Party in the Trench!

If you're familiar at all with mommy bloggers out there, you know that as a group they take birthday parties seriously.  


I mean, SERIOUSLY. 


You know what I'm saying: Themes. Invitations. Hand-made decorations. Beautiful locations. Color-coordinated everything. Perfect goody bags that are naturally related to the party's theme and likely hand-made and/or hand decorated. Theme-related, home-made food straight from mom's kitchen that took days to prepare. Structured games and activities that are, naturally, theme-related. Ribbons! Bows! Place settings with names. Gorgeous pictures to record every detail for the blog.   


This party here is a perfect example. 


If you want to get really overwhelmed, take a gander at this Pinterest board. 


Which leads me to Libby's birthday party, which was this past weekend. In the spirit of The Perfect Party, I took LOTS of pictures and naturally planned on blogging ALL about it.  


I'll start with the theme. 


There was no theme. She just wanted some friends to come hang out with her at the park. 


Moving on to the paper products: 

That's right. Left overs from previous gatherings neatly displayed in a Ziploc bag. I was even careful enough not to remove these 

and had one of Libby's friends come up and ask me what it meant.


Take that, Mormon moms.  


By the way, there were no plates or flatware. Hello? Opposable thumbs. 


But I brought some cups! 

Notice the table AND the napkins AND the cups are all blue! It's like I planned it!* Well, OK, some of the napkins aren't blue. But the ones on top are! 


Say you: You mean the ones encouraging 10-year-olds to get boozy with their friends? 


Say me: It gets better. 


The food? 


I slaved all week...

Here was the cake:**

Target The bakery ran out of those cookies and we were afraid we weren't going to have enough so we had to improvise: 

Oh! Let me show you the decorations: 

As for the games, well, there's a huge city draining system concrete byway that runs through the middle of the park. It goes from one street to another and is about 3 feet below ground level and a few feet wide. The kids pretty much stayed in there most of the time. We barely saw them the entire party. 


Goody bags? 


Please.


Those things are way too much trouble and kids in America have enough crap anyway.


I totally think I should submit the event to this blog for a potential feature post, don't you? -> 


*Did you notice the lovely lighting I have going on those photos? I thought it was a nice touch. 
**OMG, YES. She had a real cake. I served it at the family birthday dinner.  

I'm Sorry, I'm All Domestic Today.

It's not even Thanksgiving yet, and already I've had so much junk cooking going on in my kitchen I'm ready to mainline broccoli.  

My exciting Friday night this past weekend consisted of baking an entire acre's worth of refined sugar cane, with some chocolate thrown in for good measure. I had so many cookies lying around and not nearly enough space in which to cool them (read: was thoroughly unprepared because I only own one cookie cooling rack) that I had to get quite creative with where I was cooling them while rotating batches in and out the oven: 

Say you: Hold the phone! What kind of cookie is THAT? 


Say me: That, my salivating friend, is simply put, the best cookie on the planet. 


Period.  


I started with a Martha recipe and then I heavily tweaked it. Because believe it or not, Martha ain't always all that.  My brother, when watching me make them one year, decided that...wait for it...a Hershey's caramel kiss nestled in the center was the way to go. 


His name is Stuart, but we've called him Stu forever. 


So we dubbed the cookies "Stooders" in his honor, even though I think the kiss is a little over-the-top and only do half the batch that way. 


And before you ask, yes, I'll give you the recipe. It's been a work in progress for a few years now and the peanut butter chips are a recent and welcome addition. I threw them in on a whim one day.  I'll never go back to not having them there.


Stooders (or STU-ders)


Preheat oven to 325 F 
metric conversion


1 cup flour
3/4 cocoa powder 
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon course salt
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon instant coffee
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 12 oz bag semi or bittersweet chocolate chips
6 oz peanut butter chips
3/4 cup of walnuts when not making them for Stu, who tragically doesn't like nuts in his cookies. 
Optional: Hershey's caramel kisses




Yield: about 2 dozen
Calories per cookie: None. 


In a double boiler, melt 6 ounces, or 1/2 the bag of chocolate chips(approximately 1 cup)and butter over low heat. When melted, stir in vanilla and instant coffee. 


While the chocolate and butter are melting, mix together all the dry ingredients. Pour in the melted chocolate mixture and mix well.  Add your eggs and mix until thoroughly combined.  


Add the remaining chocolate chips, the peanut butter chips and the walnuts to the batter and stir until all the add-ons are well incorporated. 


Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until cracks show on the top of the cookie. I always line my pans with parchment paper before baking.   


If you're adding the kiss, do so immediately after you pull the cookies from the oven. Let cool completely before storing in a dry, airtight container. 


Some quick tips on this particular step: 


1) Unwrap the kisses before you put them on top of the cookie. I suppose you could skip this step, but when you bite on foil it hurts those back fillings. Plus I can't imagine it's all that easy on the digestive system. 


2) My brother had the nerve to suggest Hershey's peanut butter cups instead of the caramel kiss tonight when he tasted the peanut butter-chip version for the first time. Go this route at your own risk. 


3) I think it's best to just put one piece of candy on any given cookie. Any more than that and you'll be required to have your dentist on speed-dial. Not to mention your endocrinologist.  


Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers. Happy hump day to everyone! ->

Not included

I'm aware this is a dreadfully boring picture, but it comes attached to a tale, so bear with me.  

My little girl's birthday was yesterday, but the family celebrated it today in the regular fashion: dinner  at home with a menu requested by the Birthday Person, presents and cake to follow. Sometimes it's just the four of us.  Sometimes grandparents come along for the ride.  

Say you: What was today's menu? 

Say me: Obviously this has nothing to do with my story, but if you must know it was baby back ribs, french fries, fresh strawberries and black berries, and birthday cake.  Flavor of cake: chocolate with disgustingly sweet vanilla butter cream icing.  Yes.  I made the cake from scratch.  And the icing.  And the bar-b-que sauce.   And the ribs. And I grew my own strawberries (Ok, not really on that last one.)

Onward.  

With the start of the family blog, she decided that she wanted to add her very own photos and commentary.   Fair enough.  So she requested a digital camera for her birthday.  I made no promises but decided I'd likely get her an inexpensive one. I found a reasonably priced one at Darth Mart last weekend and noticed that, unsurprisingly, it required batteries.  I bought them (rechargeable) and went home feeling flush with success that I got a nifty little camera for thirty bucks: software for uploading to various photo sites, 4 x digital zoom, video clips, flash, good resolution, and bonus!  It was pink!  

What I didn't notice...in fact what no one noticed until the camera was busted out of that stupid plastic packaging that requires a machete and the patience of Job, was that the blasted thing needed a memory card.  And there's the warning right there on the packaging.  But in my defense it was written in 6 point type  which I'm sure was not at all deliberate by the manufacturer. 

So here's my daughter wanting to take pictures with her brand new device and she's denied because there's no memory card.  

But not for long!  

Thankfully, it was Dad to the rescue as he was able to pilfer one from another gadget in the house.  See?  We reused! 

Say you: Where's the plastic from the camera now?  

Say me: It's in the recycle bin.  That stuff is #2, right?  -> 

Crackling nails

Little Missy is 9 today!  Blue fingernails are thus required. 


PS: I love this picture. -> 

King

Can you believe a grocery store in the protestant Bible Belt had the nerve to sell King Cake, a product that  should only be left in the hands of professionals or moms at home who know what they're doing? (For the record, I don't.  But I tried:)

I always feel a bit nostalgic for Louisiana this time of year.  I traveled to Mardi Gras every year for a decade--behavior you can get away with in your late teens and twenties.  I always stayed with my aunt and uncle and for one glorious weekend they took me down into the thick of things: the corner of St. Charles and Julia. 


Mardi Gras, for a long time, was a product of the south in the USA, and south Louisiana in particular. It's historically a Catholic holiday and in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, the cities still shut down for the occasion. Over the years, I think due to commerce more than anything, the celebration has spread across the land. One can now buy beads and other assorted accoutrements  in their local hobby stores, and of course the internet has certainly helped in making Mardi Gras a more democratic experience. 

But no town here can do it like New Orleans. Parades, call Krewes, "roll" for weeks before Fat Tuesday, but the weekend prior to Mardi Gras is when the real fun happens: Venus, Bacchus, Endymion, Iris, Tucks, Mid City, Hermes, Thoth, Morpheus, d'Etat, Orpheus, Zulu, Rex, Pete Fountain...

Over the years I've seen all of those.  I had visions of riding in a parade at one time.  A New Orleans friend would ride with me and she would be my "in" as you can't just call up some secretary for the krewe of Iris and ask to ride on a float.   Alas, I lost touch with her following Katrina although I'm sure she's still on a corner in the city somewhere every year.  

There's a lot of money that gets tossed in the streets annually.  My aunt, who was born and raised not only in New Orleans but steeped in the Mardi Gras tradition (her father, and thus she and her siblings, were on the parade routes rain or shine), said that the parades, and the number of "throws", have become increasingly decadent over the years.  Take Bacchus, a well-known parade that used to roll every Saturday night (this year it was on Sunday).  Twenty years ago, it cost a few thousand dollars just to be a member of the krewe--which gave one the privilege of riding in the parade.  However, members were required to purchase at least a thousand dollars worth of throws.  God knows what the costs run them now.  

None-the-less, it's one of the best celebrations out there and I highly encourage you to experience it just once if you can.  You've never seen anything like it, rest assured.  -> 

/

Birthday

 

~Squee~

OMG.  

SO CUTE, right?  

And wow!  

SO practical.  

I bet the odds are really low--practically non-existent in fact--that this glass won't break the very night Birthday Girl receives it.  And the odds are WAY low--statistically you have a better chance of getting hit by lightening or winning the lottery--that this glass will not make its way to the back of the cabinet only to be found again in 2034 covered with enough dust that one could plant a potato in it. 

Because I don't know about you, but if I received a glass like this, you know I'm drinking my coffee out of it.  Like, every day. ->