Banana Bread and Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day weekend was very busy for us. We started out Saturday with a Birthday party for darling Sadie who was celebrating her 2nd birthday. Aaron and I made our way across the Dumbarton Bridge and finally arrived at my Cousin’s house in Menlo Park for the party. It is a pain to get to Menlo Park from the East Bay. It could have been my iPhone’s instructions but either way it’s a pain. I honestly think it would be faster to somehow get on 280 and come in the back way.
It was really warm over the weekend in the Bay Area. The sun was out and it was in the 70’s. I am not really a sun girl but I found plenty of shady spots at the party to hang out and chat in. After hanging out at the party for a few hours we decided to head over to Stanford Mall, and set up our wedding registry at Macy’s. We had been to a few Macy’s already looking to see if they stocked some specific items we had spotted online; so many of the Macy’s we went to did not have properly stocked flatware, china, or crystal section. So I figured we needed to hit up the bigger stores in either Stanford, or San Francisco.
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Christmas Menu and Wedding Updates!
I have so many posts to put up that are not really Christmas related so I am going to wait till after the New Year to share them.
So much has been going on and I just finished writing my Christmas Dinner Menu. It’s a little late for me to be doing that, but with all the wedding planning going on it seems the month of December has just flown by. Better for it to fly by then knock me over, so I am grateful.
So, first let’s get to the wedding updates. This month we visited a lovely Golf Course in the south bay area. I just fell in love with the site and it fit perfectly into the budget. So Aaron and I along with my Parents signed the contract and set September 25th, 2011 in stone.
Once we had the date set up we decided to finally ask our friends to be a part of the wedding. My childhood girlfriend/sister Meredith will be standing up for me as my Maid of Honor and my cousin Tanya will be my bridesmaid. I am so excited to start planning all the little details with these fine ladies. I love you both so much!
Full Recipe10 things I learned my first year blogging:
As I come up on my first anniversary of my blog I am so excited! After blogging for a year I can see what I have learned, and well, I wanted to share some of it (I actually had photos for each example but then I got engaged and that messed my process up, totally not complaining, oh and by engaged I mean ring on my finger! We are getting married!).
When I started my blog I had been going through a hard time. A stint of unemployment that I still enjoy till this day, but for some reason I cope with it differently. I feel I have found my voice again. Not that is was lost completely, but that it has been made stronger and wiser.
Above all I these are the things I have learned:
Full RecipeSnickerDoodles
When I was growing up I made snickerdoodles all the time, as we always seemed to have the ingredients on hand to make them. Nowadays I make the dough and keep it in my freezer. Baking a dozen or less when we feel the need to eat something sweet. I do the same thing with my peanut butter cookie dough, and chocolate chip. Why bake it all? Unless you plan on eating them all right away, really no reason to bake them all up. I feel that homemade cookies taste best the day there were baked, and it’s nice to have a little cookie goldmine stash in the freezer waiting for rainy day.
Pro tip: the holidays are coming whether you like it or not, and you are gonna have to make cookies at some point. Why not make some killer homemade cookies now, freeze them and bake them when you need them. Novel idea.. I know.
Full RecipeBirthday Cake
This is a rant. This might offend most of my friends and family. In fact I am to be shamed as well. We all have purchased cakes from nice Bakery’s or from neighborhood bulk store for birthday celebrations. I know we all have done it, I am going to make a stand. I am done with the store bought cake.
I think no matter what age you are you deserve a homemade birthday cake. Nothing fancy but at the same time something that was made with love, not something that came out of a Betty Crocker box. If you make box cake I give you props for at-least trying to making something yourself. But if you look at the effort of a box cake.. you add eggs, fat, and water. You still have to mix it up, dirty cake pans and your kitchen. I hope you realize that with a little more planning and a few more items in your pantry you can make homemade cakes for your special occasions namely birthdays.
Full RecipeButtermilk
Lot’s of good recipes call for buttermilk, from fried chicken to tasty moist cakes. Buttermilk is something I often don’t stock in my pantry mostly because I don’t need it that often. The other main reason I don’t purchase it is because I can simply make it myself.
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