Cereal Killer

Johns 31st Birthday is coming up and I was so excited to give him this gift that I had to do it almost as soon as I got it in the mail :)

Bought this from an Etsy Store called JackBradyStudios... Very nice people. They answered my email very quickly and even put Johns name and the Date at no extra charge. And I got it in the mail very quickly at about 7 days after my order...  Couldn't be happier... Very cute and John loved it !!! :)

It came gift wrapped.. This picture was taken after I was nosy and opened it cause I was so excited to see it... So the Tissue paper that it was wrapped in looked nicer before I touched it :)

Just after opening it and figuring out why I got him a spoon... lol... He loved it <3 br="br" nbsp="nbsp">

The 1st use :)

~All done~

Cookie Monster Cake for John's 29th Birthday

John just turned 29...

When I was looking for some ideas for Chey's cake I came across a really cute Cookie monster cake and John was standing there and jokingly said I want that cake for my birthday...

So....

So cute :)

He really liked it. I was so glad :)

I made the Chocolate cake recipe from The Joy of vegan baking with a hint of mint added. Then I added hint if mint to the icing too. It turned out really good. The hint was perfect. I'm not big on mint chocolate but I will make this again.
I also made Vegan chocolate chip cookies. So that I could put one on the cookie monster cake.

Chloe enjoyed liking the plates...Yum Yum.

Cute Rooster Card from my Parents

I think John had a good Birthday this year.  He got a PS3 and a bunch of games that was also his Christmas present. We picked the games up on Black Friday and got a killer deal. He is really happy and has been playing alot since we picked it up. So I am happy to see him have some enjoyment. He has worked so hard this year.

 Happy Birthday John!!!! I love you!!!

Vegan MOFO Day 12: Birthday Cake Galore w/ Homemade Fondant/Gumpaste

Every year for Chey's, my little sister, birthday I make her a vegan chocolate cake and this year was no different. I used the recipe from The joy of vegan baking but I add some instant espresso to bring out some more of the chocolate flavor in the cake.  The Recipe is listed on her sample recipe page " Chocolate Cake"

This year I also took on fondant. I have been wanting to work with fondant for a while and hadn't been able to find any vegan recipes but luckily I came across a "Rolled Butter cream" recipe on allrecipes.com which was vegan! I was so excited!!!

So on to making the cakes. I started by mixing 3 cakes and ended up using 6 of the Chocolate cake recipes. Two for the small cake and four for the large. I was in such a hurry for the first 3 cakes I ended up only using half the cocoa in the recipe for the first large cake. I was worried it would taste funny but I actually think it tasted more like the mellow taste of a red velvet cake. So for people who like chocolate but not tons try using half the recipe it still works and tastes really good.

Forgot to use Cocoa to powder my pans... so they were both covered in flour.
 Didn't ruin the taste but they didn't look very pretty until I put icing on them. Next cakes I used cocoa.

 Next while I waited on the first cakes to cool I mixed up the fondant. This was a messy task. Powder sugar went everywhere. Each fondant recipe called for 2 pds of powder sugar to be mixed in. That is alot and it seems like it will never happen but it really does take in most of the powder sugar.

The beginning of the fondant.

Totally mixed getting ready for the fridge.

Started to add coloring. Made 4 or 5 colors all turned out pretty.

After the cakes cooled and I took them from there pans I cut the tops off, so they would lay flat, and not crack. Then I noticed they were to small and so I made 3 more cakes... This time I remembered all the chocolate... :)

So after the cakes finally cooled I crumb icinged them with a little more icing then a crumb layer because my sister loves chocolate. Then started working with the fondant. Problem was every time I rolled it out it all fell apart. It took some doing but I kneaded in some more powder sugar and then stuck it in the fridge to get cold. It was much easier to work with then. The 2nd batch I got to much sugar in and that caused it to crack when I put it on the cake. So it is a very small balance at which you need to fall between to get the fondant to not crack or sloth off. But I had fun working with it and it is something I will definitely do again.

First color took some work. But it went on pretty smooth.
The purple one cracked a little though and was more bumpy.

I also made cupcakes for her whole class and I took them to school the following day which was actually her B-day. She turned 9. So

Made 24 of these and they were yummy too.

 Happy B-Day Baby Girl!!!!!!!

25 years

I have now been on this planet for 25 years... ick.... lol... When I turned 20 it was bad enough but turning 25 is mid life crisis territory...lol.... John had to pipe in with the now you are a quarter of a century old... So I told him to shut up that he was close to one third of a century old! so .. blah.. lol... He has now left me at the age of 23... which I think he should count back till I am 21 again.   :) that would be good. Just leave me there for a while. lol.

On my birthday John woke me up and gave me a B-Day card and some Roses. He hasn't given me roses in forever because I think it is wasteful to cut flowers that are grown just for that purpose. But it was nice to get flowers after so many years. When we first started dating he used to bring me a single rose ever so often. It was really sweet. He also sent me flowers for my B-day when he was deployed in Iraq. There has only been a couple times since then. So its not an every year thing.  But it was nice to wake up to flowers from my Husband. :)

Very pretty. But I wish I could enjoy them more. They have to sit in the pantry and hide from the cats so they don't eat them.

John worked for most of the day. When he got home we went to my parents house for cake. Mom made me a Vegan Chocolate Chai cake from The 100 Best vegan Baking Recipes book. It turned out really yummy and moist.

Is that 25 candles?? way to many

Look how yummy

Even the coloring inside this cake is pretty

Then John and I went to Mi Pueblos for dinner. We haven't been there in forever. It was a nice evening. Just to sit and relax for an hour or so and chat while we ate some yummy Mexican food. That was the first time we have been out to dinner since Roxie started her HW treatment. We are starting to work up the time she is home alone again. We went to subway a couple weeks ago and left her for an hour and a half and that night it was around four hours but she did really good. But back to Mi Pueblos.  They have really good food and they serve a huge amount for not much money at all. The whole dinner was $25 bucks and that includes the $5 tip.

John watching women's fighting ...lol

They have all kinds of very pretty hand painted art 

This is Johns picture of me.. Thanks Hun....

The Decorative chairs

More of Johns Camera work

Making me look like an idiot while I am trying to eat...lol

First look at the Vegetarian Fajitas, No guacamole, sour cream, or cheese

They have huge portions

All the chips and salsa you can eat. Their salsa is really good and super tangy.

The main dish comes with rice, re fried beans, pica de galla, and lettuce

Really bad cellphone pics but thats better than nothing

Me eating my last shell. This is how much came home with me. It made a midnight snack and breakfast the next day!

This is what was left of my side

Another picture of the enameled chairs. The table tops all have painted enameled pictures too. 

After we ate we stopped by walmart. john wanted me to pick up something for myself but instead I got the kitties this scratcher :) they really like it and that makes me happy.