Category Archives: national food holidays

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It’s here! It’s here! It’s FLUFF FEST!!

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Today is Fluff Fest in Union Square and I am bursting at the seams with excitement!  If you have been anywhere near me for the last month or so I’ve probably already told you that I am the Official 2013 Fluff Festival Sign Painter!!  (A title I gave myself)  I’ve been working dilligantly for weeks now trying to get all 23 signs and 5 trophies done and I can’t wait to see them in action at the festival!

Fluff Fest was started in 2005 by Mimi Graney who is the Head Lady in Charge (also I title I created) over at Union Square Main Streets.  She is in charge of all things Union-Square from craft shows to farmer’s markets and everything in between.  This is the 8th year of the Fluff Fest and they are anticipated THOUSANDS of attendees!!

…Which means of course that THOUSANDS of people are going to see my signs!!!  I can’t wait.  It starts at 3pm and goes to 7:00 there are games and performances and a cooking contest and of course PRIZES!!

Maybe I’ll see you there.  I’ll be the one taking selfies with all of the signs. 🙂

Happy Fluff Fest!!!

You can see pictures of all of my little babies at my gallery page: mandeemade.shutterfly.com and you can learn more about Fluff Fest at the Union Square Main Streets website.

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Make Me: St. Patrick’s Day Rainbow Cupcakes

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It is said that every Leprechaun has a pot of gold, hidden deep in the Irish countryside.  The most popular hiding place for this pot of gold is, of course, at the end of a rainbow.
These delicious little rainbows do not have pots of gold at the end of them but they do have icing on top of them and they are, thankfully, far less ellusive than real rainbows.   They’d be a perfect addition to any St. Patrick’s day celebration.
Here’s how to make them. 
First, collect your supplies, you’ll need:

-yellow cake batter
-food coloring
-paper baking cups
-icing

Begin by preparing your cake batter according to your recipe. 

Next, seperate the cake batter evenly into 6 containers.

Then dye each cup of batter a different color of the rainbow.  I like to use Wilton gel food coloring, it makes beautiful, rich colors.  I would highly recommend using them instead of the liquid food coloring from the grocery store. 

Now begin layering batter into your prepared muffin tin purple first. 
Then do the same with the blue…
And the green…
Slap on some yellow…
Add a dollop of orange…

And finally top it off with a spoonful of red.

Bake cupcakes according to recipe.

Remove from oven and let cool. 

Once cooled, the outside of the cupcake will look like this.  Meh, nothin’ special.

But crack ‘er open and you have a vibrant and delicious rainbow surprise!

My 4 year old nephew actually told me that his cupcake was “too beautiful to eat.” 
And then I died of acute cute overload.
You can also play around with the layering to make other cool creations-
Happy baking!
                                                      dry erase board by yours truly

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National Sweater Day is so yesterday.

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Man-o-man do Canadians have their shit together.  They have a day dedicated to wearing sweaters to try to encourage people to turn their heat down a little.  Brilliant!!  And their video to promote it is hilarious to boot.
National Sweater Day is February 9th…also known as yesterday.  So, I missed it by a day but still thought I’d share because it’s a wonderful idea for a wonderful cause and it’s reminded me that maybe I should turn down the thermastat a little too.  Thanks Canada!
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Shape Up With Pickles WEEK!!!

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Jumpin’ Jesus on a pogo stick!  It’s ‘Shape Up With Pickles Week!’  An entire week devoted to pickles!!!…aaaaaaand shaping up with them, whatever that means.

Here’re some pickley treasures from the Etsy-Dot-Com Super Store:

And a print of Miss Pickles by this dude JimBob…..awwwww, hewwo Miss Pickles.
 Miss Pickles print - 'The Original'
I’ll be back when I have something relevant and pickle related to talk about.  Please do the same.