It's here! It's here! It's FLUFF FEST!!

Today is Fluff Fest in Union Square and I am bursting at the seams with excitement! If you have been anywhere near me for the last month or so I've probably already told you that I am the Official 2013 Fluff Festival Sign Painter!! (A title I gave myself) I've been working dilligantly for weeks now trying to get all 23 signs and 5 trophies done and I can't wait to see them in action at the festival!

Fluff Fest was started in 2005 by Mimi Graney who is the Head Lady in Charge (also I title I created) over at Union Square Main Streets. She is in charge of all things Union-Square from craft shows to farmer's markets and everything in between. This is the 8th year of the Fluff Fest and they are anticipated THOUSANDS of attendees!!

...Which means of course that THOUSANDS of people are going to see my signs!!! I can't wait. It starts at 3pm and goes to 7:00 there are games and performances and a cooking contest and of course PRIZES!!

Maybe I'll see you there. I'll be the one taking selfies with all of the signs. :)

Happy Fluff Fest!!!

You can see pictures of all of my little babies at my gallery page: mandeemade.shutterfly.com and you can learn more about Fluff Fest at the Union Square Main Streets website.

July is National Pickle Month!

Good Morning and happy first day of National Pickle Month! To kick off this month-long pickle party I went over to Grillo's Pickles, my local pickle store, painted their window, ate way too many pickles and talked about world pickle domination.

Travis Grillo, Chief Pickle Officer, started making and selling pickles in 2008 using his family's 100 year old recipe. He was slingin' them out of a pickle cart at the Park Street T stop 2 for $1 and now has made his way into Whole Foods all over New England, Fenway Park and at his very own pickle store.

The store is located in Inman Square, Somerville (on the Cambridge/Somerville line which I hear is referred to as "Camberville" but I'm not buying it) at 1075 Cambridge Street and they are definitely worth a trip.

Go over, check out the window, have some pickles (try the hot ones they're AMAZING!) and tell them Mandee sent you! Happy Pickle Month!!

Make Me: St. Patrick's Day Rainbow Cupcakes

It is said that every Leprechaun has a pot of gold, hidden deep in the Irish countryside. The most popular hiding place for this pot of gold is, of course, at the end of a rainbow.

These delicious little rainbows do not have pots of gold at the end of them but they do have icing on top of them and they are, thankfully, far less ellusive than real rainbows. They'd be a perfect addition to any St. Patrick's day celebration.

Here's how to make them.

First, collect your supplies, you'll need:

-yellow cake batter
-food coloring
-paper baking cups
-icing

Begin by preparing your cake batter according to your recipe.

Next, seperate the cake batter evenly into 6 containers.

Then dye each cup of batter a different color of the rainbow. I like to use Wilton gel food coloring, it makes beautiful, rich colors. I would highly recommend using them instead of the liquid food coloring from the grocery store.

Now begin layering batter into your prepared muffin tin purple first.

Then do the same with the blue...

And the green...

Slap on some yellow...

Add a dollop of orange...

And finally top it off with a spoonful of red.

Bake cupcakes according to recipe.

Remove from oven and let cool.

Once cooled, the outside of the cupcake will look like this. Meh, nothin' special.

But crack 'er open and you have a vibrant and delicious rainbow surprise!

My 4 year old nephew actually told me that his cupcake was "too beautiful to eat."

And then I died of acute cute overload.

You can also play around with the layering to make other cool creations-

Happy baking!

dry erase board by yours truly

Nacional Dia de los Tortilla Chips

Today, National Tortilla Chip Day, is one of the most revered of the fried food holidays trailing only to National Fried Chicken Day & National Fried Clams Day- both heavy hitters in the fried food scene.

So go out and go crazy! Maybe get yourself some of those American Girl Doll Snack Chips! Go nuts!

National Sweater Day is so yesterday.

Man-o-man do Canadians have their shit together. They have a day dedicated to wearing sweaters to try to encourage people to turn their heat down a little. Brilliant!! And their video to promote it is hilarious to boot.

National Sweater Day is February 9th...also known as yesterday. So, I missed it by a day but still thought I'd share because it's a wonderful idea for a wonderful cause and it's reminded me that maybe I should turn down the thermastat a little too. Thanks Canada!

Shape Up With Pickles WEEK!!!

Jumpin' Jesus on a pogo stick! It's 'Shape Up With Pickles Week!' An entire week devoted to pickles!!!...aaaaaaand shaping up with them, whatever that means.

Here're some pickley treasures from the Etsy-Dot-Com Super Store:

And a print of Miss Pickles by this dude JimBob.....awwwww, hewwo Miss Pickles.
Miss Pickles print - 'The Original'

I'll be back when I have something relevant and pickle related to talk about. Please do the same.

January 31st: National Popcorn Day

It's National Popcorn Day today! Deeeeelicious!

Happy National Squirrel Appreciation Day!!

Put a Squirrel on It.

National Mousse Day

November is going out with a bang folks because today, the last day of November 2011, is

NATIONAL MOUSSE DAY!!!

See what I did there? Chocolate moose. Chocolate Mousse. Get it? My humor is very sophisticated.

National Vichyssoise Day!

Today is National Vichyssoise Day! Vichyssoise (pronounced Vi-Shee-swaz) is a cold potato and leek soup thought to be of American origin. Delicious and patriotic, a perfect combination. Thanks for stopping by!

the devil you say!

National Deviled Egg Day is here again and I'll tell you what, it just sneaks up on me every year. I mean, you hardly get past National Brandied Fruit Day and BAM- National Deviled Egg Day is here.  It's so hard to keep up!

Because of my lack of preparedness for this holiday I turned, as I often do, to Etsy and I was eggs-cited to find eight pages of deviled egg related items in my search.  Eggs-cellent!
Here's a yolk for ya:
Q: What did the wicked chicken lay?
A: Deviled Eggs!

National Candy Corn Day of the Day!

I made this candy corn monster on my LiteBrite (leftover from my weddin') to celebrate today's holiday, which as I'm sure you're all aware, is National Candy Corn Day.

Personally I don't really like candy corn anymore but childhood me used to house them by the bag. I used to eat them white-to-yellow, eating the white and orange first and then saving 2 yellows to stick together and make one big yellow piece. Why I did that I'm not sure but it's a clear childhood memory that comes back to me every Halloween.

For more National Candy Day revelry here's a clip from Unwrapped about how Candy Corn is made:

And also, as long as we're here, a how-to video on making adorable candy corn nails!

Holler!

Happy National Pumpkin Day!

Yesterday, motivated by my work's annual Pumpkin Carving contest and by the fact that today is National Pumpkin Day (no lie!) I turned this...

...into this!

I've never attempted to sculpt a pumpkin, I generally just carve a 2-D face and call it a day but I was feeling particuarly ambitious, motivated by a mystery prize from work, and wanted to try my hand at sculpting my gourd this year.

I went to my local art store at lunch and blindly bought these tools to use. What I found was that it's important for your tools to have a sharp edge to be able to slice through the pumpkin, the wire end sculpting tools and the wood carving knives were my best purchase while the wireloop sgrafitto, though it had the coolest name, was pretty useless in terms of pumkinery.

Next I drew a big scary mouth on the face of my "pumpkin" (which you may have noticed is actually an acron squash) and started carving. I used a carving knife to go along the entire outline of my drawing,

and then started gutting it out with the wire-end sculpting tools until each tooth was free. Then I took the skin off each tooth and shaped them so they'd be wicked scary, carved some squinty eyes and Viola!

My first 3-D punkin!

It was easier than I thought it would be, I think I'm hooked.

Stay tuned for the Pumpkin Carving Contest (this Friday the 28th) entry and results!

Happy National Pumpkin Day of America!!!

National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day!

This is truly a cause for celebration, National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day? Yes please!

To celebrate, Liz and I made this deliciously simple pumpkin cheesecake last night.

I let it sit over night in the fridge to set up

...and then, because you should always test your work, I had a piece for breakfast (it's like a pastry, what?) and I'm happy to report it was delicious!!

Here is the recipe we used. Happy baking and happy National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day!

**Please celebrate responsibly.**

National Seafood Bisque Day

October 19th is National Seafood Bisque Day and today is October 19th!!

Happy National Seafood Bisque Day!!

Here is a recipe for Seafood Bisque:

Shrimp Bisque

Show: Barefoot ContessaEpisode: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Recipe categories: Flour, Shellfish, Shrimp, Vegetables, Tomato,
more

Recipe
Ratings & Reviews(134)

Photo: Shrimp Bisque Recipe

Rated 5 stars out of 5

Total Time:: --

Yield:: 4 to 6 servings

Level:: --

Tweet

Ingredients

1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined, shells reserved
4 cups seafood stock
3 tablespoons good olive oil
2 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts (3 leeks)
1 tablespoon chopped garlic (3 cloves)
Pinch cayenne pepper
1/4 cup Cognac or brandy
1/4 cup dry sherry
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups half-and-half
1/3 cup tomato paste
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Place the shrimp shells and seafood stock in a saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain and reserve the stock. Add enough water to make 3 3/4 cups.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add the leeks and cook them for 10 minutes over medium-low heat, or until the leeks are tender but not browned. Add the garlic and cook 1 more minute. Add the cayenne pepper and shrimp and cook over medium to low heat for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the Cognac and cook for 1 minute, then the sherry and cook for 3 minutes longer. Transfer the shrimp and leeks to a food processor fitted with a steel blade and process until coarsely pureed.

In the same pot, melt the butter. Add the flour and cook over medium-low heat for 1 minute, stirring with a wooden spoon. Add the half-and-half and cook, stirring with a whisk, until thickened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the pureed shrimp, the stock, tomato paste, salt, and pepper and heat gently until hot but not boiling. Season, to taste, and serve hot.

* Shellfish

Warning: Consumption of raw or undercooked shellfish may substantially increase the risk of foodborne illness.

Happy National Chocolate Cupcake Day!

Well this is embarrassing...

how did I let it get so late in the day without wishing you a happy national chocolate cupcake day?

I'm sorry if I let you down.