Catch-up post liek whoa!

Diary of a Fail Cake
Or, Confections for Grandpa's 85th Birthday

I've been making some of the cakes served for dinners at Grandma's house for a while now; we tend to have simple tastes and that's certainly my speed, culinarily speaking. So the request of a red velvet cake (vegan, so my cousin could enjoy it too) was met with ease. The substitution of tofu for eggs only affected the cake in terms of low rise, but the texture, color, and taste were just the same. Simple but festive decorations were in order, so Cream Cheese frosting, sprinkles, and colorful candles were collected for assembly. The cake stuck to the glass cake stand wonderfully -or so I thought- so I decided to add the sprinkles only on the sides of the cake. They shook on well, but I wanted thicker coverage so I tilted the cake stand a bit. It worked! Around and around I went, happily sprinkling the colored dots onto the side of the cake. I was just about to where I started when *whoosh* the cake slid of the plate like greased lightning! Seriously, no warning slip or anything, just voom and it was on it's side on the tinfoil I was using to catch stray sprinkles. Cue panic. I gingerly reached under the tinfoil and attempted to lift and slide, but to no avail -the cake over the edge of the plate crumbled into lovely red crumbs. Fail. :(



The festive sprinkles that led me to doom...


Only about half the cake was presentable/edible, so I rushed off to Whole Foods and picked up a lovely Lemon Tart (everything else was chocolate or massive) to fill in the dessert gap. By the time dessert was served, poor little Fail Cake had developed a real personality...



Here's the tart with some of the candles that would've been on the cake (there are eight and five candles :B)...


And many more! :D

(Man, sometimes you don't realize how odd someplace looks until you see a photo of it... O_O)


Craftster Cat Swap
er, not an actual cat swap...

I've really grown addicted to Craftster, it's just amazing all the things people make! They also have a swap area, and I signed up for my first swap which was Crazy Cat Lovers Round 2. Here are the things I made for my partner, Jamie, and her flame-point Siamese, Apa...

A sleep/play blanket; one side has fluffy pom-poms to nom on, and the other side is plush cozy fleece.


I reverse-appliqued his name (my first time trying that technique, lots of fun)...


Kitty toys! I have to admit, that cheeseburger was a labor of love (every cat needs a cheezburger, right? :B) since I made it up without a pattern. It should be easier to make another now, though. :) The fishbone has plastic canvas in it to help it keep the shape; and the burrito is heavily laced with premium nip...


With contributions from LaRoo and the guinea (naturally molted, not plucked! :P), I made a feather teaser...


And for Jamie I made some stitch markers since she is a crochet whiz...


To spare the dial-uppers, you can see all the pics of the FABULOUS things Poo and I received from her here. This swap was a ton of fun and I've already signed up for three more -Birds are Beautiful, Legend of Zelda, and a Christmas Ornament swap! Yay for sewing and craftiness! :D


And finally, a couple pics of the full moon over the goatyard...

It was SO pretty, I wish I could catch it better. :\


And one with the goats and Pippa...


I just realized I haven't done a proper introduction/info post about them yet, better get on that...


In other news, I suppose one nice thing about being poor is that you have nothing to lose when the Market tanks! Funny how that doesn't help me sleep better at night. :\