Donner Summit

I have a new found love for Donner Summit pictured above and here. Ian proposed while hiking over the weekend and even brought mini bottles of champagne to toast to the occasion. Needless to say it was a wonderful surprise and one of the happiest moments of my life! Now I need to figure out how to juggle work, culinary school, and wedding planning...let me know if you have any suggestions!

Celebrate

I love balloons and this image via UrbanCityLife as seen on Oh Joy perfectly reflects how I feel right now...so happy!!!

Cookies

We are back from a whirlwind weekend (more details to follow in the near future) and I successfully completed my first Pastry Class last night. The topic was churning butter for cookies and besides the incredibly hot SF weather coupled with 6 industrial ovens, it was fabulous! I made the Molasses Ginger Snaps with Orange Infused Sugar picture above, yummy! Let me know if you want to recipe.

Desolation Wilderness Hike

Ian and I were originally supposed to be flying to NYC to visit my brother this morning, before taking the train to DC and spending the weekend in Alexandria for a Wedding. Unfortunately due to my Culinary School schedule we had to cancel our plans last minute. I was so bummed about it that Ian and I decided to take the time off anyway and we are headed to Tahoe for the rest of the week. I can't wait to enjoy the much needed break from reality and spend some quality time with Ian and Sierra before jumping head first into my Culinary School adventure on Monday!

Flower Cupcakes

I made these Flower Cupcakes for my coworkers surprise bridal shower! I started with the yellow bowl and covered a styrofoam ball with green granulated sugar to fit inside, then I attached the unfrosted cupcakes to the styrofoam with toothpicks in order to get the placement I was looking for. I made every flower cupcake a little different and dyed the buttercream three varieties of yellow and orange in order to match her wedding colors. I will definitely be recreating this flower arrangement idea in the future as the colors and flower varieties are endless.

Cupcake Costume

How amazing is this cupcake costume (thanks for forwarding the link Kathryn)! I'm already in the process of making my costume for Halloween or I would totally be purchasing.

Sweet Eats Cupcake Costume $40 at Party City

Candy Cakes

These cakes combine 2 of my favortie things, candy and cake. What a creative way to add some color and interest to a boring white wedding cake.

Rock Candy Cake via Philadelphia Wedding

Jelly Bean Cake via Martha Stewart

Dot Candy Cake via Philadelphia Wedding

Rock Candy Cake via Style Me Pretty

Fall is here

How do you know when it is finally fall? Normally you wait for the trees change color, however, in California it is easier to rely on other tell tale signs. Like when Starbucks announces the return of the infamous Pumpkin Spice Latte or when the supermarket starts to stock up on Pumpkin Spice Beer. It seems that fall is actually here, which means pumpkin desserts will be coming soon.

Colorful Kitchen

I envy the owner of all this colorful kitchen. I wish I had both the space and the colorful ceramics to fill it with. This image via Design Sponge has inspired me to start collecting more serveware in a variety of colors. Ian will probably not agree with this plan because our kitchen is already overflowing, but maybe someday I'll have a kitchen big enough to display it!

Cupcakes and China

I absolutely love these cupcake wrappers via The Cupcake Wrapper Company. What a fun way to display and decorate cupcakes. I will need to order some soon!

Berry Crumble

I was inspired by the Blackberry Crumble Bars I made a few weeks ago (seen here) and decided to create my own recipe. This time I used 3 types of berries (blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries) and incorporated oats and cinnamon to spice up the crumble. I served it just out of the oven with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream...so good!

Berry Crumble Recipe

1 cup Blueberries

1 cup Blackberries

1 cup Raspberries

3/4 teaspoon Vanilla

1/2 teaspoon Lemon Juice

1 tablespoon Granulated Sugar

1 tablespoon Flour

1/4 cup Oats

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon

Pinch of Salt

2 tablespoons chilled Butter (cubed)

Preheat over to 375 degrees. Combine the berries in small bowl with vanilla, lemon juice, and granulated sugar. Put aside. In another bowl combine flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add chilled butter to dry ingredients and use a fork to incorporate the butter to create the crumble mixture. Lightly sprinkle the bottom of a baking dish with the crumble mixture then add sugared berries. Top the layer of berries with the remaining crumble and bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until the berries start to bubble. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

Mexican Treats

I spent the long weekend hitting up my usual taco truck (seen here) and trying some unexpected mexican treats like the Coconut Popsicle picture above and the Mandarin Jarritos picture below. All of it was so yummy and made me further realize my mexican food obsession!

Summer Swim

Sierra's chew toy ended up in the pool over the weekend. While Sierra wasn't so happy, I was pleased with the photo opportunity and we were eventually able to save her toy.

Sunday Brunch

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and I especially love breakfast on Sunday. It is the perfect excuse for a overly fussy breakfast and this past weekend I decided on Pancakes. Instead of your typical pancakes I decided to make homemade buttermilk pancakes with fresh Strawberries and Bananas. I used a variation of this recipe and was very pleased with the results. I wish I had time to make breakfasts like this every morning, but for now I guess I'll have to settle for Sundays.

Wine Country Weekend

Normally we would practically live in the Wine Country during the summer months, but with our busy schedules we haven't been able to spend nearly as much time as normal relaxing in the vineyards. Fortunately we are headed to Kenwood for the 3 day weekend and I'm most excited to eat here and watch Sierra run around the yard (seen below).

Super Sized Sugar Rush

I found these awesome SUPER sized gummy bears at Giant Gummy Bears. They come in 2 different sizes and 11 different flavors; the Giant Gummy Bear on a stick is 90x bigger than a regular gummy bear and weighs 1/2 lb. while the World's Largest Gummy Bear is 1000x bigger than a regular gummy bear and weighs 5 lbs. I'm pretty sure either one will cause a stomach ache and considering they contain as many as 12k calories I think I'll stick with regular sized gummies for now.

Decorated Cookies

I found this company (Bundles of Cookies) via the Decorated Cookie. They make all types of specialty cookie arrangements, think Edible Arrangements. They have inspired me to bake Wine and Grape cookies sometime soon...maybe I will make some while relaxing in the Wine Country this weekend.