Sweets and Things

“So long as the sugar is on the tongue, you feel the sweetness in taste. Similarly, so long as the heart has love, peace and devotion, you feel the bliss.” ~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba (Indian Spiritual Leader)

Yesterday's post was about sugar. While I was trying to find an easier way to do that post by finding a website I could just link to I found a lot of really great stuff about sugar and sweets that I wanted to share.

I didn't put it in yesterday's post because after scaring you (and me) to death about how much sugar we eat, I didn't want to tempt you by showing you creative and beautiful ways to use sugar.

But today is another day, so onward and upward!

First, some pictures from Home Sweet Home, Expressions in Confectionery Art.

They even have ebooks you can purchase to learn how to create your own Confectionery Art. Sounds like a lot of fun, but just imagine if you had to eat all your mistakes?

Then I found this beautiful picture and I had to read more about it! And you can too at Prima Donna Bride.

She shows you how to make these beautiful little sugar cubes here. They are so super simple that I think even I could make them! Wouldn't they look beautiful on cupcakes, wedding cakes, as decorations on tablesscapes for weddings and showers?

And for those of you that don't want to eat sugar cubes, how about bathing in them?

You can find these lovely little effervescent cubes at L'Occitane En Provence. These little guys are individually packaged squares containing essential oils (mint, pine and rosemary) blended with sugars and stimulating centella asiatica to 'fizz' upon release into water.

Captivity ~ Day Three

Well I made it! I lived through the night and now Day Three is almost over. I will admit it was a rough night. The lump in my throat grew a little more and then around 2am I went to the bathroom and noticed I was having a hard time breathing and that there was some bubbling and rumbling in my chest when I did breathe. It kinda scared me, but I took an Aleve and went back to bed cause that's how I roll...I don't sweat it and stay up all night worrying...I had dreams to catch up on.

So this morning I woke up and it's really sore and swollen and all red like I have sunburn on my throat and collarbone and the area right underneath. So I had some eggs and coffee. Food seems to be my answer to everything lately! Then of course I called my sister who told me to call my doctor. I called my mom, who told me to call my doctor. So I called my doctor and apparently all this is quite normal and I need to quit my whining and take an Aleve for the pain and drink more water.

So that's what I did today. I just laid around and sat around reading and playing computer games. I tried to go sit outside again today like I did yesterday but even though the sun was out there was a really cool breeze so I had to come back inside. Now I'm just killing time posting this til American Idol comes on because for some reason this week it's on Wednesday and Thursday instead of Tuesday and Wednesday.

I also wanted to share with you how wonderful my brother Fred is. I will admit, there have been many, many, many, MANY! times in my life that I have wanted to kill him. But Fred has always been there to help me or my kids. He's the one the insisted on coming to my surgery because as he put it, "Sometimes you don't wake up from surgery."Comforting, no?

Well he called me a bit ago to see how I was feeling and I whined cause really what else can I do? And who deserves the right to whine more than someone who has cancer? I know, me huh? So he told me that he had bought me some Pixy Stix and Sweetarts and he would bring them by my house and hang them on the mailbox and run for the hills before I nuked him :0)

And he did. And the greatest thing is that he knows what my favorite candies are. He actually somewhere along the way stored that little tidbit about me in his sweet little head. And...he also threw in a bag of California Gourmet all natural macadamia nuts! I love macadamia nuts! I'm debating saving them to bake at a later date into cookies that I can share with my dear little brother, or I could just open the bag and toss a bunch into a bowl of vanilla ice cream.

Want to make bets on which one I'm going to do?
Thank you Fred, You're the Best!

Being an Iwanna pays off! I may change my name officially!

For my dear, faithful readers...I'm talking to you April and Lisa...remember this Iwanna Wednesday? Well being an Iwanna has paid off! I wanted champagne flutes and I got champagne flutes, just look!

My dear, sweet daughter April brought these home for me before she left for her MIT program in Arizona. We had a send-off BBQ for her and I got the gift! Aren't they beautifully gorgeous? I just love them and can't wait til she comes back home and we can have breakfast together and have our mimosas (champagne and orange juice).

Thank you April, love you soooooooooooo much!

For now though, I've got them displayed in what I call my china hutch, although it's really just a bookcase in my kitchen.

Some of you with a keen eye may note right away that on the first shelf to the far right is a glass filled with what looks to be beer caps. Umm, well ok, yeah...they are beer caps. But I did not drink all those beers myself, although I did contribute one or two or three, but heck...who's counting right? Those are actually for a project I'm going to be working on and I'll show you when I get going with that.

But anyway, on the very bottom shelf I want to point out some antique cups and saucers. Those belonged to my mother-in-law, who is now my ex-mother-in-law...well actually my dead mother-in-law, oops I mean my dead ex-mother-in-law. Whatever, they belonged to her and now they're mine and someday I'll pass them on to one of my grandchildren as a family heirloom.

The little child's tea set in front of the cups and saucers belongs to my sister Lisa. That was given to her more than 40 years ago (I won't say exactly when lest it give you my sister's true age and since I'm older than her, well...that's just not allowed) by our beloved Tia Nico. And someday I'm sure she will pass them on to one of her granddaughters. Right now she's got a house full of testosterone (boys) and they have no interest in them except maybe as hockey pucks or spit cups or some other gross boy thing...so I'm keeping them in trust...for her. Oh yeah, and that little rose colored doily they are all sitting on...I crocheted that. Yep, with my own two hands!

Here's a close up of the second shelf so you can see where I have place two of the champagne flutes April gave me. The emerald green goblets are a Goodwill find and I only have two of them and that's what April and I have been using for our mimosas. The olive green goblets were also a gift from April, she truly knows her momma and what her momma likes! The little glass roses in the vase are a Valentines day gift more than 5 years ago from my dear friend Stacie who I never see anymore because she moved to San Diego. We met when we were both going to University of Phoenix. That's why I love stuff, because it all has such great memories tied to it and when you see those things, you remember those people and what they mean in your life and the part they played and still play in it. If you look real closely on the stem of the olive green goblets you see little red and green thingys. Those are wine glass markers that my mom gave me several years ago to mark each person's glasses so you don't get them mixed up during the party (drunken orgy). The red one is a little slice of cheese and the green one is a little bunch of grapes. I also have one with a champagne/wine bottle and a champagne glass and various other ones. So everytime I have a party (drunken orgy), I will remember my dear sweet mom (well maybe not until after the orgy).Here's a closeup view of the top shelf with the other two champagne flutes. The amber colored glasses were given to me by my mom. I'm not sure where she got them as that's normally not an item she would purchase for herself as she prefers everything to be plastic (grand kids and all). I must ask her about that. She also gave me the roses behind the glasses, they're silk and I think she bought them to make wreaths for the graves of her parents and siblings in Arizona and I must have coveted them...as I usually do, and she gave them to me. I've had them for probably more than 10 years (I never throw anything away!). In the little crystal you see there is another little Crystal which was given to me by my nephew/godson Isaac. He's always giving me things. For Christmas he gave me some really cute blue snowmen which I will have to show you this Christmas as they're all packed away. But here's an early valentine's present he gave me just today.

Isn't that the cutest! It's a little red heart shaped candy dish. And just today I had bought a bag of miniature Heath bars! It was meant to be!

And here's a pic of Isaac and his other two cousins. Isaac is the tall one, he's the oldest, then Gabriel is the next oldest and then little Fred is the baby of all the boys. Handsome little guys don't you think?

At least they are when they're being serious. Thanks Isaac...love you bunches and bunches!

Candy Fanatic or Not?

I'm not really big on sweets. I do have my favorites, but give me Chips and Salsa every time instead and I'm a happy camper! But I do come from a family of candy lovers. I believe all my nieces and nephews love, love, love CANDY. I know my own kids would rather have candy than Chips and Salsa and my mom absolutely loves chocolate.

So for all you candy lovers out there I've found a great blog for you. It offers documented reviews of candy from around the world. You can find the link here http://www.typetive.com/candyblog/ and of course it's on my links listed in the right hand panel. Go see if your fav candy is listed. They also have a rating system and were not very generous in rating one of my fav candies, Red Vines, darn them!



A few interesting facts:

• The brand of candy that has the most listings on this website is Hershey's with 133 different types of candies. Next is Nestle's with 88.


• The U.S has listed 598 different varieties, with Japan being runner-up with 69 (What does that say about Americans?)


• The Ukraine, Taiwan, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Kenya and Peru all have only one listing. I don't think that means they only have one type of candy, but probably the reviewers have only gotten to sample one type from those countries.


• Mexico has 21. I know here in California, candies from Mexico are greatly loved. I went through the Mexico ones and I didn't see any of the ones that we can find in local "carnicerias" here in California.

Stay tuned for posts in the future about:

• Mexican candies we know and love.
• Mexican "dichos" or "sayings" we grew up with
• Mexican songs and lullabies
• Mexican holiday traditions