Baking for the cure...

Over this past weekend, I baked my first treats in my new kitchen, which may or may not be 64 square feet. I made cupcakes for my old roommate's birthday as well as a Baltimore peach cake (minus the peaches due to them having turned). 

It was nice having counter space, but in no way does this kitchen resemble the one of my dreams that has marble counter tops that are high enough for me to use with out bending over too far, lots of work space, a huge double door refrigerator/freezer, lots of natural light and a whole wall devoted to a pegboard that holds all my pots/pans/cookie cutters/misc tools. 

Clearly, I watch too much HGTV.

While deemed delicious by the eaters, my baked goods in no way resembled the one featured in the Vail Daily (shout out to my friend Anja who put this on Facebook). A cupcake measuring 1224 pounds has been certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest in the world. The triple vanilla cake with pink frosting took 12 hours to make and has 800 eggs and 200 lbs of both flour and sugar. The sweetest part (sorry) is the slices were given away in exchange for a donation to Susan G. Kommen for the Cure. 

Special occasions to me = cake. Or some other yumminess favored by the honorees of the day. Living so far from my parents limits my sending of baked goods to those that are sturdy and less perishable than others. Thus, the cupcake in the picture is the closest I'm going to get this year to sending them cake on their special day. Happy Anniversary, Mama and Daddy! 

(Photo courtesy of Vail Daily)

I'm really too sick to come up with a clever title...

I don't often put "hard" news on this blog, usually because the media bias leans toward bad news. But today's main story on Yahoo! News was that of the return of the two US journalists - Lisa Ling and Euna Lee - who were held in North Korea for over four months. Former President Bill Clinton held historic talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il who then pardoned the two women for "entering the country illegally" and remitted their sentence of 12 years hard labor. 

Today's post is going to be a bit of a hash - I'm still wicked sick. Normally I hate using "wicked," but in this case it is actually very appropriate. As in I feel like I've been cursed by the Wicked Witch...

Examiner.com had a story last week on a decidedly delicious development in the mobile lunch phenomenon. In Charlotte, N.C., Harvest Moon Grille has started offering locally-sourced, high-quality lunch-on-the-go two days a week in the downtown area. All the menu items are based on what farmers have available and fresh. All food sources are listed on that day's menu, and staff is available to answer diners' questions about the food. 

On another food-related note, the Today Show had a story last week on a woman who baked herself out of foreclosure. Being a baker myself, this one caught my eye right away. Angela Logan, deceived by a contractor and denied payment after her agent went bankrupt, nearly lost her New Jersey home until she started selling her family's favorite apple cake. She figured if she sold 100 cakes at $40 apiece she could pay off part of her mortgage and qualify for a government program to help with the rest of it. Word spread, and she received orders for 500 cakes. Logan has made her first payment on time and expects to do the same with the next two, which will qualify her for a renegotiated loan that will save her $1000 a month on her payments. And she has teamed up with a charity to give a portion of her sales to people in need. 

(Photo courtesy of Yahoo! News)