Just sharing some photos of my crazy cat, I thought this was pretty amusing!  We recently painted and added new furniture to our bedroom, Mio had a blast!

I originally thought I was going to be doing Japanese snack reviews and I got to thinking.. I LOVE anything sweet, these aren’t much of a review when I’m always saying this is great, this is great.  So pretty much unless I start trying new odd Wasabi flavored Kit Kats, I’m pretty much just sharing these yummy snacks with you.

Apple Pretz is a small stick of yumminess.  It is an apple flavored cracker/cookie stick (they also had caramel).  If you have ever had Pocky, this is the stick without the coating!  It is pretty light in fat/calories and you definitely won’t get full eating the whole bag, and the best part is the serving size is the whole bag!

I worked on a little craft project the other weekend!  I picked up a MUNNYWORLD Mini Trikky, and for those of you who don’t know what a Munny is.. I will tell you.  It is a white vinyl ‘toy’ that you can paint/draw/marker etc. a design on yourself, so fun!  The one I got is specifically called Trikky, and of coarse it’s a kitty!  It was only $10 and it would be a great project for kids.

If you want to check these out, go to their website MUNNYWORLD, you can also get these at TATE’S !

This one came with one mystery accessory, which was an axe & I did not actually use it in my design.

And here’s the result!  I just used acrylic paint, you can also use markers. (I bet Sharpies would be good)

And I can’t forget the inspiration!

I have two larger Munny’s waiting in the closet for some color.. I’m still trying to think of a fun design but will definitely post when finished!

Off to watch Chopped Champions, Nite

So yesterday after I had written my post on the new Tokidoki print I decided to look around at some of their past prints.  I came across Foresta, very colorful and definitely one that I would like to have.  For some reason I am very attracted to those toothy apples. This fruit fetish started when I was making my Bday cake and as you can tell one of those little guys ended up at the top.  Anyways, I decided to check out Ebay since they don’t sell these anymore thinking maybe I could get a deal.  Pre-owned purses in this print are going for $300-$400…

Lol, I don’t have much else to say about this, maybe feeling a bit speechless.  For some reason it did not occur to me that these purses would go UP in price.. for a used one?!  So here I am venting my shock and frustration that I will never be owning a toothy little apple purse..

The new Americana print bags are now available from Tokidoki!  I’m not sure why I’m so excited, I won’t be getting another Tokidoki bag in a long time but I still enjoy seeing their new cute stuff.

This print features a bunch of new characters along with some of our old favorites, all done in a fifties era theme.  As always there are a variety of different style bags and you can check them out HERE!

Tate’s is hoping to have these in Friday!

CAIO!

I’d like to introduce you to my fur-baby Mio, pronounced ME-OH. AKA Mama Mio & Mioski! We named her after a character on the Japanese anime/manga K-ON, what a shocker.

She’s such a brat & a pain in my side, but I wouldn’t change her one bit. <3

Goodnight

We recently went to a Japanese snack testing event at our favorite comic book store Tate’s Comics+Toys+Videos+More, we were introduced to some new Japanese snacks.  Most of the snacks we tried were great & a few odd ones but we definitely found some new favorites and have already gone back for more.  I’d like to share them with you!

This is called Sapporo Potato “TsubaTsuba” Vegetable, they are very light little puffed sticks of salty goodness.  Very Light, even lighter than say Cheetos.. Dan compared them to Styrofoam that tastes good.  They are vegetable flavor, the packaging seems to say 9 flavors of veggies but in all honesty I can not read Japanese and understand it.. yet!  Dan and I have started to study the Japanese language, I know how to pronounce & read about 20 of the characters in the alphabet but of coarse do not know what they mean.

Ok so back to the snacks… this is one of our new favorites, and on the plus side they aren’t all that horrible for you.  These are made by the Japanese food company Calbee, and they actually have a branch here in the US that produces some other snacks.

Here’s some links if interested..

Calbee Japan
Calbee America

Before I take off, I have to mention how much I LOVE Japanese packaging.  It’s always so colorful and cute!

Lol, I couldn’t resist myself with the title! So remember how I deleted the Futurama cake photos from my digital camera before I uploaded them to my computer.. well HE RECOVERED THEM! He is Awesome!

So I’ll go ahead and add those to my gallery!

The BF (boyfriend) recently celebrated his 28th Birthday!! And he chose Futurama as his cake theme. Now.. I had nice photos taken with my digital camera from all angles, and somehow managed to delete them, BF is currently trying to recover them. I have total faith in him, just not so much faith in my luck that they will be returned.

So I will try to go on with this post as normal without crying, because all I have to show you are 2 ‘ok’ photos from an iPhone.

This is a 2 tiered cake covered in fondant, with a skyline painted on with food coloring mixed with a little vodka. All the buildings, small ships, Planet Express Ship, and Bender are made with fondant and/or gumpaste.

What you can’t see are the telephone poles (or whatever futuristic pole they are meant to be in Futurama =P ) positioned on the corners & sides of the cake, with black telephone lines that conveniently look like awesome pretty string-work. *cry* *cry*

This cake was easy to make and came out very moist, definitely my new go-to chocolate cake recipe. It’s a bit unique and has you add 1 cup of boiling water at the end, which makes the batter extremely runny.. it almost makes you worry.. but it turns out great!

My only complaint would be trying to make cupcakes with it, which I did with extra batter. Instead of nice rounded tops it looked as if the batter ran to the side before baking.. nothing a nice amount of peanut butter buttercream can’t cover up! I definitely recommend the combination of this dark chocolate cake & peanut butter icing, it is now a new favorite in our household and I know the boyfriend will request it every birthday from now on!

Deep Dark Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY’S SPECIAL DARK Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round pans or one 13x9x2-inch baking pan. (I always use parchment paper in the bottom of my pan & cooking spray on the sides, the cake came out fine)

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of electric mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes for round pans, 35 to 40 minutes for rectangular pan or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

Peanut Butter Buttercream

Ingredients:

1/3 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 cups (approx. 1 lb.) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons milk

Directions:

Cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add peanut butter and vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk, one tablespoon at a time, and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.

Keep icing covered with a damp cloth until ready to use. For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Re-whip before using.