Celebrating Ellie's 18th Birthday, Birthday Crafting +an Almond Cake with Raspberry Filling Recipe

Ellie turned 18 on Friday. We celebrated with a small family party. We had a potstickers for dinner as they are Ellie's favorite. We had ice cream and sprinkles as well, but we never actually got around to eating it.

After dinner she opened presents. Kohlton give her a picture on a wooden cradle frame, a red star shaped marque and a set of shelves shaped like hexigons. We gifted her with fun white and gold foil paper goods, another set of hexigon shelves and a smaller ukelele that had a bunch of great things included such as a tuning tools, extra strings, a case, a polishing cloth, etc.

Ethan also gave her a "Life" game, which we promptly played that evening. It included lots of silly actions.

As far as she knew at that point, we had a dinner plans at a nice restuarant for Saturday night. The truth is, I had been secretly planning and executing a surprise birthday party. I was pretty sure that she had figured me out and was just humoring me since she knows from personal experience how much work it is to put on a surprise party. She began asking me lots of questions about where we were going so that she could figure out what she should wear. We told her that it was not at Taco Bell and that she did not need to wear a long ball gown. She seemed to grow nervous. Kohlton tried to get me to tell him where we were going. I told him that it was for his own good. I knew that if he knew and he smiled even just a off, she would know and she would get the information out of him.

The next day we had a really nice, casual family breakfast. I told Ellie that I was going to have coffee with Natalie and that we could go for manicures later that afternoon.

I then raced over to Grandpa Don's house where I decorated the cake that I had baked on Friday. I had also started to decorate earlier in the week and was at the point where I needed a tall person's help to put up the rest of the decorations. I wanted the entire main floor to be decorated and exciting.

During my lunch hours and during a day off of work due to a snow day (and she still had school) I made gold sequin streams, a birthday banner, tassels, feathers dipped in gold paint and glitter and 18 himmelis.

I made a three layer almond cake that was supposed to have raspberry filling, but I forgot that at home and so it had apricot filling instead, which worked out nicely. (I have included the recipe below.) Ellie loves hexigons, so I hand cut about 300 of them out of fondant that I sprayed with edible gold food coloring. I also made a bunch of tiny flowers that I forgot to use. I had planned on cover only part of the cake with the hexigons and then incorporating some flowers and swirl designs made out of dragees, but it did not work out, so I ended up with what you see above. I added a touch of fun by dusting it with an iridescent edible glitter.

I also made Parmesan chicken that was supposed to go with spaghetti with a garlic cream sauce, but I did not have the time or energy to make the pasta part. I was also ready to make garlic bread, but ran out of time and energy to make it, too.
I felt bad that I could not execute the entire plan, but at that point I was out of energy. It had been an intense week at school with parent/teacher conferences, 3 after school meetings and standardized testing.

final stages of decorating and food prep. took long than I had planned, of course, and so I did not make it home with enough time to get our nails done at a saloon. Ellie was good about it, but I was feeling bad that I had disappointed her two days in a row by taking so long to return home.

Later that afternoon Ethan and their friend, James, went over to the house to take care of the guests and make sure their cars were not in front of the house.

Ellie continued to worry that she would not be dressed correctly, but we assured her that it would be alright. She was worried that the people at the restaurant would not make a spectacle of her. By the time we were ready to leave, she seemed very concerned. We tried to assure her that it would be okay, that it was just about having fun.

We told her that we needed to go over to Grandpa Don's house to pick up Ethan. Her mind quickly started to think about where we might be headed on that end of town. Once we arrived, Larr, Ellie and Kohlton zipped into the house. I was a bit slower and missed her reaction to the crowd of people jumping out and yelling, "surprise." Later I found out that she was truly surprised, that she did not suspect anything until she started up the walk way to the door. It was a lot to take in.

Lots of our friends join in for the party. The house was pretty full. There was food in the kitchen, snacks in the living room and games taking place in several rooms.

We ate, sang and had a great time.

She also received some nice presents, like concert tickets and earrings, and silly presents, like an eagle had mask made of rubber.

We all stayed up later than usual and had a great time. I think it was a grand success.

Almond Wedding Cake Cupcakes with Raspberry Filling
via: Shugary Sweets
** This recipe made one 8x8 round cake layer. I tripled the recipe to make the cake for Ellie's party.
For the Cupcakes:
3 egg whites, room temperature
1/3 cup plus 2 Tbsp buttermilk
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/4 cup cake flour
1/2 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 Tbsp almond extract

For the Frosting:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
4 cup powdered sugar
For the Filling:
1/2 cup Raspberry preserves

For the cake, whisk together the egg whites, almond extract and 2 Tbsp milk in small bowl until combined. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes on medium. Add in dry ingredients and mix until combined. Slowly add in egg white mixtures. Beat in remaining milk.
Fill cupcake liners half full with batter and bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-17 minutes. Remove and cool in pan 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Fill a pastry bag with raspberry filling. I used a small star tip and poked it into the top of each cupcake. Give a good squeeze, you will see the cupcake rise at is fills. Remove and continue until all cupcakes are filled.
For the frosting, beat butter and heavy cream in mixer for 3 minutes. Add in almond extract and powdered sugar. Beat an additional 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Pipe on cupcakes. ENJOY!

Saturday's Celebration - No Quite What We Had Planned

Last Friday was the "birthday" (launching anniversary?) of the Lady Washington. At the end of the day the folks over at Grey's Historical Seaport organized a celebration. There was cake, dancing and merriment in the afternoon. Everyone had a grand time. The crews continued to celebrate into the evening. There was more (and I suspect wild) dancing in the galley (who knew there would be space to dance there!) and on the deck. There are reports of loud singing, too. Later in the evening some people were retiring to bed so the party was moved to a room on the ship that has a sound proof door. Once there the they sang a song in rounds where each singer changes some element of the song and passes it along, with everyone singing the chorus. This went on for over an hour, maybe even two hours, ending once everyone was spent. The next day Ethan's throat was raw and his voice was rough. Thankfully it recovered by Sunday when he was asked to lead the singing on deck, which he did with much gusto and joy.

By the end of this week many of the crew members will be returning to their homes and back to normal life. One of those members took this photo to commemorate the time he spent on the boat. My boy looks rather serious and so young in this photo. It is good to see the people he is spending time with.

Saturday was a super busy one for us. On Friday I had fantasized that I had all day on Saturday to get ready for Ellie's small birthday celebration. I had forgotten about the brunch and gaming party at the school on Saturday morning. Larr, Ellie and I each won a door prize. Ellie and I donated our new games to the school where they are sure to get a lot of action. Larr won a great dice game; he will give it to Ethan in a few weeks.

Ethan says that he feels more at home and more like this group of people than he has felt in the other jobs that he has had since graduating. They dress in a similar manner, they like a lot of the same things he likes and they generally have fun together. He also experiences some conflict, but those are important lessons that are helping him mature and grow.

The rest of the day was a series of errors and things not happening as we had hoped they would. It was all rather frustrating for me and upsetting for Ellie. Still, we tried to make it right.

Ellie prefers small parties and so the only guest was Kohlton. We planned on having glow sticks, glowing balloons, a fun tent, a fun dinner, a fancy cake, snacks in a tray and a movie. We ended up with a variation on that theme.

We had combed through pictures on Pinterest for ideas. A friend of mine says that we should just ignore Pinterest, that so much of what is there is not real, that it has been photoshopped to look better and that planning via Pinterest is just setting yourself up for unhappiness. Ellie said something similar, but she was still hopeful. In some ways we should have known better.

(This is what we had hoped for.)
Ellie wanted lighted balloons like above and so I searched several stores until I found the right LED light inserts. They lit up the balloons a little bit, but not like in the photo.

(We did not achieve this at all. The kids ended up wearing the glow sticks, instead of decorating with them.)

Ellie wanted a glow-in-the-dark design, but that did not pull through either. She had planned on a specially decorated ice cream cake similar to the one below, but changed her mind at the last minute and I did not manage to make any dessert. I didn't get the candles decorated, either. Honestly, I totally forgot about that project.

(Nope,nope and nope.)

I had also expected to decorate. I ironed the bunting (the pointed flag stuff in my drawing.) Ellie and I hunted around for streamers in the right colors and gathered lots of balloons. In the end there were very few decorations. Like I said, the day ran into so many snags, that it was simply not humanly possible to achieve what I wanted to achieve.

(This did not happen, either.)

I also made the tent. Making that was both fun and frustrating; it took a lot more effort to create than I had expected. In the end it was long enough, but too low for it to work as Ellie had imagined. She thought they would be able to sit up in it, but it will have to be modified in order for that to happen. The tent was nixed.

We did end making white pizza from scratch (pizza dough, alfredo sauce, basil and mozzarella cheese). And the snacks sort of worked out. I had hoped to use matching trays, but I could not find the ones we used when she was about 11. I made due with what we had on hand.

We also had the movie, "Up!". By that time, I think we had both let go of the idea of how it "should be" and embraced what it was.

We also had a few presents. If you look closely, you can see the crown that I made. I don't think it fit how she had expected, but it did look good on her. The present that she was most excited about (a small speaker to hook up to her ipod, ipad or phone) did not function well and will have to be returned - it figures.

This is what she had picked for the crown. Mine was a slight variation on that idea.

Part of why this going well was so important to me was the fact that pretty soon she will not want me to throw a party for her; pretty soon she may not even live at home any more. I feel like the clock is ticking right next to my head, reminding me that my time with Ellie running out. She reminds me that it is not like she is leaving and never coming back. She reminds me that she is not even sure when she will move. Afterall, she does not graduate until next year. She offers these as words of comfort. I just have to find a way to find comfort within them.

Sunday was Larr's birthday and that party went off a bit better.

Celebrating Kohlton's 17th Birthday + Denver Cheesecake Recipe

Kohlton turned 17 last Sunday. If you follow my blog you already got to see the extra special and amazing present Ellie made for him. Here's what they did to actually celebrate his birthday:

They went to the Zoppw' Italian Family Circus and LOVED IT!

Grandma Gay hosted a picnic style dinner at her house. Ellie made cheesecake from scratch for the first time. It was excellent. (I have included the recipe below. It is best made at least one day ahead of time so that the flavors can blend.)

And when you are at Grandma gay's house, you have to check out the costumes. It is always a fun time!

Then we went down to the city park for a fireworks display. The band that was playing was excellent!

Then back home for a little more cheesecake and the trick candles that keep relighting themselves.

Now, I think we would think that was a bang-up birthday, but we are not done, yet.

The next day his mom hosted a family party where he received some pretty funny presents.

Mark, Kohlton's dad, gave him some nice presents and then he gifted him a box of bacon and cheddar flavored crickets. Kohlton was having no part of it. They were going to become a curio on his shelf until Mark and Ellie decided to try them. They declared that they taste like popcorn, but you end up with legs caught inbetween your teeth. Yucky and haha.

Ellie made tiny one-bite cheesecakes with phillo cups. Some were topped with dark chocolate, almonds and pearl colored dragees. Others sported homemade salted caramel, or blueberries. Some were left plain, simple and delicious!

Now, how will she ever top that!? Surely Kohlton feels very loved.
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Denver Cheesecake
via: Creme de la Colorado Cookbook by the Junior League of Denver
(an old, trusted and loved volume of reliable, awesome recipes.)

Crust:
12 oz. box Vanilla Wafers, crushed (place them in a large ziplock baggie and use a rolling pin to crush them)
6 TBL Butter, melted

Filling:
40 oz. Cream Cheese, softened
1 3/4 cups Sugar
3 TBL Flour
1 tea. Lemon Peel, freshly grated
1 tea. Vanilla Extract
6 Eggs
3/4 cup Heavy Cream

In a small bowl, mix together the crushed wafers and the butter. Press into the bowl bottom and partially up the sides of a 10" springform pan. Chill while preparing the filing.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese. Add all the rest of the ingredients except eggs and cream. Mix until it is well blended and creamy. Add one egg at a time, beating well after each. Blend in the cream. Pour in crust. Use a 10" springfoam pan. Bake at 500 for 10 minutes. Then turn down temperature bake 225 for 70 -80 minutes. (You are looking for the filing to be almost set) Cool at room temperature. It is best to refrigerate it for at least 8 hours before serving to allow the flavors to blend and meld.