Gift Guide

I love giving gifts. I'm the sort of person who gets so excited about a gift she got for someone, she has a hard time waiting until whatever occasion she got it for to give it to them. A big part of this is that I just want everyone to be happy all the time. Also, I want people to like me. Like, to a problematic degree. Whenever people casually mention they like something that I have, my first impulse is to give it to them. Once, at a party, a friend told me she liked my dress and I actually stood there for a moment, totally dumbfounded, trying to figure out a way to give her the dress without, you know, stripping off my dress at my pastor's wife's holiday party. (Also, hey, K*, if you ever read this: every time I look at that dress I think about how I should have given it to you, so, you know, if you're ever back in town hit me up and its yours.)

My love of gift giving is also pretty tied to the creative joy that I get out of putting things together. I love having an idea and seeing it through. I've learned recently, though, that not everyone enjoys gift giving. Some people find it terribly stressful. So! I thought maybe I could help a few people out by putting together a list of things to consider when gift giving! These aren't going to be fool proof suggestions, of course, there are some people whose expectations or priorities just differ so drastically from mine that I probably wouldn't be interested in getting them a gift anyway and, therefore, I won't be able to advise you on what to get them. Also some people are just crazy particular and the only advice I have for what to get them is just "ask them what they want and then get them literally exactly what they said." 

OKAY! Here it is! Kat's Gift Guide 2019, Hope It Helps:

The Element of Surprise

I know this might sound a little crazy but...you can get people gifts literally whenever you want. I think spontaneous gifts are some of the best because, ultimately, a present should let a person know that they are loved and thought of, and when a person receives a gift at random, that usually says to them "someone was thinking of me when they didn't have to be." 

What's great news about this is: a really good gift doesn't have to be expensive or fancy or even tangible. Sometimes the best presents aren't! For instance, recently a friend tweeted about my comic. He probably didn't think, "oh this will be a good gift for Katrina" but you guys? It was THE BEST. I spend a ton of time writing and illustrating my comic and whenever someone shows support of it, I get incredibly excited. I have another friend who just sometimes sends me cute texts, or sends me a message to check in with me and let me know that she loves me. She is probably the best at reaching out to check in with my mental health. All that stuff matters SO MUCH TO ME. 

So, what I'm getting at is this: a really good gift is just something that lets someone know that you care about them and were thinking about them. It's nice to do this for people whenever, not just at birthdays or gift-giving holidays. That can seem overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be. It doesn't have to be anything expensive. It can just be simple things. If ever you are at a store and see something and think "_________ needs one of these!" you can get it for them! Or you can just take a picture of it, text it to them, and say "omg this is so you." That kind of stuff makes people happy because you thought about them when you didn't have to. 

Giving a Thoughtful Gift?

Start with what you know! Ask yourself:

• What does this person like? Try making a little list of 5-10 things that you know your gift recipient likes. It can be simple: what is their favorite...Color? Animal? Food? Movie? Celebrity? Season? TV show? A great way to start getting ideas is just type one of these things into Amazon or Etsy or Pinterest or wherever and see what kinds of weird or cool things related to that thing are out there. For instance, I love the TV show Schitts Creek and a quick little browse through Amazon led me to this delightful mug:
  
  Yes, just buying this mug would be an option. But it could also just be an idea to get a gift giver started. You could make your own mug! You could use the same slogan on something else! You could browse through 800 different Schitts Creek related things and then just end up painting a canvas black and using a white sharpie to write ew david across it. 
• What does this person do? How does your gift recipient spend the bulk of their time and can that translate to a gift idea somehow? Time is a limited resource for all of us so knowing how people choose to spend theirs gives you a great idea of what matters to them. If people spend a lot of their free time working on or towards something, anything you can do that shows support to that thing is wonderful. So, my dad is an artist who puts on art camps for kids and does fantastic acrylic pet paintings so you can't go wrong by getting him more art supplies. My brother has an awesome folk band so I ordered stickers to promote the band for him for his last birthday. One of my best friends loves to do musical theater so one time I just sent her money to cover two of her voice lessons. 
• How does this person express and experience love? We'll get more into this later, but, since the best gift is a gift that lets a person know that you love them, sometimes, the best gift has to be pretty non-traditional in order to really express that love to that person. This is also just a really great thing to know about people. A lot of people know it about themselves, so you can just ask, "What's your love language" and they can tell you. Otherwise, you can try to figure it out by considering what things they do to let you know that you are important to them. I have a friend who has all of her coworkers' "languages of appreciation" written down so she can show her appreciation to them in the ways that will matter to them most and I think that is just a really fantastic idea. If you don't know anything about love languages, you can find out your love language and what more about them in general here!
• Is there anything this person talks about a lot? Usually, thinking about what a person talks a lot about can be really helpful when trying to think of gifts for them. If a person mentions needing/wanting to get a specific thing multiple times, it's usually a safe bet that it's something they'd like. Also, if a person talks at length about something, it's a good way to identify what might be a current obsession or interest. This isn't fool proof, though! Sometimes, a person will mention wanting a specific thing when they are in the "trying to decide whether or not to buy it" stage and then go out and get it for themselves. This happened once when I was in college. I talked to my mom for about 20 minutes about these cute pajamas I saw at Target. The conversation told her: this is the perfect Christmas present for Katrina. The conversation told me: oh yeah I really want these so I might as well get them before they go on clearance and not risk never being able to find them in my size. So that is a potential risk. 
• Is there anything this person can't get enough of? I think, probably, everyone has a thing that they use or like enough that it is always a safe bet as a gift. For instance, you could never go wrong getting me black tights, black leggings, pillows, or Epsom salt. I wear black tights almost every day and they get runs in them like crazy. I love wearing leggings, but, thanks to friction, my thick ol' thighs usually work holes into the seams pretty quickly. I have a ton of pillows already but lbh I would prefer sleeping in a nest of pillows than just on a regular old bed. Annnnnd I love bubble baths and foot soaks so I use Epsom salt pretty regularly. While none of those things are particularly exciting gifts, I would really appreciate any of them. There is another danger with this, though! If everyone thinks "oh this is a thing this person goes through a lot of" they can wind up with too many. So, if I get 20 pairs of tights at Christmas, I'm really not going to need another pair of tights for a few years. If I get another 20 pairs of tights the following Christmas I will be in the world of "oh my gosh I am going to scream if I get another pair of tights does anyone know anything about me other than the fact that I wear black tights?????"
• What are this person's goals? I am almost always down with helping a person achieve their goals, but definitely tread carefully on this one. If a person has a goal to lose weight, for instance, a diet book might be really thoughtful...but it also could just be really insulting. I would recommend considering more, like, what obstacles a person has mentioned to achieving their goals. So, if a person is trying to lose weight and they've mentioned that they are wanting to cut back on sugars but hate the idea of giving up cookies...maybe get them a low-sugar baked goods cookbook. Then it is less "I think you need to lose weight" and more "This might help you not have to give up cookies." Consider outside of the box goals as well. For instance, I had a coworker who was trying to complete a reading list, and she mentioned a couple of categories she was stuck on, so I found books that fit those requirements and were within her preferred genres. 

Don't Break The Bank

Okay, so, unfortunately this is maybe not universal advice. One time I saw poll results in a Seventeen magazine that suggested the majority of people would be appalled by someone using a coupon on their date and I was like...wait, why? Don't we WANT to date someone fiscally responsible? I don't get this nonsense at ALL! So, if you are gift-giving for someone who reads the monetary value of an item as an indication of how much you value them/your relationship, this is probably not the best advice. Still, I'm here for people spending their money wisely. The way I see it, we can go out to dinner TWICE if I'm using a Groupon, whereas we'd only be able to go ONCE if I'm paying full price, and if you're spending less on a gift for me so you can...hang out with me later? Be less fiscally stressed? Show MORE people that you love them? I love that! Do that! That's great!

• Start at the Dollar Store! This is my best advice for...putting together care packages, getting random/weird craft supplies, or planning a party. We'll talk about care packages with more specifics later, but, in general if you're going to be filling something with a lot of little things, I think it's great to start at the Dollar Store. So, if you're doing a stocking, or an Easter basket, or a care package, or whatever: you can get packages of candies and trinkets and such at the Dollar Store. Also: if you're going to be making something that involves destroying something, usually it's best to get it cheap. If you're going to glue a bunch of junk to a frame, don't pay $6.00 for the frame, get it for $1.00. If you're going to paint a doll to look like a zombie, don't by a $7.00 doll at Target. Get the cheap one from Dollar Tree. Or, go to a thrift store! Seriously, you don't need to pay full price for a thing if you're just going to be turning it into another thing.
• Take Advantage of Post-Holiday Sales! Okay, so, doing this does involve hanging on to something to give as a gift for a long time. So, if you have limited space or problems with clutter or whatever, don't take this tip. But, if you like the idea of getting holiday themed pajamas for a person or ornaments or whatever, go ahead and get them after the holidays and once they've already gone on sale. Then, just wait until the next year to give them out. There is a bit of a gamble that goes into this, though. If you're buying pajamas for a kid, even if you try to predict their growth, you risk not having them fit when the time comes. Or, if you think "this kid is super into Paw Patrol" and you get Paw Patrol Christmas Pajamas now...you risk them being TOTALLY OVER Paw Patrol the following year. So, that's always something to consider. 

If You're Going To Be Making Stuff...

I love homemade gifts because they are unique and they require both thought and effort. Some of my favorite gifts are things that people made for me. In recent years my brother has made me: a couple of zines, a cool RPG, and an advent calendar puzzle. My mother has made me a ton of skirts that I absolutely love and a t-shirt quilt. And my dad has painted me a really lovely portrait of my dog, Jubilee, that I am delighted every time I see. He also did a pastel drawing of Scott Hutchison for me a few years ago that I really love. Honestly? I don't think you can go wrong with homemade gifts. But there are two big things you want to consider just for the sake of your own sanity!

• In general, stick to skills you already have. If I had to guess, I would say that most of us have seen something on Pinterest, thought, "I can do that!" and then, well, failed when we tried it. Trying something for the first time as a gift can be really stressful, and usually doesn't give you the end result you were hoping for. That isn't always bad, though! Sometimes the attempt can be the gift in and of itself. One time, I learned how to knit as my grandmother's Christmas present. I wound up giving her a terrible mess of what was supposed to be a scarf, and then, after Christmas, I gave her a significantly improved knitted scarf. If the purpose of the gift had been to give her a scarf, I would have been really disappointed in the gift that I gave her Christmas morning. But since the gift was really that I learned to knit, it was fine.
• Get started early! Okay, so, full disclosure: I wind up procrastinating on gift giving a lot and then I wind up staying up too late the night before I'm supposed to be giving the gift finishing putting it together. Some people are so good at this, though! I have a friend who knits all year round, and I remember one time she was knitting gloves in the summer. When I asked what they were for, she told me she was knitting them for one of her nephews for Christmas. She had so many people she wanted to be able to give Christmas presents to that she would start knitting things for them right after Christmas and work year round. That's a lot of forethought! 

Tips For Care Packages

I love to send a Care Package to friends when they are having a rough time, or when I just am not able to see them very often. I'm also fond of sometimes doing a box of things as Christmas or Birthday presents rather than doing a larger present. Have you ever tried one of those subscription boxes and been filled with joy when you received it, even though half of the stuff wasn't anything you had any interest of using? It's the same sort of deal, really. Okay! So, if you're thinking of doing a box of things (or if you're putting together a Christmas Stocking or Easter Basket) consider...

• Theme it! I love themes, honestly. I love themed parties. I love themed movie marathons. I love putting together themed lists of books. And I love a good themed present. Sometimes, I will get a person two presents so that the present becomes a theme. (I was just telling a friend this the other day: I think great kids gifts are one part practical and one part fun, so, like...a book about dogs paired with a toy dog, or a dinosaur sweater paired with Land Before Time or whatever.) So, anyway, I love taking something a person loves, making it a theme, and then putting together a care package around it. One year for Christmas, I got one of my best friends a scout themed gift that had, like, volume one of the Lumberjanes and protein bars and a friendship bracelet and...okay it was years ago so I don't really remember. Another year, I sent one of my best friends a RomCom themed care package complete with a bouquet of sharpened pencils, razzles, and To All The Boys I've Loved Before. 
• Really, seriously don't break the bank this time! Okay, seriously this time, start at the Dollar Store. If you're going to be putting a ton of stuff in a box, start with cheap stuff. You can get snacks, trinkets, socks, picture frames, puzzle books, cards, crayons, craft supplies, and more at the dollar store. Find what you can there first, and then check out Target or wherever.
• 1/3 Thoughtful. 1/3 Silly/Fun. 1/3 Snacks. This advice comes from The Lizzie Bennett Diaries actually but I think it's pretty solid. Thoughtful includes things like...cards, framed photos, encouraging quotes, anything handmade, etc. Silly/Fun includes things like goofy socks, patterned sunglasses, references to inside jokes, little games, and etc. Snacks include, well, anything you can eat. 

Mix It Up

Okay! So back when we were considering what we know about the recipient of our gifts, we were asking ourselves "How does this person express and experience love?" Because the answer to this question is different for everyone, sometimes "gift giving" isn't the best way to let someone know that you care about them. The five love languages are: Physical Touch, Quality Time, Acts of Service, Gift Giving, and Words of Affirmation. If the ultimate goal of giving a gift is to let a person know that you care about them, it's important to consider which of these things really matter to them. So, here's some advice for each specific love language:

• Physical Touch: whatever you give this person will probably mean more to them if you accompany it with a hug. I am definitely not a physical touch person (and I kind of actually don't love it when people touch me...) so I'm not the best at giving advice for this one. But! Whenever someone I love is really about physical touch, and I feel like they need a little extra love, I try to be a little more conscious about it. So, if I hug them/hold their hand/whatever, I try to be really mindful of it and put a little extra love into it.
• Quality Time: the best thing for quality time people is just the promise that you will show up, honestly. So, consider making them coupons for doing some of their favorite things with them. One year, I gave my mother coupons to, like, go out for tea, go out for lunch, go to the movies, and etc. because my mom really enjoys hanging out with people. You can also buy groupons or tickets to events for people so it's like... "Happy Father's Day, I got tickets for the whole family to go to this art museum!" or whatever. (Side note: Dad, the whole fam has to go to the Jazz Museum soon or these tickets will EXPIRE O.o) For my last birthday, one of my best friends just came to visit me and it was the best thing. 
• Acts of Service: you can make coupons for these people, too, promising to do things, like, yard work, or unloading the dishwasher, or whatever. Or you can consider a project that they've been mentioning, get them something that they can use with that project, and then offer to help them with it as part of the gift. For instance, a good gift for my mom is usually yard work/gardening type stuff alongside the offer to help her with yard work/gardening.
• Gift Giving: I considered skipping this one since this whole thing has been about gift giving. But then I thought of some actual good advice for the gift givers in your life. Consider what things they get you as gifts and let that act as advice for what to get them. Are the gifts they get you always really thoughtful and related to something specific you mentioned? Are the gifts they get you always homemade? Do they like to give flashy gifts? Do they like to give practical gifts? 
• Words of Affirmation: Whatever you get for this person, accompany it with a heartfelt card letting them know what they mean to you. Remember: the best kinds of cards are specific and personal.

One Final Thought...

Please don't get stressed! I know that this whole "gift guide" was, like, a billion things and that is a lot to consider. And I also realize that sometimes you can't just not get stressed. (Trust me: I've got so much anxiety and I am constantly stressed about innocuous things.) But my point is: gift giving should be fun. If it is something that really really has you stressed, there is no shame in asking someone else for ideas, or asking the recipient of the gift what they want. The purpose of giving someone a gift isn't to come up with the perfect thing that will delight them all on your own, the purpose is just to try to show them that you love them. 

TRC: Veggie Burgers + Cabeswater Cupcakes

Hey look I'm back and stuff. 

Let's kind of forget that I said I'd post something every Wednesday and, instead, just shoot for posting something every other week. 

All right, let's cook our way through more YA. 

If you've talked to me at all in the past year, you probably know that I am semi-obsessed with The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater. If you've never read it, you totally should, and here's what it's about:

• Prep school boys
• Psychic women
• A magical, sentient forest
• A girl whose true love will die if ever she kisses him
• Cars, dreams, and being known

So, to be honest, the characters of TRC (being teenagers) are not particularly good eaters. Blue mostly just eats ice cream. Noah doesn't eat anything. The women of 300 Fox Way make terrible tea. Gansey uses a chocolate bar to bribe Adam into hanging out with him. They go out for pizza and gelato. 

But, in the middle of The Raven King, they throw a going away party for Ronan's younger brother in The Barns (which is Ronan's weird farm house mansion) where they make hamburgers and eat store-bought cupcakes. So! For today's blog post, we're going to make veggie burgers and vegan cupcakes. 

A few quick cookbook recommendations before we get started:

Thug Kitchen: Party Grub is full of vegan party foods. The language used in it, though, is, um, colorful? Vulgar, okay. It's vulgar. So, keep that in mind. But! If you, like me, have vegan friends that you want to be able to feed at parties and things, this is a great book to reference. 

Stylish Cakes by Charlotte Neuville is filled with cakes decorated beautifully, all inspired by fashion and decor. Lomelino's Cakes by Linda Lomelino is another cake cookbook full of beautiful cakes. This one is more recipes whereas Stylish Cakes is more cake decoration. Both, though, are absolutely beautiful.

Okay! So, let's start with the veggie burgers. This is a recipe I devised because, as a vegeterian, the big bummer that I'm always confronted with is this: veggie burgers always seem to either be a thing or just disappointing. Like, the frozen veggie patties that you heat up tend to be boring or bland. Outside of that, the veggie burgers you ome across are always, like, spicy black bean or mushroom or whatever. I just wanted a standard but tasty veggie burger. Something simple. So...

Okay, so, this whole recipe is, like, "what feels right" but here's, approximately, what I use:

• 1/2 Bag of Veggie Crumbles
• 2-3 tbsps of Plain Bread Crumbs
• 1 Egg
• 1ish tbsps Shredded Cheese
• 2 tsps Seasoning (lately, I've been using a DELICIOUS garlic/onion blend, but in the past, I've used bbq blends or even just smoked sea salt)
• hamburger buns

Start by "browning" the veggie crumbles.

Once your veggie crumbles are cooked, mix them together with the rest of the ingredients. Then, fashion them into patties. This should be enough for two patties.

Then, you know, cook 'em up. If you're making them on the stovetop, like I always do, you don't need any aluminum foil. So, you know, if you want to send the guy you like to wander around your house hunting for some aluminum foil so that, later, you're able to go looking for him so that, then, you guys can makeout in your childhood bedroom or whatever, you'll have to do some outdoor grilling or something. 

Then, you're done, so assemble it however you'd like.

Okay, so, onto the cupcakes!

A big part of The Raven Cycle is a sentient forest where the trees speak Latin. It's called Cabeswater. So, I'm calling these cupcakes (a variation of Black Forest Cupcakes) Cabeswater Cupcakes. 

There are three components to these cupcakes: the base, the filling, and the decorating. The first thing I did was make the filling, so that it would have plenty of time to marinate. 

Here's what you'll need:

• 1/4 - 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1 tsp Madagascar Vanilla Bean Powder (or, you know, regular vanilla extract will work too)
• 2 1/2 cups of whole pitted cherries

Grind up your cherries. It's good, gruesome fun. 

Mix in your sugar and vanilla and then let it just hang out for a bit. So, set it to the side, and move on to the cupcake base. 

Here's what you'll need:

•  1/3 cups of all purpose fou
• 2/3s cups of Dutch Cocoa Powder (and to make it extra good, add in a tablespoon of Black Onyx Cocoa Powder)
• 1 1/2 tsps of baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/3 cups of sugar
• 2/3s cups firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 can of pumpkin
• 2 tsps vanilla
• 1/3 cup water

This is the same cupcake base that I used in my Kindred Spirits blogpost. So, I'm not going to do a step by step of the whole thing. Basically, just mix everything up and then bake it at 325*F for approximately 20-23 minutes.

When your cupcakes come out, cut little divets into the cake, and spoon in some of your cherry filling. 

Now, we move on to the frosting.

Here's what you need:

• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
• 2 1/2 - 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• walnuts
• dark chocolate bar 

The frosting is just coconut oil, shortening, powdered sugar, vanilla and cocoa powder.

I made a light brown frosting and a dark brown frosting. I had this beautiful idea that I'd use light brown over the surface of the cupcake and then paint the dark brown in lines down the middle to make it look like bark. But, the texture was off, so I didn't even try that.

What I wound up doing was using light brown across the surface of the cupcake. Then, I used crushed walnuts around the edges and I covered the middle with shredded dark chocolate.

They were delicious. 

And, here's a pro-tip: I kept the left overs in the fridge, and they were even better the next day. 

Regarding Paddington

(Sorry for the delay in posting this, I got very wrapped up in some books that I was reading and it kind of cut into my writing time... You understand, right?)

"What do you think of the movie Ella Enchanted?" my friend, Nikki, asked me. We'd only been friends for a few weeks. This was a test that I needed to pass in order to cement our friendship.

I didn't pass, but it's okay, we're still friends.

"Okay," I said, sighing a long, low sigh. "The thing is: I love the movie Ella Enchanted. I love Anne Hathaway and Hugh Dancy and goofy musical numbers and untalented fairies and the modern-medieval clash. But, I watched the movie before I ever read the book! And I loved it so much. I watched it 1000 times. And then, by the time I read the book, I honestly didn't enjoy the book that much because I was like: 'wait, what the heck, where's dancing Hugh Dancy?' You know?"

"Nooooo," Nikki objected, "I used to like the movie too but then I read the book and I love it so much and the movie is just not the book."

"No, I know! It's like: have you ever seen Howl's Moving Castle?"

"Oh my gosh yes I love that movie!"

"Yeah, but have you ever read the book? Because..."


I don't always think "the book is better." I mean, don't get me wrong, I love books, but, sometimes...

• I loved the show Pretty Little Liars but when I read the books all I could think was, "How did this garbage ever become a show in the first place?"
• I really enjoyed the movie This is Where I Leave You but the book was written in first person and I did not particularly enjoy hanging out in the main character's thoughts.
• I enjoyed Me and Earl and the Dying Girl pretty equally as both a book and a movie.
• I was disappointed that Howl's Moving Castle deviated from the book (in 1000 large and tireless ways) but I enjoyed it pretty well (I just really wish that they didn't call it Howl's Moving Castle. Call it something else.)
• I love the movie Pride and Prejudice just as well as I love the book.

There are a lot of instances where I think, "if you judge the book and movie as separate things, you could be able to enjoy them both." 

I think, though, that it's a little bit more challenging when the books that you're converting into movies are children's books. For one thing, some children's books are simply too short to make into a full length movie. That's why they had to add a bunch of junk into Where the Wild Things Are, The Cat in the Hat, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Polar Express. (When I told my mom the premise of this blogpost, she kept harping on Polar Express. I think it has her royally ticked off. I'm guessing she had to watch it one too many times as an elementary school teacher. Personally? I really enjoy Polar Express. Tom Hanks could make a full length movie of my most embarrassing moment from middle school and I'd probably still like it.)

Additionally, people are so emotionally attached to the stories that they loved in childhood. It makes it difficult for continuations or remakes to meet their expectations. It makes it difficult for continuations or remakes to do anything other than disappoint them, honestly. (Like, I'm sorry, but, did you hear that they're going to make a Nancy Drew TV show where Nancy Drew is an adult? Like a fifteen years later sort of thing? Because I'm not even giving that nonsense a chance, honestly. How dare they.)

I got started thinking about the whole turning children's books into movies issue recently because Paddington 2 just came out.

I didn't grow up reading Paddington. My knowledge of him was perfunctory. I'm not sure how you would feel about the Paddington films if you grew up loving Paddington bear. But, I started by reading A Bear Called Paddington and watching the first film.

Michael Bond's A Bear Called Paddington is fantastic. It's pleasant and charming and full of lovely watercolor illustrations. It's written episodically rather than in a long narration. Like, if you were trying to describe the plot, you would just say, "This polite, but clumsy, bear moves in with a family and strange things happen." It's just a bunch of short stories about a lovely little bear. Paddington makes a mess of himself eating a sticky bun. Paddington floods the bathroom. Paddington gets lost. Paddington makes a mess of a storefront window. And so on and so forth. Michael Bond's second installment of Paddington, More About Paddington, has a similar setup. It's a catalog of incidents.

While some movies can be formed by pulling pretty directly from the book, Paddington, probably, could not. It would feel strange and aimless without some sort of overarching conflict pushing the narration forward. So, some changes were necessary in order to translate the story into film. 

In the books, Paddington finds his home with the Browns right away. While, in the movie, Paddington meets the Browns early on, Mr. Brown and Judy were both, initially, reluctant to have Paddington stay with them whereas Mrs. Brown and Jon are both in favor of it. In the first movie, staying with the Browns is supposed to be a temporary solution. Paddington is supposed to find somewhere else to go. This gives the film a direction--a goal, a plot--but it also necessitates a change in the characters. Mr. Brown becomes distant and overly cautious. Judy's delight is replaced with disinterest and annoyance. Mrs. Brown becomes flightier and more passionate. 

Some of the mishaps that strung the book together--Paddington making a mess of hismelf when he was trying to eat a sticky bun and Paddington flooding the bathroom--make their way into the film. For the most part, though, the storyline is new. The first film features Nicole Kidman as a taxidermist intent on catching and stuffing our quirky little bear friend. (This premise is extra disturbing because Paddington, ou know, talks. And thinks. And wears a litle red hat.)

In the second film, Paddington is an estblished member of the Brown household. He is intent on buying a pop-up book of London to send his aunt for her birthday, but while working towards this goal, he is framed for stealing the book. He and the Browns set out to prove his innocence. 

The overarching plots in both films are things that I cannot imagine Michael Bond ever writing. A woman intent on killing and stuffing Paddington? Paddington being sent to prison and befriending criminals? 

I'm not sure how someone who grew up loving the Paddington stories would feel about the Paddington films. The films deviate from the books a lot. These deviations, though, make the story translate onto film a little bit better. The characters are given an opportunity for development, flaws to overcome. New villianous characters are introduced to create plots that might appeal to multiple generations. 

As someone who only read the Paddington books recently, though, I definitely enjoyed the movies. While a lot of the anecdotes and incidents that happen in the books don't happen in the films, the characters are carried over. Paddington still has an affinity for marmalade. He still gives people hard stares. He's still amicable and well-mannered. The neighborhood is still filled with colorful characters--the grumpy next door neighbor, the friendly antique store owner.

The best thing, though, is that the imagination carries over. There's a scene in the second film, when Paddington is looking through the pop-up book, where the character walks through the pop-up book. As we were leaving the theater, my mom said that this was her favorite part of the movie. I definitely agree with her. This was my favorite part of both films: the imagination that was depicted. 

Kindred Spirits + Cupcakes

Heyo friends! Are you ready to bake again?

In general, there won't be two Cook Your Way Through YA blogposts this close together, but this is a special circumstance, because I really only covered one of the stories in Almost Midnight by Rainbow Rowell the other day. And there's ANOTHER ENTIRE STORY in that and it's delightful and deserves to be talked about.

The book Almost Midnight is tiny and sparkly and filled with adorable illustrations.

The first section of the book is the short story "Midnights" which I featured in the post that kicked off the new direcion for my blog. The second section is "Kindred Spirits." In "Kindred Spirits," our adorable main character, Elena, spends a few days hanging out in line in anticipation of the release of The Force Awakens. The line is only three people long, it's cold, and there's a code of conduct they must abide by, so parts of the experience is kind of...miserable...for Elena, and not exactly what she'd been imagining. But, she's resolved. The read is fun and funny and charming. 

At one point, a local cupcake shop brings them a batch of Star Wars themed cupcakes in exchange for a social media post. So, for today's "Cook Your Way" I thought we'd make some Star Wars cupcakes. 

They're going to be these BA Death Star cupcakes with filling that tells you whether you're good or evil. Jedi or Sith. Resistance or First Order. 

Quick aside for nerdy cookbook recommendations! 

Nerdy Nummies Cookbook by Rosanna Pasino is full of cool and creative nerd-based baked goods. Some are sciencey, some are mathy, some are videogamesy. The start of the book has a handful of base recipes (chocolate cake, white cake, cookies, etc.) and the rest o the book modifies these recipes, or shows you how to decorate them to get a nerdy result. I used the chocolate cake recipe at the start of the book with some personal modifications for the base of the cupcakes that are featured in this blogpost.

Star Wars Cookbook: Wookie Cookies and Other Galactic Recipes by Robin Davis

This book features all sorts of recipes from breakfast foods to desserts, all Star Wars themed, so if you want to have an all-day Star Wars marathon, you can cater the whole day. 

We'll start with a chocolate cupcake base. Here's what you'll need:

• 1 1/3 cups of all purpose flour
• 2/3 cups of Dutch Cocoa Powder (and to make it extra good, add in a tablespoon of Black Onyx Cocoa Powder)
• 1 1/2 tsps of baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt (I forgot to take a picture of it, but, like, don't forget it, okay?)
• 1 1/3 cups of sugar
• 2/3s cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 can of pumpkin
• 2 tsps vanilla
• 1/3 cup water

Throw all of your dry ingredients in a bowl.

Mix it up and make it pretty.

Stir in your can of pumpkin, water, and vanilla. 

Fill your cupcake pan with cupcake liners and your cupcake liners with cupcake batter. I usually fill them about 2/3s full.

Bake those suckers at 325(F) for about 20-23 minutes. Check with a knife or a wooden pick or whatever utensil you have handy to make sure they've baked through. 

When they're fresh out of the oven, press a spoon into them to create a little divet. Then, let them cool. 

In the meantime, we're going to make some frosting! Here's what you'll need:

• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening 
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

A couple quick things before we get started. First, I've halved this recipe. When I made the cupcakes, I used he full recipe, but it wound up being way more than I needed. 

Second, the cupcake base is vegan. The frosting is not. If you want to make the whole thing vegan, you can substitute coconut oil for butter and almond or coconut milk for the milk. You might need to use more vegetable shortening and less coonut oil. Like, instead of 1/4 cup vegetable shortening and 1/4 cup coconut oil, you could do 1/4 cup + 1-1 1/2 tbsp vegetable shortening and 1 1/2-2 tbsp coconut oil.

Okay! Now let's make some frosting. Start by mixing together your shortening, butter, milk, and vanilla. Then, mix in the powdered sugar slowly. 

And that's it. Like, that's literally it. You just mix those four ingredients together and then boom. You've got some frosting. 

It works best if you use room temperature butter. But, if you're like me and are constantly forgeting to get your butter out of your fridge before you need it, don't panic. 

Cut your butter into chunks, set them on a plate, and then set that on top of your oven as your cupcakes are baking. The top of the oven will heat up enough to soften the butter, but not too hot to melt it.

Okay, now let's get down to decorating.

Okay! So, we'll be using the butter cream frosting we just made, red and blue food coloring, gray fondant, and black food-pens. 

Separate your frosting into two bowls. With your food coloring, dye half of the frosting blue and half red. 

Fill your cupcake craters with frosting. 

Roll out your gray fondant and, with a cookie cutter, cut out circles of fondant that are the size of the top of the cupcakes. With a black food pen, draw death stars!

Once you have drawn your death stars, use them to cover your cupcakes. 

Now, they're ready to serve. 

Oh, good, I'm a Jedi.