Disney Christmas

Christmas is getting so close and what would Christmas be without a trip to Disneyland? Yesterday my mom, grandma, Chris and I headed down to the happiest place on earth and had a wonderful time.  Be sure to check out all our pictures!

Disney December 2009 Pictures

Chocolate Crinkles

Another batch of cookies, another forgotten photograph. Rats! Well the high school group at church has a Christmas Tree lot this year and was in need of cookies. Chris and I made 6 dozen cookies to help with the donations. We needed something quick and simple. Solution: papa g's chocolate crinkles. Here is the recipe for just one batch (we made a double)
One devils food box cake mix
1/3 cup oil
2 eggs
Mix ingredients together then use a mini icecream scoop to form into teaspoon size balls. Roll in powdered sugar then bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes
Simple and quick! Ooo and yummy too!

Happy Birthday Scott and Rosie!

Somehow in hustle and bustle of the holidays, I got backed up in my baking.  Scott and Rosie at the theater both had birthdays within the last month so I made one giant cake for both of them! It was just a basic 3 layer white cake but the frosting was the real treat.  Butterfinger Icing!
2 sticks of butter
6 cups powdered sugar
4 tablespoons milk
4 teaspoons vanilla
1 package of fun size butterfinger bars (set 6 aside for the topping)
Cream the butter in a mixer then gradually add in the powdered sugar. Once fully combined add milk and vanilla.  Crush all but 6 butterfinger bars and gently fold into frosting. Frost as normal.  I let the cake set up then melted down a cup of semi sweet chocolate chips and drizzled it over the top of the cake then crushed up the other 6 butterfingers and sprinkled them on top.  It was really pretty and tasted great!

So I still haven't posted the recipies from the chocolate pie and pumpkin bars.  I'll get to it, I promise!

Wish List

Everyone is asking me what I want for Christmas.  The answer is, I don't know! On the left side of the page I've created a wishlist link you can click on that takes you to a list of things I could think of.  I'll add more things as I get ideas! Good luck

Thanksgiving

I'm not sure how the holiday passed by and I didn't manage to snap a single picture of a dessert I made. I'm a foodie blog failure.  Chris and I did make some tasty deserts though, I'll post the recipies in the next few days.  Chocolate Satin Pie and Pumpkin Spice Crumbly Bars coming soon!

Olde Port Inn

I'm always in search of the meal so spectacular that I want to lick my plate. Well last night was one of those meals. Chris and I are over at the central coast with our friends Mike and Jen. Since I seem to pratically be a native of the area chosing restaurants and deciding what to do always tends to fall into my life. I was over joyed when Chris made the suggestion to drive out on the pier and go to the Olde Port Inn. (his training is nearly complete I've realized) Mike and Jen didn't even know the pier existed and so it was a great treat to try a new and unique place. Enough exposition, our meal was FANTASTIC. None of us were overly starving so we chose to split an entre then splurge at dessert. Chris and I chose the scallop and prawn combination. We started our with a nice Caesar salad (quick note: dear fancy expensive restaurant, don't give me a salad on a hot plate EVER again. This is my only complaint about my dining experience with you. Now get your act together next time). Next we enjoyed lovely sourdough rolls. Then came the main corse which they had kindly split onto 2 plates (at no charge). Thank goodness we split because it was sooo much food. 3 beautifully cooked scallops and 2 well spiced prawns on each plate with drawn butter, scalloped potatoes with bacon and a delcious Rosemary cream sauce (I can officially say they were the best potatoes I've ever had, and perfectly cooked veggies including purple cauliflower, what I think was a parsnip (is that like a yellow carrot?) and squash. I inhalled my meal it was so good, never stopping to breath. After our main course none of us were stuffed, just right for dessert. So what do we do? Everyone ordered a different dessert and we put them in the middle of the table and made the ultimate dessert buffet.


From left to right. Butterfinger pie, chocolate mouse, peach cobbler a la mode, and toffee cheescake. If anyone has a recipie out there for a great toffee cheesecake send it my way because I think this is one of the best restaurant desserts I've ever had. Overall it was a wonderful evening. If you've never been to the Olde Port Inn before do yourself a favor and go. Make sure to ask for the right table because if you're lucky you can get one where you can see through to under the pier and watch seals play around while you eat. Great friends, great food, great night.

New Car

Yes it's true. I bought myself a new car on Wednesday. It is a 2009 Saturn Vue XR v6. Black exterior. Gray cloth interior. XM radio, onstar, Bluetooth for my cell phone. The works! I'm thrilled!











It's going to look great with my "MNYMOUS" plates once they arrive!

Comments

A few of you have asked me how to post comments on my blog, well it turns out I've had my blog set up so you can only post comments if you have a blog too, well I fixed that.  Here's what you do!
Below each post there is 
POSTED BY SHAY AT 10:48 AM 0 COMMENTS
well if you cilck the word comments it will take you to a comment box where you can comment on the blog.   After you have written whatever you want go to the drop down menu just below the box where it says "select profile" scroll down to anonymous then hit post comment. Since you don't have a blog and will be writing anonymously make sure you include in your message who you are.  I may be able to tell from context clues but it will be much easier if you just sign your name at the bottom :) good luck.  Do me a favor and do a test and comment on this blog to see if you get it! Email me if you can't do it.

Veteran's Day Parade

On Wednesday a few of us from the Melodrama and about 80 little girls in tutu's from the dance studio all headed downtown to be in the Veteran's Day Parade.  With a pink tractor and all we proudly won first place in the Youth Float category! Click the link below for more pictures.
Veteran's Day Parade

Old-fashion soft pumpkin cookies

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
1 cup LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Glaze (recipe follows)
conversion calculator
Directions
PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Grease baking sheets.

COMBINE flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in medium bowl. Beat sugar and butter in large mixer bowl until well blended. Beat in pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract until smooth. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets.

BAKE for 15 to 18 minutes or until edges are firm. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Drizzle Glaze over cookies.

FOR GLAZE:
COMBINE 2 cups sifted powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract in small bowl until smooth.

I made these cookies last fall and they were such a hit I made them again this year. The batter is very runny so be sure not to place the scoops too close together. They turn out very cake-ey and moist. I substitute a spiced rum for the vanilla in the glaze! Yummy!

Spooktacular Cupcakes

When I first bought my Martha Stewart cupcake cookbook I couldn't wait for an appropriate time to make these monster cupcakes! Chris and I made a trip to the bulk section of WinCo and went to town on creating these little beauties!





We had so much fun and were on quite a sugar high from eating the candy as we were decorating. Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

Happy Birthday Mimi

To celebrate my grandma's birthday we headed off to Disneyland with my mom and cousin Taylor. Everything was all decorated for Halloween.


The entrance gate to Disneyland


The Nightmare Before Christmas Haunted Mansion


Mimi and her only granddaughters at California Adventure


On the Twilightzone Tower of Terror


On Disneyland,CA's first year of Ghost Galaxy Space Mountain

It was a great trip! Can't wait for next year.

Live from Disney's California Adventure

The paradise pier bay is filling up!

Snow White Decal

A few months ago searching around online Chris found a snow white decal for the MacBook (my laptop) of snow white holding the mac apple. After a lot of hunting and waiting it is finally mine! Here's the back of the screen to my laptop!

Chocolate Covered Macaroons

This is a great and simple recipie for Chocolate Covered Macaroons
Ingredients:
1 (14 ounce) package BAKER'S ANGEL FLAKE Coconut
2/3 cup sugar
6 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 egg whites
1 teaspoon almond extract
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour baking sheets (I just used parchment paper and they turned out perfect); set aside. Mix coconut, sugar, flour and salt in large bowl. Stir in egg whites and almond extract until well blended.
Drop coconut mixture into 36 mounds, 2 inches apart, on prepared baking sheets, using about 1 tablespoonful of the coconut mixture for each mound.
Bake 20 min. or until edges are golden brown. Immediately remove from baking sheets to wire racks. Cool completely. Dip in melted chocolate and drizzle chocolate over the top. Cool in refrigerator until set.
Yield: 36 servings

iPhone updating

Look out blog followers, I can now post from my phone! Even pictures. Be excited.

Halloween Cookies

A gal in our office brought around a holiday order form and conned me into buying sugar cookie dough. Using my new cookie cutters and some simple powdered sugar, milk, vanilla icing and a load of food coloring, here is the results!

Disney Tips

People often ask me to give them tips for their upcoming Disney trips.  Not long ago I took the time to actually type some out that came to the top of my mind.  I certainly have plenty more but this is just a quick list I came up with! Hope you find this helpful.

Disney Tips:


• Buy your tickets in advance! Kern School Credit Union gives HUGE discounts. If you aren't a member of Kern School still buy your tickets online at disneyland.com. It saves lots of time not having to wait in the ticket lines.

• Take advantage of Fast Passes, several of the bigger attractions have “fast passes.” There are kiosks near major ride entrance where you swipe your ride ticket and it dispenses a fast pass. On the pass it gives you a time from of when you can come back for example 10am-11am to cut a large portion of the line to get on the ride more quickly. Here is a well kept secret: you can use the fast pass any time after the first number (10 am in the example) Though they tell you to return within the hour listed you they will gladly accept the fast pass any time after the first number. Use this to your advantage! On the ticket it tells you the next time you can get a fast pass, keep that number in mind through out the day so you can collect several and use them whenever you would like.

• If you purchased a park hopper ticket, which you should, I recommend going to Disneyland first thing in the morning then going over to California Adventure in the mid afternoon. Disneyland is busiest from around 1-5 so take that time to go enjoy California Adventure.

• Once you are in Disneyland I always tend to go towards Adventure Land first, my normal route is: Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Winnie the Pooh, then Splash Mountain then I head back down the hill. Take advantage of the maps they provide and don't be afraid to ask a Cast Member where you're going. They'll probably teach you something you'll be excited to know. My next stop is usually Thunder Mountain then I do all of Fantasy Land. That's around the time I head over to California Adventure. When I get back I head towards Tomorrow Land

• In California Adventure be sure to stop by the animation studio, its in the Hollywood Back lot and they teach you to draw a Disney character, it's a lot of fun, even if you can't draw like me.

• Also in CA Adventure don't miss out on the bread factory tour and tortilla factory tour, they give free samples (If its your birthday make sure you get a birthday button from customer service or most any gift shop) At the tortilla factory you get a free bag of tortillas for your birthday. Both tours are located on the wharf right across from one another.

• In CA Ad. Get a fast pass for Soaring over California as soon as you get into the park, its off to the right after you go through the main entrance. This ride is always busy and a fast pass really cuts down on the wait.

• I've found that if you're ready for food head out of the park and into downtown Disney, the food is typically better, cheaper, and you can sit down and a table and relax a little without all the commotion. My favorites are the Rainforest Cafe and the Jazz Kitchen (try the begniets)

• As far as snacks in the park if you like things a little spicy my very favorite is the jalapeno cream cheese pretzel, they are the best! Disney also has tons of homemade sweets made on the property, try the caramel apples or the raspberry chocolate chunk cookie is my personal favorite. Another fun treat is the Dole Whip Floats located in Adventure Land.

• When waiting in lines for anything, if you have a choice it seems the line towards the left moves faster. I've tested it several times and never been let down.

• If you plan on shopping I'd look around but wait until the end of the day to buy anything. Take bags on and off the rides is too much work and too easy to forget things. On your way back to the car there is a giant Disney store that has 95% of the same merchandise as the stores in the park, this is a great place to do one stop shopping on the way out.

• Take lots of pictures, though the Disney workers try to bombard you with their expensive photos if you ask any of them will take a picture for you on your own camera so you can capture the memory for free instead of paying $17 a print (I may be exaggerating, but not much)

Black and White

Currently at the Gaslight Melodrama we are playing "The Skylight Zone" all done in glorious black and white! For more info visit www.themelodrama.com
The same weekend the show opened Coryn (on the far left hehe) celebrated her 25th birthday!

So in keeping with the theme of things, I made her cake in black and white. Just some black food coloring and some adorable candles turned into a very cute cake!

Happy Birthday Coryn!!

Break Dancing Mickey

My mom stumbled across this on the Disney parks' blog, too cute!

Disney on Ice: Princess Classic

So for my birthday a few weeks ago Christopher surprised me with tickets to see Princesses on Ice.  If you know me you also know that is beyond the perfect gift for me.  I've been counting down the minutes and yesterday was finally the day! He got us 3rd row seats that were just AMAZING. The show was spectacular.  The set was incredible.  There was one large castle with a big screen around it that would open and close.  For each princess the screen would close and open back up to reveal their exact castle each time.  The costumes were particularly great, Disney always has the best costumes but these were even a step above.  The ice skaters were all fantastic.  I even got a Cinderella snow cone and got to keep the adorable little cup it came in.  Don't be fooled all the workers and merchandise were authentic Disney, so nothing was cheap, but oh so worth it.  It was the birthday gift of a life time, thank you so much Chris! My camera wasn't very cooperative with the lighting of the show but I did capture a few great photos click below to see them!

Disney on Ice

You will also be happy to know the Flip! is making his come back tour.  Act 2 of the show was completely the story of Cinderella (MY FAVORITE) As soon as the video is done uploading to YouTube it will be posted right here, so check back!

Disney Blog

If you haven't heard the news yet, the Disney company has started copying me and they now have a blog too! For years there have been cast members that have leaked information through their own blogs but never before has Disney owned and operated their own blog. This is so exciting. I have a link to it on the left side of my page. To be specific however, its only for Disney parks, its not the entire Disney company in general though I have my fingers crossed that will exist one day. I encourage you to check their page regularly, they are doing so many exciting things! On a food note, Kern County Fair round two tonight GOAL: Deep Fried Cheese Curds with the ranch for dippin'. !

Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes

First of all don't take this picture seriously. I forgot to take a real picture of these cupcakes before they were devoured. This is one I snapped on my phone of the cupcakes setting up in the fridge and sent to Chris to make him hungry. Now it seems like I'm always saying this, but these are so easy! Talk about basic, I took a yellow cake mix and dumped about 3 tablespoons of cinnamon into the batter. I put them into these giant cupcake liners my grandma got me for my birthday (seriously they were huge) and baked them just as the box tells you to. I then took my favorite vanilla frosting (you can find the recipe in my post for the baby shower cupcakes) and again just threw in a few tablespoons of cinnamon. You can't mess this up! Once the giant cupcakes were cool I frosted them in a cute swirly pattern then sprinkled cinnamon sugar on top to make them a little fancier. They were soooo good! Just a little twist on a basic cupcake. You have to try this! One side note about the frosting, since there is so much butter keep them in the fridge and pull them out about 10 minutes before serving, the frosting gets hard as a rock but comes to room temp. really quickly!

The Great Kern County Fair

That's right y'all. The Great Kern County Fair is in town! Yesterday Chris, my mom and I headed out to the fair and indulged in good times, good food, and good music. We started out by watching our friend Scott play his own music and a small venue. Great job Scotty! Then the eating began. I had a tamale, Chris had a chili verde burrito. Mom and Chris had icky nasty beers and I had a Mike's lemonade, yum! We stopped by the melodrama booth then went searching for the animals. Apparently animals don't have to show up to opening day of the fair. We saw like 10 cows, and 6 pigs, and a few goats and sheep. Such a rip off! Next up was the first round of dessert: funnel cake and a cinnamon roll with cream cheese. Delicious. Up next was the Phil Vassar concert. For those of you who know me, I've seen Phil Vassar 6 times now and he is simply amazing!

We ended the night with Gelato. Chris and I both had Champagne Lemon, soooooooo good! The scoops were gigantic. Mom had pomegranate gelato in a tasty waffle cone! Oh how we love the fair!

Baby Shower Cupcakes

One of the little gals that works in our office, Catie Choate, is due with her first baby girl the beginning of October. Yesterday the ladies at the office all got together and threw her a baby shower. My responsibility was of course, cupcakes. Don't tell but since I was making cupcakes for so many people, I used a box cake mix. I used the egg white recipe and threw in multi colored sprinkles into the mix to make my version of funfetti. The real treat was my vanilla frosting.
Ingredients: 2 sticks of butter, 8 cups of powdered sugar, 4 tbs. milk, 4 tsp. vanilla
Directions: Beat softened butter, gradually add in powdered sugar, add in milk and vanilla. I also added pink food coloring.
I used a large circle tip to pipe the frosting then dipped the edges in sprinkles.
So easy! Thanks to my mom and Chris for helping me whip up these cupcakes so fast.

Birthday Photos

Some of these have already been posted in my blog but here is my birthday photo album, I will be adding the pictures from my party tomorrow to this same album so be sure to check back!

21st Birthday Photo Album

Disney Magic

Apparently everyone who knows me has taken the clue that I love all things Disney. Christopher surprised me with tickets to see Disney Princesses On Ice! We have 3rd row floor seats on Saturday October 3rd. I'm so excited, it was such a great surprise. He knows me too well :) My parents got me customized license plates, mom's ordering them today it will either say "MNYMOUS" or "MNYMOWS" depending on which is available. If you can't tell, it says Minnie Mouse. They also ordered me a personalized brick that will be in the main plaza between the entrances to Disneyland and California adventure. I also get a replica to keep myself. Finally their big surprise was a gigantic Mickey Mouse Jim Shore Figure. It's simply amazing! If you haven't seen any of Jim Shore's work google him, its fantastic. Christopher's mom got me an adorable Charming Tale's mouse that is wearing a wizard coat and looks just like Mickey Mouse in Fantasia. I was so spoiled this year! Deba got me a GORGEOUS pearl pendant with a sparkling diamond. It's breathtaking! She also got me the princess wine glass I've been asking for. I got a very cute jewelry tray from Chris' grandparents. Their niece hand paints ceramics and made this one. She's made pieces for tons of celebrities so I feel pretty special to have a piece of her work. My actual birthday party is on Wednesday so I'll send out another update of what else I get. You people are all WAYYYY too generous. A million thanks so everyone who is making this birthday so special and unforgettable.

Now then, onto one of the most exciting days of my life, CLUB 33 DAY. Yesterday, the day after my birthday, Chris and I went on a special trip to Disneyland to visit Walt Disney's private Club 33. We started off with appetizers of various cheeses, salmon with cream cheese and red onion, crab, lobster, and shrimp, caprese, grilled veggies, and tasty homemade breads. We both chose the same main course Chateaubriand (rare) served with a Maui tempura onion, smashed potatoes, green beans, and a red wine reduction sauce. I wanted to lick the plate. One of the best meals I've had in a very long time. Now for the real amazing part....DESSERT.







Club 33's signature Birthday treat is a GIANT chocolate truffle with an edible white chocolate Mickey face with Club 33 logo chocolate ears. It was so rich and delicious.


They also feature a dessert bar where there are countless miniature sized treats. Here I have a chocolate dipped macaroon, a chocolate tiramisu cup, a cappuccino mouse topped cookie, a lemon curd filled cream puff , and a beautiful white chocolate, milk chocolate curl. Chris had other desserts but we were too dumb to take a picture of his.










Here we are standing outside the secret entrance to Club 33
Ending our evening at the Uva Circle Bar in downtown Disney.


Such a wonderful Day, thanks Chris for everything!

Um... don't you want to see my ID?

So on my actual birthday, Sunday, Kimberly took me to BJ's where I could legally order my first alcoholic beverage. Disregard all the drinks I ordered on the cruise hehe (I'm such a rebel). Anywhoo, we met at BJ's where Kim gave me an adorable cupcake necklace and a bottle of Malibu Rum. Our waitress was a little wacky to say the least. I ordered my Raspberry Lemon Drop with my ID in hand and the lady doesn't even ask to see it. She moves on the take Kim's order and midway through I stopped her and demanded she looked at my ID. I would not allow her negligence to take away from my proud moment. Take that BJ's lady! My drink didn't even look like the picture in the menu, there was no cute little lemon curl coming off my glass. Oh well, the Chocolate Ghiradeli Pizzokie made up for it! Thanks so much Kim!

Rosemary's Creamery

Hello my faithful blog readers, I have lots of posts to catch up on! Last Wednesday (the 9th) The Melodrama had a charity bowling day at Westchester bowl. Afterwards, Chris and I had Fish & Chips with Mike Jen and Jack then we all headed over to Rosemary's creamery for some ice cream.

I had "The Peanut Butter Lover." It was a warm giant peanut butter cookie topped with chocolate peanut butter ice cream, chocolate fudge, whip cream and a cherry. So delicious, I couldn't get anywhere near to finishing it!

Christopher had a chocolate peanut butter icecream banana split, since I hate bananas I didn't try it but I'm sure for you banana freaks it was great. We had a fun time watching Jack get covered in his chocolate ice cream that he proudly ordered himself. Jack is almost 3 for those of you who don't know him.

Fun day with great friends and great food!

Birthday Cheesecake cups

As a special request I made sweets for Christopher's Grandpa's birthday this weekend. It was a last minute thing so I had to think of something quick and easy. I went back to a recipie I claimed I would keep on hand, my cookies and cream cheesecake cups. To add a little flair to them this time I topped them with a white chocolate covered oreo with chocolate sprinkles. I also used Happy Birthday candles to make them extra cute. They were tasty as always, the perfect quick treat!

Cruise Photos

I'm pretty sure I have them all uploaded now so click the link to see all the pictures from our wonderful cruise!

Cruise Photos

Carnival Paradise

We are back and had an amazing amazing vacation. I'll take the time to tell all the details but until I get the chance here are some pictures. I'll be getting more from Kim and Jon's camera too so I'll post them as I get them! Check them out!
Cruise Photos

Sail Away

Tomorrow morning we head off to Long Beach to board the Carnival Paradise until Friday. The life of luxury awaits, not to mention more food than I've ever seen in my entire life! I'm so excited. I've been packed for nearly a week. Midnight dessert buffets have been dancing around in my dreams for a month. The song Food Glorious Food from Oliver has been playing in my head since they day I booked the cruise. They even have an onboard sushi bar. I don't know how they can pack so much amazing into one boat, but from what I heard...THEY DO! After church and work this morning I'm off to Deba's house to trade her cars. Between Kim and I who over pack and Chris and Jon who pack like girls, there was no way we could fit all our luggage into any of our little cars. So Deba is letting us take her SUV, better find her something special on the trip as a thank you gift! We'll all pack up and hit the road around 9 am. We board between 12 and 4.
The earlier we get on board the sooner we can start eating!
I didn't do any baking this weekend, been too busy sitting in my office waiting for the phone to ring. And the rest of the time I've been adding more things to my suitcase that I know I don't need. So, no new photos of yummy treats. HOWEVER, I did do a photoshoot with Christopher's cats yesterday. He only has pictures of them taken with his phone and they aren't very good quality. The kitties now have qualities photos to be proudly displayed!

This is Harley, he's my favorite. It's no secret.



This is Vespa; she is rotten!