I Have a Computer!!!!

I'm over the top excited about getting my brother's hand-me-down-times-3 laptop! My sister came from Barbados last week and when she came over to bring the items off my grocery list request I noticed there was a laptop under the bottle of rose syrup I shamelessly begged her to drive all the way up to Sunset Crest for. Somehow, I knew it was for me! Groceries in hand (shopping in Trinidad is penance and I promise you Super Centre that I will never, ever, EVER complain about you wonderfully stocked shelves again. And now I am homesick for Bim again! Fabulous!) I stood outside chatting with her for a full three minutes worth of wondering why she was taking her laptop to her 3rd trimester check up, mentally popping the "that laptop is for me I just know it!" bubble that had inflated in my head. She says "oh shoots I'm late!". I say "okay well thanks Evil! Really appreciate you bringing the stuff! Tell Dr. Kissoon 'hi' for me!" She says "wait!"

My four favorite words strung together to form a sentence for the month of June are officially "this", "is", "for" and "you". As she lifted it off the seat and put it under my free arm she explained that it was my older brother's originally but he'd given it to my younger brother who sent it for me when my mother's husband bought him (younger bro) a new net book :) Phew! In Trinidad we call that kind of linked up story a pumpkin vine. But I digress... I'm so happy I could burst! Sure it old... So what! Sure I haven't been able to turn it on because they lost the power cord and I really can't afford to buy one right now... One day (hopefully soon!) I will! And in the mean time I will continue to stay awake, waiting for the whole household to drift off to sleep before I sit down at my uncle's desktop to do all the computer based work I can't during the day.

Its things like getting my 3rd hand laptop that remind me of how lucky I am. I look at it two ways... 1. There are people in this world who will never benefit from even a fifteenth hand computer! And 2. If there is one thing I learned by growing up poor and surviving the shit my little family of two is going through now its that small things like this mean the world to me and appreciating these small things is a quality I like about myself and love that my daughter is learning!

So in the coming weeks I hope to be writing more... And properly! Not these rushed through semi-entries I post in the interest of getting it down before someone else needs the desk top and in the interest of squashing my considerable my sleep deprivation.

I'm off to the kitchen to wash up the tell tale signs of a Guinness cupcake order having taken over the house. And then I'll get to bed and look at MY new-to-me laptop on the counter in the bedroom and think to myself again, that I'm lucky to have it :)

I'm A Daring Baker!!!!

Two words I absolutely adore in one title... Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Trust me... All those "eee"s were necessary. Very.

If you describe me as either of those two words I'd be over the moon but together they mean I've been accepted in to the most bad-ass, no holds barred, extremely crazy, over the top, sometimes bizarre, elite group of baking extraordinaires and novices alike, taking part in monthly challenges of ability and talent, a world of gastronomic comparison tom foolery like no other! Yes folks... I am SO proud to say that I am officially a member of "Daring Kitchen", a Daring Baker, finally!

Okay so it really only took me a month's worth of impatient waiting for my application to be approved but I have wanted to belong to this group for ages... And I only have myself to blame for why it took me as long as it did to sign up. And yes, okay, "anyone" can join but I like feeling like we're all, us Daring Bakers, part of a select group of foodie of baking buccaneers. :) I gush a bit when I'm excited don't I :)

I'm off to read my 13 printed out pages worth of "The Daring Bakers' May, 2011 Challenge".

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Cookie Orders Without Borders pt. 1

"Can you make a mortar board for Shannon's graduation?" asked Lindsay.

"Sure!" said Carla.

"Great!" replied Lin.

"When's it for and where should I deliver it?" Carla asked.

"Ummm... May... In... Um... Tampa?!"

And boom! My first international cookie was ordered!

And boom! Here it is!

Once again, picture quality sucks royally. VERY teenily, on the tassel, I piped "2011" with a pin point tip. My hands throb just thinking about it!

And so, the first of many cookie orders without borders makes it past Miami customs. *sniff* So proud!

All Aboard for Canada... Aye!

Had to! This was cookies without borders order number 2... Bound for Canada! For my sweet friend Dayna's wedding to her sweet hubby John. Congratulations guys!!!

They don't make a ton of sense to anyone else really. Here's the short version... Their wedding colours were lime-ish, kelly-ish green and black and well, the cutlery, their an inside joke that may or may not have involved a very long and billowy skirt, a farewell lime at Pizza Hut Roxy SEVENTEEN!!!!! (cheese on bread we're old!) years ago, an entire place setting's worth of cutlery and a few miscellaneous table items (a cup, plate, ramekin, menu, salt and pepper shaker, several packets of ketchup etc... nothing much) smuggled out of restaurant under said billowy skirt in rememberance that we loved our Daynie and that we would miss her when she moved to the great white, freezing cold North!

Tinkerbell, Dora, a Wand and Flying Cookies Pt. 3

Cookie order number three that have made it through customs in another country!

You want Tink and Dora, you gets Tink and Dora. Oh and a bonus wand cookie and "Happy Birthday" bonus cookie.

A special wand for a special two year old! From Trinidad to Miami perfectly in tact!

And here's the whole order... Wrapped up like hazardous waste... Or llelo for that matter!

Tagging

Gotta love graffiti in all its forms... Especially edible ones!

Graffiti boom box... Cause every turtle who tags needs a few tunes to create to!

The only shot I got of the turtle... Stueps! The final product had him completely vandalized by a rival tagger!

"Happy birthday" tag on a red velvet sugar cookie "wall". My little nod to the great and awe inspiring Banksy is on the bottom right corner. He is the blue print after all.

Boom box and discarded paint cans.

Spent spray paint bottles :)

Best shot I have of turtle. Cut out, pre baking. Still vexed that I didn't get a finished shot!

Ferocious-ish Sharks! Rarr!

These were the first hand cut cookies I ever made :) They were for my nephew Calum's first birthday... Ocean inspired party because we all lived in Barbados at the time and being born and bred islanders (Trinis to the bone!) the ocean is a huge part of our lives! Plus the party supplies were adorable!

Not the best pictures and the single shark was the lone survivor of the cookie stampede at the party... A little worse for the wear, hidden away by my sister when she saw the stock was running low... She takes care of her tummy!