Showering Sweets on Baby S

Yesterday, we threw a baby shower for a very dear friend. She flew in from California this weekend for a baby-filled weeked bash! She's having two showers and lots of lovin' coming her way!

I was in charge of the punch, the favors, and the tableware.

For the favors, I got different colors of pink nail polish...because we're tickled pink about the baby! Yes, I go for the silly puns.

I also made cake pops for people to take home. I made red velvet cake, crumbled it, and added cream cheese frosting. Then I used a tablespoon to make balls. These went into melted pink chocolate and then dipped in sprinkles.

That's how it was supposed to work. In actuality, the balls fell off the sticks in the chocolate. I guess I made them too big, ahem. Putting them in the freezer helped some, but by then the chocolate had been on the stove too long and started separating. At this point, it's midnight and my mom (who had just come up that night to help and go to the shower) voted for going to bed and grabbing some pastel jelly beans on the way to the shower. Give up on the cake balls? No way. Not until ultimate defeat. I grabbed a rubber spatula and used it to brush on the chocolate. Then covered the balls in sprinkles to hide any defects. We kept them in the freezer overnight and in the morning...they were cute. And yummy.

These cupcakes are adorable! Warning: the pacifier is not edible.

I'm not a fan of punch, so I was a little nervous about making it. I went with something simple, and stayed away from the sherbet! The foamy sherbet punches remind me a 70s perfume! Yuck.

Pretty in Pink Punch

1 can frozen cranberry juice concentrate

1 can fronzen orange juice concentrate

one bottle of ginger ale

water to taste

Mix all together until the frozen juices are melted. Taste. Add water if too tart.

Add rubber duckies right before serving.

Kitchen Sink Tuna Salad

Coming back from vacation, I had a couple of very nice surprises waiting for me.




Firstly, my mom had planted beautiful assortments of flowers in two flower boxes I have on my balcony. They had been sitting empty for awhile, relegated to being deterents to my cat jumping off. They are now beautiful and add so much to the space, which is one of the best feautures of my apartment!




Secondly, the guy I'm seeing left two bunches of flowers.




Did I mentioned I love plants and flowers?



I also love food. I had a late flight that arrived after midnight, and worked the following day. When I got home, I was left searching around for food. I had a few staples and random food, and threw it together for a kitchen sink tuna salad that was quite satisfying eaten with carrots and pita chips.


Kichen Sink Tuna Salad




one can of tuna in water, drained but keeping some water

one can of Northen white beans

mayonnaise to taste, I used about 2 Tablespoons

handful of sunflower seeds

one apple, shredded

cayenne pepper, black pepper, and cumin to taste

Mix, chill, enjoy!

Coconut Twix

On roadtrips, pit stops are definitely the most redeeming part for me.
It's a reason to go in and pick out a snack or a little treat for the road.
Heading to Slide Rock Park in Sedona, AZ, we stopped by a cute gas station and convenient store. Looking over their selection I saw something I hadn't seen before....coconut Twix!
I love the trend of candy companies now making coconut chocolate goodies! I love the coconut M&Ms, but my favorite has been the coconut cream Hershey Kisses! Too good. I devoured the bag in a week!

I know coconut is a love/hate item. I fall completely in the love category. One of the things I like most about the Kisses is that there is real shredded coconut inside. The M&Ms and Twix are coconut flavored.

We threw these into the cooler and munched on them before and after slipping and sliding around Slide Rock Park. This is a crazy place! Lots of people, lots of kids, lots of noise and laughing...a little too much for me at first, until I got in the water and started slipping around myself. I ended up with ripped shorts, a huge bruise on my elbow from a wicked fall, and a stitch in my side from laughing so hard. We ventured upstream and the walk paid off; we scampered over lovely rocks to a magnificent pool of water, perfect for diving off and coming up floating in the cold, clear water. Ahhh.

Backpacking Food

On Saturday, I'm heading out west.

I'll be in Arizonia for 6 days. Three nights will be at the Grand Canyon. We'll be taking the Hermit Trail and spending two nights in the canyon.

My last overnight hiking trip was several years ago, when I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. We had an entire team of porters and guides and...an excellent cook...who made the journey a lot less stressful and a lot more lively. Breakfast and dinner were hot meals served straight from the pot; lunch was a bagged affair that always included a candy bar. It was great.

This time, though, no cook. No porters. No guides. Just a backpack, a friend, and a travel stove. During my two hours shopping adventure at REI last night, I picked up a freeze dried package meal (Cheese Enchilada Rancho) and a dessert (Apple Cinnamon Streusel). The plan for the rest of the food is to go grocery shopping in Phoenix upon arrival and stock up.

But then the question arises, what to stock up on? What can be carried, is nonperishable and needs only a small heat source to be super tasty (cause this girl needs good food)? Thankfully, there are a few good blogs I've found for recipes and ideas.

http://www.wildbackpacker.com/backpacking-food/
http://www.backpackingchef.com/index.html
http://www.trailcooking.com/

Hitthetrail.com has been a great all-round resource for hiking in the Grand Canyon. At least, it has made me feel more prepared for the experience.

I'm looking forward to trying the freeze dried meal! It's a little like mixing potions and making mud pies!

Facelift for a Frame

This picture frame is one that I've had around for a long time. It had a panda bear motif paper on it, that I loved when I saw it in fifth grade. I wanted to keep the frame, but needed an updated design. I pulled the paper off, and replaced it with squares of scrap book paper. I used Mod Podge both under to glue it, and over to seal it.

Now all I need is to process the film I just took with my Holga and pick out a nice pic!

Blueberry Picking

It's summertime, which means berry picking! In high school, I would go down to the end of the culdesack and pick blackberries from the wild bushes. This year, I went berry picking in earnest. The Saturday before July 4th, I hopped in the car with two friends and headed out to the Hard Labor Creek Blueberry Farm in Social Circle, Georgia.

This is a family home and blueberry farm that is so well cared for and wonderfully welcoming. We picked for about an hour and I gleaned 9.5 pounds of blueberries! At just $1.65 a pound, I can afford the two monstrous bags I got.

It seems so extravagant to be able to open the refrigerator and grab a handful of berries for my cereal, yogurt, salad, afternoon snack, midnight snack.

twd ~ Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Muffins

This recipe could inspire a great debate - is it a muffin or a cupcake?

I meant to follow the recipe exactly, but I just can't seem to make it happen. Instead of using half the chocolate melted in the batter, I melted all of it and poured in. So when I got to adding the chunks, I had to reach back in the bag and add a little more. This is really chocolate chocolate chocolate chunk muffins.



I wonder if the added chocolate makes these even more cupcake like. My first reaction is that they are straddled between the two worlds, and not very satisfying as either. I added almonds on top to some, just for a little decor.



They are a beautiful color. I only got 11 out of the recipe because I purposefully made the first six big. I'm out of town for the 4th of July, and my cat is having a sleep over with the guy I'm seeing. My mom said this must mean he really likes me. I figured, just in case cat sitting is more than he expects, big chocolate muffin-cakes are in order.

Thanks to Bridget of The Way the Cookie Crumbles for this week's pick! Head over to her website for the recipe.