it's sunday baking day...

well, it's maya's birthday tomorrow (13, already!!!) and i'm also going back to work after vacation, so today was baking day.

i figured that maya's mom will get her cake and she'll probably be caked out when she gets over here, so i made her some mini tarts instead.  blueberry strawberry ones to be exact.

i randomly got this cookbook from the library and i liked it to much i got a copy off of amazon.  $6 bucks new!  (grace...you should get this cookbook, you will LOVE it!):

so i made the mini-tart crust and put it in 6 muffin tins:

filled it all up:

and 18 minutes later...

these smell really good.  i hope they taste as good as they smell.  i'll stick whipped cream on top before we eat them.  i'll see if i should have browned the edges more or not after i shove one in my face.

i also made myself some chocolate chip granola bar thingies to eat at work.  i gotta cut down on the sugar so....

oats, choc chips, dried cranberries, pecans, cashews, condensed milk and butter!!

i wasn't sure how hard these were going to be after they cooled down, so i didn't roll them into the pan with a rolling pin, i just pressed down with a spoon.  if i make them again, i'll roll them in. they're pretty soft.  but pretty good!!  i'll share with people at work.  yes, jane....this means you!!

and the baking was all made better with tea that i got from this great shop in eureka, ca.  

so far i like the plum berry white better than the peach.  we'll see which i like better when i make iced tea again.  y'know...for summertime.  when it's hot out.  hopefully that will happen this year.  yeesh.

but this song is why i wanted to go to eureka...this is for you sally!!!

obiwan kenobi told me in the lobby...

CIBO MATTO!

i really never thought i would actually get to see them!  i got into them right after they broke up and have been crossing my fingers and toes ever since for a reunion tour.  it was with great joy and much shouting of "ivy smith! ivy smith!  CIBO MATTO is coming to town!!!" that my little dream was actualized.

so i've been pissing my pants with excitement for the last month waiting for the magical day.  there's been much talk of the show between grace, joseph, sally and juan and i.  juan has just two words for you: cibo. matto.

i went and picked up poops before the show to eat and do some people watching on crapitol hill because everyone else had to work until 8:30 or 9:30.

when we got to neumos it was with great happiness that the cibo matto posters were right by bill callahan's posters.  bill was playing the next night and as much as i love him, i just couldn't go to two shows two nights in a row in the middle of the work week.  don't worry bill!  i'll be there next time.  PROMISE!

we then waited a while in the line for will call:

i was super excited also to get some kick ass merch and the only letdown of the whole spectacle was the fact THAT THEY HAD NO MERCHANDISE!  i wanted stickers.  i wanted tshirts.  i wanted buttons.  i wanted posters.  i was going to spend money!  but nope, only one crappy tshirt that i couldn't bring myself to buy. *sigh*

that's ok...the show was AWESOME!  they totally ripped it up on 'birthday cake' and they played 'sci fi wasabi' which is my favorite song of theirs.  grace was extra happy to hear 'moonchild' and 'sugar water'.  

this was the first show of the tour and also the first show that they have played together since 2001.  they had a couple of new songs and i hope that means...NEW ALBUM!  and hopefully more shows in the future because i would loooooooooooove to see them again!

my camera sucks and people's iphones were taking way better pics than my camera so here is the best shot i have (and it ain't good):

that's yuka honda on the left and miho hatori on the right.  damn...those two look good for their age.  they are kick ass women!!