Cracking the code of the McDonald's Frappe

I have a certain "addicition" to the caramel frappes from McDonald's. I figured that since I have a blender that I could make my own and save a ton of cash. I've even followed a lot of "make a frappe like McDonald's" tutorials and none of them were really that close. They weren't gross, but they didn't taste like the ones I bought either--not by a long shot.

After many attempts, tests, and tinkering, I've found what I believe to be to be the closest recipe to a McDonald's caramel frappe. This will make the same amount as about a large frappe from McDonald's.

• 12 ice cubes
• 2/3 cup of International Delights Iced Coffee - Mocha Flavor
• 1/3 cup of International Delights Caramel Macchiato Creamer
• 6 seconds of squeezing of  Hershey's Caramel Syrup into the mix

I understand the the "6 seconds  of squeezing"  and "12 ice cubes" aren't exact measurements, but I've never actually measured that out. It can be adjusted to your liking. And, obviously you can sub in the flavors as you feel and make something just as awesome or more awesome than McDonald's.

I also want to say it's not EXACTLY like McDonald's frappe, but from all of my labors and from what a fellow frappe-lover has said, it's pretty damn close.

Non-food related, but I'm currently working on my workshop to get things arranged since I got a TON of new furniture. So, that's part of the reason for the lack of updates.

Mario Block Box

I had the idea of making a gift for someone. This person hasn't seriously played a game since the days of the N64, but is really into retro things. While my mind ran through ideas of games to make something from, I thought of different icons from retro games. While some ideas were great, they would have required much more time than I had. Finally, I settled on the idea of a Mario Block. But, that's boring, so I thought-- Hey, I can make it a box to store things in. Awesome, and functional. Woo

The first task was the decide how to construct this box. I decided on corner trim from Lowe's. It was already in the right shape ( L-shaped) so I just had to miter-cut the pieces to the correct length and angle to make them fit together. I then glued the panels in place. Voila! A box!

Inside the box.

Primed the box and sanded it down a bit for paint application.

Painted yellow with gloss enamel paint from Lowe's.

The question marks were cast from one question mark that I cut from styrene and glued together to give a 3D effect.

The box, sitting in my workshop, drying with some clear-coat polyurethane. 

 The lid. Each side of the cube has 4 1cm squares cut, painted, and glued to the surface.

 A plush mushroom inside. Surprise!

The completed box!