Category: (it's all about the) food

Birthday Week CakeWalk (BWCW) Day 7: FINALE!

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, celebrations

Today is the final day of my birthday week cakewalk, because today is my birthday! To celebrate, I decided to go all out and get nine cakes instead of just one! Is that wrong?
It’s okay, they’re minis! Mini cupcakes from The Cake Cottage in Wells!

These cupcakes are amazing. I haven’t eaten every one of them yet, but I’ve had enough of them to know that they are so worth eating.

The lemon is my favorite so far, but as I said, they are all delicious. If I could build my own, I would make a chocolate cupcake, strawberry frosting, and the green angel wing things from the lemon cupcake. 🙂

I hope I have inspired you to have your own birthday week cakewalk this year. I hope you had fun participating in mine! 🙂

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Birthday Week CakeWalk (BWCW) Day 6

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, celebrations, friends

Getting to the home stretch! Today’s cake was a present from my friend, Jane. Thanks for taking the pressure off with the cake-finding mission today, Jane!

Actually, I should have said today’s cakes, because Jane gifted me with a Cake Trifecta! Lemon, Chocolate Bomb, and Fruit Tart (because fruit is healthy!).

Oh, and the cakes came with a side of flowers.

What a treat this was!

All three of these cakes were delicious. All pass. Full disclosure: I didn’t eat all of them all! Only half! I swear!

🙂

One more day to go.

Birthday Week CakeWalk (BWCW) Day 4

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, celebrations, local fun

Wow, Day 4 already! It is going by TOO FAST. Today’s cake is from Spiller Farm in Wells, and it’s a Boston Cream Pie.

Boston Cream Pie

I grew up eating these cakes, or pies, as they are officially called. I know not why. There is no pie crust. There is no (traditional) pie filling. What there is is a yellow spongy cake, pastry cream, and chocolate frosting. That adds up to a cake in my book.

In the taste department, it was just okay. The cake was sort of wet, for some reason, and not in a good way. I am giving this cake a fail. It doesn’t live up to the Boston Cream Pies of yore. I wouldn’t buy it again.

Birthday Week CakeWalk (BWCW) Day 3

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, celebrations, local fun

Today, I got a smaller cake, just enough for me.

😀

Was thinking of strawberries, and thinking of healthy eating, and how to blend this with cake.

And look what I found!

Strawberry Square, Hannaford

It tasted as good as it looks. This cake little cake ROCKS! And good news: it comes in a bigger size. This cake is also a PASS! Ranking the cakes for taste so far:

  1. Strawberry Square (Day 3 from Hannaford)
  2. Chambord Cake (Day 1 from Market Basket)
  3. Carrot Cake (Day 2 from Wells IGA)

ONWARD!

Birthday Week CakeWalk (BWCW) Day 2

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, Adult children, celebrations, local fun

Day 2, people!!

Today’s cake is brought to you courtesy of my daughter, who gifted it to me, by way of the Wells IGA. She asked me what I wanted and I told her to surprise me, but to get something she liked, too.

Here it is: Carrot Cake

Grade: Pass. Not as good as the chocolate one I had on Day 1, but still good. I would get it again. It could be that I just have an inherent bias toward chocolate anything, so I have to allow for that.

This one has cream cheese frosting, as expected, which was pretty good.

Mini-Carrot Cake from Wells IGA

Looking forward to Day 3!~ 🙂

Birthday Week CakeWalk (BWCW) Day 5

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, celebrations, friends

Day 5! Today’s cake had to be great to make up for yesterday’s fail. I went to Mike’s Clamshack Fish Market. My friend Barney said, “It’s that time again already?!”

I bought cakes here for last year’s cakewalk too.


Anyway, I got the Lemon Blueberry Cake with Lemon Buttercream made by Something Different. This is a tried and true cake. No indecision or angst here.

I am further celebrating by eating it at the ocean! Sublime. This cake surely is a ‘pass’ on the pass/fail scale, and then some.
I am taking a chance and posting third from my phone, so apologies if it’s not looking right. I’ll check it on the computer later.
Onward!

Birthday Week CakeWalk (BWCW) Day 1

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, celebrations, local fun

Last year I had a blast doing a Birthday Week CakeWalk. I had a different cake for every day leading up to my birthday.  Seven cakes in seven days! Yay!

Never heard of this? That’s because I made this up (hmm, maybe I should trademark that term…). I had a lot of fun. I also had a lot of cake. I got creative some days, when work (or whatever) prevented me from getting the cake I wanted.
I was bummed because it turned out that I must have just posted the photos of them on FB and now they are gone forever. So, this year I am going to memorialize the cakes in my blog. I will also be rating them as I go, pass or fail. Keeping it simple.

Chambord Cake from Market Basket

Day 1 is from Market Basket: Chambord Cake. Hello!! You had me at chocolate!

This is my opinion: Swoon. There is a layer of cream cheese and a thin layer of raspberry filling (jam?) that balances the chocolate very well. And the frosting? Excellent. Cake #1 is a pass. One improvement would be if they had strained out the seeds, but it’s not a deal breaker.

Okay! One cake down, six to go!

A friend of Kevin

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, author, books, Interviews, NaNoWriMo, writing

I was lucky enough to be invited to be on Kevin Willett’s TV program, Business as Usual. I met Kevin on Facebook when I responded to a video he shared. I started following his page because the topics he was discussing resonated with me. One day, he mentioned that he had a TV show, and if anyone was interested in being on it, message him.

Was I interested in being on his TV show?

Duh.

I messaged  him. The next thing I knew, I was driving to Dracut. My husband came with me and watched from the booth. We arrived several hours early, as is my way, so we scouted out places to eat. I wanted Italian (so what else is new?) but Bill wanted the Chinese buffet, and when I saw that they had a dance floor, I was intrigued. We went.

The best part of the meal was the Hot and Sour Soup. And the Fortune Cookie. Isn’t this the best fortune ever?


Too bad it wasn’t mine.

Bill kindly agreed to share it with me with me.

Taping the show was so much fun! Kevin put me at ease right away, and the 28 minute taping went by in a blink. We talked about writing, publishing, and selling books. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to be a guest on the show. If you live in Dracut, you can watch it on DATV! If not, I will have a link to it at some point and will post it here on my website.

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P.S. The dance floor had a DISCO BALL!!! I couldn’t convince Bill to dance with me, though.

#stillpouting

Spotlight on: The Shops at Cape Neddick

by Karen, posted in author, books, local fun, shopping

Have you been to The Shops at Cape Neddick recently? If it’s been awhile, you’re in for a treat. It’s expanded and still expanding, so give yourself enough time to look around and take it all in.

When you walk in, you will feel the lovely energy of this shop right away. It feels like you are being wrapped big, warm hug. Everywhere you look you’ll see something beautiful, fun, and unique. There are several different shops under this one roof, so there truly is something for everyone.

Today, I want to tell you about (you guessed it) the book section! Currently called Book Ends, there is a special section to highlight local authors. I am proud to tell you that I am represented here!

capeneddick8

Every time I come here, I find just exactly the thing I want. Today, I found this ‘Be Brave’ bracelet, the perfect compliment to my first novel, One Brave Thing, which is available at The Shops.capeneddick1

On Friday, March 17th, I will be at The Shops at Cape Neddick, signing my book from 5:00pm-7pm. I will also be giving one card oracle readings as a bonus gift to anyone who purchases my book. When you come, ask me about my second novel, What if Bebe Stays with Steven? So save the date and tell your friends!

The Shops at Cape Neddick is at 1300 Route 1, Cape Neddick, ME 03902. For more information, call 207-363-2500, or check out the Facebook page here.

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Aha!

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, author, books, Interviews, writing

I was at the gym on the bike for the first time in two weeks (don’t judge me). I was hoping to be motivated to pedal a little longer through the time-honored hack of distraction. I was looking forward to listening to a Women Taking the Lead podcast, Number 201 with Dana Malstaff, and now I was finally getting a chance.

journals

Well, fifteen minutes went by in a blink. I was so absorbed in what I was hearing, not to mention temporarily blinded by all the lightbulbs going off in my head, that I forgot I was even on the bike.

🙂

This podcast perfectly distilled something for me that I have been struggling with (as I discovered looking through my journals) for years.

Here’s what I learned: the difference between PASSION and GIFT. You can pursue your passion forever, but if it’s not also your gift–that thing that you do so joyfully and effortlessly that it doesn’t even feel like a thing–it will never be more than a hobby. Which is fine, of course, as long as you aren’t trying to make a living from it.

When you live your gift, you can infuse it with your passions, what you love and are good but not necessarily great at, and then watch out! You will be unstoppable.

Click.

(Did you just hear that click into place for me?)

I have a lot of passions (don’t even get me started), but my gift is writing.

I am a great writer.

I also love how she called me out on being an island. We have to let others help us on our path, doing the things they are great at. When I published my first book, when I didn’t know what I didn’t know, I did everything but the editing myself. It was an exhilarating but also (yes, Dana, exactly!) a tear-filled process.

Now, what shall I do with this newfound knowledge? Because, as Marie Forleo* says, “Insight without action is worthless.”

I shall be worthy!

This time, I’m getting more help. I’m getting help with tasks I could have done myself, but I don’t love doing. Hello, formatting? Kill me.

Thank you, Boss-Mom, Dana Malstaff! Thank you, Jodi Flynn (Women Taking the Lead) for sharing this with us!

*By the way, have you seen Marie Forleo’s website? It blew me away. Check it out.