Early December Doings

SPECIAL DELIVERY: We were recently contacted by Birthday Dreams and asked if we could make a cake for an extra special situation. Of course, we said, "Yes!"

The teen is a fan of Roblox (it's an online game), and that was the theme of the cake. I just *love* the character Annabelle Kisky made for the cake topper. It was based on a photo of the birthday boy, but made in the style of a Roblox character.  (The trees and text were game inspired, as well.) CJ helped cook up the chocolate brownie cake with crunchy peanut butter filling. Yum! We hope he likes it. (Name obscured to protect anonymity.)

MOVIE TIMES: One of CJ's classes this quarter is about the history of labor unions in the United States. It has been such an interesting class and has really served to remind us all about just how important unions are. 

We've watched some movies for his class, including "The Killing Floor," "Norma Rae," and a more recent film, "American Factory." 

Rather than me describing it, here's a trailer that can give you the gist of it. 

The documentary was an eye opener, for sure. And it was profoundly depressing, in my opinion.

Speaking of depressing things, for CJ's class about Korean history, we watched a documentary that was filmed in North Korea by a Russian director, Vitaly Mansky. "Under the Sun" documents life in Pyongyang, North Korea, primarily via following a young girl and her parents for one year as she prepares to join the Korean Children's Union on the 'Day Of The Shining Star' (Kim Jong-Il's birthday). 

Here's the trailer for it. ...

I can't say that it's a feel good film, but it does offer a rare glimpse of life in "The Hermit Kingdom." Watching the film I kept saying aloud, "Those poor people ... and it's all because they happened to be born in North Korea." It's just very sad.

GINGERBREAD: Tis the season of gingerbread baking, at least in our house. A friend of mine posted to Facebook about a week ago asking if anyone was going to a Disney park. She was hoping someone could pick up some Mickey Mouse gingerbread men for her. I told her I wasn't going anywhere near Disney, but that I knew a local baker (that's me) who could replicate one. 

So, I studied the photo she posted, and drew an outline of the cookie on paper. I traced around that with various cutting devices into the dough. The Mickeys were carefully baked and then iced. I was pretty happy with how they turned out. :)

Annabelle had her own gingerbread project - a bunch of cookies too take to work with her on Saturday.

She made gingerbread people with STAFF shirts on, and some with a WC logo on the front, which stands for White Center, which is the neighborhood the King County Parks office she works at is located.

Meanwhile, we continue to deck the halls around campus. Yesterday CJ carefully installed his nutcracker collection.