Em Bish

Little fun fact that I failed to mention for awhile is that I'm finally taking classes for baking! I actually started the class in January.. Overall it's a really fun class! The class is every Tuesday and Thursday from 2-7 pm. It sucks that it's quite a drive for me, but I guess you just gotta do what you gotta do! Lately though, it has been somewhat overwhelming depending on what I have to do during the week. For example, this week was my friend, Emily Bishop's birthday. Her birthday happened to fall on a Wednesday which meant that if I wanted to bake something for her, that I would have to bake on Tuesday night which also meant I wouldn't have the whole day to whip something up. I knew that I would bake for her no matter what.

Emily and I first met each other in 8th grade. We had both P.E and science together. Those were good times. Those were also the days that none of us could drive and would have to walk everywhere or rely on parents to drive us to places. Which brings me to why I thought of making the cake that I made for her. The cake I made her was supposed to replicate a bag of popcorn (like the ones you see in movie theaters). I decided to make this because she absolutely LOVES popcorn. I don't think there's ever been a time that I've been to her house where she didn't have popcorn stocked in her pantry. Now that I think of it, she's also typically always ate or popped popcorn whenever we were at her house!

NHS Girls Senior Basketball Game

Today (I guess technically yesterday..) was my friends' last basketball game! So sad!!!! This just makes me realize that I will soon have my last dance show...EVER!
On a more positive note...
I made treats for the basketball girls! Why? Well, to be honest, girl's sports at my high school don't always get enough credit. I think it's really frustrating (even though I'm technically not even in a girl's sport..dance is counted as an elective/arts class)! Nevertheless I've begun to bond with some of the girls on the team this year and thought I'd do something special for their last game. I originally planned to make "Justin Bieber" themed cupcakes but I underestimated the amount of time.. so I opted for a much simpler design.
...which also didn't seem to work out too much either...

Hand lettered each butter cookie.

Then added some jam to make the letters pop!

the cookies that said "basketball" didn't quite make it... ):

POSTERS!

Whoopsies!

Soo either my camera, memory card, or card reader that I usually use to take pictures with broke, which is why I never made a post about my other christmas party.. :( It is still yet to be fixed but I thought that I should update my blog somehow so I decided to use a different camera I had!

Anywaaaays this post is dedicated to my high school TA teacher, Mrs. Crowley! She's helped guide me through high school for the past four years and I am so thankful to have her as my TA! In fact, she was the one who persuaded me to start this blog! Earlier in the school year, I let her try my peanut butter chocolate chip flavored cupcakes and she later told me that they were her favorite! Because of this, I thought that my TA should do something for her since she's done so much for us for the past four years. I got my friend, Kris to ask her when her birthday was but, unfortunately, her birthday happened to fall during the summer! Did that stop me? Nope! That just meant that we would have to celebrate her half birthday! So me and two others in my TA (Tatiana and Kris), messaged everyone to try to bring something for her (a card, balloon, cookies, etc). Success..? Sure why not! It didn't necessarily go as planned, however; there really wasn't an exact plan anyways hahaha. On a positive note: she said her day wasn't going too well but that our little "celebration/scheme" made her day a lot better! :)
Another side note: she won "Teacher of the Year" this year and we never really fully congratulated her so I thought I would add that to the cupcakes I made her ;)

PS: this isn't related to this post but, Happy Chinese/Lunar New Year! Or as my family would say, "Chuc Mung Nam Moi!" :)

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Yeaaaaar!

Ahhhh! It's finally winter break!!!! :D (I've actually been on break from school for a couple of days now hehe) I apologize for the lack of blog posts lately! I haven't had many opportunities to decorate any cupcakes/cakes/baked goods......until now!!!! ;)

Opportunity #1: Bake for Northwood's Girls Basketball Team
Earlier this year I told people around my school that I would join the basketball team (jokingly). People didn't believe I wouldn't do it so I went to a couple of practices just to see what it would be like. Overall it didn't seem tooooooooo baaaaaaad but I still didn't know the rules of the game and I wasn't dedicated enough make the time commitment.. hahaha.. But after not officially joining the team, two of my friends (that are already on the team) told them that I'd still be part of the team...but as their "team baker," so I finally baked some cupcakes for them! (;

Opportunity #2: Dance Theatre Christmas/Holiday Potluck Party

It's a tradition for dance theatre to have a christmas/holiday party every year. This is my first year being in dance theatre, so I was thrilled to be included in this tradition! (: 

*note: the girl's basketball team and dance theatre cupcakes occurred on the same day which is why they look similar

Opportunity #3: Gifts for Teachers
I normally don't give gifts to any of my teachers. It's not that I don't like them, I just...well..don't? I will admit though, I did kind of always feel weird not giving anything while most of my friends would but, hey what could I do? It's not like I could drive myself and get money to buy anything! Heck I barely even get anything for my parents or sister! Hahah my parents usually just put my name on the tags ;)
Any who, this year a few of my teachers knew that I enjoy to bake so I decided to bake for those who supported me for it :)
*note: There were a two different variations.
Can you tell that the ones on the front left are supposed to look like hot cocoa? ;)
Along with the cupcakes, I made hot cocoa mixes/cones (not pictured)

Just for funzies.....!

Before being let out for winter break my school had a spirit week! 

Monday: nothing, just a normal Monday...haha

Tuesday: Pajama Day. I didn't take a picture but I was wearing a full on doggie pajama set (pants, long sleeve top, robe) that I've had since I was in sixth grade

Wednesday: Twin Day

Me and My friend, Tiffany. Our friend Nicole was also supposed to dress up like us but decided to not wear the socks and a grey top... ):

Thursday: Matching hat and scarf day

You see all of the scarves in the picture? ...I knitted them ;) If only I knew how to make hats!! ):

Friday: Ugly Christmas Sweater. This was the only day I didn't participate...

That is all for now! However, I have another holiday party tomorrow so who knows if I'll update again soon! Hehe ;)

Gobble Gobble

Happy (late) Thanksgiving! Hope you all ate your hearts out, shopped till you dropped, etc!

Anyways this is how my holiday went about..

• Wednesday: My FST math class thought it'd be a great idea to recreate our wonderful Halloween party and change it up a bit to a Thanksgiving Potluck. I brought cupcakes as usual..(pictures will be posted below). 
• Wednesday night/Thursday morning: Started baking for my family's Thanksgiving dinner (this was the only time I could have the oven before the turkey would be cooking). Initially I planned on making 1 apple pie, 1 pumpkin pie, and about maaaaybe a dozen pumpkin spice cupcakes, however; the recipes I had made 2 pumpkin pies and 18 cupcakes! Oh my. Let's just say there was way too much dessert..
• Thursday: Since I had been baking all night/morning I was dead tired! By the time I woke up it had been about 3 pm! Long story short... the house still needed to be cleaned and I still needed to make fondant toppers and frosting for the pumpkin spice cupcakes. 
• Thursday night/Friday morning: BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING! Ha. Just kidding. But not really. It's actually a tradition of mine to go every year. I usually go with my family, however; this year I went with my friends, Nickta and Anisha. There really wasn't anything specific that I was looking for but I thought I'd give it a shot and go anyways...I ended up leaving empty handed. 
• Friday: Sleep, sleep, and more sleeeeep!
• Friday night/Saturday morning: Random craving for donuts!!! 
• Saturday: Sleeeep and my knitting phase has started once again.
• Saturday night/Sunday morning: thought I'd give it a shot to make meringues (I've tried once before and it completely failed..)
• Sunday/Today: Sleeeeeeeep....and now blogging ;)

What have I gained from this holiday, you ask? 

1. A messed up sleeping schedule

2. Many leftover desserts...actually just many leftovers in general (LOTS of turkey sandwiches..)

3. Knitting needles and yarn all over my house

4. Random cravings late at night/morning

This is not good....I have to go back to school tomorrow! Ah.

Okay enough of me blabbering, it's now picture time!!!!!!! WoOoOoOo.

Cupcakes I made for the FST Thanksgiving Potluck

The apple pie I made for my family (before it was baked)

Cupcakes I made for my family as well. Pretty much the same toppers as the ones for my FST class, except the turkey feathers were made of fondant wrapped on toothpicks (I didn't have enough drying time..)

The night/morning that I had a random craving for donuts.. haha.

Meringues...Brown Sugar Meringues to be exact (; ! 

At last!! 

The scarf I started last year but finally finished!!! 

Don't worry, the finished product is a lot longer ;)

SMH

smh.

(shake my head.)

Earlier this week my mom asked me if I could make a princess themed cake for my cousin's 4th birthday. The only thing is that my cousin is very specific with which princesses she likes. For instance, I thought she might like Sleeping Beauty/Aurora, but no she doesn't. She doesn't like her because she is scared of the witch. That's understandable. I used to be afraid of that witch too. As much as I loved that movie, every time the fireplace scene would come on, I would run away like a little cry baby. At the time, I thought Maleficent was the most horrifying thing ever. The fireplace scene (below) would just always give me the heeby jeebies!! 

See? Isn't that scene creepy? (excuse the french..)

Anyways, I could babble about Disney for days, but I won't. 

...for now. Hehe ;)

So long story short, I made my cousin a cake, however; MY MOM GOT THE WRONG DATE! Oh my goodness. 

Turns out mom thought that my cousin's birthday was yesterday, November 12th, but really, it's actually next Saturday, November 19th. I guess now my cousin will just get an early birthday cake! 

Note: My apologies for the amount of Disney videos in this post. Making this cake just put me in the Disney music listening mood! (:

The cake...

fun fact - as of now, this is the biggest cake that I have made.

If you haven't guessed, her favorite disney princesses are Mulan (even though she technically isn't a princess?), Cinderella, Jasmine, and Ariel.

Mulan!

"Honor to Us All" 

(this was the dress I tried to copy with fondant)

Cinderella!

"Cinderelly"

I don't know why but while working on the Cinderella song, I couldn't help but just think of this song! Might I add I just love Gus Gus! He's so fat and adorable. Hahahah :D

Jasmine!

"A Whole New World"

Ahh, who wouldn't want to ride on a magic carpet ride?! 

Ariel!

"Under the Sea"

This song is just so fun! "The seaweed is always greener...under the seaaaaa!"

Practice Makes Perfect

...right? 

Well, hey!

The weather's getting colder, baking season is here, and black friday promotions are coming out, you know what that means?! 

IT'S HOLIDAY SEASON!

hehe

Last night, my friend, Anisha told me that she was having a holiday party at work. I gladly offered to make her holiday themed treats. Hopefully they looked festive enough...

Ornaments, Candy Canes, Stars, Stockings, Ribbons, and Presents

Stockings

Ribbons

Presents

Candy Canes

Stars

...an...uhm...ornament...

Eh, eh? At least I have more time to work on more ideas for future holiday parties/events! ;)

Note to self: Work on perfecting a "Hot/Spicy Red Velvet Cupcake..."

                     I just gotta keep remembering, "practice makes perfect."