...waving goodbye to me, with my own hand...

I'm a fan of everything Christopher Walken, so I went to see a current play he's in on Broadway, 'A Behanding in Spokane'. The play was so-so, but must be mentioned because it's the first time I've ever been allowed to have a drink at my seat. I know there were cocktails at Evil Dead The Musical, but thought that was a special case (and also a themed drink) as I've never heard of such a thing and have been to a lot of Broadway theaters in the last 15+ years. You can imagine my dropped jaw when the bartender asked "would you like that for the bar or for your seat?". She poured my vodka soda into a plastic cup with a lid. Absurd and amazing. I kept the cup.


Nevertheless, I can still only give it 2 stars. Walken was a genius, of course, and it was fantastic to watch said genius live in the flesh, but I wasn't too impressed with anyone else in the show. The story was completely bizarre i.e. exactly what I look for, but not enough to make up for lackluster performances by 3/4 of the cast and writing that was awkward at times. Anyway, I'm really only talking about this because of the "to go" cup, so let's move on.
An orchid moved in with me and I wanted to photograph it before I killed it. It's been a few weeks now and is still looking good, so maybe I'm giving it the proper care? I thought the photos might look good as a series, so here's what I played around with.


Which combination or single is your favorite? I haven't blogged in a long while, let alone had a giveaway, so I'll have one now! Leaving a comment here will enter you to win an 8x10 of your choice (from the orchid series or any photo from my shop). I will draw and announce a random winner on May 17th at 12am. If you're new to my blog and leaving a comment, you can sign up to follow and will get an extra entry. All followers are entered once automatically and get an additional when leaving a comment. Thanks!

Give me that stuff, that funk, that sweet, that funky stuff

The winner is Tiny Bird Arts!!!! She will be receiving these double chocolate cookies as I've tried out the almond turtles twice now and am close, but not to perfection yet. They actually tasted delicious on this last try, but I still can't seem to temper the chocolate correctly. AND I put them on wax paper which apparently was a bad idea because they stuck. So, I've ingested some wax paper. It was worth it. Of course, now that I'm close to getting them right, I'll need to make them again. It's a lot of work! I have great respect for all you candy makers!!! Speaking of, this package will also include a sampling from Lollipop Labs ...another candy I really want to attempt one of these days... Anyway, congratulations to Tiny Bird Arts. She's hosting a great giveaway of her own right now, so check it out!
Also, Nicole Tattersall (check out her art - it's fabulous) is hosting her own giveaway for free money to use in my Etsy shop! Enter now!
Oh and that picture above has nothing to do with anything except that I'm having sea urchin later.

"...you don't even have to go to Europe any more... just go to Pittsburgh."

Congratulations to Expressions By Devin a.k.a Devin Prather for winning the giveaway!   She chose Andy 2 out of the three and I will be sending it shortly.  

Also, I was just featured in a gorgeous treasury by wintergarden!  Check it out!

"I go-go dance for a living but I’m in a cage. It’s totally different."

Here's a shot of another trial run of these chocolate snowcaps I did last night (before going into the oven). Tonight I will be making a new batch for YARNCOTURE who is the winner of this giveaway!!!!
Usually when I bake something new I do it as the recipe calls for first, so I don't necessarily start off with all organic ingredients. Because of this I've found that organic ingredients can definitely change the taste and/or consistency of some recipes. You know how you sometimes get that "organicy" flavor? Anyway, it is NOT the case with these snowcaps. They still come out delicious and I honestly can't tell the difference between the semi-organic version I did at Christmas and the all organic versions I've done in the last week. Now, on to trying them with whole wheat flour (after yarncoture's batch of course)! I find that with really chocolatey cookie recipes you can totally get away with whole wheat flour and not notice a difference, but with regular chocolate chip cookies, it's harder to pull off. Just a little tip if anyone is interested! Thanks everyone for entering!! I'll do another one soon!
Also, this blog title comes from Rock of Love Bus - did anyone watch? It's horrendous! And I'll be taping every episode.

Chocolate Rain

Merry New Year! Let's have another baked giveaway! For Christmas I tried a new recipe from Maaaatha for what she calls chocolate-espresso snowcaps. They were delicious and I'd love to share some! For an entry into this giveaway please visit my Etsy shop and leave a comment here about an item - what you like, what you don't like. I'll take suggestions on ways to improve an item or ideas of items you'd want to see too. Any kind of feedback is great and I'm always looking for it. If you want an additional entry sign up to follow my blog or twitter. Thanks!

I will draw the winner after 12am on Monday the 5th. Cookies will be baked with organic ingredients on Monday the 5th and will ship priority mail on Tuesday.

All 20s

I now have 20 followers of this blog and am very excited about it! Because I'm so excited I want to try a giveaway of those blondies I posted about. I remade them a few nights later doing the recipe exactly as Clear Pink had wanted and they came out amazing! I vacuum sealed four of them using different settings and am still waiting to open them. I want to ship preservative free baked goods across the country without them getting stale and without me having to overnight them. Anyway, let's try it out now! Everyone who leaves a comment on this thread will receive an entry to win 8 blondies in a vacuum sealed bag for freshness. If you sign up to follow my blog you'll receive 2 entries. I use only organic products and will send you a list of ingredients along with the blondies. I hope you're as thrilled about this as I am! Contest ends Wednesday 12/17 at 6am EST.