photo by Hurleyfamily
DEAR SARA: Do you know how to make a cupcake cake? I want to make one for my grandson’s birthday, and I’m wondering how hard it is. — Jayne, Pennsylvania
DEAR JAYNE: When you bake your cupcakes, make them all uniformly level. You don’t want your typical mounded cupcake. Once baked, if any are too rounded on top, cut them so they’re level. Next, you need to decide on a layout. To make it easy, you can start with a standard rectangle shape. Line up 12 cupcakes by having three rows of four cupcakes each. You “glue” them using frosting onto a piece of cardboard. This will keep them from shifting as you frost them. If you want the cake extra secure, you can glue them to one another using frosting as glue. You can attempt frosting as you would a regular cake, but it’s much easier and neater to use an icer tip. If buying an icer tip, you want a 2-inch kwik icer tube. The tip attaches to an 18-inch or larger decorating bag. You squeeze the icing on. It should take five or six even sweeps across your three rows for your cupcakes to be well covered. Then smooth the icing over so you don’t see the “seams.” Finally, decorate it as you would a regular sheet cake.
photo by jrishel
DEAR SARA: I stepped off the curb onto our street. It was blacktopped about a week ago, and I thought it was dry, but clearly not. I spent the next half hour with an ice cube and a plastic knife, scraping tar off the bottom of my shoes. During this fun process, I managed to get little tiny dots of tar all over my green cotton shirt. How do I get them off? — Amy, Ohio
DEAR AMY: Try spraying your shirt with WD-40. Blot it with a paper towel and then launder as usual in the washer with detergent.
DEAR SARA: I see a lot of inverted gardens where the plants are suspended upside down from the bottom of a hanging container. They’re expensive to buy. How can I make one? — Jill, Indiana
DEAR JILL: To make a hanging garden, use containers such as two-liter plastic soda-pop bottles, two- to five-gallon plastic buckets with lids or hanging coco baskets. If you’re using the pop bottle, cut the bottom of the bottle with a craft knife. Place a small plant into the bottle (roots up, plant down) and gently push the plant through the small opening. Take the bottom half of the bottle that you cut off and cut holes into the bottom of it. Fill the bottle with soil, and place the bottom section that you cut off back on but upside down. Secure it with duct tape. Punch four holes into the bottle, and use rope to hang.
If you’re using a bucket, drill 1/2-inch to 2-inch holes (using a hole saw) in the bottom center of the bucket. Place newspaper in the bottom of the bucket to help secure your plant roots and so soil doesn’t fall out when you hang it. Cut a slit into the newspaper, push your plant through the newspaper slit and bucket hole, and fill with soil. Drill a hole into the lid, too. This is how the plant will get water. This is heavier than a two-liter bottle, so hanging it from a clothesline pole is ideal. Some people put newspaper on the top under the lid and then invert the bucket and plant their plant. They then let it grow for a bit (right side up) to be sure the plant establishes roots. If you’re using a coco basket, simply cut a slit into the bottom of the basket, and, like the other two methods, push your plant through the bottom and fill the container with soil.
photo by mygothlaundry
photo by kkimpel
译文:
简单的纸杯蛋糕
DEAR SARA：你知道怎样做纸杯蛋糕吗？我想为我的孙子做个生日蛋糕，我在想它会不会很难。-Jayne, Pennsylvania
DEAR JAYNE：在你烘烤纸杯蛋糕时，你要把它们都弄平。你是不想看到像山墩那样的纸杯蛋糕的。一旦烤好后，它们有的在顶端显得太圆了就把它们削一下以使它们平滑。接下来，你需要选个设计。为了简单起见，你可以以一个简单的矩形开始。以3行每行4个纸杯蛋糕排成12个纸杯蛋糕。用玻璃粉把每片纸板“粘”起来。这样就可以防止在冷冻时它们的移位变化。如果你想让它们特别的固定，你可以用玻璃粉作为胶把它们粘起来。你可以试图用玻璃粉做个常规的蛋糕，但是用冷凝器更简洁更方便。如果买个冷凝器就需要一个2英寸的冷凝软管。顶端粘附着一个18英寸或者更大的装饰袋。把糖衣挤开。你将花5或6次的时间去使你的3排蛋糕完全盖好。为了掩盖接缝你可以把糖衣弄平滑。最后，你可以就你想象的那样把它装饰成一大块蛋糕。
DEAR SARA:我踏过边石到我们的街道上面行走。一周以前我还认为它是一条干的泊油路，但是很显然它不是的。接下来我花了半个小时用一块近似立方体的冰块和一把塑料刀把柏油从我的鞋底擦去。在这有趣的过程中，我设法把小块的柏油斑点从我的绿色棉布衬衣弄掉。我怎样做到的？-Amy, Ohio
DEAR AMY: 试着用WD-40喷洒你的衬衫。用纸巾把它吸干，接着像往常一样在洗涤机里面用洗涤剂把它洗涤干净。
DEAR SARA:我看见一个从悬挂容器底部花卉都倒过来悬置的倒转的园林。它们很贵。我怎样才能得到一个？-Jill, Indiana
DEAR JILL: 要做一个空中花园，需要用像一个2升苏打汽水塑料瓶，2-5加仑的有盖塑料桶或者悬挂的椰子篮子。如果你用汽水瓶，就用一把工艺刀削去瓶子的底部。吧一个小植物放到瓶子里面（根朝上，植物朝下），轻轻地从一个小开口处挤压植物。从瓶子底部的2分之1处切断瓶子挖个小洞。用土填满小洞，把你切掉的部分倒置安放好。用大力胶把它稳固好。在瓶子上戳4个孔，并用绳子把它悬挂起来。
如果你用一个水桶，就在桶底部中心的处钻个二分之一英寸处或2英寸处（用孔据）的孔。把报纸放到篮子的底部以帮助植物的根固定，以免当你悬挂它的时候土壤掉下来。把报纸切个小逢，通过竹篮和报纸的小孔挤压植物，用土壤把它填满。同时也要在盖子上钻了孔。通过这植物可以吸取水分。最理想的是把它悬挂在晾衣绳上因为这要比一个2升的瓶子重些。有些人把报纸放在盖子的顶部，倒置竹篮，种植植物。接着人们让它慢慢生长（正面朝上）以确保植物的根稳扎在里面。如果你用装椰子的篮子，就只需在篮子底面钻个小孔，跟先前的两种方法一样，通过篮子底部挤压植物，用土壤装满容器。
photo by mygothlaundry
photo by kkimpel