Runs on Coffee and Cream

I love fandom recipes. I love recipes inspired by anything geek-related. Well this month I was able to explore that interest more and find so much inspiration thanks to IGGPPC. September was a food-themed month and I had the opportunity to interview two amazingly talented ladies. Their geeky creations have left me wanting to run to the kitchen to make all the food!

The first food blogger I interviewed was The Gluttonous Geek. I'm amazed by how she comes up with recipes from tv shows and movies. Her interpretations are perfect.

Orange is the New Black: Corn and Leek Quiche from The Gluttonous Geek

Through her blog I was also introduced to #PokeNOM. Earlier this year I had made Pokemon Starters Cupcakes for the 20th anniversary of Pokemon and I was up to the challenge of coming up with another Pokemon recipe. So I spent a busy couple of weeks trying to think of another Pokemon recipe I could make easily since September has flown by for me. Then I woke up one morning with the thought of doing another Starters-themed recipe: Candy Bark! You can see the post I wrote for IGGPPC here. The directions and ingredients are listed in the post.

Pokemon Starters Candy Bark I made and posted on IGGPPC

The second blogger I had the pleasure of interviewing was Pixelated Provisions. So not only are all her recipes inspired from video games, but her photographs have me wanting to up my game too!

Overwatch: Pass into the Sundae from Pixelated Provisions

You can find both the interviews on IGGPPC here and here.

Now that I'm  hungry from looking at so many food photos, I should be off to try out my next recipe!
xo Jen

Today is the last day of IGGPPCamp (which you can read about here) and in celebration of it I made a couple of s'mores recipes recently.

A recipe for S'mores French Toast was shared on the IGGPPC blog a few days ago. You can find the recipe here. I unfortunately wasn't able to join in the bake-along for it yesterday so I made the french toast the other day when both Adam and myself were off work.


Holy crap, it's incredible! If you like s'mores and french toast please do yourself a favour and try this recipe out!


The second recipe I made was a s'mores dip. I shared the recipe on the IGGPPC blog today. You can check out the recipe here. It was incredibly easy to make and so good!



Did you participate in any #IGGPPCamp activities this past weekend? As usual it was super fun and it's a little sad that it's over for the year.

xo Jen

Tomorrow marks the start of our third annual Summer Camp over at International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club. It's one of my favourite things about summer and I'm excited to participate in some activities, read all the forum activities, and jump into some watch-alongs and bake-alongs.


From the 18th-22nd there are tons of activities happening, new blog posts going up on the site, and forum activities to participate in. If you're looking for something fun to try this weekend, head to the camp handbook to check all the details out.


I made up a yummy s'mores-related recipe for camp and once my post goes live, I'll definitely share the recipe. I also plan on trying out the s'mores french toast recipe that will be happening on Sunday too.

xo Jen

If you follow any IGGPPC social media you would have seen I made an Earl Grey Tea and French Vanilla Cake for the IGGPPC birthday. You can find the recipe here.


Turtles!



I'm finally seeing some hair growth (and I had the a-line fixed up and my hair is now all one length, except for normal layering) which makes me happy. I just need another 6 months of hair growth before I'm content!


Strawberries have been absolutely delicious lately. I can't stop buying them at the grocery store.


The cutest little Ewoks that Adam surprised me with for Valentine's Day.



I found the cutest cupcake liners the other day and now I'm super excited to make cupcakes. What flavour shall I make...


How has March been for you?
xo Jen

So February is over, huh? I'm not going to lie, I'm excited for March. Why? Because Spring is around the corner! Yes, we have a 5' snow fortress surrounding our house and we're hitting -30 degrees tonight but we're coming to the end of Winter!

This is how I spent February.


Logan loves the turtles. I keep catching him hanging out with them and being super adorable.



Seymore being Seymore.


 I made some super yummy cinnamon rolls for IGGPPC in February. You can find the recipe here.



A new gourmet doughnut shop opened near us and we've been twice! We've tried the Maple Bacon, Cookies and Cream, Coconut Lime, and Maple French Toast. They are incredible! Super fluffy and so tasty. If you're ever in the area, check out Mighty Canadian Doughnuts.


One of my favourite glasses. I got it for Christmas in a 2-pack. Wait until you see the other cup!


We spent an evening building the Lego Ghostbusters set. I absolutely love the minifigures of the guys.


February was a month of staying indoors and being snuggly. I'm looking forward to heading outside more in March though.


xo Jen

This month's theme over at IGGPPC, is 'We Love The 90s". So of course it's brought up so many conversations amongst the staff and in the community about our favourite things from the 90s - television shows, music, fashion, movies. It's brought back so many memories and I'm finding myself wanting to surround myself with some of the nostalgia. Like my urge to start watching Friends on Netflix and wanting to pull out my No Doubt and Letters to Cleo albums.

I was 6-16 years old during the 90s. A lot of my childhood, middle school, and the beginning of high school happened during this time. It was an impressionable period in my life.

These are some of my favourite things from this time period.

Cartoons:

X-Men
Saturday morning was the time for cartoons. Fox played all the best shows but what stands out the most during this line up was the animated X-Men cartoon. It played at 11 a.m. and my brothers and myself were always ready to watch it.
Rugrats & Doug
The other time we watched cartoons in our house was right after school. These were the two shows that I watched everyday when I got home. To this day I have a soft spot for both of these shows and probably kept watching them a lot longer than I should have for my age.

The Powerpuff Girls
This show came out at the end of middle school for me, so I wasn't watching as many cartoons anymore. But this show won me over. And my best friend. We became Powerpuff Girls fans, bought their merchandise, and covered our lockers in stickers of the girls.


TV Shows:

Beverly Hills 90210
I was way too young to watch this show. But I watched it anyways. It was my introduction to teenager drama and how addictive this type of show could be. I wanted to be Kelly. I wanted to date Brandon. It was quite the show to watch during puberty. I actually learned a lot from it.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
This was yet another show I watched with my brothers. I remember watching it first thing in the morning before school. And then spending recess discussing the episode or acting it out.

TGIF - Boy Meets World, Family Matters, Step by Step, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch 
I spent SO many Friday nights in front of the TV watching the TGIF line up. Usually with snacks, sometimes with my cousin, and sometimes at my grandparents' apartment or trailer. It was one of my favourite things.


Music:

Backstreet Boys
Oh, BSB. They were THE boy band that I listened to during middle school. I was obsessed. They were also the first concert I ever went to.

Spice Girls
Who didn't like Spice Girls that grew up in the 90s?! I used to do the dances from their music videos with my friends. I'd belt out all their songs with my cousin. I went to the movie theatre to see Spice World. They were such a fun group to listen to during this time.

No Doubt
Tragic Kingdom was the album that changed music for me. I was obsessed with Gwen and became obsessed with Much Music (Canada's version of MTV) during this time. From there I was introduced to Bush, Smashing Pumpkins, I Mother Earth, Our Lady Peace, Bif Naked... my love for pop music was behind me and I entered high school listening to alternative music.

Fashion:

During middle school I lived in - denim overalls, scrunchies, Adidas pants (with the classic stripes down the side), and Nike tear-away pants. Once I hit high school, and now wanted to dress like the ladies in Clueless or a Spice Girl (yikes!), I found myself wearing kilts and knee high socks, Silver jeans, bell bottom jeans, jean jackets (there was quite the denim trend happening), and choker necklaces.


For more 90s nostalgia, follow along with the IGGPPC twitter @geekgirlpenpals

What are some of your favourite things about the 90s?
xo Jen

*all images courtesy of imdb*

Why Logan's tongue is sticking out a bit is beyond me. But it's cute.


My Halloween kitties! They were pretty interested in the pumpkins.


On Friday, IGGPPC hosted a 24 hour Halloween party so I made and shared a DIY Halloween Candy Bark recipe on the site. You can check it out here.


While handing out candy Halloween evening, I made sure to play some Animal Crossing New Leaf so I could scare people and collect candy in my town. It was fun and I absolutely love how the game incorporates holidays into town events.

Halloween is around the corner and I'm getting into the Halloween mood! Between TV shows, video games, movies, and activities, Halloween is everywhere.

As you know, I'm not one to dabble much in cosplay. I admire it and sometimes I wish I had the motivation to get into it. But overall, I focus too much of my energy elsewhere.

I have tried Everyday Cosplay/Casual Cosplay before and it's fun to find an outfit in my closet that works. For IGGPPCamp, they had a Closet Cosplay Challenge which I wanted to give a try and I was successful in finding an Everyday Cosplay look to fit each day.





I had a lot of fun putting these outfits together and I'm excited to try out more Everyday Cosplay looks.

xo Jen