Q- What the heck is a Cheekycake?

A- Our deliciously audacious take on the ever popular cupcake.

This week’s Cheekycakes are our picks for Oscar winners!

1.  Best Director – Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan: Black and White. A chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting topped with a feather.

2.  Best Actor – Colin Firth in The Kings Speech: Carrot cake cupcake with cream cheese frosting topped with a crown.

3.  Best Picture – The Social Network:  A chocolate cupcake topped with a big ol’ blue F!

Cupcake creations made by Sweet G’s.

sweetgscupcakes@gmail.com

A few weeks ago, I was at Cipriani Downtown in NYC and the waiter tried to convince me that Pouilly Fume was Chardonnay.. Really? No way. I did not believe and asked him to get a second opinion.. He returned to the table ‘I just checked with our Sommelier who is from France and he assured me that Pouilly Fume is Chardonnay’ How could I argue with that? Had I been mistaken this whole time? As soon as I got back to the hotel, I googled Pouilly Fume to find out that he was wrong! Now I keep some handy apps on my phone to make sure I have wine info at the tip of my fingers.. I urge my fellow borracha’s to do the same

AG Wine ($3.99)

• The Approach Guides Wine app is a resource for learning about wine styles, appellations, grape varieties and food pairings. Users can select their country of choice and then search for wine options based on personal preference
• Good for winos who don’t know specifics about which wines they want, but have a sense for what they’re looking for.

Hello Vino (Free)

• Hello Vino provides wine recommendations for when you’d like to match wine with a particular food, a special occasion, a particular taste, or you simply desire a wine from a certain region. Share wine picks via Twitter and Facebook.

Drync Wine Pro ($4.99)

• Reviews for hundreds of thousand wine listings
• Essentially a “who’s who” of wine, Drync lists “Featured,” as well as “Most Popular” and “Top Wanted” wines as calculated by user actions and ratings
• Each wine listing offers a detailed description of its taste, as well as reviews from oenophiles at Wine Spectator, Wine & Spirits, Wine Enthusiast and more

Cor.kz Wine Info ($3.99)

• Search for wines by region or varietal, or use the barcode scanner.
• “Pedia” has hundreds of entries for all things wine, for those who are thirsty for knowledge and for the drink itself

by K. Madison Moore

TMarie aka my best friend’s mom| cheesecake baker for Granada| artist| has now added scarf making to her list of talents.. and these arent just typical scarves. Like everything Thelma (TMarie) does, she uses only the rarest, finest materials she can find. Creating and designing these scarves went from simple pastime to must-have accessory virtually overnight. She started out participating in local SLO town trunk shows and now has a waiting list of women all over the country waiting to receive their one-of-a-kind handmade scarf.

Check out her website for a visual list of her current offerings.. So what else is up TMari’s sleeve? Fingerless gloves and knee-high socks. Both are currently in the works and have yet to be officially announced, making Borracha the exclusive source of this exciting information!

A couple of weeks ago, after a long day of sales calls, Kimberly encouraged me to rid the word ‘um’ from my vocabulary. We made ‘self improvement funds’ out of used wine bottles and every time I say “um”, I have to put a dime in the bottle. Needless to say, I’m going broke. Ha!

But, she’s right, I have a common ‘verbal virus’! A bad habit of using meaningless fillers that speckle our speech. I’ve noticed lots of other people carrying the same bad habit. This virus seems to be contagious and we pick it up without being aware of it. It makes us sound unsure, unprepared and uneducated. The good news is – it’s easily cured. Here’s the treatment:

Diagnose the problem. Since verbal viruses are unconscious, the only way you’ll hear them is to focus on what you say to determine if you are suffering from an infection.

Pause. Whenever you catch yourself saying “um”, just stop talking. Say nothing or take a breath. For me, this gap of silence felt scary at first, but I noticed the listener really didn’t notice. A pause helps you gather your thoughts while giving the listener time to reflect on what you have just said.

Ask your friends and family for help. The constant reminder will help you break the habit fast.

Let me know how you do. And remember, It only takes 3-weeks to break a bad habit.

Cheers to a quick recovery!

~ Mojo