Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Sharing cookies with my friend Jenny, from LaCrosse to Singapore


My dear, sweet college friend, Jen and I recently got back in touch with each other via facebook. Now, I guess facebook is okay. I really don't get on to it very often and I don't really understand certain aspects of it, but it has been a great way to reconnect and keep in touch with friends who no longer live near you.
Jen and I met at UW-LaCrosse a few (well quite a few) years ago. We had some fun! We actually were very innocent and goofy, seriously nothing too bad. Since then we have both moved around and had families. She is now living in Singapore with her lovely hubbie and her adorable daughter.
Turns out she was going to be traveling back to the states for her sister-in-law's 40th birthday party. She asked me to make some sugar cookies and send them to the party. I was so honored and thrilled and well, just very touched. So, I decided that anyone turning 40 should feel like a queen, so I made crown cookies.
One version had her initial on it.
And the other one had, well the big 4-0!
They shipped great, with a few minor cracks in a couple, which Jen and her daughter seemed to enjoy taking care of.
I miss seeing my dear friend, but hey, if we can share some cookies after all these years and through all these miles...friendship doesn't get much sweeter than that! Love to you Jen!





Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Is summer really coming to an end?


Wasn't it just the 4th of July? I feel like a broken record, but don't the weeks fly by?! I look at my kids and wish I could put a pause button on them.  One thing I should put a pause on, is my need to taste all my goodies! But hey, you gotta know what is going out to your customers, right? That's what I thought! 
So, for the 4th, I decided to make some sugar cookies and cupcake pops.  I sold them at Energy Pilates and Fitness, and Angelina's Kitchen the week of the 4th.  The only problem, I should have made more! Well, that and the fact that my kids didn't get to indulge in any patriotic sweets this year.  (They get goodies every day, so don't feel bad for them.)
I love finding more ways to do the cupcake pops! They are always such a hit and they stay good for a while.  Although, I think they get eaten so quickly the little sticks wonder where their cupcake friends went.  
I used some fondant decorations, tied a cute ribbon around the bag, and then placed them in a basket filled with styrofoam. Add a few flags and there you go! 
I did keep a few of these at home and placed them in a clear vase filed with red, white and blue M&Ms.  Super cute, but forgot to get a shot of that one.  I promise to work on my photography skills and settings.  I am sure it is making you all crazy mad.  Okay, maybe it is just me.

Enjoy these last sweet days of summer!


Friday, August 7, 2009

These are a few of my Favorite Sweet Things! Part II

I'm back and ready to rock this blog! For those of you who don't know me I am B-lou, official "These are a few of my Favorite Sweet Things" blog poster. So I'm going to pick up where I ended last time, got it? Good. Okay now I shall begin.
SWEET TREAT # 6:
Ahh, the world famous chocolate chip cookie. It's a classic, perfection, nothing else to be said. Except for the fact that my mom's are the best in the world! They're kind of hard to resist, but then again so is every other sweet thing!
  
Now,
SWEET TREAT # 7:
Lemon bread, it's a best-seller! I'm not joking, neighbors come over knocking on our door asking for it!
  
Next is,
SWEET TREAT # 8:
B-lou's 11th birthday cake. So, funny story. My birthday is always during lent and every year we give up something for 40 days and 40 nights. What I chose to give up that year was ice cream. (Because I mean, it's kind of hard to give up chocolate, right?) So for my birthday my mom came up with the idea to make a cake in the shape of an ice cream cone.  Boy was it good, but then again when has my mom ever made something bad?   

Okay this is,
SWEET TREAT # 9:
Livi's 1st communion cake. Doesn't it look so perfe-never mind there's a face in the way. JK! Everyone loved it! Including me! Look at my brother in the background. Funny huh? Wonder if he was in trouble or something.

Last,
SWEET TREAT # 10:
Cam's 6th birthday cake. Simple yet yummy, when my mom asked Cam what he wanted on his birthday cake he said "I just want circles" So that's what he got!

Well I'm done with "These are a few of my Favorite Sweet things".  No there will not be a part III. Sorry folks but blogging is hard work and I have many other things to do, like tasting sweets ;D  So, farewell.

See Ya,
B-Lou 

These are a Few of my Favorite Sweet Things! Part I

Hey everyone this is B-lou posting today! You know that song from the movie the Sound of Music, These are a few of my favorite things? It's a favorite around our house but that song is nothing compared to one of our true favorite things...SWEETS! Okay, here we go. I'm going to start, ready, I'm about to start right now, okay, I'm going to start. 
SWEET TREAT # 1:
The red velvet cupcake bite. A favorite to all who taste it, irresistible, petite yet full of flavor... Okay stop daydreaming! This could be a problem. Sorry I get sidetracked when thinking about sweets!   

Okay on to number 2.
SWEET TREAT # 2:
The bacon cheeseburger cupcake. Okay ready for a flashback here we go... so it was my dad's 40th birthday. Now he isn't a huge sweets guy so my mom had a challenge; what should she make him? His dinner theme was bacon cheeseburgers-hey that just might work-why not stick to the theme and do bacon cheeseburger cupcakes! So we went to work! They turned out pretty cute ehh?

Next,
SWEET TREAT # 3:
The Chickie Pop. How precious are these! I went to school a couple days after my mom made these and when we went into the computer labs. I went onto this blog (why wouldn't I?) and my mom had already posted about them. When I scrolled to the picture my friend almost fell over! She thought they were the cutest things on the planet (except me of course, just kidding). Don't you agree?   

Okay now time for,
SWEET TREAT # 4:
The gingerbread house or disaster as you might call it, but hey that's what happens when you let 3 kids decorate the gingerbread house! 
 
And last but not least,
SWEET TREAT # 5:
The gorgeous dress cookies. For Valentine's day, cookies can pretty much look like anything, as long as they're cute! So my mom took out her fashionista cookie cutter set, grabbed the dress, and worked her magic! Ta-Da! 

I'll be coming to you soon with part 2! Meanwhile sit back, relax, and eat some sweets!

See ya,
B-lou   

A decade of Livi- oh my!

Hola people of the universe! I am back in control of the blog! 3 times already, WOW! Anywho, it is now time for me to talk about a cake that I actually got to eat! Well that's a pic of the top of the cake. A decade of me- good times good times :). Then again I don't know how my family has dealt with me for 1,2,3, 10 years! OK back to the cake, it was in some of my favorite colors, blue and green. As you can see there were many different designs. My favorite one was a crisscross design you'll see in the next picture.

The cake was covered in fondant, yum. Bottom tier was heaven (red velvet) and the top tier was also heaven (white cake ).  The little rolly balls are fondant. Designs on the cake? Yup, fondant too. Boy do I like fondant! Even though the cake was decorated all in fondant, I felt it was missing something. All of my nicknames of course!!!!!!

I mean sure there was my given name in fondant but I needed every single one of my nicknames. Yeah all 25 of them! OK hyperbole! There's actually only about 9. So then mom had to paint on all 9 of 'em. It looked awesome!    

In this picture it only shows three of them which are homy girl, liver, and The Great LIVINI!
When we ate it I got the piece that said The Great LIVINI! It tasted awesome and looked tubular! The perfect cake for me!
 
Well I was very happy with the cake as you can see. I mean why else would I be smiling? There's 3 other names Olivia, Dudakiss, and Mullet Girl! You see to make a long story short we have a mullet wig I wear it a lot and a nickname pops up. Simple. Well that's pretty much it and as I said before... perfect cake for me because its tubular and awesome. Please comment! I like hearing what you have to say! Feel free to mention how superb I am or how much you like my posting or really anything about me, yeah me :D

Livi is out! PEACE!

Monday, August 3, 2009

A "real" red carpet event, well, if your 9!

The wonderful owner of Angelina's Kitchen, Angela, asked me to do a cake for her youngest daughter's 9th birthday party.  She knew I was busy and told me she just really needed a cake to serve, it didn't need to be decorated and "don't go crazy" she said.  I prodded a bit to find out what kind of party it would be.  A red carpet party, complete with a red carpet entrance  filled with interviews, paparazzi and such. Chocolate cake was Sophie's only request.  So as I set out to do a delicious, nothing special cake, I found myself coming up with ideas that would just take a bit extra effort and hopefully look super fun.  Her name in a star, just like the Hollywood walk of fame and a fondant red carpet.  Still it needed something else.  I got it! Red velvet ropes around the edge.  
Angela told me the kids loved the way the cake looked, but by the looks of this picture, I have to think the taste (especially eaten off their fingers) was the best part of it all.
I think I actually like this picture better than the finished cake shot.  Don't you love the touch of glam in their clothes and then the hands everywhere! I am so happy Sophie thoroughly enjoyed her cake.  I am thinking that may be how I should eat my cake this birthday.  41 years of eating cake with a fork, maybe it is a time for a change?!

Catch up - Part 2, I got my eye on you

This little, well actually rather big, Teddy Bear cake was for a Teddy Bear picnic birthday party. One of my dear friends  bought a gift certificate from me and donated it with a birthday party basket at her children's school auction.  It was supposed to be a farm theme cake, but when the woman who received the gift card called, she asked for a teddy bear cake.  I told her I would be happy to do it.  Just a different kind of animal. She seemed a bit skeptical on the phone.  However, she seemed very pleasantly surprised when this guy greeted her at my door.  She took lots of my business cards and told me she would like to help get the word out on my business.  Love when that happens.
These were some cookies that a friend ordered for her daughter's dance group.  The costume for the dance was little raincoats that looked just like these cookies.  Don't mind the valentine tablecloth I had on under the cookies.  I like to use up old tablecloths when I am decorating. You now, living the green life over here. I will try to remove them next time before I take a picture.
This little baseball cookie was for an end of the season baseball party. Go Woodbury!
Okay, short and sweet, right? On to the next post.  A real red carpet event.