Birthday

I feel like I might have spent the weekend covered in frosting and not in a good way. We had a double birthday party and I made the cakes.
For my niece, a princess:
Her eyes are a little wonky but that could be because I don't work for Disney and I drew them with frosting.
For my uncle, a slightly more subversive cake--the original didn't really turn out well so this was the response:I made myself laugh out loud with this one. The text reads: "This 'cake' is not an indication of the importance of the birthday nor the abilities of the baker. It has rejected its role as a decorative object." Around the edge it says "I am not art just eat me." I can't even explain how much of a problem this cake was turning out to be until I decided to not even bother about it anymore and just make its pathetic state a part of the joke. I had to take a picture because I was still laughing about it over an hour after I made it. I must think I'm pretty clever.

Food cravings

Shelteriffic is having a post-off on food cravings and I'm a little behind on it but thought I'd jump in anyway. I don't know if this could be considered food, but I have been craving a chocolate martini for about 2 weeks now and haven't done a dang thing about it.

I got this image from Modern Martini and there's a recipe there too.

By the way, my husband (who does some bartending) has his own way of making a chocolate martini that differs from mine. I prefer to use a little Frangelico and the recipe from Modern Martini does just that. He gets like crazy fancy and this divide on the proper way to make one has effectively cut me off from my craving.

Let's Go Bowling!

With our living space significantly diminished, we couldn't have a birthday party for the child in our house and we couldn't count on the weather enough to plan a party outdoors. It seems like there's a growing amount of competition among parents to throw these lavishly themed parties and I certainly don't want to get in that race, but I have to say that after this weekend I have a greater appreciation for packaged parties. And also, 3rd graders are crazy. (Never put kazoos in gift bags)
I skipped the cake because we already did the time consuming cupcakes and opted for cookies instead. I couldn't resist decorating them though--the black frosting stained everyone's teeth.
Overall, pretty good time. Most of the kids were bowling better than I!

Crock pot cookin'

I have very little luck with eggplant. I love them, I buy them and then I usually let them languish in the fridge until they are no good. A few months ago I finally got a crock pot and found a great recipe for eggplant but I've only made it twice. I bought another eggplant this weekend with the intention of making the camponata again but it wasn't until I found a call to arms at Shelteriffic that I actually did it!
This is super easy:

I peeled and chopped one eggplant, added 1/4c olive oil, 1/4c balsamic vinegar, 1/2c red wine, 1 chopped onion, 2 cans of diced tomatoes ( I use one with chilies and one italian style), some capers, some garlic, salt, basil.

This should be set at high for 4 hours, but just before time is up, I stir in a bunch of grated carrots. And...ta da!

We're serving this over pasta this time but I've used thick toasted bread before--with some cheese, of course!

Celebration!

birthday cupcake, originally uploaded by Mighty nice.

After talking about it long enough I'm finally putting this blog together. I keep finding myself wanting to organize the things that inspire me, things I want to do--endless lists! As this is my little girl's birthday, I figured I'd make it my little blog's birthday too!

Every year she tries to come up with some cute idea for her cake and the treats she brings to school...and every year I end up spending a whole lot of time struggling through the frosting mess. I have to admit, when I was still covered in frosting at midnight I wistfully thought of the cheap little cupcakes neatly tucked into their boxes just waiting for me to scoop them up at the store. Of course it's totally worth it though--she loves the attention she gets at school from her classmates because very few kids come with anything homemade anymore. Plus, she said her friends think I'm a totally cool mom. Hee!

This little lion is dark chocolate with a peanut butter frosting and crunchy lo mein noodles for the mane. Fortunately no kids in her class have allergies because I didn't even think about it when I was making them---I'm still cool though, right?