Birthday Mini Marquee

Today is my birthday. It's one of those milestone ones, too... ;) So, this past weekend we had a party, and I used it as an excuse to make my own light-up mini-marquee sign. The tutorial is from Oh Happy Day.

Their instructions are brief, but it worked just fine. The hardest part was folding the strips that you then glue to the sides, but once I got my system down it wasn't too bad. I used the same lights, and the same quick-dry tacky glue, as Jordan recommended. I found I didn't even need to reinforce with tape, which was nice because the few places that I did add tape were too shiny once spray-painted.

Stuffing the lights in was frustrating, but nevertheless successful.

Pink Cake Three Ways

Our special four year old was lucky enough to have three celebrations this year... one at school, one with family (on the very day), and one with friends (the weekend after). And, each got her a different version of my go-to cake recipe, Magnolia's Vanilla Cupcakes from More from Magnolia, with Rachel Ray's icing recipe—which, by the way, is honestly the best cupcake frosting I've ever had. I make half the recipe.

I made mini two-layer cakes for her birthday dinner at home. She shares her birthday with her Nona, so they each got one—with their own mini cake-banner, too. I used my Martha Stewart butterfly punch, baker's twine and my ubiquitous Cavallini and Co. Alphabet Stamps.

Out of the same batch of batter and frosting, I made ice cream cone cupcakes for her to bring to preschool. These were the traditional treat for my husband's school-birthdays, so we decided to carry it on. I got mini ice cream cones (at Target) to make them more preschool portioned.

[Oh... late night school-cupcake baking. A rite of passage, I think.]

To make these, stand the empty ice cream cones in a muffin tin (or a mini-muffin tin), fill them two-thirds or so with batter, and bake as usual. 

I piped the icing on and dipped them in sprinkles to make it look like (pink) soft-serve. 

AFTER they were baked and cooled, I put tin foil over the empty muffin tins and poked holes to secure for the cones in (BEFORE I iced them, so that they wouldn't be tippy when I decorated and transported them.)

Finally, for the friend party, I made regular sized cupcakes—same recipes, of course. The ballerina toppers were by Meri Meri (although I bought them last year).

We decided to go with the age=number of guests rule (4 friends for a 4-year-old) this year, and had a simple sprinkler/kiddie pool/trampoline party in the backyard. She had a blast and we did too.

Pomegranate Chocolate Chip Cookies

I saw a pomegranate at our local grocery store today, and I just couldn't escape trying Dana's double dark chocolate pomegranate cookies. Yum. Next time I might try all butter, but this time I followed her recipe. When I made bigger balls (heaping rounded tablespoon), they took 13 minutes to bake.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy New Year

[Sunday Brunch Jacket]

Martha Stewart Multi-Grain Bread

From the February 2010 issue. Yum! I have to admit I had never made my own sandwich bread before. Turned out well, and even with organic ingredients it is much cheaper than the local organic bread I usually (and will most likely continue to) buy at the store.

Pretzels and Peanuts

Mets vs. Nationals, Shea Stadium, 9/26/07


Rangers vs. Islanders, Madison Square Garden, 9/28/07