Cupcakes, Doughnuts & Love

Happy Mother's Day!  I haven't gone to sleep yet, so it still counts.  It's been a while since a crazy catch-up post and there's a lotta love here. The 2nd Avenue Deli spells it out in salmon where I took my Mom last year and she wanted to go back today, so love also means pastrami sandwiches and potato pancakes.

I also put some love into the 192 (yep, that's 16-dozen) strawberry lemonade cupcakes I made for the Vicious & Virtuous 2nd Annual Bake-Off Beat-Down to benefit Autism Speaks organized by CupcakeHussy.

This recipe by Annie's Eats was popular when I made 48 and this time the judges from SweeteryNYC, Paper Magazine and Dessert Buzz NYC awarded them "best unusual ingredient" for the edible flowers and....

Best in Show!  And I was very happy with my attire for the event, a special apron by Jessie Steele, so freakin' cute.

There were also edible flowers at a dinner for Cartier by Chef Sam Talbot: they topped yummy, little lemon soufflés.

I loved the day I had with wedding planner Kate Sullivan, who I've known since kindergarten and new friends event planner Tammy Golson and photographer Angela Gaspar: girly, event chat with jap chae, okonomiyaki, ramen and bibimbap.  Big thanks to Kerry from handmade Quade for bringing us together, can't wait for our next outing!

We also trekked out to The Brooklyn Lyceum's spring craft market and to the Smith Street Paper Source: "paper heaven!" sighed Kate.

I put my purchases to use for a congratulatory card

which went with a Lemon Infused Lemon Glazed Lemon Cake from Jon at Victory or Death in the Kitchen.  I added yet more strawberries since I'm on that kick these days and there was a yummy lemon syrup, which you brush on after baking and before pouring on the lemon glaze.

The Hester Street Fair opened yesterday and I met Angela and wore shorts for the first time this year.  The weather was so gorgeous I just wanted to stay outside all day.  Awesome coffee from Wonder City Coffee & Donut Bar.  I somehow resisted their donut holes with caramel sauce, but that will need to be remedied soon.

We saw adorable, little drawstring bags with felt appliqué by The Honey Pie Tree.

and had some spinach & ricotta and saffron & mozzarella arancini from Arancini Brothers...mmm...yes, more fried food in my life...bliss.

Sometime I have to go here when I'm on my way home so I can carefully buy a terrarium from Casa Helecho because aside from being beautiful I think echivaria and cacti are the only things I can keep alive, Mila excepted.

We snagged rose petal donuts at Doughnut Plant -- they're only made for Valentine's Day and Mother's Day -- wow, even MORE edible flowers!

And it was a great day just for lying around in the park.

But back to Mother's Day: how did I forget to take pictures of the gifts I picked up at the Spring Handmade Cavalcade from hycCreative and Wish By Felicity?  Too eager to get wrapping I guess.  Well, here's a pic from Felicity of a necklace similar to the one I bought my Mom, whose favorite color is blue.

[photo by Wish By Felicity]

Another perfect spring day: we went trolling through The Antiques Garage on 25th Street

and yes, over to the 2nd NYC Doughnut Plant location (hehe....more donuts in my life...)  This one is much bigger than the Lower East Side location, but not as large as the one I visited in the Myeongdong region of Seoul, South Korea.  Love these pillows on the wall on 23rd Street though.

Over in Madison Square Park I saw something that stopped me in my tracks: "Echo" by Jaume Plensa.

The artist says “Many times we talk and talk, but we are not sure if we are talking with our own words or repeating just messages that are in the air. My intention is to offer something so beautiful that people have an immediate reaction, so that they think, ‘What’s happening?’ And then maybe they can listen a little bit to themselves.”

This was my reaction to the piece exactly and I listened to myself quietly for a moment, then the sounds of the city came back and I looked around me at what's really important.  Love you, Mom, Dad & Emily.

11 Craft-O-Lutions for 2011

"For last year's words belong to last year's language 

and next year's words await another voice." -- T.S. Eliot

I'm loving the New Year's Resolution Reviews popping up, from Heart Handmade, Sandy A La Mode and others, so I've made a few changes around here: a Facebook fan page, Tweets and more event listings.  Let me know if you hear about any more!  Here's what I want to do in 2011:

1) Ballet classes, took the 2nd one in 6 years last week at Peridance, very inspired by Black Swan!

2) Cello lessons again, it's been about 11 years now! also very inspired by this Korean horror movie

3) Jewelry class, maybe at Make Workshop or 3rd Ward

4) Sell something at a craft fair, so many to think about, now what to make??

5) Cake decorating, been years since I've done this too, so I got my last bday cake at Magnolia 

6) Get another flower arranging job, cause the first was lots of work, but really fun

7) Visit event vendors: like a baker, florist, stationer, designer...and a few others I have in mind...

8) Get another tattoo: already chose the place, thinking about the design

9) Sew a dress

10) Keep cooking, cause starting this year off with Korean dumplings was pretty tasty

11) And do a better job of keeping in touch cause, well, it just all around makes me happy

Good luck with your resolutions, crafty or otherwise!

Last Holiday Craft Fair Review

Went to the last spree of holiday craft fairs for the season last weekend.  When we were in Brooklyn we were within walking distance of FOUR different events!  First, here was a little friend who got stuck on our window sill for a little while.  I guess he was just saying hello. 

In downtown NYC we went to a special Holiday Pop-Up sale with Liddabit Sweets (got a "Slurtle", a drunken turtle with beer caramel, potato chips and a dark chocolate shell) and CookieBar (got World Peace Cookies from Dorrie and Josh Greenspan -- oh my gosh, were these amazing, I almost walked back after I finished one).

Saw some Snoopy ornaments in a window near Chinatown.  I have a Peanuts Christmas collection, so I was tempted...

First stop in Brooklyn was at the Lyceum where we went to a great fair in the spring.

Then to the the Brooklyn Craft Central's Legendary Holiday Market in 2 Locations: #1 was the Textile Arts Center.

I totally want to go back there for a class or an event sometime soon now that I know how to get there.

Cool, pretty stuff, including the best quote on a tote bag ever: "I knit so I don't kill people", haha, love it.

Then to Littlefield Performance Space.

And then over to the gifted holiday market of the Brooklyn Flea at Skylight One Hanson.

What a breahtaking space!

At a wedding this summer some of the original tables from when the building was a bank were used in the dining room (photo by Boutwell Studio).

The Big Social Holiday Market takes the Hester Street Fair indoors on Mulberry Street.

And last, but not least, the Jersey City Craft Mafia held a Holiday Market too!  Phew, busy season...

Renegade Brooklyn!

Here's where I'll be this weekend: so excited!  Pretty much the mother-of-all-craft-fairs, keeping my fingers crossed that the weather holds up.  Take a look at this lineup and check out my sidebar for other crafty happenings this weekend.  Will report back soon!

Always FREE-TO-ATTEND – our craft, art, design and DIY spectacular will feature over 300 of today’s finest indie-craft talents from all over the nation, free workshops, entertainment + other features

Crafting-guru and how-to author extraordinaire Lotta Jansdotter will be at the Fair leading interactive workshops furnished by Rowenta! Join Lotta in her innumerable craft pursuits – and learn a few new techniques while you’re at it!


Be sure to join the fantastic folks from ETSY.com at their hands-on booth! Stamping, sewing, printing – you name it! Etsy will guide you through many quick + simple, make + take projects!

Visit the BurdaStyle Make and Take Lounge, featuring the original OurGoods experiment, the Work Dress. Learn how to sew with BurdaStyle’s FREE Make and Take project: a Drawstring Bag with Bags for the People!

Join Brooklyn-based artist Aya Rosen in the Pébéo Creative Lab! Experiment with fabric, glass and porcelain paint provided by Pébéo at this free-to-participate workshop space!