More cupcakes...My sister and I made the strawberry cupakes from this book. It's not exactly from scratch but the strawberry cream cheese frosting was. They were very good.
Look at what I received from Caitlyn of Knot Without My Knitting. It's Amy Butler and Junko Onishi fabric. I love it. I plan to make her something in return. Thanks Caitlyn!
For my cousin's baby shower I made the Billy Reece cupcakes. You can find the recipe here. I'm not much of a buttercream frosting person but I did make it for these cupcakes. FYI: it's the exact same buttercream frosting that Magnolia makes except they add one more teaspoon of vanilla. I wish I had used the cream cheese frosting from Martha Stewart. I may have overbeaten the mixture. I think the Magnolia recipe to me does taste a little better but I haven't made them for awhile so I can't be quite sure. Anyway here are some photos. I also got a new toy... the Williams Sonoma Mechanical Pastry Bag. I was still getting the hang of it so my cupcake decorating wasn't too creative.
BTW: The Gymboree gift boxes make great cupcake transporters.
So last Saturday I finally had the "sweets" party that I said I would have here. My sister kind of put things together with my sister-in-law and cousin - from putting together the invitations and asking/telling people what to bring. (It was a potluck) -- there was just so much food but I didn't take pictures quite of everything but here are some of the highlights... Anne brought me this cake from here and made the cookie favors (dress cookies with a flower and sash). I had my Guava Cake fix (thanks Anne!).
My cousins brought over their chocolate fountain--
These were some of the things that the kids loved dipping:
...and pictures of more food...
There are tons of leftovers (mostly sweets)...so you know what I've been snacking on...
Last Friday I made some mango bread. My cousin-in-law bought a whole box of mangoes. I used the recipe from this book:
I also pulled out a couple origami books and folded these:
So I haven't given birth yet -- I can't believe it! I should have gone to work on Friday. Today I sewed again...making more pouches. The matching set is for my sister-in-law. My sister made her a matching zipper tote bag and I made the pouches to go with it. The purple one is part of a birthday gift for my cousin.
My husband also wanted me to make corn bread (to go with the chilli he made for dinner). Here is the recipe. I always make this one and it's very good. Try it, you'll like it!
...and another picture of baby pig...
We'll see if anything happens soon...but it doesn't feel like it. Walking at the mall didn't help. Maybe I'll go to work on Monday...
My parents & sister went to Harvard to attend my cousin's graduation and also stopped over at New York to sight see.
My sister got this t-shirt for me from Magnolia Bakery -- (the saying is true don't you think) -- but she said the cupcakes were too sweet and my aunt said her cupcake was dry...
My parents got this onesie for their next grandchild:
I got a couple belated birthday gifts: A signed Sweet Serendipity Cookbook and a candle from Diptqyue --
The neighbor next door had a garage sale and I found out he's a knitter. I got ALL this yarn for $10. It was a very good deal. The receipt from 1999 was still in the bag and he paid over $100 for the yarn...
I finally finished the newborn sweater -
and I made Just Jenn's broken glass jello for a Father's Day luncheon at my cousin's house.
Two more weeks -- induced date is 6/30 but I can go into labor anytime they say...I do hope it's soon -- it might be, because I'm nesting really bad...I do hope though she stays in at least for this week --need to finish some projects at work before I go on leave.
So last Thursday I had another ultrasound. This time, it was to measure the size of the baby. She's a little over 5 lbs now but looking at me, I'm not so sure. Here's her profile:
When I came home from the doctor's, I found a package on the front doostep -- All my mail orders came in already so this one was a surprise from JustJenn. She sent the baby-on-the-way, some hand made goodies! Thanks Jenn!
Since I came home early that day, I also made biscotti from this book that Anne got for me. They're very very good. I cheated of course and ate a couple.
....and here are pictures of projects that should hopefully be done before the baby comes out...
a newborn knit sweater and
a mini lap quilt...
I baked cookies last Saturday - while the hubby was cleaning out the room for the baby. The recipe was from Martha Stewart -- IceBox Shortbread. It's a simple and easy recipe and you can add whatever you want in them. I added mini m&m's that my sister bought for my son. He liked them a lot. They really taste good w/ mini chocolate chips or the candied ginger.
I attempted to make french macaroons last Friday. I consulted my 3 books to see which one looked like the easier, most simple recipe - but they were basically the same except that The American Boulangerie had a shorter baking time (15 minutes).
The results were not what I expected and they didn't look nice but my cousins still liked how they tasted. Only about two came out perfect and the rest came out with extra bumps on the tops. Next time I'll try Martha's recipe since her recipes are tested probably 20 times and when Anne made them during Christmas, they came out good.
Here's a very easy jello recipe - good for kid parties - though I got this recipe at a bridal shower. I use the deli size tupperwares and that makes the perfect block size -- but you can use whatever you like.
3 boxes of the 3 oz. size jello (any flavor) ; 4 packets of unflavored gelatin; and 4 cups of water.
In a bowl put jello & gelatin together then add 4 cups of boiling water. Stir until everything is mixed well together. Pour into your rectangular container then refrigerate.
These come out firm and not like the recipe on the jello box.
