Cookies, Cupcakes, and Cardio

New Years 2012- Goals and Resolutions

January 5, 2012 by Jenn

Last year (2011), I made resolutions and goals for the very first time! It’s time to review, and to make new ones . . . maybe?

2011 Check In – Resolutions – How did I do?

1. Learn how to budget . . . stick to in . . . and stop spending money on unnecessary things. I’m definitely better at this than I used to be, I would have to say! Not perfect, as the draw of going to Winners on a Friday night is sometimes to strong to resist, but I came leaps and bounds compared to where I used to be. Like, now, I actually have money in my back account! That’s what it’s there for I’m learning!

2. I’m giving up magazines. I find that they used to be an enjoyable event, to what is now a stressful occurrence. When I look at the pile that just seems to grow and grow and grow, I get stressed out. I guess I’m spending my time doing different activities these days . . . like blogging!! I have DEFINITELY succeeded at this resolution! I did not spend unnecessary time, or money reading magazines . . . and truthfully, I didn’t really miss them! I never would have thought that I wouldn’t miss them, as I lived and breathed for the new issue of my favourites to come out.

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Filed Under: Randomness Tagged With: 2012, goals, resolution

Cranbrook Winter Farmers Market 2011

January 1, 2012 by Jenn

We started out the 2011 summer season by setting up a booth at the Cranbrook Farmers Market, which is held in downtown Cranbrook every Saturday morning throughout June-September. We met so many amazing people, and other vendors, that when the possibility of getting to take part in a Winter Market, we jumped at the chance!

My first thought was, “No tent to set up! Yay!”.

The winter market is held during the last weekend in November, and coincides with the Santa Claus parade. This year, it was a two day affair, and despite the FREEZING cold temperature INSIDE (not to mention outside!) the old SuperValu building that the Market rents out in downtown Cranbrook, people came to see it by the thousands! The Friday evening market was packed with excited kids, eager to see the big man in red waving to them at the end of the parade, and the Saturday had people who had scoped things out the night before and were coming back to make their purchases. It was a great time for everyone I think.

We, as market vendors would like to thank everyone who came out and made it such a success and we are already looking forward to next year.

Paul, while I was manning our cupcake booth, managed to make his way around to many of the other vendors. I feel like I got to see a bit of the market through the lens of his camera. After seeing these pictures, I’m almost glad that I was stuck behind the table as I surely would have put a serious dent in my wallet!

First Birthday! – Owl Birthday Cake & Giant Cupcake

December 29, 2011 by Jenn

Last December, my good friend had her first baby . . . and named her London. This baby and I were meant to be friends . . . since she was named after one of my favourite cities! Despite the fact that she spit up all over my new LuLuLemon jacket during one of our first meetings, the love has stayed strong . . . albeit from a distance. I would love to be able to spend time with this little sweetheart.

She is the cutest, and most well behaved baby ever! During her grand first birthday party, she was pretty much the only child under the age of two who wasn’t crying, yelling, or snotting! I <3 her. Other babies . . . not so much!

Now, a year has gone by and she is a one year old!

To celebrate, we provided the sweet treats! I felt a lot of pressure providing the birthday cakes for such a sweet, amazing little girl, but I came through . . . with A LOT of cake, right Janine??

Owl Birthday Cake

The Owl Birthday Cake was for the family after the party.

My Top 5 Christmas Cookies 2011

December 27, 2011 by Jenn

This year, there was no Christmas Cookie Exchange for my friends and I (well, they might have had one, who knows!? . . . I wasn’t part of it if they did). G and I decided that it just wasn’t going to fit into the jam packed season . . . disappointing, yes, as I love to hang out with the girls and sip on bevies, but I had bigger plans.

This year, I baked the equivalency of an entire exchange all by myself.

Why would someone do this? Just to see if I could! I had christmas platter orders to fill and I thought that choosing cookies that I would like to receive would be the ones that would be best to give! After two days straight baking cookie after cookie, I was exhausted, but so happy with the results.

In my humble opinion . . . these are the favourite cookies that have been from the plate to my mouth in a while. My criteria for defining these cookies as my creme de le creme?

They must be:

A. Delicious. If you’re going to eat the calories, it better be worth it!

and B. Simple! I didn’t want to have to spend hours upon hours messing with dough and multiple steps!

So here they are . . . enjoy!

1. Sugar Cookies

These cookies are my all time favourite to have during the holidays!

I make mine with Almond Extract, as well as Vanilla Extract, and it totally makes the cookie the greatness that it is!

Fortunate Friday- 2011 Hiking Recap

December 24, 2011 by Jenn

I am very fortunate to be able to spend the holidays with (most of) my family, Paul, and Paul’s mom. It is one of my favourite seasons and I can’t wait for the fesitivities to begin tonight. The baking is done . . . all 300 lbs of cookies, bars and treats! The decorations are up, and the presents are wrapped.

This year, with Paul and I in our new home, we are having to juggle each other’s families and traditions . . . and attempt to build our own. Also, I am having to learn to work around someone who is less than enthusiastic about the Christmas season . . . I know that all I have to do is give him a video game, and he will have a great day . . . other than that, it’s best to leave him alone.

The first year that Paul and I were together, he willingly went to the grocery store and loaded a cultured, perfectly shaped tree into the back of his truck. Little did I know that that was the last time that would happen! The next year we went out and cut down one from the bush. We also happened to find the largest, perfectly coiffed tree for my parents. We got a small one for Paul’s mom too, but it was NOT liked by her . . . so we took it to my Grandma’s. This year, we continued our only existing tradition in heading out into the bush and cutting down a real bush tree. It’s up in all of it’s Charlie Brown splendour, in our first home, and it is as perfect as I could ever want.

As 2011 is coming to an end, one of the things I have been most fortunate for is all of the many outdoor adventures that we were able to go on, despite being busier than I have ever been in my life! Hunting for Christmas trees is one adventure that I love, but it doesn’t really get the heart rate up . . . hiking does!

We made a couple of videos to go with our East Kootenay adventures in hiking, so enjoy as you check out some of the amazing secenry that I am fortunate to live surrounded by!

Hiking Kimberley Nature Park

Kimberley is a community that is famous for it’s winter time sports of skiing, but as we discovered for the first time, it also has some beautiful trails through their nature park. We were out on an early fall day and basically had the woods to ourselves! We encountered a couple of bikers, and noted that next time, we would definitely bring our bikes back to ride the trails. They made for decent walking trails, but weren’t much for actually hiking.

Gingerbread Houses

December 21, 2011 by Jenn

Every year in Kindergarten we make Gingerbread houses. This is the first year ever, where I have stopped to think about WHY we make Gingerbread houses? Seriously, what is the purpose of a Gingerbread house, and why does it tie in with the holiday season? Is it the Gingerbread Man’s fault? Is it Hanzel and Gretel’s? How does it tie in with Santa, and if you’re one of those religious types, how does it fit in with the birth of a baby in Bethlehem?

Upon a serious search of Wikipedia-Gingerbread, I’m really no better off. My understanding is mostly that it is a European tradition, based loosely on the Hanzel and Gretel fairy tale (I knew the fantasy of having a house made out of candy would have to have some blame), and that in some places, whole cities get together to build life like structures out of gingerbread! How cool would that be?

So I went searching for pictures to inspire the kids with, and here is a European inspired chalet with real looking snow on the roof! There are many more cool examples over at: socialcafemag.com

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Filed Under: Holiday Baking Tagged With: ginger, gingerbread, gingerbread houses

How to Make a Fondant Snowman for Christmas Cake Decorating Video

December 19, 2011 by Jenn

As a kid, I remember rolling, and rolling and rolling to make the biggest and greatest snowman that I could. My brother, being 3 years younger than me, was either helping me, or trying to beat me. He was slightly competitive!

Often, our attempts were futile, as the pieces of the snowman would get so big that we could never get them off the ground and piled up on top of each other.

Once, back inside, warming up with a mug of hot chocolate, I remember looking out the window and seeing all of the tracks that the rolling snowballs made all over the lawn, and the “dead” snowballs at the end of them. . . the ones that were too heavy to roll any further, or even attempt to lift. They were often quite ugly, tube shaped and covered with brown chunks of grass that had been picked up along the way!

Fortunate Friday-Top 5 Cake Decorating Tools

December 16, 2011 by Jenn

I haven’t done a Fortunate Friday post in quite some time and since I’m fully immersed up to my elbows in the cake world lately, I thought I would make my Fortunate Friday about all of the CAKE DECORATING TOOLS that I find helpful. . . and of course, we can’t forget the cupcakes!

Before I jump into the Cake Decorating Tools that make caking easier, I HAVE to thank Paul for the early Christmas present! You might have noticed the blog got a makeover! Isn’t it pretty!? I love it . . . thanks P! I’m so fortunate to have him <3

5 Cake Decorating Tools

1. Edible Ink Printer– This has been a tool that has come in extremely helpful. It allows the cake decorator to print pretty much ANY image onto edible paper, and place it on top of a cake or even cupcakes!

We currently use a Cannon MP640 to do our edible prints. What’s important to remember is to make sure that you do not ever put non-edible ink into the machine. The first ink that runs through the machine, must be edible ink.

Edible Inks are a specially formulated food coloring mixture for printing onto icing sheets. The colors are matched with regular inks, then modified to hold their coloring better on the icing sheets.

We get our edible ink and edible paper from Icing Images.

We have a step by step guide for you to watch on YouTube as well. Check it out here.