Storms, Man trip, new friends and cupcakes!

Well, cake class was cancelled this week, boo! We had a BAD storm system pass through, and it was nasty out on Wednesday, so class got pushed back a week.  I was bummed because it felt like forever since the second class, I was looking forward to going to class on Wednesday.  Oh well. 

Eric left on Wednesday on a guys trip to go coyote hunting in Maine.  They flew into Boston, MA and stayed for a night there.  They got to visit the Cheers bar (where everybody knows your name!). On Thursday morning they drove from MA to their destination in Maine.  On the way, they came across this little gem

Moody's Diner in Waldoboro, ME.  He said he got us lots of souvenirs from there, I can't wait to see.  Then then headed up to pick up their friend Jake from the airport, and continued on to the cabin they are staying in for the weekend.  They went out hunting this morning.  I have talked to him a couple of times and he is having a great time. 

I have been holding down the home front here!  It has been crazy with these storms rolling through. Last night I was up ALL night listening to the craziest thunderstorm I have ever heard;  It was literally thundering for 4 hours straight, and there were these SUPER loud booms every so often. Crazy!  Today was the first day we saw the sunshine in 3 days- it was MUCH appreciated.

As many of you know, I have had some trouble adjusting down here.  Louisiana is a huge culture shock for me, I don't know what it is.  Also, I was really bummed because I left all my family and friends in CA, and then left all our family and friends in WV and friends in VA to move down here.  And we came here and there was just no one.  I had been having a hard time getting to know people, and I was having troubles finding people that want to hire someone who is only here a year...I was getting really down.

I started babysitting the sweetest little boy, Noah.  His mom is part of a mommy group on meetup.com, and they plan play dates and such, and she gave me the login in case I ever wanted to take him.  I thought it was a little weird, because I am not a mom, but I was luking for a few weeks checking out the playdates.  I saw one for last friday at the park, and there were only a few people going so I figured I would suck up my nerves and get both Noah and myself out of the house.  I am SO glad I did because I met some amazing girls and their kiddos, Julie, Leigh and Vanessa.

When we were leaving, Vanessa and I exchanged numbers.  Her and her hubby invited Eric and I over for dinner Sunday evening. We went over and grilled out with them and had so much fun! We have already hung out several times since then. Its been amazing to have a friend here, but its so awesome that that friend happens to be someone that is so much like me and who I have clicked with so well.  I am excited that we can be not only someone to hang out with here, but I think we will be lifelong friends no matter where life takes us :o).

Ok and finally, since many of you have been waiting, the Snickerdoodle Cupcake Recipe.  For Wednesday's class I was supposed to bring cupcakes with a filling of my choice.  I wanted to do something unique, and I came across the snickerdoodle cupcakes.  Snickerdoodles are E's favorite, so I knew I had to try it.  I took the easy route and just did vanilla cupcakes with the snicker doodle filling, and they were DELICIOUS just like that, but here is the whole recipe:

Ingredients:

Batter

• 1 1/2 cups butter, room temperature
• 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 5 eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 teaspoon no-color almond extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk

Filling

• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup milk

Icing

• 3 tablespoons Meringue Powder
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup corn syrup
• 1/2 cup water

Instructions:

Step 1

Cupcake Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In mixer bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
4. Mix in vanilla and almond flavor.
5. Mix flour with baking powder and salt.
6. Add flour mixture alternately with milk, starting with the flour.
7. Pour into prepared pans.
8. Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
9. Cool 10 minutes in pan on rack; remove and cool completely before decorating.

Step 2

Filling Directions
1. In large bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, cinnamon and milk.
2. Beat with mixer until well blended.
3. Refrigerate until ready to use.
4. Fill cupcakes. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Step 3

Icing Directions
1. Beat meringue powder and 1/2 cup cold water until stiff, about 4 minutes.
2. In microwave safe bowl stir sugar, corn syrup and 1/2 cup water.
3. In microwave bring syrup mixture to a boil (approx. 5 minutes).
4. Remove, let mixture cool slightly (1-2 minutes).
5. Slowly add syrup to meringue mixture.
6. Beat on HIGH for 4 minutes.

Happy baking yall!

Wilton Course 1-Class 2

After my second class, I am even more sold on this Wilton thing and LOVING it!  The first class was awesome, so much fun and the instructor was so great.  But it was me, another lady, and 4 9 year olds....not exactly what I was hoping for as I was hoping to meet some people!  But it was still fun.  Since Wednesday's are my regular class, I was SO happy to walk into the class to find 6 adult women!  Two girls are about my age, and then there were three other women in there and everyone was SO fun and very into this class like me.  I LOVE it.  It will be awesome to hang out with these ladies for the next several weeks.

We had to bake a cake to bring to class, and bring two batches of icing, one made thin consistency and one medium.  I called my mom (who already took this class) about a million times trying to figure out if my icing was the correct consistency!  I was happy to find out that they were very close to right on, and that all the other girls also had some icing troubles.

I have to rave about the cake I made...at our local grocery store I found a box cake that was butter pecan flavor...we don't have that in CA so I knew I had to try it.  And boy I am glad I did.  While I was baking, it smelled unbelievable in our house- seriously mouth watering! And it tastes even better.

Ok back to the class. Last night we learned how to tort and fill our cake, and then frost our cake. Because we were limited with time, we only did our "crumb" layer and didn't have time to perfect the frosting.  We also learned how to color our icing properly.  And then we did some dimensional decorating on our cake.  Here is the finished product:

Next week we are going to be making lots of flowers, and icing cupcakes!

Wilton Cake Decorating-Course 1 Week 1

As many of you probably already know, I started a cake decorating class through Wilton held at Michaels.  I have been wanting to take these classes with my mom for years, and we never go around to it before we moved.  My mom took the classes last year and loved it.  After getting pretty lonely here and NEEDING something to do to get me out, I decided these classes would be perfect!

I had my first class on Saturday.  Friday I headed over to Michaels to sign up for the class and get the supplies I needed.  I got an apron, some cake decorating icing, and this awesome cake decorating kit!

It has everything I need to get started and for all of the wilton courses.

The first course is called "Decorating Basics."  For Saturday's class, we were instructed to bring 6 plain cookies for decorating practice.  I was seriously SO excited for the first class, and after attending I am even more excited for the next one!

Saturday we learned some tips on baking a great cake, and how to make our own icing and different consistencies of icing we will be using.  Then we learned how to set up our piping bags, and basic piping techniques, including piping stars!  We then had some time to practice piping our stars on our practice boards

and on our cookies.

It was so awesome.  My regular class will be on Wednesdays, so I can't wait til Wednesday!  This week we have to bring a baked cake, and two batches of icing.  We are going to learn how to frost a cake, and then some more piping techniques.  YAY!

Louisiana so far

Well we made it!  We have been living in Southern Louisiana for about 6 weeks now.  So far, of the places I/we have lived, this is not our favorite.  I can't quite explain it, its just very different! It's fun that there are a lot of festivals and stuff, so that's nice.  I don't know what I am going to do when summer rolls around, because I am already complaining about humidity :-/

When we first got down here we stayed with Eric's friend Johnnie for a while. It was a fun time, and it was nice to have someone who was already familiar with the area to help get us acquainted.  But it was definitely nice when we finally got into a house of our own.  We ended up finding a cute little house in the River Ridge area that had a great yard for the doggies.

 So far, its been pretty good.  We're waiting on a few maintenance issues to get fixed which has been frustrating, but that will all resolve soon I hope!

We have been enjoying exploring the area, we love checking out all the different restaurants around our area!  Thanks to Yelp, we have found tons sooo close to us! 

We had a great time at Mardi Gras!!!  We went to a parade, and here I am trying to snap pictures of the floats.  I quickly learned that this isnt like the Rose Parade, there are no time for pictures because you must pay attention or you will get pelted with beads!!  we got SO many beads.  I got very excited about the huge pink ones :)  It was a lot of fun.

Eric is enjoying his job here.  I unfortunately have been having a hard time finding a job!  Most employers see the different locations on my resume and don't want to hire someone that will move in a year :-/  oh well!  I am babysitting a little boy at home for the time being, and we have a good time!  I do wish I could get a job so I could meet some friends....pretty lonely around here!  But, such is the life :) 

I am excited for my mom to come visit in a few weeks!  And we will also be travelling to Houston to see my sister.  Eric is planning a coyote hunting trip in Maine with the guys!  I am excited for him to have that experience and to be able to get away for a fun guys weekend!  I am a little nervous to be here all alone with the doggies haha.  If anyone wishes to visit the 3rd weekend in March ???  haha.

We also have a list of other things we hope to do while we are here and I am excited to start exploring those things.  Probably the one I look forward to the most is a Fan Boat tour to see some swamps and gators!!!  I can't wait.  I will update as we see/do cool new things :)  For now, I think I will make some lunch and then maybe go DRIVE THROUGH to get a daquiri haha :)