All you need is love. And dessert.
Wow, you guys! I'm writing a blog post. I know...I can hardly believe it myself. And you know what? It's really hard! It's been almost a year since I last posted - not since March 11 of last year. That's crazy. I don't mind admitting that I'm freaking out a little bit. You know what, though? Bakingdom turned seven years old this past Wednesday, and for the first time since arriving home in the States, I felt the urge to bake a cake, *and* to tell you ... read more
Today, the Hubster and I are celebrating 14 happy years of marriage! And we're also celebrating 100 days until we're homeward bound to our family and friends! Living in Europe for the last three years has been such an incredible adventure and education. It has kept me busy, and although it's been an incredibly inspiring time, I haven't always been the best at blogging regularly. Over the last year and a half or so, I've been very leisurely about how ... read more
Merry Christmas Eve! Now that my Harry Potter tree is officially officially done, it's all ready for viewing! Well, it's *mostly* done. Next year, I'm going to be adding a custom tree stand that, if it looks like what I'm imagining - will be amazing! When I decided to create a Harry Potter-inspired tree this year, I was torn between a natural green tree - like those in the Great Hall at Hogwarts - and a glimmering golden tree. As soon as I saw this ... read more
I confess that I have done very little baking this holiday season. I've been far more interested in crafting - particularly Harry Potter crafts for my happy wizarding tree... I crafted almost everything on the tree in one way or another, and I love everything about it - from the glowing cauldrons to the sparkling patronuses to the cuddly Fawkes with his feathery tail wrapping it's way down the tree. Next year, I'm making a really cool custom base to ... read more
One of the Hubster's very favorite candies in the world is toffee. He will never turn down good toffee. When we were at Disney last fall, he used a lot of his snack credits for the English butter toffee that they sell all around the parks. He got so many, we had extra to bring home. Since Veteran's Day was Wednesday, and he hasn't gotten to have any good toffee in a long time, I decided that I'd whip up a batch for my favorite soldier, as a thank you ... read more
Everybody's all, "Let's make Halloween treats!", and I'm over here all, "But The Muppets!" I actually made this cake back in April for the Hubster's birthday, and it turned out so fun, and was so easy, I decided to share it with you guys. :) Not only was Beaker easy to make, and fast, too, he's made of 100% delicious cake and fluffy buttercream. After stacking four layers of cake (Beaker is so tall and thin, after all), I filled and covered ... read more
Hi friends! I bet you thought I was never coming back, huh? I'm sorry. I know I just up and disappeared without a word. It was pretty rude of me. I really am sorry. Also, though, I'm kind of not. It's hard to be too sorry when you sent the summer the way I did the last few months. I have no excuse for not announcing that I'd be taking a hiatus...except that I hadn't planned to take it. I had every intention of spending the summer baking, picture-taking, ... read more
I've been craving lemon cake like a crazy person lately, so I whipped one up the other day. Then, I was all, "Hm... Mother's Day is coming up, I should make something pretty. But easy. Because I'm lazy." And so now, if you need a super yummy, springy cake, that's beautiful and happy, but doesn't take f-o-r-e-v-e-r to make....I gotchoo covered. ;) All you need to make this cake is a small spatula, butter knife, or even a spoon, and a few piping bags ... read more
I know that Guardians of the Galaxy has been out for awhile now, but these cookies have been on my mind for ages, and I finally got motivated and whipped them up. I don't know why I waited do long...they took no time at all to make, and they turned out supah awesome! Okay, so can we just talk about how cute Groot is for a second? Because he is seriously the cutest. Great big, bad ass, big-hearted hero Groot, and bitty little sapling, boogying baby ... read more
I have this obsession with Easter egg hunts. Like, seriously. I LOVE them. I. Love. Them. Every year, I love to hide the eggs for Hubs or the kiddo to find, but my favorite part of the day is when they hide all the eggs for me. And they get super into it, too. They know how much I love hunting for the eggs, so they work together to be sneaky and clever and hide all the eggs in places I might not expect. Except for dark, scary, possibly spider (or ... read more
These are stupid cookies. Stupid pretty. Stupid delicious. Stupid happy. And they make people stupid, too. Good stupid, promise. Cross my heart. Plus, they have a little surprise inside. Hubs took some to work and shared them, and the yummy lemon curd filling was unexpected and everyone was really happy about it. Like, really. I know that this is all super braggy, but sometimes, I just really need to make sure you guys understand just how ... read more
I alway love the last couple of weeks of February and the first couple of weeks of March. My birthday is towards the end of February, and shortly into March, the Hubster and I celebrate our wedding anniversary. And actually, not too much later, in April, it's his birthday! It's just a really happy, celebratory time around our house, and he always takes some time off of work. The last two weeks, we've just been hanging out together, relaxing, cooking and ... read more
So I celebrated my Seventh Annual 29th Birthday last week. That's right, in keeping with the long-standing tradtion of the women in my family, I no longer age. And haven't since I turned 29. Six years ago. It's pretty awesome. I can still remember my grandmother, well into her sixth decade on earth, celebrating her 29th birthday. As much as I enjoyed my first 29th birthday, I'm looking forward to each new one every year. I mean, it's quite an ... read more
I think Valentine's Day gets a bad rap. Everybody calls it an excuse for comercialism, but I disagree. It's an excuse for chocolate. The end. To be clear, there's no waiting around for the Hubster to give me chocolates either. I mean, he's a peach, and he likes to surprise me with pretty flowers and yummy chocolates sometimes, but he usually doesn't need an excuse like Valentine's Day. Toldja...he's a peach. But no...the way I see it, the New Year is ... read more
Living over here in the Netherlands, nestled down south between Germany and Belgium, only a hop, skip, and a jump from France, I have made acquaintance with something marvelous. Literally. If you haven't had the pleasure, let me introduce you, my friends, to Merveilleux (pronounced mare-vay-yoo) - which translates from French to English as 'marvelous'. Or 'wonderful'. Or, if you want to take artistic license, 'heavenly'. I like to call them marvelous, ... read more
