My cookies

I am not good in the kitchen.

There I said it.

I have dreams of becoming the next great chef and A. can attest that I watch enough Food Network to have earned the right to be at least an okay chef. But, it just never works out for me.

Exhibit A: Any of my husband's birthday cakes.

Exhibit B: Any of the gingerbread projects for assorted holidays.


But this weekend, I had a break through.

I spent TWO WHOLE HOURS making these gems...



TWO HOURS - I should get an award alone for dedicated that amount of time to something other than reading or wasting time online.

When I was coming home this week from a business trip, I scammed this month's People magazine Country double issue (btw, I may start volunteering at the local airport to clean planes. I was like a kid in a candy store with all of the left behind magazines. I'm pretty sure I have every periodical published for the month of February.) The magazine had knock off recipes for Girl Scout cookies. Knowing how much A. loves the samoas, I decided to whip up a batch for Valentine's Day.

I'm not a fan of coconut and I'm not sure A. actually enjoyed them. I kept hearing comments like "Wow, they are really rich" and "do you think you made them too big", but whatever, they looked amazing.

baby steps.

Happy Birthday Daddy

Two things I am completely passionate about:

1. Magazines - retailers make a killing off of me at the check out counter.
2. Making the cake for each family member's birthday.

When those two passions collide, it's usually a hot mess.

This week was A's birthday and in our traditional fashion, the kids and I set out to bake yet another masterpiece. I saw it on the cover of a magazine and just knew it was the perfect choice for this year. It was similar to this...


Four hours, a couple of "accidentally forgot" key ingredients, an emergency icing run later - this is what we ended up with...


O, well - it's the thought that counts and the kids had a blast!

Happy Birthday Daddy!