Theta Chi Cookies, Paso Robles Wineries, Parents’ Weekend and Me

For the last year we’ve been looking forward to returning to Paso Robles with our son and his fraternity brothers for the Parents’ Weekend Winery Tour. 

The guys did a great job in organizing their Parents’ Weekend starting by hosting a BBQ at the house on Friday night where I volunteered to make close to 200 cookies.  My husband said it was the last “room mom” – type thing that I would be able to do which was kind of sad, but true.  He thought I was overdoing the quantity but I knew with dozens of boys, the cookies wouldn’t last.  The baskets that were overflowing when we arrived were empty when we left.

On Saturday morning, we all met before getting on our bus to drive up to Paso.  We were treated to mimosas, juice, coffee and bagels.  It was a nice surprise.  I couldn’t help but love some of the college life I spied before we boarded:

Nothing like the best seat in the house.

And ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall.

Our day was PERFECT!  The weather, the company, the conversation, the lunch, the tastings – all of it.

Three wineries and about 50 tastings later, we all managed a quick change before meeting up again for the banquet and silent auction.

The Theta Chi cookies I made last year for the silent auction apparently were a big hit so I decided to make them again this year only instead of auctioning off the entire basket, I suggested a $5 donation per cookie so the fraternity could make a little more money.  I made one batch of cookie dough and got 28 cookies out of it.  I put a goblet from the restaurant for the cash by the cookies and let everyone buy as many cookies as they wanted.  They all sold which was nice.  We also put together a gift basket of university related goodies since the university labels it’s own wine, jams and chocolates.  A soft fleece blanket and a couple of university logo wine glasses completed the basket.  I believe it sold for $130.

Sunday morning, we took our son out to brunch at a little house that’s over one hundred years old near the railroad station.  Soon after, we had to hit the road to make it into LA before the returning traffic hit.  I’m convinced there is never a good time.  Our only solace is to take refuge at Phillipe’s for a quick stop to stretch our legs and for a French dip before the OC traffic. 

Of course, no trip would be complete without taking a photo of the famous sandwich, pickled eggs, cole slaw, pickled beets, lemonade and the mustard that gives one a Phillippe’s head rush to send to both our boys saying, “wish you were here”.

Back to reality and more decorated cookies to make this week and share later.

My heart goes out to all the Oklahoma victims of the recent tornados.  I hope as many people as possible can make a contribution to help them get back on their feet. 

Decorated Champagne Glass Cookie Party Favors–DIY

 

For two….

…or more. 

Either way, a bit o’ the bubbly always makes a celebration sparkle.

In this case, for an engagement.

Best wishes to the happy couple!

DIY Champagne Glass Cookie Party Favors:

Things You’ll Need:

• Sugar Cookie Recipe & Tutorial 
• Royal Icing Recipe & Tutorial 
• Gold cake coloring (I used Americolor Gold)
• Icing decorating bag or parchment cone
• #3 decorating tip
• Gold dragees (two sizes)
• White colored pearlized luster powder (optional) (one brand is Wilton)
• Super gold luster powder (optional)

To Decorate:

1. Outline the entire cookie in white (that’s what I did ) or gold, making a little rim on the top of the glass and a little curve to show separation from the glass and stem.  Let set about 15 minutes of more.
2. Fill in the stem in white thinned royal icing. Let set about 15 minutes.
3. Fill in the glass flute with gold colored thinned royal icing.
4. While the gold icing is still wet, sprinkle one line of the larger gold dragees from the bottom up to mimic the bubbles rising in champagne.
5. Follow with smaller gold dragees sprinkled here and there.
6. Let the entire cookie dry over night or the equivalent timing.
7. With a small natural bristle craft brush, brush white colored pearlized luster powder over the white icing.  This will give the white a nice sheen. (Wilton is one brand who makes this powder and is widely available)
8. Brush super gold luster powder over the gold icing.  It can be brushed over the dragees too.  So pretty.

My Presentation:

I tied a thin gold ribbon around the cookies for “the ladies” but this is optional.  Place each cookie in a cello bag.  Tie the bag closed with shiny gold ribbon in a bow leaving the ends long.  Wrap the wired glass bubble ornament around the top of the bag. 

The heart-shaped tags were printed on pearlized vellum using the CAC Champagne font I found on Font Squirrel.  Punch a hole in the top of the tag.  Using the ribbon tail opposite the bubble (since I placed the bubble off center), run ribbon through the tag.  Tie the ribbon end in a knot.  This lets the tag float.  The reason I didn’t add the tag closer to the bow, was because it blocked the view of the top of the cookie which I felt was needed so the guests could see right away this was a champagne glass.

Cheers!

Tiny Prints, Me and USC

I’m very excited, thrilled, elated, to begin a collaboration with Tiny Prints today! 

When Tiny Prints contacted me to write guest posts on their Tiny Prints blog featuring my entertaining ideas and treats, I couldn’t believe it!  Since graduation season is upon us (and for my son too), we paired their USC graduation announcements with my USC Cake Pops.  They just seemed to be a match made in heaven by Tommy Trojan himself. 

We have more guest posts planned for summer entertaining that I can’t wait to share!

Tiny Prints first came to my attention when I received a baby shower invitation and was inspired to create  baby elephant cookie party favors from the design on their invitation for my great-nephew’s pending arrival .

I’d love it if you would visit the TP blog and say hello.  There are many other variations available of graduation announcements, collegiate and generic, which reminds me I’ve got to start planning son2’s graduation bash.  It just sneaks up all of the sudden.  These four years have flown by, I can't believe it.  I started this blog when he was a senior in high school!

On the home front, I’ve finally recovered from all the entertaining festivities in April and I’m back in the kitchen making some special cookie favors for an intimate engagement party in Newport  Beach for this weekend, fraternity cookies for the parents’ weekend winery tour and for the summer Tiny Prints posts.   I’ll be sharing it all with you as soon as the last ribbon is tied.

To all the wonderful mothers, enjoy your special day this weekend.  We rock!

xoxo

 

DIY Collegiate Cake Pops Tutorials – Baking & Decorating

A Surprise Party

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of co-hosting my sister-in-law’s surprise 60th birthday party with her husband - my brother, on his behalf, along with their son and his wife.  What was unique about the planning of this party, was the first step of the planning process had to take place while my brother and his wife were in Australia visiting their daughter.   My nephew and his wife who live in Seattle, had a great idea to find a home in the Pasadena area where my brother and sister-in-law reside, that would serve not only as the party location but also as a place where we could all stay for the weekend and share more time together.   He recommended searching Vacation Rentals By Owners online where I found a beautiful home in San Marino that was available for the weekend dates we had in mind.  It was perfect.  

When I arrived at the house on Friday to begin setting up, my car was full of my own entertaining pieces and flowers.  The home’s owner also was gracious offering to lend us what she had available in the home.  We supplemented with rental tables and chairs for more outdoor seating. 

Of course, I made birthday cake cookie party favors.

Silver trays held Champagne glasses at the ready.

Swirls of orange and yellow napkins, plates and over-sized tissue paper confetti graced the appetizer table while arriving guests nibbled away until the birthday girl was to arrive.

Got salt?  We made sure we did!

The margarita station was all set to be fill before the first guests arrived.  The cocktails proved to be a big hit all night long – while they lasted!  I made a little sign so guests knew what they were getting into.

Paper lanterns hung in the warm night’s breeze as we waited for the big moment.

Surprise!  Happy 60th Birthday!

The successful look of amazement.

Lots of hugs to go around.

Skype brought the party to their daughter in Australia who chose the cake flavors.

I am amazed my brother pulled this off.  Utterly amazed.

Sunday brunch by the pool with family, freshly squeezed tangerine juice and freshly squeezed baby cheeks!  Yummy.  All of it.

Party favors for everyone!

Bridal Shower Gifts and Wrapping Ideas

 

I love to wrap gifts.  I always have.  Part of the fun for me is finding inspiration in the gift choice, the colors, paper and in ribbon.  Having an excuse to shop for paper and ribbon is like buying a new pair of party shoes.  I get giddy!

 

 

The inspiration for this “wedding cake wrap”, as my friend called it, since she thought it looked like a tiered wedding cake, began with the bride’s registry.  I noticed the bride had chosen gifts from setting the table through to dessert so I decided to purchase gifts in every category.  If a Fairy God Mother can’t help to make a god daughter’s wishes come true, who can?

 

I found wrapping paper in the wedding color – sage green, and a paper flower kit at Paper Source.  Since I had multiple sized gift boxes to work with, I stacked the boxes to make a vertical display and thought flower decorations would be pretty and something the bride-to-be could use in her rehearsal bouquet if she wanted to.

 

Part of the gift reveal was to open the boxes in numeric order from setting the table to dessert.  I had the idea to use hang tags because I thought they would add a fun and decorative element to the presentation especially with a cute font printed on them.  I could’ve made the tags from square one using a sheet of paper, figuring out the spacing for printing and measuring to cut but when I saw these printable place cards I knew it would be easy to ake tags from them.  They gave me a jump start by having the size already established and having a printing template available online.  This worked out perfectly.  

 

I chose an ivory card stock, soft grey text color and French Script font.

 

 

Since the cards were fold overs, I cut the cards on the folded lines and separated them where they were perforated.

 

Next, I cut the corners, punched holes and looped natural jute through the holes for the ties.

 

 

The flowers were fun to make but took some time.  Cutting the ‘fringe’ looks tedious but it’s not if you fold the strip a couple times over and cut through multiple layers of paper. 

 

 

After wrapping the fringy strips around the wire, creating the center of the flower, petals are secured with glue or tape and wrapped with floral tape. 

 

 

What I really enjoyed about wrapping this gift was thinking about my god daughter the entire time with all the hopes and dreams a new bride brings in her heart on her wedding day. 

 

 

To unwrap…

“Begin with No. 1 until you’re done!”

 

 

1. & 2. Setting the Table

3.  Appetizers

4. Main Course

5. Dessert

And since a certain bride-to-be registered for a tart dish and with desserts being my specialty, and after nearly thirty years of being most happily married, I thought I’d hand down one of my husband’s favorite recipes that every new bride should keep on hand…

 

 

 

… live happily ever after.

Bridal Shower Tulip Cookies with a Plantable Tag of Wild Flowers

These cookies have been cordially invited to Diana’s bridal shower. 

The bride loves fresh flowers and natural accents in sage green and soft yellow.

Romantic touches on the leaves.

Soft yellow edible glitter was sprinkled on the petals while the icing was wet and white pearlized powder was brushed on the entire cookie after the icing had dried.

In keeping with Diana’s concern and love for the environment, I chose plantable paper to make the bride and groom tags.  Wild flower seeds are implanted in the paper, I love that.

I used edible ink for the images.  It just seemed the green thing to do. 

Natural jute and sheer ribbon complete the presentation.

Edamame with Lime Ponzu

Savory. Salty. Piquant. Soy beans. 

The only vegetable I lick my fingers for.  Unapologetically.

Easy.

Start with edamame (soy beans in the pod).  Buy them pre-cook or cook by your own method.  I like the kind that come frozen in the bag that’s meant to go into the microwave to steam.   That’s my kind of easy.

Throw in a hot pan with sesame oil to cover the bottom of the pan.  Char to your liking.

Splash lime flavored ponzu into the pan.  Be generous.  Watch the soy beans dance and sizzle in all their  wonderful glory.  Add generous squeezes of fresh lime juice into the pan because ponzu loves company.  Soy sauce?  A little.  Why not?  The more the merrier.

When you can’t wait any longer to feel the nubby texture of the pods married with tang skid across your teeth and lips, place them into a bowl with their ebony glaze and sprinkle with coarse salt, Fleur de Sel or my favorite, lime sea-salt and experience munchy happiness.  An empty bowl for discarded pod shells that have served their purpose will be appreciated.

Accompany with an icy cold martini, Chardonnay or Japanese beer.  One at a time, please.  :)

Enjoy a simple pleasure this weekend.

Edamame with Lime Ponzu

• Bag of frozen edamame in the pods, cooked or fresh
• Sesame oil
• Lime ponzu (citrus flavored soy sauce found in the Asian section. Either lime or “citrus” flavor is fine.
• Soy sauce (regular) (optional)
• Fresh lime juice
• Coarse salt

See above for cooking instructions.