cupcake wedding

I'm a little late blogging about this, but I still wanted to share about the wedding I recently did. It was quite an experience! First off, I have to say that Adam and Erica were BY FAR the most laid back couple I have ever encountered. One reason I shy away from weddings is that there is so much pressure for perfection! I don't want my cupcakes to be "that thing they wish they could do differently." But Adam and Erica met just about every question I had for them with, "Eh...We don't really care. What's easiest for you?" I was dumbfounded. And thankful that the first wedding I was committing to was not one that pinned its hopes and dreams on my decorating ability. In fact, they had no idea what the top cake was going to look like until they saw it the day of the wedding!

This beautiful pic (and the others) was taken by my friend and photographer, Stephen Pflug.

I had to make 200+ cupcakes and one cake for the top. I will say that I definitely learned some valuable lessons about baking for a big event. I pretty much planned out every detail of the week leading up to the wedding, and I think it really saved me a lot of time and sanity by week's end. Chad's mom also took the boys all day Thursday which allowed me to bake and decorate all 200+ cupcakes between the hours of 9 and 5! It was weird because, although I was working super hard and baking all day, I didn't have my 3 boys...so the day was strangely stress free and even somewhat relaxing? I guess that gives you an idea of what it's like to take care of 3 boys all the time! Probably the most stressful part of the whole thing was decorating that cake for the top! I've never done that before...and I was a shaky, sweaty ball of nerves the whole time I was doing it. Did you know you can sweat inside your ears? Cause you can.



On Friday afternoon (the day of the wedding), my mom went with me to help me set up and make everything look pretty. I had it in my mind that I would feel a huge relief as soon as those cupcakes (and the cake!) were set up and I walked out the door. However, when I got there, the coordinator informed me that we would be putting them on a table with wheels....so that they could wheel them out to the tent when it was time to cut the cake...wheel them over thick carpet and through 2 doorways...which, in the cupcake world, I can only describe as "rough terrain." My heart was in my stomach. I tried to inform her that I wasn't at all sure how stable the set up was (after all...I had planned on it being set up and then just sitting there) and that this tower of cupcakes wasn't built for off-roading. She laughed it off and informed me that she hadn't lost a wedding cake yet and that it would be fine. Suffice it to say, I did not leave that place with the internal relief for which I was hoping. I fretted all night until I finally received a text from a friend letting me know that everything went well and nothing fell apart. Thank you Lord.

I also learned a lot about the actual cost of the cupcakes I've been making. These things are a little more expensive than I had roughly estimated in my head. Thanks to an amazingly intelligent cupcake cost calculator spreadsheet Chad made for me (have I mentioned before that he is amazingly intelligent?) I have a better idea of how much to charge. I'll reiterate that I am still not doing this as a business (Question in your mind: "What ARE you doing then, Mary?" Answer in my mind: "I have no idea."). Basically, I make cupcakes for people sometimes, when I'm available and they really, really want them. I'm no pro. I'm definitely not a professional decorator. I do love to mess around with baking principles and interesting flavors and ingredients to create delicious desserts. I like to take baking problems and correct them (ex. cake that's too dry/too dense/not flavorful enough...etc.) I know it seems like I have a cupcake business since I have been baking cupcakes for people just about every weekend for the past month...and I have no answer for that. I'll just leave it at that.

shake n' bake

I am baking 200+ cupcakes and a small cake top for a wedding on Friday. This is the first time that I've agreed to do such a thing...and I am trying to plan it out perfectly so that I can minimize stress/maximize efficiency. That's not an easy feat when you have 3 kids 4 and under in tow. Thankfully, I have family and friends who have volunteered to help me with the kids and other things. And it helps that the bride and groom are probably the most laid back engaged couple I have ever encountered. So, I am making frosting today and hopefully finishing decorating the giant cupcake tier. Wednesday I will make the cake top (I am a little nervous about this because I generally do not do cakes). Thursday Chad's mom will take the boys all day so that I can have an all day cupcake bake-a-thon/decorate-a-thon. Friday I will transport/set up everything in the afternoon for the evening reception. And Friday night I will drink a giant margarita relax.

I will try to take photos of the end creation, but my super talented friend Stephen Pflug will be doing the wedding photography and will also catch a few pics of the cupcakes/cake for me! Now...if I can just figure out how to fit in making dinner/cleaning house/running/sleeping/doing some much-needed yard work/getting some work done on my other editing/writing job then things will be perfect! I am fully expecting that at least 2 of these things will fall off the table...and I am determined that running will NOT be one of them. Sigh...Lord help me to juggle everything on my plate this week!

I don't know if you know this about me, but I love food. Now, it's not just a blanket eat-a-bunch-of-twinkies-and-doritos kind of love. It's a holy-cow-with-the-right-ingredients-food-is-art kind of love. Anton Ego from Ratatouille says it best, "I don't LIKE food. I LOVE it. If I don't love it, then I don't SWALLOW." Obviously I am not this extreme, but I certainly related to this comment when he said it! Food looks beautiful, it smells beautiful, it tastes beautiful...there are different colors and textures and flavors that combine in infinite ways. All of your senses are engaged when the right dish comes together. I love looking at beautiful pictures of food and imagining how to tweak recipes so the flavor comes together in a symphony of perfection in your mouth. Does this sound overboard? Probably. But I am passionate about it.

I think probably everyone needs some sort of creative outlet. I mean, it's not really just about food...it's about the process...it's about painting a picture in your mind and then watching it come to life on the canvas. It's about taking the things inside you that you can't express and funneling them into something that you can. I think we all have a desire to create beauty in some way. It comes from being made in the image of a Creator who loves and creates beauty on a scale that is majestic and minute. We love to create because we are created.

I love to research the science behind food. I like to know why certain ingredients produce certain outcomes. Beautiful food is not just dependent on flavor...it's dependent on texture and mouth-feel. Quality ingredients beget quality food, method and technique influence how the flavors come together.

I am absolutely not claiming to be a chef or even an expert. I haven't attended culinary school and there are many, many things I do not know. I am probably a better baker than I am a cook, but I am still far from a professional. I have as many failures as I do successes. But, I love food. I love to make something that someone else enjoys. Someone loving something that I have made is a unique kind of joy for me. I love to express love to people through food. I love teaching my sons an appreciation for good food and I love teaching them how to make it.

I'm sure there are some who will read this and totally relate. Probably others will think I'm a lunatic. Either way, you should let me cook for you sometime. Hopefully it will taste good, but even if it doesn't, now you'll know what kind of love was put into it!

Celebrating 4 Years

I'm sitting here right now at 10:45am, chocolate cupcakes just out the oven, vanilla buttercream done and waiting to be colored and piped into little smiling sharks for Kian's 4th birthday party. Eli's on my lap as I type, just up from his nap. I cannot believe that Kian is 4 years old. I remember just after he was born, thinking that I wouldn't have another one until he was 5. Fast-forward 4 years and here I am with 3 boys. But, I have to say, having my kids close together was the way to go. It's definitely not easy, but it is fun (except for when it's not...). Chad and I joke that we ripped the band-aid off quickly instead of slowly peeling it off, lol. Some people think we're crazy for having our kids so close together, but we get to go through the baby stage all at once and then move on to the next stage all together. We get through sleep schedules and naptimes, potty-training and first foods, baby gates and car seats all in a few years. And then, when they are 9, 7 1/2, and 5 1/2, we can all take a trip to Disney World (or wherever) and enjoy it at the same time...no one being way older or way younger. Even though it gets crazy, the boys love playing together, and I really hope that they can be best friends as they grow older. I realize that there are advantages to spacing your kids out too, but we decided we wanted it this way and we have a great time with these little crazies.

So, today we will have family over to celebrate Kian. Sarah Judkins is coming over to paint Kian , Jonah, Sander, and Aviva's faces like little animals. Isn't it so great to have friends? We have such talented, generous, amazing friends. I am thankful everyday for them. We really are blessed with an amazing family AND an amazing community of friends. Four years ago, I'm not sure I could have predicted what my life would look like at this point. But I am sure that I absolutely wouldn't change it in any way.

a dairy free christmas

So I have had a fairly eventful week. After a million soaked burp cloths much stress, I finally figured out that Eli is sensitive to dairy. So, since i'm nursing, that means i will no longer be workin' on my night cheese (ok if you don't watch 30 Rock then you will have no clue what I meant by that and you might be slightly freaked out.) Let's just say I can't eat dairy for a while. It might not seem like a big deal BUT I LOVE CHEESE. And butter. The butter is not as big of a deal because I also like Earth Balance, but butter substitutes don't work the same way in baking (not to mention buttercream frosting...sniff sniff tear...pull it together Mary...) Of course, the best time of the year to give up dairy is Christmas, duh. It's not like there will be dairy-laden treasures of culinary goodness surrounding me wherever I go... Alas, who could say no to this face:
Rest assured, though, I will be doing lots of experimenting in the kitchen and I might have just a few tricks up my sleeve for the holiday season. We'll see how they turn out. I have yet to make a full trip to the grocery store since my dairy-free revelation, so meal times have been rather sad for this dairy lover. I had to finish up making the meals I had already planned so that my current groceries didn't go to waste. Yesterday I made a giant pan of stuffed shells that Kian and Jonah and Chad enjoyed while I drowned in a pool of my own tears while I went out to get a long-needed eye exam. I should mention that we did have some really good dairy-free pancakes yesterday morning courtesy of some substitute rice milk and earth balance. I plan to make a Whole Foods run tonight to stock up on some dairy free essentials, but in the meantime I made myself a lunch of roasted fennel and red potatoes. It was delightful.
There will most certainly be updates to come on my dairy-free adventure. I am forced choosing to look at this as an opportunity to be more creative, so we'll see where that creativity lands me!

bread and potties

Well I *think* i have turned the corner and I am now baking our bread instead of buying it. I'm sure we will still buy some every once in a while, but I think I have finally gotten into a groove with making it on a regular basis. It just really seemed to make sense because I can control what goes into it, and we all love having fresh baked bread. I am trying to experiment with making homemade hamburger/hot dog buns, and I am planning on making some bagels too. I am also making homemade pizza dough on a regular basis. It's actually super easy if you can take a few minutes to combine the ingredients and knead the dough (this is where my love affair with my heavy duty kitchenaid freestanding mixer comes into play). Then it just takes time for the dough to rise and to bake...but very minimal effort in my opinion. If anyone has any loved bread/bun/bagel recipes, I would love to hear about them!

On another note, Jonah is totally ready to potty train but I don't have time to do it right now! He asks to sit on the potty all the time and he actually pees and poops sometimes (normally he just says that he wants to get some toots out on the potty and other things come out as a result). I'm hoping that we can take some time when Chad is off over Christmas/New Years to get the first few days over with. I think I can handle the upkeep of the training, it is the first few days that I don't think I can pull off while also taking care of both Eli and Kian. Poor guy, he's practically begging to be potty trained and it's me that's holding the whole process up! On a positive note, he might be the most affectionate child I have ever been around. Last night he woke up crying in the middle of the night and all he wanted was a kiss and a hug. He hugged me and said, "I love you. I love you so much." When I told him he needed to go back to sleep, he just said "okay mommy" and closed his eyes. I can't handle how cute he is sometimes!

surprise date

Two weeks ago, Jamie Bumgarner told me about this place in Powell called SkyZone. It's basically just a huge indoor trampoline park. From the moment I heard about it, I knew I had to take Chad on a surprise date there. What could be more fun than jumping on massive trampolines (with trampoline ramp walls no less...)? Plus, if you were friends with me in high school, then you probably remember the trampoline we had in our backyard. It was a post-homecoming/banquet (prom for those of you that went to normal school) hotspot.

I told Chad to wear some athletic clothes (he didn't know where we were going until we got there) and we dropped the kids off at my parents' house. We got to SkyZone at 10:45 and it was a little crowded so we had to wait a bit. We were probably 2 of maybe 4 people over the age of 15 in the entire place (aside from parents sitting on the sidelines waiting for their sweaty kids to finish jumping.) The age thing didn't bother me at all because...come on...it's a room made of trampolines. I hope I don't ever reach the age of not wanting to jump on trampolines. We started jumping and after 10 minutes we were already flushed and breathing pretty heavily. Chad, of course, was flipping and doing 180s off the walls while I just tried to figure out flailing myself against the wall without totally losing my balance and landing on a poor defenseless child. It was awesome. They made us wear these high-top shoes, and I was thankful because Chad has glass ankles and I didn't fancy carrying him out of there on my back. We had a super fun time and then went to Sushiko afterward (one of our faves).

here is a pic of Chad and me on vacation last year:


I was supposed to go see Chad play 2 shows tonight with his bro, Mike Wojniak (if you haven't heard his music, you should...) but Eli is still sick and not sleeping super well. So, I had to make the tough decision to stay home with him. I'm super bummed because there is pretty much nothing I love more than watching my husband play music (and it doesn't get any better than when he plays with his brother). On the bright side, it's Saturday night and I am looking forward to a fun Sunday complete with going to the Westerville Christmas parade and celebrating my brother's 21st birthday! I still remember when Eric was born and I didn't want to continue going to school because I was convinced he needed me to stay home and take care of him. Twenty-one years later and I still talk to him on the phone pretty much every single day. I hope that never changes :)

this is me with eric