Monday morning I woke up to the most fantastic email – YumUniverse had chosen my Yum Cake as a finalist in it’s party recipe challenge! Woooot!
And now, the voting is up to you! In order to vote (you know I’d love and appreciate the support), here’s what you do:
1: Head on over to YumUniverse’s FB Fan page
2: “LIKE” YumUniverse
3: Scroll down until you see my entry in a post-like format.
4: “LIKE” the Yum Cake post.
And, you’re finished! (thank you, thank you!!)
To see how it went down behind the scenes, click here – The work that the YU Team put into testing the entries is incredible – I mean, making my Yum Cake was daunting enough, I can’t imagine making all of the entries in one single afternoon! Seriously, those are some kitchen ninjas!
In other news, my life has been something like #$%^&*(*^ !!! – what’s new, right? But really, as my move West gets closer, the more hectic my life has become. Last week, I flew back out to San Francisco to iron out a few things with my (soon to be) commercial kitchen – and on top of that, I also had to make two trips home, with another at the end of this week. I swear, I’m about to explode – but, in a good way of course.
On top of working on the business, I also am trying to find a place to live in the North Bay area – specifically, Petaluma. I mean, I’m getting to a point where I’m like ‘I don’t care how much it cost, just throw me in a room and call it a day’. Let’s just say, my budgeted $$ amount for rent, went out the window about 562 craigslist ads ago 
The problem is, is that I can’t live in a crap hole – call me a brat, but I just can’t – I need a clean and aesthetically pleasing living environment. Which means, NO wood paneled walls (something which seems to be very popular in the bay area) The way I see it, is that my daily surrounding are just as important to my well-being as the food I consume. It’s just the way I’m programmed (I get it from my mamma…). However, I’m fortunate enough to have the ability (if all else fails) to rent a 2 bedroom apartment for the time being, and once I get moved in, look for a roommate. So, I’m not too worried… I think…
Any who, between working with package manufacturers, bank loan officers, ingredient distributors, attorneys, web designers, photographers and accountants, my blog has well, sort of taken a back seat. And, to be honest, will continue to ride in that seat until I finish my move in the beginning of September! I just have to keep telling myself that while I don’t expect the next 12 months to be a cake ride, these next 2 months are by far going to be the hardest – and, most challenging! It’s extremely rewarding to see my hard work pay off, but – it’s extremely hard! haha – funny how that works 
Task Juggling – CHECK!
My food has been sort of cray cray as well – literally, every meal seems to consist of garbage disposal salads – i.e., any and every veggie in my refrigerator tossed in a bowl. Alongside those salads, smoothies have also been a daily stapple – again, throw it in a blender and call it a day! This Carrot Cake Smoothie is one of my all-time favorite smoothies – When I made it for a class this past spring, people were licking their cups and declaring it just like cake batter.
Carrot Cake Smoothie
- 1 C Carrot Juice (feeling extra lazey? just use whole carrots – but add water!)
- .25 C almonds
- 2 C frozen banana
- .25 C soaked raisins
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- .5-1 tsp raw vanilla
- pinch of salt
- sweetener of choice – I use a bit of stevia – optional.
In a high-speed blender, blend all ingredients until smooth. Pour in a glass and enjoy!
I’m going to try my hardest to update weekly, even if it’s just photos of potential living spaces, package sneak-peaks, etc, etc, etc… I love my readers and I hate that I can’t post regularly right now. No bueno 
Have a wonderful weekend!
