Some cupcakes I made were on the news here. Check out the video around minute 7 HERE

We're getting ready for the Superbowl next weekend so we needed a dummy cake in our display case:
There is another contest between all of the stores. The store that gets the most requests for their dummy cake will win 2 fold: the decorator will win $25 and the store will win a "popcorn party" (details about popcorn party to be revealed only to the winning store) So I guess we'll see what happens! Yesterday was a pretty busy day at work. Our 60 quart mixer that costs around $60,000 broke the mixer paddle (not sure on the cost of a replacement) but I guess we can be thankful that the whole entire mixer didn't break! A new paddle is coming on Tuesday but in the meantime it just means double or triple times the work because all of our buttercreams that we make in extra large batches, now have to be done in our smaller mixer. We also had a cake decorating class last night where we showed 12 people how to frost a cake and to decorate it. Long day topped off by going to the Marin Brewing Company to get a burger and a beer with the other managers from work. I may have long days but I absolutely love my job. I always wake up and am always excited to go to work and never NOT want to go in. I am very fortunate and am grateful that although I do not make a lot of money, I have family and friends that love me and support what I love to do.

I've tried a lot of ho-hum recipes lately that weren't worth mentioning in this blog (plus, Katie told me that I shouldn't put links to recipes that weren't any good!) I tried a meatball recipe that was pretty good but Mom's recipe definitely trumps it. However, I tried one today that is worth mentioning: Flaky Mushroom and Gruyère Tarts. They were simple and pretty delicious. EJ hates mushrooms so I figured I would try it out for myself and not use him as my taste tester. I used the Gruyere cheese and for the mushrooms I used regular white button mushrooms and some shitakes. Here is what I've been doing at work lately: Dinosaur cookies
We match a lot of cakes to invitations:


These parents must've been huge fans of Fleetwood Mac:

HollyMonster celebrated her 2nd birthday on the 18th and I made her a homemade birthday bone with a recipe that I found online and mailed it to EJ along since I couldn't be there to celebrate with her. EJ said that he distracted the other pups with some hooves and showed Holly her bone and she grabbed the whole thing and ran into the room and hid under the chair and was guarding it (he said he got it on video so hopefully I'll get it and post it soon!)

It was definitely a chilly morning today! Thank goodness Mom mailed me the windshield ice scraper that she had gotten me for Christmas but wouldn't fit in my luggage:

The other day was Eric's 30th birthday so I drove over the Richmond bridge to meet up with Kim and him. I got Eric an apple pie from work and put "30" sparklers in it:

Kim tried to light them:

But then Eric had to take over:

And success!

The end result: charred sparklers


Tomorrow, Dad is having surgery on his back. I'm asking everyone and the universe to thing good thoughts, pray and send love his way for a successful surgery with a speedy recovery and optimum results (if that isn't too much to ask for!) Good luck Dad! I love you and wish I could be there for you but I know that you're in good hands :)

Busy, busy, busy! No rest for the weary! Here is a cute penguin cake that I did last week:

And here are all the cakes that I did Friday and Saturday! Elvis (kind of looks like Wayne Newton though I think, oh well)
Little girl jumping on a trampoline:

Very random but Donkey Kong jumping on a trampoline. Totally not related to the other trampoline cake above. Funny story is that the decoration fee for this cake was $60. The husband thought that that was a lot of money and the wife said that it was going to be worth it. Husband came to pick up the cake and agreed that it was worth it!
Kind of a retro 70's hippie flower cake:

Little Mermaid. I've done this exact cake before but I can see improvements from the first time I did it:
Batman and Spiderman:
And last but not least, the Grateful Dead birthday cake. Kind of wierd at first if you didn't know the reference!

It was a quick turnaround from Christmas to New Year's Eve! Work started out slow and then quickly snowballed into a ton of people coming in for last minute cakes and cupcakes. We had no idea what to expect since there was nothing to compare it to from last year so we did our best estimate and now know to prepare more for next year! I rushed to the airport only to find out that my flight was delayed to LA. I ended up landing at 10:30pm and EJ took me straight to the grocery store so I could get a bottle of champagne:

EJ made us an awesome batch of chili for dinner:

The beasts wanted to eat some of it of course since it had been taunting them all day smelling delicious from the crock pot!

New Year's Eve is also Hank's birthday! He turned 3 this year and I made him a giant peanut butter dog bone for him to enjoy (side note: just to give you an idea of the size of the bone, the box that it is in is designed to hold 12 cupcakes!):

Overall, it was a great end to 2010 and a great beginning to 2011. The following day I got to see Katie and her baby Heidi and had a great time catching up at Starbucks. Heidi is probably one of the most ridiculously cute babies I've seen in my lifetime and has gotten so big! It's hard to think that 2010 came and went so quickly but I'm excited to see what 2011 has in store for me, my friends and my family. Peace, love, happiness, good health and wealth in the new year.

Traveling on Christmas Eve wasn't nearly as crazy as I thought it was going to be. I got out of work late (surprised?) and rushed home to shower and catch the Marin Airporter. I pay $20 to board each time and then $4 a day to park my car and the trade off is that I don't have to drive into the city and deal with traffic or simply that I have no idea where I'm going! My flight to Vegas was on time and I landed and called EJ to come pick me up. My bags were the first off the carousel and I went outside and EJ was already there. I had almost forgotten what he looked like after not seeing him for over a month AND he shaved and cut his hair short. Very handsome :) We checked into the Hard Rock Hotel and EJ set up a little tinsel Christmas tree that he had gotten me:

We then went to go visit my friend Mini who works as a cocktail waitress at the Aria hotel in City Center. She proceeded to bring my a jumbo size mimosa that had people wondering where I got it. You have to know people!
Christmas day we went over to visit EJ's mom and boyfriend and they gave me a gorgeous bracelet from Tiffany's! Later that night we went to their friend's house who made a delicious dinner for us all. The next day we got up and checked out and headed to LA where my mom re-made Thanksgiving dinner since I didn't get to spend it with family:
Needless to say, it was delicious! EJ helped mom carve the turkey:

The next night Aunt Sharon came over and we had flank steak and another delicious dinner:
Overall, it was a very Merry Christmas. Although it was different, the most important part wasn't what day we celebrated it on but rather that it was celebrated with good family and friends when we were able to get together.
After being on vacation for a couple of days, you definitely don't want to unpack when you finally get home at 1am! I like to chose the method of opening the suitcase and dumping everything on the floor:
Thank you everyone for a great holiday and I can't wait to see you again soon!