In college and in Philly

I'm terribly sorry for the hiatus! Pre-college stress had been getting to me, but I'm now settled into my new home for the year! I absolutely love the city, I love my neighborhood, and I love my classes (for now). Hopefully this will be a year of happiness and excitement.

Back to familiar times

Much like my renewed interests in 90s RnB, yogurt drinks, and the France NT, coloring books have been making a comeback in my life, after spending a couple of years in my proverbial dusty cupboards. I blame this occurrence on my keen eye for cutesy items in Target's dollar bins, as well as my sheer boredom this summer. Add along the pre-college stresses that have been haunting my last weeks of summer and coloring books would make for great, relaxing therapy.

Gotta catch 'em all!

I gave in and ordered the 50 packs of stickers! And this is what ensued. An array of stickers which took HOURS to organize and put into the album. But oh so worth it.

I still have quite a few stickers that I need to collect, though I must say, I cleaned up better than I thought I would. I am a couple stickers away from completing a couple of national teams, and with the ongoing trades with some friends, hopefully my quest of collecting all the stickers will be deemed successful.

Though I must say, I am kind of itching to buy more packs. Perhaps not a huge 50 pack box, but I'm thinking of ordering a couple more handfuls of packs. It really is an addiction (a rather expensive addiction, at that). Even if trading, I'll still have a few more empty spots in my sticker album. So really, what else is a girl to do?

Cupcakes and sunshine

After unearthing a cake decorating kit in my kitchen, I decided to put it to good use by experimenting with the piping tips. Which, of course, gave me a good excuse to bake up a fresh batch of cupcakes, which acted as my mini canvas for the frosting.

I opted for a simple (yet delicious!) chocolate fudge cake recipe, and an amazing cream cheese frosting to top it all off. I love the subtle tang from the cream cheese, and it is also not as sweet as conventional buttercream frosting (which, for me, can be a little too sweet to handle). Cream cheese frosting is also a great choice for cake decorating, though a few words of advice: it's best to chill the frosting in the fridge for about an hour before beginning to pipe. I made the mistake of piping the frosting right after whipping it together, and thus the heat from my hands began to melt the frosting a bit as it was in the piping bag. Which also brings up another piece of advice: work quickly!! When I began to pipe out the frosting, I was a bit meticulous and it ended up taking too much time, and therefore the frosting melted even more. Swift, consistent piping will actually make better designs and also save time (and frosting).

Cream cheese frosting (from "Cupcakes!" by Elinor Klivans)

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups powdered sugar

Beat the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla together until smooth, and then slowly add the powdered sugar. I like to add the powdered sugar in thirds so it's a slow, consistent mix with very little lumps. This recipes makes about 3 cups of frosting.

Also, this frosting is VERY versatile, so it'll work for most cake recipes. I decided to dye the frosting a soft pink, which was a nice contrast to the chocolate cake.

The cake decorating kit also came with booklet with loads of piping ideas, so this will not be the last of my cupcake bonanza. I have yet to plan out my next foray into summer cupcakes, but now that I'm done with work, I can bake a batch soon.

What's just as good as cupcakes? Getting some sun! I went to the beach twice in a week and I am more sunkissed than ever. Nothing beats a warm day on the sand with a good book.