I'm not quite sure what happened?

I posted this collage with my post about Charlotte's birthday and my crazy Saturday, but I'm not sure what happened. So here it is again.

Happy 1st Birthday Talia!

Mark and Mer wanted to have a party to celebrate Talia's 1st birthday. Once they pinned down a day, I started contemplating their dessert menu. The week before we finalized the details. I wanted enough variety, something seasonal, something chocolate, lots of bright pretty colours and some fruit ;) I had only the evening before and morning of to create the desserts, so I had to be very selective. I prepped the chopped chocolate the thursday before (a little tedious). I should of prepped the caramel apple filling but was too tired. The final menu was Devil's food cupcakes with vanilla frosting topped with Lindt white chocolate hearts (+a 3 layer mini cake version to blow out a candle), Pecan pumpkin whoopie pies with pumpkin cream cheese filling, Chocolate Chunk cookies with Guittard and Hershey chocolate, Cookies with Lindt white chocolate, toffee bits and oatmeal, Caramel apple triangles in Phyllo pastry, and Chocolate Pavlova.
I worked on Friday from 9-5:30. I went to buy Talia's birthday gift on my lunch break. Picked up the photos I had developed after work. Traffic was horrible. It was on the way home that I realized I forgot to borrow the Whoopie pie pans from work...so I called Yorkdale and had 2 put on hold. By the time I got home, had some dinner, tried to explain to my dad that he can't just save numbers on his cell phone, he has to input their matching names too...I started baking around 9pm. Cookies first, then cake and cupcakes, pavlova meringue base. Too much to do, I asked John to peel some apples and wash some dishes. (He declared the peeling part...Fun:) Made the white chocolate hearts to chill in the fridge. Made the caramel apple filling, left to cool. Made the frosting for the cupcakes, did the lighter pink first, then added extra red for the second half. At 4:45am I called it a night after I put all the cupcakes and cookies in containers and meringue under plastic. (Thank goodness John helped with the dishes)
The next morning, I woke up before my alarm at 8:50am. I bolted up, afraid I had overslept. I immediately asked my mom for some help rinsing and cutting the fruit for the pavlova. I started on the apple phyllos triangles. Then the whoopie pies and cream cheese frosting. Lastly the whipped chantilly cream for the pavlova. With my mom's help as dishwasher, I was able to even have a shower before I had to pack up the car to go. The car was so packed up, that I had to ask mom to carry the mini cake on her lap on the way down in my dad's car.
Once at Withrow park, thankfully John Kim (Mark's cousin) helped me unload everything and we set things up in record time. The place was open and airy. They decorated it with huge paper balloons and hundreds of 8x10 photo copies of pictures from Talia's first year.
I was very pleased with the result. I received many complements on the desserts and how pretty everything looked. Even Cat's mom pulled me aside to tell me she "loved" the caramel apple triangles. I packed her up 6-7 to take home (and another bag for Sooky's mom)
The party was lovely, although a little short on time. It seemed like we had just settled in when it was time to pack up and go. When I think about how short a time it took me to make everything on my list...essentially 10 hours, I'm amazed at how well everything turned out. Next time though, I'll save myself some heart palpitations and insist on having the day off the day before.

Following Korean tradition, the birthday child picks items to predict their future. For the record, Talia picked a paint brush, money and the book. Happy birthday Talia...xo Aunt Carol.

My crazy Saturday and Charlotte's 4th Birthday.

Last Saturday, November the 19th was one of the most hectic I've ever had. It started off calmly enough...sleeping in late and lounging around with my family. Then I went to Walmart to buy a birthday gift for Charlotte. It was crazy busy there. It reminded me of Christmas...or I guess just a typical Saturday at Walmart. Because the checkout line was so crazy I was late getting to Mark and Mer's. We planned to go over some plans for Talia's birthday party the following week, menu and planning. I left their place at 5:15 to head to Congee Queen at Don Mills and Lawrence for Charlotte's family birthday dinner. So cute. We ate, hung out for a bit, before I headed out at 7:15pm. I had to meet a group of work friends for dinner at East Side Mario's near Sherway. We were meeting Andy's boyfriend for the first time. Lovely evening. I was still full from chinese, I ordered just a mini pizza and ate half. At 9:30pm, I made my apologies and goodbyes before racing out to meet the gang to watch UFC at Boston Pizza at Warden and Eglinton Ave. They have a minimum $20 charge so I had to order something. I ordered apple crumble and a diet coke. I hoped my friends had eaten enough to cover my shortfall. The fights were incredible. The Henderson-Rua fight was probably one of the best ones I've seen ever. At 11:45pm I left to go home to sleep. My stomach was not so happy with me...but I didn't have time wallow. I had to go to work for 8am...I feel tired just remembering it all.

Car trouble, and missing book club.

Last Saturday night was my bookclub meeting at Maureen's house. After baking a Maple Bread pudding the night before and working all day, I was driving out of the parking lot with Halina when I noticed no response from the car when I was pressing the gas. In fact the rpm's dipped. I stopped the car and restarted and still nothing, then the engine just stopped. Some fellow coworkers Bonnie and Carol were following behind me on their way to Maureen's. They stopped to help me try and figure out what happened. I called Maureen to let her know about our delay and ask if anyone there had any jumper cables. In a few minutes Maureen and Kellea arrived with the cables. We tried to boost the car but it didn't work. Luckily Maureen is a member with CAA. She called a tow truck. We waited in her car, taking and laughing, while the other book club members were all hanging out at Maureen's. The tow truck driver arrived about 30 minutes later. The first question Maureen asked him was "Does she have to go with the car?" Still hoping that I'd be able to go to the bookclub meeting :) I sent the bread pudding with them. He gave me a lift to the garage in front of my house. After hearing my story about the car, he guessed the problem was a broken fuel pump. He was right. Two days and $360 later, I got the car back on Monday afternoon. Absolutely bummed about missing the book club. It's always a great evening with fantastic women. Everyone told me how missed I was...but at least they had the bread pudding. It's damn good bread pudding ;)

Happy 70th birthday and UFC

Nancy and Eunho hosted a 70th birthday celebration for his mom on the 29th. It was a surprise party. So everyone convened at their house at 5pm. Diana and Gerwyn picked up her mom at 6. Everyone was there, even my brother John made an appearance. Diana hired our second cousin John and his wife Lulu, to take pictures of the party. They also took some family photos. My family gave her a Vitamix blender. She seemed genuinely touched. Diana told me she's been using her old blender since 1975. That's how long Diana has been alive.
After dinner, I went up to Newmarket to Ron's place to watch UFC. We had planned on continuing our Halloween tradition of carving pumpkins (Pip had purchased a dozen huge pumpkins), but we never got around to doing any carving.
I never got to test out my new carving kit.:(

White Chocolate and Strawberry Cheesecake

In honour of Sooky, Eunho and Diana's mom's 70th birthday, I made a cheesecake and the WS Vanilla bundt cake. I think it came out beautifully. It was the first time I was arranging the strawberries like this. The resulting effect looked pretty spectacular. Hopefully everyone thought it tasted as good as it looked.

Happy Birthday Meredith!

Lovely Meredith celebrated her 40th birthday this year. Marky, her husband, planned a whole weekend of adventure and celebrations. I thought we should recognize this milestone too. So Sooky, Diana, Hanna, Jenny and I braved torrential rain storms to take Meredith out to Queen Margherita Pizza. We enjoyed a cozy dinner and fun conversation celebrating this fantastic woman. Love you Meredith!

Thanksgiving 2011

A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, I emailed the cousins, asking what we were doing for the holiday this year. After a bunch of emails with no real plans, Sooky decided to have a small gathering with her immediate family. She ordered a $100 Organic Turkey from Rowe farms and asked if I wanted to join them. Then, in typical Lee family fashion, Uncle John called everyone on Friday to let them know they would have it at their place on Sunday. So I made my promised Sausage, Mushroom and Chestnut stuffing, WS vanilla bundt cake, Bourbon Apple Crumble, and Pumpkin dessert squares. Everything was a hit. The kids were sooo cute. I love that picture of Samara and Charlotte on Grandpa John's tummy. The dogs are new Sadie and Cailey. They were just so adorable. All they wanted to do was play and lick. Charlotte and Samara, however, were petrified. A shaking Charlotte was holding onto me for dear life, while Samara burrowed into my side while I reached out to Sadie, to show them how sweet she was. They didn't buy it.:( Good food, fantastic family, it doesn't get any better.

Hanging out with Mer and Talia

One Thursday late in September, I called Meredith to catch up. She was heading out to Metro Hall to meet up with Mark in the park. Apparently they have an outdoor event called Indulge every Thursday in the summer. It has food vendors, live music and a farmers' market and market vendors. It was a beautiful fall afternoon. There were numerous food vendors to choose from. I picked the one with the longest line. I figured, the regulars must know something I didn't. The back bacon sandwich was delicious. We enjoyed the festival type atmosphere and the good food. Talia was such a good baby, so happy. We headed back to the house and had dinner with Samara. She is a natural ham, just like her dad. Obviously the apple didn't fall far from the tree :)

I'm back...and Cottaging with friends

So I'm back! I lost my USB cord for my camera and couldn't download any photos. That shouldn't have stopped from blogging but...I'm a visual person. I need to remember while I blog. So get ready I'll try to catch up...
The gang rented a cottage up at beautiful Port Severin. Unfortunately I wasn't able to go up the entire week, but I did manage a few days. The views, lake and surrounding landscape was spectacular. It was just lovely spending time with my friends, eating amazing food, napping in the afternoon and just relaxing with my kindle. The photo of Sabrina with the Cheetos was the picture I took when she woke me up. Her whispering "Carol" and crunching on Cheetos...so cute.