Smoosh Cake Disaster 2013. Then a catch up.

Noelle just turned one on November 6th! To celebrate her going from this tiny helpless little creature:

To this adorable little girl who is an absolute ham for attention:

we threw her a birthday bash! Complete with a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner (turkey, ham, stuffing, all the works) with all of her most adoring of fans crowded around her to celebrate!

Seriously, she loves being the center of attention.

The decorations were fall festive and a strung up and sitting about, it was perfect. The food was all ready and hot and delicious. The company was all great. The mingling was good, the chatter was happy. Bellies were full, guests were eagerly awaiting dessert. No one was more eager for cake than Noelle. 

You see, during the past year I have severely limited Noelle's intake of sugar. She has only had nibble of cake and cookies. This was hard to maintain since I bake tons of treats all the time. I wanted to make her first birthday special for her. I wanted to make sure her smoosh cake, that all kids get on their first birthday, was her first in-depth foray into cake.

So I planned for weeks her cake. I wanted to make sure it wasn't just a chocolate or vanilla cake. Let other kids have that simple confection. My little girl has a mother that bakes delicious treats. I was determined she would have something unique and delicious. Something she could look back on decades from now and think "Hell yes mom. Hell yes".

I decided on a pumpkin cake with a cinnamon Swiss buttercream frosting. Yeah, take a second and let it sink in. Pumpkin. Cinnamon. Swiss. Buttercream. Amazing. Yeah, I know.

So I had her little cake and the matching larger cake for the rest of the guests. I had baked the cake layers on Thursday so that I could make the frosting and frost it Friday in a relaxed time and not be rushed. It so never works out. I was running all around on Friday and didn't get around to making the frosting until late Friday night. I frosted the cakes, was unhappy, scraped it off, frosted it again, was unhappy, scraped it off, frosted it again and this went on and on.

Finally I was exhausted and decided they looked as good as they would get. I went to take my friend who had been keeping me company home and when I got home I saw that my husband had tried some of the sampler cake (I had extra batter and frosting so made a tiny cake on the side for him). I value his opinion so this conversation happened:

Me: What did you think of the cake?

Tom:....*pause*....it was... buttery.

Me: Fuck. Now I have to redo it all in the morning.

You see, I am my biggest critic. Tom is my biggest fan and he always loves everything I make, so for him to PAUSE and then say it was buttery I knew it was all fucked up. I had tried a new frosting recipe. I'd never made it before and it did call for 3 pounds of butter. I knew it was buttery, but I figured with the cake it would tone it down and compliment each other. So I went to bed positive that I had to rebake the cake the next morning. 

I was hell bent on remaking them. I woke up with a mission. My aunt, who was in from Georgia and staying with me refused to allow it. She convinced me, along with my husband that the cake was delicious and it was all going to be amazing, and I was being crazy. My husband said it was his fault, he shouldn't have paused, and blah blah blah I didn't rebake the cakes.

Cut to the party that night. Know that I have been working on the cakes since Thursday and didn't sleep any the night before because of the cakes. Now read this:

As Tom and I posed for pictures behind Noelle, who was adorable in her highchair waiting eagerly for the cake, I held the cake in front of her, just out of her reach. Then I felt the cake board begin to bend. Then this happened:

The cake fell off the cake board. Noelle instantly started screaming. 

If you need it from another angle:

Soak that in guys. The most important thing that happens at a first birthday party...went smoosh.

So then we picked it up off the floor and I tried real hard not to cry or cuss. 

Noelle got a smoosh slice of cake instead of her adorable little cake.

I just wasn't the same.

Smoosh cake, take two! *Please note Noelle wiping tears from her eyes and feel your heart melt a little.

Noelle seemed to enjoy the cake anyways. I almost had a total melt down, but Noelle handled it all in stride.

Apple Pies in a Jar- these were the favors I gave out at the party.

And now the catch up:

Man. I am terrible at posting this year. I'm going to try and be better from here on out, but I can't make any promises. The last thing I posted I was whining about being fired and whatnot. So to briefly touch on that, I'm still unemployed and have started saying I'm a stay at home mom, because it makes me feel better than just saying, "yeah, no one finds me employable and hasn't for the past 5 months". 

Saying I'm a stay at home mom sounds nurturing and stable. Brings to mind home grown veggies and hand made dresses, when actually it's a lot of building block towers and having Noelle knock them down and a lot of Gerber mashed foods for her and a lot of showering at 3:30 in the afternoon for me. Not really a Thomas Kinkade portrait.

I will say this though, I have loved watching Noelle go from crawling around to standing to walking and now to running around. I've been able to witness so many amazing achievements she has made and I wouldn't trade that for anything. These are things that I would have missed for the most part. Memories that I never would have made. So all the financial struggles and the emotional turmoil aside, this has been the best year of my life. 

Self Promotion

Right now, my stomach is making these crazy growling sounds. It's been going on all day and is very disconcerting for me. What is happening in there?!

Anyways, it's because of my stomach growling that I got the inspiration for this post. It made me wonder if I was hungry, I'm not. If I WAS hungry though, what would I want? So I started thinking about my dinner plans, which since tonight is my usual trivia night, but has morphed into my stay at home and be completely alone for a few blessed hours night, will probably just be sauteed squash and zucchini with corn on the cobb. Simple, easy, delicious. Then I started thinking about what I'd want for dessert if that were an option (it's not) and then I started thinking that I needed to plan my menu for next weeks Uptown Umbrella Market.

I know you guys aren't really in my area, but I'd sure like it if you'd take a minute to maybe "like" my Facebook page- Tasty Treats by Jess. I can't link to it, I'm at work and Facebook is blocked here. Too distracting they say, to which I say BAH. I crack out all day on the news sites and they're worried about social networking. Imbeciles. 

Anyways, here's an adorable picture of my nugget, Noelle at last weeks Umbrella Market. She was riding a high of pink lemonade and then she crashed:

I have a baking muse. It's Our Greene Acre. I get my farm fresh eggs from them and the most delicious jams ever. Their jams inspire me. Peach Habanero jam? Makes a delicious peach habanero pound-cupcake with peach habanero buttercream. Peach Vanilla jam? The greatest Peach Danish cookies you can imagine. Spiced Blueberry jam? That makes this:

An amazing lemon cupcake with spiced blueberry buttercream. Ah-mah-zing.

Strawberry Danish cookies with a chocolate ganache drizzle. Seriously though, the peach vanilla version of these that I made are my favorite thing I've ever made. It's absolutely perfect. Probably because the dough is half cream cheese. Can't go wrong with cream cheese. 

And completely unaffiliated with Our Greene Acre is my birthday cake krispy treats. My bff4eva sent me the recipe and kids go bananas over it. Also, I'm a big kid and enjoyed the hell out of it. 

I'm also obsessed with Mr. Butters peanut butter- it's all natural and home made. No added sugars or anything. It's perfect for baking. I keep hoping they make a Facebook page or website so I can promote them, because they are good people. 

So, if you're feeling frisky (and I know you are) like my page. If you're feeling friskier, check out my website Tasty Treats by Jess.

Spring Fever, so much better than Bieber Fever.

Well guys, I'm 30 now. I feel pretty good about it. I feel infinitely wiser than I did this time last week, that's for sure. From here on out, I'll be laying crazy wisdom down for you all. You're welcome. 

The hubby took me for a day trip over to Raleigh for the day on Saturday as a birthday adventure. We were supposed to see the Titanic exhibit at the museum, but on the way there I realized I couldn't see it without my sister. So I cancelled that part and will be making that happen in a couple of weeks. I just can't see it without having someone yell out "ROSE!!!" as I yell out "JACK!!". Also, I do mean the actual Titanic artifacts and not the movie. That will not stop us from whispering "Draw me like one of your French girls, Jack" to one another all day. 

The Melting Pot happened that evening, and sweet baby Jesus, I love that place. Fondue? More like FUN-due, amirite?! Anywhoo, the cheese course, the salad, the entree all of that was delicious. The real party began at dessert, when this happened:

All of that to dip into delicious white chocolate and Bailey's. 

Heaven.

Spring has arrived here in NC. Which means I've had my legs out and dresses on all week, without those horrible leggings under them. Also, thanks to the new fancy tanning salon in town I even have some color, so I'm not even paranoid about them being out. 

I love this time of year, not as much as I love Fall, but it's close. Everything is bright and it's sunny and flowers are blooming and it really just seems like a good time to change things up and get some new things going in life. 

For instance, I am redoing the bedroom. From the arranging, to the sheets, to the bedspread, to the curtains. I usually change them all up from time to time anyways, but it all is about the same style. So I've got things happening totally unlike anything I've done before. Time to make the room fun (rawr) and inviting. Also, the bathroom is getting a makeover as well.

I'm making a new wreath for the door and going to pot some plants to sit around outside. Nuggie has been wearing her spring frocks all week, and looking ridiculously adorable while doing it. 

Told you. Ridiculously adorable. 

Also, right this moment I just got my first request for me to make a cake for a former co-workers friends bridal shower this weekend. My first paid request?! AND she's a former co-worker that remembered my delicious treats?! It's a good day guys. 

Right now I am:

So, I've done it before and I'm sure I'll do it again, but I'm totally going to rip off Jess from It's Jess!. I have no bit of creativity of my own. I am nothing if not derivative. So, here we go.

Wanting to Curl Up In:

Roseland bedding from Anthropologie, which will be happening. My very own special tax return gift to myself.

Wasting Time With:

Reading:

My current obsession. Five books so far, the last coming out next year and the movie coming out this Fall. Can. Not. Wait.

Listening to on Heavy Rotation:

The entire album is amazing.

Super Stoked For:

My birthday dinner with hubby at The Melting Pot this weekend.

Wanting on my Body: