A Much Overdue Update

Well, it has been a while since my last PTC posting.  This year has been very busy! First and foremost, we welcomed a new member into our family in January. 

Over the past seven months, Alex has changed the dynamic of our household in a challenging, but very good way.  OK, enough about me and back to why you are reading this…

Surprise Cake Pop Cake on the Road

Since Nick started running marathons and half marathons, our family travel schedule often involves a race.  All the planets aligned in May, when the girls were out of school, an out-of-town race, Memorial Day, and my sister-in-law’s birthday all collided over one long weekend.  We invaded my brother Matt’s house for the 4-day weekend.  My mom and brother, Andy, also made the trip up to Boston. 

We had 6 adults, 4 kids, 2 infants, and a Colombian au pair under all sleeping under one roof. It was crazy, but fun!

I asked Matt what Lisa’s favorite flavor of cake was, and baked it up before we left home.  We made the trek from Raleigh, NC to Boston, MA via upstate New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire with the cake in a cooler and a container of supplies in tow. 

My sister-in-law had no idea we were up to something!  While the runners (Nick, Andy, Matt, and Lisa) all went into Boston to pickup their pre-race materials, I worked on the cake pops and dipped them in different colors of candy melts.  The next morning, while the runners were racing through the streets of downtown Boston, I decorated them with polka dots, swirls, and drizzles.  

Around mid-afternoon, we pulled out the cake pop cake and surprised not only Lisa, but Matt as well!  Everyone was very excited and the cake pops were a delicious afternoon snack! The kids were awesome and didn’t spill the beans to Lisa (zip it, lock it, put it in your pocket!).

Volunteer Thank You Cake

As a thank you to all the wonderful volunteers at church, I was asked to make a cake for a reception in their honor.  Of course I consulted with my best online friend, Pinterest, and came up with some creative ideas to say “Thank You” via cake.  I decided to make a sheet cake and two large flowers out of cupcakes that said “Thanks a Bunch”. 

Overall it turned out really well.  The congregation greatly enjoyed the cake and the combination of cupcakes and a sheet cake made serving 150+ people much easier.  I will need to file that little factoid away for future use!

Special Birthday Cookies

Our dog sitter asked me to bake 25 special cookies for her niece’s 1^st birthday party.  They had someone who was making them, but they had a last minute family emergency.  Of course I said yes, and I was excited because I got to order my first 3-D printed item, a #1 cookie cutter. I was very impressed with the quality!  She gave me some pictures of what she had in mind, so I used my classic sugar cookie recipe and used colored royal icing to decorate them with dots and flowers.  True to PTC form, I waited to the last second and was a little concerned that the royal icing wouldn’t dry in time.  Thankfully, some of my trusty assistants (my sisters) were in town for Alex’s baptism, so they helped me individually wrap all the cookies for the party. 

I even found a really cute box that was pink with white stripes on the inside to pack the cookies in.  When I took the cookies to our vet’s office, my client started to cry because she was so excited.  She said that they were too pretty to eat.  I will take that as a job well done from another satisfied client!

Alex’ Baptismal Reception

As I said, our out-of-state family was in town for the Baptism of Alex.  I knew that if I wanted the fellowship time after his baptism done to my standards, I would have to pull out my apron and do it myself.  Of course when this was planned, I didn’t realize that I would be baking cookies for a birthday party on the same day.  (EEEEKKKK!!!!)  I did delegate some of the party goodies to my mother-in-law, to help ease the work load.  We prepared a summer salad, spiced pecans, lemon curd cookie cups, buffalo chicken dip, ham and cheese sandwiches, and a sticky Chex mix!

And of course, it isn’t a party unless there is a cake.  And of all people, my baby boy deserves the best. It was a white, three tiered cake with blue velvet swirled in! It was simply decorated with white buttercream and I had my “little” sister Alison write his name on top for me! (Her handwriting is MUCH better than mine!)

Since I was a parent of the infant being baptized, I had to be in church rather than in the kitchen that Sunday.  My sisters helped me set up as much as we could before the service began, then slipped out during the sermon to go and get things warmed up.  I joined them later and we got everything set up just in the “Nick” of time.  Being the mother of the baptized, caterer to the reception, baking cookies for a client, and hosting out-of-state family for the weekend, sometimes, I surprise myself!

Kate and Rodney’s Wedding

And lastly, my sister, Katie, got married! She asked me if I’d take care of the hors d’oeuvres between the wedding and the reception, while pictures were being taken. Thankfully, she was going to have the actual reception catered. Now, I have a hard time saying no to pretty much anyone, but especially one of my little sisters! Here’s one of my favorite parts of our conversation about what to serve:

Me: I was thinking… I know you loved the crab Rangoon that we used to get at Double Dragon (Chinese restaurant), I was thinking about making some crab Rangoon bites!

Her: Um, what is crab Rangoon?

Me: You know, the crab filled wonton wrappers that you get as an appetizer at Chinese restaurants?

Her: I literally have no clue what you’re talking about. (Me:*sigh*) But you know what would be good? Those little purse type things that have cream cheese in them! Those were awesome!

Me: That’s exactly what I was talking about!!

Her: Really? That has crab in it? (LOL!)

So, we decided to have; a mashed potato bar (per the groom’s request) with bacon (so much bacon!), cheese, ranch, sour cream and scallions; brie, apple & pecan bites; tortellini skewers with marinara, and of course, crab Rangoon bites!  As usual, I had some last minute assistants. Kyle, my future Bro-in-law, and Christy (also known in our family as Katy Perry). They were some of my best helpers to date! I’ve told them if I make this catering thing a full-time gig, they’ll be the first people I’ll hire.

Though it has been a long time since my last blog post, and I am sure that I have left out some of my boring life activities, but I hope to be able to keep this updated a little more frequently in the future.  As seems to be a theme throughout this post, I get by with a little help from my friends (and family).  Many thanks to all who have helped me as I continue to pursue my dream.  I feel that somewhere, Grandma Frances and Mary Lou are smiling down at me and I love the connection we all share!