Ladybug cake pops

Over this past weekend, I've made up a batch of ladybug cake pops. What are cake pops, you might ask? They are cake balls on a stick. They are getting more and more popular at parties these days, thanks to the creator at bakerella.com. The ingredients require one box of cake mix, one third of a can of icing, lollipop sticks, styrofoam block, sprinkles, and chocolate chips or candy melts of various colors (optional: markers with edible ink). The ingredients can all be found at baking supply stores. Basically to make it, bake the cake according to the instructions on the box; after the cake has cooled, crumble the cake to fine pieces by hand. Mix the cake crumbles with icing, keading the mix until the mix starts to stay together. Then mold the cake pieces to desired shape and refrigerate for 2-3hrs to make the cake balls firm. Next, the fun begins! Melt the chocolate chips in a bowl (approximately less than a minute, too long will cause the chips to burn and will not form a good coating later on), stick a lollipop stick into the ball and dip the ball in the chocolate to coat the ball. Let excess coating drip off the cake ball. Set the lollipop on the styrofoam. Decorate the cake ball when the coating has hardened. Enjoy!

On a side note, what if there are no chocolate chips with the color you want? A lady at the baking supply store told me you can just get those white chocolate chips or candy melts and powder (not liquid or paste) form of food coloring to mix it together to get the desired color coating!

Here is another cake pop set I've made in the past:

Ta da~~my latest craft project

Here is my newest completed craft, a pair of beaded crystal birds cuddling together in a little bird cage. The first time I made it was for my good friend Sara (visit her site and craft shop at: kittiwake design) during a craft swap. I had liked it since so I've decided to make one for myself too. I have been suggested to make these as the less traditional wedding cake toppers, so I am going to keep this option available when I do find time to make more beaded items to sell. Keep your eyes peeled =)

another year older..

birthday weekend coming up!! :D i wonder what's in store for me?

Here comes an alpaca!

Over the past few weeks, I've been working on this little fella here. It's an alpaca made with seed beads. In case you are wondering what alpacas are, they are related to llamas but smaller in size and cuter (they make the most adorable humming sounds that sound like "mmm? mmm?"). I've got the beading instructions from a Japanese crafts book, but somehow my alpaca ended up facing the opposite way as indicated in the book, but it's still just as cute. I've been wanting to start a craft shop of my own selling beaded things like these for awhile now. I'll post up some more pictures later on of the beaded animals I've completed for a sneak peak of what'll be available in my future shop :)

A new message for the new year!

It's been so long since I've posted anything here, and since I missed the opportunity to write one earlier last month, now I'll have one just in time for the Chinese new year! =)

I was away for vacation back in my home country Taiwan and did lots of sight seeing around various parts of the island. Here are some photos I've taken from the trip:

Taroko national park



stained glass art in metro station



San Fort Dominigo


Taipei 101



During Chinese new year, we sometimes make something special for the occasion, such as the "year cake" (made from sticky rice, can be made sweet or salty, steamed or fried, both delicious). This time, my mom made a dish called "Buddha jumping over the wall," which is a soup dish consisting of over 10 different materials. The typical ingredients for the dish are Nappa cabbage, quail eggs, seafood (shark fin, abalone), and taro. My mom's also added pig knuckles, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, chestnut, and short ribs. The ingredients are all cooked together in a ceramic pot over low heat for several hours. The result: delicious; hence the name of the dish--it's so good that even the vegetarian Buddha will jump over a wall to eat it! :p

And one more thing, here is a stone I picked up at a beach in Taiwan. I love the pattern on the rock, it makes it look almost like a little bird, doesn't it? :) I can't believe that I got it right on the first few picks too, I was lucky I didn't have to look to hard among the many hundred pieces of rocks scattered there on the beach!

Chinese Mid autum festival :)

Here's my touch for the Mid autum festival celebration--rabbit themed dessert set! (unfortunately, this is not edible)

Story of a rock

While I was on my trip to Arizona a few months ago, we came up with a game of story telling while we were out on the road. Each person had to take turn to come up with a word to make up the story, and here is the masterpiece :)

Once there was a rock in a place that needed to do dancing. So suddenly a frog leapt sideways and went "ribbit". Under the ground, the fly flew so far above the stream that he couldn't stop until the rock blocked the fly. However, Froggie then rolled, rolled, pushed the door. Suddenly, there was thunder. A fairy appeared behind the thunder and sang a melody of celebration of Bryce Canyon while they gathered rocks and including furry woodland frogs, rabbits, and mice. Unfortunately, the fly noticed slimy and bubbly ooze on the fairy and meanwhile the meadow turned into the disco that smelled so pungent that everyone had to cover their eyes and sniffed flowers. Spinning and tumbling crickets chirped. The furry mice held onto crickets tiny paws and swing berries around the tree. Finally, Froggie ribbit smacked his face against the fairy so slime covered that rock and all furry animals. They danced slowly and happily ever after.

collecting rocks!

I am usually not a big collector, but there is something about rocks that delights me whenever I find them to resemble something or have pretty combination of colors. Earlier this evening, I was in my backyard and found this piece of pebble that looked like a heart and it's red too :) The color is not showing up too well in the picture. I need to work on my camera and lighting skills.

Ok, I know it's more like an abstract shape of a heart, maybe I'll find a better one next time! With any luck, I hope I can get a heart shaped rock collection like the other people did here.

On the side note, one piece of rock that I liked a lot was an owl shaped rock I found while I was on my road trip in Arizona.

Here are also some other rocks/stones I've acquired through shops:

Picture sandstone:

Peacock ore:



Barite/rose rocks:

Oh~the wonder of rocks :)

Where is the sun?

Dear Sun,

Please come out and shine on San Diego, it's already the middle of summer. Thank you!

Still proud of ya, Uruguay!

Yippee~ I got my money back from the betting with the labmates---$2.00! It wasn't much, but it was fun following the games. I think I will start following the world cup from now on :) And maybe I'll treat my labbies to some chocolates with this prize, haha!

Aside from that, lately I've be contemplating whether to bring my bike with me while driving to work, park my car off campus, and then bike to lab. It'd be a great way to workout, but the bicycle is a bit big and heavy to lift and carry into and out of the car each day though. Also I've been thinking whether to take some classes to pursue another degree. that's all for now!

Go Uruguay!

Right before the World cup started this month, my lab co-workers and neighboring lab members all placed bets on which teams would be the winner for this event. Rather than being able to pick our own teams, we got assigned to the teams through lottery-style drawing, and my team happened to be Uruguay. So far they've been doing pretty well, heading off to round of 16. Go Uruguay! Make me proud! haha! Too bad South Africa didn't make it :(

...

Aah! not enough time left to write another post for today!

Highlights from roadtrip to Utah and Arizona

A picture is worth a thousand words :)


Sonoran desert



Grand Canyon



Lower Antelope Canyon




Zion National Park



Bryce Canyon

(so, i've already written 5000 words in this post!)

A day out in the Anza-Borrego desert!

Just a few days ago, I was in the desert to see some wild flowers and hike around. Here are some pictures to share with you all =)

Happy new year!

It's been awhile since I've posted anyting here, but the latest updates are same old: still trying to get back in shape for my trip-- I've been slacking off from all the holiday feasts and vacationing in a tropical paradise. While I get back on track, here's to everyone for a happy 2010!

tick tock, tick tock....

Time seems to be passing by so fast these days. No news on my shop, as I haven't had much chance to work on it, but I am on my way of getting there. As for now, I'll be focusing more of my spare time on training for my hiking trip to Manchu Picchu and the Amazon rainforest next year. It'll be a challenging yet rewarding trip. So wish me luck!

craft exchange!

My friend and I did a craft exchange recently and the above items are what she made me (top left: heart decoration, bottom left: small ribbon pillow filled with lavender buds, bottom right: sea creature mobile, aren't they cute??)! If you are interested in her designs, check out her shop here. =)

web shop coming soon!

Hi viewers,

I'll be starting up my web shop for beaded critters as well as beaded jewelries in a couple months. Please look forward to visiting my shop! :)