          
Archive for the ‘Celebrations’ Category
Thursday, March 8th, 2012
I’ve been so caught up in this whole winning the Czar of Cakes business, I was actually sort of caught off guard the other day. Someone had messaged me to say that Think Geek had blogged about our crazy Pi Kitchen Backsplash again.
Oh crap, that’s right – Pi day is less than a week away! (March 14 – 3/14!)
Luckily, I have a few extra days to prepare. With Pi Day falling on a Wednesday this year, we’ll actually be celebrating “St Pi-trick’s Day” next Saturday. It’ll be an interesting mix of math and Irish decor, pies, Pi-napple punch, and … corned beef.
Given the INSANE response to our Pi backsplash – Thinkgeek tweeting and blogging it (2x on the blog), thousands of “likes” / hundreds of shares on Facebook, “Make” Magazine and PC World blogging about it, just shy of 10,000 hits our blog tutorial for it in ONE MONTH… I’m thinking it’s about time for Pi Day to become more of a “thing”. Let’s make it more mainstream!
Pi day is a lot of fun, and there are SO many different things you can do to celebrate. No worries, the following suggestions are all far less expensive and labor-intensive than the pi backsplash!: (more…)
Posted in Celebrations, Geeks Celebrate, Pi Day, The Geek Life | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 7th, 2012
If you’ve ever been to a large trade show, home show, or – in our case this weekend, a Food and Wine show… chances are, you’ve seen a booth hawking wine slushie mixes. “Frappe Vino”, “Wine Slush”, “Party Slush Mix”, “Vino Slush”… there are a bunch of companies offering it.
| The samples are so good, it’s easy to drop the $12 or so for the 12 oz baggie of powdered mix. Trust me, we’ve done so… twice. That second time, I took a look at the ingredients and almost had a heart attack. I couldn’t believe what I’d just paid so MUCH for!
I was reminded of that this weekend, as the D’Marie company was once again set up with their wonderful wine slush. While we all loved the slush, I decided that I would set about to “reverse engineer” it. Cue jokes about “Dis Marie” bastardizing “Dat Marie’s” recipe…
Anyway… between the ingredient listing, listed weight, nutritional info, and the unused second bag sitting in our liquor cabinet… I didn’t figure it would be hard to do.
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It wasn’t. 
The ingredients are simple, and the technique is one of those “so simple, it shouldn’t be considered an actual recipe” deals. You, too, can make homemade wine slush mix at home! While matcha powder isn’t cheap, this recipe doesn’t take much at all – your wine slush mix should cost less than $1.50/batch!
Oh, and remember the citric acid you bought for my Quick mozzarella recipe? Well if you haven’t bought some, what are you waiting for? Cheese and wine slushes aren’t the only cool things you can do with it – more citric acid recipes are coming! (more…)
Posted in Adults Only! (Boozy), Beverages, Cocktails & Bartending, Gift Ideas, Recipes, Spirited Living | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, February 21st, 2012
Let me start off with a confession: As the kid who was always picked last for… well, everything, really… I’ve never won anything that involved a popular vote. EVER.
| As a kid, it was because I was “weird” (Aspergers). That was ok, they were all JUST as weird to me!
As an adult, it’s always been a mix of logistical concerns (Only taking on no more than 2 cakes per week puts one at a disadvantage against companies that churn out 60+ cakes per week!), and – again – being “weird”. I’m mouthy. I have turquoise hair. I *refuse* to “play the game”, and I don’t kiss anyone’s butt. When it comes to the wedding industry… yeah, no popular vote winning, for me! Usually, such popular votes are for totally meaningless awards, so I’ve never minded. |
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Here’s the thing though. I’ve entered the Food & Wine Show’s “Czar of Cakes” competition again this year. (Past year’s entries are here and here.) This year, things have changed… and I need your help. More on that in a bit, More on that in a bit, first let me ply you with cake photos!
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Posted in Cake Business, Cakes, Celebration Generation | 14 Comments »
Tuesday, February 7th, 2012
As you may know, my husband and I are not really Valentine’s Day people. We don’t really have any need for the traditional V Day gifts (and I am SO not a jewelry person!), it ends up feeling pretty contrived, so we usually just hang out and chill. Of course, external pressures usually have us checking in with each other every year, with “do you WANT to do anything…?
It always feels like we *should*. This year, we decided that we’ll be brewing a small batch of a red, “Valentine’s Day” wine or mead. I think we’re leaning towards a sweet raspberry mead. Anyway, I digress…
| Last night we were eating dinner and discussing the various funny stuff we’d seen on the net, when I mentioned a booze bouquet I’d seen on Pinterest. The person had affixed mini booze bottles onto sticks, and made a little bouquet of it.
As we’d recently been reminiscing on how much fun we’d had doing V-day ceramic mugs for each other a few years back, the idea of making booze bouquets for each other came up. Like many of our crazy ideas, it went from “wouldn’t it be fun…” to DONE in no time flat!
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We headed to a craft supply store to pick up all kind of crazy Valentine’s Day craft stuff on clearance. Neither one of us really knew what we were planning to do as we poured over ever manner of red, pink, and sparkly V Day nonsense, discussing ideas, and ultimately purchasing our respective supplies. After that, we went to our favorite liquor store, and each bought a dozen mini bottles for each other, each not letting the other see the surprise selections.
The whole time – and on the way home – we excitedly talked about our ideas and plans, actually looking *forward* to our little V Day celebration. Neither of us could WAIT to get home and dig into the craft supplies, and seeing what we could come up with.
We had a blast. Weird crafty projects with my husband are always a ton of fun (Pi Day Pi-natas, Chocolate Zombie Easter Bunnies, and epic Pysanky using Crayons, for instance!).
Also? Men + Booze + Craft supplies are a pretty epic combination. Just WAIT til you see what he came up with!
(more…)
Posted in Celebrations, Crafts, DIY, Gift Ideas, Spirited Living, Valentine's Day | 1 Comment »
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