Yay! It’s my very first Currently Obsessed post! I have a serious sweet tooth – as you will probably find out after subsequent posts – so I thought it fitting to relate all these items to mouth-watering sweet stuff!

1) Cupcake Car: When I saw these incredible “cars” capable of going a whopping 7mph, I actually screamed, in a pretty high-pitched voice: “Ohmygosh! They are soooo CUTE!” Because they so are. If any of you have $25,000 to spare you can get yourself the best Christmas present ever: a vehicle slower than a bike – but probably faster than your normal walking speed –  that is fully customisable so you can get a car that resembles your favourite cupcake! I’m dreaming of the day that I arrive to school in one of these…The only question that remains: Do I need a driving license for one of these?!!

2) Oreo Cupcakes: I got pretty obsessed with cupcakes this week, and these look SO delicious! I mean pink panda cupcakes that are made from Strawberry Milkshake flavoured Oreos! Can you get more mouth-watering then that?

3) Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain (Or just Amélie): I’ve just started my A-Level French course at school and my teacher said that we needed to expose ourselves to more French culture; movies, music, book etc. So I decided to watch a French movie – I’m so glad I picked Amelie! It has actually become one of my favourite movies of all time! Its about a kooky waitress in Paris who leads a simple life and decides to devote her life to bringing strangers happiness. It is the cutest movie ever – I know I overuse the word cute, but there is no other way to describe this movie! You don’t even need to speak French – watch it with the English subtitles!

4) Carmex Cherry Lip Balm: Cherry Carmex is the best lip balm ever! I have really chapped lips but this lip balm makes them feel all moisturised and smooth! Your lips actually tingle when you put it on AND it smells so good! Every time I reapply it people will go: Are you eating a sweet? What smells so good? It only costs £2 as well, I can’t find any downsides!

5) Nymph Costume: So Halloween isn’t as huge a deal here in The UK as it is in the US, but I still think it is a great excuse for fancy dress! How beautiful is this handmade, leaf-adorned tunic? I think dressing up as Greek Forest Nymph would make the perfect Halloween costume! It is obviously dressing up, it is a unique idea and its just really pretty and feminine! Too bad it’s not exactly scary!

6) Irregular Choice Shoes: Irregular Choice makes the wackiest most original shoes that I have ever seen! You need to check out their website! I love all the colours and prints and the different structures – can you use the word structures when describing shoes? – that all the shoes have, but, my favourite pair by far are the ones covered with little ice creams! I went and tried them on in the store and everything, but unfortunately I am completely incapable of walking in 6inch heels!

I hope this isn’t getting too tiresome for you non-New-Yorkers, but if so, no worries. I’m leaving here on Tuesday, and promise to be located in a much more boring town for the next two years!

In the meantime… remember when I went to Economy Candy (and then somehow ended up writing a blog post all about food in Children’s Books)? Well, a reader named Stephanie told me I must visit Dylan’s Candy Bar. Which I did, in combination with my trip to Serendipity 3 (two blocks away!).

Even though it’s a little tourist-trappy, it’s a most fabulous and wondrous place for someone with an affinity for candy + bright colors + pretending to still be a child. It’s almost like a little candy art museum: there are tubs of gumballs, stairs with candy stuck inside them!, candy murals, and even a portrait made of Jelly Bellys:

My favorite favorite part, though, was a display downstairs in which famous people filled little boxes with their favorite candies and then signed them. Such a cool idea!

If you want to visit: Dylan’s Candy Bar in NYC is located at 1011 Third Ave. (E 60th and 3rd). You can take the 4, 5, 6, N, R, W to the Lexington Ave stop. (You can take a combined trip to Serendipity 3 which is on 60th between 2nd and 3rd.)

There are also other locations in in East Hampton and Garden City (New York), as well as Houston and Orlando (but I cannot attest to their awesomeness).

After the jump, Steven Spielberg’s favorite candies!:

Alright, so this post will contain several sections, possibly including but not limited to: introduction, children’s books, candy store.

Introduction

You heard it here first (unless you read my personal blog. or are my facebook friend. or follow me personally on Twitter.): I am moving. Yes, I am abandoning NYC, my home, my lovely lovely home, and making my way southward, all the way down to Virginia, where I am going to become a Writer of Stories and Novels.

But before I become said Famous Writer of Stories and Novels (yeah, I just added famous), I am trying to get my few-month, pre-departure fill of NYC. This, by the way, is impossible, but in my travels I have seen many things (Brooklyn Bridge! Purple Rice! Shelves of candy! Pastel-colored malls! Grassy knolls in the middle of city streets!). So here I begin “Places & Spaces,” one of the many columns Stickers & Donuts can never hope to keep up with on any kind of regular basis.

Childhood Memories of (Not Real) Candy Stores
(which then leads to childhood memories of other foods)

So, my Place & Space is a fantastic candy store which I’ll get to, but walking into it reminded me of the days of old when they seemed to have candy stores — no not pharmacies where you could purchase candy, but actual stores devoted exclusively to the selling of candy to children for a nickle — on every corner.

And if you are thinking, “Maria, you weren’t alive for that era” then you may or may not be right, but I was alive for the era where everyone from that era started making movies and writing books where said candy stores existed. I have always dreamed of going into a candy store with candies piled high to the sky. YOU MUST WATCH THE FOLLOWING PIPI LONGSTOCKING CLIP to get a full understanding of what I mean by the quintessential 1950s Candy Store:

Now, if you also read the same books and watched the same movies as I did in your childhood, you may not remember the candy stores and the food (but, come on, you would remember that scene, right? those bright flowery bags? all that candy?! the kid stuffing the frosted thing in his mouth?!!!). That is because, apparently, ALL OF MY MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD ARE ASSOCIATED WITH FOOD.

Examples:

The first and most obvious book I remember from my childhood is Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. I have a particular memory of the pancake over the school because it combined the joy of both food and a school closing. Unfortunately, I could only locate a picture of the glistening jello in the forest:

I had a lot of Berenstain Bear books. The only one I can remember is the one where they ate Too Much Junk Food. Suffice to say the point really passed over my head and my main memory concerns the double page spread of a table filled with the most delicious junk food you can imagine.

Then, of course, there is The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe. Yes, Turkish Delight sounds delightful, but as I prepared for this post, I desperately searched for an illustration of what I had apparently deemed a memorable tea party at the beginning of the book. These were the only specific details I remember from the entire book which I read ten years ago. And here is the passage my brain chose to remember:

Great. Then of course there is Alice in Wonderland teas and I know I would be remiss without mentioning Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and even as an adultish creature my greatest memory of the movie Chocolat is this rich, creamy cup of steaming hot chocolate that looked like it was just a cup of melted chocolate bars. Oh, and Matlida. I know you are supposed to be grossed out by that giant chocolate cake. Me, not so much.

In Conclusion: Economy Candy is a Fantastic Store in Manhattan

The above tangential section leads me to my ideal place of joy, and yes, all of the above was required to explain just how wonderous it is. It’s not fancy, but it is stackedddd to the ceiling with candy and fruits and nuts and chocolates and CHOCOLATE COVERED S’MORES.

It’s called Economy Candy and it’s on 108 Rivington Street on the Lower East Side. Usually opened 9-6 (Saturdays 10-5). Check out some of these fab images I snitched off Yelp:

And that is the short story long, my friends. Now go to bed or back to work, either way, be sure those sugarplums dance in your head.

I don’t know if anyone has posted this yet, or maybe I’m the only young adult out there reading Woman’s Day (er…) but I AM SO EXCITED about this periodic table of cupcakes. Go to the Woman’s Day page to view the table larger, see how it’s color-coded, and (yes!) if you click on any square you get the corresponding recipe (and more pictures, usually)!

The table is so well designed, isn’t it? And it’s about cupcakes! I wish you could clik on a square and a cupcake would appear on your desk. I’ve been thinking about cupcakes ALL DAY.

This is a rather dorky, unartsy set, but, nonetheless, these are the things I currently can’t stop talking about:

1. I have The Biggest Loser Workout: Power Sculpt, but now I wish I had bought it with The Biggest Loser Workout: Cardio Max so I could alternate workouts. REASONS I love this exercise DVD: (1) it’s split into several sections so you can add different levels together and “make your own workout” that’s anywhere from 30 to 50 minutes long, (2) the people in the background are not perfect, in fact they’re overweight, and you see them struggling as much as you, (3) it seems easy, but the next day you feel it like-whoa, which is why my arse is sore.

2. I know I am wayyyy behind on this one, but I just read The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. It’s a great piece of pop. psych literature. Find out how Hush Puppies, Blues Clues, and Airwalks became exciting fads (“epidemics”) and why other things… didn’t.

3. So, I use my Netflix account now to get all-Documentaries, all-the-time. Recently, I watched Man on a Wire, The Question of God, and a PBS documentary on Ernest Hemingway, but my favorite was this four hour documentary on Napoleon (Napoleon: Soldier, Emperor, Lover, Statesman). My FAVORITE part is when he returns to France from exile on Elba. Oh, and that he only needs to sleep like four hours a night. AWESOME! You can find out more at the PBS site.

4.  The Omnomicon food blog wrote a post on how to create a rainbow cake. Way better and brighter than confetti cakes!

5. Kittens, Inspired By Kittens is a youtube video where a little girl looks at pictures of kittens and says what the kitten is thinking/doing (which is often random, ie “We are eating peppers and chips!”). There is no reason I should like this, and yet the girl’s very last statement has me cracking up every time.

Is it weird that, though I am perpetually boyfriendless, I love Valentine’s Day? On Valentine’s Day I feel no sadness in my singularity, and view it as an excuse to do my favorite childish things: eat chocolate, wear pink, and make crafty cards. I think of it as a day to celebrate the concept of love in general. Loving your friends, your family, your Winnie-the-Pooh. I hope you feel the same way, but if not, maybe some of these sweet things will help get you in the mood (listed clockwise):

1. For the Key to your Heart: I found these lovely little Kamibashi dolls ($10) and key chains, which were featured in New York Time’s ten Valentine’s Day accessory picks.

2. Old Fashioned: Found these old fashioned Valentine’s on the site of a favorite S&D sponsor. Way better than a tear-off Hannah Montana card. (Perpetual Kid, $5)

3. New Fashioned: ReadyMade recommends using your lunch hour to make Valentine’s out of office supplies. We say, what better way to spend your lunch hour and not spend any money. If you like the miniature Valentine look, let me remind you of Tricia’s fabulous tiny things post (Twenty-two Pocket Sized Treasures), where she featured a The World’s Smallest Post Office, where you can send The World’s Smallest Letter for a mere $8.

4. Some Like it Hot: MarieBelle’s Aztec hot chocolate (mmm, eccentric!) was apparently on one of Oprah’s favorite things lists, and if it’s Oprah’s favorite, then it’s mine.

5. Heart of Gold: I Heart Guts could come in handy for several occasions. Maybe give a uterus to say congrats to a pregnancy, a brain for graduation, or, of course, a heart for Valentine’s Day. This lovable organ comes as either a Heart of Gold ($27) or the regular-old red thumper ($17).

6. Frog or Prince?: Put this plastic little froggy in water, and he turns into a handsome prince. Instant gratification, and no sticky kisses required. (Urban Outfitters, $6)

7. For Your Sugar (Fix): Yum, cupcakes! The more freshly baked, the better. Add a conversation heart for true holiday spirit. (From Baked, the hip bakery in Brooklyn and Charelston)

8. Neruda’s Love Poems: Whether you have a literary (or Latino, for that matter) lover, or you just going to spend Vday eating ice cream and reading love poems (not actually recommended), Pablo Neruda’s Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair is one the best collections of love poetry (a largely intolerable genre) available. Best in its original Spanish, it can be enjoyed in either language with this edition. (Penguin, $13).

9. lo-li-ta: Wouldn’t you love to pull this little Hello Kitty Pouch with Pom Pom ($13) out of your purse on Valentine’s Day? Filled with chocolate & conversation hearts, of course.

10. To Get You in the Mood: Finally, download tons of free Valentine’s Day fonts and dingbats at dafont.com, completely free, and completely cute. Just stick with Times New Roman for papers. (Featured here, Love Letters.)

NO, these carbohydrates are not from Tricia’s Tiny Things List, they are Iwako Pastry Erasers from JetPens ($5.50 for the 6 erasers & tray). As soon as I received them, I wrote the following email to my co-editor Tricia:

“tricia they sent me this and i can’t get anything done: i keep pulling off the top of the cream puff and putting it back on and then pretending to eat them and picking them up and putting them down and then moving the tray away from me so I’ll stop and then putting it back on the corner of my laptop. SERIOUSLY.”

Having now owned these delectable dishes for a full 10 hours, I am obsessed. They are the most realistic looking erasers I’ve ever seen – I believe they contend with plastic dollhouse food. You can TAKE OFF the top of the cream puff and there is a strawberry in there or you can take off the layers of the pizza. This obviously means hours of fun. At age 10, my dolls would’ve opened a pastry shop in the bottom floor of their wooden house. Now that I’m more than double that age, I’ve packaged them in a ziploc bag to bring to work (true story).

I have to admit, though I loved these little foods on first sight, I feared I was going to have to lump them into the same category as those dark pink erasers on the top of cheap pencils (you know, the kind that leave eraser smudges across the paper, which makes it worse than the mistake in the first place), or those pencil-toppers in the shapes of bears & cats. They were always much worse than regular erasers. I DESPISE bad erasers.

Anyway, I didn’t want to ruin my food, so I just used the bottom corner of the croissant. In a very scientific test which involved erasing an incorrect math answer, it performed just as well as the pink eraser atop my favorite pencil (Dixon Ticonderoga #2). Both left a ghost of my nine, but no smudges or ghastly pink or granite lines.

This was a huge surprise. There has to be new eraser technology or else why wouldn’t all of those crappy pencil toppers work better? As JetPens said themselves, “Mistakes seem somehow brighter when you erase them with a piece of cake” — especially when that piece of cake actually erases. Anyway, erasure success means only one thing: you need to buy TWO SETS — one for erasing and one to bring to work & pretend to eat.

Iwako Postry on Try Novelty Eraser — 6 Piece Set ($5.50) Or, if carbs aren’t your style, you can try for other eraser sets including sushi, american food (we eat french fries & soda, btw), or these lovely japanese snacks.

Note from Tricia: I, too, received this delightful set from JetPens yesterday, and I AGREE WITH EVERYTHING MARIA MENTIONED.  I am enamored with the cream puff, and the first act of my eraser exhibition to my coworkers involved me removing the top of the cream puff.  Oohs and Aahs followed.  (Of course.)

By now, you know I love cupcakes. Sometimes, I lay awake at night wondering if I should’ve named my blog Stickers & Cupcakes. I always get angry when my Ziploc-enclosed cupcake gets (a) smooshed, (b) icing all over the bag (yes, I turn the bag inside out and lick, is that gross?).

Anyway, despite Cup-A-Cake’s shameless use of Comic Sans on its web-page, I’m really exited about the no-smash containers they created. Apparently, you can turn these $3 suckers upside down and the icing still won’t get all over the place. Magic? I think so.

If you are much fancier than the Cup-A-Cake, don’t travel, and just found $60 under your couch, you can get a fabulously fancy cupcake stand from Fred Flare. Obviously, you will also need a fancy Alice-in-Wonderland-esque tea party dress to eat off of this plate.

I’ve been pretty obsessed with cupcakes lately, so I was thrilled to see these ice-cream-cone-filled cupcakes on New York Magazine’s “Grub Street” blog. (The inside scoop was originally from Blondie & Brownie’s food blog.) And the food itself? $3.50 at the Treats Truck, which I visited when I was at the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn this past year.

Sometimes, you want the icing and the cupcakes… and an art project. If so, crazyaboutcupcakes.com has inspiration images that will make you drool!

If you want to torture yourself with more sweet snacks, check out Oh Joy’s recent post on magical looking icy pops from icypops.com.