Blog of Note: Cake Wrecks

A friend showed me this blog, Cake Wrecks, and as I scrolled through I understood why: this is exactly my sense of humor. Check out some gems I snagged from their site:




I just decorated a birthday cake, and somehow none of these ideas came to mind. Crazy! I think I will make every future cake in this style - something ridiculous, something to make us all laugh a little more.

Hyggelig Places: Trader Joe's

I have to admit, I haven't been faithful to Trader Joe's. I used to live a couple of blocks away from one, and I'd go there a couple of times a week during my lunchbreak to buy a few measly groceries and eye the cute checkout guy. I just saw this video and I think it pretty much sums up my relationship with TJ's. I miss it all of a sudden. Maybe I should go get some couscous or something.

Showing Up

I just watched Elizabeth Gilbert's TED talk about creative spirits and genius, and I thought it was really touching and funny. She talked about how in ancient Greece and Rome, people believed that spirits outside of humans were collaborators in the creative process. Daemons, also known as geniuses, would hang around and help you out. As she noted, it humbled the human because his work was not entirely his own. Also, if he screwed up and the work wasn't so great, it wasn't really his fault. Nice!

I won't spoil the rest of it in case you want to hear it in her own words. I like the way she talked about creative people having a potential "out," a way to circumvent the pressure our closest allies often lay on us, even if accidentally. Just show up - just do your part and screw it if it's not so great. Keep going. Next project. Don't worry if your best work is behind you, because there's no way to tell that something even more amazing won't happen.

Omnivore Books and Peter Pauper Press

Yesterday Mom and I headed down to Omnivore, the amazing cookbook store down on Cesar Chavez. We spent a while there, just basking in the treasures we found and admiring the cozy space, and finally we whittled down our stacks to the essentials. I got a small book from Peter Pauper Press - the recipes are so simple, and the illustrations are so beautiful.

Here are some examples of their 1950s graphic covers:

via radlibrary

via tinstars

J.K. Keller's Insecurity Envelopes

This guy is awesome. These laser cut envelopes by J.K. Keller are based on the patterns printed inside of those mundane office envelopes. I wish I got some mail in one - it's so lacy and delicate, less insecure and more dainty than one might expect.

Insecurity Envelopes

Cuckoo Clocks

Grandma and Grandpa gave me an old cuckoo clock they picked up at a garage sale ("one of many"), and I've been searching online for info on assembling it. Along the way I found this picture:

You guys win. Mine is smaller. Are those guns at the top? Creepy.

I read an article about the history of cuckoo clocks here, and it said that Bavarians started making them because they were snowed in every winter. The whole town would come together, making metal cogs in one shop and wooden boxes in another, all in an effort to make clocks. It seems so surreal - would that happen in our times in America? Maybe that's a feeling of community that I've been missing.

Anyways, the gigantic clock people also have these sweet little birdcages. We saw some at the Alameda Antique Fair and they're really beautiful. Feast your eyes on this:

and these:
and my favorite:

The Door To My Heart

I recently moved into a 1920s era apartment with all of the charm you could hope for - the Bay window, hardwood floors, heavy bathtub, telephone nook, and - best of all - a Murphy bed closet. The bed fixture had been removed many years ago, but Dad and I figured we could make our own contraption. In our usual stroke of good luck, he found an old Murphy bed frame on craigslist. This apartment will know the glory of its youth!

via the Murphy Bed Company's website

Murphy beds were introduced in the early 1900s and peaked in popularity around the late '20s when a lot of apartments were being constructed. I guess suburban/single family residence homes have changed our ideas about space and functionality, but I feel like this idea is a timeless gem for urban life.

Hyggelig Places: The Alameda Point Antiques and Collectibles Faire

I just got back from the Alameda Antique Faire and wow! there was lots of great stuff. A friend and I got beautiful cast iron pans, and the vendor told us a little about their history and maintenance while we rooted through his selection. I eyed a lot of old toys and tools, rooted through vintage textiles and despaired at the prices of handsome baskets. The market happens once a month, on the first Sunday. You'll probably see me there.

World Beard and Moustache Championships

image by Luke Stephenson

I just read this post on Tas-Ka about the World Beard and Moustache Championships. Check out the rest of the pics - these guys are awesome. Or crazy. Both?

Yes We Can

There are people cheering in the streets, beeping horns and hugging strangers. We all have hope tonight - we know the next few years may not change everything, but recent months have already brought us closer as Americans. This is a change we can see, can feel in ourselves.

The London to Brighton Race

Albert de Dion on a De Dion Bouton (via Wikipedia)

It's that time of the year again - the first Sunday in November, hundreds of thousands of old car guys hobble over to London to ogle old cars at the London to Brighton Run. I read up a little bit on the race and found the following info at the LBVCR website:

"The annual event ... commemorates the Emancipation Run of 14 November 1896 which celebrated the passing into law of the Locomotives on the Highway Act, which raised the speed limit for `light locomotives' from 4 mph to 14 mph and abolished the requirement for these vehicles to be preceded by a man on foot."

I like the idea of a man standing in front of my car at all times watching out for pedestrians and stuff. Also, I hate this idea. Did he get to carry an umbrella if it was raining? It rains a lot in England. And if there was nobody on the street, could he get in the car and just get out when there were people around?

14 mph may not seem fast in a regular car with windshields and airbags, but keep in mind this guy is basically sitting on a wooden lawnmower. I am scared for his safety and he isn't even moving.

Good luck out there, riders. Smell the foggy air and hang on tight around those curves.

At The Supermarket

Today at TJ's I saw a sign advertising baking powder that just said "You are gonna need it for stuff! Holiday item!" with some elves dancing around on the side. I laughed out loud, imagining some dude getting desperate after making a bunch of signs cheerfully describing all the uses for dried fruits and nuts.

Saying Goodbye to Mother's

I read the news over someone's shoulder on my ride home from work: Mother's Cookies is going out of business. I slumped over in my seat, dejected, as through this cookie company were a real member of my family and I had just read an obituary. In a way, Mother's has been a part of our lives.

Mother's was there with us on every picnic, every camping trip, and many evenings after dinner. Dad would shift around in his chair, looking over to see if we had "the good" cookies in stock, as though he could stretch his vision beyond the pantry door to spy them.

Checkerboard Wafers

The checkerboard wafers were not eaten but more inhaled - the package would be there, daintily unwrapped at the end, and then moments later there would be a handful of wafers left. Our parents would nudge them towards us, saying, "You go ahead, honey. Have the last ones," like we were some starving paupers who would never be able to afford those magical wafers again. "No, I'm full," we'd both reply, putting our hands on our bellies. These leftovers would be carefully repackaged in saran wrap or an excessively large Tupperware container, and would remain abandoned on the shelf until they were stale and chewy. It was our unspoken ritual - some cookies must be sacrificed to ensure the arrival of fresh ones in coming weeks. Strangely, this never happened with the animal cookies...

We also had a long standing disagreement over the checkerboard cookies, and one time did a blindfolded taste test to see if, indeed, they do taste like the Neapolitan flavors they were presumably modeled after. I insisted that they taste like chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry, but failed the blindfolded test and proved myself wrong. Damnit!

Circus Animal

The circus animals came on a lot of hiking and picnic-related trips. They'd be warm by lunchtime but by some stroke of engineering genius, the frosting would be fully intact, never melting off of the cookies. I spent a lot of time chasing after the sprinkles at the bottom of the bag and would have sprinkle-colored marks on my fingers for the rest of the afternoon.

English Tea

I'm honestly not sure how my dad is going to live without these. I mean, there are other cookies, but these seem to be his staple after-dinner treat. The cookies will bruise your mouth as you bite into them - they're thick and unyielding and probably meant for adults instead of a small child's jaws. They've got this funny imprinted texture that I've only come to appreciate over time, but the smell of the vanilla centers has always been comforting. These are better dipping cookies than any dark-colored counterpart you might see advertised. You can forget about them as they float around in your milk and instead of totally disintegrating and tainting your drink, they'll come out perfect every time.

Mother's Cookies used to be manufactured here in Oakland, and the founder worked in San Francisco. I know they changed hands a lot in the last decade, but I still feel like they're a part of the Bay Area's history and community. I see the trucks on the highway in traffic, with their not-to-scale images shading my tiny car and taking me back to every place we went with those cookies. I think of the best times of my life - being in nature, with loved ones, eating brightly colored sugary foods. What could be more hyggelig?

That Proverb

I keep thinking of this Buddhist proverb, and this year it's been one of my guiding principles. Keep calm, don't assume anything. Things are going to be happening, and you can't let them ruffle you up like that. Apologies to anyone who knows this story better than me - I am basing this on a memory from many years back. The monk who told the story took it nice and slow, but I'm doing more of a summary.


A long time ago, in a rural village, there was a farmer who had one son. One day a wild horse came to their farm and the son tamed it. All of the farmer's neighbors came by and said, "How lucky of you! You are so fortunate to find a horse like this." And the farmer replied, "I'm not so sure. Not everything that seems good is really so good." All of the neighbors were startled by his words and thought him ungrateful for this gift from nature.

The next day, the son went out riding the new horse. The horse bucked him off and the son was badly injured and unable to walk. All of the neighbors returned to the farmer's cottage and paid their condolences. "This is a terrible thing. We are so sorry your son is hurt." And the farmer looked into his tea and said, "Not everything that seems bad is really so bad." Again, the neighbors were bewildered by the man's words. How could he think his son's pain was a good thing?

The day after that, the emperor's minister came through town with an announcement:
all healthy firstborn males will be taken by the emperor for his army immediately. As the farmer's son was badly injured, he was allowed to stay in the village.

There might be more to the story, but you get the point. I feel like this proverb is especially poignant in this time of uncertainty. Politics, economics, emotions: I am trying to understand that these things are not two-sided like coins, but multi-sided and worthy of our patience.

Fail Blog: "What is Oozing Out of Our Ground?"

I'm enjoying the Fail Blog today while lazing around today. There are so many good FAILS but this one is especially funny. Maybe a good counterbalance to my raves about cotton farming and plastic bags. Do I sound like that?

My favorite part is how pissed she gets...and also how she thinks rainbows are formed - I was unaware that metal is involved in the creation of rainbows.