Rewinding to Mother's Day 2011

 Pregnancy is an interesting experience.

I spent the entire first trimester saying "it's early."

I think I was trying to prevent myself from connecting with the growing being inside of me...'just in case something happened.'

Still today I consider myself more a Mom-to-Be rather than Mother at this stage...after all making it through 9 months and the birthing process are the actual rite of passage into motherhood right? 

(This pic was our first doc appt to confirm there was in fact something there...you know, in case the 7 at home pregnancy tests I took were wrong haha!)

At just 6 weeks pregnant fell the 2011 Mother's Day. 

My Mother and Sister in Law are both excited about the coming addition and decided to share their day of glory with me, a wide-eyed soon to be.

Now if you have not picked up on it by now, my Sister in Law (aka Mama Sox) is one heck of a cook and party planner.  For this year's celebration we came together for brunch. 

My contribution was something new...

Boston Cream Cupcakes (recipe courtesy of Martha).

My cake was too dense and a bit dry.  The custard was over thickened.  However the chocolate ganache was great (and the same recipe I had used on the Mexican Chocolate Cake.)!

I am not sure I would say these suckers texturally tasted as great as they looked, but the recipe has got some potential and is worth another shot.

Not to mention Boston Cream Pie is my Sister in Law's favorite...so it was the thought that really counted on this Mother's Day :)

The rest of our meal was AMAZING!

Bagels, Smoked Salmon Spread (sadly I had to skip this stuff), Steamed Fiddleheads, Pasta Salad, Quiche, Salad, Soup and an Oatmeal Rhubarb Bread (from my Mother in Law).

Mini Sox was so appropriately decked out in his Stormtrooper costume from the previous Halloween...guess this is what happens when 5 year olds start dressing themselves haha!

 My plate was big and scrumptious! 

Note that delicious bagel was a fennel and salt bagel...first time I'd ever tried it and SO GOSH DARN DELICIOUS!!!

Oh and so was the Carrot Ginger Soup!!
 

Now bringing us back to the present...here is a side by side comparison of the last week. 

Not too much has changed in the bump area, but I am beginning to feel more pregnant and even catch myself touching my own belly from time to time :)

Recipes for Mexican Chocolate Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting & Chocolate Ganache

THE MEXICAN CHOCOLATE CAKE PART
(recipe from bakedbree.com, only differences are (1) I increased/eyeballed the cayenne from her 1/2 tsp (2) I used Hershey's cocoa powder, which seems lighter than what the original author used and (3) I did not use her recommended Cinnamon Mascarpone Frosting.)

Dry Ingredients
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 3/4 cup flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 tbls balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tbls vanilla extract

• Begin by preheating oven to 350 degrees. 
• Spray two - 8" cake pans with Pam. Place a parchment paper disc in the bottom of each pan and spray again. 
• Combine all dry ingredients and whisk. 
• Add the wet ingredients and whisk until smooth and glossy. 
• Pour into cake pans and bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Cool completely.

Since I made the cake the night before, I wrapped each cooled layer in plastic wrap to keep them moist.


THE CINNAMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING PART
(recipe from bridezillabakes.com.  I doubled her recipe for this cake, which is indicated by the larger measurements below)

Ingredients
2x 8oz packages of cream cheese, softened
6 tbls unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cup confectioners sugar, plus more for mixing
2 tsp cinnamon

• Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla with an electric mixer at high speed until fluffy. 
• Sift in confectioners sugar and cinnamon, then beat at medium speed until incorporated. 

If frosting is too thick, add warm water a tbls at a time.  If frosting is too thin, add more powdered sugar a 1/4 cup at a time.

I also made this frosting the night before and just covered with plastic wrap and stored it in the fridge.  An hour or so before I was going to use it, I pulled the frosting out and brought it to room temperature.


THE CHOCOLATE-GANACHE GLAZE PART
(recipe from martastewart.com  I doubled her recipe for this cake, which is indicated by the larger measurements below)

Ingredients
1 1/3 cup heavy cream
12 oz chopped semisweet chocolate
2 tbls light corn syrup

• Bring cream to a boil in a medium sauce pan.
• Remove from heat, and add chocolate and corn syrup.
• Let stand for 5 minutes.
• Whisk until smooth.
• Transfer to a bowl, and let cool, stirring often.
• Use Immediately.

I did wait to make this once the cake and cream cheese part of the cake was assembled.

To read about my assembly methods for this gorgeous cake, please visit this post here.


GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!!!

Happy Birthday, Welcome Baby, Cinco de Mayo, Kentucky Derby

*

Believe it or not...

I baked and I baked good :)
*

I began with baking a delicious Mexican Chocolate Cake...

Then I used fellow foodblogger Bridezilla Bake's Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting recipe between the layers on the inside.
*

And Martha's easy peasy chocolate ganache for the outside.
*

Looks pretty good right?

Well I have to admit this was perhaps one of my most methodical baking attempts I've ever had.

I combed through recipe after recipe online to find just the right ones that theoretically in my mind would go well together as a final piece.

Here is how it went down...

I wisely made the cake layers on Friday evening, so as to allow them more than sufficient time to cool (icing barely warm cake has been a problem for me in the past).

Then Saturday morning, armed with a serrated knife to further layer'fy my cake, I cut each of the two layers in half.

Then whipped up the delicious Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting, adding sugar until just the right consistency for cake spreading.

Since I was really trying to think this one through...and I mean work through every step before I started it...I used the cake pan to cut a disc out of a card board box, which I then began to build my cake upon.

Cake - Icing - Cake - Icing - Cake - Icing - Cake

The serrated knife came into action again and I cut around the outside of the cake to even out the sides

The super easy ganache was cooked and cooled.

With the layered cake on top of large upside turned mixing bowl, on top of a cookie sheet (pretty smart thinking in my opinion)...I poured all the delicious shiny ganache over the top which drizzled down and coated the sides perfectly :)

Having that handy dandy piece of cardboard on the bottom was also genius!  I was able to move the cake around with ease.

Finally, the cake was adorned with its jewels...
*

Fresh strawberries along the top (which also protected the cake from the foil I was wrapping it in for transportation)

and halved strawberries along the sides.

This delicious cake was special.  Not only because it was an intentional and well thought out baking event...but because it was for my dear friends B&A. 

With it being that time of the year again, B&A were hosting their annual Cinco de Mayo party.  Last year I pleased the crowd with Bridezilla's Mexican Hot Chocolate Brownies.

This year however was extra special.  Not only did the party happen to fall on B's birthday, but it was also the Kentucky Derby and....B&A have just had a Mini Me!!!  Yup, the proud parents were also celebrating their newly acquired parenthood and introducing for the first time their new son :o)

For the party I also made...

White Cupcakes
*

with sugary white frosting.

The frosting turned out super sugary and still need some work to smooth them out.  However, the kids at the party still loved licking the icing of and I even saw a few of the adults digging in as well.

My almost prefect cake for B&A for the most perfect occasion of celebrations!!

The report from B, the birthday man/new Papa:

By the way, your cake was AMAZING....The filling was out of this world, and the cake was a great texture.

Congrats again little family!

Food Scroll #4 : XMas 2010 Contribution

I dropped the ball big time this holiday season.

I didn't go all out for the holidays this year...in fact I didn't even come close to the crazy food offerings of 2009 - No breads, tarts, PB balls or cookies. 

I guess you could say I temporarily put the family traditions on hold...there was simply no time for over ambition.

What I did do, which was a HUGE hit with Hubs and my SoVT fam, were these little crispy ham and cheese bites.

 Made the dough and piped each one out myself...pretty impressive eh?

Hubs is already requesting these again...

Maybe for Easter :)

This is My Kinda Party!

Around this time last year I threw Hubs an

'Oh no, the BIG 3-0' party

and it was a success!!

I even recall making the comment 'we should do that again!' during our hungover clean up mission the next morning...

Having not created the blog then, you all missed out on the happenings...well a few of you at least, pretty sure some of my readers were present  ;)

Luckily for me we once again had reasons to put on another!

The Menu, a hugely important factor to any party...or at least the ones you have when you're 'all grown up' haha!

When considering the menu, I was initially consumed by the thoughts of going Martha-Ina style...oh how fun and different! 

I was seriously looking forward to the challenges of new recipes and gaining some great blog notes...a 'proper' party was what was on my mind  :oD

That is until Hubs was asked for his thoughts (it was his party after all)...

Being the wise man he is, his simple suggestion was that we

'give the people what they want!'

What do our family and friends love more than anything...
Our Korean Feast!

An all day process, it all began with 10 lbs of short ribs, 10 lbs of chicken, 6 lbs of ground beef and 2 cans of spam...

The short ribs and chicken were cut, marinated Korean-style, skewered and grilled.

The beef provided hundreds of yakimondu...which of course are fried (that's why they are so darn good!).

The spam...well that is for my mother's famous fried rice. 

Are you weirded out by it?  I dare you to try just one bite of this rice...you'll be back for more!! 

Blue Light went BIG for the party too and called upon her talents as a baker and provided an extensive array of sweets including:  Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, Brownies, Pecan Pie and Sparklers (chocolate dipped pretzels with sprinkles!).

As you can imagine there was a lot of food, for a lot of people...and shame on me, I was so carried away with the evening's events that I forgot to take pictures.  I am very appreciative of Blue Light for snapping these few!!

Thank you Hubs, Blue Light and Mama Sox for your incredible contributions...I tend to get a little crazy in the final hours and your help maintained my sanity!

AND A GREAT BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CAME OUT!!!

There is nothing better than bringing together great food, good drinks and fabulous family/friends!!

Summertime in VT

S'mores...

*

and sunsets...

These are the things summers in VT are made of!

*

Last weekend was crazy fun. Kicking off Friday with Girls' Night Out, Saturday morning came before I knew it. I was invited to some friends' camp up north and rarely turn down the chance to drink and eat on our beautiful lake.

*

I mentioned a couple posts ago that the garden was going wild. After a long weekend of wedding fun, I returned home to find my first zucchini was enormous!

*

I debated letting it sit there in the garden to see just how big it might get (thinking of Hussy's Annual Harvest Party's Giant Veggie Competition), but then decided this beast might hoard the nutrients handicapping the growth of future zucchinis.
*

Having heard the large ones tend to be stringy and not make good eats, I waited a week to figure out how to utilize this elephant. Ultimately I became obsessed with the idea of stuffing it.

*

I began by using my handy-dandy melon baller to carve out a bowl. Then brushed it with olive oil, seasoned with salt/pepper and threw on a head's worth of garlic cloves. Now I am not sure if this made a difference or not, but I began cooking the zucchini halves face down with the garlic underneath. Being slightly hungover from the night before, I also don't know just how long it cooked for at 370 degrees (went by look). About halfway through I rotated and put the beastly pieces skin side down.

*

There you have it, roasted zucchini bowls.
*
Since the camp party would be offering hamburgers, hot dogs and sausages, I went for more of a side dish for the filling.
*
The couscous was cooked in a white wine/herb chicken broth, mixed with a combination of cucumbers, carrots, green peppers (1 from my garden!) and feta, and seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper.
*
Looking back I wished I had added some lemon juice or a vinegar of sorts, it could have benefited from the acid...
*

My other contribution was a recipe I received from my Aunt, following her serving it at one of my bridal showers...a goat cheese and strawberry bruschetta.
*

As simple as it sounds, I sliced a baguette, brushed with olive oil and broiled to toast. Then each piece was smeared with goat cheese and piled high with fresh strawberries. This easy dish is really tasty!! Sweet with a bite from the goat cheese, yum!

*

I do wish I had thought to pull out that balsamic glaze I've been using...but again, I was feeling the effects of the fun night before and wasn't completely thinking straight, oops!

*

The day was perfect.
*

Even the dogs thought so.
*

Hussy created a delicious tomato, basil, mozzarella and balsamic salad.

*

Though the grill ran out of gas, our macgyver hostess just went to Plan B.

*

Here was my plate...a delicious cheddar burger piled high with a spicy pepper mix and the variety of sides. What you don't see are the massive amounts of snacks I also consumed throughout the day...potato chips, bruschetta, blueberries and lots of beer :)
*

Between the wave runner, boat, tubing and water skiing, folks were in the water as long as the sun was up.
*

True for all things, even this wonderful day had to come to an end...
*

Each of us found moments of respite in this beautiful setting...
*

and as the sun began to lower into the horizon...
*

the sky began to fill with color.

*

It was an amazing day with good food, frosty drinks

*

and some pretty awesome friends.

*

Tasty s'mores...
*

and beautiful sunsets...

Summertime in VT :)