Happy Wedding Day to You!

For my long-time friend Jeff, the May long weekend was a long time coming. Wedding day! While he and his bride-to-be were decorating their venue, organizing table arrangements and picking up flowers, I was at home, figuring out how to time the construction of their wedding cake with Lacey's naps. Luckily Lacey's naps are a bit more predictable now, so I baked the cake during her morning nap, and made the icing and decorated during her afternoon nap.

I've said before that usually I feel pretty stressed out about making cakes-- one mistake, and you ruin the whole thing! However, I was looking forward to making their cake because I knew it was more of a formality for them (for a photo or two), rather than the centerpiece of their wedding. At one point they weren't even sure if they wanted a cake. So, in other words, if I seriously messed it up, I knew they wouldn't be heartbroken.

Gwen and Jeff sent me several photos to give me some ideas of what they were thinking for cake designs. They knew what their cake toppers were going to look like (Lego people), so that was a no-brainer.

And the cake that stood out to me the most was this one:

It was simple and fun, and just a little bit quirky-- adjectives I would use to describe Gwen and Jeff. It seemed like a good fit.

Technically, I started the cake months in advance-- that is, if you count order the SPRINKLES!

Lavender, lemon yellow, mint green, coral and teal! All the colours of spring, wrapped up in to one cheerful little bundle!

I started by adding a tablespoon of each of the sprinkles into a dish, and giving them a good mix. Then I whipped up the ingredients for a white cake, and separated them into three six inch cake pans.

At this point, I searched on You Tube for, "How to make a naked cake", and was not disappointed by the plethora of instructive videos that came to my aid.

Initially I was a bit worried, because the video I watched said the best cake to use was dense and moist cake. "Don't use light and crumbly cake" it said.... Whoops... My cake was light and crumbly...

However, this turned out to not be an issue, because instead of regular butter cream, I made swiss meringue butter cream, which is lighter, fluffier, and MUCH easier to frost and smooth a cake with.

I stacked up the cake layers, frosting evenly in between, and then used an angled spatula to smooth out the frosting on top. You might ask, why can't I just use a knife to  smooth out the icing on the top? The answer is, you can. 

Next, I added small amounts of frosting to the sides of the cake, and used the angled spatula to scrape off any excess frosting. At this point, if I had been using regular butter cream frosting, I probably would have shaved off half of my crumbly cake. But the smoothness of the swiss meringue butter cream allowed me to smooth the edges of the cake down nicely.

The part that was the most fun was applying sprinkles. Basically, I held the cake platter at an angle over the sink, and threw sprinkles at it. They stuck to the frosting without any issue, and it allowed for me to get a more event coating of sprinkles. The only dicey part was when I held the cake at too high of an angle, and it started separating from the plate! But never fear, disaster was averted!

The important thing to note here, is that the Lego people LOOK like Gwen and Jeff. It's fantastic. And it makes me happy just looking at them!

Now came transportation. I held the cake in my lap for over an hour while we drove to the wedding.

  

When I arrived, I added the topper and banner, and BAM! Wedding cake complete. It fit in perfectly with the rest of Jeff and Gwen's decor.

Jeff, Gwen, I am more happy for you than words can express. I'm honoured that you asked me to make your wedding cake. You two are a wonderful couple, and I hope your future together is full of love, laughter and just a teensy bit of lunacy, to keep things interesting.

Congratulations!

Crashing a Bachelor Party

As many of you know, I have had the same group of friends since the year 2000... 17 years! We have now known each other for more than half of our lives. We met in our awkward teenage years, we went through University together, we travelled together, we entered the workforce together, and we've met each other's girlfriends, boyfriends and significant others over the passing years.

We finally, FINALLY had another wedding to look forward to! Woot-woot!

Now, you can't have a wedding without a bachelor party. And you can't have a bachelor party without your BFF's. So, here's where Ashley and I crashed Jeff's bachelor party. And by crash, I mean we were totally invited. Or invited ourselves. Or, heavily implied that we should be invited. I don't know how it exactly went down. But I was there, and it was fun. End of story.

Not really. Let's take this from the top!

First, we started at Canada Olympic Park, where we rode the chair lift up to the top of the hill so we could do the Skyline Luge. Somehow, we managed to be heading towards the only major storm cloud in the area. It was cold and blustery at the top.

Ashley and I saw some sun, Ashley with her child-sized helmet, and me with my adult-large sized helmet!

Then we got a lesson from the staff at the top of the hill (mainly, how to brake). And they let us go! It was a bumpy ride, but it felt a bit like a real-life Mario cart as you wound your way down the hill. I insisted on going last, because I am irrationally cautious, and didn't want to slow anyone down. We did two runs of the Skyline Luge, before heading off to our next destination.

AXE THROWING!

Yes! There were axes, we threw them, and none of us were very good at it-- except for maybe Gwen's little brother Jonny.  We played a small round-robin tournament of axe throwing. I can't remember who won (it definitely wasn't me), but it was good times. As an aside-- they let you drink while you are throwing axes. This seems like a TERRIBLE idea. But we had no incidents to report, so that was good.

Actually, that's not completely true. During the round robin matches, I played against Steve. Our round ended up coming to a tie, so we had to put down the small, hatchet-sized axes, and throw "the big axe" as a tie breaker. I emasculated Steve, by scoring points with the large axe. Steve threw his axe into the floor. Repeatedly. Check out my throw in this awesome slow-mo video!

Axe throwing would not be complete without some cheesy axe pictures. So.. See below.

Our next stop was a Locked Room. We escaped from a Mayan Temple, and we even made the leader board! We also literally broke the room while we were in it, and had to ask for someone to come and fix it... I guess pushing on the wall can cause lasers to be misaligned (what a bizarre sentence to be writing). But, we made it out and escaped being eaten alive by locals!

Our next stop was for drinks and dinner. The rest of the group headed off to go to Laser Quest, but I headed home, knowing Lacey would be up and ready to go at 6am the following morning.

We all had a blast, and it was great getting to know Gwen's brothers a little better before the wedding. As far as bachelor parties go, it seemed like a great one to me!

The History of Dog Birthday Cake

Over the last few weeks, I have been asked repeatedly what kind of cake I would be making for Lacey. Initially I was a bit overwhelmed by the idea of making a cake for Lacey's first birthday. I've made a lot of cakes and cupcakes in the last few years-- how would I make one that was especially special for Lacey?

After flipping through an album of photos from my first year, I found my inspiration.

Dog cake, circa 1985

When I turned one back in 1985, my mom made me a dog cake. I always remember when I was younger how I would look at photos of that cake, and think how cool it was that she had made it into an animal. After that, the answer came very easily: I would make Lacey a dog cake too! Not the exact same cake, but something similar. I would use my mom's design, and tweak it to make it original for Lacey.

And here is how I did it:

Step 1: I baked a carrot cake in a 9" x 9" pan. I forgot to photo document this step, but it's not a very exciting step to document anyway!

Step 2: Cut the cake into a rectangle. 2/3 of the narrow rectangle became the dogs snout, and the other 1/3 was halved to become the dogs ears.

Step 3: Trim the cake to get a rounder shape. Eat cake scraps.

Step 4: Slather with cream cheese frosting.

Step 5: Make eyes, nose and mouth out of candy melts. Melt candy melts, and pipe warm chocolate into appropriate shapes. Let cool and harden in fridge.

Step 6: Tie a bow in some shoestring licorice.

And behold!

Dog cake, circa 2017

In a cake to cake comparison, there's not much resemblance, but there's enough for me!

It also seems like Lacey appreciated the cake a whole lot more than I did...

That girl really loved her cake!

The Big O-N-E

This whole year has gone by in a blur of what-the-crap-just-happened-to-me. All the things that people tell you about enjoying moments with your baby while they last, because they grow up so quickly? It's all true. Our baby isn't a baby anymore, she's a toddler. She toddles all around, all day long, getting into mischief.

Lacey's birthday was a few days ago. I thought I would try to post something right on her birthday, but I have spent a lot of time pondering what to say. How do I encapsulate the last year in a single blog post?

Starting a family was a scary step for me. I had always known that I wanted a family, but the idea of a family is a lot easier than, you know, HAVING an actual family. While I was pregnant, I spent a lot of time preparing myself for the worst-case-scenarios. Sleep deprivation, exhaustion, colic, never having time to myself, changing poopy diapers... I thought a lot about those things, because I need to process and prepare myself for what life will be like in the worst case scenario. If the worst case scenario happens, then I can deal with it. And if the worst case scenario DOESN'T happen, then hooray for me! It's unfortunately a stressful way to live, always thinking about the worst thing that could happen, but it's the only way I know how.

Surprisingly (or maybe not surprisingly), I didn't spend a lot of time thinking about the good things that would keep me going. And the truth is, I had no idea what to expect. Over the last 365 days, Lacey and I have come a long long way.

Me & Lacey - March 2016

Me & Lacey - March 2017

I have given a lot to my daughter in the last year. But Lacey has given me a lot too. I have learned many lessons about what I can and cannot control (that doesn't stop me from trying), I have discovered that baby smiles and giggles are the cure for a bad day. I have learned that being awake at 3am with a sick little person who trusts you to comfort them is not a worst case scenario. I understand first hand why people say that watching your kids develop is an amazing reward in of itself. Lacey is a little ball of energy and sunshine and life.

For all my reading and methodical preparation, nothing could have prepared me for Lacey's arrival. I can see now that being Lacey's mom will be an adventure of ups and downs. Our little family will get through them all together, just like we made our way through our first year together.

Happy First Birthday, Lacey!

Unicorns and Not-So-Little Nieces

Another year has gone by, and my little niece is SIX years old. She's not so little anymore! She's sprouting up up up, and becoming more and more of an imaginative chatterbox.

My niece has been really into unicorns for the last couple of years, so when Ashley sent me images of this unicorn cake tutorial, I filed it away in my mind as something to suggest for my niece's upcoming birthday.

Sure enough, my sister thought the cake was a great idea-- and it was a big hit at my niece's birthday party. Apparently little girls were fighting over who got an eyelash, and who got part of the rose mane.

It's always nice to know your work is appreciated!

Happy 6th Birthday, Madelynn!

Bye-bye, Condo!

As of noon today, we hand over possession of our condo to the new owner.

Selling our home is a first-time experience for Tom and I. Even when we moved out of home in our 20's, or when I moved out of Ashley's house, we weren't actually saying good-bye to any property. Our parents are still in our childhood homes, and Ashley is still living in the same house. But this is officially good-bye for our condo, and I can't help but feel sad. Through all the ups and downs, it was our home for the last 8.5 years.

Tom and I stopped by on the weekend to say a final good-bye to the place, and to let Lacey roam around in the empty rooms.

Lacey 100% did not care. She was more interested in raiding her diaper bag for Cheerios than anything else. (Aside-- look at how awesome she is at free-standing now!)

I hope the new owner is as happy in the condo as we were!

Bye-bye, condo!

A New Year, A Little Late

Christmas sailed by this year. With us moving into our new house on December 17th, our holiday was a blur of unpacking, decorating, cleaning and errands. The move went great, the new house is amazing, things could not have gone better! We didn't get a tree this year, but that didn't stop me for getting a keepsake ornament for Lacey. Love it!

We spent Christmas Day with my family, and Boxing day with Tom's family. My two favourite photos are as follows:

Lacey having a blast with her cousin Dylan.

Our family Christmas shot-- the reflection in the mirror kills me!

Lacey had a blast at her first Christmas. She got toy after toy, and loved tearing tissue paper and wrapping paper (and eating it). Before we knew it, Christmas was over and done with, and there was only a few more days to New Years.

And then... It happened.

We were infected. By a bug. A nasty, nasty bug. It started with Lacey throwing up. Then she passed it on to me, and finally, Tom was infected. All of us throwing up.  

So, New Years passed with little fanfare in our household. Lacey went to bed at 7pm, and Tom and I were in bed by 10:30pm. Our one regret was that we weren't able to have the New Years Eve meal we had planned--wine,  cheese and charcuterie. Neither of us felt like eating meat and cheese so soon after our pukefest.

But eventually we got better. Actually, we got better rather quickly. It only took 2-3 days for the illness to pass, and we were all back to normal.

This past weekend, Tom, Lacey and I made a trip to Peasant Cheese to stock up on everything we needed for our charcuterie meal. The owner of Peasant Cheese is amazing, and we basically bought all the meat and cheese  she kindly suggested to us.

Our meal turned out to look pretty amazing. It makes my mouth water all over again just looking at it!

And then we topped off the meal with some prosecco, resting precariously on the floor on"That's not my tiger", and "Bathtime for Chickies", a true representation of the class act that Tom and I are.

All the best in 2017, everyone. Good or bad, you never know what each year will bring!