My Best Friend's B-Day Cake

So I apologize, I promise you'll get a better looking cake next year...

Anyway, it was still yummy!

Chocolate cake, Chocolate Ganache Frosting and Filling

Marshmallow Fondant flowers with little pearls for pips and Monogram H for her name :)

Favorite cake stand so far from Target.

Little Girls' Birthday Cake

I made this cake for a friend's little girl and nieces' birthdays. She gave me free reign, so I made a girly looking cake.

White and Chocolate cake with Chocolate Ganache filling.

Marshmallow Fondant ribbon roses, bow, ruffles, and "pearls" dusted with a shimmer dust.

I'm still practicing, so the fondant doesn't look the best it can. This is my second fondant covered cake, so chill out :)

Bento Box Wannabe for 2 year old

My 2 yr old was going through a phase and didn't want to eat even his favorites. So I scooped watermelon balls, cut little faces into the grapes, put the cream and butter zucchini in a star shaped container, and made animal-shaped whole wheat pasta with veggie marinara sauce (sprinkled with his fav Parmesan cheese). Did he eat it? No. I got a chuckle out of the grapes. Maybe he is a purist when it comes to Bento box meals? O well. And yes, he grew out of that phase after a few weeks.

A few Bento Box Blogs for your viewing pleasure:

Wendolonia

Bento Box Lunches by J.B.

Lunch in a Box: Building a Better Bento

Cake and Cupcakes

Cake and Cupcakes for my bro's wedding.

• White and Chocolate cake layers and cupcakes
• Whipped Chocolate Ganache filling
• Buttercream Frosting for cake and cupcakes, Marshmallow Fondant for cake and some cupcakes, Royal Icing for "cherry blossoms" on cake

The pics of the cupcakes didn't turn out too well, but you can see (or maybe not) that there are about 5 different repeating designs. I also experimented with chocolate letters (didn't turn out, but at least I tried).

Everyone liked them! It was a big "phew!" First time I ever did something like this and it turned out well.

Projects on the Table, A Call for Help...

This is for family members and close friends near and far...
I have some projects that apply to you and am requesting your e-mailed "donation" of a photo of you and your loved ones. This includes you, Frank and Barbara, heehee!

Project #1
I am making an album for Sean with all of his family member's and our friend's photos inside. This will be a little book for him to look at on car trips, during our 2nd and 3rd block of Church, and so on. Please help me out and send me (through e-mail, the best way) a recent photo (headshot preferred) of you and any of his cousins. That way you are not strangers to him when you meet him next time.

I will be compiling it all into a file and will ask Mike to help me e-mail it out to you all. I will right everybodies names underneath the photo (ex: Grandpa Blah, Grandma Blah Uncle Blah Blah, Aunt Blah, Cousin Blabla).

If you would like this "album" for your kiddos, let me know. -BUT- you must send a photo or else it won't work... it's not that hard people...please?

Of course, you will not want my friends in your album, so I will not send those.

Oh, and let me know if you have a special name/nickname for particular family members or the grandparents, such as Grandpa Rueckert or Oma Barbara, auntie, or tio, or whatever. Just let me know in your e-mail...
This project has been haunting me and I want to get it done, so e-mail away!

I thought this would be a good way for Sean to get to know you all, especially those of you who are far away :o(
We miss you guys!

Project #2
I don't know about you guys, but Sean loves being read to. It would be nice if Frank and Barbara could read a book on video camera and then I can edit it and send you all a copy. Pop it in the DVD player and your kiddos have instant Gramma and Grampa...What do you all think? I hope you aren't camera shy Frank and Barbara... It will also give us parents a few minutes to ourselves..haha.

Project #3
I e-mailed Fawn and reminded her of her idea to have a "just us Rueckerts" reunion this summer. What do your calendars look like? We are short on vacation days, so maybe a weekend would be fun...camping or the like? Let us know...

Economically Brainwashed

So I made this huge pot of Pozole, and now I regret making so much. I think to myself- in these hard economic times, why am I making so much food that I don't really want to give away to others (selfish?)? I am so used to making a big batch of the stuff because its nice to have leftovers and sometimes invite others to have some. It feels like I need to horde things, even though we aren't really "suffering" through hard eceonomic times the way some people might be (I am grateful that Mike is still employed). I think I am getting brainwashed by the current economic society to save, horde, use coupons, by on sale items, clearance items, not use so much energy to save money, be thrifty, so on and so forth. I think that we have been blessed to still have Mike working, and still be able to do things every now and again like before this economic dive.
I guess in the end, it doesn't hurt to save money, if it means we can have fun or invest in something later on. What are your thoughts? Does anyone else feel obligated to save money? Maybe you are having a tough time, what do you do to help yourself through it?

I think I will share my Pozole with a friend...share the wealth, right?

Shallow Kitchen Sink

I CAN"T wait until I move out of this place and into a house of my own! I will make sure the kitchen sink is not shallow. My pots do not fit inside the sink . Arrgh! If I am filling a pot with water and forget about it as I am cooking, it will often spill out and on to the counter. Mess! I can't have the water on full blast either because it splashes out. Flthup!

Well, I can at least say I have developed the good habit of wearing an apron.