155/365

Great-Grand Baby

This is my first great-grand baby.  She's just turned one.  

She's adorable and she's very expressive. She's not used to me yet, and I probably won't see her again for another year, but that's what happens when you live across the country.

227/365

Celebration Cake

There's a family in my church who has fostered 3 children who are biologically connected by their mother.  It's taken about 4 years for their adoptions to be completed.  The final adoption took place last week and they had a party at their home to celebrate.  There are only two names on the cake because the oldest child was adopted last year and they had her party then,  

Praise God for His mercies.

My heart is grateful that:

the longest journey begins with the first step forward

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Oh Baby

This is a file from a few weeks ago.  I'm falling behind on my daily posting, so I'm trying to play catch-up again. 

My friend makes the flowers and decorates cakes.  I'm so impressed with people who are creative so I wanted to share her beautiful work again.

I'm grateful for:

the opportunity I had today to photograph my daughter and her 4 children, the youngest of which is only two weeks old.  It was a lot of fun, but now I know why I'm not a baby photographer.

Architecture is much easier!

179/365

Flowers on Cake 2

Homemade flowers on homemade mini cake.

My heart is grateful:

for all the errands I was able to finish today

150/365

Naked Cake Topper

My friend makes beautiful hand-made flowers that can be used as decor and/or cake toppers.  These lovely pink and white flowers sit atop a personal sized naked cake.  Once the cake is devoured eaten, the flowers make a beautiful display in a small vase set anywhere in a home.  

If I lived close enough and didn't have to worry about them being destroyed during my flight home, I'd definitely purchase some for my home.

 

My heart is grateful for:

heading home to see my friends and family

The Season Finale

6/365

The Great British Baking Show is coming to an end this Sunday (Mar 1) in its Season Finale.  I feel like my best friend is leaving town for good.

For the past nine weeks, PBS has been hosting this show on Sunday evening.  The contestants are made up of a variety of homebakers who are passionate about and skilled in the art of baking.  The youngest member of the group this season was only 17 and still in school.  The oldest~~not sure but maybe in his mid-60s.  Each week the contestants are given 3 baking assignments.  Each week one contestant is eliminated.  Each week we sigh for the loss.

Each week I think I should get myself into the kitchen and do some baking.

Sunday night we're celebrating~~well....not exactly celebrating.  More like honoring the finale by having snacks that are little more out-of-the-ordinary than cheese and crackers.

So each one of us declared our intention for our contribution.

I said I would make petit fours.

I looked up the recipe...I laughed!

My friend to the rescue.  She has a mold for something that I can only describe as fancy cupcakes.  She purchased the mold from Williams & Sonoma several years ago and said they would make something called Ladycakes.  hmmmm

They aren't fancy/complicated petit fours, but they aren't plain/boring cupcakes either.  Done!!

So this morning I got going on the project.

I really wanted the cakes to be a little more fancy than just plain cake.  When I went to the store to buy the ingredients I had intentions of using some strawberry jam for the center, but instead I found...be still my heart...a jar of lilikoi jelly.  Done!!

I think I might have overfilled the molds just a wee bit.

I was pleasantly surprised by how they turned out.  You can see where the jelly seeped out a little.  It was a good learning experience so that next time I'll know better how to fill the batter then the jelly then the remainder of the batter.  It was only a near-disaster, not a total one.

Once they were cooled, I put another dollop of lilikoi jelly in the center.

I also tasted a wee bit of the cake~~on my goodness!  (I found a pound cake recipe online that will now be my go-to pound cake recipe)  There was enough batter to make the ladycakes and an actual pound cake, so next week we'll have strawberry short-cake & whipped cream.

I certainly wouldn't win any awards on the Great British Baking Show, but I think we'll all be happy with the results of my efforts.

3-Part Inspiration, Part 3

This post is for yesterday, Easter. The first and second images have already been posted, but I wanted to keep the continuity going.

So this is part 1

part 2

part 3

Although this is actually part 4, I didn't think about it when I decided to do a 3-parter.

This photo below is for Leah. Hope you had a nice Easter, even though I think you were traveling. Britt remarked about how your entrance with the Bunny Cake was quite a bit more dramatic than mine. But at least I kept up the tradition. (ps--the mouth was created from 'dark chocolate' Cadbury Eggs!)

To my MVP partners: I'll be leaving the house pretty soon and I don't know when I'll be back online--but I guarantee that the photos I post will have been taken on the appropriate days. See you all soon.

By the way, anyone who is leaving me comments as "anonymous", I appreciate hearing from you. If you're an acquaintance, or even if not, please leave your name so I know who you are. Thanks.