A passion for food + fashion

Posts Tagged ‘cupcakes’

Calling All Superheroes

In Baby Love on July 19, 2012 at 2:42 pm

Last weekend not-so Tiny G turned four. FOUR! And like most four-year-old boys he is obsessed with all things superheroes. Which is how I found myself up at 2am hand-painting these damn peg dolls for every kid in his preschool class. Spiderman was very nearly my waterloo. I admit, the 6-hour process was somewhat addictive in a One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest sort of way, first drawing in pencil each superhero’s details on the wooden pegs, then painting one color at a time and letting dry before adding the next detail.

Tiny G nearly lost his mind when he saw them the next morning. For the gift bags, I found these little natural cotton muslin drawstring bags and decorated them with a handmade Spiderman rubber stamp that I ordered from Etsy. When it comes to kids birthday parties, Etsy.com—filled with people far more creative than I—is truly a girl’s best friend.

Tiny G handed out a superhero goodie bag to each of his preschool classmates yesterday. Etsy was also the source for these awesome cupcake toppers that can be personalized (however, you’ll have to speak to my sister about baking you some of these AMAZING chocolate cupcakes):

Since he turned four while we were in Vermont, we had his actual party back east last week with his cousins. Each cousin got a personalized superhero cape.

Even Tiny G’s brand new baby brother got in on the action. Because there is nothing babies love more than a cape.

I made this dreadful chocolate cake impaled with a spiderman action figure. I’m having PTSD just thinking about how much red food coloring I used in the frosting.

The highlight of the party had to be this awesome Spiderman piñata—another Etsy find. I filled it with noisemakers and packets of Annie’s organic gummy bunnies mostly as a PR stunt to atone for the toxicity of the birthday cake.

After the party’s over, piñatas also double as excellent scarecrows. Here’s to my super boy turning 4!

Thyme Café + Market

In Food, On Location: Out and About in L.A. on November 17, 2009 at 10:34 am
Thyme Café & Market © thyme inc

thyme café + market © thyme inc

This weekend, my sister and I met our cousin Stefanie for lunch at a new café in Ocean Park called Thyme, which opened last month. It has sort of a Joan’s vibe with lots of white subway tile, charcoal accents and marble countertops. And the menu features similar fare, including a chicken taragon salad sandwich—which I tend to order whenever I see one. When I’ve gotten this at Joan’s, I’ve been disappointed by the bread, which tends to be on the dry side. Here at Thyme, every aspect of the sandwich was FANTASTIC. Smaller slices of hazelnut raisin bread, so a manageable sized sandwich, and with the perfect ratio of tarragon. I would (and now will) drive across town for this sandwich. My sister had an equally superb egg salad sandwich and Stefanie tried a trio of grilled salmon salad, orzo salad and a third that’s escaping memory (I think it involved snap peas?). And we each got mini cupcakes for dessert with some good, strong coffee. Please, please go check this place out and let me know what you order!

mini cupcakes at thyme © thyme inc

mini cupcakes © thyme inc

Sprinkles: Cupcake Wizardry

In Food on November 10, 2009 at 3:25 pm

sprinkles red velvet

A week ago I was driving past Sprinkles on Little Santa Monica, and kind of couldn’t believe that people were still lining up for these cupcakes four years down the road. Then, on Sunday night we celebrated my birthday a few days early with our friends Booth and Adam, who brought a gorgeous box of Sprinkles cupcakes: two each of red velvet, spice and peanut butter with chocolate sprinkles. All I can say people is wow. It’s easy to dismiss a cupcake as being overhyped, especially with the whole cupcake craze of the past few years, but there’s a reason people still wait in line for these. Also tucked in with the cupcakes was a gorgeous card Booth picked up in London, inside of which was my real birthday present: dinner for six at the Magic Castle! Ta-da!

cupcakesprinkles cupcakes

Best Things, Small Packages

In Food on August 14, 2009 at 8:20 am

IMG_2385

Here is just a small taste of something good for Friday morning, a mini red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting from Milk on Beverly. (With my apologies to Carolynn Carreño and her well-documented dislike of cupcakes.) Besides which, this little cupcake is too small to get mad about—or even feel guilty about eating. In a bite, it’s gone. Which is why you might want to get two. Happy Friday!

Update, 5:27 pm: Apparently this bite-sized blog entry about bite-sized cupcakes gave someone a little food for thought…

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