Our house has been taken over by flowers...

It's been a long winter for Vancouver, so I thought you might enjoy these beautiful flowers brought to you by the Craquelier house... For all the people of Vancouver, for whom spring hasn't arrived yet, enjoy these flowers from different parts of the world, put together by Beatriz...
May these flowers be your inspiration for those awesome sugar flowers you will be putting on your cakes...

Dance me to the end of love...

Dance me to the wedding now... laralara... This cake really makes me feel like dancing and singing...

Eat, pray and love...

How was your weekend?  Ours was quiet.  We didn't do much, mostly stayed home, made some goodies for the kids that are enjoying their spring holidays, relaxed... and somehow, I felt like praying...
My friend Melissa shared this prayer with us:
Prayer for Japan (translated from a prayer that circulated in Spanish for the people affected by the Chilean earthquake last year)


Lord, I want to say THANK YOU, because today I woke up and I knew where my loved ones were.
Because this morning my house is standing,
Because this morning I'm not crying for my children, my husband, my parents, my brother or sister who need to be rescued,
Because this morning I can drink a glass of water,
Because this morning I'm not planning a funeral,
and more than anything I thank the Lord I'm still alive and
I have a voice to pray for the people of Japan
Lord, I pray to You, the One who makes the impossible possible,
the One who transforms darkness into light,
I ask that you strengthen these mothers,
give them the peace that passeth all understanding.
Open the paths for help to arrive, You can provide doctors, nurses, food,
water and everything they need in a blink of an eye.
For those who lost their families, give them peace, hope and courage to carry on.
Protect Your children mightily.
I pray in Jesus name! AMEN.

Please pass this prayer on to others so that we may pray together for the people of Japan. We are truly blessed here!

Thank you, Melissa, for sharing your prayers with me!  Other people have been busy, also, doing things to show how much they care and to show support, too.  The people from the photography blog  Craquelier were busy making origami birds to send together with their best wishes to Japan.  This is the beautiful collage they came up with

To learn more about the people that participated in this creation, visit the blog Craquelier
My husband and I wanted to participate, and we made these origami birds thinking in particular of David, Mariko, and the kids...
We wanted to send you all our love... We are so happy to hear that you are all right, things are gradually getting better, and that you feel this crisis will be effectively overcome. 
For the people from Vancouver that has kids on spring holidays, the Vancouver Aquarium is donating $1, from each ticket sold this week, for the Japan relief effort.  So, there you are.  A nice place to take your kids while at the same time helping Japan.  See you at the Aquarium!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh! 
I know the Irish community will be celebrating today, eating all these green goodies and chocolate coins... As for the real coins... I also know they will be donating generously to the relief efforts for Japan...

These origami birds are part of a contribution to an origami project that started in Madrid by Makiko.  Her idea is to make origami birds... 1000 birds.  According to her, in Japan, people would make 1000 origami birds and then make a wish.  So, she asked people to make these birds (in her blog she teaches how to make them), take a picture of them and send them to her to help reach the goal of a 1000 birds.  This is the blog address to see the idea and video on how to make the birds las 1000 grullas.

There will be no post tomorrow because I am joining the Bloggers Day of Silence:

The best news today...

When I got home today, my dear friend Candy had sent me this picture, of a little baby girl who was rescued in Japan today, and was reunited with her family!  What a lovely picture! 
Also, all my admiration goes to that group of 50 workers at Fukushima who have volunteered to stay behind risking their own lives.  Please, pray for them, or if you don't pray, help by donating money to the Red Cross now, so they can deliver meaningful assistance...

I ♥ Japan!

My students were telling me this morning that the Red Cross is at London Drugs, Park Royal, collecting money for Japan.  So, if you were looking for a way to help, go to London Drugs and donate to the Red Cross!

I ♥ Japan!

Learning of all the devastation that is affecting Japan and its people right now reminds me of the earthquake that affected Chile last year.  My thoughts and prayers go to all those people who have been victims of this enormous tragedy, but also to those who are working helping the victims.   There is a lot of work to be done... But I am quite certain Japan can do it.  They will recover.  But they need help now.  They need our support. 
Everybody can help in their own way.  Maybe with donations to our Red Cross, or the Salvation Army... Maybe buying something made in Japan... or maybe with their prayers... Any little act of support counts.  Support Japan!

Why I love my job?

I have been doing Danielle's birthday cakes since she turned one.  I still remember her first birthday cake with orange and yellow butterflies.  I didn't have a digital camera then, so I don't have that picture in my website.
This year, she turned eight.  And she sent me this awesome design for me to follow when making her cake.  Don't you love it?  I thought it is pretty cool, so I started working following her instructions and came up with this:

That's why I love my job!!!

Lazy Daisies...

I love daisies...!  And I came up with this version of the Lazy Daisy Cake... Pretty, simple, fresh... I hope you like it, too!

What can you do with all that leftover cake?

Well, trifle of course!  I know many people are making pops with it... which seems to be a lot of fun.  But I still prefer my good old trifle...like the one you see in the picture!
It has a layer of vanilla cake, a layer of whipped cream, and fresh raspberries... repeat sequence until the glass is full!  You can use all sorts of ingredients and combinations, depending on the season...
So, this is the answer to the question many students ask me the first night of class.  What do you do with all the cake shavings left over after levelling your layers or when carving a cake?
Trifle, of course!