That's our Boy!

Baxter on Christmas day, he really enjoys his toys to the fullest. The gopher got away this time, but he'll be back and Baxter will be waiting.

Gifts

We opened our gifts while we waited for our cinnamon rolls, we all got some great presents this year. Baxter also got a new AKC plush toy, a deer, and we got him an antler to chew on. He loved both and made quick work of the deer! Good thing I can sew! He then noticed a gopher pushing up dirt on our lawn and tried to dig him out. He didn't catch him, but had a great time trying.

Christmas!

Our first Christmas morning together as husband and wife was very special. I have never woken up in SYV on Christmas as I am always down south with family. So we had a great morning just us and our dog, we put the cinnamon rolls in the oven early and as they baked and filled the house with the best smell, we opened presents together.

Christmas Eve

For our first Christmas Eve dinner we made a prime rib roast, roasted garlic, and horseradish sauce with mashed potatoes and gravy, asparagus, carrots and peas, and my mom brought a salad. We were joined by my brother and my parents. It was a full day of cooking, (I was in my element) I also made the yeast cinnamon rolls that day for Christmas morning. Baxter was very excited for the roast, he thought it was for him. It was a great feast, and we all opened presents with my family.

Whistler

Hi everyone, this is our first blog. I don't know how often we will be posting, but I really wanted to share our videos and photos from the honeymoon.
We had a great time. The first day we were there we spent a few hours up in the valley between Blackcomb and Whistler mountains Zip-lining from huge tree to tree. It was a blast, we zipped on over 1100 ft long lines and were about 300 ft above the ground.
There was a lack of snow on the mountain, but Rory still spent 2 days up on the mountain trying out the new board. Which he is glad to report is pretty much awesome. He said it turns great and is super light and flexible. I did not ski or snowboard, but did venture on up the mountain to check things out. Rory said the conditions were pretty crumby for a beginner and the 3 runs that were open were kind of hairy, and I would have been pretty freaked by them. We plan to go some place local this winter to remedy my lack of snow skills.
The rest of the time up in Whistler we spent walking through the village and doing a bit of shopping. We also had a great time eating all the delicious food in the village. There were some really cool custom food joints and also a ton of gourmet restaurants that served elaborate breakfasts and dinners. I hope you can see the video, and enjoy the pictures.

Craftiness

This is an ever evolving album of my crafts. Hope you enjoy them and if you have any questions feel free to send me an email.

Knitting











Pom pom hat made from organic cotton.


Turquoise wrap bracelet.



Wrap Bracelet multi-colored onyx, unakite and turquoise beads with caramel color leather cord.


Egg wreath


Love wreath


Wood rose wreath


Felted animals and people.













Embroidered linen lavender sachet.


Embroidered linen purse


Yarn bag


business card holder, made with linen and a grosgrain ribbon.

Cake & Other Bake Goods

This is an album of the cakes I've made. I'll continue to add photo's as I bake more!


Carrot Ginger Spice, with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese frosting. Topped with the cutest almond paste carrots.

This is my favorite cake. I love the 3-D effect of a upright ship. Everything but the sails and flag were edible. The Plank, Ladder, Cannons and Sharks were all made of fondant.

The ship was chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, and the ocean water cake was vanilla.

Our Wedding Cake! The cake was made by a friend and local fabulous baker. All the fruits were handmade by Rory and I out of almond paste and hand painted.
The cake it self was to die for. The first tier was a moist coconut butter cake with passion fruit Bavarian cream. The top two tiers were a vanilla butter cake, with lemon curd Bavarian cream filling and fresh blueberries. The whole thing was frosted in Tahitian vanilla bean butter cream.

Over 120 delicious hand formed Almond Paste (Marzipan) fall fruits were made by us and then hand painted with powdered food coloring and liquor. The sugared olive leaves gave the greenery it needed.

Vanilla flavored Butter shortbread cutout cookies with lime and pineapple flavored poured fondant icing and royal icing decor.


Mini & Large Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes.
Guinness chocolate cake, filled with a Jameson Ganache and topped with Baileys Irish Cream Buttercream.




Danish Layer Cupcakes.
Vanilla cupcakes, filled with raspberry preserves and custard. Topped with an almond infused whipped cream topping and a marzipan leaf.




Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting and custom royal icing decorations.





Three layer 1/4 sheet cake covered in homemade marshmallow fondant for a casino themed birthday.

A chocolate cake covered in dark chocolate ganache.

I just love lemon anything, and lemon meringue pie looks so wonderful with 3+ inches of fantastic meringue piled on top!

One of my first large cakes. This was for a green and yellow themed spring bridal shower. The cake was a lemon poppy seed butter cake filled with lemon curd and topped with vanilla butter cream.

My husbands favorite dessert. A delicious butter tart shell lined with white chocolate, filled with vanilla custard and topped with fruit and then glazed.

A tropical version of the classic fruit tart. Filled with coconut custard and topped with tropical fruits, mango, papaya, and kiwi.

Two tiered camping themed cake for a girls camping themed party. The cake was Chocolate on one tier and vanilla on the bottom, all topped with vanilla butter cream.

All the decorations were made from fondant. The little marshmallows are my favorite on their little sticks!

This was done as a request in the theme of her 13th birthday falling on Friday the 13th. She had a Beauty Queen Murder Mystery themed party.

All the decorations were made of fondant. The "salt" was sugar.

Fondant decorations included a wooden ladder, beauty queen bloody crown, a black cat, spilled salt and a broken mirror.

This was a wonderful cake to eat. The very thin 9 layers of cake and 9 layers of filling were to die for. The whole cake was frosted with whipped ganache.

One of my favorites for Christmas. A vanilla sponge cake soaked with a rum syrup, filled with raspberry preserve and chocolate filling. Covered in chocolate ganache and garnished with meringue mushrooms.

This was the practice cake made just for us!

This was made for a dear friend as her bridal shower cake. She received many Tiffany boxes that day, but this one was the yummiest! It was a white butter cake with vanilla butter cream and raspberry filling. The bow and tag were made of fondant.

Cake purse, too cute to eat, but not really! This was very last minute and it came out great. I just carved the purse shape from a square cake.

This was my combination of a lattice top and crumble apple pie, i got second place in a contest, not bad for my first time entering.

These were served at a friends baby shower. The bees are piped white chocolate that I tinted and let harden on a silpat.

This was a last minute cake I made to the specs for a birthday girl who loves hot pink and boxing.

Baby Shower cupcakes for a pirate theme party. The "Jolly Rogerettes" are hand piped out of white chocolate.





Here is my Coconut Butter cake with Passion Fruit Curd filling and Whipped Cream Passion Fruit Frosting.


I layered the first cake with the passion fruit whipped cream, then a layer of the passion fruit curd, and the final layer with more frosting. I had just enough frosting to cover the whole cake.