My cousin Crisie graduated from college on May 7th, and she is studying to be a chef! Of course, everyone enjoys going to visit because Crisie is, naturally, an excellent chef. Anyway, Crisie posted a photo of one of her final practicals, a beautiful raspberry cheesecake with a pineapple, apricot, and macadamia nut compote. Here is a picture:

Photo courtesy of Crisie

After seeing the photo of her beautiful cheesecake, I wanted to try to make a tiny one on my own.

 

It's definitely more of a nod to her cheesecake than a miniature replica, but I love it either way. I think the leaf detail really makes it recognizable as Crisie's dessert. :)
Congratulations, Crisie! We are so proud of you.

Last night I was hit with a wave of creativity and I attempted to make something I thought I never could: French crepes. I had always thought about making miniature crepes, but I never tried because I thought it would be a frustrating, headache-inducing nightmare. However, these were relatively easy to make and I love how they look!

 

The first time I tried crepes was in high school in my French class, and a year later I was lucky enough to try authentic crepes in Paris. I absolutely love them, especially with chocolate and strawberries, which I was able to replicate in my miniatures. 

I am afraid they are a little too delicate to wear as jewelry, but I am going to work on making them more durable.

I made some tiny cinnamon rolls today!  I was very surprised at how nicely they turned out. I made four of them, but I couldn't stand the way the other two looked, so I scrapped them. They were frustrating for me to make, but I love the end result.

I turned 22 on March 26th but I didn't want a cake, so my dad suprised me with these macarons and fruit tarts from Provence Breads & Cafe in Nashville.

My dear friend and ex-roommate, Natalie, came to Nashville to visit this weekend. I absolutely love when Natalie comes to visit because we have similar interests and get along perfectly. We went to Hillsboro Village and visited a couple of stores.

This Goethe novel, "The Sorrows of Young Werther" and play, "Goetz von Berlichingen", were purchased at Bookman/Bookwoman, a rare and used bookstore with a HUGE selection of books. Walking into the store, for me, is like walking into heaven. Row after row of books, stacks and piles of books, books everywhere. It's a wonderful atmosphere and I am always able to find exactly what I am looking for. They also have a variety of books in different languages, so I always stop by the German section to pick up a few books to help me work on my (terrible) German.
Used books, already being "green" in the sense that you are literally recycling the books to be used and loved once more after being abandoned by previous owners, are so interesting to me. I love finding notes, messages, and other tiny things that give hints about prior owners and what they did with the books, like these translations in my Goethe books:

We also visited a consignment store called Clothing XChange. I love this store, so much. The prices are extremely cheap and reasonable, and they also help to support local artists by selling original art in their store! I picked up this high-waisted plaid skirt for only 10 dollars.

- Vintage plaid skirt from Clothing XChange
- Belt from Charlotte Russe
- Grey shirt from Forever 21
- Black wedges from Forever 21

Look at these little creme brulees I made today, complete with their tiny ramekins and caramelized sugar. I like how they came out.

 

I absolutely adore making miniature pies. In the picture above, I am holding miniature key lime pie, lemon meringue, pumpkin pie, and blueberry cheesecake. Every time I show someone my pie charms, they always give me new ideas by telling me what their favorite type of pie or cheesecake is! I don't think I'll ever run out of ideas when it comes to different types of pies.