how I knew...

It happened twice in one day really. 

A Sunday. 

First, Jim came into the office, and - two desks between us, mind you - I could not breathe through the thick smell of peanut butter I was sure he had eaten for lunch.  He confirmed my suspicions and we parted ways. 

A few hours later we rendezvoused in closer quarters - the bedroom.  But two seconds of kiss told me all I needed to know.  He had eaten a chocolate chip cookie sometime within the past hour.  And the wafting, chocolatey sweetness was simply too, too much.

So on Monday I went to the store.  To confirm what by then seemed obvious. There will be a whole lot more tooth brushing at this house over the next 9 months.

about cake

I just added a whole load of cake, filling and frosting recipes in a new section of Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.  Two reasons. 

First, that site has become my go-to place for the standby recipes and who knows when I might find myself away from home and needing italian meringue buttercream.  And, as a tangent of this reason, do you know how much easier it is to simply say "it's on my food blog" when someone asks for a recipe.  Saves a whole lot of rummaging time. 

Second, it's always fun to share (so if you have a killer filling, it's time to fess up!).  I just might save someone some trial & error, which is always a worthy cause.

And, as a bonus, in typing out my nice cake-ish recipes, I discovered the need to broaden my scope.  It's always been chocolate or white cake when I do something decorated.  I'm sure there are many other realms and recipes to be explored.

Click here to check out the new section and recipes.

cake this week (part 2)

Okay, this afternoon's agenda has one item:  sleep.  So, I'll make this short & picture sweet.I loved the "simple" of this cake. It was very fun to put together.

cake this week (part 1)

I've never before done back-to-back cakes, but it was nice to simply give in to the sugar that overran my kitchen this week...no use cleaning up yet.

Yesterday, I had the chance to meet Lisa (Kelly's good friend from Oregon) and join with her cute sistas & friends for a Favorite Things party.  Lisa has always been a cake fan, so I made this in honor of her visit and the gathering in general.  Their invitations said, "brown paper packages tied up with string", so I turned the phrase into cake (minus the string...ran out of fondant after covering the "packages" and I wasn't about to make more, so ribbon seemed a fine substitute).  

The packages looked a bit plain, so I borrowed stamps from a scrapbooking neighbor and experimented with food color stamping on fondant.  The key is to paint the gel food coloring directly onto the upraised part of the stamp.  The bad news:  black food color gel will turn your (or your neighbor's - no prejudice here) clear stamps pink. 

Forgive my picture conceit.  When your art is edible, it must be memorialized in pictures.  And I take many.

And now for tonight's cake:106 daisies are waiting their turn.  It's a big number birthday party - they've got to get fancy!

a 5-year-old boy's take on roses

When we came home from our Valentine's Day outing on Saturday, Aidan noticed that there was something left at our front door.  Coconut cupcakes and a group of miniature yellow roses.  A sweet offering from good visiting teachers. 

Well, that didn't fly for Aidan. 

"Are those flowers from Dad?"

"No, they aren't."

"Well, what happened to the flowers he bought you?  The red ones?"

"They died two weeks ago, so I threw them away."

"Well, these ones aren't from Dad, so you need to throw them away, too."

I laugh.

To which he firmly replies, "Right now.  Only Dad can give you flowers."