What could be more seductive than the sweet promise of smooth, creamy, dense cheesecake, with a good old-fashioned graham cracker crust, topped with the freshest berries, a homemade strawberry sauce and cream whipped from scratch? Nothing, I think! Like the city named after it, this dessert has me by the heartstrings. This is the only kind of cheesecake I really like. And hence the only kind of cheesecake I make.

This was to celebrate my brother’s girlfriend’s graduation. It bakes for quite a bit—I start checking at 45 minutes—and cools in the oven for at least four hours after I’ve turned it off. The slow cooling in the oven prevents cracks on top of the cake. It’s a cheesecake purist’s dream when eaten on its own.

What even made it more special is that I finally had the chance to use this beautiful handcrafted cake stand and plate made for me by my friend Sara’s dad, a true artisan in every sense. He makes awesome pottery as a hobby in Hawaii—he shapes them, hand-paints the designs himself and glazes them in his own kiln. I casually asked her one day if he’d consider custom-making a cake plate for me, not really being serious about it. She brought back two of different sizes for me after Christmas, one of which had my letter “J” cleverly built into the design. I swear I was speechless. This kind of craftsmanship deserves only the best desserts!

After decorating the top with fresh strawberries and my standard berry syrup (simple sugar + berries = awesome), I thought it needed a little something extra.

I found a bar of white chocolate in the snacks bin at home and found that with a potato peeler, you can make these elegant white chocolate shavings that complete this divine dessert.

Perfect!

Hope you have a sweet weekend, all! It’ll be a long one for us here in the US because of Independence Day, and I’ll be busy cookin’ and craftin’, but I won’t be too much of a stranger this time!

I’m still alive, folks! Just literally buried under fabric, yarn and flour. Sometimes I think I have to stop to blog about (insert latest crafty or culinary obsession here), but then…I don’t. When I’m knee-deep in crochet, or quilting or baking so much that all the days kind of run together in these long, craft-crazed weeks, I don’t want to lose momentum.

But there are posts to be written and blogs to visit, and I have to come up for air some time! And so, I’m jumping back in first with these curly updates on the Creative Swap (organized by Caryn) that I’ve joined.

First off, many MANY thanks to my awesome craft swap partners Fernand and Cyd. I  got this in the mail yesterday, all the way from Japan. Mini heart-shaped Hello Kitty muffin cups (which are just too cute to use), candy, green tea Kitkat and a lovely hand-painted tee done in my favorite color combination of black and pink. Beautiful!

Next are the two projects I did for two swap partners, which went out last week. I hope the recipients get it soon (one of these is a replacement and it had better get there this time!)

Bem’s Quilted Market Tote

Made with fabric I already had on had, lined with muslin. My first tote with a gusset!

Since Bem sews herself, I thought she’d appreciate something sewn as well. Made these in some of her favorite colors, with one panel of brown and pink, and the other panel of orange and yellow. For the many faces of Bem.

Sent with my favorite candy and a Simplicity craft pattern for plush, stuffed animals that she can make for her little one.

Gwen’s “Little Maddie” Doll

Because Gwen had mentioned she wanted a little doll, I found a pattern for one created by craft artist The Black Apple on Martha Stewart’s website. (If you want to try your hand at it, the pattern and cute hand-drawn instructions are HERE.)

Little Maddie was fun to make, though I have to admit her arms and legs made me want to pull my hair out and cry. They were so tiny and my big monster hands just ripped them to pieces when I’d turn them inside out.

I finally gave up and made my own. Crafting=improv. Haha. It turned out ok, yes?

Also sent with candy and a pattern for a cute peasant blouse that Gwen might want to try her hand at.

For more on this swap, Caryn’s blog is over HERE.

All in all, it’s been a couple of crazy, crafty weeks—with more ahead.

Stay tuned for more curly ramblings about:

-    a purist’s baked strawberry cheesecake that I made for a graduation party

-    fabric finds

-   discovering food in modern art

-   my current crocheted afghan work in progress

-   my awesome quilting class with Alissa at The Urban Craft Center (and I’m giving something away, too!)

I hope you’re having an awesome week. May your pots be boilin’ and your hands be busy!

Dainty cupcake liners.

Some of them even have matching cake doilies!

Whimsical cupcake toppers. My grandma had those ballerina ones! And I don’t know why, but I’m totally crushing on those gnomes.

Yummy sprinkles and edible glitter. The blue and pink bits below are called “Cotton Candy Crunch Topping.” I think I’d eat those by the spoonful!

See all of this eye candy and more over at the Bake It Pretty website or through their Etsy shop HERE. They also have an awesome blog HERE. (I’m definitely getting those ballerinas!)

Have a sweet weekend, all!

Would you like a better bacon? By “better” I don’t mean there’s less fat or sodium in it. Let’s face it—bacon is bacon. You don’t futz around with it. It’s perfect in all its fatty, salty glory: golden brown, crispy around the edges, the perfect partner to pancake and eggs. Ahhh, bacon. Breakfast wouldn’t be the same without it.

One of my pet peeves when cooking bacon is having to stand over the stove top, waiting for it to be done. I have to keep tending to it—flipping it over so it doesn’t burn, making sure it browns evenly, gingerly maneuvering my way around the hot pan to make sure the oil doesn’t splatter, inhaling all the bacon fumes. I mean, don’t get me wrong—the smell of sizzling bacon makes me weak in the knees. But if I cook it, and have to stand over the stove the whole time, I end up smelling like bacon. And smelling like cured, cooked pork belly just isn’t my thing, you know?

And so, I set out to find an easier solution to my bacon bugaboo and found out that the next best thing to patience is…the oven! Baking bacon is easy and fuss-free. It WILL take about 20 minutes or so, but that time can be spent scrambling eggs and making pancakes since your hands are left free to cook other things with wild abandon.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

After lining your cookie sheet (make sure it has a lip/small wall) with foil, lay your bacon pieces out, with the edges just slightly touching each other.

Place cookie sheet on the middle rack of your oven and set your timer to 15 minutes. During this time, you are free to do whatever you want. You can make your other breakfast components (yummy ideas: these sweet Nutella-Banana Crepes or this savory Southwestern Omelet). Or you can dance around in your kitchen, figure out the square root of pi or ponder on the meaning of life.

After 15 minutes, check on your bacon. Flip the strips over with some tongs—be careful—don’t burn yourself! (Because I’m clumsy, I did.) Bake for another 3-5 minutes. They’re perfect when they’re golden brown, like this:

Lay them on some paper towels to drain. You’ll see that I burned some by placing those on the bottom rack of the oven. Those are extra crunchy, but still good!

Good morning!

There’s no looking back! Why I’m going to be baking bacon from now on:

1) You set it and forget it.

2) The bacon doesn’t shrink as much and comes out well formed and crispy.

3) Clean-up is easy, just toss away used foil lining.

4) I end up eating my breakfast, not smelling like it!

Happy curly mornings to you!

Think you know your brioche from your buckle? Try your hand at it HERE.

What do you think my score was? I can only tell you I got pretty sweet results!

With that, I hope your week’s off to a fun start!

I’ve been making these for years, ever since an aunt gifted me with the cookbook Mrs. Field’s Best Cookie Book Ever (ever!). Well, she didn’t so much give it to me as I hinted, repeatedly, that I’d really really really love a copy. So, she gave me hers. Maybe more to shut me up than anything. Haha.

Jessica’s Marshmallow Clouds are made with frozen mini marshmallows that you encase in chocolate cookie dough before baking. I wish I could post pictures of how I made these, but I have to say these are a bit on the messy side to make, so my hands were full of dough! The result is a gooey chocolate cookie that’s extra soft in the middle because of the marshmallow surprise. You see a little of the yummy stuff in between breaks on tops of the cookies. Heavenly! These are among my favorite cookies to make, despite the mess.

 I made these for a recent movie date with friends. Concession stands in movie houses here charge so much for snacks—so the next best thing is to sneak some of your own in! I packaged these in individual sandwich bags, along with little snack bags of gummi worms that I had gotten in bulk. The two snackies made for awesome theater treats! 

Hope your week is off to a sweet start!

Above: Awesome, recently bought crafts book. Details HERE.

I’ve realized that I’m pretty much a craft whore. Take note that I’m not the sort of person who throws the “w” word around—you can ask my friends, who chide me for my prudishness, about this. (I even had trouble buying the book above because it has the word “ass” on it!) I’m using the word for effect, to say that I craft so much I’ll throw myself at pretty much anything that involves thread, needle, fabric and yarn. On other days my crafty vices involve scissors, paper and, even recently, animal hair! Tatting? Sure! Bobbin-lace making? Yes, please! And why wouldn’t I like to learn how to construct a lamp from woven popsicle sticks? Are you kidding me?

Whereas being this kind of crafter-of-all-needles can be gratifying, it also can wear a person out. I end up wanting to do so many things at once that I often spread myself too thin. And as you know, I bake and cook in my free time as well. And have a job to go to, and people to be friends with, and hockey games to catch and movies to see. Naku, talaga. Over.

So. I guess I’m writing this blog post to reign myself in and try to find a crafting focus, at least for the next three months. In an effort to streamline my crafting life, calm my crazed crafty self down and schedule time for each project so I enjoy the process of creating it, I will set aside all other crafts and projects in my big To-Craft List.

Over the next three months, I’m promising myself the following crafty goals:

Sewing
-    2 projects for a craft swap (can’t say what in case my partners read this blog!)
-    a coin-stack baby quilt class at The Urban Craft Center

Jewelry Making
-    3 pairs of earrings

Crochet
-    a crocheted throw/granny-square afghan

And now I can breathe!

So, I am forgoing sewing a purse, a skirt and some aprons, making more felt monsters, knitting mobious and pidge scarves, and everything else I have in my craft notebook. I guess what my dad says is about plants is true about my crafting life as well: There’s no blooming without any pruning.

I’ll post all my projects as I tackle them one by one! In the meantime, I hope your life, crafting or otherwise, is crazed as well—but in a good way.