Posts with the label Cakes
Showing posts with label Cakes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cakes. Show all posts
Jun 12, 2011
A Gift of Love
Sometimes, for no reason at all, I like to do something nice for my family. So I decided to make them cupcakes.
And to add that special touch, the one that REALLY says "I Love You" I decided to make them from scratch. Cuz you know making things from scratch means you have more love in your heart! I cut the recipe in half so that it made 9 cupcakes, just the right amount for us to eat all in one sitting.
Which we did, though it required hack saws and pry bars to get them out of the pan.
Nothin says Lovin like whatever this is from the oven!
They don't call me Miss Magic-Pants-Super-Baking-Machine for nothing!
And to add that special touch, the one that REALLY says "I Love You" I decided to make them from scratch. Cuz you know making things from scratch means you have more love in your heart! I cut the recipe in half so that it made 9 cupcakes, just the right amount for us to eat all in one sitting.
Nothin says Lovin like whatever this is from the oven!
They don't call me Miss Magic-Pants-Super-Baking-Machine for nothing!
Jan 6, 2011
Let's Just Wrap up December, Shall We?
Clearly I am failing at finding time to update this as much as I would like. So let's just do one big Superpost about December and cram everything into it, ok? OK.
And Colin thought it was BORING.
But he was wrong. Amber, we love you! And we love Colin. So much. We are so glad he is our little boy and we will forever be SO grateful to you.
Then we went to lunch at the India Palace and snapped a picture of the burning remains of the Provo Tabernacle. So sad.
April had told us at the courthouse that the Tabernacle was burning. And then snapped a picture of our reactions.
On December 6th we got our Tree,
And Harrison pushed Colin around in this spaceship.
On the 7th I decided to give Colin some baby food. This was his reaction:
But that was just his response to sweet potatoes. I got a video of of him eating Rice Cereal, which must be DELICIOUS.
oh, it kills me.
But no time to dawdle! Moving On!
On the 14th I made Colin some baby legs,
but decided that, even with skulls on them, they are still too much like leg warmers, and are way too girlie for my manly little boy.
Yes, a hat. That is more like it. Very Masculine.
Yep, very masculine iindeed.
-------------------------------------------------------
On December 17th we went to court to Finalize Colin's adoption.
And Colin thought it was BORING.
 |
| April and Colin |
But he was wrong. Amber, we love you! And we love Colin. So much. We are so glad he is our little boy and we will forever be SO grateful to you.
Then we went to lunch at the India Palace and snapped a picture of the burning remains of the Provo Tabernacle. So sad.
April had told us at the courthouse that the Tabernacle was burning. And then snapped a picture of our reactions.
That day was a wonderful event mixed in with so much heartbreak.
---------------------------------------------------
And then, on December 21st,
Harrison turned 4!
Harrison turned 4!
He is 37.25 inches tall, and weighs 29 pounds. Which puts him all the way up in the 3rd percentile! We are moving up! He is finally on the charts again!
We kept his party simple. Marion was in town, so she came over with her two little boys. We ate pizza from Two Jacks (because it is simply the best) and then sat around doing party things.
Harrison had asked for a Sheriff Woody cake, after seeing one at the grocery store. The ones at the store are just a half a sheet cake with a plastic Woody on top. I was feeling pretty lazy so I even went to the store to buy one, but they wanted $20.00 for it. I guess I am cheaper than I am lazy, cuz I decided to make a cake for him afterall. And then Harrison started getting all specific. He wanted a house on the cake. And Woody could go in the house and brush his teeth and go potty and go to bed in the house. Well, THAT wasn't going to happen, but I figured I could make a house. And I didn't stress about it being beautiful, because I really don't think it matters.
Though I should point out that Harrison asked for a RED house (which wasn't going to work with our food coloring, of course). I tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn't listen. He loved it though, so good for me!
HOWEVER, once I lit the candles and turned out the lights so that we could sing to him he thought it was scary and ran out of the room. So we let Marion's 2nd child blow the candles out.
Then it was safe for Harrison to come back in.
Then he opened some presents.
Marion gave Harrison the following truck. And her oldest son spent at least 20 minutes strait playing with it and saying "Wow, that's cool!"
I'm so glad you could be there Marion. Though why I am suddenly writing to you I can't say since I am 96% positive you will never read this. But it was fun. And Harrison loved it. He loved playing with your little boys. I think you made his birthday!
And now I am going to spare you all and will put Christmas in a separate post. So this is the end! You made it! Congratulations!
Then it was safe for Harrison to come back in.
Then he opened some presents.
Marion gave Harrison the following truck. And her oldest son spent at least 20 minutes strait playing with it and saying "Wow, that's cool!"
I'm so glad you could be there Marion. Though why I am suddenly writing to you I can't say since I am 96% positive you will never read this. But it was fun. And Harrison loved it. He loved playing with your little boys. I think you made his birthday!
And now I am going to spare you all and will put Christmas in a separate post. So this is the end! You made it! Congratulations!
Aug 4, 2009
So Far This Summer
We've squeezed in a trip to Lagoon...
where the fountain was Harrison's very favorite thing;
We did some swimming in the jungle behind our house (some of us swam more than others);
Harrison was actually willing to pose for some pictures for once;
We watched some Fireworks...
from as faraway as we could get;
Harrison learned how to climb out of his crib...
so we had to put his mattress on the floor till we could get another bed;
We went to a family reunion at Lake Walcott, ID...
where rock painting was one of the main events (Harrison wanted a turtle);
We posed for a picture next to a tractor at the Ward Campout;
And threw an impromptu summer birthday party for Harrison. This way our huge families don't have to try to find time in their busy December schedules to come to another party.
Yep, it has been a great summer so far!
where the fountain was Harrison's very favorite thing;
We did some swimming in the jungle behind our house (some of us swam more than others);
Harrison was actually willing to pose for some pictures for once;
We watched some Fireworks...
from as faraway as we could get;
Harrison learned how to climb out of his crib...
so we had to put his mattress on the floor till we could get another bed;
We went to a family reunion at Lake Walcott, ID...
where rock painting was one of the main events (Harrison wanted a turtle);
We posed for a picture next to a tractor at the Ward Campout;
And threw an impromptu summer birthday party for Harrison. This way our huge families don't have to try to find time in their busy December schedules to come to another party.
Yep, it has been a great summer so far!
Jun 17, 2009
Cake Decorating for You!
I haven't wanted to share much about my cake decorating with ya'll, cuz i didn't want you to be like "WHAAAT?" and then I would be like "I KNOOW!" and you'd be like "DAAAANG!" You can see why i hesitated. But the new the blog policy (that's blogicy to you) is: if I experience it, YOU experience it" (which is going to make Burrito week really fun) so lets look at a cake, shall we?
Last summer, i watched a whole lot of "Amazing wedding Cakes". and being married to my husband, who is the Do-It-Yourselfingest guy i've ever met, i decided I wanted to try to make a pretty cake all by myself. And since I am so impatient, I decided to make a 3 Teir cake. Cuz, why not? And my sister Demi had a bridal shower coming up, which would be the perfect excuse to make such a cake, so with seredipity on my side, i got cookin.
I just did the cakes from a mix to save time, though I have since looked for and tried out a few cake recipes from scratch, with varying levels of success. I made two mixes since I was making three tiers, and it took forever since I didn't have enough pans to cook it all at once. I was working on those silly cakes until midnight.
I let them cool overnight and officially started frosting the cakes the next morning. Applying frosting is very similar to applying spackle, but without the benefit of sanding afterward. Not only that, but sanded walls are usually still covered with texture to hide the imperfections. No such luck for me. I did a few layers of frosting, (including a crumb coating), but I just couldn't get it any smoother than this. Not bad for Cake #1 I suppose. I still had no idea how I was going to decorate it at this point (clearly a common problem for me) but i decided to just take it one thing at a time. Or rather, just 4 or 5 things at a time. Whatever.
I carved each layer so that it was a little bigger on the top than on the bottom, just to see if I could. Then I stuck 4 straws in each of the lower tiers to be used as supports for the tiers above - so the cake itself wasn't supporting all the weight. Then I stuck a wooden dowel through the entire cake once it was assembled to keep the tiers in place.
And then appeared this lovely ruffle. Things like this always seem to show up on my cakes. I beveled my cake, but forgot to trim my cardboard circle so I had to add a bunch of frosting to cover it up. Something about it reminds me of a very fancy Lei.
So, I wrapped each tier with a ribbon, (This would have worked so much better if the layer WASN'T beveled.) and not knowing what else to do I secured the ribbon with a strait pin. And thus was born the most excited of all shower games "Pins In the Cake"! And with an autumn theme for her wedding, I went to Joann's and found some autumny colored what-not and stuck it on the cake. And that was it. I just had to carry it on my lap all the way to the Bombay house. Transporting cakes is still something of a mystery to me.
Ya know, it kinda looks like a really fancy hat. How awesome would it be to wear a hat like that? Though it would be even better to wear a hat that was really cake. Nothing passes the time in a long business meeting like covertly nibbling on your hat. And I'm sure this look is more than appropriate for all your business meeting attire. Cake goes with everything!
Last summer, i watched a whole lot of "Amazing wedding Cakes". and being married to my husband, who is the Do-It-Yourselfingest guy i've ever met, i decided I wanted to try to make a pretty cake all by myself. And since I am so impatient, I decided to make a 3 Teir cake. Cuz, why not? And my sister Demi had a bridal shower coming up, which would be the perfect excuse to make such a cake, so with seredipity on my side, i got cookin.
I just did the cakes from a mix to save time, though I have since looked for and tried out a few cake recipes from scratch, with varying levels of success. I made two mixes since I was making three tiers, and it took forever since I didn't have enough pans to cook it all at once. I was working on those silly cakes until midnight.
I let them cool overnight and officially started frosting the cakes the next morning. Applying frosting is very similar to applying spackle, but without the benefit of sanding afterward. Not only that, but sanded walls are usually still covered with texture to hide the imperfections. No such luck for me. I did a few layers of frosting, (including a crumb coating), but I just couldn't get it any smoother than this. Not bad for Cake #1 I suppose. I still had no idea how I was going to decorate it at this point (clearly a common problem for me) but i decided to just take it one thing at a time. Or rather, just 4 or 5 things at a time. Whatever.
I carved each layer so that it was a little bigger on the top than on the bottom, just to see if I could. Then I stuck 4 straws in each of the lower tiers to be used as supports for the tiers above - so the cake itself wasn't supporting all the weight. Then I stuck a wooden dowel through the entire cake once it was assembled to keep the tiers in place.
And then appeared this lovely ruffle. Things like this always seem to show up on my cakes. I beveled my cake, but forgot to trim my cardboard circle so I had to add a bunch of frosting to cover it up. Something about it reminds me of a very fancy Lei.
So, I wrapped each tier with a ribbon, (This would have worked so much better if the layer WASN'T beveled.) and not knowing what else to do I secured the ribbon with a strait pin. And thus was born the most excited of all shower games "Pins In the Cake"! And with an autumn theme for her wedding, I went to Joann's and found some autumny colored what-not and stuck it on the cake. And that was it. I just had to carry it on my lap all the way to the Bombay house. Transporting cakes is still something of a mystery to me.
Ya know, it kinda looks like a really fancy hat. How awesome would it be to wear a hat like that? Though it would be even better to wear a hat that was really cake. Nothing passes the time in a long business meeting like covertly nibbling on your hat. And I'm sure this look is more than appropriate for all your business meeting attire. Cake goes with everything!
Jun 7, 2009
Hey! Would you look at that? It IS cake!
So I've mentioned before that I have sorta gotten into cake decorating. And it makes me feel like a spy. Because, like a spy, a cake decorator is only as good as their gadgets. Skill? Practice? Professional Training? Bah! It is all about the tools, and the professionals all know it.
So today we celebrated a birthday for my sister's twins, Gwen and Kreston. And I offered to make a cake. And as you may know, once you start decorating a cake it starts to take on a life of its own and all you really do it just direct it and hone it and turn it into what it was always meant to be.
But I was feeling really bad for all the cakes I've never made. I've got lots of nieces and nephews that I've never made cakes for (all the rest of them, come to think of it) and I really didn't want them to feel second best. A cake from Elesa is like a small piece of heaven after all.
I asked my sister if she had any requests, just for giggles, and then I promptly ignored all of them. I think I was really hoping for a request that was right along the lines of what I wanted to do anyway. but since I didn't know what that was, I had no such luck. And I was sort of having a hard time. I had no intention of making and decorating more than one cake, but how do you make a cake special for a 13 year old boy and girl? I really had no idea. So, I just made the cake whatever shape I wanted, which brought me to this point:
Whereupon I said, "What in the world should I do now?" which led me to the next logical decorating step. This:
Obviously, right? I mean, surely you would have done the same. It is only natural. I considered calling my sister to ask for Gwen and Kreston's favorite colors, but then thought better of it. If she told me their favorite colors, I might actually have to use them, and what if I didn't feel like it? No, this brown was definitely the right choice. I especially enjoy its Poo-esque qualities:
Soothing, isn't it? From there, it just felt right to keep the cake very simple, and write a lovely and concise inscription on it:
If you look closely you can tell that the first two words were actually wiped off and written over again. That's because I accidentally wrote "Mazel Tov" the first time. Whoops. Rookie Mistake. And I probably shouldn't admit it, but I just could not stop giggling to myself. This cake just tickled me pink. It really captured the essence of what I wanted to convey. I avoided the problem of how to decorate the cake to please both kids by pleasing neither of them. And I like the overall lack of other decorations and fanciness because it really says to every else "Yeah, I made them a cake, but I clearly don't love them more than you."
It also says "Poo Pearls go with everything." Which was way more than I bargained for, and is just really good to know.
(And I should probably apologize to the twins at this point, since I don't really think THEY were all that thrilled with their cake. I guess the one thing my cake didn't convey, if you can believe it, is how much I love the birthday boy and girl, which I do. Small flaw, right? It didn't even taste that great. But gosh, you can't please everyone?)
So today we celebrated a birthday for my sister's twins, Gwen and Kreston. And I offered to make a cake. And as you may know, once you start decorating a cake it starts to take on a life of its own and all you really do it just direct it and hone it and turn it into what it was always meant to be.
But I was feeling really bad for all the cakes I've never made. I've got lots of nieces and nephews that I've never made cakes for (all the rest of them, come to think of it) and I really didn't want them to feel second best. A cake from Elesa is like a small piece of heaven after all.
I asked my sister if she had any requests, just for giggles, and then I promptly ignored all of them. I think I was really hoping for a request that was right along the lines of what I wanted to do anyway. but since I didn't know what that was, I had no such luck. And I was sort of having a hard time. I had no intention of making and decorating more than one cake, but how do you make a cake special for a 13 year old boy and girl? I really had no idea. So, I just made the cake whatever shape I wanted, which brought me to this point:
Whereupon I said, "What in the world should I do now?" which led me to the next logical decorating step. This:
Obviously, right? I mean, surely you would have done the same. It is only natural. I considered calling my sister to ask for Gwen and Kreston's favorite colors, but then thought better of it. If she told me their favorite colors, I might actually have to use them, and what if I didn't feel like it? No, this brown was definitely the right choice. I especially enjoy its Poo-esque qualities:
Soothing, isn't it? From there, it just felt right to keep the cake very simple, and write a lovely and concise inscription on it:
If you look closely you can tell that the first two words were actually wiped off and written over again. That's because I accidentally wrote "Mazel Tov" the first time. Whoops. Rookie Mistake. And I probably shouldn't admit it, but I just could not stop giggling to myself. This cake just tickled me pink. It really captured the essence of what I wanted to convey. I avoided the problem of how to decorate the cake to please both kids by pleasing neither of them. And I like the overall lack of other decorations and fanciness because it really says to every else "Yeah, I made them a cake, but I clearly don't love them more than you."
It also says "Poo Pearls go with everything." Which was way more than I bargained for, and is just really good to know.
(And I should probably apologize to the twins at this point, since I don't really think THEY were all that thrilled with their cake. I guess the one thing my cake didn't convey, if you can believe it, is how much I love the birthday boy and girl, which I do. Small flaw, right? It didn't even taste that great. But gosh, you can't please everyone?)
Dec 26, 2008
Harrison's 2nd Birthday
These are the cupcakes we made for his party. Didn't turn out QUITE like we planned, but Harrison never knew the difference. And it looks like my camera is having some serious problems. Poo.
And then there was snow!
Something about this snowsuit made me laugh so hard that I could barely manage to take his picture. He let me put the suit on him, which surprised me (he NEVER wants to let me put a coat on him) but when it came right down to it, he wasn't all that excited about actually standing in the snow. After a few seconds he just had me carry him, which he thought was way more fun.
A couple of weeks ago we had a Christmas Carol sing-a-long at my parents house. Lots of people, lots of treats and lots of singing. Fun! Toward the end my nephew Kresten brought out his guitar to accompany us. Harrison thought that was pretty cool. So he danced for a while, then, while Kresten was playing "Silent Night" Harrison went over and sat right down on Kresten's knee. We all tried to keep singing even though we were laughing. And then Harrison found a stuffed toy on the floor, and started bonking Kresten on the head with it, all while he was still trying to play his song. No one was singing anymore because we were laughing so hard. As Fae said, "Classic Harrison!"
And then there was snow!
Something about this snowsuit made me laugh so hard that I could barely manage to take his picture. He let me put the suit on him, which surprised me (he NEVER wants to let me put a coat on him) but when it came right down to it, he wasn't all that excited about actually standing in the snow. After a few seconds he just had me carry him, which he thought was way more fun.
A couple of weeks ago we had a Christmas Carol sing-a-long at my parents house. Lots of people, lots of treats and lots of singing. Fun! Toward the end my nephew Kresten brought out his guitar to accompany us. Harrison thought that was pretty cool. So he danced for a while, then, while Kresten was playing "Silent Night" Harrison went over and sat right down on Kresten's knee. We all tried to keep singing even though we were laughing. And then Harrison found a stuffed toy on the floor, and started bonking Kresten on the head with it, all while he was still trying to play his song. No one was singing anymore because we were laughing so hard. As Fae said, "Classic Harrison!"
Dec 12, 2008
I Hope it's Cake
And now, to help women understand men. Hang on ladies, I am about to drop some wisdom on you. My cousin sent me this link: http://wondermark.com/030/
What a comic strip! How indicative of the Human condition! How well it reflects the deep and unfathomable differences between women and men! Men give women what they ask for. Women plot revenge. Men have already moved on to thinking about food.
Let’s skip the whole thinking-about-other-women-part. The part we need to focus on is the cake. Actually, in almost any situation you face, the part to really focus on is the cake. Let us examine the average woman.
As a wife and mother you do a lot to contribute to the house and family. You cook dinner, you clean the house and wash the clothes, plus you work part time, volunteer at church, and spend countless hours online. In addition, you have a few other projects you work on; outlets for your creativity. You take pride in what you do and the stuff you create and, like anyone, you think a little recognition would be nice. Sometimes all you want is for your husband to realize and appreciate all you do. You always think he should just be overwhelmed with the awesomeness of having a live in servant. It’s gotta be pretty amazing for him that now that he is married he never has to worry about his laundry ever again. He should constantly say things like “Wow! It is so wonderful to have a wife! Thanks for taking care of me!!!”
But he doesn’t. Does any man ever say that? And we know, he’s not some careless, slobbering ingrate, but that level of gratitude and recognition just doesn’t occur to him.
So then you think, perhaps he will really love and appreciate my arts and crafts! Perhaps he’ll say “Golly! That Teddy Bear you made out of garbage bags at Homemaking is really special! It looks so great up on the mantle like that! You sure are talented!”
But he is not going to say that. You probably really don’t want him to anyway, just think about it.
Anyway, blah, blah, blah. I’m here to tell you I found out how to get my husband’s attention. Like most people I have creative phases I go through: scrapbooking, gardening, macramé, Line Rider. But I have finally hit on the winner. Cake. Somehow I got the idea in my head that I wanted to try to decorate a cake. A good one. Could I do it better then the loons on Cake Wrecks? I became a little obsessed with the idea and went cake crazy. And they have actually turned out ok. But the thing about it all that is the funnest for me is how involved Richard got. I could sew myself a whole new wardrobe and he might say “Oh, good job.” But I make and decorate one cake, and he is literally beaming with pride. He wanted to show everyone. I’ve never seen him so proud. It still makes me giggle.
For demonstration purposes, I would like to show you one of the first fancy cakes I made (maybe "tried to make" would be a little more accurate.)
This was for my high school boyfriend. I guess we had some structural issues, but we frosted it anyway! And delivered it, though I don't remember that part? Thanks for modeling Brenda! (I was going to say something here about the crumbling cake representing our crumbling relationship, but I gave up. Oh wait, look at that, I think I've done it.)
Anyway, my cakes have improved quite a bit, but even if I had made this very cake and presented it to Richard, he still would have been pretty tickled. So why am I telling you this? I know men aren’t all the same, but there is an 83% chance that if you pour your creativity into food, especially food that he gets to eat, he is not going to be able to ignore it. He won’t want to ignore it. He may even think you are the most talented thing he has ever seen. And that is a pretty nice place to be.
What a comic strip! How indicative of the Human condition! How well it reflects the deep and unfathomable differences between women and men! Men give women what they ask for. Women plot revenge. Men have already moved on to thinking about food.
Let’s skip the whole thinking-about-other-women-part. The part we need to focus on is the cake. Actually, in almost any situation you face, the part to really focus on is the cake. Let us examine the average woman.
As a wife and mother you do a lot to contribute to the house and family. You cook dinner, you clean the house and wash the clothes, plus you work part time, volunteer at church, and spend countless hours online. In addition, you have a few other projects you work on; outlets for your creativity. You take pride in what you do and the stuff you create and, like anyone, you think a little recognition would be nice. Sometimes all you want is for your husband to realize and appreciate all you do. You always think he should just be overwhelmed with the awesomeness of having a live in servant. It’s gotta be pretty amazing for him that now that he is married he never has to worry about his laundry ever again. He should constantly say things like “Wow! It is so wonderful to have a wife! Thanks for taking care of me!!!”
But he doesn’t. Does any man ever say that? And we know, he’s not some careless, slobbering ingrate, but that level of gratitude and recognition just doesn’t occur to him.
So then you think, perhaps he will really love and appreciate my arts and crafts! Perhaps he’ll say “Golly! That Teddy Bear you made out of garbage bags at Homemaking is really special! It looks so great up on the mantle like that! You sure are talented!”
But he is not going to say that. You probably really don’t want him to anyway, just think about it.
Anyway, blah, blah, blah. I’m here to tell you I found out how to get my husband’s attention. Like most people I have creative phases I go through: scrapbooking, gardening, macramé, Line Rider. But I have finally hit on the winner. Cake. Somehow I got the idea in my head that I wanted to try to decorate a cake. A good one. Could I do it better then the loons on Cake Wrecks? I became a little obsessed with the idea and went cake crazy. And they have actually turned out ok. But the thing about it all that is the funnest for me is how involved Richard got. I could sew myself a whole new wardrobe and he might say “Oh, good job.” But I make and decorate one cake, and he is literally beaming with pride. He wanted to show everyone. I’ve never seen him so proud. It still makes me giggle.
For demonstration purposes, I would like to show you one of the first fancy cakes I made (maybe "tried to make" would be a little more accurate.)
This was for my high school boyfriend. I guess we had some structural issues, but we frosted it anyway! And delivered it, though I don't remember that part? Thanks for modeling Brenda! (I was going to say something here about the crumbling cake representing our crumbling relationship, but I gave up. Oh wait, look at that, I think I've done it.)Anyway, my cakes have improved quite a bit, but even if I had made this very cake and presented it to Richard, he still would have been pretty tickled. So why am I telling you this? I know men aren’t all the same, but there is an 83% chance that if you pour your creativity into food, especially food that he gets to eat, he is not going to be able to ignore it. He won’t want to ignore it. He may even think you are the most talented thing he has ever seen. And that is a pretty nice place to be.
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