Archive for December, 2009

7 Dec

Tis the Season

Posted by Rebecca in Ava, Friends, Olivia.

Saturday morning, we bundled up and headed downtown for the annual old fashioned Christmas parade.

We’ve attended the last four of the parade’s 17-year run. As far as Ava is concerned, this is the start of the season, and it is serious business.

Tom joined us, too.

The parade began with a fly over:

Next up, about 100 entries, all horses and horse-drawn carriages.

Ava loved the carriage with Santa.

Bryan’s favorite:

Olivia loved all of them. She squealed with delight every time a horse came into view.

Every. Single. Time.

That was definitely my favorite part!

6 Dec

Olivia Fix

Posted by Rebecca in Olivia.

There’s nothing like the smell of a fresh lovie in the morning.

4 Dec

“What, Mom?”

Posted by Rebecca in Ava.

Sometimes, even simple instructions like “put on your coat” can be creatively interpreted.

3 Dec

Amish Friendship Bread

Posted by Rebecca in In the kitchen.

I am the lucky recipient of this bag of….well, I am not exactly sure what it is, but the directions that accompany it tell me I can make it into bread—eventually. I can’t refrigerate it, and I must not—under any circumstances—stir it with a metal spoon.

On day four and five, I am to “mush” the bag. On day six, I need to add flour, sugar and milk. I “mush” again on days seven, eight and nine, and then finally on day 10, I can bake it, but only after I split the batter into four bags and pass it along to people who promise not to approach the bag with anything resembling a metal utensil. (The four friends I have in this zip code are cringing with anticipation, I just know it.)

I’ll keep you posted.

1 Dec

Cows on cupcakes

Posted by Rebecca in In the kitchen.

I made these barnyard cupcakes for Olivia’s birthday. This was the first time I’ve attempted a project like this, and it was definitely a good learning experience. I used a product called gum paste, which I found to be a bit difficult because it dries very quickly and can crack easily. If I do something like this again, I might try marzipan or fondant.

I drew inspiration from a number of sources, including Blue Cupcake in California, and my mom, who was sitting across the table from me during the nearly five hours it took to complete the cupcakes.

I found edible markers at Michael’s—they worked well for the signs and animal eyes.

Ava and I piped the fences with white chocolate.

I made the grass using a special frosting tip, which might just be my new favorite tool.

When I ran out of steam, my mom suggested I add little tufts of grass to “mud” cupcakes. I topped them with two heart-shaped sprinkles to form butterflies.

Doug snapped these close-ups for me. Thanks, Doug!

I think this rooster is my favorite, but it could just be my fondness for it’s helpful and sweet creator…

Thank goodness I had her help–I actually ended up baking two batches of cupcakes.

For the first, I used this recipe, despite the fact it NEVER works for me. I assume at some magical point in time, I will somehow successfully incorporate stiff egg whites into cake batter, resulting in gorgeously puffed white cupcakes.

Until then, the Quik Shop opens at 6 am on Saturday, and they sell cake mixes.

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