Friday, March 30, 2012

I Pinned It and Did It Friday!

Yay, it's Friday!!!  Here is my pinned it and did it!  Cascading polka dot nails!  I used Essie's mint candy apple and french affair (literally my two favorite colors ever).  The dots were done with a toothpick dipped in seche vite white (from the french manicure set).


Perfect for the Easter egg hunt I am going to this weekend :)


And here are some cookies that I have been waiting to post and finally can!  They actually match my nails...coincidence.  These are very easy wet on wet polka dot cookies, and turn out super precious.




Thats all for today, I have to run to a lunch date and then I am going to IKEA...wish me luck on the perfect workstation!!

Also, some really cute cookies set for next week, all new and different things I haven't done before!



Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Painting the town RED!

I have had this really strong attraction to red lately...I have always loved red (I have honey blonde hair, red is our best friend!) but lately it has been a very serious subject!  In the past two months I have even bought TWO red bags...

Red Celine Mini Luggage....

Me and my Celine out to brunch and out for drinks...


Then on Monday I got this bad boy...Balenciaga red city....

Just a truly stunning bag and shade of red if I do say so myself!


THEN IT HIT ME!  I know why I am loving red so much....

I have been staring at it for weeks straight because of all these guys!

Elmos everywhere!
We had FOUR Elmos party orders this week.  I had to do them in batches but it was fun because two of the orders were girly themed!  


Customized to match the birthday girl's party shirt!

Customized to match the party invitation  

And two regular Elmo assortments.


But don't worry, while I love RED, Peapods has been keeping busy with cookies other than Elmo!

Like cookie monster...haha!

My Classic Cookie Monster assortment

AND some non-Sesame Street character cookies for my good friend's birthday!  She is the BIGGEST Hello Kitty fan!




Some pretty Tiffany blue tea party themed cookies going all the way to California! (I had some others going to California, but can't post those yet and they are a surprise and haven't been received yet!)

One of my favorite assortments...


Then a beautiful Thank You gift!  I did these last week in sophisticated colors and this week's palette was all SPRING!  So fresh and pretty looking!




This is Peapods box for delivery!  (name removed for privacy) Look at those beautifully nestled cookies inside!  It's a great little surprise for your recipient!



That is it for now, but I have four more orders for the rest of the week, so stay tuned for more COOKIES!

And don't forget, Friday is I Pinned It and Did It Day!  And I have a great easy one for this week, that turned out great!



Sunday, March 25, 2012

Quick Trick for avoiding Tacky Flood Icing :)

Have you ever spent all night decorating you cookies...go to bed really late...and wake up in the morning to beautiful, wonderful....NOT DRY COOKIES?!

It has happened to me 3 times since I started decorating cookies and each time is more devastating than the next...once it was a batch of 80 cookies that were going to a wedding!  I had to start all over from square one AND send them via very expensive overnight shipping.

So my husband had a GREAT idea, and where would be without our significant others chiming in with the "duh"-est ideas that we just didn't think of because we cookiers are so emotionally involved!

Enter the test plate!



All you do is take each of your flooding icings and pipe a little test stripe.
Then you can periodically poke your stripe, and if that stripe is not getting crusty on top within 10 minutes, and is not pretty solidly dry in 20/25 minutes...Then DO NOT use your frosting!  Make new.  Yes, it delays decorating with your newly minted frosting about 20 minutes....but TRUST ME, its worth it to be 100% certain your frosting will be perfect.  Now I always rest easy knowing my cookies will be dry and perfect in the morning.

If this helps just one person avoid the dreaded tacky icing problem, this post was worth it!




Friday, March 23, 2012

I Pinned It and Did It Fridays...and cookies!

I love pinterest...LOVE!  You can follow me here.

But sometimes I feel like there is so much pinning and not enough doing.  People seem to create these online fantasy worlds and no one is making it happen!  So, I am starting a "I pinned it and did it Friday!"

Each week I am going to actually DO one of my pins.  Because we shouldn't just live these perfect, fabulous, organized, stylish lives on pinterest...we should make them a reality!

So this week I picked a relatively easy one, I pinned this 8 weeks ago and here it is!!


And here are the cookies I have been working on this week!  I had 6 orders this week but next week is going to be my busiest yet, with 14 orders in about a bunch of different assortments...so stay tuned :)



No week is complete without Elmo!  This was a relatively small order (two dozen) compared to how many Elmos I have coming next week!



These were some logo cookies created for DBA (Digital Brand Architects).  My very good friend just started a fabulous new job there, and she thought the cookies would be an amazing office treat!  I packaged them with some cute anemone flowers (my favorite flower actually!) since they matched so well with the black and white and it really is SPRING here in NYC!



These were a wonderful thank you gift, very sophisticated and the best part is these flowers won't wilt in 5 days!  Stay tuned for a repeat of this assortment in some spring colors next week!



Some last minute christening cookies!  The first is an adorable girly set for twins!  I do have to say I think my piping penmanship is getting better and better :)  The second set was silver and white themed (looks darker in picture than in real life).  I was glad I could help this customer out as she had her Etsy order with another seller cancelled at the last minute!  But Peapods came to the rescue!  God bless to all the little ones getting christened this weekend :)



These adorable love bug cookies are for a beloved grandma's birthday and were inspired by my Valentine's assortment.  Love this sophisticated color palette for a sweet birthday surprise!


I had two more assortments, but they have to wait until next week as they were surprises to some sweet ladies who have not received them yet...don't want to spoil the surprise!!!!




Saturday, March 17, 2012

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's day everyone!  Find some time to have some fun today/tonight!

Here are some cookies for the day!


Rainbows, pots of gold, shamrocks, and plaid!


Irish dancing shoes!


All ready to party!




Thanks for stopping by!

Kristie

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Top Chef NYC Walking Tour

My sister was in town from San Diego last week, and it is almost her birthday, so my husband and I got her a ticket to join us on the Top Chef NYC walking tour.  I never have done a walking tour here, and I have lived in Manhattan for 8 years!

We started off meeting in from of the Culinary Institute in SoHo.  I wish we got to tour the school, that would have been fun.  Our guide was a culinary school graduate but I don't think she was a working chef because she didn't say she worked anywhere.  That's fine though, she was pretty likable, but she definitely was not a Top Chef enthusiast.  I tried to strike up some conversations about Catch, Moto, and my favorite contestant of all time Kevin...but she really couldn't banter.

We started off walking to Little Italy and we went to Di Palo's Italian market....we sampled cheeses: fresh ricotta (YUM, sooo good, I will go back to get some to make raviolis), some sheep's milk cheese, and a wonderful truffle pecorino, and something else I don't remember.  The market was small but jam packed with so many Italian pantry items and a cheese and meat counter.  We took home some amazing prosciutto and a nice chunk of the truffle pecorino (which I made an arugula pizza with tonight actually!).  Very delicious, and a place I would have never gone without going on this tour.

We kept on to Chinatown and after a quick informational stop outside a place that sells fresh tofu and shark fins, we went into a Chinese bakery called Double Crispy!  We had something called "pineapple buns," and they were so delicious!  Sweet buns with a crunchy, sweet glaze on top, no pineapple in sight.  They call them that because the top kind of looks like a pineapple...but I don't think so haha.  I also got a red bean cookie, but it was terrible (I usually like red bean!).      

me with pineapple bun!


I also spotted these guys, hehe:



On our way to the next spot, we passed a guy selling durian!  I have seen these before but never smelled or ate one.  And if Andrew Zimmern won't eat it...it must be really bad!  We did not eat it but we smelled the flesh of one and it wasn't really that bad...maybe because I am a New Yorker and used to smelling garbage?
holding my nose even though they don't smell here

Our next stop, a little Vietnamese sandwich place!  At Saigon Vietnamese Sandwich Deli we had the #3 sandwich- Bahn Mi Nem Nuong, the pork one.  It was soooo delicious!  The bread was nice and crispy, the 4 different kinds of pork were meaty, sweet, and crispy all in one, and there was just the right amount of cilantro.  Of course I smothered it in Sriracha....I will come back here.  I also got an almond bubble tea here, but it was not very good...too much almond flavor and the tapiocas were too chewy...I prefer Kung Fu Tea much better, its fresher tasting and more herby....yum!

Husband with his sandwich and the sign on the outside showing what's in this yummy sammy!  Also, the coffee here was surprisingly delicious! 



Our next stop was a bit random, Oro is a bakery/coffee shop that turns into a wine bar at nights (wish we were there at night...)  It was a cute little hole in the wall and we had brownies, which were pretty good, but I am VERY judgmental on baked goods!  The texture was good, crispy on the edges and gooey in the middle, but it could have been a little darker/richer tasting.  Didn't even take a picture...coffee was NOT good!  Stale....but they had the fanciest coffee cup lids I have ever seen, and I wish I took a picture of THAT!

                            

Next we went to Papabubble, which is a great little shop but I have been there a couple times before so I know the drill.  They were playing some Elliott Smith and making huge heart shaped lollipops when we walked in which was wonderful.  My dream come true would be to make candy all day and listen to Elliott Smith...heaven.  Anyway, I sampled the candies (soda pop ones are always tasty) and I bought some pink grapefruit candies (the best in the store!)  


   
Me in front of the candy wall, and the candy peeps making those giant heart lollies!


We ended out tour with a "quick fire" challenge at wichcraft!  We had to guess what each spice or food was on our plate....I got them all right and won a little whisk!  The things i guessed right were, flax seed, smoked paprika, candy coated fennel, cocoa nibs, and a dried chickpea.  The guide said I was the first person EVER to get them all right.  We had gruyere and caramelized onion grilled sammy...which was eh.  Its wichcraft...boo....Tom Colicchio establishments are always over hyped.
Our plate of guesses!  and sandwiches.



That's all!
Stayed tuned for cookies 

xKristie






Friday, March 9, 2012

What Peapods has been busy with...

Order, orders, orders over here at Peapods!  We had a wedding, a christening, an engagement party, and THREE birthday parties all in a week!  Here's what I have been creating in my manhattan sized kitchen:


Strawberry Shortcake character cookies.  These we so fun to make but took quite a long time.  I hand cut the character cookies, but she came out great!  Hope to make her again soon.



These are only a part of an order for I heart NY t-shirts to be given out as wedding favors!  They were tied with coordinating red ribbon and are a great idea for a favor!


 

These were for a pink a green themed engagement party!  I love to see what colors brides use, it is always something creative and fun!



Some views of the personalized hearts and brush embroidered dresses.




These were a 21st birthday gift from an older sister to younger.  How sweet!  She wanted something nicer than the over used martini/cosmo glass, so we came up with these!  The champagne bottles are hand cut.  Loving these right now!



This was a sample order of the Brooklyn Bridge!  I LOVE how they turned out.  These would make amazing favors for a Brooklyn wedding, in your wedding colors of course!  These also were hand cut.




These were a last minute birthday creation, and were based on the birthday girl's bulldog!  This is what I am calling an "edible greeting card," the ones on the right were the same size and shape as a traditional card and send a sweet message.



Ever wonder how your package from Peapods will look?  We have been using these great pink boxes or a traditional kraft box!  The boxes make my day, because they are pretty and it means all orders are done and I can enjoy the weekend with my sister who is in from San Diego for her birthday!

(and if you look closely...Peapods namesake is hanging out in there!)


Thanks for stopping by!

Kristie