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Category: Holiday

Happy July 4th Cupcakes 🧨

Though I had just gotten home from my trip, I quickly got to work on an Independence Day treat for the festivities. I took a risk on veganizing these firecracker cupcakes. But I had no more all-purpose flour and subbed with cake flour and whole wheat flour. The result, a Read more…


Sparkle & Fade {Pictorial}


Father’s Day & A Vegan White Chocolate Cake

After using cacao butter in my s’mores babka, I knew I had to try to make a cake with it. Because if I passionately huff the stuff in ecstasy, it’ll most likely make a delicious cake, right? So on this Father’s Day, my first trial of a Vegan White Chocolate Read more…


Finally, A Halloween Wreath…
And, Randomly, Will Oldham

As you may recall, I’ve made lots of holiday wreaths with my hot glue gun. But not my favorite holiday: Halloween. I began a craft stash for this purpose. These yucky limbs were lying about my apartment for months as I waited for fake cucarachas from China to arrive, subconsciously Read more…


‘Murica Loaf πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ

It’s the start of the patriotic treats time of year. Though this one is the most somber of the holidays, I embarked upon a red, white and blue vanilla loaf because I just love those colors. It’d be a hit at some festive gathering that you’re not allowed to go Read more…


Happy Remote Mother’s Day

A beautiful day to celebrate Mother’s Day through the door… Let’s start with the cupcakes. Though I love to show my affection with tremendous baking undertakings, my Mom doesn’t like complicated baked goods. For her day, a basic vanilla and a fudgy chocolate frosting, reminiscent of Duncan Hines. They’re like Read more…


Vegan Cadbury Creme Eggs 🐰🐣

I promise I won’t go on and on about how I used to love these when I was a kid, and blah blah blah. Just understand that I do not embark upon such involved recipes for any other reason. But these nostalgic treats are one I’ve wanted to try for Read more…


Happy St. Patrick’s Day
Irish Bangers & Mash ☘️

After a very draining and emotional day in my classroom, my home away from home, I hit the kitchen. I wanted to make Bangers and Mash with the Field Roast I picked up to have ample protein sources on hand for quarantine. So I hurried over to the corner produce Read more…


Happy St. Patrick’s Day
Irish Soda Bread ☘️

Growing up, St. Patrick’s Day was another reason to celebrate with a bakery cake. My mother dressed me and my siblings up celebrate our Irish heritage with dorkish results. Here is me and my brother dressed to the nines one such St. Patrick’s Day. Today I still like to honor Read more…


My Twenty Valentines πŸ’–

Happy Love Day! And with it, one of my favorite forms of affection: cupcakes. Little ones for my students and a few big ones for my work loves. Here are the day’s red ❀️ highlights. Cupcakes just out of the oven are magical. Like a starry night This buttercream was Read more…


2020 Photo Purge

How are we well into February already?! New Years seems like last week! Must time pass so swiftly? It has been a very busy 2020 thus far. Here are some outtakes. Freshly milked cashew milk from a colleague? Yes, ma’am! ICYMI, there is now a Saturn emoji on the iPhone. Read more…


New Years Polar Bear Plunge! πŸ₯‚πŸŒŠ

Last year The Greek and I partook in the annual Polar Bear Plunge at Coney Island, this year we plunged on our own terms at Rockaway Beach. And because we are entering the 2020’s, I had to embrace the theme. Dressed for a party of two in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more…


Auld Lang Syne πŸ•›πŸΎ

Ah, goodbye 2010’s. It is time for a new decade. Given my accomplishments the last ten years, my mind boggles with possibility for the next 10. The key to growing old, I’ve learned, is to make Time your friend–to honor it, to respect its force, its sometimes cruelty. Accept its Read more…


You’re So Vain
I Bet You Think This Blog is About You

Well, it is. All 11,000 of you! In three years my readership has increased by 172%, ending this year with almost 18,000 page views. Considering this blog is a personal project and archive of my favorite things with no ads, no public social media account and is just little old Read more…


Holiday Rainbow Cookie Parfait πŸŽ„

Maybe I invented this? Holiday Rainbow Cookie Parfaits. It started off okay. I was going to make Rainbow Cookies to bring to my folks’ on Christmas. Then… the parchment became obsessed with the baked layers, not wanting to leave their side. I had to pry them apart. After, there wasn’t Read more…


Ten Things To Do Instead of Shopping:
#10. Give your best.

Gift Spoiler alert! 🎁 Don’t read if you’re a special person in my life! This holiday season I am giving what I am most proud of–the evolution of my skills in astrophotography! Spending hours pouring over my photographs from this past year, I kind of got choked up. I saw Read more…


Ten Things To Do Instead of Shopping:
#9. Get stoopid.

Gosh, some people take themselves so seriously! Why when it is much more fun to allow yourself to be all kinds of ways, including ridiculously silly… if that is what your natural inclination is at that moment. For a kid, play is how you learn. But why stop that in Read more…


Ten Things To Do Instead of Shopping:
#8. Begin to see the light.

With my friend in town from Los Angeles, I forced her to go see the Rockefeller Center tree with me. Because it has been many years since I have seen the tree! And Christmas time in New York City, like many have stated, is a magical time. I buy into Read more…


Ten Things To Do Instead of Shopping:
#7. Dress Your Space.

This holiday season came so fast–and I got a really late start on festivities. But now my space is decked in the ways I enjoy: with vintage stuff and nothing from Home Goods. With all errands complete, in my space I bask. My tacky mid century modern tree πŸŽ„ I Read more…


Ten Things To Do Instead of Shopping:
#6. Share Even More Sweetness.

You must have not heard me the first time, World. Sweetness!! Bring it on. Especially to the children. Here my annual cupcake decorating in my classroom holiday party. I love to see their blinged out creations on my cupcakes. Chocolate only, in the vein of “you get what you get Read more…


Ten Things To Do Instead of Shopping:
#5. Share Sweetness.

I have several work peeps I often unload vegan sweet treats on. And more recently I have become the unloadee, receiving regular vegan baking experiments with a high level of enthusiasm. This holiday season, a give and take of vegan sweetness during designated Parent-Teacher Engagement hours. Because sharing sweetness is Read more…


Ten Things To Do Instead of Shopping:
#4. Look to the Cookie.

Ten Things To Do Instead of Shopping:
#4. Look to the Cookie." >

Baking cookie creations during the holidays beats a trip to the store for so many reasons, especially if baking is your most comfortable and expected form of a affection. This rainy Saturday I create two special treats related to the almighty cookie. 1) The New York City bakery favorite, the Read more…


Ten Things To Do Instead of Shopping:
#3. Go Back In Time

I must admit that one of my favorite perks of being a New York City teacher is the free class trips to my fave museum, the American Museum of Natural History. It’s a long trek but always worth it… for me at least. The destination was the new exhibit on Read more…


Ten Things To Do Instead of Shopping:
#2. Bust a Move

Finding time to get moving is an important part of maintaining health, yeah duh. But too often I am emotionally spent by work and stuck to my couch, decompressing from the days’ battles come evening. Since my summer, my activity level has dropped drastically. With motivation depleted, I haven’t had Read more…


Ten Things To Do Instead of Shopping:
#1. Plan a Real Black Friday. πŸŒ‘

The winter is the best time to plan summer travel. Taking action towards an escape, however distant, just makes me, afflicted with everlasting wanderlust, feel better. Because your happiness is worth some forethought, fill your travel with all that feeds your heart and soul. And book things—not everything but some Read more…


I wan a Baba

This was my first spoken sentence apparently. I wanted a banana. I liked bananas (see below) and I still do very much. Banana desserts, especially. So on Thanksgiving dessert duty, a pie. A banana pudding pie with a Golden Oreo crust. Vanilla pudding, another childhood favorite So my ripe bananas Read more…