a delicious snack.

One of the great comforts in life is food. I know it shouldn’t be. But darnit, I’m an emotional eater. And when I’m feeling homesick, one of the few things to really make me feel better is a little taste of home. This week I splurged at the import store and bought a box of microwave popcorn. I’ve actually tried to wean myself off of the stuff since it’s full of all kinds of chemicals and who knows what but sometimes you just have to give in.

I’ve also been hording a bag of Reese’s Pieces that my sister brought me at Christmas. I’ve rationed it out pretty well and still have about half the bag left. Since I’ll be leaving soon I decided I could let myself eat two treats at once and I indulged in one of my favorite guilty snacks.

Pop one bag of popcorn and let it cool just a bit. Then pour in some of the Reese’s Pieces. Shake the bag and let things settle for a minute and then enjoy! The salty popcorn balances the sweet candy perfectly and if you time it just right you can keep the outer shell intact but the heat will make the middle all melty. It’s salty/sweet/crunchy/gooey perfection! And if you’re really wanting to walk on the wild side you can throw a few m&ms in the mix. Mmm, good stuff!

What are some of your favorite concoctions? I’d love to add to my list of vices!

By the way, you know you're in Asia when the microwave has an 'Instant Noodles' button but you're on your own for popcorn! :)

Happiness is...having a project.

Or two.

My roommate's birthday was this past week.  She's a popcorn fanatic and decided she wanted to throw herself a popcorn-themed party. So, we set out to overhaul our house (which hasn't quite come together since the newest roommate moved in about 2 months ago), clean it up, organize it and then do all the food and party prep.  It kept us all pretty busy.

I re-painted all of our kitchen chairs from a smoky blue to black (and have a lovely spray paint effect manicure to prove it!) And then spent I don't know how many hours making cupcakes.

First were the popcorn inspired mini-cupcakes topped with mini-marshmallows.  Aren't they cute?

Then there were the leftovers which got the sprinkle treatment.

And then the piece de resistance: buttered popcorn flavored cupcakes with salted caramel buttercream frosting topped with caramel popcorn and sea salt.  Look how pretty!  They tasted pretty delicious as well.  (I found the recipe on Pinterest, you can find it here.)

We had 8 different flavors of popcorn, some sweet, some savory. And then there were the decorations.

On top of that I finally put the finishing touches on my bedroom. You can't see much of it, and you wouldn't really notice much if you hadn't seen what it looked like before, but there's the new mattress underneath it all, a black rug, new black and white photos in the frame on the wall (which didn't get painted, I decided to stick with just the classic b&w rather than trying to go with an accent color just yet...maybe that will be the spring project!)

It was quite the weekend of domesticity. Not my usual course of action but fun for a change and something I definitely need to work into my life a little more often.  Creativity and motivation are uplifting, if also somewhat exhausting! 

How did you spend your weekend?