My Treat

One of my tried and true standbys for last minute party favors, and favorite little treats to indulge upon, have to be truffles. Clean and classic, these are a chic little delicacy that are sure to impress. I made a batch for a recent "ladies night out" for my daughter's school- a last minute decision that proved to be a good one. Although it is a little involved with chocolate melting and hand dipping, it is relatively low key since the oven and mixer are not needed for this confection.

Regroup.

We are playing catch up after a weekend of parties. Cakes were baked and a birthday was celebrated while laundry was left unfolded, so I hope to be back to our normal state in a day or two.

P.S. Check out those awesome shades.

Fourth

With the help of our family and friends we celebrated a fourth birthday with fairy skirts, pirate hats, corn on cobs,
flowered cakes, treasure hunts, light showers,  
tartlets, eye patches, and one very happy little girl. 

The (Almost) Birthday Boy

Before having a winter baby, I never really considered the challenge of hosting and throwing indoor parties. Needless to say, Danny and I were very thankful when Grandma Cindy offered her basement as a place to throw Ori's second birthday party.
It was enough room to fit Danny's entire family and a handful of friends comfortably, and I feel like the more parties we put together, the easier it gets. Ori enjoyed his friends, family and bow tie birthday cake, while Phia was so worked up that most of the pictures taken of her were just green blurs.

party like a rock star

while we intended on throwing a small party for ori's first birthday, after we found our location we decided it wouldn't hurt to go all out. 

it was held at a family friend's bar and although i didn't want to be confined to a theme, we decided to focus on music because of our venue. it all started coming together after that: we arranged to have danny's uncle's blues band play, guitar hero was set up for any brave party goers, cakes were served off of records, and i made some pretty rockin' cookies. 

the menu included salmon with an herb sauce, pulled pork sandwiches, and various pasta dishes and salads. for dessert i made carrot cake, cheese cake and triple chocolate devil's food cake and i kept them clean and simple. instead of going crazy decorating the cakes i made sugar cookies to look like album covers with some slight changes.

with the live blues music and danny's delicious food, i think everyone really enjoyed the party. it was really great to be surrounded by our friends and family to celebrate ori's first year.

busy, busy october

my october is completely booked. between late night baking sessions and various parties, we are starting to miss those lazy days chasing phia around the park. the month started off with lauren's park picnic. we met up at prospect park and noshed while trading baby sitting duties. she welcomed twenty six with a brioche roll with caramelized apples on top.
and these little treats were requested by my future sister in law, raluca,  for her engagement party. my dauntless mother in law threw a wonderful party at the proprietary house here in perth amboy, and these s'mores bites helped raise the blood sugar level in the room along with two raspberry cakes: one deep chocolate and the other smooth whipped cream.