ElegantKB

Happy Father's Day, enjoy special cake for Dad

Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there.  I really appreciate my Dad.  And it makes me happy that my girls think that their Dad is special too! My youngest girl had this vision, a special cake for her father.  I think she pulled it off very well with very little help from me, the more experienced baker.  And yum!  It was a taste treat.  Vanilla cake with lemony, cream cheese frosting and strawberries.  She use a little tube of red gel to customize it. Voila!

Free illustration of a Soup Bowl from KB's party invitation!

A simple party idea needed a simple graphic to set the tone. See below for the invitation I designed for the 2009 event.  Each year I host this party with a team of fabulous friends who have a flair for entertaining.   This year the theme was based on a different idea- to do something nice for our community.  So we came up with the Soup Bowl party.  I also invented a quiz game- we asked everyone to put in $10 donation to go towards a good cause. It ended up being a lot of fun and it inspired some heart felt conversations. I'll put up my quiz in a another post in case you want to use it for an event.   I took out my favorite Prismacolor felt pens and made the soup bowl illustration.  I'm attaching the soup bowl graphic art free for you to use- click herefor PDF.  Here's the wording inside the invitation:

Sunday evening, March 22

5:00 to 8:00 PM

hosted by __________

A selection of delicious soups and breads will be served

At ________ house, address

RSVP

Phone number

*****************

Play our "Pay it Forward" Quiz Game

To join the fun bring $10 donation

We will "gift" the donation pot to your favorite charity if you win!

Bring with you:

A spoon and a bowl

Optional- a beverage to share.

And for you foodies... here are menu ideas- we had 3 soups on the stove and we served each person using their personal bowls.  A veggie red pepper and fennel, creamy cream of mushroom, and a hearty white bean, kale and sausage.  Each soup was garnished and special. People came back to try seconds on their own and the whole atmosphere was comfy and yummy.

 

Pineapple Upside Down Cake is a favorite of KB's

After a quiet NY eve and visits with friends and family we got around to making the cake we planned to make on Christmas.  There were a few things this year that just didn't happen.  So much for getting sick in the middle of the season.  KB's plan is to get ahead of things next year.  Well that's the plan anyway. But everyone had a great time and KB's new attitude is a reflection from her wise friend Jenny- If it's not happening in the next 48 hours don't bother about it.

Here's a photo of the lovely sweet pineapple upside down cake.  When my oldest daughter turned 9 she asked for this cake for her party because it's her favorite.  We took it to the party place at a pottery painting studio with the other girls she invited.  When we brought out the cake and sang the other children looked so disappointed.  They actually turned down servings of this cake!  I think they've all been raised on yucky frosted bakery cake and the sight of fresh fruit freaked them out or something.  Anyway if you have ever tasted this cake you will understand how silly that is. We used about 1/2 package C&H brown sugar from Hawaii and a cube of butter to top off the pineapples.

Russian Tea Cookies, KB's family recipe never fails!

These cookies are so delicious probably due to all the butter and sugar.  We made them to sell at the fund-raising fair for Marin School of the Arts Dance Boosters.  We generally make these around the holidays and give them out to our special people.  I've been making these since about first grade and they are so easy that my daughters picked that up too.  Click here for a similar recipe I found on the web. We packaged them up in cello baggies we ordered last year from Sally Foster.  The polka dots are cute and I should have ordered more of them.  I think they are discontinued.  You can taste something like these Russian Tea Cookies at Tom's Cookie shop in the cellar of Macy's Union Square in San Francisco, only he makes them bigger and with some chocolates chunk which we do not add since it's really not needed.  Yum!

Artichoke Bread from Pescadero CA, KB recommends!

When we walked into Norm's Grocery Store the aroma was delicious.  From now on stopping for Artichoke Garlic Herb Bread will be a necessity.  This yummy bread has chunks of tender artichokes along with salty, garlicky herb flavors.  Our timing couldn't have been better- 10 am on a Saturday- the bread was still warm from the oven.  So if you are on highway one between Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz be sure to look for the Pescadero turn off.  Go down to the stop sign and turn left.  You will see the Bakery is part of the grocery store.  They have a web site too- here's a link. We also tried cinnamon rolls and apple turnovers.  Everything we tried was awesome.  Here's a picture of loaf number 2 on my antique cutting board.   And if you like my antique cutting board... I plan to auction a similar one on ebay soon.  Check my items for sale on ebay link on the top-right of my blog.

Organic Breakfast Tea, KB recommends the Mighty Leaf, delicious!

I love both coffee and tea.  But if push came to shove, I'd rather drink tea.  There are more varieties and flavors of tea to explore. Today I tried a special organic breakfast tea.  This tea is especially special because it was part of a barter for a bicycle.  Some people, including my daughters, think this is silly.  How can tea be worth as much as a bicycle?  I remind them that wars have been waged over tea.... and all the tea in China must be worth something!  This is not your ordinary tea after all.  And it's not that easy to find.  Our Whole Foods Market is still under construction so there is really nowhere in town to buy these teabags-- except the Flour Chylde bakery.  So when I found out my daughter's friend's mother works for the tea company I was excited.  Not only did I get to make a new friend, I got to try some of the special blends and treat myself over and over again to new flavors.  Just look at the tea bag in the picture- you can see it's hand-crafted with care.  I'm delighted by this morning's cup of tea.  It's really tasty.  Our favorite blend has to be the Vanilla Bean- these tea bags disappeared from my sampler. Check out the Mighty Leaf site too!

Perfect BBQ Oysters for 4th of July, KB celebrates!

Happy Fourth of July!  This is my favorite time of year, around my birthday.  We celebrate with BBQ oysters using Mark's special technique.  Mmmmm- they are the best.  I hope everyone has a blast this year.

Wine Tasting Party Results- a favorite red wine under $10

And now I have a chance to recap the "blind" wine tasting results from the Girls Night Salut to Summer 2008....What a fun game this turned out to be!  We purchased a 1 oz pour spout at BevMo called the Posi Pour.  This was a great way to measure out the tastes.  Each bottle was labeled by number and disguised in a paper bag.  I let each one breathe a little before bringing it around to our tasters.  We had 8 "cheap" red wines to taste and about a dozen tasters.  Only one wine was from France...all the others were California wines. The comment cards were filled out anonymously.  Even though we live about 20 minutes away from Napa most of us are not wine snobs or sophisticated tasters. We all like to know about an inexpensive wine that we can have whenever and not worry about the cost or it being a special occasion.  So the winner?....It's a California red table wine with a funny name...a blend of reds that is a real crowd pleaser..Folie a Deux Menage a Trois Red '06.  You can find this for about $8.99 at Safeway, Costco and Bevmo. Here are the comments:

This wine tastes like:

• Vanilla, currants
• SUPER
• Nummy, Yummy
• Yum, I want more
• Best so far...Smooth like Ice Cream
• Silky
• Like water- so easy!
• Blackberries
• Sex
• Smooth, a little spice
• Salty lemons in a bed of roses

11 people wanted to drink more of this!

• 8 people said they love it!
• 3 people said they like it a lot!

Here's a picture of the "hidden bottles".

Girls Night -Salut to Summer! KB's Wine Tasting Party

Here's my invitation design for the 2008 annual girl's night event.  I'm sad to say my blog has been hampered by a vicious mal ware attack to my pc. I'm just getting back on track.  I've spent way to much time lately on the phone with tech support...  I'm really ready for some fun!  I am the co-host of this event.  My friend's second career is catering and she is doing all of the food for this party.  My job is creating the theme, invites, and wine tasting cards. I also get to oversee the "blind" wine tasting game.  I picked out 2 white wines for the party.  I'm not a white wine drinker.. but the friendly guy at Trader Joe's made these suggestions:  Geyser Peak Sauvignon Blanc and Chateau St. Jean Chardonnay.  The food is Al Fresco Appetizers with an Italian theme such as an antipasto platter, marinated and grilled items, frittata, eggplant rotini and figgy cheese bruschetta. The bonus is that my friend's husband is also a fabulous mandolin player so we might get some live music too! I will blog later about how the party game went and which was the favorite red wine.  For the invite I used an image from one of my favorite books-- the Dover Old Time Travel Posters and Luggage Labels. 

Bonbons Assortis and Bonbons les Framboises, KB enjoys!

Every since I was a child I've enjoyed these little French candies called Pastillines.  I like to keep them in my handbag from time to time. There are many varieties from the company called La Vie de La Vosgienne.  I found some larger quantities on Amazon.  Here's a link.  But I prefer to purchase them one at a time at the local sweet shop.  I feel more privileged to select one choice flavor at a time.  My all time favorite is the Bonbons les Framboises.  They taste lovely, raspberry, and they are shaped like teeny berries.  I also like the assorted fruits pictured below.  These are little round candies just sweet enough for me. I enjoy the packaging, the pretty artwork and the dainty little tins.  The tins are great for storage too.  I use them to store items such as safety pins, push pins, favorite quotes and fortune cookie sayings.  I hope you taste the bonbons soon.