LydMc

Shark Bark Attack! It's that time again... Shark Week is upon us and that means feeding frenzies! If you need a clever, simple, delicious treat for your Shark Week viewing party (or if you've got as many sweet teeth as a shark), check out the latest in specialty themed party food: SHARK BARK!  Just like the typical peppermint bark, each of the four flavors of Shark Bark seen here is super simple and delicious. Since they all have essentially the same foundation, let's start with the basics. White Chocolate Chips, Ahoy! First thing's first: melted chocolate. The traditional way (some might say "right" way) of melting chocolate is to use chopped up blocks of chocolate in a double boiler. If you don't have a double boiler or the patience to use one, there is another, simpler method that yields the same results. We're going to need a bigger bowl... Simply add one cup of chocolate chips (semisweet, white, etc.) to a microwave safe ...

Just add water! In honor of Comic Con 2014 and Throwback Thursday, I think it's about time to showcase another one of my cosplay adventures! While I've already posted some of my comic con adventures in  A Link to the Blog: The Legend of Zelda Cosplay , this costume is the title character from Ranma 1/2, an anime/manga popular back in the 90s.  If you're not familiar with the show/comic, it's pretty simple:  While training in martial arts with his father , the main character, Ranma, fell into a cursed spring which turned him into a girl. Each one of the many pools carries a different transformation curse, activated by cold water and fixed by hot.  What with a dozen different love triangles, blood feuds, and unexpected dousings, antics ensue. Ranma, Shampoo, Mousse, and Ryoga in a rare moment of peace! The character I cosplayed as was female Ranma, a.k.a. girl type Ranma, a.k.a. pig tailed girl. My cohorts cosplayed as other cursed charact...

The Sushiwoks are back and puffier than ever! Today is a very special day for the LydMc blog: it is officially the One Year Anniversary of the first blog post! Huzzah!! One whole year of delightful, nerdy, and often delicious forays into creativity!  In honor of this momentous occasion, I would like to celebrate with a craft inspired by the blog that started it all: The Sushiwoks! Yub nub! Not only were these Star Wars themed appetizers the first post on the LydMc blog, they were also the ones that put it on the map. Thanks to the awesome sharing of fellow nerds, cooks, and craftspeople (thanks, all!), the sushiwoks started making the internet rounds and page views climbed to the hundreds.  And then, one fine day when I just so happened to get my wisdom teeth out, I sit down on the couch to recover and see the views have jumped to the thousands! As it turned out, ThinkGeek posted the sushiwoks (sushi ewoks) on Facebook making the blog go viral,...

Celebrate Good News! If you're wondering why the LydMc blog updates have been a bit on the slow side recently, the causes are many-fold. Some are good, some are bad, and some are awesome. One of the awesome reasons is my latest job (nearly 8 months in now!) at Zoom.  Zoom, a newspaper/magazine hybrid with all sorts of great things going for it, is a community publication that showcases and celebrates the good that goes on in our local areas. Fundraisers, marathons, scout projects, you name it. If it's positive, Zoom is likely to cover it. As Associate Editor at Zoom, I get to process a lot of these events and even write a few of the articles. It's always exciting to hear why people are so passionate about the various causes they support, and it makes me grateful to have a job where I can help share their stories and spread their positive inspiration with others. So instead of a typical blog this week, here are links to a few of the features I've written for...

Cheese + Bacon + Jalapeño  = The Perfect Appetizer Let's face it, while things that are cheese-filled and bacon-wrapped may not always be good for us, they are almost always amazing. So imagine if you will an appetizer that is both cheese-filled AND bacon-wrapped. Yes, my friends, that is what you have in the delightfully delicious Jalapeño Poppers. Jalapeño poppers, pre-pop I admit, I was a bit dubious about trying   jalapeño  poppers at first , but mostly because  spicy food is one of the few things I can't handle. However, one of my coworkers brought these in to a going away party and they were both mild and delicious!   Needless to say, I got the recipe and these have been a favorite of my family, friends and neighbors ever since.  Jalapeño Poppers ~15 Jalapeños  1 lb. Bacon 1 box (8 oz.) Cream Cheese As you can see, a main draw for these poppers besides their epic tastiness is their incredible simplicity. With only thr...

It's raining Beebles! When times are tough, it's good to have an outlet. As it so happens, times have been pretty tough recently (hence the temporary blog hiatus) so I know this firsthand. Still, I didn't realize the truth of it until one of my relatives asked me what my outlet was. After a moment's thought, I realized I had indeed developed a renewed passion since the troubles began: arts and crafts.  Along with teaching myself to crochet and dabbling in doilies (blogs to come!), my first defense was in the form of art.  In the manner of true art therapy, I took to drawing, sketching and coloring like I hadn't done in weeks.  Blub blub, blub blub. One of my favorite pastimes has always been creating art from scratch, usually featuring fictional characters of my own design. However, sometimes even thinking of what to doodle can be taxing. Since this was the case for me, I used some of my brother's Magic the Gathering cards to, in essence, mak...