made my thanksgiving cupcakes!

yes, i did make my cute thanksgiving cupcakes in time for this past thursday :)

unfortunately, they didn't turn out quite as cute as i wanted :(

mashed potatoes with gravy (just extra frosting and melted caramels):

corn on the cob made from jelly beans:
pies-- pecan with actual pecans, cherry/apple made with red hots, and two pumpkins made from orange colored frosting:
cranberry sauce, made from black cherry preserves:
turkey. this one i'm mad about, because when i made it on wednesday, it was ADORABLE. looked like the pictures i found. made from melted caramel, Pringles wheat sticks, pieces of pecan for stuffing, and green Fruity Pebbles as lettuce. but then when i got them to put out on thursday, the caramel had melted a bunch, the legs sliding off :( i put it back together the best i could:

cupcakes are pumpkin flavored, with maple cream cheese frosting. it's a good combination, very fall-like.

LESSON: when making intricate cupcakes, store in refrigerator at all times.

new fav video!

pumpkin pie cupcakes!

still inspired by the thanksgiving cupcakes i put up a few posts ago. i'm gonna try to make some too. i lilke this idea for pumpkin pie ones:

this is also adorable, but the topper is fondant/marzipan etc., and i don't really like using those.

this is also amazing-- a baby pumpkin pie inside a cupcakes!

cool games

found a cool game site:

http://www.flash-game.com/

only tried the candy cane game so far (yes, i love christmas) which was fun, but others look cool too.

rabbit series, updike

the past few months i have had to be in the car a lot, driving to various appointments and what-not. so i have started listening to books on tape to pass the time. i always wanted to read john updike's rabbit series, so i have been listening to those. in some ways, i feel like i'm not actually reading the books... i almost feel like it's cheating to listen to them rather than read. but it also makes me appreciate each word more, like when the person reads them out loud pronoucing each syllable and phrase. and each sentence of updike's is really beautiful-- it's definitely a good author to listen to on tape.

anyways, the reason i'm writing this post is today i finished the third book, rabbit is rich, and started the fourth and final one (although there is rabbit remembered, not sure if that's actually part of the series...), rabbit at rest. and it was really interesting to find out that rabbit at rest was published in 1990, the same year i was born. i thought that was kind of ironic/an odd coincidence/kind of cool .....

O.M.G. SO CUTE.

ahhh!!!! love these miniature thanksgiving food cupcakes!!!!!!!!!!

after i saw that turkey one i posted a few blogs back i was thinking of doing something like this. love it!!

"distinct basketball points system"

so i've been looking around online trying to find somewhere to play pick-up soccer or basketball, and a lot of gym/sports clubs have leagues you can join. i was just reading about one that's co-ed, and it was saying that it has "distinct points system" so men's baskets are 1-2 points and women's are 2-3..... i dunno i found this a little insulting and wierd.... maybe i'm just being naive, i mean i know that men are naturally stronger etc. etc. but i still feel this is a sexist policy

fun babysitting

been babysitting for this girl for a couple weeks now, here and there, and she is adorable. but yesterday, we did the funnest thing: she got out a bunch of play-dough and was like, "let's make little things and let them harden." so of course knowing me i made a mini cupcake and she loved it! then we started doing tons of little foods (pizza, hamburger, watermelon, spaghetti...) and she even did sushi! it was adorable. i wanted to take pics but she probably would have thought i was weird..... anyways, it reminded me of when i was little and we used to make miniature food out of sculpey clay and then cook it to harden, and used the food for our Playmobiles. some of the food turned out really good! we were legit, like used a garlic press to make spaghetti lol.

woo!!!

yay contest winning!!!!

see the announcement on lunchtaker's twitter here

I WON THE LUNCH CONTEST!

a few posts back i wrote about this back to school lunch costume at lunchtaker.com, and i ended up submitting this cauliflower Indian-curry inspired recipe my aunt gave me. just got an email today that i was won of two winners! i get a lunchbox and cute little bento box things :) yay!!!!! they didn't announce the winners on the site yet, i'm hoping they will and if so i'll put a link here. but in the meantime, here's the link to my recipe . be warned, it doesn't necessarily look that good but it is delicious.

halloween gingerbread house

so here it is, my halloween gingerbread house :)

front (notice the graveyard on the left, pumpkin patch on right, gingerbread kids wearing what i tried to make look like costumes):

back:

side(nice view of the pumpkin patch and the chimney):