Angel Food Cake, Ballerina Candle Holders, and a Birthday

When my Mom was a little girl (50+ years ago), her Mom used to make her an angel food cake with pink icing, and little ballerina candle holders on top. 

This year I decided to continue the tradition.  We have one or two of those ballerinas dancing around my house somewhere, but I decided to EBay it and order some more. 

I bought two of these vintage sets of ballerina candle holders, and the pink platter to put my cake on this year.  I'm a few ballerinas short of her actual age, but....they aren't the sturdiest little gals, so....we will just say she's young at heart and not load the cake up with too many. 

I baked up an Angel Food cake, with a little help from Betty Crocker, in my Grandmother's Angel Food Cake Pan.  I love the idea of traditions, for a moment, they capture those sweet moments from the past. 

I took a leap of faith and tried my hand at a 7 minute frosting.  I've never had one work out for me before, but I made a few changes this go round, broke one of my favorite dishes, but eventually came up with a really tasty icing (thanks to Paula Dean's recipe). 

7 Minute Frosting

 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar (it was really sugary, but I like sugar, so....be warned), 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar,
1/8 teaspoon salt , 1/3 cup water , 2 egg whites , 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Directions:
Place sugar, cream of tartar or corn syrup, salt, water, and egg whites in the top of a double boiler (I put a heat proof glass bowl over a boiling pot of water).  Place pan over boiling water, being sure that boiling water does not touch the bottom of the top pan. (If this happens, it could cause your frosting to become grainy...oops this happened, but just at the bottom of my dish). Beat constantly on high speed with electric mixer for 7+ minutes. Beat in vanilla.   I read some reviews that said that it may take longer than 7 minutes, but mine finished up in about that amount of time (for the first time).  Just in case you are like me, or
you are me someday trying to remember how this worked out 'that one time'---->it starts out looking like marshmallow fluff, and ends up look like this. 

I really like the combination of angel food cake and 7 minute frosting.  The frosting is sweet, but Angel Food is light enough to handle it.  It's also covered up some pretty major imperfections in my cake.  I have plans for this recipe in the future.  In the meantime, today is my Mom's birthday!  I'm excited to celebrate my Mom every year, and I'm glad that I KNOW  how truly fortunate I am to have her in my life!  Very few people get to experience the depth of unconditional love, and unwavering support my brother and I experience daily, yearly, for a lifetime.   I could never put her story in 'a' post, and I could never capture it on a blog.   Every once in awhile I throw a pity party for myself for one reason or another, and then when I look at the scales of life, there is so much to be joyful for, but even if it was my Mom on one side, and the rest life threw at me on the other, the scales would still be completely in my favor without question because I get to call her my Mom.  Happy Birthday, Mom! 



Graduation Gift: Pizza and (Root)Beer

Pizza and Beer...sort of a staple on college campuses around the world....minus my alma mater, of course ;o). But really, this present is rated G because there is a little Baptist girl in me that just insisted on the 6-pack of root beer....it helped that it was much cheaper than a 6 pack of beer.
My Mom needed a graduation gift to take to a party recently, and I have an ever growing stack of things I want to 'try out,' and there are only 365 days a year, and as many reasons to celebrate, which is about 203 less than the ideas in my craft folder. I decided to pull one out I've been wanting to try for awhile. As usual, I manipulated the project to meet the needs of the occasion, as opposed to looking for a project to fit the occasion. I saw this idea . They had the cute cinnamon bun-on-a-stick idea I took, and fed crack to until it became a gift, and I did the same with this idea. Crafts on Steroids-sorta my speciality.

for pizzas-on-a-stick on my new, imaginary best friends' website artisanbread

I also adapted their recipe for the pizza bites, but for the 'real version' hit the link above. Here is 'my version.' It's the easy way out. I'd say 'easy' is my middle name, but that just doesn't come out right. How about simplified?
MAKING THE PIZZA BITES
I BOUGHT a can of pizza dough, and spread it out to about 1/4 inch thickness.
I then grated about 4 oz of cheese (1/2 a block) over the entire dough.
I added two rows of pepperoni in a long line down the middle (this used up about half a package-so it would be REALLY easy to double this with another thing of pizza dough).
Leave space between the two rows of pepperoni (leave the cheese lines), which help all the dough stick together, and hold tightly in the rolls-on-the-sticks.

I rolled tightly, and I cut about 16 pieces 1/3-1/2 inch thick. I didn't get out my ruler.
I added this step: I sprayed the tops of each roll with spray butter (0 calories, because, obviously, calorie count is important to me, ha!....and it's easy). I then sprinkled the tops with garlic salt. This makes it pretty salty, but that's how I like it, but be warned if you don't, and adapt as desired!

I baked at 425 for about 10 minutes.
As soon as they came out, I poked bamboos skewers into each roll before they cooled. The bamboo skewers I found in the grocery section hanging on the end of an aisle, ready for summer cook outs. I cut them down a bit because they were a little long, but I liked having the 'pokie' end, it slid into the dough nicely. You could also use popsicle sticks or sucker sticks....I was just feeling really daring.

I then put little bags over each pizza bite so I could make a bouquet. I think life is best delivered as a bouquet. I also think life's events are best told in song, but I'll leave that for another time.
I tied off each bag with raffia, because I heart raffia...still....no new news there.

I got a metal can from the dollar section at Target, stuck some styrofoam from the dollar store in the bottom, and then poked my pizza bites down. I did super glue them into place since they'll be traveling with my Mom....I worry when other people deliver 'my crafts' that they the delivery 'person' won't know to rearrange the shifted product.

I attached a card. I'm going to write Greeting cards if this not-for-profit blog thing doesn't work out. You'll be able to get them two for a dollar at the dollar store, but still, they'll be mine. I won't claim them either, but still...mine.
My 'beautiful' graduation inspired poetry:
The attached card reads:
Instead of studying until 7 am, you'll head to work at 7 am.
Instead of taking out study loans, you'll begin paying student loans.
Instead of listening to the professionals, you'll be the professional others are listening to.
Instead of looking forward to summer vacation, you'll begin counting the days until retirement.
Instead of pizza and beer for dinner...
Never mind that one is pretty much universal no matter what stage of life you find yourself in.
"There is no facet, no aspect, no manner of life that can't be improved with pizza." Dario Morgendorffer
And thus completes another episode of-what I do at about 1 am on a work night. P.s. I think this would be a fun Father's Day Gift as well, AND we did a shower once at work for a 'guy' with the pizza, and root bear theme, and then Home Depot gifts, it was fun...just a little random aside.
Linking To:
Night Own Crafting
Trendy Treehouse
Just a Girl
Fun to Craft

Pieces of the Last Week....

1. Something I need to say: I still believe blogging is only fun if I can use crazy sentence structures, made up words, and run on sentences. It just is a better reflection of who I am. Grammar is a big part of my 'job' 8 hours of the day (not that I am a pro on this subject, but I am supposed to be). This blog is definitely my (rather public) 'journal' and I want it to be my voice. On that note, sometimes I look over a post (be scared it's only 'sometimes' I actually read and correct them), and I think about how I would diagram some of my 'sentences,' and I laugh at the impossible task. I know this must drive English majors...or just English speakers up a wall. If that's you, you are brave. My Mom is an English major. Welcome to her world.
2. Last Saturday, I attended Aimee and Barry's wedding.

I went a few hours in advance (after my VERY LAST Saturday School for the year, insert Hallelujah Chorus HERE) and helped the busy, and talented Amy R, and her 'crew' with some blinged out flower arrangements. Here are the smaller of the two arrangements lined up and waiting for tables.

It's always neat to see the colors people choose for their weddings. I've never seen this color combination before. The yellow roses were ginormous.
It was a sweet ceremony. It was fun to catch up with old friends, and watch married life bloom for a happy couple.
3. I painted a bucket this week for a teacher who is giving a present to her intern (leaving for Texas Tech)-a gift bucket filled with Tech goodies.

Not my best work, that's fine, it was for TECH! Had it been Baylor green and gold, I would have meticulously painting the Sistine Chapel. It wouldn't look good, but I'd be very careful in my efforts. The point of saying all this is that the entire time I painted I kept singing "There's a hole in your bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza. There's a hole in your bucket, dear Liza, a hole!" It's really annoying to get a song stuck in your head. Is it stuck in your's now? Misery loves company. ...just another service I provide-misery.
4. Have you heard of Flatout bread? (This picture is from google images.)

It's 90 calories. The package says one contains 33% of your daily fiber needs. It is twice the size of a tortilla (and a little thicker). It comes in multiple flavors. It's great as a wrap sandwich. I make a lot of pizza with this. I use spray butter, garlic, cheese and whatever else I feel like adding. Bake, and enjoy. There is a whole website of recipes (printed on the bag). You can find it near the bread at the store, next to the tortillas (which are usually on the bread row). It's super. I know a lot of people know about this, but I'm speaking to the people I hang out with under my rock, and I think it's important to share relatively good 'carbs' for those of us that might have a teeeeeeeny tinnnnny carb addiction.
5. Last, and most dramatic...

This Sunday my Mom and I attempted to go to an art festival down in Southlake. Just a little while after we arrived, Mom caught her foot on some uneven bricks. She fell, busted her lip, loosened her two front teeth, and broke her (dominant) arm. Life will be a little more interesting for the next month + with me in charge of driving, writing, turning keys, and opening Dr. Pepper bottles (not necessarily in that order of priority if you know my Mom). I'm sure she will mend as quick as she can if I'm in charge of these sort of things. Sick beds are not my expertise. Poor Mom, she's not feeling too great, and I'm running the show, which probably makes her feel a little worse, I'm sure. I also want to point out I have no pictures of these injuries, see, I have SOME self control when it comes to picture taking. Self-control, and a desire not to be disowned, it's amazing what that combination can do when looking for restraint.

Scenes from the Last Week-The Not So Personal-Personal Stuff

1. Meet Max

...I just did!
My good pal, Sandye did the unthinkable-moved to Houston when her husband acquired a new job. She also acquired a new baby (after 9 months of pregnancy, and who knows how many hours of labor (I'm not allowed to ask those sort of questions, I want to want to have one or 4 of my own someday, so....it's best not to know)). I saw him last week. He's precious. He's walking. He speaks baby Spanish (thanks to his Daddy's heritage, and the language spoken to him at home). I can hardly speak baby anything, so when you throw in the Spanish babbling version, we just looked at each other and smiled. He used a lot of hand gestures. There was a point where he punched his fist into the air while he babbled to punctuate his point. Whatever that may be, I hope it's good. I can't wait to see him again. Come back Max, I'm really good at spoiling!
2. Have you heard this new song by Amy Grant? I love it, and it speaks to me. God's lessons sometimes hurt, but after 2++..ok... + decades of learning, I can say without a doubt, all the pain has a purpose. It's hard to find it in the moment, but this song is such a hug!

3. Aimee's Bachelorette Party went well last Saturday evening. There was a crush of girls that love her and wanted to celebrate the upcoming marriage. These are the only pictures I'll share:
Amy, creative gal extroidanaire, made these cute rings for all the guest. She said she saw the tutorial on Martha Stewart. So fun!

There is a new bakery called Elizabeth's Bakery Maggie arranged to grab some cupcakes from for our desserts, and I'm really digging these festive colors, and the mound of icing.

Hello, Hostesses and Bride!

4. For the first time I went to THIRD Monday Trade Day in McKinney.


It's certainly a lot closer than Canton, not as big, but still fun, and I scored some really fun finds. I wanted more, but I have this whole boring thing called a 'budget' I try to follow, and I'm about to enter a whirlwind of out-of-town activities that require this other thing called money. BOR-ING. Regardless, this is my favorite find for 12 bucks...

I'm hanging it from my grandfather maple out back(just made that up...grandfather...psssh). The tree used to house 5 different size/shaped glass and brass lanterns I loved up until the point the branches broke in a storm, ooops. I found a couple of other really cute things, and I'll go back for more....much more....sometime soon. There is also a whole row of puppies, and it made me sad b/c I didn't want them to be there. I want them to all come live in my house, but there are, like, city codes against having 643 puppies at your house.
5. Last, and perhaps most importantly. I won glitter on a blog giveaway!

I got it in the mail last weekend, and I'm just a LITTLE excited. It's too pretty to use, but please notice two of the three colors are my Baylor green and gold! Sic'Em! Here is the site I received my goodies from: http://www.lifeonpossomtrot.com
She also included a really adorable card she crafted with her glitter. I'm off to glitter every other object in my house now....every other object b/c the 'others' have all been sprayed with chalkboard paint and are still drying. That...or I'll sleep with the jars under my pillow b/c I like glitter...a lot!

Jo's Retirement

Thursday evening I baked a cake, and made a flower arrangment for a gal my Mom works for that is retiring, and they are hosting a reception tomorrow. I just did 'pot luck' at Sam's with the flowers. I was going for blue (her favotie color), but....uh....they didn't have any, so I just got something I thought was pretty. I then had to figure out how to work them onto the cake, and I just didn't have the right color green, but hopefully it'll be demolished soon, and the insides will taste great. Another project complete.

Let Them Eat Cake

The best thing about the fall....is all the birthdays! I've spent the last few weeks helping celebrate lots of birthdays....no complaints here-with lots more to come! This weekend I've even spanned the globe in restaurants in the attempts to help celebrate. I had Tapas on Friday night with Mary, and Sonia; Maggiano's Italian for Maggie's birthday Eve (even more interesting with a group of Smurf's joining a party at the table next to us) on Saturday....and today-it was off to Maxim's for Dim Sum to celebrate Kelly's 30th (not to be confused with Maggie's 40th)!! Her Mom got her this incredible Mad Hatter Cake (it's so 'Kelly') from Frosted Art (Bronwen Weber's place). There are still more 'Kelly celebrations' to come in honor of Kelly's age-we are off to Vegas the first weekend in December.

Mini Pumpkin Pies

OK....fine....one more.

I saw these on Bakerella's website a few weeks back, and I THOUGHT about waiting until Thanksgiving....I had all the ingrediants except for the cream cheese. I have to bring a few treats tomorrow for a Character Book Day at school. The 'winner' receives a bag of goodies that were also going to include some wand shaped cookies (made with the same mummy cookie dough)....except, oops, the handles broke off my wands....so....it was back to the drawing board, or rather the oven, and I pushed up this pumpkin pie trial. To be honest, they were easy to make, but I don't think the pumpkin cookie cutter is necessary (if you read Bakerella.com's instructions, you will see that you cut out the pumpkin shape, then press it down into mini muffin cups, and trim off all the excess except for the stem. In the future, I'd just attach a little square for the stem). The pumpkin recipe was also just OK....that's probably my fault, I didn't let the cream cheese come to room temperature, so it's not mixed well. They taste all right, but it's not the best little pumpkin pie I've ever had (the only other mini-pie I had was this past weekend at tea, but it was much tastier, so bad timing on runner up's recipe). She also had some cute pumpkin faces piped out of chocolate, but....I'm tired, so....drizzley chocolate lines it is this go 'round. OK....maybe I'm done now....

Fabulous At Forty

I can't believe I didn't take any pictures last night, BUT I know others did, and I can't wait to see them. I went out to Hacienda Ranch last night to celebrate Maggie's birthday with a crush of friends, and family who came with the same intention. She's looking fabulous for forty (well, give her one week, but I'm sure she still will), and a good time was had by all. Until I get my hands on some pictures, here's the gift (all decked out with 70's/80's goodies in memory of our younger years).

2nd Annual Birthday Tea at the Arboretum

This year, I headed out to the Arboretum for Nicole's birthday tea. We discovered this fun outing last year in honor of her 30th birthday http://christyrobbins.blogspot.com/2008/10/harvest-tea-at-arboretum.html, and this year we were joined by her Mom and sister. :O) It was one of the ONLY beautiful days so far since they brought out their fall decorations, and florals. I went after Saturday School, and arriving after noon, I had to park a few miles away and be bused in to the arboretum. It was well worth the crowds. I love the colors, the pumpkin lined walks, and, of course, the tea-the food is delicious, and our waiter (the same one as last year) is fabulous. We also had some interesting, well dressed ladies at the table across from us.
The Birthday Girl

I love hanging out with Nicole for many reasons, but I can't help but appreciate that she takes lots of pictures too, so this go 'round she has the people pics, and macro etc on her camera. I know they will be great, and I can't wait to see them. Here are a few more of my photos in the meantime. I mostly just walked around and appreciate the day, and Nicole had to do all the hardwork. That's what friends are for! Yay, for birthdays, and beautiful days, and eating a little too many sweets!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=116961&id=725172809&l=7e2e58163d

Spooky Strawberries

I saw this idea on the Taste of Home website. Tomorrow I have to take another 'Boo' to work for someone I know likes to stay healthy. OK....it's still chocolate, but does it count if there is fruit underneath? Whatever, they are fun, and it's as close to healthy as I could get with Halloween treats. I also had everything, but the strawberries, so they were easy to put together. I've never had white chocolate covered strawberries, and I discovered I liked them even better with white chocolate!

Mamma Mia's Birthday

Happy Birthday, Mom! There is nobody more deserving of life celebrations than my Mom! Her glass is always half full, and she doesn't complain or make excuses about the 'missing half!' In fact, she will try to convince you of how wonderful it is to have half a glass of air. It would be easy to look back over the years with sadness over too many loses, and tragedies, but through it all, I know that God gave me the ultimate gift to walk through those times-a Mom like mine who has always shown unwavering faith in God's goodness, and His plan for our lives regardless of the place we currently stand in His plans. I only see positive when my Mom's in the picture. I wouldn't trade that for any of the other experiences. "Blessed" doesn't begin to cover all the laughs, and unconditional love Mom brings to this world!

Happy 24th Birthday, Holly!

30

In celebration of my oldness, my Mom hosted a lunch at the Chocolate Angel Tea Room, my favorite. In deciding what I wanted to do, I knew I wanted to keep it relatively small (less stress) and quiet, I think approaching a new decade should be a delicate matter! The Chocolate Angel has the best food, and the cutest atmosphere, and it was the perfect mix of 'old' friends. I like 'old' things, and I'm getting a little less emotional about joining that category. 15 friends and I ate lunch, and laughed.
In the evening, I went out to dinner with family. After a lot of thought, I decided I wanted to go to Kuby's in Snyder Plaza. It's authentic German food, and it reminded me of the trip we just took, prompted by the big 3-0 age change.
After dinner, we headed back to the house, and I got (more) gifts, and we had cake (from Stein's, so delicious). It was a really nice way to spend the first day of my thirties. If this is what my third decade of life is going to be like, I think it'll do nicely. :O)

Oh No...The Big 5-0!

Despite that fact that Aunt Lois only spent part of a year in the 50's, we threw her a 50th, diner style birthday party for her 50th birthday (next Sunday). Complete with malts...

And diner favorites like hot dogs, burgers, and onion rings...

In case you are keeping score-calories don't count on your birthday....or your family member's birthday, or your family member's, friend's, sister's, dentist's birthday...in case you needed to read the rules one more time.

Cindy's Shower

I attended Cindy's bridal shower with some other gals from church yesterday at the Bent Tree Country Club. Everything was beautiful, including the bride-to-be. (And the cupcakes were delicious!) I had the privilege of watching Cindy and Cliff meet, and fall in love in Sunday School/and fellowship activities. They have a really sweet story, and a Godly relationship that has been inspiring a lot of singles at the church. I look forward to watching their influence grow as they begin married life in June!

Happy New Year, 2009!

The year ended much as it began, with many stories told (and untold) to reflect upon from 2008. I now am anticipating many fun events to look forward to in 2009!
An evening spent with family:

Games, or rather a really long game of dominoes:

A 'Baptist Toast' of Sparkling White Grapejuice ;O):