Earthquake Fundraiser

Pretty soon after I returned from Amsterdam, there was some horrifying news coming out of Nepal of a huge earthquake that had killed thousands of people. I suppose as a defence mechanise, it becomes necessary to maintain a distance from all the horrible things that happen in the world. It's too easy to become hopeless and feel helpless in the face of never-ending tide of bad news.

However, I had been there. I had visited Everest Base Camp and Kathmandu. I had hiked the Kathmandu Valley rim. I had seen the remarkable buildings before they were reduced to rubble, and I remembered the beautiful vistas of a lush country. It was impossible not to do something.









I decided to try to raise money by holding a bake sale. J's office has always been so generous, and they agreed to let me bring in some things for an in-office fundraiser. It was on a "take what you'd like, leave what you can" basis, and we managed to get around £500 in donations over just two days!

 

J and another partner agreed to match the amount, which meant we got a total of £1500! I was genuinely stunned with how generous people were, and I was so happy to donate that money to the Humane Society International. Their aid workers were already on the ground in Nepal and ready to assist with animals in need as a result of the earthquake. I remembered seeing how important animals were to the lives of the locals, especially those that lived out of Kathmandu. They needed the mules to get goods through the rough terrain to their homes that were otherwise unreachable, and their livelihoods often depended on their goats and chickens in addition to their farming.





I also remembered the sweetest dog that had followed us for a while we were trekking. All it took was a few scratches behind his ears to have him follow us before we had to leave him behind. I really wished I could take him home with me, and I hope he made it through the earthquake and is happy and healthy in a forever home somewhere.

I was really grateful to the partner that also agreed to match, so I ended up baking a few birthday cakes for her husband's birthday the following week. The birthday man was German, so I wanted to try a few new German items I had never tried before. I'm still not quite sure they came out right, but they seemed pretty happy with it so I'm going to chalk it up to a win.

Spring Cleaning and Cuts

I've got two weeks off before classes start up again, and the timing is just right for a massive spring clean. The weather has been lovely, but I've been too busy to enjoy it. Those baseboards aren't going to clean themselves!

I was pretty proud of the job I had done, but then I received my new issue of Martha Stewart, and I realised how much I had missed. That woman is insane, by the way. So now I'm roaming around the flat with a dust cloth attached to my mop handle trying to dust my ceilings. 

I managed to get most of it done, and I moved on to practicing my brother's wedding cake, which I'm making for him. I must have gotten overexcited at the prospect, and my knife slipped while I was leveling off the cake layers.

I cleaned out the wound and applied pressure, but the cut was pretty deep and it continued to bleed. I called J at work, and he thought I should head to the a&e. I really didn't want to go, but I've been told before that I have a ridiculously high pain tolerance. I decided to suck it up and head to the hospital. It was a good thing I did, as it turned out I cut through an artery, which explained the non stop bleeding.

It was my first time using the nhs, and the doctor was fantastic. The wait time, however, was decidedly not. The whole thing took nearly 5 hours! Luckily, J came to keep me company after he finished up at work and brought me lots and lots of popcorn to aid the healing process.

It felt a bit odd to be munching on popcorn while people were moaning in pain in the background, but I was waiting for a long time and getting hungry!

I had a lot of fun posing with my bandages and J amused himself by naming the various implements that made an appearance. There were sterile stingies, alcohol ouchies, etc. since he knew how much I was dreading the sting of antiseptics. Meanie.

It looked like I would have to get stitches since my finger wouldn't stop bleeding, even after applying a coagulant, but I asked for butterfly stitches instead. The doc was kind enough to oblige, and my finger is on bed rest for a week. In the meantime, I just look like I really like to point, and everyone looks pretty horrified when they see my misshapened paw.

It doesn't hurt, and it's really more itchy and annoying than anything else. I can't wait for the bandage to come off!

Christmas Leftovers

So there were a few things about Christmas I didn't mention what with all the pet health scares. They were good and/or funny moments that definitely bear remembering.

Like when my dad had a little too much Christmas cheer at dinner and decided to "help" my mom with cleaning up after we opened all of our presents. This resulted in my mom having to hunt for tree ornaments among the discarded wrapping paper and coming across a Christmas present or two in the process. This is exactly the reason why my dad shouldn't clean.

My older bro officially got engaged! He gave his now-fiancée a gorgeous ring hidden inside an origami heart, and we were all lucky enough to be there for the moment. It was sweet and hilarious at the same time. Let's just say neither my brother nor I were born with a romantic bone in our bodies, but we both enjoy a good laugh. He's a born engineer, and he undertook an extremely comprehensive and exacting process in picking out the diamond. Once he bought it, he spent hours sipping whiskey and examining the diamond with a loupe, which I find to be both typical and incredibly amusing. 

Soon after I arrived, I found myself busy in the kitchen baking a chocolate and raspberry cake for my family to taste test. It turns out I passed, which means I'll be baking my brother's wedding cake! Don't worry, I'll be taking the proper preparatory measures and practicing a lot! I've already done some research on the logistical hurdles on building and transporting the cake. It's a lot more complicated than one would think, but I rather like the idea of a challenge. Fingers crossed it all goes well!

I was also responsible for cooking Christmas dinner, and I decided to go with a goose and ham instead of turkey. It turned out to be a great decision! Goose beats turkey hands down, and I think we all decided that we'll have goose for holiday meals from now on. It costs quite a bit more, but the difference in flavour and texture is amazing. I can't figure out why people ever decided to switch to turkey, other than that you get more meat with a turkey. It's also nice to know that geese can't be battery-farmed like turkeys if you're concerned about animal welfare.

Casper also had a fun time trying to eat Christmas. Yep, he tried to eat an entire holiday. That's my boy!

Ornaments that were clearly not edible.

I ended up getting mugged for my candy cane.

And he made out like a bandit on Christmas gifts! A new, fancy carrier courtesy of his aunt D and uncle P.

And lots of kitty toys, which he's been hard at work on destroying to bits.

London's been pretty empty since we got back. I think most people stay on holiday until the last possible moment, and I think everyone will be back at work on the 6th. I don't blame them one bit as the weather has been pretty foul with lots of rain and wind every day. The weather forecast looks pretty much the same for the next month or so, but I'm really hoping it's wrong!

Casper and Cakes

Casper decided it would be fun to attack J all night rather than go to sleep so I hardly got a wink trying to get him to calm down and at least stop trying to eat our feet. We would've put him out in the living room, but then he starts yowling loud enough to wake the neighbors. It's hard to get mad at him, he's cute and furry and fat enough to get away with murder.

I was dead on my feet the next day and decided to stay home and try to catch up on my sleep. I don't know how people with babies do it! Anyway, since I was home, I decided to bake a chocolate and raspberry cake. Good times! I'm getting better with the buttercream, but I think a turntable may be in my next Amazon order.

Babies and Cupcakes

It's seems like it was just yesterday when I was helping to organise a baby shower for my close friend S at Bea's of Bloomsbury at One New Change...



I was the token American, and it was the US apparently that gave birth to the idea of a baby shower so I was responsible for knowing what was supposed to happen. Since this was a first for me, I thought it'd be nice if we stuck to the basic idea that we all show up and bring baby presents for the expectant mother. Works for me! Since we are in the UK, we had a traditional afternoon tea to celebrate.



I guess we had the tea in the nick of time because the baby arrived soon afterwards, three weeks before his due date! I was fortunate enough to be one of his first visitors, and he was either yawning or sleeping during my visit. I had never seen anything so small and so stinking cute!





Since work is slowing down again, I spent Monday playing hooky from the office and visited S and the baby. I missed celebrating S's birthday, so I baked some cupcakes for her to enjoy.



I couldn't send J empty-handed to the office so he got a batch to share with his workmates as well. I wonder what happened to the sixth one??? ;)



It was so nice seeing the baby again, and this time I wasn't too scared to hold him. I've never held anything so small and so breakable before so I was a bit terrified at first but I got the hang of it pretty quick. I had too much fun cuddling him and joggling him, and it was hilarious because he was awake and made the cutest faces if I paused mid-joggle.

Now that my work project is on hold and possibly coming to an end, I suppose it's time to decide what to do next. Find another project? Maybe go to pastry school? Things are a bit unclear at the moment, so I'll probably be puttering around the kitchen and back to running at the park since it looks like the cold snap is finally coming to an end. Hallelujah!

Baking Away the Blahs

We've been having a bit of a cold snap, so J and I have been spending most of our time indoors. It doesn't help that our entire building is swaddled in scaffolding and tarps so this is our view when we look out the window:

So J's been happily watching cooking shows on TV...

While I've been doing actual cooking in the kitchen. Baking the same old banana bread and cookies can get pretty boring so I thought I'd experiment a bit, especially since my little brother's getting married this summer and I was thinking of perhaps making the wedding favours if I could come up with something halfway decent.

I've been watching lots of YouTube videos and here's what I've come up with so far:

Stacked cookies that look like mini wedding cakes...

Piped wedding cookies...

Cupcakes with piped two-tone roses...

J's been more than happy to help dispose of the rejects, and we've been gorging on deformed cookies and cakes, which means I've been spending a lot of time on this...

Baby, It's Cold Outside

It's supposed to snow tonight, and it's been much too cold to venture outside unless absolutely necessary. Stupid me, I've been persisting in running in the park every day, and I'm paying for that persistence with a frozen face and running with my nose dripping and my eyes tearing the whole time. Maybe the other runners think I'm just listening to a very sad song on my ipod as I jog. Anyway, it's so cold that the many fountains in the park have frozen over, and there's more icicles than water.

J has very sensibly decided that it's wiser to stay in than to go out, and I've been getting a wee bit antsy. So antsy that I've been baking up a storm, and now the house smells like the holidays. Needless to say, J is very excited about the recent developments and unforeseeable side effects of the cold weather. Lucky for him, they're all healthier alternatives of their evil twins. Best that he doesn't know.

Cinnamon Sugar Cookies - For J's afternoon tea

Blueberry Walnut Banana Bread w/ Flaxseed - For J's "naughty" breakfast