That's Amore!

Well, I decided to be productive today (after 2 hours of Guitar Hero) so I finally finished my long awaited spaghetti cake. The cake is a very dense vanilla and it's DELICIOSO! It was kinda hard to get the bowl shape but I think it's pretty good. Why I made a cake that looks like spaghetti I'll never know.

Fake Rock Star

I'm thinking about spicing things up here at Kimchi central. Usually I just talk about the crap that happens in my daily life but I realize that is probably only interesting to myself and perhaps one or two other people. Nah, probably just me. I mentioned before that I am a bit of a celebrity gossip addict and while there's no shortage of those types of blogs out there, I might have to throw in a juicy nugget here and there. Sadly as I type this, there is no really interesting celebrity gossip aside from Jamie Lynn and her supposed peepaw baby-daddy or non-celeb Mischa Barton and her weed bust so just take this as a glimpse of what's to come. I'm also going to start posting more about the outside world as soon as I decide to venture into it since I've been indoors for the last three days playing Guitar Hero. I have a problem DON'T JUDGE.

Happy Friday.

Look, it's Cakey!

Here's a few pics of the Christmas cake. I am trying to get some others that don't have all that crap laying around it but you get the gist.

You may have observed the bottle of Advil and the cocktail nearby. You may want to reference the earlier Christmas wrap-up post. The cake turned out pretty cute overall. It's only my second go with fondant and my first with a square cake, which is way harder to cover than a round. I also experimented with marshmallow fondant and it was okay but I won't use it to cover anything again until I work with it more. It was kind of a pain in the ass to roll out because it got hard quickly and I couldn't roll it as thin as I wanted. That's why the cake is slightly lumpy. Whatever. It's still cute and we ate it so it's gone.

Making Resolutions Since 1974

Okay, I told myself that I would be better today and actually accomplish something but it's currently 12:54pm and I am still in my jammies. I did have several catch-up phone calls this morning so that took some time and I did manage to clean up the area around my computer but that's pretty much it. I have unfinished window treatments staring at me as well as a pile of laundry that I need a sherpa to scale but what am I doing about it? I'm doing nothing about it. I AM going to shower today since that didn't happen yesterday and I might venture out in public but I'm still on the fence. I still have another 2 weeks of vacation until I start back to school so I figure I can procrastinate anything important for another week or so.

I've decided that 2008 is going to be GREAT! and to make sure that happens, I have a list of things I need to do. Some people call these "resolutions" but I don't like to label. I also feel like if I tell someone, I might actually do it. Probably not so don't get all excited or anything, but a girl can try.

What I'm Doing In 2008 (IT'S GREAT!)

1. posting more pictures on this blog - jesus, it's boring! Why are you here?
2. lose 20 lbs. - I laugh just writing that one
3. be a better cake decorator - my new calling
4. be more organized/stop procrastinating - hmmmm...yeah, that's a longshot, too. Maybe next month.....
5. grow my hair long - takes no effort, might REALLY happen! YEAH!


Well, there's 5 for now. I'm sure there's about a billion more than I can list but what the hell, I'm one person dammit!

It needs diapers for chrissake

Oh, I forgot to mention this little tidbit. We went to my dad's house on Sunday to celebrate with my family on his side. That's the Italian side of my family so you can imagine the amount of food they have out for us because there were about 16 people in all that came. My lord, there was food for days. Anyway, we had been there for about an hour and I was in the kitchen with my dad making salad and all of a sudden my step-sister's dog comes charging in the house. It's a little 12-week old puppy, a puggle or something or whatever the hell they call mutts now, and I don't believe that anyone was expecting this little addition to our festivities. I turned around when I heard the commotion and the dog ran right up to me and proceeded to lift it's leg and PEE ALL OVER MY LEGS AND FEET. Like I was a f-ing fire hydrant or something. I looked at my dad and his mouth was hanging open and we both were like WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED? My step-sister came in and I kindly informed her that her dog is a peeing machine and went to try to clean up my pants. The dog proceeded to spend the next few hours peeing in various places in their house, including the fancy couch in the living room. I'm sure my stepmom was THRILLED!

Christmas Wrap-Up Part I

Holy bajeezus. I have the motivation of a tree sloth today. I trust you had a nice holiday or just a day off if that's the case and if not, you have 364 days until you have to do it again so REJOICE!

Christmas eve was fun, albeit a bit more low-key than the usual soiree. My sister Laura and I battled Target and the grocery one last time in the morning and man was it crowded. I don't typically shop on Christmas eve and now I know why. She even had to flip someone the Christmas bird in the parking lot after this woman tried to RAM US! Whatever, lady. Don't mess with us because we are professionals! After that jaunt we went back to her house and I got started making the food. See, that's how it works. I make food all day and they eat it. We had sausage cheese dip, buffalo chicken dip (thanks LM, you have my sister hooked), assorted cheeses, dill dip with rye bread, shrimp cocktail and teriyaki beef skewers. FOR FOUR PEOPLE. We are pigs, I know but it's once a year so screw it! After that I started working on my cake for Christmas day. I got the present cake done and it was adorable. I have pictures but they're on the new camera and I can't figure out how to get them off so I'll have to post those tomorrow. I started the spaghetti cake and got it sculpted into a bowl shape already but I ran out of fondant so I may just have to scrap it altogether. While I was carving out the spaghetti cake, Laura and Jeff decided to give one of the dogs a bath so I was merrily sculpting away at my cake, lost in my own happy little world when disaster struck. I was leveling out of the layers with a big serrated knife and somehow it slipped and I jammed it into the top of my finger. It skimmed my nail, caught my cuticle and proceeded to slice into my finger like I was filleting a side of beef. It didn't really hurt at first but then I looked down and it started gushing blood everywhere but NOT ON THE CAKE! The cake was not harmed or bloody. Anyway I ran to the sink and held it under water but it kept bleeding everywhere, which I'm certain had nothing to do with the vodka and soda I was drinking. I went into the bathroom and told Jeff that I had an "accident", which is never good because I am accident prone and am always getting hurt, and he was like WHAT DID YOU DO?! and I held up my bloody finger. He rushed me back into the kitchen and told me to hold it under the water, which I did and then he went to get a bandage. My sister came out to see what the hell happened and all of a sudden I got really dizzy and broke out in a cold sweat and told her I was going to pass out so I laid down on the kitchen floor. It was very dramatic, I'm sure. We got it to stop bleeding and I felt better so I went back to work on the cake but then it started bleeding again and I got dizzy again so I sat on the couch for a bit. What the hell? It eventually stopped for good and I was able to finish the cake but man did it suck! Now I have a bloody flap on skin on my finger and it's really gross BUT it gives me an opportunity to wear a pink Hello Kitty band-aid so that's the bright side.

Aside from that, the rest of the day was nice. We ate and then ate again and then ate some more and then had dessert. I got tons of awesome presents. Jeff usually buys me some sort of Murano glass sculpture and this year's is a beautiful and dainty little carafe. Jeff and my sister both got me necklaces, one with the London Underground symbol and another with the Paris Metro sign, Laura got me Dance, Dance, Revolution for our Wii, so I'll be making a fool of myself with that shortly, and I also have an assortment of gift cards and such. I also got 4 cake decorating books, a book on illustration and another book on starting my career as a freelance graphic designer. I think that's a hint that I need to get a job. Just kidding, honey! I love books and these are lovely, especially the cake books. I now want to make about a bajillion cakes to try out all the new stuff I learned so get ready for cake, people. YEAH CAKE!

Okay this post is freaking long so I'll continue with my Christmas Day wrap-up tomorrow and I'll show off my fancy cake. Ciao.

ho ho ho

Merry Christmas Eve to my fine readers. All 4 of you. Christmas eve is my favorite day of the year so I'm happy it's finally here. My sister and I took Christmas eve about 13 years ago after she got married and I moved in with her and my brother-in-law. Aaaaah, we were so young and carefree back then. We decreed that after spending every holiday since 1980 bouncing around from parent's house to parent's house, we decided SCREW THAT, we're making this OUR holiday where we don't have to go anywhere or do anything for anyone but us. We just make a crap-ton of food and drink and sometimes we have a friend or two join us but it's usually just the four of us and it rocks. Hard. Tonight's menu is all finger foods and dips, which is my FAVORITE menu because I like to graze. We'll stuff ourselves, drink too much, play a game or something and then we all open our presents to each other. Our parents are jealous because they can't come because it's THAT awesome but rules are rules. I am hopeful that this is our last holiday sans child so we're going to make the most of it. yowza!

Anyway, have a merry Christmas, or whatever it is you celebrate, from Kimchi central.