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Remember these lovely photos from Ikea's Homemade is Best cookbook? ( Was this ever available in English? / Are there plans for that? )  The photographer for that project, Carl Kleiner, has done more beautiful aerial work for Ikea, this time focusing on tableware. I love how familiar objects can be transformed into elegant, almost abstract patterns . You can see more photos from both project on Carl Kleiner's portfolio .

Photo via CBC.ca Cake: sweet, delicious, and a great tool for Urban Planning. Wait... what? A group of McGill University urban planning students think that cake is a great tool for dialogue. They baked a huge cake that mimics the surrounding neighbourhood and set up outside a metro station, trying to get people to talk about their community. "Chocolate cake is an opportunity to kind of radically re-think how people talk about an issue...you just can't get upset about chocolate cake," said Gilliam. So true. And really, who doesn't love a chat over a piece of cake? Read the whole story on CBC.ca.

Craft Rock Friday is still on a sugar high from Halloween. This video for Kina Grannis' song, "In Your Arms" should take care of all our candy cravings... considering it's covered in jellybeans. 288,000 jellybeans, to be exact. The style of stop motion animation reminds me a little of the popular Oren Lavie video . But with more candy, of course. Also check out the "behind the scenes" video. Seriously, that is a crazy number of jellybeans, a ton of jellybean mosaics and an INSANE amount of work. P.S. Speaking of Halloween candy, also check out Jimmy Kimmel's challenge to parents: tell your kids you ate all their Halloween candy . (Thanks for the link, Linds!)

I was hard pressed to come up with a category for my last set of "7 Deadliest Halloween Recipes"... There were too many random wonderful ghoulish recipes to choose from. So here are a motely crew of creepy and cute Halloween recipes. Brains in a Jar Cupcakes by Living Locurto -- Such an awesome idea!   Witches' Fingers Cookies by Magda's Cauldron -- This one is a family tradition for us! Jello Worms by Mel's Kitchen Cafe -- Made with Jello and a straw.   Brain Cupcakes by Martha Stewart -- I love the icing on these. Skull Madeleines by Martha Stewart -- I can't get enough of the expressions on the marshmallow skull faces. Green Meanies by TLC Cooking -- Simple, yet full of personality (and mystery...) Mummy Dogs (with Spiderweb dip!) by Pilsbury Enjoy your spooky snacking!

Today's Halloween recipes are some of my faves. Any excuse to incorporate owls into the mix, really. Here are the seven deadliest owl -themed Halloween recipes... Owl Smores by Living Locurto Night Owl Cookies on BrightIdeas.com Owl Cheese Spread by Recipe.com Owl Bento Box by Mothering Corner Owl Brownies by Sweet Mama Owl Cake Pops on Bakerella And last but not least... Not one, but two , owl wedding cakes! Via Bella Wedding Events . Amazing. If only I'd thought of that before I got hitched! :) What a hoot!

Yesterday's ghost recipes were all on the cute side. Not so, today, my fearful friends. Not so. Things are gonna get gross and googly-eyed, case here are the seven deadliest eyeball -themed Halloween recipes. Eyeball Pasta from BBC Good Food Oozing Potatoes by Sandra Lee on Delish.com Jelly Shot Eyeballs from Jelly Shot Test Kitchen Eyes of Newt from Parenting.com ... made from mini donuts!   Eyeball C ookies from Taste of Home   Eerie Eyeballs from Britta Blvd Eyeball Highball Ice Cubes from Martha Stewart

Boo! Every year, it seems like there are more and more fun and awesome recipes out there for Halloween. So many that picking my faves was pretty tough... so I've broken it down into creepy categories. Here are my picks for the seven deadliest ghost -themed Halloween recipes. Stay tuned for more revolting recipes to come later in the week! Ghostly Pizza Mashed Boo-tatoes Boo-Nilla Shakes Strawberry Ghosts   Meringue Ghosts Ghost Pumpkin Pudding Cups Marshmallow Ghost Cake

Happy Pancake Tuesday! A fabulous day for flat foods all over the world. Read up on your Pancake Tuesday facts and trivia over at The Guardian , and also pick up a few recipes . The sweet potato pancakes sound lovely. The pancake is prehistoric. Grinding boring but nutritious grains into flour, blending them with protein-rich liquids such as milk or eggs and cooking the mixture made for an extremely palatable food, and it seems likely that pancakes were among the first things humans learned to cook. Once you've got fire in your caveman arsenal it's easy to heat a piece of flint or slate to make a basic griddle. The Roman food writer Apicius describes a batter of eggs, milk, water and flour which was fried and served with honey and pepper. It sounds rather good. -- The Guardian Though this is likely to change on a daily basis (and is closely linked to what pancakes are within my range of smell..) my top three forms of pancakes right now would probably be: Dosas (If you...

Christoph Niemann -- the mastermind behind I Lego NY -- has been baking. His Let it Dough series will get you into the holiday spirit... and make you want to make/eat cookies. Check out the full Let it Dough series on the NYTimes site.

The ultimate in holiday cuteness has got to be Not Martha's tiny gingerbread houses. Seriously. It does not get more festive than this. Check out the full story on Not Martha here and here .

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Ok Go knows this. They also know how to make great music videos. Their new video for "Last Leaf" is comprised of 2,430 laser-etched pieces of bread. That's a whole lotta toast.

Just in time for Halloween this weekend, here are three awesome pumpkins.... but only one is a real pumpkin. Modernist Pumpkin by Happy Mundane Cross-Stitched Skull Pumpkin by Elsie Marley Pumpkin Cake with a Surprise Inside by I Am Baker

Are popsicles the new cupcakes? It sure seems that way. A few years back, Magnolia bakery in NYC started a cupcake trend that spread across North America: today you can find cupcake shops in most major cities. Now popsicles seem to be the new hot (or cool) thing in the Big Apple. A post on iVillage Food gives the lowdown on where to get the best popsicles in town. People's Pops sells at markets and focuses on fresh and local ingredients. Sounds like my kinda dessert. Even Martha 's a fan. Where do the flavor ideas come from? D: We go to the GreenMarket each week and try to build flavors around the best produce that the farmers brought to market that week. ~Interview with on People's Pops on Gothamist La Newyorkina 's mission is to "Bring modern Mexican ice pops to the streets of New York". I'd love to try their Aguacate (Avocado), Jamaica (Hibiscus) or Mango con Chile (Spicy Mango) flavours . PopBar (pictured above) is packed with a whole lotta style. Y...

Hello, July! It's finally full-on SUMMER ( please don't let me down now, Vancouver weather! ) and it's an extra-long long-weekend for many ( Happy Canada Day and Fourth of July! )... so today, Craft Rock Friday comes with an extra helping of sunshine. And I know just the girl for that. Sophie Madeleine is completely and utterly charming. Her voice is lovely, her lyrics are brilliant... and did I mention that she plays the ukulele?! Sophie has the perfect song for Craft Rock Friday: "The Knitting Song" Lovely, right? Have a listen to this one -- "Take Your Love With Me" (aka "The Ukulele Song") Sophie also plays with a partner as Rocky and Balls . Here's their song, "Love Cake" OK, a couple more! Just to carry you through the long weekend. :) Rocky and Balls perform "I Heart You Online" Sophie Madeleine and The Sailor Jerrys' cover of "Goody Goody" (with kazoos!)

Nice cover (!) story in the WestEnder today about so-called "hipster homemakers" in Vancouver - featuring Spool of Thread , Coco Cake , Baker’s Market and the Modern Quilt Guild ! You can read the full article - including a nice close up of the amazing yardstick counter at Spool of Thread (not to mention Lili and Henry!) - on the WestEnder site .