Skip to main content

Celebrating...Me!

By Pamela

I hope this post does not sound....full of myself.

It was my birthday and I decided to celebrate....Me!

I did the things that make me happy. I baked. I decorated. I entertained.

In the end, even though it was my birthday, I hope others got as much enjoyment out of it as I did.

There are a few desserts I have always wanted to make: Creme Brulee, Tres Leches cake, Pavlova, and Tiramisu. I made a quick decision while talking to my BFF on the phone, I was going to make my own desserts and invite friends over to share.

 For both desserts I found great recipes at Pioneer Woman Cooks. I recommend her site, she has lots of great photos with step-by-step instructions.  Her photos gave me some confidence when I found myself cooking things I had no history with.


If you would like to try this dessert, go here:  The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Tres Leches Cake
My reflections on making this cake: It was actually way easier than I thought. No box mix was used and making the batter was not hard. I used a small kitchen squirt bottle to pour the milk on with (think small ketchup bottle). It has a fine tip and allowed me more control to get the edges of the cake than if I was just pouring from a pitcher.  In hind-site, I would have still tried to pour more milk into it. The center was "juicier" than the edges.

The next dessert that I love is Tiramisu. I can't even tell you the first time I had this dessert and fell in love with it. I love the creamy layer covered in chocolate and then just a hint of coffee. I made this dessert once before but in retrospect it was a non-traditional version.


The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Tiramisu. Again, this was easy enough to prepare! Cooking the eggs and Marsala was a little nerve wracking but it turned out well. I kept sampling the parts. They tasted good but it was not until like step four that they came together and tasted like something familiar. In hind-site, I love that Pioneer Woman drizzled the coffee/marsala mixture over the ladyfingers. Dipping the ladyfingers in the mixture gets messy and they fall apart. Drizzling the mixture over them was way easier! I do think I put too much cocoa on the top. It was a little overpowering.


Next up, the decorations. They came together by accident, honestly! I had planned a pink table cloth and cups because my little girl loves the Toby Keith song, Red Solo Cup but she is insistent on changing the words to pink solo cup. Then my dear friend at work  gave me this lovely metal sign that said, "I can do ANYTHING with the right SHOES!" And it was kinda pink.

I thought, how cute would this be on my table. I have a collection of small shoes at my work. They make me smile. So, I thought I would bring them home and use them to make a centerpiece. A coworker suggested using flowers and that lead me to the grocery store after work to get flowers.


I went there after pink flowers and came out with both pink and these spectacular orange mini roses. They were on sale, for $10.00! Happy Birthday to ME!


I came home and used things I already had to whip out this tablescape. I even made my own flower frog out of scotch tape! Now I do sound kinda MacGyver'ish!


And the best part is spending time with my good friends. Thank you all to everyone who stopped by and shared a hour or so with me on my day!

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Weekend Project: A PVC Camping Lamp Post and Flag Holder

By Pamela
I have seen a few of these around campsites and I knew I would like to have one. The only problem that I had is The Husband. He already thinks we drag too much stuff with us when we go camping and if I had told him my desire to have a PVC Camping Light Pole he would have shut it down quickly! So, that leaves a girl with only one choice: Figure out how to do it by herself. I did some internet searching and found a few road maps on RV forums. They seemed easy enough! I visited the local hardware store for the supplies: An exterior post lantern light 2 inch PVC pipe (I used 5 feet but had to purchase a 10 foot piece) A 3 inch toilet flange A 3 inch to 2 inch Reducer PVC Glue A 12 foot electric cord kit 2 - 3/4 inch PVC Caps I also used a few supplies we already had on hand: White Spray Paint 3 1/2 foot - 3/4 inch PVC Pipe Drill Bits (1 inch and 1/2 inch) Tent Stakes The first step was preparing the lantern light. I could only find black i
20 comments
Read more

Liver Cheese: A Family Tradition

By Pamela
Today is an anniversary date. One of those dates you wish you did not have to remember but there is no way you can forget.  Fifteen years ago today,two days after his birthday, my father died of lung cancer. He was a lifelong smoker and his cancer was aggressive. His battle was short. He fought for six short months after his diagnosis. He knew the chemo was not working and that his time was limited. When he came to this realization he became the best dad in the world.                                                In the days before my father's passing, my family shared some memorable moments. One of those moments centers around the deli meat: Liver Cheese.I would not be surprised if you have never heard of it, or even never tasted it. But I was raised on it as it was one of my Dad's favorite things.  What is it? Well, it is a German food that is actually called Leberkase. It is bacon, corned beef, pork, and onion that is ground together and baked. It comes with a
17 comments
Read more

Tonsillectomy (Warning Photos!)

By Pamela
The Short Chic came down with a pretty nasty case of strep throat back in April. So, when The Boy started complaining about his throat hurting about 12 days later, I was pretty confident that he had inherited his sister's strep. Instead, The Boy was diagnosed with a peritonsillar abscess growing on his right tonsil.  We had to immediately see an ENT  Physician who took a needle and drained the abscess. He removed about 5.5 cc of puss from The Boys throat.and then told us that once you have a peritonsillar abscess you were high risk to keep getting them. The Boy's tonsils were now compromised and needed to be removed.  We were told to plan for a two week recovery so we worked a surgery into our summer plans. Between family vacations, summer sports, and the beginning of school The Boy had his second surgery. A tonsillectomy.  Pre-surgery prepping went well. It must be nice to be young and have healthy veins for an IV! The Boy had lots of pre-surgery visitors. My
1 comment
Read more