Happy Birthday Caitlin

Ok, so my oldest daughter turned 15 yesterday. I SO can't believe that (and I still haven't lost the baby weight)!! Her first order of business was to get her Learner's Permit. She was adamant about getting it on her bday. Caitlin passed her test on her first try (most of her friends took three tries - I really don't want to be on the road with them!) so my hubby raced to the DMV to get her picture taken and here is the final result -

She even looks great in her permit photo!

Because she had elective oral surgery (so not fun),
she did not receive a lot of gifts, her new smile was her BIG gift!

We got her a pillow from PB Teen that she really wanted.
The color matched her room perfectly and
Italian is the language she really wants to be fluent.
(Does that read right? Wants to be fluent? In?)
She also got the movie Pitch Perfect
and a couple of gift cards.
Boy, we will sound like parents of the year
when she tells everyone she got a pillow for her 15th birthday!

I made a red velvet cake for her to share with the
Relayers last weekend. She loved it so much,
she wanted one for herself.

This is the recipe to the cake I made for her that turned out really well. I used a 9x13 instead of the 2 round cake pans. I ended up having to bake it for around 10 minutes longer. I also didn't have cake flour so just used all-purpose and apparently it only affects "the crumb" of the cake (don't really know what that means but has something to do with the outer coat).

Red Velvet Cake

2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup plus one tablespoon  cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 teaspoons to 1 bottle red food coloring
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 cup buttermilk 

Grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa. Set aside.

In another mixing bowl,  beat the sugar and oil together until well blended. A standing or hand-held mixer works best for this.

Add eggs, one at a time, blending well between additions.  (Blend the last one in until the mixture is smooth.)

Blend in food coloring, vanilla, and vinegar. Scrape bowl down with a rubber spatula.

Alternately blend in flour and buttermilk , (starting and ending with the flour)  using about a third of each at a time and scraping sides of bowl a couple of times. Make sure not to over beat or use the electric mixer on high -- this will toughen the cake.

Immediately pour into prepared pans and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

On a wire rack, cool cakes in pans for 5 minutes. Remove cakes from pans and cool completely on rack.

Fill and frost.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8-ounce package cream cheese (at room temperature)
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter (at room temperature)
16 ounces confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Milk, as needed

In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth.

Add butter and continue to beat smooth and well incorporated with the cream cheese.

Beat in the sugar a little at a time, then the vanilla.

If frosting is too thick to spread easily, beat in cold milk a tablespoon or so at a time until of spreading consistency.

(Note: Source for recipe: http://www.acakebakesinbrooklyn.com/2010/08/best-red-velvet-cake-in-world.html - I like that she cooks with wine, not in the recipe though!).

So that's it for my beautiful girl's birthday. We had a nice dinner at Chili's (completely her choice but I had a coupon for a free appetizer, so of course we had to get 2 starters!). Happy Birthday Caitlin, now for your party tomorrow night, but that's for another post!

Turning 40 Is Not So Bad . . .

Ok, so turning 40 is not so bad when you get 40 presents! First, I have a confession, I am not the one turning 40, I have already been there, done that (a few years ago).

These are for my sister Jennie.
Doesn't it look pretty & super fun???

Now let me clarify this a little bit. My Mom, Aunt Cyndi, sister Becky and myself each bought 10 gifts for my sister Jennie. Some were little, some were big, but the plan was for each gift to invoke a memory of Jennie, whether from childhood or an adult. There were lots of great food gifts - Lays Sour Cream and Onion Potato Chips, Twizzlers and wine, some unique gifts - a jar of cold cream (once thrown at me by the bday girl but my Neo-like (Matrix reference here) allowed me to duck and the cold cream hit a framed cross stitch instead of my face) and Mardi Gras beads (heading to New Orleans for Sugar Bowl games), and some fancy gifts - a Pandora bracelet with meaningful beads and a quilt.

I used chalkboard tags I bought on-line at
Save on Crafts and then wrote a brief little hint
as to what the gift might be.
These were candy eggs my sister adores. 

This is Gator plates and napkins.

Earlier in the day, we shopped (I will show you what little goody
I bought for myself later) and wined and dined ourselves.
Then we came home for some more appetizers,
some more wine and all the gift giving!

I tried a new recipe - Pull Apart Bloomin' Bread.
The overall opinion was okay to good.
Personally, I think I would like it better if I add
fresh garlic to the butter and use the full 16 oz. of cheese -
more is always better!

The birthday girl . . . 

is the Queen of Bumper Pool!

My mom pulled tons of old photos and we had a
great time remembering all our adventures and missteps -
like really bad bowl and asymmetrical haircuts!
(Note the clothing change, this event takes a long
time and that makes it super fun!).

The girls made a large chocolate chip cookie cake

and then helped eat it.

This is always one of my favorite weekends. Every time we get together, it always seems to be for a super busy holiday. It was nice just to mosey in downtown Ocala (yes, I said that) and visit with my family. Now I am off to go hang the souvenir gift I bought but that is for another post.