My Birthday Party

So I had a very nice birthday party last weekend. I invited my three closest female friends and we had a tea party like last year. We giggled and talked about girly things, and had tea, cupcakes, meringues, strawberries, cucumber sandwiches and crackers. Then we looked at a selection of fabrics from which I chose for my fashion major friend Tiffany to make a skirt for me. Can't wait to see how it starts to turn out! :)

I made chai cupcakes with a honey buttercream frosting, and they were very nice. To decorate them I used some sugar crystals and candy pearls.

Everyone loved my meringues, and I was so glad I was able to actually somewhat succeed making meringues, unlike the first time I tried to make them maybe a year ago and vowed never to try again. It's a good thing I gave it another shot.

I just love strawberries. They are so summery and refreshing. I had a whole bunch of strawberries before my party too, and I used them for a strawberry coulis to go with a previously made pound cake, plus I had some with crepes.

 The whole spread... and me in the background getting something I guess, haha.

Yay, more presents :). 

The table was kind of similar to last year, but it was nice to try new treats to eat and share. My friends are the best. :)

Hope everyone's enjoying their last few days/weeks of summer! Winding up my summer has been busy but nice. I saw a bunch of family today for my grandpa's memorial service (mom's side), and tomorrow's a family reunion with my dad's side of the family. As we all used to say at the Montessori school where I worked... "we are thankful for our food, friends and family!"

Birthday Weekend!

Well I had a very nice birthday weekend. My family and I had a barbecue with tri-tip, chicken, french bread, beans, potato salad, and corn. Santa Maria style tri-tip is famous worldwide. Our beans are famous too, and super good.

Then after that we had s'mores and exchanged funny stories. Also, my parents got all of us cupcakes from KK's Gourmet Bundt Cakes as my cake. My dad got me a customized wine bag, a charm photo bracelet, and a CD. My mom got me a pretty snow globe with kitties in it. My sister got me a salad spinner and a flexible liquid measuring pouring cup for baking. My boyfriend gave me one of his treasured beanie babies and his mom got me a pretty bookmark. So I felt very special.

The next day, my boyfriend and I went to a Chili Festival in Arroyo Grande, near Lopez Lake. It was really fun and we got to try all kinds of different chili recipes-- vegetarian, red (spicy), chili verde, and some other unique styles of beans. The spicy beans I voted I liked the best were one of the groups that won-- these beans came from Chele's Food & Spirits, in Pismo. Apparently they haven't changed their chili recipe in 22 years and they've won at the festival two years in a row. I may need to check out that restaurant sometime! :)

There isn't much summer left, but I'm trying to enjoy the rest of it as much as I can. Saturday, I'm having a birthday party with my girls. Looking forward to that!

Pretty Cakes

Time for another update, so I'm going to share some pretty cakes I've had the pleasure to enjoy recently.

This is the cake from the wedding I went to. It was a lovely yellow layer cake with custard filling.

So pretty on the inside, too :)

Caramel Macchiato cupcakes JoDee and I made.

We made these Tres Leches style with sponge cake and layers of soaked in cream and coffee/bailey's (or non-alcoholic bailey's irish creme flavored cream for those who didn't want the alcohol kind). Then a vanilla buttercream frosting and caramel sauce drizzled ontop. I liked them a lot. 

My birthday is in 3 days, starting to get excited! :)