Zoo Animals in the Snow

At the national zoo the animals are enjoying the snow!

Where the human lives the snow has taken over for the time being, and staying home is the best remedy for the cold and dangerous roads. Take a look at these animals having more fun than my human is!

Pandas Mei Xiang and 16 month old cub Bao Bao:
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(Devin Murphy/Smithsonian National Zoo)
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(Devin Murphy/Smithsonian National Zoo)

Bao Bao enjoying the trees:
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(Devin Murphy/Smithsonian’s National Zoo)

African Lions
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(Amy Enchelmeyer/Smithsonian’s National Zoo)

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(Amy Enchelmeyer/Smithsonian’s National Zoo)

I would not have expected Afrcan Lions to appreciate snow! But I suppose they would get used to it living at the National Zoo where it is a fact of life in the winter.

The regal beauty of Sumatran Tiger Sukacita enjoying a walk in the snow:
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(Amy Enchelmeyer/Smithsonian’s National Zoo)

Rona the Grey Seal with a face full of snow:
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(Chelsea Grubb/Smithsonian’s National Zoo)

Hope you are all enjoying sunshine, staying warm, or are having this much winter fun!

-Fizz

See more photos at CBS Washington DC.

Panda Cupcakes

Here is a fun way to decorate cupcakes to look like panda bears, courtesy of Bakerella.

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(Bakerella)

Ingredients to make mini cupcakes:
1. cupcake mix – for as many cupcakes as you want or need.
chocolate flavor creates a complete look, but you can do any flavor.
2. chocolate chips – to make the ears, nose, and eye base. Ghiradelli brand has better diameter for this purpose, or another of comparable size.
3. white frosting –  enough for all your cupcakes.
4. white sanding sugar – to give the texture of fur.
5. Jimmies – chocolate or black to make mouth lines.
6. white pastel confetti sprinkles – for the white of the eye.
7. black edible ink pen – to draw pupils on the white sprinkles.

Note: If you wanted to make larger panda cupcakes just tweak the ingredients to use chocolate drops or large chocolate chips (which you might have to cut in half for the nose), larger or more sprinkles for the mouths, and use premade candy eyes or get creative with a circle of icing or fondant with a black sphere sprinkle or black edible ink circle for pupils. The process of putting them together would be the same.

Instructions:
1. Make your cupcakes according to your favorite recipe or the box in a mini cupcake pan (hey sometimes we all need to save a little time). Allow to cool.

2. Frost the cupcakes with the white frosting. A decorator bag with Ateco tip #807 will help to pipe a small mound of frosting on top of the cupcake. You do not need to cover the whole top because you will be pressing them in to the sanding sugar which will force the mound out to cover the whole top.

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(Bakerella)

3. Press the frosted cupcakes into the sanding sugar to spread the frosting and create a fur like texture.

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(Bakerella)

4. Press chocolate chips into the frosting to create the face. One should go sideways, point facing downward, towards the bottom of the face to create the nose. Two should go point down into the frosting above that to make the base for the eyes.  And two should go into the sides of the frosting, point down, to create ears.

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(Bakerella)

5. Press the Jimmies into the frosting to create any type of mouth you want.

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(Bakerella)

6. Finish the eyes by drawing circles on the confetti sprinkles and then attach them to the chocolate chip base with a bit of frosting. Or use frosting to make the eyes, or attach premade candy eyes.

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(Bakerella)

7. Make sure each face is how you would like them. Having the sanding sugar over the frosting also allows you to reshape the frosting to get your desired look.

8. Serve and enjoy!

This design is really cute and allows you to do your own take on just how a panda should look. Great for kids parties or just because!

– Fizz

You can see more pictures and get Bakerella’s cupcake and frosting recipes here.

Tare Panda

Tare Panda is a panda book and game character from Japan. The name means lazy or droopy panda, and the character is a very lazy panda who has to get around by rolling over. It loves to eat mochi and relax in teacups.

 

 

 

I think this guy is sooo cute! I have seen stuffed animals of it before, and did not know what it was until I decided to research it today.

Do you love tarepanda too? You can find a lot of merchandise like the below stuffed panda at shopkawaii.com:

Here is a cake of the little guys:

Cake from Krallecakes

It looks just like this stack of stuffed pandas:

Pandas at Washington’s National Zoo

The panda couple at the Washington National Zoo, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, who are on loan from the Chinese government have been allowed to stay in the US for another 5 years. This is very good news for the US and for panda kind. Hopefully we will see new baby pandas soon!

The original agreement for the pair was for ten years at a cost of $10 million dollars – which went to panda conservation in China. The new agreement rests on the condition that the pair will breed again, and if not one or both of the pandas can be exchanged for another in the hopes of baby pandas.  Their first baby, Tai Shan, born in 2005 was a hit at the zoo but all babies of this loaned panda pair must be returned to China and so Tai Shan went back in February of 2010.

Read more at Reuters.