My Cake Workshop

A while back, after answering the fifty-thousandth email I had received from a friend/neighbor/acquaintance/sister of a brother's-uncle's-mother-that-I-went-to-high-school-with with a cake question, I decided to have a cake workshop. I figured it would be totally fun and much faster than answering fifty-thousand cake question emails.

I created a little website for my venture and decided to use the cabin in NY to host the event. I thought I would be lucky if one or two people actually signed up and was shocked when I had to sell out the workshop just days after I opened the registration.

Our cake extravaganza was this past weekend.

We had so much fun!

Let's play a little game.

Remember the song . . .

"One of these things is not like the others.

One of these things just doesn't belong."

Yeah, that would be my dad who showed up at my fancy, girly cake workshop dressed in his deer slayer clothes hoping to grab some quick lunch. (The only thing missing from this picture is the giant bow and arrow he was carrying.)

I guess you are never too old to be humiliated by your family.

I moved past my embarrassment and created this simple, little Christmas themed cake.

Everyone left with a ton of new skills and a cake they decorated themselves using my techniques.
I honestly can't wait to do it again,

only this time perhaps without the deer slayer as our special guest star!

Quit Whining, Start Blogging

So I finally thought of a solution to my "poor-me-I-am-so-behind-in-my-blogging-I-just-can't-sleep-at-night-problem." The solution . . . quit whining and start blogging.

So here goes . . .

Halloween 2010 began with the annual pumpkin carving contest.

Megan got into the action this year making the contest a three-way race.

She carved this pumpkin all by herself (with the use of a template and a non-sharp pumpkin carving thing-a-ma-jig. (technical term)
Still, quite impressive for such a youngster!

I think she has her momma's competitive gene.

John and his spooky spider provided some tough competition.

My spooky pirate skull thing was definitely a contender as well but the top prize ended up going to the four year-old. I mean, seriously, who has ever heard of a four year-old carving her own pumpkin? She must be destined for greatness (or at least we think so.) And I'm destined to lose this pumpkin carving contest so long as she is all cute and little and such.

And since I was unable to come up with any new, creative Halloween snacks this year we recycled the Frankensnack idea from last year. This, by the way, is how meaningful traditions are born.

So now our meaningful, Halloween traditions include these green headed pudding cup things. Then we made mummy dogs . . .

Caution: Megan's scary mummy dog face ahead.

If you frighten easily, stop reading now!

No Halloween is complete without the annual door-to-door quest for candy.

This year, Megan said she wanted to be a bowl of spaghetti, no a cupcake, no a princess. no a cupcake, no a bowl of spaghetti, no a cupcake. She also has my gene for decisiveness I guess. ha!She finally settled on the cupcake and I was excited. I figured, how hard can it be to make a cupcake costume?

Then I spent 48729037532 hours making, remaking, and fixing this costume, I decided next year's costume is coming from Walmart. (yeah, right)

Here is my little cupcake cutie. I think her costume turned out adorable.

Megan said, "I look so good I want to take a bite out of myself." ha!

Here is my superman, wearing a costume that is a size 3t-4t.

Remember folks, he just turned ONE!

He looks like he's ready for kindergarten.

Our neighborhood friends.

And that's all I have time for today folks.

Quit whining, start blogging. How's that for a new motto?

Hopefully you'll be hearing more from me soon.

Perhaps

I am so behind in my blogging it is interfering with my sleep.

Seriously.

I lay in bed and think of all the blog posts I need to do just to catch up with the here and now.

For example, I need to do posts on Laura's wedding, our trip to Niagara Falls, the Delaware County Fair, Leed's Farm, our trip to Disney . . . I'm sure there is more in there I am forgetting. Perhaps I'll get our Halloween photos up before the Fourth of July.

Perhaps.

First Day of Pre-K

Megan started Pre-Kindergarten after working very hard last year to make it through the rigorous Preschool curriculum, with honors! (Ha, just kidding about the "with honors" part . . . but if they had honors in preschool I'm sure my sweet Megan Kate would have received them.)

Here she is with her cousin Colin who is in her class again this year.

There they both go running ahead, excited to start another school year.

Another school year begins and the most boring blog post ever concludes!

Cake Baking Fool

I've been a cake baking fool lately.

Since I feel like a lost puppy without a cake to make, I've decided to turn this into a little business. After tossing around several ideas in my head, I've finally decided to call myself Sugar Kisses Cakery - Baking life sweeter, one cake at a time. It reminds me of the sugary kisses I get from Megan when she licks the beaters and helps me "cake bake." My orders have come mostly from word of mouth or friends. I'm working on getting a basic website together with my computer genius husband and I'll let you know when that is up and running. For now, you'll just have to settle for this little old blog that doesn't get updated enough.

I made this cake for John's sister Laura's wedding. It was white almond cake with raspberry filling, iced in vanilla buttercream. You can't really see in the picture but at each intersecting line, there was an edible pearl dragee. The bow and the monogram were made from fondant. The monogram plaque was outlined in teeny tiny pearls and was my favorite part of the cake. This is the largest cake I've made so far . . . 200 servings. The florist brought the wrong flowers (they were supposed to be the same gorgeous ones from her bouquet) but that's ok. I think this cake would have looked pretty with dandelions on it, but I guess when you spend 84237598470 hours working on something . . . you better like it!!!!!! I was really proud of this cake, especially since it was only my second wedding cake AND I managed to get it to the reception 1.5 hours away without it crumbling, tipping over, or falling apart. I shed a few tears of relief when she was placed safely on the table at the reception, and then a few more when we had to cut her up and eat her.

I made this cake for my nephew Carter's first birthday party. It was almond cake with raspberry filling and fresh lemon cake with raspberry filling, iced in vanilla buttercream. I sculpted the animals from fondant to match his safari themed birthday party.

I made this cake for a sweet little customer's baptism. It was almond cake with raspberry filling (popular combination).

This one was for a little girl's third birthday party. The bow and the number three were purple but for some reason the pic makes them look blue.


I also have another little business venture to tell you about. I've decided to host a cake workshop at the cabin in the woods (but we're calling it the "cake cottage" because we're fancy like that.) Read all about it here. I only have a few spaces left and I'm really surprised at the interest in this. If you want to learn how to "cake bake" come join us :) We are going to have an absolute blast filled with all kinds of some stay-at-home-momma drama.

Be Kinder Than Necessary

I know, I know. I'm not blogging enough. I have tons of things to share . . . Megan's first day of school, Laura's wedding, etc. I promise I'll get to them. I just want to take a second to tell you a little story . . . a little life lesson that was made clear to me today.


A few days ago, I started getting calls from an older lady. She was trying to reach Camilia and clearly had the wrong number. She called, and called, and called. Each time I would clearly explain that I was Lisa and not Camilia. I told her she was dialing the wrong number. Then she started leaving messages on my voice mail for Camilia. I called her back and told her Camilia didn't get her messages because she was calling my number and not Camilia's.


As the calls continued for several days (at least 6-7 a day) I felt myself growing increasingly annoyed. I wanted to scream each time the mundane activities of my day were interrupted by this lady. I wanted to scream, but something inside me took over. I felt sorry for this poor woman who couldn't reach Camilia. Instead of responding with annoyance, I was kind. At first, I just wished her luck with reaching Camilia. When she apologized, I always told her it was ok and made sure to tell her to have a nice day. I finally asked her what number she was trying to dial. The area code plus the first seven digits of Camilia's number were the first seven digits of my number, minus my area code. I called the number she was trying to reach to tell Camilia she had someone who desperately wanted to get a hold of her. Instead I got a recording that said the number was disconnected. When I called the lady back to explain to her that Camilia's number was disconnected, she thanked me for my kindness in trying to help her. She explained her husband recently passed away and she was trying to reach Camilia (her late husband's insurance agent) for assistance with his estate. She apologized for the number of times she bothered me and thanked me again and again for how patient I was with her.


Oh my gosh, I could have been short with her. I could have yelled at her for continuing to call the wrong number over and over. I could have made someone suffering through the loss of their spouse feel even more terrible . . . but I didn't. I'm so glad I didn't.


I tell you this story not to brag about how great I am (I'll do that in my next post when I show you Laura's wedding cake - ha). I tell you this story to remind you of one thing . . .


Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.
-Billie Holliday


Wouldn't it be really great if this story ended with the old woman telling me her husband was a gajillionaire and that she was looking for someone to give his fortune to. It doesn't. Sorry.

Brendan's Barnyard Bash

I'll never forget my little guy's first birthday party.

The week before his party

(as I was working feverishly to get things together)

I noticed I wasn't the only one feverish.

Brendan was sporting a temperature of 101.5.

Yikes!

Turns out he had hand, foot, and mouth disease.

No problem . . . just reschedule the party to next weekend.

Then Megan got it . . .

Then John got it . . .

Seriously?

Seriously.

Since we don't let a little coxsackie virus slow us down,

we decided to carry on with the barnyard bash

the following weekend . . . rash or no rash. (Ewww!)

Actually, we informed all the guests to enter our contaminated barnyard at their own risk.
I'm so glad some decided our heebie jeebies were worth the risk . . .

after all, every child deserves over-the-top first birthday, right???

It think it is a requirement.

I did my best . . .

The cake was fresh lemon with raspberry filling and white almond with raspberry filling. The barn was carved from rice krispie treats and covered in fondant. I sculpted all the little farm animals from fondant. I loved this cake. LOVED IT.

(I made those little sheep out of chocolate covered cake balls. Aren't they cute?)

And no dessert table would be complete without sugar cookies!

I made this for the front porch and realized

there would be some who would make fun of me . . .

and some who would recognize the creative genius of it all.

I hung this on the front door.

I made the silverware look like carrots because I'm a dork like that.

(Don't even try to lie . . . I know you're running out right now to get yourself some green forks and orange napkins to make your own little carrots, aren't you?)

And here is my little farmer boy, Brendan.

And my little cowgirl Megan.

Here is Megan moo-ing in the sign I painted.
This, of course, led to everyone wanting a turn.

Here's Austyn.

And me :)

And Aunt Katie.

Brendan and Carter . . . too cool for the cardboard cow.

Here is John and Brendan watching the slide show of Brendan's first year.

And no birthday photo montage would be complete without a photo of Nana and my little guy.(Only, compare the size of him to Nana . . . not so little, huh?)

Looking at this picture makes me want to call Nana to make sure Brendan didn't break her hip or anything.

It was so wonderful to have our family and friends with us to celebrate Brendan's birthday. We shared a lot of things together . . . love, laughter, great food, sweet memories. Let's just hope we didn't share our coxsackie.

And in lieu of party favors, we sent our guests home with a squirt of antibacterial hand gel.

That concludes my tale of Brendan's Barnyard Rash . . . I mean bash!