The Birthday

Funny things, birthdays.  A day where you expect everyone you know to celebrate the fact that you were born.  Ha!  It’s an odd concept when you really think about it, and these days it goes against everything we preach.  Be more selfless; put others first; sacrificing is good…and yet, “tell me how wonderful it is that I was born!!”

Someday someone will start a trend where birthdays are no longer celebrated or “cool”.  But, until then…  YAY IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!!  ;)

Thanks to all the wonderful and sweet folks who sent me birthday wishes and stuffz.  I had a wonderful day today and it was because of all of you.  :)

But also…because of my cake.  I have a special birthday cake.  It’s been MY birthday cake for years (and years and years).  It’s not as flashy as some, but it’s special to me.  I’ve kind of got a thing for desserts…especially desserts that hold memories.

And this one definitely does.  The card it’s written on is blotched and stained, and the handwriting is either my mom’s or my grandma’s…my mom can’t remember whose.  It’s a copy cat recipe for the old Tasty Kake Peanut Butter Tandy Kakes.  Tasty Kake is an old company that started in Philly in the early 1900s; they came out with the Peanut Butter Tandy Kakes in the 30s.  For a really long time you could only get them in Pennsylvania, which is where my grandma lived, and I ate a LOT of them.  She would mail them to us down in Louisiana because I would just CRAVE them.  Now you can find them online, by the case, haha!  But I’ll stick to the recipe I have…

It just tastes like my childhood.  :)

My lives

sometimes it seems there are not enough hours in a day. these are those times. i feel like i’m trying to lead about five different lives all in the same 24 hours that one life should be led in. i’ve got fiber to dye, fiber to spin, yarn to knit, yarn to crochet, gifts to research/buy/make, a house to clean, and etsy shop to stock, a boy to raise, school to register for, cats to shave, cavities to fill, hair to dye, shows to watch, tax to file, an LLC to create, and ice cream to eat.

let’s talk about ice cream for a minute. this week, we bought (in MY opinion anyway) the BEST ice cream, EVAH! it’s called “Centennial Cupcake” and it’s by Blue Bell….who is the best ice cream maker in my mind anyway. y’all it’s ice cream with CAKE in it!! and you know how i love cake. mmmmm…. i’ll let you check out the link for the full description. i cannot get enough of this ice cream.

let’s see, what else would you care about….oh! here’s a couple pics of the little dove’s nest that is in our lime tree in our courtyard:
awwww, isn’t it sweet?? *pat, pat*

what else? well, i’ll spare you any yarny goodness, since the friends who would appreciate that level of geekiness all reside on ravelry, and therefore have already seen whatever i’d put up here anyway.

Anyone been watching BSG?? i havent seen last week’s yet, but i am so happy it’s back on! i can’t believe it’s the final season already though, boooooo.

well, short and sweet, people – i’m gonna go dive back in…

Mwah!

Happy Huggy-Huggy-Kissy-Smoochy-Lovey-Goopy-Snuggle-Mushy-Gushy Day.

*wretch*

anyway… i’m REALLY here to give you a cookie recipe…

Egg and Dairy Free Lemon Sugar Cookies
adapted from this recipe on allrecipes
makes about three dozen 2″ heart cut outs (YMMV)

Ingredients:
10 TB softened vegetarian margarine
1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 c white sugar (replace all the sugar with 3/4 raw sugar if desired)
1 1/2 TB flax meal
1/4 c warm water
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp lemon extract
2 c AP flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 c 10x sugar
3-4 teaspoons lemon juice

Directions:

1. Place flax meal in the warm water and let it sit for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Cream margarine and sugar together. Beat in the flax mixture, lemon zest, and lemon extract.
3. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl, then stir into the wet ingredients. Cover and chill for at least an hour.
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll dough out on parchment paper (it helps to sandwich the dough between two sheets) and cut out desired shapes.
5. Place shapes 1″ apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment and bake 6-8 minutes.
6. Cool completely. Then drizzle with icing made from 1 c 10x sugar and a few teaspoons of lemon juice.

enjoy! possibly with your Poopsie-Moopsie-Boo-Boo-Bear?? bleah.

incriminating…

helpful hint: if you’re going to claim that you didn’t do something, it probably isn’t a good idea to write your name at the crime scene…

so, THAT little incident aside, here’s what’s been getting done over here at Chez Gherkin:

gherkin and the cornichon stamped Christmas cards…

and the the gherkin spent two days baking Christmas goodies…(that sampler platter in the front is going to my knit grrrrls on thursday…they know i luff them!)

peanut brittle (3 pounds):

pappatate, an italian chocolate spice cookie (8 dozen):

double chocolate walnut cookies (6 dozen):

toffee shortbread (4 dozen):

and date nut cakes (6 mini bundts):
whew! i’m tired.

Baklava Love

mmmmm, baklava!

by thursday night, these are going to be perfect! or maybe awful, but we’ll hope for perfect…

little shark, why are you so sad?

Boy made his own pizza crust for dinner this weekend. For some reason it was a shark, and a frowny shark at that. even his food is emo, haha!

“you don’t know what i think!!!”

LOLOLOLOL!

If you don’t I will…

(abim: you….you.)

These were a triple threat tonight…i know three ladies who made this recipe today, after one of them asked for a no-fail chocolate cupcake recipe. i’m one of them. and if the idea that the mere mention of this recipe caused all three of us to make it doesnt convince you that you need to do the same, well, i just don’t know what will.

Adapted from Laura Duncan Allen’s “Black Bottom Cupcakes I” on Allrecipes.com:

Black Bottom, Top, and Middle Cupcakes
i’m just gonna go ahead and say that this is all chanelle’s doing.

Ingredients:
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (feel free to overfill your measuring cup)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line muffin tins with paper cups or lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, 1 cup sugar, cocoa, baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Make a well in the center and add the water, oil, vinegar and vanilla. Stir together until well blended, then fold in chocolate chips. Fill muffin tins 3/4 full.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Makes 12 regular cupcakes plus half a dozen minis (the baker gets to eat those for “quality control’ purposes)

You really don’t need a frosting for these, since the chocolate chips are all melty and lovey inside, but a dusting of powdered sugar never hurt nobody…

ETA: why yes, wannabe, these ARE vegan…and yes, i’ll bring some tomorrow. ;-)

Maybe birthdays don’t suck

well, the baby gherkin had a pretty good bday after all. :)

there were cartoon cupcakes with sparkler candles (which apparently couldn’t be caught on film)

friends with blowers

the singing of the birthday song (i mean really, who DOES like it?)

the blowing out of the sparkler candles (gotta get far enough away from those things! boy did get a spark on the cheek at one point)
the eating of cupcakes

and presents!

(and apparently this gift must have been a score because his friend said “remember you said you were going to share your presents…”)

there were also lots of transformers, this particular one will be touring the neighborhood this halloween.

and the new bike went over well, except for the fact that when you back-pedal it is the brake and on his tricycle you can go backwards. that was a source of frustration…..for about an hour. since then it’s been nothing but smiles.
Happy Birthday, rat-rat.

I **KNIT** Baking

alright, you’ve waited patiently… here they are, in all their knitty goodness, the cupcakes i made for a recent knit group dinner:

are you dying?? are these not the coolest freaking things ever?! i totally did not come up with them, that award goes to the gal over at vegan yum yum. But i did lovingly craft every single one.

Oh by the way, they were vegan, no less. you’re welcome amanda. *wink*

thanks goes to shelly for nudging me closer and closer to the brink of insanity.

how long did this take? that’s probably the number one question i got…followed closely by “do you do this professionally?” Well, i will tell you that this was a FIVE HOUR endeavor, and not for the faint of heart. whew. this was the first time i had ever worked with marzipan, and it definitely won’t be the last, as this has opened up a whole new world of insane decorating ideas, haha!

although right now i think i’m going to go lie down…

I **HEART** Baking

I am currently whipping up (and by “whipping up”, i mean driving to seven different stores to find specialty items and taking two days to actually finish) some of THE COOLEST cupcakes ever. on this planet. ever imagined. I’m not posting any pics until i’m done, but trust me, they are freakin’ awesome.

What i WILL show you, are some pics from last month’s hoop-lah for Jamie’s bday. Chanelle and I wanted to do a heavily lemony slumber party for her. Here are some pics of the food:

Veggies with artichoke tapenade and a cheese and pesto dip that was put onto this earth to make me horribly fat; cornichons, many different kinds of olives; an orzo and tomato salad; five different cheeses; crackers and baguettes; and several different fruits.

I made a triple layer lemon cake with lemon buttercream icing; each layer of the cake was also brushed with homemade limoncello, no less! and of course, a giant glass of lemonheads.

There was also plenty to drink. ahem.

We even decorated with lemons! and Brad brought home flowers for us to place everywhere.

Here’s a pic of the birthday girl and the kid giving their approval on the lemon buttercream icing. Although pretty much anything that has EIGHT CUPS OF SUGAR in it is going to be good, right?

The night also featured much Quantum Leap…which included lots of bad hair from Scott Bakula, haha!