I have a confession to make.

This confession is hidden in a sinful red box.

And if it were to be stamped with a shameful scarlet letter, that letter would be a burning “B.”

(Cue dramatic violin music…)

Ta-daaa!

I made the cake above with a doctored cake mix from Betty—Betty Crocker, that is! Oh the shame! And the wagging fingers! Oyoyoy. I can hear my aunts (one of who is ironically named Auntie Betty!) clucking their tongues at me. All sins aside, this Strawberry Dream Cake was nothing to be ashamed of! It was a great dessert for a barbeque: fruity, cool, moist and creamy in each mouthful.

There are several variations of Strawberry Dream Cake, some of which use strawberry gelatin. I brought this to a potluck at a vegetarian friend’s house, so I knew the gelatin version wouldn’t fly (some gelatin is from ground animal bones, did you know?)

The cake itself has pureed fresh strawberries in it, so the white-cake-mix batter turned a slight pink.

Now I have no idea how this Strawberry Dream Cake came to be named as such, but I DO know that the dreamy part of it is the whipped-cream topping. It has the perfect secret ingredient that works superbly with strawberries: white chocolate! Yum.

The whipped topping also has the surprising ingredient of cream cheese. That, with the chopped white chocolate and some scalded milk, gives you this creamy dreamy sauce that you fold into store-bought whipped-cream topping. (Make the clucking stop!)

The recipe didn’t call for it, but while the cake was a bit warm, I poked some holes through it with the wider end of a chopstick and poured some of the sauce on top. It made for an even moister cake, with the sauce seeping through the holes.

After folding the sauce into the whipped topping, I was worried that it would get thinned out. To my surprise, something in the white chocolate+cream cheese+warm milk concoction stabilizes the whipped topping, making it easy to spread on a cake and firm enough to hold the weight of some halved strawberries.

I wanted a final touch. I spied some of these French Vanilla Pirouette wafer sticks by Pepperidge Farm that were a gift from a friend sitting on the kitchen shelf.

I crushed some of those and sprinkled them on top. They set off the red strawberries beautifully and provided a sweet crunch.

Voila! A dream worth diving headlong into! Nomnomnom.

Interested in whipping up this dream of a cake yourself? HERE’S the recipe I used.

And now you’ve heard one of my kitchen confessions. My, how the mighty have fallen. Today, a boxed cake mix, tomorrow, who knows?

Like most of you, Nancy Drew was one of my reading staples growing up. Remember these? I’m dating myself by saying I remember how the covers progressed through the years, but there you have it.

My childhood memories of borrowing these books from the school library and reading them like you would eat candy has now become a slight obsession. A love of books + a love of all things vintage has had me on a Nancy Neurosis! It started with this finding this set of postcards from Chronicle Books in San Francisco. I haven’t even used any of these because I love them so much. I take them out and flip through them and they make me happy. I know it’s weird getting a high from paper products, but that’s a crafter for you.

With sleuthing skills inspired by our favorite teen detective, I’ve hunted down some awesome Nancy Drew-inspired stuff for crafting and kitchenry. And I’m saving up for them because I think they’ll make great birthday gifts—for me! Haha!

Fabric

Think tote bags, a fabric clutch–the possibilities are endless! This first one is a limited-run fabric print. I wasn’t able to find it on any of the shops online that used to carry it. Finally found it on craigslist, of all places.

There are several sellers on eBay who have antique Nancy Drew book covers printed on muslin. These would be great as quilt blocks, don’t you think? Some of the very pretty samples (click on the images if you’re interested in purchasing them):

Cookbook

How can you become a really good cook?

“It’s no mystery,” Nancy Drew reveals. “You must do what fine cooks have always done—add your own special touch.”

YES, there IS such a thing! The Nancy Drew Cookbook was published by Grosset & Dunlap in 1973. It was a collection of thematic recipes, with titles like “Double Jinx Salad” and “Haunted Showboat Pralines,” using characters from the well-loved book series. Even Hannah Gruen, the Drews’ beloved housekeeper, shares some of her favorite recipes.

It was re-released in 2005, with a brand-new cover that still features a charming vintage drawing of our titian-haired detective. Currently available on Amazon.

Now the REAL mystery is when I’m going to find the time to craft and cook all these awesomely cool things!

I’ve recently been on a sheet-cake binge!

Whenever these handi-foil Cook-N-Carry pans with lids go on sale, I stock up on them. They’re so handy to make sheet cakes in, decorate (the domed, clear lid allows you to frost the top however you like), package and just give away.

This means I don’t have to worry about asking for my pans back anymore. And believe me, I’ve lost so many pans over the years, that I think these are just the smarter way to go.

Last week, I had to make two cakes in one week: one for a birthday and another for a christening. Since my Red Velvet Cake calls for buttermilk and they never sell just a cup’s worth, I decided it would be more efficient to make the same kind of cake for the two occasions. I just made them different by changing the ribbons!

A Girly Merry Unbirthday Cake (it was a belated birthday present)

A Little Boy’s “Wow You’re Christian Now” (haha) Cake

The sprinkles are adorable Jumbo Confetti pastel dots from Wilton that I’d also gotten on sale after Easter.

Have a sweet weekend, everyone!

Three of my friends are getting married this year. I guess this means I have to watch out for a fourth wedding!

Could it be true? Has Archie finally decided to take the plunge and propose to one of comics’ favorite girls? It sure looks that way! Earlier this year readers got a chance to relive “Freshman Year” with the famous teens of Riverdale High. Now make way for this special story that takes a look at Archie and his friends after they graduate college! What careers will they seek? Will the friends stay in Riverdale or disperse? What would lead Archie to have marriage on his mind? And who would he choose Veronica or Betty? How will Betty react? How will Veronica react? Can Archie shake off his klutzy past and hold down a steady job… for more than a month? One thing is certain: this will be the biggest Archie Comics story ever! 

Who’s your pick? I’m going with Veronica, because everyone seems to like Betty more, and I like rooting for the underdog. Hehe.

More details here and here.

These are new at Trader Joe’s, a specialty food store in the US. When I spied these on a shelf  I had to do a double take. I’d never seen peanut butter cups in this mini size before, and thought they would be interesting in place of chocolate chips in my standard chocolate chip cookies.

They are “ka-ulomol!” That’s a word in my dialect that I don’t even have a direct English translation for. In Tagalog, it would be “nakakagigil,” I guess. Otherwise, it means something along the lines of, “They’re so cute and tiny and I just want to them to get in my belly!”

I had to stop myself from snacking on them while making the cookies. They’re just like little itty bitty Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, but since they’re teensy, you tend to pop them in your mouth more readily and easily like you would the regular-sized ones.

And they were absolutely yummy in the cookie dough! Had to stop myself from eating THAT too!

I hope Trader Joe’s keeps this product in stock. Some of their goods are seasonal, like that one time they weren’t selling my favorite lady fingers for some reason. I’d buy these again in a heartbeat, because these cookies were just ooey gooey good!

Now I want to try these next. They’ve been around for a while, but this mini-peanut-butter-cup experiment turned out so well that I’m thinking these would be great too!

Hope you’re having a sweet week, all! (Yum!)

I made yarn! Wow.

What you see above is my very first yarn skein from this past weekend’s yarn-spinning class at The Urban Craft Center in Santa Monica. Yes, it looks like something made by a six year old, but I’m quite proud of it. That’s four hours worth of spindling, working the treadle, listening, learning, hunching over the spinning wheel with beads of sweat forming under my curls on my forehead, quietly cursing under my breath, pulling and tugging at wool.

I’m not going to lie—it’s probably one of the hardest crafts I’ve ever tried to learn. But I think this absolutely explains how fascinated I am by it. You’re basically taking wool from a sheep and twisting it into itself, either manually with a drop spindle or with the help of a spinning wheel, to make thread, so you can use the thread to create something else. You’re working with fiber in its raw form, and you get the chance to be a true artisan and craft something from start to finish. I don’t know about you, but THAT is pretty awesome.

I’m quite horrible at spinning my own yarn. I can’t quite make the threads thin enough so they look like they’re made for a giant, I manhandle the spindle and wield it like weapon and I end up with wool all over my clothes and even in my hair. But that all didn’t stop me from trying my hand at it several times, even after the class that night in front of the TV (while re-watching Transformers, because there’s nothing like cars coming to life to get you spinning!) I’d like to think that with any craft, I hope to get better each time I try my hand at it. I just try to always remember my teacher Ana’s words: “Just keep practicing!” And the best ones yet, to make myself feel better about my knotty yarn: “It’s not supposed to look like a machine made it!”

“Spinning class” in a city like Los Angeles usually means that aerobic, sweaty thing you do at the gym. So I’ve gotten the strangest looks from people when I said that I was busy on Sunday afternoon spinning–that is, learning how to make yarn. But I’ve also had people say they want to be with me at the end of the world, like during a nuclear fallout. In case we survive, I can spin my own thread to make clothes. That makes taking yarn-spinning class worth it, strange looks and all.

By the way, I want to LIVE in The Urban Craft Center. It’s a studio space/crafts store for crafters on the west side that has all the equipment, resources and classes for all your creative twitchings.

It even has a library full of art and craft books that you can thumb through while you’re working!

I love it so much I’ve signed up to learn this Coin-Stacked baby quilt in June, and hopefully will get the chance to ask my quilting teacher how to the best finish my own quilt.

I hope to pass some crafting tips and ideas that I learn to you. And some day do a post on how yarn is actually made on a drop spindle (my hands were too busy in class to take pictures!) And some day, make enough of my own yarn, craft a big, wooly scarf with it and live to tell the tale.

Learn more about all the wonderful classes at the Urban Craft Center on their website HERE.

…is that I’m spinning yarn!

Am at a yarn-spinning class right now at The Urban Craft Center in Santa Monica. Enjoying myself even if I’m making the world’s ugliest yarn. Haha!

Will blog about the experience soon, after I crawl out from under all this wool!

Happy birthday, Mary Cassatt!

Mary Cassatt, Self-Portrait, 1878

American Impressionist painter Mary Cassatt was born on May 22, 1844, in Philadelphia. She lived in France for most of her life until her death in 1926, befriending notable artists like Manet and Degas. Maybe this is why I love her paintings so much—Degas is my one true painterly love, and they’re apparently painters of the same palette. (Or something like that!)

I love crafting depicted in art. Did you know Cassatt had quite a bit, especially of women and their needlework? I used to always imagine hanging one of these lovely prints in the craft room of my dreams.

Above: L: Young Girl In The Garden Sewing / R: Young Mother Sewing

Above: L: Mary Ellison Embroidering / R: Woman Sewing

Above: L: Lydia (the painter’s sister) Crocheting In The Garden At Marly / R: Lydia At A Tapestry Loom

Above: L: Augusta Sewing Before A Window / R: Francoise in Green, Sewing

The last one of the little girl in green is my favorite. Doesn’t she kind of look like she might be a girl with a curl?

Felt monster CYCONE says, “Eye see you!”

Making Cycone was a mini breakthrough for me. This little fellow is proof that as a crafter, you learn something new with every project. In an unprecedented moment in crafting history, I agreed to work on something with someone else, and actually really enjoyed it!

See, I’m sort of a crafting monk. I like working by myself. When I cook I’m often the only one wielding the wooden spoon/whisk/spatula. When I sew, it’s just me and the hum of the Singer. I mean, I can certainly craft with other people in the room, and can even talk to them as I flit about sewing, beating, beading and kneading. But I have to admit I have problems handing over the rolling pin after I’ve started a piecrust or watching my knitting needles in someone else’s hands on an unfinished scarf.

Chalk it up to my curls, I guess. In my culture, curly-haired people are supposed to be alabuton, an Ilonggo word that means “prone to unwarranted fits of sullenness.” This implies that my fickle moods make it difficult for me to work with anyone, especially when I’ve been seized by the malady called craft-itis.

But since I’ve always wanted to make a felt monster and didn’t know how to design one, I had to rely on someone whose needle and thread was a mouse and a computer screen. This meant turning over my felt and scissors to the Monster Maker tracing, cutting and shaping.

This design was the prototype. Felt Monster beta, if you will.

However, it was quickly decided that the design wouldn’t work, despite initial approval from the production team (me). The “tentacles” were too tiny. When the fabric was turned out, the little monster looked disturbingly unfinished because where there were supposed to be fun, tentacle-y appendages, there were sorry-looking stumps! Back to the drawing board, where a more basic conical shape was designed. (The nerd in me secretly liked the revised design better because it resembles a single straight quotation mark! I heart punctuation.)

After all the new pieces were cut (while I sat back and nervously bit my lower lip waiting for my turn at the project), I set about sewing the pieces together. Monster Maker stepped in from time to time to help stuff the body with fiberfill, arrange the facial features on the body and suggest some stitches and colors for thread that would deliver maximum monster effect.

It was WEIRD working with someone like that! But somewhere in the middle of all that needling (both figurative and literal), I realized, why hey, I can actually do this! I’m all grown up now! Haha.

Cycone’s first Monster Mission is to watch over little Noah. Here you see he’s doing a darn fine job! Hee.

I have a lot more felt left, along with the discovery that it’s never too late for an old crafter to learn new stitches. There will definitely be more monsters to come!

Many curly thank you’s to E. for being a monstrously patient craft partner-in-crime. We will one day take the felt monster world by storm. All their base are belong to us. Hehe.

So, they apparently sell frosting, icing and ganache in TUBS at Costco (a warehouse-type store in the US). They’re unrefrigerated, by the way. What sort of things are in it to keep it edible? This brings out the haughty baker in me! I’m sorry, but I will make my own frosting myself, thank you! Real sugar, real butter, real milk! Hmph!