Jessi, Author at Quirky Cookery

Cheesy pizza billboards – So good you can almost taste it

advertising, funny, pizza, quirky | October 16, 2010 | By Jessi

Or not. But you can at least giggle at them!
Donatos hand tossed pizza cheese stretches billboard advertisment
donatos hand toss pizza big on taste steaming pizza billboard with real steam
Another Donatos one. I’ve only ever had those pizzas in Columbus, OH, so I don’t know if they’re elsewhere even. I know they definitely got creative with the advertising, though.
Korea pizza add where cheese is stretched up the stair walls
Pizza Hut advertising in Korea

Mmm, extra cheese.
papa john's pizza advertisement where cheese stretches across telephone pole wires
Looks like Papa John’s getting in on the cheesy action, too.

Mario Party – Your princess is…a Peeping Tom!

art, birthday parties, birthdays, cake, cake decorating, holidays, kids, parties, video games | October 15, 2010 | By Jessi

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When N turned 8, all she wanted for her birthday was a Mario Gameboy game. She didn’t care what else she got….just that. She spent months after, playing her Mario game. When Christmas rolled around, she got yet another collection of games, but Mario was still a favorite.

If you read Quirky Jessi, you know that I have a slight ~~adoration~~ obsession for Mario, so this pleases me greatly, hehe.

A full year later at her next birthday (and her desire for Mario had sprouted before then, so it was really even longer), she was still just as into her Gameboy Advance….and Mario could still hold her attention. Well duh, it’s Mario…. :P

So the game plan was for a Gameboy party, but that slowly morphed into being a bit more Mario-centered. We’d have a Gameboy cake and then Mario “extras” to go with the gaming theme.

My camera picked up more color difference than was actually there. Really, the blues were matched almost perfectly.

I had been playing with fondant the days before, not knowing how it’d turn out, but having fun all the same. I made enough goombas for each of the kids and a couple other feature toons.

They were intended to be just something fun to giggle at and let everybody try, but at the last minute, they found themselves on the cake anyway! Yikes.

They’re held on with toothpicks and tape on the back. The princess is holding a tiny blue “gameboy cake” to mimic N’s own cake.

The candles each went into a button on the game pad. In the lower left of the picture, you can see another Princess Peach and the top of a goomba guy that I pulled from my old stash of toys.

N opted to eat her Princess’ “cake” first, which left the Princess with no middle!

What is it about eating the head/eyes off something first?

I wasn’t entirely sure how into it the other kids would be. Just because N likes playing Mario on her Gameboy, doesn’t mean her friends even play video games at all, much less Mario. And hey, just because I and the rest of the world thinks he’s an icon, doesn’t mean the kids would even recognize him.

Yes, this is picture proof that the Mario Kart Love Song was playing when she was brought into the room and again later a couple times, along with the Mario theme song, which I teased the girls they’d have to hum instead of the Happy Birthday song.

Well they all did, and I got confirmation of their excitement when we passed out the Mario cups. One little girl had needed a drink before the party actually started because she felt like something was stuck in her throat. Because it was all a surprise, she was given a plain cup for her quick drink. When they passed out the cups, she didn’t take one because she already had a cup, but started to get upset because hers didn’t have a Mario M on it. :( Aww! Quickly corrected, of course.

They even played “pin the crown on the princess.”

From the inside, you could still see the color and as all the kids waited, it looked like Princess was spying on them!

Homemade is Best – IKEA’s visual cookbook with picture recipes

books, cookbooks, desserts, other sites, recipes | October 14, 2010 | By Jessi

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cinnamon roll cookbook ikea
That is the recipe for these cinnamon rolls:
cinnamon rolls from visual cookbook ikea

Toxel had people arguing and criticizing about how useless it is, but I really think a lot of people missed the idea of it being photographic art and less of a “real cookbook” replacement. It could be used as a real recipe, but if you’re someone who lives by very specific measurements with detailed instructions, you’d definitely have a harder time with these visual guidelines.

Here’s another example, using a berry cake:
berry cake with visual instructions and ingredients pictures
picture of berry pie from ikea cookbook
From IKEA, here’s a bit about their inspiration and motivation for creating a book like this:

We wanted to ensure a connection between IKEA’s kitchen appliances and one of the best things you can do in a kitchen, some great baking. So the main attraction in the campaign became a 140 page coffee-table baking book presented in a very visually unique and spectacular way.

90% of all the photographs taken in baking books look extremly alike. We wanted to try something different and present the recipes in a totally new fashion.

We let ourselves be inspired by high fashion and japanese minimalism. The idea of the book became to tone down the actual cake and put the ingredients in focus. The recipes are presented as graphic still-life portraits on a warm and colourful stage. And when you turn the page you see the fantastic result.

The baking book contains 30 classic swedish baking recipes everything from small biscuits to large cakes.

I think they did a pretty good job at what they were aiming for. This site actually has what looks to be all (or most) of the recipes.
IKEA cookbook Hembakat Ar Bast Homemade is Best visual recipes with pictures instead of words instructions