cake obsession

behold, a decadent chocolate cake

 with luscious vanilla buttercream frosting

 and fresh strawberries...mmm...

made from premo! sculpey polymer clay, 2011

potatoes, onions, and leeks, oh my!

seeing images of queen elizabeth's recent diamond jubilee triggered a memory of another english royal event that was televised many years ago. i recall that i was eight years old at the time, and i was watching a program with my dad that featured people dressed as giant vegetables running around in a courtyard. (yes, i did say giant vegetables, and no, it wasn't a fever-induced hallucination.) i vaguely remember my dad explaining to me that it was a game or a contest of some kind, and that it was being performed for the benefit of the queen. i was quite entertained by the spectacle of adults running around in onion and leek costumes.

because i don't know the exact details or circumstances of the event, i googled the following, hoping to find information and video footage of the program:

people dressed as giant vegetables, queen, 80's

this search yielded exactly what i was looking for:

the grand knockout tournament

according to wikipedia, the grand knockout tournament was a charity event conceived and organized by prince edward. this event (which was not endorsed by the queen, by the way) consisted of four teams competing in games to raise money for charity. each team's captain was a member of the british royal family, and celebrities were invited to partake in the activities.

needless to say, i had a blast watching the video clips on youtube.

veggies on the loose!	leeks gone wild
come any closer and i'll make you cry	the captured veggies get thrown into the pot (or should i say into the "stock"ade? haha...)

dinner with the uglydolls

chicken drumsticks! let's dig in!

 

chomp, chomp, chomp!

 

mutant jelly beans

ok, so they're not really mutant. just irregularly shaped. :)

belly flops by jelly belly

ice cream summer

i couldn't resist buying this oh-so-cute fabric from jo-ann's.

do you wanna rock?

big toe's secret ambition in life is to become a rock star...

...with groupies, of course!

flour power

jeero loves to bake.

hmm, to sift or not to sift?

sweet success!

it's snack time!

primrose snack set by anchor hocking glass

last weekend i purchased a vintage milk glass

snack set from my favorite consignment shop.

it was marked 50% off, so i ended up paying $12.50 for the 8-piece set.

(woo-hoo, i love a bargain!)

although the original box is tattered and stained,

all of the cups & trays are in very good condition.

 what could be a better snack than a mini cake with

strawberry frosting, whipped cream, and a cherry on top?

sweet secrets (and some geekiness)

 

one of my favorite toys from the 80's was sweet secrets.

they were decorative "jewels" that transformed into dolls.

 sweet secrets also came with hair clip, bracelet, or necklace

so that you could wear it around as a fashion accessory.

i remember wearing one as a bracelet and thinking how

ridiculously large and awkward it looked on my wrist (but i still loved it anyway.) 

looks like an ordinary gem, but...	a surprise awaits inside!
kitty has unfolded.	ta da!

 i also used to make-believe that the blue jewel was like
the blue crystal the doctor had in the episode snakedance.
i would pretend to focus my mental energy on the crystal just like he did:

yes, even when i was six years old, i was a doctor who geek. :)

french vanilla ice cream cone

big toe's gonna need some help with this.

"a pleasing beverage"

sweeco instant cocoa tin, c. 1938

an excerpt from the tin:
SWEECO is "...made by a special secret blending and cooking process from full cream milk, pure cane sugar and high grade cocoa. Physicians have been recommending it for over a quarter of a century because it is so easily digested and so readily assimilated. 
SWEECO is a food as well as a pleasing beverage."