September Showers

I had the honor of hosting a lingerie shower for a dear friend on yesterday. I went with a white/black (zebra print) and hot pink coloring scheme. I am not normally a fan of animal prints but found it fitting for THIS type of shower. I created all of the invitations for the event along with the favors. The food was all Italian, the bride's favorite, and I created cupcakes and cheesecake tarts for desert. We had a great time and the bride left with bundles of lingerie and new toys other gifts.

I wanted to share with you all a couple of things about the shower.

1. I created all of the graphics used for the invitations and favors by myself. On invitations with graphics, I often start with a vector file and alter it as needed, but this was all me. I wish that I could take credit for the entire idea of the graphic, but I found some inspiration over at the Minted website.

2. I created a recipe for a fact strawberry margarita...yes, that means no alcohol. I found some concoctions on the web but found nothing that tickled my fancy. This drink was too good to not share with you all here!

Crush in a blender:
- 2 cups of Sprite
- 1 cup of Master of Mixes Strawberry Daiquiri/Margarita Mixer
- 3/4 cup of ice
- 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (concentrate is fine)

Prepare your glass by dipping the rim in some extra lemon juice and then into some colored sugar crystals.

Once the mixture is blended and the ice is crushed, let the mixture sit for about ten minutes so that the foam can dissolve. Then pour it into your glass, garnish with a fresh strawberry and enjoy! This drink is also great after being frozen for about one hour and served slushie like :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great evening!

I Smell Apple Pie...

at least in my kitchen! That's right...I made a homemade apple pie today, even down to the crust...a first for me :) I found the recipe during a cabinet clean out on Friday night. Before adopting our sweet Kayden, I took a job at Pottery Barn during the holiday season 2005 and they decided to keep me on after the new year. I worked one night a week, but I did not care, because as a "regular" employee, I was able to get 40% off at Williams-Sonoma as well...YEAH! With that new discount, I picked up all of the W-S cookbooks including Bread, Grilling and Pie and Tart along with a host of other culinary goodies!

Okay...back to the story at hand...I decided to replace the cookbook in my stand on Friday night with a new one and Williams-Sonoma Pie and Tart was the logical choice. I opened the book and came across the Cinnamon Apple Crumb Pie on page 44 and I immediately, did I say immediately, begin to drool :) I picked up some apples and butter yesterday and got to baking this afternoon. Kayden was supposed to be helping me out, but she was obsessed with her Princess Tiana Cookbook...thanks Auntie Kristy!

Now, my kitchen has a new book in the recipe holder and an actual pie to match :) The recipe was not hard to follow and the crust recipe was super easy. If the crust is good and flaky, it may become my staple for my pie making moving forward.

The ingredients all laid out....

The pie is all ready to bake....

The pie is ALL ready to eat....

I have not cut the pie yet, because I am waiting till after dinner. In the meantime, I will savour the scent of apple pie...a sure sign that Fall is on the way!

Update...the pie is delicious. It is not VERY sweet which makes a scoop of vanilla ice cream an ideal accessory! YUMMY!!!

Happy Birthday Jesus Party!

The Christmas Party at Kayden's daycare/preschool on yesterday was so much fun! I brought our Nativity from the house (Fisher Price Little People) and told the Christmas story using the characters. Then we sung happy birthday to Jesus including a candle that was blown out by every child...imagine lighting and relighting one candle six times :). What a wonderful opportunity to see the true story of Christmas through the eyes of children! Have a great day!

Christmas Cupcakes...A Trial Run

Today, I took my first step in experimenting for Kayden's birthday cake....I made and used my first batch of marshmallow fondant. The recipe was easy and quick! I used Kayden's preschool Christmas party cupcakes to conduct my experiment. I purchased plates and napkins from Target and used the designs on the cupcakes. I made six colors including white, and I was able to use my blue, red, yellow and green food coloring to get what I needed. All I can say is that the RGB color combos used in creating invitations/notecards came in handy! So, here is what I ended up with:

Overall, I am excited with how they turned out and I must say that I have a new found respect and love for cake makers; especially those that specialize in using fondant. I guess with the right tools, the task could have been a little easier, but I started to wonder about those intricate damask fondant patterns on wedding cakes. I am not sure that any tool is the right tool for that kind of job...that is PURELY skill. Let me know what you think.

Cake Balls....FINALLY

Hello folks! I have been a little slack with posts as I have kept my promise to REALLY enjoy the Christmas season this year.

Tonight I hosted a Christmas "Social" for a roup of moms (that I call friends) that I met through a local website! A great time was to be had by all. As a host, one of my responsibilities was dessert. I decided to go with the cake balls created over at Bakerella. They were DEC-A-DENT!!! I did a red velvet cake (box mix) and homemade cream cheese icing (I hate the pre-made version of this stuff). I mixed the cake and icing, rolled them on to lollipop sticks and dipped them in white and milk chocolate! What a pleasant way to celebrate the Christmas season!