Pancakes for Breakfast

It's Saturday and the kids let us sleep in - they deserved a treat. I do try and make something yummy for breakfast on the weekends, just to break up the monotony of the cereal, yogurt, oatmeal that we eat regularly during the week. Today it was pancakes. Chocolate chip pancakes (you can guess who put in that request). It's OK though, these pancakes are actually pretty good for you - even with the chocolate chips!

The recipe is based on The Little Red House's recipe for Blueberry Pancakes. We have made them and they are yummy as well, but chocolate chips won out this morning. I dropped the cornmeal to 1/4 C and added 1/4 C oat flour (oatmeal ground in a coffee grinder does the trick) and also added 1 t. of vanilla. I only sprinkled about 5-6 chocolate chips per pancake, so it doesn't take many and no one complained. Of course they did ask for whipped cream, which I nixed. If you are looking for more wholesome, healthy recipes, be sure and check out The Little Red House - I've tried several of her recipes and they have all been yummy. Happy eats!

Good Intentions Gone Awry

With the holidays quickly approaching, I thought now would be a good time to really try and lose some of the extra pounds I have stumbled upon in the past two years. This week I got serious, counting my calories, measuring portions - really trying. The Mr. and I even had a discussion about how to add some veggies to our breakfast. My intention this morning was to make spinach and tomato omelets and somehow I ended up with Ina Garten's Sticky Buns. Seriously, how did this happen?

I will say that I still tried to be good and ate just one.....for now. The recipe makes 12 and if I'd actually read the recipe through entirely before jumping in, I would have realized that it can be easily halved and have saved myself from all the buns still sitting in the kitchen. Alas. My only change to this recipe was to nix the raisins. Why make a good sticky bun go bad, in my opinion. And while this surely isn't going to help me lose any weight, it sure did taste good!

Little Red

Tomorrow is a big day in Kindergarten...... it's the Fairytale Festival. The 7th grade buddies organize all sorts of games for the kindergartners, who come to school dressed as a fairytale character and then everyone celebrates with lots of fairytale treats in the cafeteria. Sarah has had a long list of the characters she wanted to be - Humpty Dumpty seemed to make it to the top of the list more than once, but I knew that I would get carried away with that as a costume (I was envisioning a paper mache/hat attached to a box that she would wear and would serve as the wall) so I was thankful when Little Red Riding Hood started making it onto her list. The cape is finished, but photos will have to wait until it can be modeled. The snacks are ready now too. I got my inspiration from the book Hello, Cupcake! . I had so many ideas after going through the book, but finally settled on cupcakes to match her character.

First I melted red candy wafers in a baggie. I trimmed the tip off the baggie and piped the melted candy onto wax paper under which I had copies of my hood design. The hoods aren't as smooth as I'd hoped for, but I'm pretty sure that the kindergartners aren't going to be too critical. I chilled the hood shapes in the refrigerator for a few minutes and then went back with yellow melted wafers and piped in a bit of hair peeking out from the hood.

When the hair had chilled, I gently peeled the hoods off the wax paper and placed them on the iced cupcakes. I got lucky in the fact that the shape of the hood was pretty much equal to width of the cupcake, as I hadn't paid any attention to that when sketching out my design.

Facial details were provided courtesy of mini M&Ms for eyes, half a pink Jelly Belly for the nose and a bit of red licorice rope for the mouth. Rachel's hoping there will be some left so that she can have when. I'm thinking I may have to set one aside for her or else she might not get a chance to bite Little Red's head off.

Costume pictures to follow in the next day or so!

Summer in a Pan

I've got big crafting plans for the future, but for right now I'm savoring Sarah's last days at home with me and quite frankly, it leaves me a little wiped out at the end of the day, especially when combined with my new rise and shine time (which is now an hour earlier). Today we read, went to the used book store, watched cartoons and made this blueberry crisp (amongst other things). It's a combination of three recipes. If you've still got blueberries that you'd like to transform into dessert, here's the recipe I ended up with....

Blueberry Crisp

4 C Blueberries
1/4 C Sugar
1 T Cornstarch
2 T Lemon Juice

1/2 C Oat Flour (I grind my oats in a coffee grinder)
1/2 C Oats (GF)
1/4 C Brown Sugar
1/4 t Cinnamon
1/4 t Nutmeg
1/4 t Allspice
3/4 C Chopped Pecans
4 T Butter at Room Temp.

Combine first four ingredients and pour into a lightly buttered 8x8" or 9x9" baking dish.

Mix remaining ingredients until crumbly and add to top of berries.

Bake at 375 for 40 minutes. You might want to top it off with ice cream as well.....I'm just sayin'.

I've got peaches and pickles waiting for my attention tomorrow. Don't worry, I'm not planning to mix them together! I'll have some time to do this, as Sarah will spend her first full day at kindergarten without me. Last year I would not have anticipated tears over this, but I think they're on their way now. Sniff sniff........

In the Kitchen

It's been hot here this week. Really hot....and humid. Really humid. My sewing is upstairs in an area that stays quite stuffy during the day when it's this hot out. So in lieu of sewing, I've been downstairs in the kitchen, with the oven running. I can assure you that that too, is hot. But the results have been tasty.

Last Wednesday the girls and I went with some friends to pick blackberries at Crabtree Farms. There were enough berries for a batch of jam and this blackberry crisp. Oh my. I typically see cobbler recipes for summer fruits and to be honest, I don't really love cobbler that much (although if you bring me some, I will gladly eat it). I'd much rather have a pie or crisp. Oh how I love the topping on a crisp! Butter, sugar, nuts - good stuff. I used this Martha recipe and altered it slightly. Instead of 1 1/2 cups of white flour, I did half white and half wheat. I also added some chopped pecans to the topping and when I do it again, I'll probably also add a few tablespoons of ground flax seed for good measure.

The zucchini in my garden are coming in faster than I can feed them to my non-zucchini loving family. I'm sure everyone was thrilled with my choice of squashes for the garden, but hey, when you can turn it into yummy bread, what's not to love? My neighbor made this bread for us last year and it was so good, I knew it was the recipe I needed. If you think you might need it as well, here it is......

Zucchini-Pineapple Bread

Beat until fluffy:
3 Eggs
2 Cups Sugar
2 Tsp. Vanilla
1 Cup vegetable oil

Add:
3 Cups Flour (reserve 1/2 Cup to mix with nuts & raisins)
1 Tsp. Baking Powder
1 Tsp. Salt
1 Tsp. Baking Soda
1 Cup Crushed Pineapple
2 Cups Grated Zucchini

Mix with Flour and Add:
1 Cup Nuts
1/2 Cup Raisins (optional)

Spoon into two greased & floured loaf pans. Bake at 325 for 1 hour.

Yes, the good news is you'll get TWO loaves. I was nice and shared with the neighbors. I know, pineapple sounds like an odd ingredient, but it gives the bread a sweetness. I reduced the sugar to 1 1/2 cups and also split my flour 50/50 white and wheat. Even with the reduction in sugar, there is plenty of sweetness and the wheat flour is not overpowering. I think the best review I got was from Sarah, our non-vegetable eating vegetarian who loved it and declared "I don't even taste zucchini!". Anyone have any other zucchini recipes that don't taste like zucchini?

And then there was today. No wheat flour, no flax seed, no reduction in sugar. Just my girls and their Easy Bake Oven. Oh how I do not love the Easy Bake Oven. I absolutely will not pay $3 (or more) for a cake mix that will make one four inch cake, so I looked online and found this recipe for chocolate cake. Don't you love a recipe where everything is in teaspoons? Add to that the fact that they wanted to make layer cakes.... and each their own. We were easy-bakin' it for almost an hour and a half. The first two can out poorly, but salvageable and their cakes were iced, sprinkled and partially eaten.........

I wouldn't let them eat it all - can you tell why?

Yummy!

These are so so good, I have to share the recipe with you! But first, their history. I just finished Beth Moore's Esther Bible study. I loved the depth at which we studied the book of Esther and the history of the Jewish people at that time. These cookies are typically made during Purim and are called Hamantashen or Haman's Ears - Haman being the "bad guy" in the story of Esther. They are also said to represent Haman's the cornered hat. Google them, you can learn lots more, I bet! So, bad guy = good cookie! Here's the recipe:

Hamantashen

2 sticks butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
4 tsp. baking powder
4 cups whole wheat flour or 2 cups whole wheat & 2 cups white flour

Filling: Traditional fillings are poppy seed and prune. I used homemade strawberry and blackberry jam. Fruit butters or pie fillings would also work.

1. Cut butter into sugar. Blend thoroughly. Add eggs and vanilla, blending thoroughly. Add baking powder and then flour, 1/2 cup at a time, blending thoroughly between each addition.

2. Put the batter in the refrigerator overnight or at least a few hours.

3. Roll it out to about 1/4" thickness and then cut circles with a cookie cutter or glass. Make sure they're at least 3" in diameter so you have room to fill them and fold the edges over.

4. Put a tablespoon of filling in the middle of each circle. Fold up the sides to make a triangle, overlapping the sides as much as possible so only a little filling shows through.

5. Bake at 375 for about 10-15 minutes, until golden brown.

I opted for the half whole wheat, half white flour variation for my first attempt. I love the nuttiness of the whole wheat - the cookies are still plenty sweet and they don't taste overly whole wheat. The dough is similar to a sugar cookie dough, but in rolling it out, I found it to be a bit more crumbly. It also didn't need much (if any) flour on the rolling surface. Perhaps I started with too much on my surface and that's why it crumbled. Regardless, these are buttery and sweet and oh so yummy. I really do suggest you give them a try! And check out the cute plate and mug I picked up at the thrift store the other day as well!

For Dinner Tonight

Along with lots of other people right now, we are trying to eat better at our house. Or at least some of us are, and we're the ones that do the grocery shopping and cooking. We had a homemade pizza tonight with a yummy strawberry salad. I had a similar salad at a local restaurant a couple weeks ago and was eager to try and replicate it. This has spinach, strawberries, goat cheese and a little bit of shredded unsweetened coconut. In its precious incarnations it also had toasted almonds in it, but I'm out of almonds right now so this one has sunflower seeds instead. What really makes this salad though is the dressing. I started with this recipe, but have made several changes this is the gist of what I ended up with...

Strawberry Vinaigrette

1/2 Cup Olive Oil
1/2 Pint Strawberries plus more as desired
1 Tablespoon Balsamic Vinaigrette
2 Tablespoons Strawberry Jam
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Black Pepper
1/4 Teaspoon Dried Tarragon
1-2 Teaspoons Sugar

Whirl it all together in a food processor or blender and give it a taste. I only added part of the oil and vinegar the original recipe called for and was glad I'd stopped when I did. I wanted a really fruity tasting dressing and not something oily or with too strong of a vinegar taste. More sugar, jam and berries will send you in that direction.

We've been eating this salad a lot. That probably has something to do with how much dressing I made, but both girls are eating it, which makes me happy because if you look closely at the pizza, you will find one section lacking in veggies - that would be Sarah's side. She's been my little vegetarian that doesn't eat vegetables, but we're working on that. In just the past two weeks she's started eating grape tomatoes. I'm not sure if she thinks they're really grapes or what, but I'm trying not to make too big a deal out of it, even if I'm singing "Yippie!" on the inside.

Birthday Girl

Of all my treasured possessions, this one ranks right up at the top. My girls. My babies. This photo is now five years old, as is the sweet 9 lb. bundle in the photo.

Her hair was brown and straight when she was born - not so any more. Her blue eyes stayed, as did her sweet face. We had her party today. Last year's celebration was low key as we were in the middle of kitchen construction, so this is really her first party to be excited about - and excited she was. She has been preparing and planning all week and just to break our hearts, last night she told her daddy, "Tomorrow friends are coming and they will play with ME!". (Yes, I harbor guilt over her having second child syndrome). And play they did. Lots of squealing, lots of running around, lots of fun. Thanks to the friends who helped celebrate with us!

And the final installment in birthday cakes - Sarah's horse cake. I looked at hundreds of pictures of "horse cakes" and saw so many incredible cakes with edible horses modeled out of all sorts of things, but in the end I did as I knew I would do and used toy horses. So much faster and easier. This cake came together pretty quickly and easily, for which I was thankful. I used the Wilton buttercream icing recipe (this is so bad for you!) on a chocolate cake to which I added a pack of chocolate pudding mix and an extra egg. The cake was moist and good and the icing was a hit with the kids.

Now, back to the sewing....and I'll take a pie for my birthday!

I have no idea why the text is showing up in two different fonts unless is has something to do with the fact that my "double u" key doesn't work and every time I need to use one, I have to use the paste function to insert it. As if that isn't annoying enough - two fonts show up. I give up.

And then She Was Seven

And just like that, my sweet, tiny baby went from being cradled in my arms to being a seven year old. That number is hard for me to grasp. Like there is no going back. She's going to grow up on me whether I like it or not. She readily welcomed it whole hearted - excited as could be. What she wasn't counting on though, was a surprised snow storm that sent her home from school early and pretty much scratched her birthday party plans. One friend has made it for the sleep over though, we still "rocked out" (her words) to the Beatles and ate pink electric guitar cake.


I had to edit this to add her party invitations. She drew each one with a picture of herself and the friend it was intended for, giving great thought to how the friend really looks and what their "rock star" outfit would look like.

Oh, and we played in the snow, of course.

Busy Elves

All manner of elves are busy at our house these days. The girls awoke this morning to find their elves coloring in new coloring books on the dining room table. It was reported that they must have gone to the "North Pole Shop" and that they also are very good "colorers" and stayed in the lines. Thankfully, the fear over the elves seems to have passed. A few more 3 AM freak outs over them and they would have been sent packing!

Another elf is busy at the sewing machine whenever she can find the time. The above three are done and waiting matching bits. "Above what?" you ask? That's my little secret. Ho ho ho!



And what would the holidays be if we weren't baking? Sarah requested some backing today, which pretty much translates into "I want to grab insane amounts of dough out of the mixer while you foolishly believe that I actually wanted to make cookies.". These cookies are cute, but not very durable. They're pretty much a peanut butter cookie with pretzel antlers, mini chocolate chip eyes and an M&M nose. The recipe was from here. We ended with stick antlers instead of their broken pretzel antlers, but come on, we're just going to eat them anyway.

Continuation on a Theme

Apparently we're in the mood for pretzels around here. Either that, or our selection of snacks is dwindling. Sarah's big idea for Thursday was to dip pretzels in melted chocolate and add sprinkles, so that's what we did. I must say - that saltiness with the chocolate is pretty tasty. Word of warning - they don't stick around for long. Darn those things!!


This past Thursday was the last day for Happy Hour at Sew-Bee-It. I went. Again. For the third week in a row. And I bought more fabric. Lots of goodness in that basket to add to all the rest that's been sneaking into the house lately. I'm actually starting to sketch ideas for some quilts that are going to stay in our house. Crazy idea, making something and not giving it away, but I think I might give it a try.



And as soon as I get up from my computer I'm headed over to the sewing machine where I'm going to start adding white borders to these blocks. If I did my math right (doubtful), I have enough here for three twin quilts like this one. One for the top and bottom bunk on the girl's new bunk beds and one to send on its way to someone special. I'm going to try something different on the first one though. I'm going to use different whites for the borders around the squares. You could say the decision was driven by necessity, impatience, laziness, frugality - what have you, but I don't have enough of any one white to complete the first one and it would be nice to get rid of some scraps and I'm thinking that, since the blocks are various shades and patterns of a particular color, why not have the surrounding white echo the variety. Good idea? Bad idea? I'll let you know.

Happy Hour

Well, not your typical happy hour, but Sarah and I had fun making some "Cheesy Pretzels" that were a favorite recipe of mine to make as a kid. Our recipe today came straight from my 1980 edition of Betty Crocker's Cookbook for Boys & Girls. It also has recipes for eggs baked in bologna cups and a salad made with pears, prunes, mandarin oranges and a cherry that looks like a dog in profile. A most excellent cookbook, if you ask me. Funny thing though, I can remember pouring over it and thinking about making all of the other wonderful offerings (like "Crater Ham Loaf"), but all I can ever remember making is the pretzels.



They came out just like I remember them....doughy, cheesy, salty and yummy....and way better than a "crater ham loaf"!!

And just to be sure that this post isn't lacking in fabric, I've bought more. Week two of Happy Hour at Sew-Bee-It resulted in eleven more yards of fabric goodness. Since then I've also had a yard sale and gotten a check from a consignment sale, so you can be sure to find me back at the final night of happy hour over at Sew-Bee-It tomorrow night. After that, I believe it will be time to finish the projects already on the table and start cutting into all my new goodies. I can't wait!!

100% Summer

It's definitely summer in these parts. I'm behind on the jam making already, but did get two batches of strawberry jam made today. And making jam means something really big at our house....it means that the kitchen is functional! It actually has been functional for a while now...so why wasn't I making jam before? Who knows.

These jars looked so pretty this afternoon, sitting on the counter with the sun shining through them. I came across these little 4 oz. jars last year late into my jam making, but loved them because they helped me to stretch the jam that I had and give it to more people as gifts at Christmas. I'm stocking up on them now and hope to be able to give an assortment of jams this year. So if you know me, the odds are, you're looking at part of your Christmas present.

There are gallons of mulberries waiting in my freezer and by the time we return home from another road trip, it will be blueberry and blackberry picking time. Just need to make sure I hold on to enough to get us through to the next year. I had to buy a few jars in the past few months and I don't love it nearly as much as when I know it came from my kitchen.

In addition to making jam today, the girls and a neighbor friend took a romp through the sprinkler. Sarah knows how to tackle a sprinkler - always be prepared. I fear I may have gotten the goggles a tidge too tight on her, as they seem to be rearranging her face. That may explain why she didn't wear them for long. Or perhaps their usefulness with sprinklers was overestimated.

And then there was this brilliant idea. Get chalk wet and grind it into a paste to paint yourself with. Even after rinsing in the sprinkler, my bathroom towels suffered from this one. It made me happy today, watching the girls romping around in their swimsuits in the yard, drippy wet, grass clippings stuck to their bare feet, cooling off from the heat of the day (and it was hot! and humid!) and just being kids. This is what summer is supposed to be.

Fairy tale festivities

Today was the Fairy Tale Festival at Rachel's school. The kindergartners dress as a character from a fairy tale or nursery rhyme and have an action packed day full of fun. When I first asked Rachel what she wanted to be, she said Cinderella. Since part of their homework this week was supposed to be working on their costumes, I continually tried to get her to be something that we could make, but she wasn't buying it and the teacher said that there was no need to reinvent the wheel if we already had a costume, so Cinderella she was. In the morning they paraded through the school in their costumes and had story time with a special guest - Mother Goose.

After story time the 7th. grade buddies performed fairy tale plays in French and Spanish for the Kindergartners. The French class did Sleeping Beauty and the Spanish class did Snow White. The girls seemed most fascinated by the fact that some of the guys wore dresses and played the parts of girls.

In the afternoon, the 7th graders hosted games for all their buddies (and siblings that happened along). The kids got candy along the way and also earned pennies that they got to spend in their class store, buying prizes that parents had sent in. I was at Dollar Tree last night buying prizes after coming to the realization in the afternoon that I had carried the bag of prizes sitting by the door since Tuesday night down to the curb with our recycling on Wednesday morning. That has to be where the bag disappeared to. Brilliant. That's what I get for being prepared ahead of time.

And after games, what could be better than filling up on treats before it's time to go home? Everyone was to bring snacks that somehow related to a fairy tale or nursery rhyme. There were some really cute ideas....Rice Krispie treats rolled into balls and colored green for the Princess and the Pea, "poison" caramel apples, leaf cookies that came off Jack's beanstalk and some of the pumpkins that were hanging around when Cinderella's fairy godmother needed a pumpkin to turn into a carriage. I got the idea from Hello, Cupcake! which is a really fun book. They also have a blog and a flickr group with lots of great ideas. I also really liked the recipe for the cupcakes that's in the book. It starts with a basic cake mix, but uses buttermilk in place of water and calls for an extra egg. Jim even commented on how yummy the cake was. And he should know because last night I think he popped more than a couple of these little bite-sized guys into his mouth.


I also really liked the recipe for the cupcakes that's in the book. It starts with a basic cake mix, but uses buttermilk in place of water and calls for an extra egg. Jim even commented on how yummy the cake was. And he should know because last night I think he popped more than a couple of these little bite-sized guys into his mouth.

As usual, you can get a look at more photos from the day over on flickr.

Jammin'

We jammed on the mulberry jam this week! I'm so excited. I was really intimidated by the idea of making jam and canning it - it seemed like something that one should not attempt if they don't have someone on hand that has done it before. My friend Jennifer and I tackled it without any wisdom at our side. We followed directions from pickyourown.org along with the directions that came with the pectin. We dirtied a lot of dishes, wondered what we were doing from time to time, laughed and made a mess, but the results are so worth it. We used a gallon of frozen mulberries and ended up with 12 8 oz. jars. The girls and I opened one this afternoon and pronounced it yummy. Really, it tastes very similar to the mulberry pie I was making, so how can you go wrong with pie on toast?

The girls and I went to Crabtree Farms this week with some friends to pick blueberries. Their trees are small and the berries are ripening slowly. The advice we got was to get there early...and not come with all your friends, if you want to get many. I'd say we all ended up with about a half a cup of blueberries. We're thinking about hitting this blueberry farm in a week or so. I've been there before and there was a multitude of berries. I got an email from them this evening and they said it looks like they're going to have a really good blueberry season this year. I'm thinking more jam! Also planning to head back to Crabtree Farms in about two weeks, when they said that their blackberries will be ripe and going gang busters. Watch out berries, you're going to be jammed!

I'm not just cooking and eating these days. I've started making pinwheel squares to put into winter quilts for the girls. I'm really hoping they'll be done by winter so that I can surprise them. I'm also finishing up another Emmeline apron. And there's more embroidery on the way as well. Pictures to follow as progress is made.

If I Were a Strawberry Shortcake Doll.....

My name would have to be Mulberry Pie.

Or Mulberry Almond Coffee Cake.

Or mulberry pancakes, or any number of other mulberry treats. I tell ya, these dern mulberries have taken over my life. It is with a happy sigh that I notice that not as many are dropping on the ground these days. For a while, I was picking upwards of 12 or more cups a day. I froze 4 gallons, which basically took up my entire freezer. Some have gone to live with a friend in her spare freezer until we have time to try our hand at making jam with them. We're thinking we'll try our hand at regular jam and also maybe try freezer jam. Who knows what the last of the mulberries will turn up in!

Aside from being a slave to the mulberries, I have been working on my Mom's Mother's Day gift. Yes, that holiday that passed a good few weeks ago. I'd told her that I'd deliver her present in person, when I made a trip up in June, but what I didn't tell her was that the gift wasn't done by Mother's Day. It also wasn't done this past Monday. Or Tuesday. But that's beside the point. It's done now. And here it is. It did not turn out anything like what I'd imagined when I set off to make it. Inspiration came from an episode of America Quilts Creatively, which I talked about earlier. I think that the layering thing is a challenge for me. I'm really intrigued by the idea of building up layers, incorporating fabric, paper, paint, stamps and more into a piece , I'm just not proficient at it. At all. It was a good learning experience for me and in the process I was lucky enough to stumble up on the work of Judy Scott, who has some really beautiful images on flickr. It was one of her images that got me going in a direction that enabled me to get this finished this week. Phew! If only I could take better photographs. That's my Dad's Father's Day gift at the top, by the way. Late with one and early with the other. What's a girl to do?

The case of the giant cupcake

I was up to my knuckles in icing last night. After seeing this pan in a parenting magazine a while ago, I knew I was meant to own it. I held off until Michael's ran a 50% off coupon, then high tailed it to the store to snag the pan. I got the only one on the shelf at the time. Then I had to wait for a good occasion to whip up a giant cupcake. Several occasions have come...and gone, without me seizing the opportunity, so I thought Rachel's classmates would enjoy a special treat on their next to last day of school. I used boxed cake mix and made the bottom chocolate and the top white. The white part was done cooking a good 5 minutes before the chocolate part, but I'm thinking that there's no easy way to pop one half out and not lose the other half. The difference in cooking time could have been due to the different mixes, or it could have been that I filled one side higher than the other...or who knows.

Decorating proved a challenge. On the Wilton site, the picture they show doesn't have the bottom half iced. Rachel would not approve of this. I was told, "Kids like icing" and that more was better. I started with white stripes and liked that, but was again told that more was better, so we added pink stripes as well. Perhaps, if I'd had a wider tip or if the bottom had been white and brown didn't show through, it would have looked better. Something to keep in mind for next time. For the top half, I'm thinking that again, a wider tip than what I had would have looked nicer. I guess I had to make one to figure out what I'd do differently the next time. Rachel helped with the sprinkles. Kids like sprinkles too, you know. Regardless of how it looked, it was a hit with the kids at school today. One of the teachers used that phrase, which explains why Rachel keeps telling me when things were a hit. Such a great phrase to be coming out of a five year old's mouth!

The cake is sitting on a regular dinner sized Fiesta plate, if that gives you any sense of proportion. Also a tricky thing to transport!