Crafting a First Birthday Party

Now that February has arrived, I can finally look back at the whirlwind that was November through January. On top of the usual holiday fun, we had an extra-special event that landed smack between Thanksgiving and Christmas: Vinnie's first birthday!

Hooray! We made it!

I was quite excited to put his birthday party together. I've hosted dinner parties, a Halloween baby shower, and St. Patrick's Day parties, but this was the first time I've put together a child's birthday party (even if most of the guests were adults).

As comedian (and father of 5) Jim Gaffigan pointed out, "the baby's first birthday party is not a party for your baby; it's a party for you." So, I didn't get all crazy with a meticulously coordinated theme or blow a bunch of cash on an expensive smash cake (especially since I had a feeling Vinnie wasn't even going to touch it).

Doesn't mean I didn't get crafty, though! I opted for a primary color scheme and some "Baby's 1st Birthday" plates and signage. I got a lot of my gear at Daiso, (a large, Japanese dollar-store) including serving bowls, plates, invitation supplies, and decorations. My favorite were the pre-folded tissue paper puffs; much safer and (eco-friendly) than balloons, and they're re-usable.

Party favors for everyone!

For favors, I made large gingerbread cookies in the shape of a 1. I bought the cookie cutter from an Etsy store called West Tin Works (check them out, they have lots of fun shapes!). My mama and I decorated the cookies with royal icing. We did this pretty late at night, and I think our exhaustion fed into our creativity.

Batman, zombies, vampire clowns...the usual for a 1st birthday, right?

 Mama and I also baked the cupcakes for the party. OK, my mama did pretty much 99% of the work on those, which is awesome (especially since she used to be a professional cake decorator).

I've always wanted a cupcake tower!

For decorations, I didn't want to go too overboard since I had rented a nice space in our apartment's complex. The main attraction were the galleries of photos of Vinnie, which were mounted on colorful cardstock trimmed with decorative-edge scissors. I did one section that was Vinnie at each month, one that was Vinnie with friends and family, and one that was some of Vinnie's "greatest hits." It was a really nice way for guests to see some of my favorite pictures of the little guy, since I don't post many pictures online.

I think my favorite thing we made for the party, though, were Vinnie's birthday bibs. I finally followed through on my threat to applique. I used the same "1" shaped cookie cutter to make a template for the fabric, then attached it to the terrycloth bib using fusible webbing. My mama then sewed it on with a super-close zig-zag. We made two, one for his birthday at home, and one for the party the next day.

Hmmm...wonder which party Vinnie liked better?

Not that I had to worry about my little man getting messy. As I predicted, he didn't even touch his cupcake. It was still amusing to watch.

"You want me to do what with this?"

I had a lot of fun putting this party together. I had a LOT of help from my family--especially my parents, who flew in from out of town--and I feel so lucky to have been able to gather so many people together to help the Professor and I celebrate our little man's first birthday.

A Song of Cake and Pie

When you play the Game of Birthdays, you win or you have cake.

Lately, my husband and I have been a little obsessed with George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. The Professor is reading the books out loud to me while I stitch (we're on A Storm of Swords), and we devoured season one of the Game of Thrones TV show as soon as it came out on DVD.

It seemed only fitting, then, when the Professor's birthday rolled around that we throw a little themed shindig. We had a friend bring over his copy of the Game of Thrones board game, and I planned a Westeros-themed dinner to go along with the festivities.

It wasn't hard to pick what would go on the menu. Though the books are filled with exotic delicacies, the ones that made my mouth water were the meat pies. Particularly the beef and bacon pie and the pork pie.

Luckily, there's an awesome blog called Inn at the Crossroads that is a treasure trove of recipes inspired from the Ice and Fire books. These two talented fans not only research medieval recipes that would be at home in the fantasy setting of the books, but also offer recipes more tailored to modern palettes.

I opted to try their medieval pork pie recipe, which was an interesting "sweet" pie with chopped dates and currants. It reminded me a lot of Chinese pork bun filling: fruity and flavorful without being cloying.

To balance out the menu, I also made the modern beef and bacon pie. While it had a great flavor, the meat chunks needed to be cut smaller and cooked a little longer to make them more tender. Also, I'd add more bacon next time (and oh yes, there will be a next time).

This also marked my first foray into homemade pie crust. I'm sure Winterfell cooks weren't using shortening for their pie crusts, but hey, it's what my friends at Better Homes and Gardens called for. With my pie-master friend Abena helping me roll out the crust, they came out gorgeous and delicious!

...and yes, mom, we had salad, too.

What birthday is complete without cake? Inspired by Sansa Stark's favorite tea treat, lemon cakes, I whipped up a lemon cake with lemon curd filling and lemon cream cheese frosting. I researched a few frosting recipes online, but in the end decided to wing it. The result was a delicious frosting that was like eating solid lemonade.

I kind of put the layers together upside down, though. I tried to cover it up by stuffing the crack with blueberries and more frosting. Not too shabby for my first layer cake. I might buy one of those fancy cake cutters my mama has, which would always result in smooth, even cakes.

The evening was quite a success, even if the board game did go until one in the morning (and I lost horribly)! The meal was fit for a king (or five), and everyone went home with full bellies. I call that a win in the Game of Birthdays.

12-Month Recipe Challenge Recap

I have to admit, I’ve kind of been dreading this post. I knew it was coming about sometime in mid-October, but denial is a sweet and powerful drug. Alas, the tincture bottle is empty, and I now have to face the harsh reality...my 12-Month Cookbook challenge was a flop.

Okay, maybe “flop” is a bit of a strong word. However, it didn’t have a very strong start out the gate, and as the months ticked by the project began to falter further. First it was simply recipes tried and photographed, but not posted. Then it was no recipes tried. Then it was new recipes from the same cookbook. Then it was a new recipe from a new blog…you see where this went. Utter chaos.

I kicked off with the Lentil and Toulouse (heh, Kielbasa) Sausage Casserole in January, and skipped February. I doubled up with Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes in March (cake and frosting!).

The two I photographed but didn’t share were April’s “Aunt Joyce’s Brownies” from I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence by Amy Sedaris, and May’s Double Lemon Bars from The Bon Apetit Cookbook.

That’s where things just petered out. Somewhere in the following months I did try the Marlboro Man Sandwich from the Pioneer Woman Cooks, a batch of Blueberry Ginger Freezer Jam from my old standby, the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, and a wacky smoothie from a writing blog. I had another surge in November with Thanksgiving, with Roast Spice Turkey from Sunset Magazine and some new side dishes, but they didn’t get a post either.

In total, I tried about ten new recipes. I managed to properly post about three.

So, what has this taught me? Several things, but primarily that my priorities are pretty far from the kitchen! I do love cooking and baking…when I have the time.

I close the book on this experiment with a sort of odd satisfaction. I gave it a go, and it didn’t work out as planned. I did get to try some new recipes, and my kitchen confidence grows every year. I recently moved into a new apartment, with a bigger, sexier kitchen (granite countertops!), and I can already feel the rumblings of culinary inspiration. I’ll be cooking much more this year, but I just won’t be trying to document the process!

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Since I've been relieved of corned beef detail for this year's St. Pat's shindig (hooray!), I've been freed up to come up with a festive dessert. "Irish Car Bomb" cupcakes it is!

Well, kind of. No whiskey, since I can't stand the stuff. But it is a Guinness Stout cupcake topped with Bailey's buttercream frosting (adapted from Dulcedo's recipe). Nummy.

Bonus is, you don't have to eat is as fast as you can. Unless you really want to.

Be safe out there if you're celebrating tonight!

PS: I'm totally cheating, but I'm calling this entry two on my 12-month cookbook challenge. I've had this recipe bookmarked for ages!

The Adventures of Rocketgirl, Vol. 1

It's been a while since I've dug my needle into some real embroidery. I've been getting my crafty ya-yas mostly through knitting, and even that I've kind of slowed down with lately. There's something about a warm summer day that discourages one from curling up with a skein of fuzzy yarn...or doing much of anything beyond lying in front of the fan serial-reading trashy vampire novels.

But then my pals at Sublime Stitching announced their Combo Contest, challenging stitchers to mash up three or more SS patterns. If there's one thing you'll learn about me from reading this blog, is that there's nothing like a contest to get me off my duff and get me creating! It's not the thought of winning that drives me, it's the participation, and mostly, the deadline. This was perfect.

I dug around in my hoard of patterns, and after a day or two came up with a concept that made my fingers itch to stitch. Inspired by my recent obsession with Futurama (what took me so long, anyway?) and my old love of Reading Rainbow, "The Adventures of Rocketgirl, Vol. 1" made it's way into the world stitch by stitch.



And I do mean stitches: backstitch, satin stitch, stem stitch, split stitch, French knot, as well as some funky, random fill stitch I used for the egg-shaped planet.



I have to say, my favorite bit out of the whole piece is the librarian. I'm super-proud of how her hair turned out. She reminds me of Amber Von Tussle from the OG Hairspray...but in a nice way.



I also love the colorful stack of books in her arm:



And her dainty little shoes:



I ended up using six different patterns in all: "Sexy Librarians", "Spaced Out", "Tara McPherson" (stars), "Craft Pad" (planet), "Lucha Libre" (lightning bolts), and "Chinatown" (cloud puff). I also played a lot with variegated floss, which added some nice effects to the more "natural" elements (stars, planet, lightning bolt).

Although I didn't win the contest, I feel like I got something really important out of it: a reminder of just how much fun embroidery can be (cue inspirational music). I've already begun working on a little non-SS stitching project to keep stoking this crafty fire, and I feel like I'm finding my groove again. It's a really good feeling to have.

In Unrelated News
Thanks to Jeff over at Craziest Gadgets for featuring my cookies as part of his review on the Star Wars cookie cutters. Not to mention, for the rallying call for a bona-fide Death Star cookie cutter. If there's one thing we know for sure about the Star Wars franchise, is that they'll make it if enough people ask for it. Just look at the phenomenon that is the Tauntaun sleeping bag.

Come to the Dark Side...we have cookies!

May slips into June, June sneaks into July, July bowls into August. Now September looms around the corner, and almost an entire season has gone by since I last shared on this blog. That's what summer vacation is about, though.

This was my first genuine summer break since high school (which was back in the dark ages of the mid-1990s). As soon as I turned 16, I worked every summer and holiday. I always had a job (or two) throughout college and my summer breaks, and then right after graduation I jumped straight into the nonprofit work force. I've been very lucky that way.

But I have to admit, being laid off was a sort of a blessing in disguise. This was the first year the Professor wasn't teaching summer school, so we were able to spend two months just relaxing together. It was bliss. We took care of home projects, spent time with friends and family, and generally enjoyed the taste of sweet freedom...

...which tastes kinda like sugar cookies.



I actually made these cookies back in May, as part of my brother's college graduation festivities. These Star Wars cookie cutters were an early birthday gift from my folks, who had come up to the Bay Area for the commencement. On the last day of their visit my brother helped me roll, stamp, and sugar, which brought back a ton of happy childhood memories. Though, I have to admit, there was an extra bit of geeky glee in decorating Star Wars characters.





I think my favorite, though, is our DIY Death Star. Since there wasn't a Death Star cutter, I made my own with a round cutter and a toothpick. As you can see, it's ready to fire on a unsuspecting cookie planet...

Writing Update

So, last I wrote, I was awaiting the results for the NYC Midnight Screenwriter's Challenge. The good news is that I won third place in my heat, which held 18 writers. The bad news is that only first and second place advanced to the next round. So, that was it for me. I made a good showing, though, and I'm genuinely please with what I entered. I received some good, solid feedback from one of the judges, so overall it was a good learning experience.

Right now, I'm actually working on a secret project with a friend of mine, which I'm really excited about. It's not ready to be unveiled, but soon I'll be able to share more details...

Today's Top Story: Cookies

Happy 2010! I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe holiday season.

I just returned from a nice, long trip down to Southern California, to visit family and friends. It was definitely an eventful trip, with the "Holiday Goblin" -- that little bastard that ensures maximum holiday chaos -- working overtime. Despite his best efforts, though, the husband and I managed to have a lovely time, with much good company, gaming of all sorts, and oodles of tasty treats.

Speaking of...

In 2008, I participated in a holiday cookie swap on Craftser. Like many other swappers, I made my package, I send it off, posted pictures on Flickr, and moved on to the next swap. Imagine my surprise, then, when a year later I have an editor from CNN asking me to share my photo -- and the story behind it -- on their new social networking site, iReport. Shortly after, I'm contacted for an interview, and now...

My holiday swap cookies are part of a bona-fide CNN report.



Not a bad way to end 2009! Definitely better than how I ended 2008, and I'm optimistic things will keep getting better from here.

Halloween, in a Nutshell

For many folks, Christmas is the busiest holiday of the year. The baking, the decorating, the company, the spiritual observance, the activities, etc. For me, it's the Halloween/Samhain season, and this year's was a non-stop, action-packed, three week period filled with friends, food, theater, film, games, and so much more.

Let's recap some of the highlights, shall we?

Exhibit A: "At the Opera Tonight..."

The festivities began the weekend before Halloween, with a weekend trip to the state capital for the Sacramento Horror Film Festival. This was purely a pleasure trip (I hadn't submitted my film this year) to see a screening of Repo! The Genetic Opera, with cast and creators in attendance.

It was a great evening (though it was preceded by a nauseatingly bad pre-show), complete with shadow cast performances, audience participation, and a lively Q&A with Terrance Zdunich (co-creator/"Graverobber"), Darren Smith (co-creator/"Opera Maestro"), Alisa Burket ("Henchwoman 1"), and Andreja Punkris ("Henchwoman 2").

I waited in line to get autographs from them all, and was quite pleased that I didn't make an ass of myself. I usually tend to put my foot in my mouth when meeting artists or celebrities, so this was a step up!

Exhibit B: "Holy Sugar Cookies, Batman!"

Like I mentioned before, baking is integral to my Halloween season. And when I bake...I BAKE:

In one evening, I made over 100 sugar cookies in 3 different colors of dough and flavors of sugar topping: orange leaves and pumpkins with real Wisconsin maple sugar on top, white ghosts and bones with vanilla sugar, and purple-black cats and witches with purple sugar.

I think, out of all the cookies this year, I am most proud of my Batman cookies:

You see, my video game of the season was Batman: Arkham Asylum, and I had to commemorate the occasion in cookie dough. *nods seriously*

The reason for so many cookies? I made enough to ship to friends and family, share with co-workers, take as my contribution to a play-reading/potluck party, and have enough left over for my own guests at a Rock Band party. Even with all that, we still didn't finish the last cookie until two days ago.

Exhibit C: Making Halloween

Of course, what Halloween is complete without crafts?

I didn't have much time, but I did manage to get a little stitching in:

This wee ghostie was made using a free Annie Oakleaves pattern I snagged last year. I made him using back, satin, and long-and short stitches.

I tried to finish a little friend for him:

But I didn't quite make it. Perhaps next year!

Now it's time to switch gears. Though my favorite holiday is over, there's still two big, special events right around the corner. That being said, I'm looking forward to a couple of weeks of mellow-time before we kick back into holiday mode!

Hand: Bread and Dandelions

The weather has been so warm and wonderful here in the Bay Area the past few days. I've been able to walk around the apartment without socks, and can leave the house without my scarf, hat, and gloves.

The birds are singing, the wasps are happily building nests on the BART rails (a little scary, yes), and everything is just so green and alive. I've never considered myself much of a spring person, but after the winter I've had, I'm ready for some happy, life-affirming changes.

This little bread-basket liner I stitched up a few weeks ago really kinda sums my mood these couple days:



I made this from a single white dinner napkin I had floating around my linen shelf (I have no idea where it came from), using Sublime Stitching's Kurt Halsey artist's series pattern.



Here's the other side:



Details of the little bee/fairy critters:



Modeling it is a batch of Irish soda bread I whipped up for this year's St. Pat's dinner. I look forward to that corned beef dinner the way other folks look forward to their Thanksgiving turkey.

While I'm here, I also want to share the reason the weather has been so nice here: I finally finished my first ever, honest-to-god knitting project...a scarf for my husband.



Completed JUST in time for the warm weather!

I'm quite proud of this scarf. I love how the variegated yarn brought out a triangular/stripes pattern. Adam is also especially excited, since he admitted he'd never owned a scarf before. I'm looking forward to seeing him wear it come June ('cause it's true: coldest winter ever is a San Francisco summer).

Now, off to go see Watchmen as part of husband's long weekend of birthday festivities. He turns 30 tomorrow! Movies, gaming, and a trip to our favorite microbrewery, Triple Rock. It's good having four days off in a row. I can't think of a better present for him.

Mouth: Frog and Toad's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

How many of you remember the Frog and Toad books, by Arnold Lobel? They used to be some of my favorites as a child, and to this day I see much of myself in those little amphibians (especially Toad).

There was one story, called "Cookies," where Toad brings over a bunch of cookies for Frog, and they're so good they can't stop eating them. Thus begins the morality tale of willpower vs. gluttony, ending when Frog finally has to give the cookies away to th birds so they'll stop snacking.

That's how I felt about these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies I whipped up Monday afternoon, I couldn't stop popping them into my mouth! Especially all warm, spicy, and gooey from the oven...

...I think I need to find some birds to share these with!

I came across the inspiration for this recipe when I was looking for something to do with the last cup of fresh pumpkin puree I had leftover from my Thanksgiving pie.

Usually, I'm good about sticking to recipes as I find them, but this time I felt a little adventurous. Throwing caution to the wind, I modified here and there, and the end result is simply delicious! I hope you give it a try!

Frog & Toad's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup fresh pumpkin puree*
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cream (or milk)
1 Tbsp. Vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine pumpkin puree, sugars, vegetable oil and egg in mixer.
3. In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
4. Dissolve the baking soda with the cream or milk, and add to pumpkin mix along with vanilla.
5. Gradually add flour mix to pumpkin mixture. If the dough is too wet (as pumpkin purees vary from pumpkin to pumpkin), add spoonfuls of additional flour until dough is firm and holds together (rather than running like batter).
6. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts with a wooden spoon.
7. Drop dough by spoonful onto lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake at 350 degress for 12-14 minutes, until bottoms are lightly browned and cookies are firm.
8. Pour a glass of milk of your choice, and enjoy them fresh from the oven!

*Note: I'm sure canned pumpkin will work as well, you just may need to reduce the flour to 2 cups.

If you want to make your own fresh pumpkin puree, you can find all sorts of recipes all over the 'net, or you can use the recipe I used from ReadyMade magazine here.

Mind: Hoping against hope & Halloween wrap-up

The polls are closing around the U.S., and I'm way, way too nervous to focus on anything productive. I know everyone and your mother has told you, but I'm gonna add to it...if you haven't voted yet and your state's polls are still open...GET OUT THERE AND FRIGGIN' VOTE!!! It's not too late!

I just have to share, I'm so proud: my little brother is voting in his first presidential election ever today. I so wish I could be there with a camera to record this moment. Hell of an election for him to cut his teeth on (especially in San Francisco, where there's a million initiatives on the ballot).

Okay. With that being said, now I distract myself from hitting "refresh" every thirty seconds on CCN.com by sharing my Halloween wrap-up, before it becomes completely obsolete.

First, I want to share the little plushie Halloween ornaments I made using Annie Oakleaves' adorable free Halloween pattern.



I forgot to take a picture of the back, which is a cute candy corn pattern. This is my first attempt at embroidered plushie-things, and I think they came out well!

Here's a close-up of one of the bats, chillin' on my calavera garland and taking in the stormy day outside:



One of my annual Halloween traditions is the mass baking of sugar cookies, which this year were little sugar pumpkins and chocolate autumn leaves. I love my cookie gun!



And, of course, our jack-o-lantern. My husband really isn't into the ritual sacrifice of gourds, so I was on my own this year.



He lasted a full two days before giving into the creeping rot. He was cute before that!

Okay. Enough distraction. I think I broke CNN.com, besides. I think I'm going to need to find a local pub in Berkeley to watch the votes roll in. No way I'll be able to sit with no TV at home.

Fingers crossed. Here's hoping there's good news tomorrow.