Today is my birthday. It’s also my mixer’s! She turns a year young; she was given to me on my birthday last year. My friends all chipped in to buy her for me, and after years of baking with a handheld Sunbeam, I finally experienced what it’s like to see ordinary batter transform into magical stuff under her capable beaters.

We’ve been through a lot, my mixer and I. I couldn’t have survived the past year without her machine-humming my cares away, without her transforming the best of myself into gifts for many others. Cookies of every shape and kind, cakes of every flavor and fancy, candied confections and divine desserts. Even mashed potatoes!

My mixer and I thank everyone who have been part of our eventful and interesting lives in the past year—family who partook of our culinary projects, and friends both online and off who have kept up with our adventures in flour and eggs. On our birthday, we wish all of you the kinds of magical stuff we try to bake into each cake and cookie: laughter, and love, and wishes for a delicious life.

Happy birthday to us!

—-EDIT—-

When I got to the office this morning, this was on my door.

And this is what I saw inside:

NO WONDER Pam kept looking into my office by the end of the day yesterday, asking when I’d leave. Thank you Alicia, Eric, Bona and Simeen (oh, Pam too!) for staying late to deck out my office in true Twilight style, and making it look like a thirteen-year-old’s bedroom. I’ve never felt younger!

Perfect Potatoes. Or Peppered Potatoes. Tattered Taters. Superb Spuds.

I don’t know why, but all these alliterated recipe titles were rolling by like the news ticker in my head while I was making brunch yesterday. Which one would you pick?

I’d been craving for breakfast potatoes since last Sunday when I had some really good ones at Maxwell’s in Culver City with Jen. They were soft and savory and were the perfect start to a lazy Sunday with eggs. I decided to recreate them with what I had on hand.

The usual suspects were called in and lined up: boiled and diced red baby potatoes, garlic, onion and red and green bell peppers.

The garlic and onions were ordered into a pan for a good saute.

Then the red and green bell peppers practically threw themselves into the skillet, and cooked until they were soft.

The potatoes were prodded into the happy mix and all got a good shaking or two of garlic powder and seasoned salt. (If you don’t have seasoned salt, drop in any and all spices you find! Rosemary, basil, onion powder and paprika would do just as well.)

Ahhh, an alliterated, beautiful brunch!

A curly start of the week to all.

Have you heard the news? Julia Child was apparently an operative for the CIA before she became The French Chef.

According to NPR.org:

The National Women’s History Museum exhibit, Clandestine Women: The Untold Stories of Women in Espionage, also features the story of another unlikely operative, Julia Child.

Decades before becoming a famous chef, she worked for the Office of Strategic Services. (The OSS was the predecessor to the CIA.) She was assigned to solve a problem for U.S. naval forces during World War II: Sharks would bump into explosives that were placed underwater, setting them off and warning the German U-boats they were intended to sink.

“So… Julia Child and a few of her male compatriots got together and literally cooked up a shark repellent,” that was used to coat the explosives, McCarthy says.

I love her! Can you imagine the kind of espionage tactics she may have employed? The secrets in her souffle, the mysterious meanings in her marinade?

With this news, I’m eagerly anticipating the release of the movie Julie & Julia, based on the book of the same name. The movie’s being directed by Nora Ephron and will star Amy Adams as Julie Powell and Meryl Streep as Julia Child (hmmm). The book, as you may know, is based on a blog by Julie Powell, who endeavored to make all the recipes in the famed cookbook Mastering The Art Of French Cooking, and posted tales of her culinary adventures online. I think it was one of the first blogs that saw the light of print.

I, on the other hand, have a hankering to cook something very French all of a sudden. Like a clafouti with fresh cherries, or a beautiful quiche with summer vegetables. Ok, now. Need. To. Stop. And. Sleep.

Zzzzzz.

Yawn, good night, all. Happy weekend.

I am: turning ____ in 6 days.

I think: about Edward Cullen too much.

I know: that Edward Cullen is fictional, and yet (see above).

I have: too many cookbooks, and somehow, not enough!

I wish: on first stars, whenever I can.

I hate: cilantro. With a passion.

I miss: Manila. And Rome.

I fear: gross, slithery reptiles.

I hear: the Olympics (men’s volleyball, USA vs. Brazil) on TV.

I smell: my yummy Pink Martini lotion from my Klean bday loot.

I crave: for Lola’s homemade pineapple candy.

I search: for the ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe. (THIS fabled one from nytimes.com might be a good candidate!)

I wonder: what I should make for our picnic at the Hollywood Bowl next weekend. (Do you have any suggestions for yummy, portable food?)

I regret: nothing.

I love: authentic Italian cannella gelato.

I ache: everywhere, after every dance class.

I am not: straight-haired. Seriously. I’ve come to accept that. A flat iron helps, haha!

I believe: that I can start (and finish) that blasted quilt in the next month!

I dance: on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

I sing: horribly. HORRIBLY!

I cry: when I chop onions. (I have yet to figure out how to not do this! Tips, anyone?)

I fight: the urge to make bread right now, because it’s already 10:30 p.m. and I have to get up for work tomorrow.

I win: whenever Jeopardy has a FOOD category. Hehe.

I lose: whenever Jeopardy has a MATH one. Hwehwehwe.

I never: thought I’d be a crafter. I hated Home Ec!

I always: think about blog posts. I have a notebook divided into three sections: Write, Cook and Make. Helps me sort out and remember all the fleeting spurts of manic crafter’s thoughts that zoom around in my head.

I confuse: all-purpose flour with self-rising flour, and cake flour with pastry flour! Throw in bread flour, bleached flour, bromated flour and whole wheat flour, and well, you have me floundering in flour most times!

I listen: a lot of times, to the Sweeney Todd soundtrack when I’m baking. I love the irony as I’m mixing batter while Helena Bonham Carter sings, “The Worst Pies In London.”

I can usually be found: online, or in the kitchen!

I am scared: of accidentally sewing one of my fingers with my sewing machine.

I need: to start on that quilt, goshdarnit!!

I am happy about: this blog.

I imagine: winning the grand prize in the next Pillsbury Bake-Off. Two years till the next one—should I go for it?

This tag came from Gracey and Sinta, but I’m tagging anyone else who wants to do this—it was fun!

Thank you to all who voted for my Vampie over at Instructables.com. My bloody treat won a Top Votes prize! I’m getting The Pie & Pastry Bible and an Instructables Robot t-shirt for winning. We did it! Many curly thanks to you guys. (Wish you were all close by—you’d all have a piece of the vampiric victory!)

EDIT: Frankly, the only other entry I thought would outvote me is Forkable’s Pie In A Skillet (Blueberry and Apricot).

An awesome baker all around, who’s getting a shoutout here! She featured my Vampie on her blog. Head on OVER THERE for all her tasty treats (she has an ingenious way of kneading dough—in a pillowcase!) . Yay for baker-bloggers!

Noel of Perlas Design encouraged me to join the online Pie Contest at Instructables.com. Instructables is “The World’s Biggest Show And Tell,” where users post pictures with accompanying instructions on how to do and make everything from a USB Batman Flashlight to crafting angel wings.

When I read about the contest, I decided I wanted to post something fun and creative. I’m still riding on the Twilight high and thought it would be great to craft a pie using the colors of the book’s cover. Plus, it occurred to me that “vampie”  would be a pun-y name for the dessert too!

So, this past Saturday found me in the kitchen, hunched over my cauldron of straberry-syrup blood. It was a lot of fun, and I ended up decorating two pies, one with a splash of bloody syrup, the other with bleeding fang marks. I posted everything, with photos and descriptions, on Instructables yesterday (almost didn’t make the deadline!) I’m happy to say that the site picked it up as a Featured Instructable, and my pie was on the homepage for quite a good bit!

Interested? The complete instructions are HERE. It’s a yummy treat, despite the fact that it looks gory! There’s a recipe on the previous link for the BEST PASTRY CRUST I’ve ever had the pleasure to make.

Here are some pics of the carnage. My description of the dessert on the site reads:

Whether you’re a Twilight fan or just into all things gory, here’s how to make a vampiric pie that your guests would love to sink their fangs, er, teeth into. Fresh strawberries are the “bloody” base for this sinful sweet!

When you can, head on over to Instructables to rock the vote for my Vampie! Voting is only open from August 18 to 20, 2008.

OME!

I was bowled over by the craft package I received for our Creative Swap (details HERE, if you want to join in all the fun!) from Caryn of Sari-Saring Kulay. Caryn sent me the prettiest things from Japan, where she’s currently based. Look at all my cross-continental, crafty goodies!

I received Space Ice Cream (strawberry flavor), a do-it-yourself magnet kit to cobble together felt pastry, a beautiful, handmade beaded crochet necklace, plus a smaller bracelet for my niece (featured on this post!) She also sent along a thoughtful note in the prettiest handwriting.

Thank you, Caryn! I love the necklace, ESPECIALLY the colors (black, gold, yellow.) They’re just like the colors from Martin Margiela’s collection, which I wrote about HERE. Eyelovem all.

For my part in the swap, I decided to make earrings for my craft partner, Denise. She also lives in Japan and is a fashion student, but I don’t really know her, so I decided to make two pairs that I thought might cover most of the bases: a “naughty” pair, and a “nice” pair. She can wear either one, depending on her mood!

“Naughty” on the left, below, in black onyx and gold. “Nice” on the right, in silver and four types of pearls in varying shades of soft pink, white, cream and light gold.

I loved making these because I have seriously neglected my jewelry-making. It was a chance to take out all the pretties in my bead stash and play with them. It was like a cup of tea with an old friend: comfortable and easy.

I’m sending the earrings off to Japan with my one of my favorite candies, Chewy Spree, a kitschy Hollywood postcard and a set of Simplicity purse patterns for Denise to play with in fashion school. I hope she likes these!

Thanks again, Caryn, and hello to Denise from across the seas. I promise I’ll be early for the next swap! (As in promise guid ya!)

My birthday isn’t in 13 days, but somehow, two crazy girls in Manila conspired to send me an early present. Thank you, G and V, for kicking off the festivities in true Maring style. Your birthday parcel made me do a little dance in my office when the mailroom person dropped it off, and will most probably make me do the same thing in the shower! (My new gifts are Pink Martini sugar scrub and shea lotion from Klean. So THAT’S why V was asking what I thought about the yummy bath-and-body line! Sneaky!)

You girls have known me for 14 birthdays! And now that I think about it, how many cities and countries have we had to endure between us over these years (too many to count!) ? Thank you for sticking with me through it all. Frankly, when all of us ended up in Math 1 together, I knew we’d be friends for life.

Thank you again—lots of love and curly hugs from me!

You could be in Vickie Howell’s next book!

And I have to tell you that the DEADLINE’S TOMORROW (AUGUST 15)!

I only found out about this today, so I apologize for the short notice. Still, there’s enough time to cobble together a profile about yourself as a crafter. If yours gets chosen, you’ll be featured in a book Vickie plans to put together called Craft Corps, which hopes to “…focus on the community perpetuated by craft and the designers and hobbyists who feed it.”

Vickie is the uber cool, ultra-hip author of Knit Aid, Not Another Teen Knitting Book and New Knits On The Block. She’s also the host of a knitting TV series called Knitty Gritty on the DIY Network.

Here’s Vickie’s call to crafters:

As part of the content, I’m hoping to include 50-60 short profiles of crafters of all types. If you knit, crochet, embroider, decoupage, paint, sew, bead, tat, work with ceramics, collage, etc.—I want to hear from you! Whether you’ve found success selling your handmade sock monkeys on Etsy or you crochet chemo caps for charity, I want to know who you are, what you craft and why you do it.  YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE PROFESSIONAL CRAFTERS (in fact, it’s preferable as the book’s other content will focus on that)!

I’ve been fortunate enough over the years to receive e-mails from people all over the world, sharing their favorite memory of crafting, what crafting has done for them or what got them started and how they’ll never stop. These stories–from hilarious craft mishaps to touching crafty life stories– have inspired me to collect more to share with the public, handmade community.

If you’re interested in possibly being a part of Craft Corps, please fill out the following questionnaire, cut and paste it into the body of an e-mail, and send it to: craftcorps@gmail.com as soon as possible (but no later than AUGUST 15th.)  If we’re able to use your profile, an editor will contact you directly with more info.

Thank you so much for participating! xo, Vickie

Craft Corps

Crafter Profilee Form

Name:

Age:

Location:

Profession (If you’re in school just put what level of student, ie College Student, Middle School Student, ect.):

Craft(s) of Choice:

Blog (if applicable):

Memory, Story or Anecdote related to crafting in your life (no more than 250 words):

It’s easy and painless! Here’s mine, if you’d like an example.

Name: J. Ana Fuentes Flores
Age: (Aha! I’m not posting this!)
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Profession: Copy Editor
Craft(s) of Choice: sewing, quilting, jewelry-making, crochet, knitting, embroidery, fabric arts, baking and cake decorating
Blog (if applicable): www.thegirlwithacurl.com

My Crafting Anecdote (248 words):
I’m the 36th grandchild of a quilter who lived to 102 years old. Growing up in the Philippines, I watched my grandmother piece her pinwheels and Dresden blocks on a manual sewing machine until she was about 98. Many of her 12 children were crafters in one way or another, and most of her 36 grandchildren, especially the women, followed suit. All these numbers convey how, as the youngest grandchild, I often felt dwarfed by the crafting skills of the women in my family. I couldn’t start a project without thinking about how precise Tia Deding’s piecing was on her latest fan quilt, or about the delicate hand-drawn threadwork of Tia Etta’s table napkins.

For a long while, I was stumped, too intimidated to follow in their footsteps.

It was only when I came to the States five years ago that I welcomed my crafter self. As an immigrant, I came here with very little STUFF to remind me of an old life: some photographs, an old journal or two. In those early days of patching together a new life, I discovered what WAS rich in me: a history of hands picking up needles, quilting, knitting and purling, bending the will of fabrics. I finally embraced being cut from the same cloth as all the crafter-women in my family. Crafting, in all its forms, became my new home. I hope I live a full, long life just like my grandma, crafting to the groove of my own needles.

If you craft in ANY way, do it! And good luck to you!

Today’s post is brought to you by Droids Of Naboo, Inc.

Ok, so yes, I am this shy of manic because The Clone Wars hits theaters tomorrow. For someone who sported Princess Leia hair buns when she was six, this is kind of a big deal. To celebrate, here are some strange, but fun, Star Wars gadgets for the kitchen.

Cookbooks

The titles are hilarious: Wookie Cookies, A Star Wars Cookbook and Darth Malt And More Galactic Recipes. Haven’t you always had a hankering for some Boba Fett-ucine, Ewok Eats and Yoda Soda?

R2D2 Trash Can

R2 pops his dome open when you step down on his center “foot”! Now, if only they had a C-3PO dustpan…

R2D2 Peppermill

Twist his head, and R2 deposits interplanetary pepper on your Corellian Casserole. So what if you’re eating something that just came out of a robot’s butt? You’re cool like that. Haha.

Darth Vader Popcorn Maker

Sure, it’ll set you back $1,100, but come on, it’s popcorn from the dark side!

R2D2 Soy Sauce Dispenser

Intergalactic siomai, anyone?

Cookbooks from Amazon. Trashcan and peppermill from ThinkGeek. Uncrate dishes on the Sith popcorn machine, and Craziest Gadgets showcases R2’s soy sauce-dispensing skills.

May the Force be with you. Yes, even in the kitchen!