Friday, May 31, 2013

s'more summer sunbathers

guys, i have 3 more days of work left til summer. 
3. 
more. 
days!

and although i have a really hard time relaxing, i mean REALLY hard time cuz my brain will not stop thinking of things to create, i am gonna try REALLY hard to do so.

 so with that, i have a guest poster today! hooray!

take it away girlfriend!

















here's to a fun and relaxing summer!

oh and don't forget the sunscreen.

XO,
Hershee &





Tuesday, May 28, 2013

top banana graduation treat

pretty soon the end of school year 2012-2013 
will come to an end. and many will graduate.

hopefully they will use their knowledge to figure out complicated math problems in their next grade level or in the real world. lord knows i had my share of trouble trying to help my 10-yr-old with some of the math problems he brought home for homework. and i thought i was fairly smart, until i read those tricky math problems.

:>P

blah. what happened to 2x2=4 kinda things? at the rate they are pushing our kids to learn pre-calculus in elementary school, no wonder we will all be flying space rockets in like 10 years or so when they graduate.

so how is your math anyway? 
see if you can figure this one out. 
(here'a hint, read from left to right, not up and down.)

ok, that one was a little hard...
so let's try it in steps.

STEP ONE: 
woah! is that a chocolate covered banana?!?! why i think so!
you can cover the banana the way i covered these in my last post, so the banana won't break.

ok this next step takes a bit of skill cuz it gives you options.

STEP TWO:
hey! what is that? a diploma saying "top banana"?!?!
why i think it is.

so let's take the last 2 steps and stick them together to see what we have so far.

STEP THREE:
heehee
now for the last part of the original math problem.

STEP FOUR:

another heehee!
you can get details on making the cap here if those are unclear to you above.
and yes i purposefully put it on crooked just because i could.

anyway,
so the answer to the original math problem has been solved.

and here it is!

it's a super-goofy-ultra-silly grad treat for your super-awesome-graduation-kiddo-person-adult-friend-neighbor-family-member-acquaintance kind of treat.

i mean, look at all the stress that you went thru trying to figure out just ONE math problem. imagine what they had to do and thank God you already graduated!

so let's do this:
and pat that person on the back or give them a huge hug for being a top banana and graduating!
plus remember to remind them to keep using those brain skills of theirs when they enter their next grade level or real world cuz,


CONGRATS to ALL you TOP BANANAS of 2013!

especially my daughter graduating from middle school & going into high school and driving soon-YIKES!
my mind's gone already.





Friday, May 24, 2013

cake pop popsicles (fudgesicles, creamsicles and fruit bars)

well, it's memorial day weekend.
meaning lots of fun in the sun.
and fun in the sun includes cool treats.

like these:
yippee!
hope you are ready for a bajillion pics cuz i went a little cray cray with the camera when i made these.
let's start, seeing this is a totally long post already and you are a busy busy person with things to do!

ok here goes.


i know, i know, many of you won't have this kit to use the cover. but if you have a circle cookie cutter, you can smoosh it down to an oval to cut the popsicle shape.

umm...so i know they are not all equal in thickness...
just work with me...
and yes, these guys are thin on purpose. the candy coating makes them double their size and i didn't want huge thick popsicle treats. i think it's too much at once. but you can make them any thickness you want really.
anywho, let's move on.

ok the praying part? i did a lot of that but ended up having a couple fall apart on me. as you can see they are thin as compared to cake balls, so the dipping is a challenging process. i didn't wanna loose anymore popsicles and some of them did not want to cooperate so i did this:
here's a step by step to cover up the cake without actually dipping them and having them crumble in front of your eyes. (ignore the inconsistent color of the popsicle pictures for now, as i was deep into making these and took pics here and there like a crazy person.)
the "shake to smooth" process includes shaking the parchment paper covered tray or plate you have these on-the candy will smooth itself out as long as you do it quickly before it starts to dry. 

it also helps immensely to have good smooth candy in melts or bark form. 
i actually used almond bark and colored it with a few candy melts. using candy melts alone is a pain cuz sometimes they are so thick even after melting and i didn't wanna put a lot of oil to thin it out, like you have to sometimes for dipping.

anyhoo, when the candy coating's almost dry, score the edge with a toothpick or the top of a butter knife.
trim the excess candy from the back of the popsicle with a sharp knife.

as for the clean up, do this:
scoring the popsicles is a very important step when you cover them like this. when they are scored, the extra pieces fall off themselves or take very little effort to remove, thus giving you a nice clean edge.
and look at the fun you made:
now let's keep going...

and going...
and going...
and going...
and going! whew!
so if you're really into these, there are new cake mixes out there in orange creamsicle and key lime flavors. i didn't get them cuz it means actually baking a cake and i would rather spend the time decorating to my heart's insane content so i get this:
even though they are really chocolate, strawberry and lemon cake pops, you can still pretend they are:
either way you'll be the coolest person on the block with the coolest popsicles.

and you didn't think you could get any cooler!