Lili's First Recital

This Tuesday is Lili's first music recital. It's a big deal! I can still remember my first recital. Of course, I was 15, not 4! Regardless, she has been working so hard for the last month, and it's amazing to see the progress she has made since September, thanks largely to her fantastic teacher!

Here is a video of her playing "The Monkey Song". It's not her best (as soon as the battery died on the camera, she played it flawlessly), but it's still pretty darn good, in my totally non-biased opinion.

Santa, Take 1

We recently attended Ian's EMS Christmas party. It was a little strange, I must admit. First, it was in November (the 30th). Second, it was a balmy 10 degrees that day. Third, the party started at 11am. Yup. I don't know about you, but I am SO ready to party at that hour. Yes, it was a kids party, but still!

Actually, we didn't end up even leaving the house until noon. There was just no way we could get all 3 kids ready to show off (let's be honest) before noon.

The party was ok. I'll admit, I was quite disappointed. The location was terrible (I won't say where we were, but try and guess: I asked Ian if bullet-proof vests would be handed out at the door). The decor was slim to none. There was no Christmas music. Food-wise - boxed cookies, candy canes, and for the main course... Pizza Hut.

Seriously?

For the kids, there was a FANTASTIC face painter (if I'd caught her name, I would have put a nice plug in here for her!), and a bouncy-castle. Oh, and Santa.

I was pretty disappointed. Ian defensively mentioned that the party was planned by a handful of men.

Oh. I see.

I may offer to help out next year.

Anyway - as we were driving home, I got thinking. About all the changes I'd make, how I'd execute them, and what could possibly go wrong. Yup, I pretty much had the spreadsheet done in my head before we got home.

Which made me realize, hey, maybe I should start my own event-planning business? Mount Royal has a diploma in event planning... which I could do, even though I'm confident that I could stumble my way through without it. I wouldn't do corporate events (not to start, anyways), but I could focus on planning kids' parties for busy moms. Retirement parties. Christmas parties!

I would LOVE it.

So, I'm thinking about it. In January I'm taking "Intro to Event Planning" online, and we'll see how I feel after that. This spring, obviously, I have to go back to work, so I'd have to find a way to manage in my spare time. Don't laugh!

Here are some pictures from the party!

Best Chocolate Cake

I've been getting behind in posting... Such a busy season!

As promised, here is the recipe from the amazing cake that I made for Ian's birthday (she says, modestly). I found this recipe written on a scrap of paper in my box of random recipes. I have no idea who wrote it down, where I got it, or where it came from. It's a mystery. I'm glad I went for it. This cake was extraordinarily rich, moist, and is for serious chocolate lovers only. I was suspicious at first because the recipe calls for cocoa powder rather than "real" melted chocolate, but it didn't matter.

In the interest of time, I used just a standard icing recipe (you know, the one that's on the bag of icing sugar). Next time, I plan on being a little more creative with the icing.

Note: This is a 3-layer cake - luckily I had had 3 cake pans, but if you have to, you can bake this one layer at a time.

* 2 cups boiling water
* 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (use a high quality brand)
* 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup butter, softened
* 2 1/4 cups white sugar
* 4 eggs
* 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 3 - 9 inch round cake pans (I grease with shortening, and then cut out a round piece of wax paper and place it in the bottom of the pan. Just don't forget to remove the wax paper before icing... trust me on that one.) In medium bowl, pour boiling water over cocoa, and whisk until smooth. Let mixture cool. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.
-In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at time, then stir in vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the cocoa mixture. Spread batter evenly between the 3 prepared pans.
-Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Allow to cool.
-Frost each cake and layer together (trim top off cakes to keep level)

Here's my finished product:

Save Me

From my laundry. Here's the mountain that awaits folding. And this is only about 1/4 of it.

Ready, Set, GO!

Tomorrow is December 1st. I have to admit, the thought of December being here already sets of little ribbons of panic in me. This is when things in my life have a tendency to get out of control slightly - eating, spending, parenting, baking, etc etc!

So I'm trying to keep some semblance of control here, but I totally feel like time is slipping away from me already! I need to schedule some big blocks of time to just get stuff done. Yeah, I know, with a 6 month old!

Tomorrow, I thought. Tomorrow I can get some major stuff done. Oops, not tomorrow, I volunteered at Lili's school in the afternoon... and I have a doctor's appointment in the morning... and Lili has swimming lessons in the evening.

You see what I mean.

So, if you don't receive your Christmas card from the Swaffield's until January, please be sympathetic! They are on the list... but the list is long!