Mission Impossible

I've wanted to make this Lemon Meringue Cake since I saw the recipe in the Tartine Bakery cookbook. It was planned for my birthday. Sadly, that was a month ago. I'm ready to declare my own holiday. Hey, if the pot-heads can have 4-20, I can have Lemon Meringue Day. It will happen. I've been blessed with 2 dozen "real" eggs from "real" chickens - Mom and Dad have a co-worker who raises laying hens and they brought me a couple dozen eggs. What better way to pay tribute to those chickens! I will begin prepping it this week and finish it by Saturday. We will celebrate my new holiday - National Lemon Dessert Day - this Saturday, 4/25. I will post pictures of my final product. I hope it tastes as good as it looks, because it looks pretty good!

And I may have to complete my "Lemon Meringue" apron for the occasion. Just because I can and should.

Apron obsession

Obsession confession. I *heart* retro aprons. I love sewing them. It's getting out of hand though. Here's what I have. Actually, there should be one more up there - it just needs a little extra something before it's wearable.


And then there are, let me see, about 6 more in the works. I can't help it. I love to bake. I love to look relatively cute. The two can go hand in hand. It doesn't hurt the marriage relationship either - Aaron has a bit of a fetish now too (for entirely different reasons!).

It gets worse. I've passed it on to Laurel. She has 4 aprons. And her dolls have 2, so far. We'll be sewing more this summer. Will also has one, but he's happy with just the one. Not me. The more, the better, I say.

If only I could get excited about vacuuming in my heels and pearls.

A Tribute to my Favorite Color

How random is this? My favorite things, in my favorite color:

daffodils - we've been seeing them all over and it just makes the winter worth it

Tweety bird - had a t-shirt, had a stuffed animal - oh yeah, Tweety rocks

Spatulas - because you can never have too many

My Julia Child rosebush - the one that Laurel prays will come back - really, she does ask Heavenly Father to bless Mommy's rose bush

Poached eggs on buttered toast

Yellow cake with chocolate icing - yummmmm!

Tulips

My Dream Kitchen

Beverage of choice - lemonade (or lemolade, as Laurel puts it)

Lemons - so perfect in so many things like . . .

Lemon Tart

Lemon Meringue Ice Cream Pie

Lemon Loaf - making this tonight

Lemon drops!

Le Creuset in Citron - I know I would braise better if I had one of these

Ah, butter! Not exactly yellow, but closer to yellow than white

Daisies

I hope you enjoyed my little tribute. I'm working on remembering the things that make me happy. And yellow things make me very happy. I couldn't find pictures of everything yellow that I love. But I found enough!

Happy spring!

Cheesecake and Martha Stewart

I still haven't gotten to make the cake I want for my birthday. I suppose it's a little late now. I did get to make this on Sunday:

A gorgeous lemon curd cheesecake - recipe courtesy of epicurious.com. Oh my was it delicious!

And, bless her heart, I'd love to hate her but I can't! Martha has a new cookbook coming out and I'm pre-ordering my copy. The trouble is, I have to wait until June to get it. Argh! But then that gives me the summer to plan for fall birthday parties. Well, that's my theory anyway. But I will send it back with a little nasty-gram if there are any poo-frosting cupcakes in there. Somehow I doubt there will be. She's good - and very aware of how things look.

Birthday Present!

I've chosen lemon, but I won't get it until next week. Birthday week was CRAZY! But this was my surprise from Aaron. A copper bowl for my KitchenAid. I'm going to make the fluffiest angel food cake you ever saw this afternoon. And the meringue for my belated birthday cake is going to be unbelievable. I'm so excited to use this.
Now I just need to copper KitchenAid to match. Hmm. I'll have to save my pennies for that one. It's gorgeous.

Found some gorgeous strawberries at Safeway and had to get them - yes, I should care that they aren't local or as good as I know I'll get them at the farmer's market in June. But dangit, I'm tired of eating apples and they were so pretty and red and they tasted so great. We'll be eating them with the angel food cake and whipped cream and this is my all time favorite birthday something. I've always loved strawberries and I should get to have them on my birthday. So there!

Lemon or Chocolate?

I'm having a dilemma. It's my birthday on Wednesday and I can't decide what to make. I'm really going to need something I love because I'm taking my accounting final Wednesday morning. I'm torn between a chocolate cake and a lemon meringue cake.

For the record, I *heart* lemon meringue pie - it is my favorite dessert and favorite thing to make and this recipe has been calling to me for a long time - it sound super lemon-y and I know Laurel will like it - she shares my obsession with lemon things. Chocolate is always a good choice for a birthday cake, but we just had chocolate cake for Aaron's birthday and I really think lemon is the direction I should go in. What do you think?

Cupcake Madness!

I like cupcakes. Love them, actually. I don't mind that cupcake bakeries are popping up all over. I won't buy them because I can make great ones at home. It's not like going out for pastries that I can't make at home without some difficulty.
So here's what has been making me crazy, and this Family Circle cover has sealed it:
I'm sorry to point this out, but the frosting looks like piles of pastel poo. It is so unappealing to me and I'm amazed that it doesn't bother more people. Here's another one that is even worse:

Seriously? Brown icing piped on with a round pastry tip? Those round tips are nice for a lot of things, but they do not make a pretty swirl of frosting. Star tips please! I refuse to eat a cupcake with what looks like fake doggy poo on it. Call me immature - hey, I have six brothers. Sprinkles do not help, so don't bother. Please, just use a star tip!

Here is a good looking cupcake:

I love these ones - they are adorable.

Stop the madness of the round tip cupcakes!