Cupcakes and Pie

We celebrated Big Red's birthday this week, in fact we are still celebrating.
Yesterday, Red had meetings all over town and I found myself alone with both a half dozen gourmet cupcakes AND a Michigan blueberry crumb pie. Took all the willpower I had to avoid the kitchen. But, I did it.
I am definitely a sugar-chaser. If I have a little sugar in the morning, I will chase it all the live long day.

Last night, I had just half a cupcake. A Just Baked Snowball cupcake. I am still thinking about it. A rich devil's food cake topped with a marshmallowy creamy frosting and shaved coconut. Oh my. I ate every last crumb on the plate. I could have stuck that plate back in the cabinets without anyone the wiser. (I didn't)

This weekend we'll celebrate some more with my big family--with a dinner out, a homemade dessert and a ping-pong tournament.

How do you celebrate with the important people in your life?

love and light and cupcakes
Deborah

what's the ball count?

we've been celebrating a birthday around here, this week. celebrating our youngest son.

which also means, i've been baking like a fool.

yes, i mean that literally--like a fool.

i baked two 9 inch rounds for a traditional two layer birthday cake. (i don't really like cake and i really don't like sheet cakes....sheet cakes are not festive, in my mind)

that being said, i should have baked a sheet cake.

i let the cakes cool and then began frosting them. the rounded top required a lot more frosting than i had originally figured. all frosted, i carefully covered the cake with the glass dome. i could decorate with swirly lettering after i had cut up two cantalopes and four pounds of strawberries.

this is what i found.

www.cakewrecks.com has nothing on me.

so, then i baked two dozen cupcakes, because i really couldn't put candles in that cake. it would be overkill, right?

then yesterday i made another 48 cupcakes for our little guy's class. and now today i am baking another 48 cupcakes for his baseball team and their families.

oh, and all those little cupcakes are decorated to look like baseballs....if you do the math (i'll save you the trouble) that makes 120 baseball cupcakes.

um, i thought i didn't bake.

oh. yeah. i don't bake WELL.

that's all i've got....i hear the timer going off. sheesh, i hope it's the timer and not the fire alarm.


love and light and cake
deborah

bittersweet

today, the 12th of january is such a weighted day for me. today is the 101st anniversary of my sweet grandma's birth. she would have been 101 today. you have no idea how much i would have loved to celebrate with her.
but it is another anniversary too. it is the 15th anniversary of my dear grandpa's death. yeah. he died on my grandma's birthday.

bittersweet, for sure.

i kind of believe that he knew she'd be with us that evening--not alone at home, when he died at the hospital that cold night.

i have no big plans today.
i'm going through boxes in the basement. deciding what to keep, toss and giveaway. i'll probably get lost in the first box for hours and then red will come down and rescue me(read *ask what's for dinner?*). deciding what to keep and toss and givaway is sometimes hard.

this i know.

i am thankful for all the things that my grandparents gave me with a warm hand. not anything of huge value to anyone else, but to me? priceless.
funny things.
worn things.
everyday things.

i'm keeping that in mind as i head to the basement.


best
deborah

science a'la mode

every family needs one baker.

needs.

in my family....it is my sister. not me.

she makes all the desserts for every birthday and holiday.

i'm pretty sure she's baked her own birthday cake several years in a row.

i think that is probably at least a little wrong.

b says to me, "she bakes her own birthday dessert? really? that's kind of sad. " in my defense i say, "well, would she want something i baked?" b gives me the arched eyebrow.

baking is science. i earned a minor in science. i should be set.

cooking is art. i love art.

i love the art of cooking--of adding a little more of one thing. maybe a little less of something else. of tweaking and following my instincts. of letting creativity and what's in season lead my hand. maybe some orange peel. and a bit more pepper. out of white onion? maybe i'll add red. the tomatoes are so good--toss those in too.

i've learned you cannot just fly by the seat of your pants, baking. i will pretty much fly by the seat of my pants any chance i get. baking will humble a person like that--like me. i thought i had followed one of my grandma's recipes last christmas for *butterhorns*--a light and flaky pastry shaped into crescents and filled with an apricot preserve. i have such happy memories of those butterhorns and my grandma.

i made cement in a bowl. i did manage to save said bowl--i chiseled it out.

i can make/bake a box mix....i'm not that inept, but the *from scratch* recipes have me scratching my head pretty much every time. (though i do have one *no fail* recipe, i'll share later)

so next year, i promised to bake my sister her birthday dessert. i'm not promising it will be great. i'm going for edible.
she's requested a chocolate torte--my grandma's recipe. oh boy. chisel--check, hammer--check:)


best
deborah