Photo courtesy of Fun Cheap SF

Everyday their Maple Bacon Apple donut is available, but the rest of the menu constantly changes day by day. You can follow their Twitter to see what they’re serving. I had to unfollow them because I’d be like, “OHMYGAWD THEY HAVE BANANA DE LECHE AND GINGER ORANGE GLAZE TODAY, I MUST GO!!!!” They’re slightly pricey with donuts starting from $2-$3, but believe me… You. Will. Love. Them. I just converted my mother with the Lemon Thyme I brought home for her.

My friend and I have been craving these things for nearly a year, so we finally ventured there yesterday. One thing you have to know about this place is that you have to get there as early as possible! We got there around 1ish and the menu board was full. An hour later when we went back for more they only had 2 flavors left.

So what’s so damn special about these donuts? I seriously think they are unlike any other I have ever eaten, and I’m sure others who’ve eaten these delightful morsels would agree. They’re light, fluffy, and sweet — I don’t feel like a complete lard ass after eating 3 of them, and that’s always a good thing (or is that bad? Uh… yeah, I don’t care. They’re worth every penny and calorie). And every donut is handmade by Sara Spearin, the owner of Dynamo Donuts, and her staff. They use organic and local ingredients for each donut too.

I have decided to refer to any donut from Dynamo as Holey Awesomeness, Batman! (even the ones that don’t have holes). Some of my favorites include:

• Passion Fruit Milk Chocolate
• Banana De Leche
• Apricot Cardamon
• Ginger Orange Glaze
• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip
• Candied Orange Blossom

If you find yourself in the Mission, make sure to stop by and try one for yourself.

Angela posing in front of beached pumpkin whales.

Situated 28 miles south of San Francisco, Half Moon Bay is a picturesque coastal city with beautiful ocean views, an amazing walkable downtown and lots of saltwater taffy. It also happens to be the “Pumpkin Capital of the World.” I don’t actually know if that’s true and I’m too lazy to look it up. Now, I know that Cucurbitaceae aren’t necessarily tied in with Halloween; they’re more of a sign of Autumn. However, since the first day of Fall is usually in September, that means October is coming up and then Halloween. Halloween Halloween. Anyway, there was no shortage of pumpkin pie, smoothies, ice cream, or beer. The people were excited to be there and the music was Dub Step.

Interesting fact: Half Moon Bay was founded in 1959. Which is probably the same year these signs were made.

Also, * is just to indicate that, yes, while the HMBPF was an all-around good time, we failed to visit one pumpkin patch or take any of them home for carvins. Therefore I had to poor man Photoshop Angela and myself  in the foreground of what is a really nice picture by Frank Richards of an actual pumpkin patch in Half Moon Bay. MS PAINT, WOOP WOOP! Alright, kids, that’s enough blabbing from me. It’s time to TREAT YO SELF to some pumpkin colored thangs. As well as this ridiculously lavish Pumpkin Pie Milkshake recipe from A Beautiful Mess that I must try with my new blender. !!!

Dromedary Dress in Orange, Anthropologie

Vintage Ferragamo Pumps by Living Threads Vintage

Climbing Vines Curtain, Anthropologie

1960s Babydoll Dress by Tattered Lace Vintage

   Fruiteria Base, Anthropologie

A BEAUTIFUL MESS’ PUMPKIN PIE MILKSHAKE RECIPE

What’s fun about this treat is you can use a store-bought pumpkin pie and it’s super easy to whip up a big batch of these for friends. Or you can use a homemade pumpkin pie (maybe the left over few pieces) and enjoy this sweet and decadent dessert.

We made our own pumpkin pie (first one of the season) and my kitchen instantly smelled like autumn. I used a slightly adapted version of Paula Deen’s recipe. The only changes I made were to use 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 brown sugar (instead of just 1 cup of sugar, I like the added flavor of using some brown sugar). And I used 2 eggs instead of 1 egg + 2 egg yolks (I thought this didn’t seem necessary, and in my opinion the pie turned out great!).

Once you’ve made your pie let is cool for a few hours or overnight. To make a single milkshake blend together 1 slice of pumpkin pie, 2 cups vanilla ice cream and 1 to 1 1/2 cups milk. If you are making multiple milkshakes at once simply double or triple this recipe to suit your guest list.

images via A Beautiful Mess

Tonight we’ll delve into just a few of my favorite Halloween inspired recipes that will be a treat for the eyes and the mouth. Hopefully. Did that come off as too sexual? Okay, onward!

Internet, let it be known that I am huge fan of food and librarians; as well as The Food Librarian. A few years ago she came out with a wonderful Candy Corn Jello Bundt recipe (this girl loves her bundts, and SO DO I). But guys. I don’t think you’re ready for this jelly: it’s jello; when it’s sliced it looks just like candy corn. Vundahful! Layered jello (and candy corn, coincidentally) is one of my favorite things in the world – anyone who doesn’t love jello must be either crazy or a vegan.

images courtesy of The Food Librarian

Another one of my foodie favorites is Bakerella, whose been featured on this blog before. She comes up with the most creative confectioneries – and certainly does not shy away from arachnophobia - ERGO: Brownie Spider Bites!

Her work looks so amazingly time-consuming, but well worth the effort I’m sure. In fact I don’t think I’d be able to eat one.. just admire them from afar. (NOPE I WOULD EAT THEM ALL).

images courtesy of Bakerella 

Lastly we have an old favorite – with a twist. Like, literally. Well, still figuratively, but literally in the way in which you would like, go to a bartender and ask them to make you a martini with a twist. You know, I never actually figured out what that means. Let me not be lazy and look that up for you guys while you take a gander at this:

image courtesy of Martha Stewart

This recipe has got to be my favorite so far; and no, not because I’m a lush. Do you remember those lame (awesome) Halloween parties where someone blindfolds you and leads you to a bowl of peeled grapes, and when you put your hands in there and squish them around, said person would then exclaim that you’re touching a bowl of eyeballs? Well, this is that, except there’s ALCOHOL involved. You simply place a blueberry or cranberry into the hole of a lychee and viola! Instant eyeball garnish. Delicious! What won’t Martha Stewart come up with?

What other Halloween recipes have I missed?

After class on Thursday, fellow Imaginary Battles writer Jen and I headed to our community college’s annual arts and crafts faire. Among the hand crafted soaps, candles, and knitted scarves, we found these furry animal paw scarves by Lake Tahoe Treasures/Wild Spirit Animal Hoodies . Things like this can easily be found at Hot Topic, but the ones by LTT/WSAH were impeccably crafted. Each scarf is lined with fleece, the paws are stuffed, the fabric for the pads looks worn down like an actual animal’s, each claw is made out of vinyl material, and little embroidered snowflakes are scattered throughout.

We chatted with the creator for a bit, and she said it takes her 2 hours to make each one. We also asked if she had an Etsy store (she does, but not for her furry scarves *sigh*), and we asked if she had a site (she does, but it’s not for her furry scarves *heavy sigh*). Somehow we failed to ask for her name and email address. Please pardon my lame investigatory journalism skills — it’s been awhile since I’ve dug info from another human being for writing purposes… x___x

Anyhow, Jen and I stood there for 10 minutes debating on whether we should nab the last two brownish-white paws (pictured above on the left). They were going for $30 US, and we both  signed the emailing list. In the end, I concluded that I didn’t want to wait around… I wanted the scarf IMMEDIATELY. So we both got the last ones in stock.

What’s nice about these scarves is that they go with pretty much anything and add a sense of whimsy to any outfit. And you can stick stuff inside the paws — cellphone, chapstick, puppy treats, etc. You can even stick your fingers in each digit! My dog has gone ape shit whenever I wear them around him. It amuses me to no end.

In case you want to grab a pair of these for yourself, I think the best thing to do is check out the creator’s website Iris Impressions and contact her from there.

Become a Monster Scout and… Scout for Monsters in Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2

Have you ever spent 450 hours doing anything in your life? Something that you’d admit to? I didn’t think so.

Dragon Quest 25th Anniversary features the first three games and is out in Japan. I would love for this to come over to the US!

If you’re wondering why does everything look like Dragon Ball Z it’s because the character designs were done by the man himself, Akira Toriyama!

So of course I went out to support Dragon Quest and get some free stuff in the process. Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 is a spin off of the main series where you control monsters and creatures from the series in battles. I’ve never played it, but if you’re into Pokemon I can imagine it’s similar to that. For those that weren’t into that there was a Nintendo of America Rep. sending out digital maps for Dragon Quest IX and there were free DQM:J2 Field Guides and ‘Partners In Slime’ t-shirts that were given out at the recent Penny Arcade Expo.

Questing for Dragons, son!

I don’t think anyone from 1UP actually showed up to the NYC event, but I don’t think anyone noticed because we had so much fun playing demos, dusting off our past Dragon Quest games and talking shop with our fellow gamers. These weren’t the only Dragon Quest events Nintendo sponsored in the US. When DQIX was released last year there were several joint efforts between them and GameStop and Best Buy to hold meetings for players to trade maps. It’s great to see Nintendo promote a great series in America and I hope to see more amazing RPGs coming to the States.

The latest Skyward Sword trailer

Nintendo is also offering The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords for free download to all DSi and 3DS owners. Recently at their 3DS Conference held earlier this month they showed that the game will include many new additions like unlockable quests and abiities and an enhanced single player mode. Four Swords allows for four player co-op and will be aailable for free download from September 28, 2011 until February 20, 2012.

The Legend of Zelda first appeared on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987, it was my second Nintendo game and became my favorite series even to this day. overall the series has sold more than 52 million copies and includes 15 console titles. There was even that short lived cartoon and even a cereal! I really am looking forward to all the releases and hope for a New York symphony concert. Nintendo has launched a Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary website filled with info the series and the upcoming events and releases.

Here’s something I just found out: Treasure Island has a two-day flea market on the last weekend of every month. Who would’ve thought that a man-made island with only one bus route and zero supermarkets could hold a treasure trove of goodies?  September 24th and 25th (this weekend!) will be your next chance to have at all the collectibles, antiques, vintage goods and arts and crafts that the Treasure Island Flea has to offer.

Admission is a mere $3, but if you print out or show them this FunCheapSF coupon you get in FREE. I don’t know why I ever refused to live there!

There’s more information on the official website, but here’s a rundown of it:

I didn’t think I was going to like it at first, but earlier this year I whizzed through all 3 seasons (1&2 on Netflix, 3 on random streaming sites) in one month (yay for the post-college-can’t-find-a-job funk). It’s kind of like The Office (as it was created by the folks who made the American version) only it takes place in a fictional podunk Indiana town called Pawnee and follows Leslie Knope (Amy Pohler), a ridiculously over zealous mid-level bureacrat in the parks department and the rest of the parks & rec gang. Leslie is totes outshined by her boss, Ron Swanson quite often. Oh and by the way, I TOTALLY LOVE HIM. I want him to be my uncle. Or if I could have a boss like him, I think I’d be happy — he’s a hard ass that tells it like it is, yet has his [rare] fatherly moments. And he will cook delicious meaty burgers and frowns upon fake meat. I frown upon fake meat only because I think it tastes disgusting. Bleh!

In lieu of my excitement for the return of my beloved sitcom, I scoured the interwebz for all sorts of Parks and Recreation goodies. Here’s what I found:

via CraigJW ($15 US)

via PeachyApricot ($30 US)

via NBC ($25 US — SO CUTE!)

via SmokinChix ($14 US, also comes in baby blue and adult t-shirts for $18 US and toddlers for $15 US)

via Mandaroux ($18 US, and there’s also a matching ring for $15 US)

I want a man to take me out to dine on expensive fillet mignon wrapped in bacon, and then I want him to present this necklace to me afterwards… just because.

And since I couldn’t find anything cool with Tom Haverford on it,  I shall just leave you all with this piece of genius:

PS: If you have Netflix, seasons 1 & 2 are on instant queue! As for season 3, use Google to find it…? o___0

PPS: Parks and Recreation returns on September 22 @ 8:30 on NBC. WOOOO! Watch the sneak peek for season 4 here.

Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer, the adorably odd newly wed couple, will be gracing the west coast with their presence on a mini tour appropriately dubbed “An Evening with Neil Gaiman & Amanda Palmer.” The stage will be equipped with a piano, ukelele, two microphones, and possibly some oddball instruments, as Gaiman and Palmer entertain crowds in intimate venues with songs and stories they’ve written (both published and unpublished).

Here’s where they’re heading:

• Oct. 31: Los Angeles, CA @ the Wilshire Bell Theatre
• Nov. 4: San Francisco, CA @ the Palace of Fine Arts
• Nov. 8: Portland, OR @ the Aladdin Theatre
• Nov. 9: Seattle, WA @ the Moore Theatre
• Nov. 10: Vancouver, BC @ the Vogue Theatre

• a digital download of the recording
• limited edition first pressing of the CD set
• a print by Cynthia Von Buhler (pictured above)
• setlists from the show signed and doodled by both Gaiman and Palmer
• AND TONS OF OTHER THINGS.

For more info about their Kickstarter and the other items you can score by donating, go here.

PS: Did you spot the TARDIS in the Cynthia Von Buhler illustration?

Fondant has got to be the prettiest, bestest baking tool. And the best word to describe fondant ever. Head over to Bakerella, roll up your sleeves, and get cracking on these graham crackers!