The first chapter of the book deals with how to infuse spirits, as well as to make various syrups, bartender mixes, etc – grenadine, sour mix, lime cordial syrup. When shooting the divider shot for that chapter, we infused FIVE LITERS of vodka with various flavors. We made coffee vodka.. strawberry, jalapeno, earl grey with lemon, and more. Not only did it make for a great photo, it left us anticipating the tasty finished products that would come.
This weekend, we made liqueurs from all of our infused vodka, and had some friends over to sample. I’d love to share the recipe for one of the biggest hits – Homemade Kiwi Liqueur. This is a very smooth, drinkable liqueur with great flavor. In addition to the 100+ dessert recipes, kiwi is just one of the many liqueurs you can learn to make from buying The Spirited Baker, due out on August 31. Preorders still available, hint hint!
Back when we were shooting for The Spirited Baker, most of the shots were “bake and eat”. One shot, however, gave us something to look forward to in the future!
 
Photo courtesy M. Porter Photography
Homemade Kiwi Liqueur Recipe
July 28th, 2010Low Country Boil, aka Frogmore Stew
July 17th, 2010Everyone’s heard variations on the saying “The cobbler’s kids go barefoot”, and it’s not all that different around here at times. Sure, we have great meals on a regular basis.. but when things get super busy, we tend to lose all creativity and drive, and slap together one of our go-to meals. Easy, little effort, and very satisfying. In winter, that usually ends up being chili.. but in summer, we love our low country boil.. not a common thing here in Minnesota, but it is SO freaking good! It’s also pretty much the ideal meal for getting together – and would be great for a rehearsal dinner or small, casual wedding dinner.
Pink Grapefruit Daiquiri Cupcakes
July 15th, 2010In honor of the upcoming release of our first cookbook, “The Spirited Baker”, here is one of the recipes from the book! Between the flavor and the color, I think these would be particularly fun for summer bridal showers, bachelorette parties, or just “Girls Night Out”
Grandma’s Potato Salad
July 14th, 2010This recipe was originally posted last summer.. but with recent weather, BBQs, and a wicked craving for it.. figured it’s about time to drag it back to the spotlight!
Lately, I’ve been on a mission to translate my family favorite “recipes” (no, that’s not a misuse of quotation marks!) into actual recipes.
It’s a bigger endevor than it sounds to be – my family writes down recipes like we cook. By that, I mean that “a handful of” or “some” are used as actual units of measurements, or any indication of actual quantity is left out completely. We add an ingredient till things look or taste right, which is fine when you’re comfortable with what you’re doing.. but not so hot for conveying a recipe to my blog readers!
Take, for instance, my grandmother’s potato salad recipe. She makes the most amazing potato salad I’ve ever had, but this is her recipe, in its entirety:
—–
boil red potatoes, cut in 4
Don’t overcook them
Cool them
Put in fridge, cover with italian dressing, let sit overnight
Take them out, add chopped green onion, celery, radishes, eggs (hardboiled and sliced)
Use Hellman’s full fat mayo, don’t use too much
—–
See what I’m dealing with? LOL.
The recipe is far too great to NOT share with the world, so here it is:
W00tstock Awesomeness.
June 9th, 2010I had fully intended to write this blog yesterday, but I was a complete zombie. I’m *mostly* recovered now, so let’s see if I can do this thing justice!
Back in the beginning of March, I received an email from one of my tweeps. She excitedly told me that w00tstock was coming to Minneapolis, and “I don’t know about you, but I think w00tstock would be better with cake!”
Well, I had to agree, so I got a hold of Paul and Storm, the geeked out musical comedians in charge. Offered up some cake, they were interested, mentioned I’d have my husband – a photographer along with me to take pics… they asked if he’d be willing to be the official backstage photographer (Willing? Hell YES he was!)…
and we were on track for an adventure in epic geekery!
The plan was to make a surprise “Tardis” cake for Adam Savage & Wil Wheaton. Hubby would photograph the goings on, while I doled out samples of our caffeinated brownies and blondies (from our line of baking mixes. Cake would be served, geeking out would occur, and it would be an awesome night.
Monday was the day, finally! It had been difficult to not blab the details of the cake design itself, while I had been free to tweet that I would be DOING a cake. Everyone wants to know what it’ll look like, especially when it’s a.) Geeky, and b.) Intended for geek royalty! This blog entry is gonna get long and image-heavy, so click through to read & gawk! Read the rest of this entry »
Far-flung awesomeness of the jewelry variety!
June 4th, 2010So, I’ve sorely neglected the blog. I’m sorry! This has been the craziest few weeks, and it’s just getting crazier. In the next 3 weeks, I need to finish writing/typesetting/editting my cook book, run the commitment ceremonies at Pride, and get everything ready for a big event we’re attending at the end of June – including making crazy costumes. Yeeeow!
Enough about me, my crazy schedule, and excuses for shirking my blog responsibilities. I have something to post about! It’s geeky, wedding related, AND pretty – that’s pretty much the trifecta of awesomeness around these parts, right? Oh, also reasonably priced and FUN – a quintrifecta? I dunno.
Either way, it’s Twitter that’s responsible for the subject matter of this blog. FSM, how I love Twitter! Always hear about the coolest stuff there, probably because I follow – and am followed by – some of the coolest people ever. Love it!
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This is Surly Amy… who is a geektacular artist located in Hollywood, California. You see what she’s about to pack in that gift box? Custom jewelry! Not any of that boring, fairly nondescript beaded jewelry that you see pretty much everywhere these days (which, I admit, can be fun to make… I do it myself from time to time!)… NO! It’s custom sculpted/cut/carved/painted ceramic jewelry! Awesome!
Unique is ALWAYS cool in my books.. but when it’s technically well done, artistic, AND with a nerdy bent? Just awesome. Amy’s business, Surly-ramics, is a purveyor of all of that. |
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Far-flung awesomeness of the PUMPKIN variety!
May 5th, 2010You may remember the subject of today’s blog entry from my Valentine’s Day blog entry. Well, I have a really cool update. Also, I SWEAR I make this wedding related by the end of this entry!
From time to time, I blog about stuff that I find cool. It may be what someone did for their Save the Date, it may be a cool product, or an awesomely talented artist. I don’t get asked for those blog entries, I don’t get paid for them. I just blog it because I find it cool, and – assuming you find *me* interesting enough to read my blog – I figure you’ll find it cool too! “Birds of a Feather” and all… 
Alex, the ridiculously gifted artist behind The Pumpkin Geek is one of those insanely talented people I tend to “meet” on Twitter. I can’t remember how I came to follow him, but once I saw his work, I was an immediate fan! If you haven’t seen what he does, be sure to peruse his site – he carves the most intricate, geeky Jack o’Lanterns ever! They’re all from fake pumpkins, so you can treasure the art indefinitely!
Where I’m usually lucky to receive a “hey, thanks!” email (which I totally appreciate!), Alex shocked the SHIT out of me by mailing me a custom carved mini pumpkin – featuring Hugh Jackman as Wolverine – to thank me for the blog!
If you know me at all, you know that I shrieked like a little girl when I found out. I have a big crazy thing for Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Not so much a crush as.. hrm. I don’t know. I find the character oddly relatable in some ways, and inspiring in other ways. That, and seriously.. I’d kill for Hugh Jackman’s delts. I have a BIG poster of him downstairs in my gym for exactly that reason! Read the rest of this entry »
Far-flung Awesomeness of the Floral & Photography Varieties!
May 4th, 2010I haven’t been shy about my love for Twitter. It’s been great personally AND professionally. I’ve met a ton of awesome people… some virtually, some in person. Great stuff!
A few months ago, I started a collaboration with one of my twitter buds, @RBKCreations, who makes the most amazing bouquets out of felt, fabric, and buttons! I’m a huge fan of incorporating fun, unique touches in weddings, really personalizing them – and these bouquets really speak to me. Well, more like scream “WANT!!!” to me . Absolutely adore her work.
The fruits of that venture will be blogged about in the next month or two. Her bouquets are such a unique art, I can’t resist giving you guys a sneak peek!
In case you were wondering about our caffeinated baking mixes..
May 3rd, 2010Nerdy blogger extraordinaire, Georgia of Nerd Salad just posted an absolutely Awesome Review of our caffeinated baking mixes.
It had me blushing AND tearing up, so you should totally go check it out. My favorite visual from the whole thing?
“After about 3 cookies, (about one and a half cups of coffee) and 5-10 minutes I felt a noticeable rush of energy, and would have probably been the spotlight of a techno club, provided I was near one, and had some glow-sticks.”
Now, if we ever get to the point of requiring commercials – whether for TV, our site, or youtube… I know exactly what theme I’ll be going with, as a former raver myself!
Thank you for the awesome review, www.nerdsalad.com! Let me know if you’d ever want to star in such a commercial, I’d gladly get you all hopped up on our goodies for the cause!
A Love Letter to the Goddesses of Cheesecake!
July 30th, 2010There are two main truths you should know – or possibly already do – going in to this blog entry.
1. If you’ve ever seen me, you could probably tell that I’m someone who takes cheesecake seriously. This isn’t “Fat”, it’s CREDENTIALS!
2. Much like wedding cake.. there is an awful lot of crappy cheesecake out there. Also – again, much like wedding cake – it surprises me what some people consider “good” cheesecake. You need to try truly amazing cheesecake, to be able to have an accurate reference point. Again, see truth #1.
I bring this up because today is July 30th! You know what that means? It means NATIONAL CHEESECAKE DAY.
Growing up, my exposure to good cheesecake was hit and miss. It was rare to come across a great slice of cheesecake, and – even if I did – there’s no guarantee that a.) I’d ever be at the establishment again (travelled a lot!), or b.) the consistency was there, that my next stop at that establishment would yield an equally awesome slice. Sigh.
My lifetime quest for the most epic cheesecake came to an end when I met Amy and Tami from Muddy Paws Cheesecake.
So… where to start? Amy and Tami are complete sweethearts. Really, that’s probably an understatement. Love em! They’re two of my absolute favorite people in the local industry, no question. Any bride that hires them for wedding desserts is in VERY good hands.
Photos courtesy Studio Laguna Photography
While my fangirling up about those two goddesses is completely exclusive of the fact that they rock the cheesecake like nobody’s business… this blog is about the cheesecake. So, let’s go there.
Read the rest of this entry »
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