Holiday Fair

On Sunday, I had the opportunity to take part in a fundraiser Holiday Fair for a theater group called TheSpyAnts.  They really loved the mini desserts I did for their 50's themed fundraiser earlier in the year so they asked me back, and this time, asked me with the potential to earn some cold hard cash.  They invited vendors to take part in a craft fair-ish event and had them donate 15% of their proceeds to their efforts.  Cool!

And here is my friend Ellen! She has a side business she's just starting called 'Savory Sweet.' I dragged her into it.  :)  She does THE. MOST. AMAZING. rosemary cashews on the planet.  She also does truffles & lot of Vegan & gluen-free catering- blah, blah, blah-- BUT THE ROSEMARY CASHEWS ARE TO DIE FOR!!!!  TO DIE FOR!! 

Okay, let me reiterate.  I am not a 'nut girl.'  Insert joke here.  I am not a 'rosemary girl.'  Suddenly my Aunt Rosemary living in Texas is rather put out.  But I am TOOOOTALLY a rosemary cashew girl.  Who knew!!!???  They are just FANTASTIC.  And you should be jealous you don't have any because I'm jealous that I DID have some & now I don't.  Wah.  :(

And here are her beautiful truffles.  They're Madagascar vanilla infused truffles double dipped in Callebaut dark chocolate.  Delish.

 

When I make cake truffles (CAKE BALLS!!!!), I always think you HAVE to put them in a box.  But look at Ellen's gorgeous presentation?  Boxes are for uncreative incompetent spendthrifts! Just kidding.  I love me some boxes.  But it's much cheaper to package them this way & they still look beautiful.  Smart lady.  Are we learning yet?

 

And here is what yours truly did.  Yours truly, believe it or not, did WAY too much.  (Okay, you believe it.  I do, too!).  I did some Mexican Wedding Cookies in little Christmas boxes.  Did you know Mexican Wedding Cookies are also called Russian Tea Cakes?  I figured why stop there so I've been calling them Ugandan Suprise Nuggets... Certainly has a ring to it!

I baked some huge gooey chocolate cookies, french breakfast puffs, chocolate chips.... blah, blah, blah...

 

I also did a bunch of breads:  Orange Cranberry, Apple Praline, Banana and a Blueberry Coffeecake.  On the bottom of that basket (isn't it perfect for this kinda thing?- thanks Heats for letting me borrow it!) are Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies, Toffee and more Banana Bread.

In those boxes (see?  I'm all about the boxes) I did variety packs of four cupcakes:  pumpkin spice, grasshoppah mint, red velvet, peanut butter cup and strawberry. 

And finally, pretzel rods dipped in chocolate and toffee bits.  I also did chocolate peanut butter dipped as well.

 

TOFFEE.  DELISH.

 

 I am LOVIN' my brownies these days... I do fudge brownies which used to rock my world until I came up with a Grasshoppah Mint and Peanut Butter Marshmallow Brownies.  They are ooey, gooey chunky bits of goodness.  I am WILDLY happy with them!!!

 

 I sold a Grasshoppah one to this dude earlier in the day & while I was packing up my car at the end he jumped out of his car, came up to me with a wad of bills & was all, "I need those brownies!!"  Sadly I was out of the mint ones.  "I'll take the peanut butter ones then!"  Out of those, too.  Only got the plain fudge left (poor plain fudge-- my fickle palette has left you lonely).  "Whatever you have, I'll take 'em!"

SCORE!!!!!!!!!!!!  I LOVE SELLING CRACK-- I MEAN BROWNIES TO PEOPLE!! 

IT MAKES MY WORLD!!!

 

They really are ooey, gooey deliciousness.  That's why I took 1300 pictures of them.
Hewooo, brownies.  :)  :)  :)

LOTS of fantastic feedback about these babies.  That makes me happier than a clam in pasta.

And then here are some cake truffles (BALLS!!!).  I made some for my friend Dawn as gifts for her employees.  I put them in boxes.  I had about 1, 294, 799 left over so I packaged them together & sold them that way.  People really seem to like 'em!  Did red velvet, grasshoppah mint (I'm a dork-- it's because I WANT you to say it like you're in a ninja movie, don't ask), peanut butter cup and gingerbread.

Overall, the baked haul was a success.  The fair?  Not so much.  Sadly the theater group didn't really advertise the event too much so the vendors kinda stood around all day buying each other's stuff.  In comparison, I do believe Ellen & I were most successful, though!  And that's TOTALLY not in a snooty kind of way-- but more of a 'let's find some light at the end of this pipedream.".  :)

And also, I had some wonderful friends who came out of the woodwork after the event (I had SO MUCH leftover) to buy whatever was leftover for slashed prices.  I SOOO appreciate that.  I baked non-stop for about 2 & 1/2 days straight, got a total of 4 & 3/4 hours of sleep, have 126 new bags under my eyes and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Can you say, "CRAZY????"  I love to bake for people!!!  I can't help it!!!  :)  :)  :)

Merry Christmas, everyone!!! 

Peppermint smooches,
Miss MandiCrocker

Blogs To Watch: Family of Food and 3 Peas In Brooklyn! :)

Happy Holidays, everyone!

With the Christmas & Hannukah festivities upon us, it is MY pleasure to 'regift' to you, two food blogs that have been a gift to ME.  :)

First, let me direct you to Family of Food.

Candy has been a dear friend for seven or eight years now.  We met while doing improv at a comedy theater and have been cracking each other up for almost a decade!  She's one of those super cool moms that hasn't stopped living her life after having twin girls.  So many moms lose who they are after having kids but not Candy!  She takes them everywhere and has never slowed down!  It's in a completely unselfish way and I really admire that.  :)  She's just that hip and cool and fearless.  It's such a gift to the girls, too, because they're going to be so cultured, smart and hilarious like their mom!!

Candy's blog "Family of Food" is chock full of L.A. restaurant reviews, recipes and gorgeous pictures (she's also a photographer!) of her creations.  She is riDONKulously stellar at bento boxes.  Just look at these Spongebob creations!!    Seriously incredible!  Did I mention she has twin girls?  I don't have twin girls & I don't have the time to Bento!  Sheesh!

So please check 'er out when you get a chance!  :)

The second blog I'm reviewing very terribly is 3 Peas In Brooklyn.

Robyn (aka: The Great Robini!) was my college roommate sophmore year at Gordon College.  She is ridiculously talented & it's super annoying!   She does it all- she makes her own cards, she scrapbooks, she bakes and cooks and makes her own bread for daily use like she's Laura Ingalls Wilder, makes quilts and all that crap.  And she has these luscious red locks.  Robyn is one of the most creative, open-minded, fascinating, competitive and determined people I know.  She's also a fellow weirdo so we've always had that bond going for us.  She's full of life, makes the most mundane things fun and I'm pretty sure my laugh has some of hers in it even after all these years.  She lives in Brooklyn.  I miss her very much.  :(  We lost touch a bit over the years and through her blog, I'm so glad we've gotten to reconnect & I get to be a part of her life again!  YIPPEE!!  AY!  AY!  AY!

Look at this amazing Brooklyn quilt.  Or this art journal.  Ewwww... the talent is nauseating.  GROSS, SHE'S THE WORST!!! I DON'T LOVE HER ONE BIT, I TELL YOU!!!

So for real... take a look at these powerhouses.  Real moms and real women who are such an inspiration to me.  I hope you'll find that equally as amazing!!  How could you not?  Do you have no soul? ;)

Happy Holidays, everyone!
Mandi  :)

Thanksgiving! And, dare I say... A RECIPE!!! :)

Dear Readers,

I'm going to share something with you.  Something very intimate about Miss Mandi J. Crocker.  A peek into my inner workings, if you will... and that is this:


My worst fear is not 2012 or Swine Flu... it's not a California mudslide while driving over Laurel Canyon or hitting a patch of black ice while driving on my way to Chicago... It's not being eaten alive by red ants a la that crap Indiana Jones movie or a tear in my spacesuit like that awesome movie 'Space Camp.'  And finally, it's not even falling down an elevator shaft like in 'The Big One: The Great Los Angeles Earthquake" starring --God bless her--Joanna Kerns and  --he's doing God's work-- Ed Bagley Junior... Oh no... it is an even worse fear.  My fear is that...

...SOMEONE'S GOING TO HIT UP A MICKEY D'S 

AFTER ONE OF MY DINNER PARTIES.  

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

*shivers, shivers, "It's so cold here", shivers*

I KNOW!!!  TERRIFYING!!!  :(  What if there isn't enough!?  What if everything is too frou frou & they can't get their 'feed' on!?  What if everything tastes like poodely oodely & my guests are like "Well, that was sweet of her to host but next year we're getting a bucket at the KFC!"  That'd be TERRIBLE!!!  :(

And THAT, ladies and germs is my worst fear.

(And that I won't meet Elijah Wood before I move to Chicago).

Thankfully that didn't happen this year, I don't think.  The amount of food I make, the amount that gets eaten, the amount that is left over = TOO MUCH.  I CAN'T HELP IT!!! I'm my father's daughter. Word.

So here is just a taste of what we had to offer this year at Da Crocker's home kitch.  And for even MORE exciting news... One of these pictures is going to be a recipe I've included at the bottom--- oooooh, exciting!!!  Which one, which one!!!??  :)  :)  :)

Nope.  Not my seester, Dingy Dongy's, amaaaaaaaaaaaazing sweet potato casserole.  I'd can my own yams before she ever let me touch that one!  :)

Or is it the super delicious & moist red velvet bread pudding???

Hmmm... hmmm... interesting... interesting.

D'oh!  What about the pumpkin SPICE bread pudding.... Huh?  Huh?  Yup, that's a possibility.

DANG IT!  Why are you sideways, picture!?  Why!!??? Okay, Glen's pie (aka: Glennard) is not the recipe.  Get it off the Libby's can, Lazies!!!

Oooooh, how about Mom's Mac & Cheese!???  The one I used yellow cheddar for & forgot white cheddar altogether and therefore will be disappointed with myself til kingdom come???  Is it THAT one!?  Nah, it hurts too much.

Chicago Chi-Nanigans!

Last week I flew to Chee-cago to visit The Sweet Lovin' Man.  It was a jam PACKED week of fun & productivity.  Only a month & a half til I leave Los Angeles (*sniff, sniff*) and haul all 8,000 lbs (just kidding, honey!) of baking equipment to Chicago.

Because I'm Little Miss Productivity, I tried to make this trip as business-y as possible.  So I had two commercial kitchen meetings, we spent a day going to three different craft fairs to see how MandiCakes might do there and The SLM & I sat down to really discuss the best avenues to take from there, etc.

VERY EXCITING.  :)

But we did make room as best we could for some fun!  First things first:  'Million Dollar Quartet!'

Million Dollar Quartet is a musical based on the true story/recordings of the magical December 4th, 1956  evening when music's most famous rock and roll legends found themselves under the same roof at Sun Records:  Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins

It was AWESOME!  Tappin' my toes from the first chord!

I have no idea if the below link will work.  If it doesn't, go here!

Our family friend, Levi Kreis, plays Jerry Lee Lewis & he is phenomenal!!

(This picture of me, however, is NOT phenomenal).

Lance Guest, the actor/singer that played Johnny Cash was SO SPOT ON I felt like I was getting to hear the real Johnny sing years after his death.  SO COOL!!

Later in the week, the SLM took me to this place:

I've decided I am officially (if I wasn't before) a cupcake snob. 

You've really got to wow my socks off, folks.

And to be even MORE holier than thou-- I just don't like their 'signature flower' frosting design.  I don't know why but it just doesn't appeal to me.

Our favorite was the strawberry.  That was delicious!  It had decent chunks of berry in it and the cupcake was pretty moist.  The others were fairly lackluster.  The flavor choices weren't very exciting either.

 I didn't like how a Smores cupcake was chocolate cake, chocolate frosting and then a marshmallow & piece of graham cracker stuck on the top.  Like the little decoration is what made it a Smores. 

Ummm... Just because I pincurl my hair & wear red on my lips, doesn't mean I live in the 40's.  Pssh-shuh!!! 

That makes no sense.

I'm weird.

But who knows...  Maybe when I have my own place someday I, too, will have dry cupcakes. And I'll whine when MandiHines (see what I did there?) decides to write a blog about me!

On Saturday night we went to the Bulls-Sixers game. 

These are the most horrible photographs!

A)  We had AMAZING seats.  Truly. 

Section 101, Row 2.

Cry me a river!

B)  These pictures don't do it justice.

But here it goes!

The flying bull... looks more like a pig floating off into the middle distance to me but whatever.

"Some dude" (I imagine he's famous & he makes a ton of money) shooting a free throw:

The intense action shot of the game!

Oooh... or maybe this is it!

Nope.  We have a winner. Zzzzz....

I like Benny the Bull, Chicago's mascot.  He's kinda fun. 

Dude- er, I mean Bull can dance!

He's what the french would call a 'real crowd pleaser.'

This was one of those 'Race-As-A-Balloon-Bull' games ticket holders play to win a free donut or something.

And here we have #13.

  I imagine his name is Stefano Federique.

I'm pretty sure I'm wrong.

I'm pretty sure my boyfriend is calling me right now with the correct information.  Not just with his name of course, but with his height, shoe size, blood type and his favorite scent at Yankee Candle!

They look enthralled.

Truly.

+"How much do we make?"

-"A zillion dollars."

+"Oh. We should play hard-- zzzzzzzzz."

Stefano looks like he's text messaging!

Despite not knowing any of the players currently playing on the Chicago Bulls, it was a great time.  I love to go to basketball games! 

Wait... Michael Jordan doesn't play anymore, right? 

IT'S A JOKE, HONEY!!!  :)

And that's it.  We did a ton of other stuff, ate at some great restaurants but I can fill you in further when I'm LIVING in Chicago.  As for now, this yahoo needs to go to bed!!

Goodnight, y'all!  :)

MOVIE REVIEW: 'PRECIOUS'

I went to go see 'Precious' with my seester last night.  The performances were AMAZING.  Here is my movie review as written for a letter to Jesus:

Dear Jesus,

Thank you for my life.  Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life. Thank you for my life.

THANK YOU.

Love,
Mandi

Hollow Weenie Costumes

It's tradition that every year Marie and Chris have a Halloween party and an Oscar Party.  And every year, people come out of the woodwork with hilariously brilliant ideas.  The day after, everyone wants pictures.  So I'm posting them here, dagnabbit!  Easier.  :)

My favoritest Jacoley Poo dressed up as The Ghosts of Costumes Past.  Since we're a creative bunch, it was a lot of fun to relive some of our past costumes.  And she lugged that awkward picture frame around like a trooper!

The Ipod (my roommate Kell) is an Ipod!!!! 

LOVED IT!!!  :)  :)  :)

My friend Candy dressed up as Marie. 

Marie has a thing for penguins & Diet Dr Pepper.

Chris was Jigsaw. 

(By the way, this is Chris' workout bike). 

The illustrious Miss Karen as 'Sign of the Times.'

Karen can do better than this.  You'll see!

And then you'll want to fling yourself off a roof.

*sigh* Marie.

Marie as Susan Boyle.

Marie is the most genuinely fun-spirited person on the planet.

The only thing funnier than Susan Boyle is Susan Boyle playing Led Zepplin.

I was a terribly thrown together Julia Childs so I didn't take any pictures.  It's very sad cause I actually do a pretty decent impression of her if I do say so me-self! Instead I'm going to show you my horribly thrown together pumpkin cake.

"I made this pumpkin cake out of creme fraiche and a deboned duck. BON APPETITE!"

Oh my gosh, my friend Lisa.

She's a Twitter Page.

She updated her board all night.

HILARIOUS!!!!!!

So cute!!

SO FUNNY.

These people are just loveable & wonderful.

Panda Express Bears, Mama & TJ, won first place.

AWESOME!!!

Now because these people are psycho-- I mean incredible, I'm going to show you some previous costumes that have been my favorites.  Enjoy!

Millie as Michaelangelo! 

(We're theme party people).

I'm the black smoke from 'Lost.'

I made 'Ching, ching, ching' noises all night!

A bit of trivia:  Did you know that the sound the Smoke Monster makes from 'Lost' is actually the noise a cab makes when it's tallying up your mileage.

I KNOW!  I was walking in downtown Chicago & almost soiled myself when I heard the noise.  Thankfully, it was just a cab.  But for a couple-a-seconds-there... I was gettin' pretty worried.  I like having skin, thank you!

Patsy & Edina.

"Sweetie, darling, sweetie!"

Chris as Edward Scissorhands.

SINCERIOUSLY.

A rule of the Oscar Party is that you MUST wear a costume from that year's list of movies.

Marie is a stewardess from 'Snakes On a Plane.'  And Chris is Edward Norton from 'The Magician.'

This is quite possibly my favorite costume I've done- EVER!

For an Oscar Party. I'm Adriana Barraza from 'Babel.'

You barely remember the movie, don't you?

*sigh*

A golden moment in my life. So fleeting. So brief.

Freakin' Karen.  Is the Celion Dijonaise of the costume world.

She's INCREDIBLE.

This is Mona Lisa (duh!) from The DaVinci Code.

Lisa as a newscaster during the Los Angeles fires. 

She went around interviewing everyone.

HILAAAAARIOUS!

Marie as What's-Her-Face in 'Planet Terror.'

Again, Miss Karen with the Kill Bill action.

And Miss Karen as freakin' Willie Wonka.

She plans all year for these things, you know?

Brokeback Mountain

The lesbian couple from 'Rent.'  HA!

'Take me, baby... or leave me!"

Goodnight, and Good Luck

Ipod was a SWAT person because she likes costumes that make people bleed.

I'm Clementine from 'Eternal Sunshine.' 

Again, with my .34% of the party knows who the heck I am.

But I do it well.

It's all about excellence, people.

And creativity.

And I'm weird.

Cleve Jones & Harvey Milk

Me as Rita Skeeter from the Harry Potter books.  I had big rhinestone studded glasses & a feather pen.

Not in this picture.

Why not in this picture?

I wish I had them in this picture.

*sigh*

This is pre-Harry Potter movies so this is how I imagined her to be.

 

Chris is The Dude from 'Tropic Thunder' and Marie as Eva in Wall-E.

Awwww.  I LOVE my friends.  :)  :)  :)

Susina Bakery Pumpkin Carving Contest: The Results

Every year at Susina Bakery  Jenna, the owner, has an employee pumpkin carving contest.  It's a very serious business as big money is involved.  $300 goes to first place, $200 goes to second and $100 goes to third.  Not too shabby, eh?  It's an awesome thing for her to do.  Needless to say, there are typically some really great pumpkins and the competition is BRUTAL.  As opposed to popular belief, this is NOT about team morale.  This is NOT about Halloween celebration.  This has EVERYTHING to do with the fact that when $300 is on the line, desperation sets in and people find themselves raping, pillaging and maiming their pumpkins for hundreds of dollars worth of cold hard cash.  IT'S SURVIVAL.

A couple years ago my sister and I were ROBBED by a guy that used a CVS stencil.  It was a devastating blow.  I'm not sure I will ever have the emotional maturity to except The Great Pumpkin Scandal of '07. 

Keep in mind the way I work.  I believe in EXCELLENCE.  I believe in creativity, uniqueness, technical accuracy.  I believe that simple things such as a pumpkin carving contest is a grand measure at which to view the failure or success of your entire life as a whole. 

I like thinking outside the box- er, pumpkin.  I always have to be original & distinguished yet have the professionalism of well... a professional.  Does that make sense?   Let the whole world know, I WILL BOW TO A BETTER PUMPKIN.  I will NOT bow to a CVS stencil.  Amen.

Here is my pumpkin from two years ago. I dyed its' innards, broke its' spirit and sculpted them into the form of a turkey.  Who's done this before?  NO ONE.  Innovation is my middle name (along with 'Trustworthy'). You can't tell because it's so high up, but there are ghourds inside, dyed green pumpkin innard grass, etc.  An EXQUISITE piece of art. I'm surprised the Pope didn't call for a pumpkin revamp on the Sistine Chapel.

Here is a second picture after the strength of youth has succumbed to the moldy sadness that is old age.

My sister, Jodianne (aka:  Jo Dianne because that's what her mail always says) as Rosie Riveter entered her painted pumpkin as well. 

LA-HOOOZERS. 

I would show you the pumpkin that DID win except we were so dismayed by the whole ordeal I couldn't bring myself to waste the film. 

Oh, by the way.  I have a wildly ridiculous competitive streak but only in regard to life or death matters such as this one.

Cut to this year.  "I SHALL BE AVENGED!!!!"

Here is first place winner of the Susina Bakery contest:

And here is third place:

And now, ladies and germs... the moment you've all been waiting for:

My second place (*grumble, grumble, competitive streak, grumble* but *hallelujah, thank you, Jesus, thank you, money*) winning pumpkin...

I present to you...

'UP'

I stole this idea from the Academic Publishing Dept at UCLA and made it my own. 

It's been dedicated to The Sweet Lovin' Man as a major labor of love. We went on a date and saw that movie together. It broke our hearts.

SO BEAUTIFUL.

One of the old lady customers at the bakery said, "The roof is so detailed" like it was a bad thing.  HA!

As for my Inside the Pumpkin's Studio 'method' and 'process'...

I first did not clean up the Halloween Platter mess from five days ago (CRAZY week).

Then I began working on my pumpkin anyway.

I scooped out the insides, cut out the windows & doors and added the porch.

See the mess?  My roommates LOVE me.

Painted the porch & the pumpkin.

Got out Glinda Gluegun.  She was VERY mad at me. 

I haven't taken her out in a looong time & that is not how you treat a lady gluegun you care about!

Lesson learned.

And then after toasting the pumpkin seeds, I glued those suckers onto the roof like nobody's business.

Then I got tired & decided I wasn't taking pictures anymore.

It took 12 HOURS but the most fun way to earn $200 as ever I've known!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!

Except for YOU, United Airlines!

(I took this while standing in line at Customer Service- HA!)