What's Next?

I've been making To-Do lists off and on all day today, and yesterday as well. It's because I've finally had a moment to sit still since the party is done, and I feel like for the past week I've dropped everything else to focus on birthdays and birthday parties. So now I have no idea what I am supposed to be doing. I mean, I do have some idea...like I know I have dance class tuition to pay, since I got a little email from the dance school reminding me that I didn't pay last month...emails are helpful like that, right?

The party was really fun. The kids all had a blast. There is still chocolate on the walls, if that gives you an inkling as to what the party was like.

So here are the cakes I obsessed about for the week:

That one's Princess Ariel, a Disney lady, made from a Wilton Pan. I don't like frosting this way. It kills my hands. Plus I always think the eyes look a little creepy.

And this is the fondant cake. It's the mickey mouse clubhouse. The big black sphere is Styrofoam covered in fondant. The rest is fondant and cake. The cake under the red part was cooked in a Pyrex bowl and took twice as long as expected to cook; we almost missed dance class! (the one I do pay for on time.) And the cake was not a big enough dome, so I had to add a cupcake to the top and fill the rest of the area on top with buttercream. I thought I'd get up on Saturday and the cake would have somehow deflated; I'm no architect, but this structure was definitely not sound.

And this is what we had to eat:

Well, we started, of course, with appetizers, including:

bruschetta with tomato, mozzarella and basil

my sister's taco dip/salad which is always a crowd-pleaser;

the usual veggie and fruit trays (the veggie tray was virtually untouched)

oh, and chips and dip, of course.

Then,

cake and ice cream.

then,

porterhouse steak, grilled. (it was delicious. Delicious!)

potato salad, courtesy of Mom

macaroni salad

Caesar salad (yeah, it came out of a bag, just being honest and all. But it was good.)

Prosciutto-wrapped steamed asparagus

then dessert:

cranberry-lemon coffee cake, made by another of my talented sisters, completely gone by sundown Sunday; a Williams Sonoma recipe.

lemon meringue pie, and I would post a picture but I was too tired at 1am when it was finished and looked beautiful and by the next morning it looked totally deformed, with a shrunken meringue perched on top of the lemon, which appeared to be weeping...but honestly it tasted great. no, seriously, it was good, I had a piece. What didn't I have a piece of, you know.

chocolate dipped strawberries. fantastic. But unfortunately, the source of the chocolate on the walls. And probably other places I haven't cleaned yet, too.

snickerdoodles

brownies. it's a great, simple recipe, should you be looking for a brownie recipe from scratch.

Oh, and here's one of our guests, Miss Sylvia, I'm told she's called. My husband brought her home.

She's an espresso maker. She was quite a hit at the party. With the adults, of course. Although with the way some of the kids were acting, I can't guarantee that they weren't also drinking that poison. I myself only drink coffee for the chocolate that's mixed into it.

So, back to normal life. I guess I'll have to start the drapes now.