Boy Oh Boy!

Dear Neglected Blog,
Hi, how are you? So sorry I haven't updated you in a while. Well, a baby shower cake was the last cake I made this month before I lost my sense of humerus a second time. Translation: I redislocated my shoulder. I am sorry it took me an injury to remember your existence. Isn't it ironic?
But check out the tic-tac-toe tiled icing on the sides:

I went to the Philippines last month for a two-week vacation, right smack when the rainy season started there. I got to stay in the Eastwood area the first week. It seemed I ate somewhere everyday, but it also meant meeting family and friends again...including two who were pregnant. I tell ya, 'tis the season to be having baby boys!
I purchased an iPad and I've been wifi-hunting with it wherever I go. This is actually my first blog post using my iPad which is quite challenging, especially photo-editing on flickr with Aviary (it used to be Picnik, but they've closed basket...I mean, shop.).
The doctor wants me to remain sling-bound for another two weeks. I look forward to be able to dance again, and bake again. And get a healthy dose of *his* smile again.

Dancing with Barbie Dolls

"Oooh I wanna dance with somebody...I wanna feel the heat with somebody!" sings Whitney Houston.

Even Barbie is feeling the urge to dance...in the ballroom, no less! Spotted these special edition Barbie dolls at Target tied in with my favorite celebrity dance show "Dancing with the Stars."

Only serious Barbiephiles can afford to collect these at $34.99 each.

I would pick the Paso Doble Barbie if I had to choose between these two. The All-New Season of Dancing with the Stars returns on March 19th and I can't wait! Ballroom glitz and glamour as they descend on the spiral stairs! Who will I root for this season? I have a feeling they'll dance to at least one Adele song.

Fortuitous Flowers

 

I bought myself flowers sometime last week. It was on Leap Day Eve. It was a day when my heart grew a hundred times the size of golf balls. I think it's the first time I treated myself to a bouquet of blooms, that which isn't bought for someone else or for the prayer altar at home.

I purposefully picked pink. Because I had felt tickled pink. Well, not immediately. Stunned at first, then the color saturated my being as soon as the fortuitous event sunk in. I wouldn’t compare my heart to yellow golf balls, so pink flowers it was.

The late great Whitney Houston (God bless her Divine Diva soul) echoes my sentiments with uncanny accuracy in her 80’s song “How Will I Know.” But am I brave enough, bold enough, to really want to know?

Cake Pops!

On Valentine's Eve, I stayed up until 3am to make cake pops for the first time. I originally wanted to make cupcakes, but someone else at work already planned on baking red velvet cupcakes so I decided to do something else.

I didn't have everything I needed, but I worked with what I did have, such as only one bag of Wilton candy melts instead of two. I also didn't have styrofoam to dry the coated cake pops on, so I used a banana instead. No candy pop sticks which would have been sturdier, so I had used our colored coffee stirrers instead.

They're not as smooth and evenly coated as I had hoped, but they were gone by the end of the day! I brought about 20 pieces to work. They loved it!

 

I guess the treat for me was when three people asked me how I made them, including someone I was secretly hoping would sample them. He did, and he came bursting through our office to inquire about the cake pops' creation. I calmly explained the method employed while this unexpected attention was secretly enjoyed.

Some weeks back, I had imagined bringing something to work on Valentine's Day and offering him to try it, but that day I didn't even have to do it and it still happened on his own initiative. 

Oh, and the funny thing was, he had called them "Cake Balls," which I promptly corrected. 

A Car That's 2Strong

It took two toll booths and a total of $18.50 to get to Woodside in Queens, New York to satisfy a Jollibee craving on President’s Day Weekend. It was really a request from our Canadian guests who came to visit us, and it was either that or freeze while queueing for the ferry boat to the Statue of Liberty (which they’ve been wanting to see up close). The red bee won, especially since we were all hungry and it was already lunch time.

Thankfully, parking was a breeze on a sidestreet near the one and only Jollibee branch in the entire East Coast. Right in front of our spot was this car with a heroic trunk and matching message on the license plate. Someone is obviously a huge (pun intended) fan of The Hulk! And that reminds me, the new Avengers movie is coming up! Hopefully it lives up to the hype!

I wonder if the owner of this car was dining in the jampacked fastfood shrine we were visiting, or perhaps lives in the apartment building right next to its spot. This is what I love about New York: it never ceases to amaze, surprise and amuse. If this were a car sighting in California, though, it can be a cool ride to do San Francisco hotel reviews in.  

Ideally, Bruce Banner would do this in a mild manner.

Gift Guru-ness

Some say Valentine’s Day is a holiday spawned by Hallmark and chocolate-makers. It’s a day when singles feel most singled out, but I enjoy the card-giving tradition that goes with it. It’s also an excuse to eat more chocolate, especially ones that come in some heart-associated, usually red packaging.

There is bliss in sending Valentine cheer, amplified when it is received from thoughtful friends from across the miles. These mailed goodies from Ody and Pavinee are just a few heartwarming examples. Love can come with a postage stamp!

For my cousins, there were the ubiquitous chocolates which I paired with movie certificates I had purchased at a wonderful discount. In gift-giving, a good rule of thumb to follow is that when in doubt, get them gift cards/ gift certificates. It helps to know where they love to shop/dine! Pick a store they adore and let them do the picking of what they really want. You will never go wrong! Gift cards are also a time and sanity-saving shopping device especially for those who do not want to linger at the mall mulling over what to get someone. Plus, you don’t have to wrap it.

So are you a Gift Guru?

Cupid's Candy Heart Cupcakes

Cinderella couldn't go to the ball, so she made cupcakes instead.

Happy Valentine's Day, Y'all! Or as I call it, a day to indulge in chocolate packaged in many different ways heart-shaped or -hued.

Here are some lemon cupcakes I recently baked with pink frosting, red sprinkles and candy hearts for a Filipino religious celebration (Ati-Atihan Fiesta) in a jolly place called Jersey City. The pink cupcake wrappers were extra ones from my baby niece's first birthday party last year.

I had fun sorting out the cute messages on the candy hearts from this big bag I bought. "Tweet Me" is so social network-modern! I could have lined up the ones that said "Call Me," "Text Me" and "Tweet Me" to show the evolution of candy-fied sweet nothings. 

My personal favorite, simply, is the one that says "Smile." ♥

Dear Lord, just realized this is my first ever blog for 2012! #Twitterkilledblogging!