Month: February 2018

mississippi mud pie.

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My 2018 goal: bake a new-to-me recipe at least once a month. January’s bake wasn’t good enough to share (I made pomelo bars, and though they looked nice and had good textures, they turned out super bitter. :P), but February’s bake was soooo good. My friend and I made Mississippi Mud Pie! Look. At. This. Our favorite pie is chocolate mousse and I’m all about a chocolate cookie crust. So my friend found a Cook’s Country recipe for Mississippi Mud Pie for us to try. The recipe came annotated with technique tips and recommendations for specific products to use. So good. This recipe was a recipe of firsts. It called for Nabisco’s Famous Chocolate Wafers which are like thinner, wider, and less sweet Oreos without the filling. I had never heard of them and now I am a fan. We used them to make the crust (left) and the cookie crumble (right). While the crust baked, we prepped the next layer – a fudgy brownie. I had never made brownies form scratch before (Ghirardelli double …

good goods.

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Small batch artisan goods?! I’m on it! My friend brought me to the Epicurian Trader because she thought I’d appreciate it. Beautifully packaged goods all sorted nicely…dreamy. She knows me so well! This is a great place for finding a special gift (the stuff is basically already gift wrapped!). Chocolates, spirits, wines, cheese, baked goods, snacks, hot sauces! They had it all. Who is the curator? I must meet them. Also, I want a whiskey wall. Market hop much? Share your fave boutique markets below!

case for making.

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I learned how to make my own watercolors! Talk about taking my crafty skills to the next level. When I discovered Pinta PH I became interested in learning about making watercolors by hand. Then, I discovered Case for Making – and handmade watercolors is what they are all about! I quickly signed up for one of their watercolor making workshops. When I arrived to class these beautiful pigments were all lined up on the workshop table. AHH, I couldn’t wait to get started. Our instructor (and shop owner) Alexis shared her watercolor making wisdom and demoed one of the colors – fluorescent magenta! The watercolor base is a propriety mix of distilled water, gum arabic, and honey. You gradually add the base to the pigment and mix and smash until you get the right consistency. For the fluorescent pigments we also used a few drops of rubbing alcohol to get the pigment to mix well with the base. We each got to make two colors for the entire class. Each pigment behaves differently so it was …

pip pip hooray!

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Earlier this week I had my first crafty biz pop-up of the year at Pippa & Co in Berkeley. It was all the cute. Owner Lisa had the front area of the shop set up with some display items and once I arrived I filled it with all my felt creations. This corner was totes meant for me! It was so fun to hang out in the shop all afternoon. I got to share my creations with the community and got to dream up some new ideas, too. Since it was a Valentine’s pop-up I had lots of love themed goodies. I also had my pennants on demand station up and ready to go for any custom requests. There had been a bloom bar the day before and Lisa paired one of my pennants with this lovely bouquet. It was a semi-gloomy and semi-sunshine kind of day – the lighting was perfect for product photos! And when my friend Masako came to visit, her fancy nails got her recruited as a product model. Can’t get …

heart warming.

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Still in the Valentine’s mode. For this year’s third annual Hearts & Crafts event at work we made heart-shaped pocket hand warmers! These are so fun and useful, and you can make and use them not just at Valentine’s time. Materials and tools: Cotton fabric Rice Sewing needle Thread/embroidery floss Scissors Funnel or spoon Pinking shears (optional) Cut two squares or rectangles of relatively the same size. We cut ~4-inch x 4-inch squares. Stack one on top of the other with inside sides facing each other. Fold both squares in half and cut a half heart shape along the fold. Unfold. Thread the needle with the embroidery thread. You’ll use a little more than the perimeter of the heart. Create a double knot at the end of the thread, then begin to sew a running stitch starting from the inside of the heart (i.e. wrong side of the fabric), that way you can hide the knots. Make sure the stitches are fairly small and close to each other. Since we are filling the hearts with …

you make heart skip a (sweet pickled) beet.

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You guys. The Valentine puns. 😘 Here’s a love day gift idea and activity: a sweet pickled beets kit! Preserved is amazing and they make it less scary to get into pickling and preserving via classes, the bounty of supplies in their shop, and these fun kits! The sweet pickled beets kit came with a recipe, a pickling jar, and a container of Preserved / Oaktown Spice Shop Sweet Pickling Spice. Oh my gosh, the spice mix smells so good! The process was simple. Boil the beets, peel and cut them. Fill the jar with beets and optional onions. Boil the pickling spice with apple cider vinegar, water, salt, and sugar, then pour into the jar. Seal and wait. The recipe recommends you wait at least one week before tasting your beets. Hubby and I ended up waiting three weeks (we both got sick and couldn’t taste anything for a bit…). Worth the wait, y’all! These were so easy to make and we’ve got the ingredients to make these again a few more times. The taste: sweet! …

put a heart on it!

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Hearts for all! I found these super cute crocheted pouches at a craft swap. I snagged a bunch and I had been using them as goody bag pouches for my crafty workshops. With the remaining ones I’m adding a heart and calling it a Valentine’s craft! So easy; so cute! I cut up some hearts out of felt, then hot glued them onto the pouches. AHH, can’t wait to gift these with some sweet treats inside. What are you crafting up for Valentine’s this year? Share below. 

minamoto kitchoan.

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Kawaii sweets! Minamoto Kitchoan carries Japanese specialty treats with unique flavors and impressive packaging (and super realistic fake food displays!). I stumbled upon this cute shop a few years back and love stopping in whenever I’m in the area. They have lots of jellies, red bean treats, mochi, and cream-filled sweets. I enjoy the pancake treats most, but it’s fun to try different things. They always have special holiday treats. On this visit: Year of the Dog red bean jellies. Each item is ready for gifting; you can purchase individual treats or gift sets. If you’re a regular, they’ve got a rewards program, too. For every $100 spent you get $10 off your next purchase. If this is any indication of what treat shops are like in Japan, I’m in big trouble when I eventually get to visit. Everything is perfectly portioned and wrapped. Can’t wait to have another occasion/reason to return and try more delights. I particularly have my eye on these rainbow waffles. Ohh la la… Do you have a favorite super kawaii sweet treat …

what a color.

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More watercolors + cafe shenanigans with Hubs. This time around I’m taking my Pinta PH handmade watercolors out for a spin. These paints are made with Philippine rocks and soils. Amaze. Look how adorable! I almost didn’t want to open the packaging because they were so cutely wrapped. 😜  Each pot is labeled with colors in Tagalog so every time I open up the box I can do a vocabulary review. And the pots are magnetic, too, so it’s easy to take these paints on the go. I’m no watercolor pro (yet! ;)), but these paints are amazing — lovely, bold, and vibrant! Timeless Coffee, Berkeley / Plants and Mirror Images Devout Coffee, Fremont / More Plants It is safe to say I am addicted to these watercolors and to painting plants…and perhaps also to visiting new cafes. But these are all good addictions, right? 🙂 What’s on your current skills-to-improve-upon list? Share below!