: One; my brother likes it and I'm a good person, and Two; they have Chocolate Lasagne. Two more, way more. Being a woman who loves chocolate is like being a heroin addict, as soon as you've gone too long with out it you start shaking and suffering other symptoms of withdrawl. It helped me emotionally and physically. In other news I'm having the time of my life with my grandma's camera, Minolta X-70 rocks my socks. I cannot WAIT until Christmas, it's another reason for everyone to be nice to each other, thank God. We went to Christmas Service on Wednesday (for those of you in the Chicago area, my church is the church getting beat up on the news for not having a Sunday service, bitchy Catholics should stuff it) which was wonderful. I love Christmas service, it's always so worth walking through the cold for. Oh, and I'm making a cake for Christmas, correction: made. My Genoise shrunk and deflated but it still looks good. It's the Chocolate Cranberry Cake from Joyofbaking.com. I got to pipe stars on top which totally made my day. Oh, and the gift-exchange with my friends went really well, I'm trying to appear more social, laugh laugh. Note: Jeff over at RiseoftheRev01ution.blogspot.com is sick so wish him well.

Speak One Language Well

2005-12-18T08:35:00.000-08:00

For the sake of feeling good aout yourself, take this test. At least I can speak on language, that's a boost of morale...

English Genius
You scored 85% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 86% Advanced, and 86% Expert!

You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly! Way to go!

Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it!

For the complete Answer Key, visit my blog: http://shortredhead78.blogspot.com/.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 14% on Beginner

You scored higher than 50% on Intermediate

You scored higher than 25% on Advanced

You scored higher than 77% on Expert

Thankful

2005-11-27T14:42:00.000-08:00

I'm not ecstatic to post, I'm actually kind of tired, but I had a wonderful weekend and I ought to do it justice.
Beginning with Wednesday, I went strait from school with Liz, Katie, and Emma to see Rent. I loved it. I'm not one of those people who, well, adores musicals. I ddidn't pay the $90 to see Wicked when it premiered in my home city, and I've never desired to travel to Braodway. I do, however, respect a good sotry line, believeable actors, and people who can actually sing. Plus, stories about good friends tug at my heartstrings. I got to go out to dinner with my family, and it was a great start to the weekend.
Thursday, was obviously amazing. I practically had a heart-attack on the spot when I walked into the overflowing kitchen at my Oma's house. I love seeing my cousins, too. We're close with my mom's side of the family, and her brother married a wonderful woman (my Aunt Sonia) and they have three awesome kids; Simone, 5, Max, 3, and Sophia, 1 1/2. One thing I've learned is that children from the same two parents can be so decidedly different. I held Simone when she was just born and since then she's become such an amazingly different, complex, and beautiful person than I could ever expect. Thursday I ate myself sick (for 5 hours strait) but I didn't mind and left with promises for recipes like Orange Brown Sugar Sweet Potatoes and Vegetarian Stuffing. No pictures, because it's all in the family.
Friday was less exciting, I was deciding whether or not to cook all day. We sat and strung popcorn for what seemed like an eternity. Dad was at work, Colton sat on the computer. We ordered chinese food that sucked. Actually, I no longer trust the health standards of Stone Dragon, so nobody go there. Really. I saw Hidalgo which was a decent movie because of the scenery, only.
Saturday, we got up early to go shopping at Woodfield for Christmas gifts and the like. Super fun. I got to choose a lot of what will be under the tree for myself, as well as checking off most of the people on my list. The lady at the make-up counter for Benefit was really sweet and helped me find simple things that were good for me. She put on mascara (gently, without poking or proding) and told me I looked like a doll. It's not every day a stranger gives you a (believeable) compliment. She totally sold the products. Only downside of the day was mom's force-feeding of me. She worries so much it's...not sickening, just dissapointing. I do a lot to try and prove my responsibility. Honestly, I wasn't as apposed to eating as I was tired and needed a rest from the shopping. Over-all I had a good time. The day ended with my attempts to make Creme Caramel or Flan. I made caramel sauce, made custard, and everything was perfect until I tried to bake them with not-quite-hot-enough water. Here's a picture:
Horrifying, right? Luckily it was fun and I learned from it. Better luck next time. Sunday was deffinately the best day. We got up early, had a small breakfast, and headed into the city with my Oma. The first stop was the little, eclectic, Bleeding Heart Bakery pictured below:
It was so, unimaginably perfect to me. It was everything I dreamed about it a bakery. Not even kidding. When I first discovered I loved baking I told my brother that when we were older we would run a bakery. I would make everything and he would handle the business angles (ironically ideal and yet impossible). This is the epitome of my fantasy. Walking in felt like coming home (from a very long journey of beating my parents down with a stick). Not to mention they also have vegan options. The only hard part what deciding what to try (my stomach is only so large, but my mouth could have tasted every one). In the end I chose the Vegan Chocolate and Vanilla Bean Torte.
And I didn't share, with anybody. Okay so I am a bitch, sometimes. It was so perfect. At the end I was "full", just pressing beyond "satisfied" lightly, but not foggy or stuffed or whiny. Just happy. What I loved was that each bite was so delicious and a little sinful, but at the end it didn't make me feel sick or chemically like food at The Cheesecake Factory (Don't get me started. I'd commit a felony for a slice of their Blackout Cake sometimes). Photos of what my mom, dad, and brother tried are in my Flickr gallery. After that we headed to the center of Chicago (somewhere around State St.) to visit the annual ChristKindleMarkt. I can't think of a single thing I dislike about the ChristKindleMarkt except that it was rainy and freezing. However, it managed to be a wonderful time. It's lots of window-shopping because of the price range, but everything's so beautiful and unique. We got to see a man blowing glass ornaments, and I got to try chocolate covered fruit (Schokolade-Obst), see?

My favorite part was going to the sweet shop and spending all my money. Haha, I'm so broke. But now I've got my winter stash, and I'm heading into the next week happy.

A Slice of the Good Life

2005-11-19T18:54:00.000-08:00

Today was good. I have mixed feelings about Saturdays because they are a) incredibly busy and b) incredibly fun. The downer of the day was not having Japanese class, it canceled. I love my personal trainer though, she makes me feel so good about myself and it's the only reason I get out of bed in the morning. Serving at Dr. B's was fun, as always. Yesterday night we had training, but I knew almost everything since I've been there so long. The worst part is that I'm so stuck in my ways because I've been doing everything for a year and a half. Coffee is coffee; I know it, love it, unerstand it. People correcting me pisses me off. I got to go to the library, too, which always makes my day. Books are endless. Oh, and after Dr. B's we went to Baker's Square so mom and I could try the new Triple Chocolate Treat which totally rocked my socks off. My new goal in life is to accomplish chocolate ganache. Well, actually I'd like to take on Pate a Choux first...but oh well. A few nights ago I made these things for dinner and dessert: The banana chocolate chip upside-down cake was really good. And don't the bell-shaped biscuits just kill you? Holy Bisquick it's almost Thanksgiving. I can't believe that. Way too fast. That means I have to put my butt into gear with semester grades. Yikes. Oh, and people creep me out. Apparently there's a lot more emotional stress that I don't know about. At one point people told me everything. I was the go-to girl. Now I'm like...I don't even know...the random bi-lingual food-nerd. I should start chewing pencils and reading Alton Brown. By the way, I found this really adoreable, cheap, crafty-site called Etsy and it's now my Christmas list. All of it. Signing off in a good mood.

Ending of a Weekend

2005-11-13T17:15:00.000-08:00

Today was so busy. I did so many things, it felt great. It's so depressing that today must be followed by monday. I made my first ever loaf of bread today, from the Panera Bread Cookbook which is amazing. It was honey wheat and tasted good although it was ugly. I helped make cookies for some people at bible study (but we kept half the batch) and my most successful even was my dinner, vegetable and potato mixed curry. It was heavenly. Here are brief photos of each, then I'll stop rambling.

Pistachi-No and Coco Nuts

2005-11-12T19:07:00.000-08:00

I love weekends. And I love long weekends more. The thing about weekends is that you have time to make a lot of grand, stunning realizations. Going to church helps, also. If you don't like listening to people drone on about life's lessons, just bite your tongue and hear me out. The thing about life is that you honestly never know what's going to happen, that's why people say "make a decision for the moment, for now". Plenty of you roll your eyes, including myself. It's a natural reaction to think things over, to plan out. I come from a family of planners, and I feel like that's natural. I was getting confused about why I was so unhappy, then I realized I kept turning down oppurtunities like saving up points for something, I was denying myself in hopes that I could "win" or "earn" something that would make me happy, then suddenly I realized that something, anything, could happen and this illusion would never come. Pretty deep, and it probably means nothing to anyone. And hey, I'm not saying planning is wrong, or that you should go crazy and party everyday and never second guess yourself, but what I realized is that truely happy people allow themselves to be happy. So whether it's spending an extra $100 at a store, or taking an extra day off work, or buying the most ginormously huge incredibly rich and creamy piece of coconut cream pie you've ever seen in your natural life (if you were me today, tee hee) then do it. Don't even question yourself. Because for some reason you compelled by (if you believe in) God or whatever powers there are to do so, and you'll be thankful in the end.
Oh, and the other day Celia stayed over which was so totally awesome and we baked a cake. It was pretty hard core. Here's a snap shot from my account on Flickr and the recipe is here

Apples are apples

2005-11-06T11:35:00.000-08:00

Weekend finally came, thank heaven. For reasons I won't blather about, this week was incredibly difficult. I knew what I needed was time alone, to myself, and then I got sick. Which was nice, because it was an excuse not to go anywhere and do whatever I want. The only problem is that people tend to fret over me when I'm sick, and that sucks. Oh, and I missed Joey's 16th birthday which made me feel awful about myself. But I sent him his present, a book called The Nature of Constant or maybe The Constants of Nature, but it was really interesting stuff about numbenrs that effected the world and our lives and he called me just to say how much he liked it. That made my day. And yesterday I got a really sweet e-mail from mom, which also made that day. And I determined I can't sew, because I desroyed a potential sock monkey. And today I got to bake! Booyah! I made Apple Scone Cake from that wonderful lady at JoyofBaking.com and even my little brother (who hates pie) liked it! Dance, dance.
This week is 3 days because of Veteran's Day so I'm not worried about the week ahead, what I learned this weekend is that I have so many things and moments to look forward to in each day of my life, I'm so fortunate, I really have nothing to be sad or upset about.

Bleach

2005-10-30T18:50:00.000-08:00

I just bleached my hair.
Level 40 Hydrogen burns like a mofo.
Anyway, here's samples of before and after:

If you know me, and don't speak to me in person, you're probably wondering "why?" Well, why is the sky blue? I woke up at five this morning to a barking dog, started researching lomography and 35 mm film cameras and decided I would start pouring hydrogen peroxide over my head to try and bleach my hair. A moment of insanity or brilliance? The choice is yours. Oh, but by noon I realized over-the-counter hydrogen isn't strong enough so I picked up hair color at Wal-Mart. Golly, I love my mom.
Happy Halloween ya'll.

Happy Weekend

2005-10-29T19:16:00.000-07:00

Lord. I am so glad this week is over. It was hard, actually. Most of my grades are well...bad. And I've been rather short tempered. Friday night I did whatever I wanted, which was exactly what the doctor ordered. The other night we grilled out and I made stuffed peppers (which are actually supposed to go in the oven) that got burnt but tasted awesome, and I was proud to be the only one at the table eating something inventive. Here's a crap picture:

That was fun. Then I pretty much relied on refridgerator nonsense because mom and I had a fight. No, a war. About what? The usual stuff. I'm a medical case, I swear to it. Finally this weekend rolled around and life's been good. We had off volunteering and had a microwave party (killer) and I made dessert. I totally relied on a recipe for the cupcake but decided to make my own frosting. Not smart. Here's before frosting:

They looked nice then. So originally I was going to have banana frosting, but it was way, way too runny so it became peanut butter banana frosting. Darn strait. It became like a sticky goop from the deep but it tasted like liquid sugar so...::shrug:: and mom and Colt ate 2 each (and me!) so all's well that ends well, hey? Here's the frosted photo:

Tadaa. Oh, and I concluded that screwing with the Brightness/Contrast decreases the horrific-ocity of my photos. I need to take a class.
And also, people are really starting to piss me off. Why can't people be more like cupcakes? Why can't people eat more cupcakes. Jeebus.
And also, the dog eats random things outside. One of these days he'll turn purple and they'll all say it was my fault.

Half-Caff

2005-10-22T06:47:00.000-07:00

Mom and I went grocery shopping, best time I've had in days. We get along there better than two peas in a pod, and I always have fun. We went to Starbucks, she said I could get my cappucino half-caffeinated, I was glad. I told her I was moody, she said it was the medicine and that was okay. I come home and no one wants to hear from me or talk to me. Dad and I fight, my brother gets a "headache" and says awful things but it's his birthday and nobody cares. I forget that mom and I are friends, and head upstairs. Dad make jokes about my attitude, my personality, me. You'd think we wern't related. He says I should never have caffeine. He's the one addicted, it's always pulsing through his blood, he's always five seconds from being angry, from exploding. I don't want to celebrate. Happy half-birthday to me.
I didn't bake anything.

Blogphobianomia

2005-10-20T17:28:00.000-07:00

This post is all ranting and raving, please cover your ears.
Everyone has a blog these days, many for no purpose whatsoever but to be like everyone else. I am only reassured by the one fact that a few good souls with good hearts to pour outs and thought to speak are getting blogs. Today, Jeff got his blog up. I was so happy for him, but then I imidiately became sad when I realized all the potential negativity a blog brings. And how can I know now what it will be for him in the future? I also realized that I turned down dating a very wonderful person las t year, who now is struggling with the pressures of someone else liking him and only wants to be alone. I can't help thinking that things could be different. I can't help thinking that I could have saved a lot of suffering, for both of us. And maybe reading these thoughts are what's causing all my stress and anger, maybe it's not helping. Because I'm so much less tolerant now of people I truely, honestly care about. I'm more fake than I realized. I miss running. I miss running as fast as I could and as hard as I could and walking for hours until I cleared my head. I miss being alone enough to be a better person, and I miss being with people enough to feel honestly social. I miss being confided in. This whole entry is crap. Oh yeah, and I didn't bake anything today. And can you tell it's the first day of my period?

Schoolsick

2005-10-19T17:16:00.000-07:00

Isn't funny how, when one is home one can finally appreciate the pressures of school or work? Ok, so not always. Last week being sick was a blast. Mom and I had fun baking and I spent more time with my dog in one day than I get most of the week. But today was bland, and I felt like I wasted away my cooking/baking time and didn't really accomplish anything. Oh, and Doc told me I'm not sick anymore, so no more days off. Crap. Oh, so my one joy of the day was taking a non-vegan recipe and making vegan substitutions with success! My favorite muffins are chocolate chip bran, so here's the new recipe with photo:

Eska's Vegan Chocolate Chip Bran Muffins

1 cup bran cereal
1 cup milk
1 tbsp. flaxseed meal (ground flaxseed)
3 tbsp. warm water
1/2 cup oil
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup chocolate chips (minis are best)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Put warm water and cereal together in a bowl and let sit 2-3 minutes.
Simmer flax in the 3 tbsp. water until thickened, 1-2 minutes.
Mix all ingredients until blended.
Pour batter into 12 muffin tins and bake 18-20 minutes until golden brown.
Note: Muffins are very moist and fall apart easy until very well cooled, and hot chocolate chips do burn!

Mexicana Monday

2005-10-17T17:40:00.000-07:00

Ahh, monday. You can smell the teachers looking for fresh blood..not. Everyone's so tired, I used to think I was the only one. Anyhoo, it was good to be back after missing a week for sickness (walking pneumonia) but it was so...incredibly...boring. I swear all I could think about all say was baking. I could think of something to bake for every day of the freaking week. When I finally got home I found out we were having tacos so I made cornbread. Not just any cornbread, grand semi-vegan cornbread. Yes friends, I am gradually making the transition to veganism and I replaced the eggs with flaxseed. But we don't have soy or rice milk T_T so I had to use regular (water wouldn't work the same, and I didn't have time to make nutmilk) but it was a start! Pictures below:

I realized something though (quite intelligent) if I convert completely to veganism now, I won't be able to learn basic culinary skills, like the art of egg white whipping, for example, and if I better understand the ingredients I'll need to replace in the future (once again, eggs) then it will be well, simpler. Besides, it's hard enough to convince my parents that staying meat-free is reasonable. X_X love

Alton Brown and Walking

2005-10-16T16:36:00.000-07:00

You know who scares the shiitake out of me? Alton Brown. He's the one chef who could double as a child molester, appearance wise. Today was eventful. The morning took forever, I was forced (well, out of the goodness of my heart) to eat eggs (don't start my baby chickens speech) to get "enough protein" for my parents. It's been about a month since the last time I got the vegetarian/vegan schpeel and now that the moon's coming out again and the wind's changing my parents are going into (hibernation?) super-survival-protection-mode. They're totally cyclic. Anyhoo, we did the Crop Walk with several churches, I brought Cece and Colt went with Macon. 4.8 miles is long as heck. Longer than your mom. Got back home to rest, Mum and Dad went to The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, as if they were five. But they're bringing home Panera Bread so no joke, no joke. I actually own The Panera Bread Cookbook but I'm too culinarily challenged to try any of the AMAZINGLY COMPLEX recipes they have. Ok, so I've never made bread. Telling that to the only community is like admitting you're a virgin in college. After all, most of the blogs I read are of people out of culinary school. I'm looking for a scholarship. But anyway, that's one of the many things I have to try this year. My first real talented dough experiance was with Schnecken (German Sticky Buns) which you can see below:

Oups, foods here. Gotta run!

Wow...

2005-10-16T09:30:00.000-07:00

I like Blogger.
That about sums up my reasoning.
Everything glorious before this is here
Mmm, sticky buns.