laughed until we cried

Have I mentioned how much I love fall Saturdays?  Once or twice?  Ok, well just in case you missed it, I love college football Saturdays, and this weekend was no different.  Because Saturday was my little brother's 18th birthday, and one of our friends had recently moved back to our hometown, we packed our things and headed south. 

I decided to combine JT's birthday 'cake' with our tailgate dessert (in order to not have ungodly amounts of desserts to consume).  A while back I had seen bakerella make the cutest cupcake 'sliders' with sugar cookie fries.  This seemed like the perfect time to try those out.  These were surprisingly easy to make--mainly because I used box mixes for everything--cupcakes, brownies, cookies, and icing.  The 'sliders' and fries looked great, and my taste-testers all agreed that they tasted even better! 

We made plans for everyone to meet at my parents' house to watch the game, then we would 'hit the (small) town.'  I don't think anyone could have expected how much fun we would actually have.  I literally laughed until I cried (during commercial breaks of course) at moments, and loved yet another Saturday watching my favorite team with my favorite people.  After the unbelievably long game-for the second week in a row-we went to the 'local hangout.'  The night continued to be one to remember when we ran into people we hadn't seen since high school.  "Ah, memories."

feels like home

Last week was the first home game of the season for Georgia and it felt great to be back in Athens again.  Thanks to our football fanatic, we had a great tailgating spot, and his trusty companion made sure that we were well fed while we were there.  We stuffed ourselves with veggie burgers, pulled pork, mac'n cheese, dips galore and cupcake kabobs. A 7 o'clock kick off also gave at least nine hours of pre-gaming for most people on campus and ensured that there was plenty of entertainment for onlookers ;)  Saturday was a perfect time to catch up with old friends that I haven't seen in awhile- if one thing can bring us all together its Georgia football!     We had a great time and I can't wait 'til next week!

party in the usa

One of my favorite activities of the school year combines teaching and baking: cookie geography. My students have been studying the regions of North America so as a little assessment we create U.S. regional maps using cookies and candy. (yes, I know right now you are reminiscing about how easy life was at age 9- may I interject here that I have the best job ever!) The students are divided into groups and each group has a set of supplies and directions that they use to create their maps. I was really impressed at how well they worked in teams this year and the maps turned out great. The kids love creating their maps but after intense observation, I can state with full confidence that their favorite part is devouring the final product!

i want to hold your hand

Although I've fallen quite behind on posting--and baking :(--I hope that the beginning-of-the-school-year-madness will come to an end soon and I will be back in the kitchen! My mother's birthday was at the end of August and that provided me with a no-excuses reason to bake. This one was really 'out-there' as far as flavors go, but turned out to be pretty good. I made an orange cake with a coconut filling and a lime buttercream frosting. The frosting was AMAZING (if I do say so my self). It actually paired quite well with the orange cake, but next time I would skip coconut filling. I would love to try the frosting again on another type of cake--maybe something margarita inspired? (yum!) This was also one of my first attempts decorating with fondant. I made my own marshmallow fondant (because I can't stand the taste of the other) and it turned out to be easier to work with than I had anticipated. The shapes were pretty basic, but I'm taking babysteps. Mom loved her cake-although she did request something smaller and chocolaty for next time ;).


Now its college football season- let the tailgate baking begin!