It's a baby.... It's a baby shower... It's a dual birthday party... It's a BBQ?! The dynamic duo residing in Chicagoland is preggers. This lively couple also just happens to have near identical birthdates (52 hour difference, which when you consider all the dames and blokes they could have vowed to love forever is pretty short). As everyone knows I LOVE a themed party. So when my friend asked me to help plan her combo dual birthdays and baby shower I did my best Ryan Lochte impression and responded, "Hells Jeah!"

LOGISTICS

 We used Paperless Post for the invites which turned out great! You get to customize your invitations and they have tons of cute letterpress looking virtual designs to choose from. Also it's environmentally friendly because no paper (duh!) and you can send out reminders and updates automatically.

My friends wanted to have a BBQ type party... outdoors, good food, grilled meats and cold drinks. So I went to my local party store (the best dollar store ever) and got some basic flair. A themed party HAS to have flair right? Flair can't always be bad... We took a bit of a retro stance. I bought paper products decorated with old school BBQ grills and red gingham table cloths. I also had some left over paper lanterns from a previous party along with some mini-bubble bottles and flag bunting. In the invite I used the pun "Let's get shaded," so I bought some of those tacky Kanye West vented sunglasses and a cookie cutter that looks like shades.

Although part of the reason for having this shin dig was to welcome the baby into their community of friends and family the parents-to-be weren't about lots of baby shower games. I was allowed to do one baby-centric activity. We set up a design your own onesie/bib station. I also had the grandpa-to-be hang some rope between the trees. The decorated onesies would be hung on the "laundry line" and become part of the decor.

FOOD

• cheese baked olives
• deviled eggs
• chicken salad crustini
• gazpacho shooters

Sides

• sweet potato potato salad (with aioli, cumin and green onions)
• vinegar based cole slaw

Main Course

• BBQ pulled pork
• grilled meats (burgers, brats, hot dogs, etc.)

Dessert

• summer fruit crumble
• coconut carrot cake
• sugar cookies

Drinks

• relatively well stocked bar
• orange dreamcicle fizzy water
• vanilla lemonade
• micro brews

 Favor

• BaByQ spice rub (brown sugar, cumin, garlic, paprika, salt, pepper & chili powder)

SUNDAY FUNDAY

The Sunday after the BaByQ got off to a slow start for me... The parents-to-be and their family invited me to brunch but I couldn't drag myself out of bed in time. They went to brunch and I met them out in the south loop. I stopped at the Logan Square farmer's market on the way there for an iced coffee and a chocolate croissant. Voila- walking breakfast! Afterwards we went to the Field Museum to check out the Lascaux Cave Paintings exhibit. It was great family fun. I am always amazed by what museum curators can do. I also saw some other things while there...





Of course since I was in Chicago I also got around to doing one of my favorite things... exploring the city through new food and drink locations. Another friend couple of mine are actually from Chicago so they are totally cool city kids and know all the insider places. They have a friend who is the brewer for a relatively new brewery in Lincoln Park called Atlas.



Loved it! This greedy girl ate and drank her fill. Some of the things I liked? Nerdy movie references used for naming beers!




Fun interpretations of hot food items presented as classic American fare.




I scored big time with a great food deal. A recommendation on Yelp was to try the mussels. You can get a half order of mussels for $8. The kicker? A half order is 1/2 a pound of mussels AND it comes with fries! I got the sausage mussels which were like a play on gumbo: spicy tomato sauce, rice, andouille sausage and mussels.



All and all the evening was a success and a great way to top off a fun weekend.  It was full of two of my favorite things:

Wow. It's been a while guys. I have been spending a lot of time away from my official home front and kitchen. Instead I've been keeping my gramps company on the West side of the Mitten. While I have no aversion to small kitchens I do like to remain on good terms with my PaPa. One way I do that is by not making a "mess" in his kitchen. So my baking and kitschen adventures haven't been as frequent as of late. But, being in the city of rapids has allowed me to do some foodie exploring! So without further chitter chatter here's a little bit of what I've been up to this past month-ish.

Back in February I planned on sending Valentine's packages to people. I did... for the most part. But two of my favorite ladies didn't get their packages due to life (it's a biotch sometimes). I was able to make it up to them by sending some spring sweets.

I have gotten over me fear of yeast but sometimes a lady just wants some bread... quick like. So I looked through my bookmarks and found a recipe for a mocha swirl quick bread. Then I pulled out my favorite peanut butter cookie recipe and made a batch of those too. I have been really into giant cookies lately so I made those suckers BIG. I portioned them out with a 1/4 measuring cup!

After mailing out those goodies I hopped into the car and drove to Beer City! No. I do not have any pictures of breweries- although I have gone to a few. But I did find a nice coffee and tea place where I can use wifi and get my daily dose of fancy caffeine.



Another day I used my handy dandy Yelp app to find a place that sold pho. Have I told you how much I like a good soup? Pho is harty! And it's a party in my mouth. I am not a fan of beef tendons and tripe so I played it safe and got pho ga. I know! All the foodie purist are booing me right now. But I know what I will and won't eat. So that leaves more for you!


Over the weekend I took some time to head back to the Deuce for some quality time with friends. I also had some bizness to take of. A lady be busy ya'll! While in A2 I made my usual stop for some supplies at Trader Joe's. While there I scored a new favorite....



When I got back to GR it was right around Easter... this meant a big family dinner. Luckily I was only in charge of bringing a side. I ended up making a dessert and some cornbread. Who doesn't like cornbread?
 

My mother once in a while often puts in requests for baked goods for work. This year she as for a dozen cupcakes and 3 dozen cookies. I'm going to not even try to feign modesty and report I was happy to hear that at the annual holiday party her co-workers actually asked, "Ms. B, where are the cupcakes? Your daughter didn't make us any this year?"  My reputation grows ya'll! In the end she asked the day after for me to make 2 sets of goodies for her different program sites. Here's a report on what I made for her.

All Nutella Cupcakes

Now you know I loves me some chocolate and peanut butter. I also really like cookie butter/speculoos. One time I even made Oreo butter. All that is to say you should be able to guess I also love Nutella/hazelnut chocolate spread. I do! What I don't like about many of the Nutella cupcakes on the market is that they're usually just chocolate cake w/ Nutella buttercream. Not cool dude! I want that hazelnut goodness through and through. Fortunately, Robin of Bird on a Cake, feels the same way. She posted a GREAT way to incorporate hazelnut flavor into your chocolate cake recipe. The secret... (which is GENIUS in my mind) ADD HAZELNUT CREAMER!!!! My mind was blown you guys. So that's what I did.

 Holiday Cookie Cut-outs

Once again I used the best ever sugar cookie recipe. I figure, it works so... meh. I bought an amazing set of nesting circular cookie cutters waaaaay back when I lived in DC. I pulled them out. First I made like 2 dozen teeny tiny circle because the plane was to make them look like peppermints. Then my mom informed me she needed the cookies to be ready that afternoon (I thought I was baking for the next day) so that changed things a bit. I bumped up my cookie cutter size and only iced about 1 dozen faux peppermint cookies.






So yeah. I made these things for my mom. She took them to work and to share with others. They were enjoyed. Not a lot of process pics for this post b/c I used basic clutch recipes which I've shared before. But, my next post will include some new things... And you can be merry in knowing I continue to try my hand at different dessert creations.

Sometimes I think I am a grandmother trapped in a not-quite middle aged woman's body. Why? Because I insist on expressing my affection and love for the young through copious amounts of sugary foods in pretty packaging. It's holiday time again and I love it! Squee!!!! Back when Kris Kross ruled the charts and the 1st generation of slap bracelets were popular (the kind of metal inside) I loved me some Halloween. I still do. But I never manage to get it together to make a great costume like I used to. It makes me sad just thinking about it. I still do love Halloween...although I'm not on the 'sexy/slutty' costume bandwagon. Go figure. I did it once... and that was enough. Even though I haven't dressed up the last few years I do love seeing my nieces/nephews costumes and helping them get into the spirit of the night. So this year I put together a small Halloween package for two groups: my nieces/nephews and my cousin who recently went off to college.

First up... festive cookies. I pulled out the best-cut-out-cookies recipe again and got to work. That was the easy part! What took patience was decorating. I mixed up some royal icing, gathered some squeeze bottles, some food coloring and sprinkles. Then I pulled a stool up to the counter and got to work.





Secondly, I wanted to make some flavored popcorn. As of late I've been all about the maple spice popcorn mix when at home. But I didn't think it would travel well so I used a recipe for popcorn balls I'd been waiting to make. Caramel with a touch of cocoa, cayenne and orange zest.



As always I had to get my packaging together. Thanks to the internet and the DIY craze this wasn't too hard. I came across a post about making a Halloween party in a box and used that for my inspiration for my cousin's college care package.

Halloween Dorm Room Party

• decorative calavera garland
• sweet treats in a box
• bewitchingly beautiful nail polish in orange and sparkly black
• cocoa-cayenne caramel popcorn
• hand-made card

I got the template for the card from Can't Stop Making Things. And the chevron box from Party Box Design. It's amazing what you can find online for free! A little patience, a nice playlist, and half a day can make a world of difference when packaging treats!

For the younger set I just kept it simple. Sugar in it's various forms plus a hand-made card. Inside their treat bags I put: gummie body parts and insects, calavera suckers, bloody vampire fang candy and a Halloween themed kaleidoscope. I also threw in a candy bar... full size. I got the treat bag toppers and candy bar wrappers from Creature Comforts.

Okay. So I have a confession to make. This post is a month in the making. I originally planned to make these cookies for my big sister's birthday. I went out. Bought the pistachios. Made the cookies... and ate them. Not in one sitting. But first my mom tasted one or two. Then my sister. Then a friend came over and wanted a snack. Before I knew it there were only 3 cookies left and I just couldn't send only 3 cookies. So I vowed to make them again and send some at a later date. I eventually did and promptly put a dozen in the freezer to keep them fresh and away from prying hands until they could be sent.

I snagged this recipe from Joy the Baker. But if I remember correctly it's originally posted on Smitten Kitchen. Or you could just take your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and swap for dark chocolate chips/chunks and add pistachios. Oh! Note to self.... if you can pay $0.50 extra for pistachio meats pre-hulled do it. I spend waaay to much time prying those bad babies open. Although it did give me the time to listen to another podcast. I recently started listening to podcast when I bake instead of turning on the TV. It gives me something to do AND I feel better about myself afterwards b/c it's not TV.

So the first time I made these cookies I just scooped them out onto the baking sheet and put them in the oven. But, they didn't spread as much as I wanted... Sometimes I want nice thin cookies with a little chew to them. So I consulted a professional and she suggested I take them time to flatten them before baking them. Cuh-raizy I know! Here I was all worried about butter to flour ratios and/or the need to adjust the oven temperature and the solution was so simple all along. I thought smashing the dough would have been sacrilegious. But, apparently sometimes it is better to K.I.S.S. Also in the background of the picture above you can see a stack of the malted oatmeal, chocolate chip, peanut, pretzel cookies I made. Why? I love cookies with a lot of stuff in them! I also was excited to try malted milk powder in a cookie. I love, love, love malts. I was hoping this would be my new go to recipe. Verdict isn't in yet. My mom likes them though. She's been eating them all week!

What's more classic than a nice sugar cookie? What's cuter than a nicely decorated sugar cookie? I'm not sure but I wanted to find out. My lovely friends know just what to get this avid home baker for her birthday. A few months ago I got my hands on a belated birthday gift from my amazing friend L.A. Maltz. I love kitschy kitchen gadgets so the Fred line has always been my thing. I was so happy to unwrap my present to find these:

Just a plethora of typography! So many styles. So chic. So clearly in need of detailed decorating. Making iced sugar cookies was a must! First I checked through my recipe files and pulled out an old favorite. But then just for fun I checked some of my favorite foodie sites: thekitchn.com, seriouseats.com, and chow.com. I found a tasty looking recipe on kitchn. What makes it so special? The addition of lemon zest and cream cheese. I was sure these light flavors would give a lil' pizzazz to the average sugar cookie.








I was lazy AND cheap on my Easter Sunday deadline so I just thinned out a tub of frosting w/ some milk from the store and added some food coloring. I put the icing into sandwich bags and snipped the tips for "mini-pipping bags." Then a pulled out some colored sugars and got to work.




While the cookies tasted great I wasn't that excited about the finished product aesthetically. I thought the icing could have been neater. As I thought about it... I came to the conclusion that it's because I was using the wrong type of frosting. I should have used what real decorators use: royal icing! So thus began a search for a good royal icing recipe. Most royal icing calls for eggs whites/meringue and/or cream of tartar. Have I ever talked about how much I hate whipping egg whites to any sort of peak? I do. So I compromised and bought some royal icing mix from the confectionery shoppe. I realize it's probably a huge bag of confectioner's sugar with a smattering of dried egg whites mixed in but I also sometimes buy pre-chopped veggies. So... go figure!

For round 2 of the classic cute sugar cookie battle I used a simple scalloped square cookie cutter. I planned on decorating the cookies with a tie-dye icing technique. I read up on using royal icing b/c it dries out so quickly so using those tips I got all the icing together and ready first. I had 1 bag of thicker royal icing for creating the borders. I also had 2 small squeeze bottles with thinner icing: 1.) white and 2.) purple.









In short.... I used the thicker royal icing to create an outline border. Then I flooded the cookie with the white (thinner) royal icing to create the background color. This flooding icing is super thin so although you don't have to use a border it makes things a bit neater in the end. Finally, I pipped some lines of the purple across the cookie and used a toothpick to drag lines across in a perpendicular direction to create the tie-dye/webbing look. I boxed these bad boys up and sent them in the mail to a few friends. Reports say thumbs up!