Spring has Sprung!

Happy mid-April, everyone!

It's been a bumpy ride these last few weeks, and when things get bumpy, I tend not to blog here. Things are beginning to slow down and I hope to be back to making new items for my shop very soon.

In the meantime? Birdsnest cupcakes!



There are five family traditions in my immediate family (parents and brother):

Everyone gets together for each other's birthdays and when the birthday girl/boy cuts the cake, everyone attending the birthday has to scream at the top of their lungs the moment the knife hits the bottom of the first cut. It's for good luck.

Then there is "Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit", which is what we say first thing on the first day of each month. That was taught to me by Ms. Kitty Graves (yes, that was hear real name). Ms. Graves was my 3rd grade teacher and ever since I was 8 years old, we've continued this tradition. If I wake up early, I will call my mom and yell "RABBIT RABBIT RABBIT!" before she has time to say "hello?" so she remembers to say it. I'm sure she really appreciates that wake-up. My dad merely texts it to me.

Now on to the handmade traditions:

Thanksgiving is a traditional American meal: potatoes, yams, turnips, greenbeans, turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce. Traditionally, I make the cornbread and pumpkin pies. In the last two years, I've also added pumpkin Arroz con Leche and ginger pumpkin bread to the menu. My mom began the tradition of handing each dinner attendee 5 kernels of unpopped popping corn, we each go around the table and name 5 things we are thankful for. It's pretty sweet, my brother pretends to hate it.

Christmas is our traditional Puerto Rican meal: Pernil, yuca malanga, avocado salad...I make flan and coconut pudding.

Now, last Sunday was Easter. Normally, we have Easter dinner. My brother was unable to make it for the first year ever. He's knee-deep in a 20-page paper and is also beginning his thesis. I ended up meeting my parents for brunch at Le Monde, and as much as I enjoyed it, I hope our tradition continues to be a) one that includes the entire family and b) a home-cooked meal. I wanted to keep up my end of the bargain, so after meeting my family, I came home to my roommate and made Irish Soda Bread and birdsnest cupcakes.



The only reason I make Irish Soda Bread on Easter is because I couldn't find a recipe for hot-cross buns that I liked, but my Irish Soda Bread has a big cross on the top of it (to help it rise and bake). Birdsnest cupcakes? Well, 5 or 6 years ago they started out as cookies that were way too fancy. My family doesn't care if things are fancy, and these cookies too HOURS! Complete w/ chocolate ganache and everything. So I decided on making cupcakes, toasting coconut for the "nest" and adding chocolate eggs (Cadbury Mini Eggs work well) on top.


So last Easter Sunday night, Adeline helped me make 24 birds-nest cupcakes, and watched as I taught her how to make Irish Soda Bread. It was fun. And although I miss my brother to pieces, it was nice to be able to come home to my own apartment and my little apartment family of Adeline and Psyche D. Cat.

<3 Always,
--Taina

Handmade dreams...

My workplace and every workplace on the block was evacuated by the bomb squad because of a "suspicious package" yesterday evening. It reminded me of anthrax threats post 9/11 7 years ago, and as I left the building and hurried to a subway station far away to go home, I thought to myself "is this worth it? is it truly worth it?"

I enjoy my day job. I don't want to do it forever, but for now, it pays the bills and supports my craft supply addiction pretty nicely.



I couldn't help thinking about how an alpaca farm in rural middle America would be less of a target for terrorists or angry Americans. I could have alpacas and angora rabbits and spin yarn and weave and knit. I could get huge tax deductions for being solar or windpowered, sell my wares online, live a quiet life crafting, enjoy the outdoors, drive a Prius, and not worry about bomb threats every day.



I never used to really worry about these things before having a penpal. I like sending my penpal something in the mail every day. This is hard when the blue street mailboxes surrounding my workplace are sealed shut for fear of bombs when contraversial political figures are in town. Sometimes the mailboxes are completely removed from the sidewalk, vanished into thin air. Garbage cans are also removed, but I rarely throw anything out in them when they are around.



I don't know. I would love to retire and have a cupcake bakery with nice comfy chairs and lots of craft books around, friends artwork displayed on the walls, good music, a community place. I can't do that here in NYC, it's too expensive. As I get older (almost 27 1/2 this month), I can't help but think more and more about my future. Some place where I don't have the cloud of doom over my head.

<3 Always,
--Taina

Happy Birthday to me!

It's been almost a week since I last updated. Not much has happened in my handmade world. Let's see...

I made cornbread and baked ziti. I put together a new ikea bookcase for all my craft and art books.

On Wednesday, I attended my first Marketing class. The instructor was sick, so she was low-energy and had very little of a voice. The homework is interesting. I'm supposed to answer questions abour promotion, price, product and profit. I was so thrilled to have homework that I did all of it on the subway ride home. I hope next week has better energy.

One of the students is a jewelry designer who has sold to a few celebrities, all by word of mouth, doesn't have anything online. I don't even think she has business cards. I will talk to her about Etsy next week, I think, she seemed interested in how I use the online world to my advantage.

I haven't listed anything new! And the makeup bag is becoming the bane of my existance. It needs to be able to support heavy normal-sized shampoo and conditioner bottles along with other such things. It's not terribly to my liking, so I will try again today.

And yes, today is my birthday. I'm putting together my new dresser for my bedroom and working (once again) on the custom order makeup case. And Dorian and her girlfriend have invited themselves over to watch the Oscars. I'm hoping they don't kill me, I really just want to sew. Hopefully they will not catch an attitude with my sewing at the kitchen table while they watch the show in the livingroom.

A perfect relaxing birthday? Sewing, cleaning, putting together my dresser and taking my old one apart, and maybe making a bday cake for myself out of the Magnolia cookbook.

<3 Always,
--Taina