A few more party pictures

1. The invites
2. Race car cookies made by the "Cookie Lady." (I haven't asked permission to publish her name...but if you need some cookies for a party e-mail me for her information. She was an excellent resource - and very reasonably priced.) Thanks Kristin!
3. The favor bags (I knew we would run short on time, so I packaged up the cookies into frosted treat bags to eat on the go.)
4. We spent the previous evening turning Max's wagon into Lightning McQueen and the kids took turns giving each other rides.
5. One of the many classic park games played at the party. Who doesn't love a rousing game of ring around the rosie?

Breakfast Party

Remember these cute little boxes from Josie's 1st birthday party? Well, my friend Natalie has come up with another great use for them. She is having a birthday party for her 6 year old daughter and is going to have a "Breakfast at Tiffany's" theme. She is using this cute little blue box for the invitation complete with a ring pop inside. Since the crowd is a little young to appreciate the full "movie theme" of the party - she is emphasizing the "breakfast" portion and having the girls come in the morning in their jammies for a pancake stack cake and games. Oh my goodie, doesn't that sound like so much fun? If you want to do something similar, I found these sweet little boxes in the bride/wedding aisle at my local Michaels craft store and I've managed to find tons of creative uses for them. If Natalie will let me, I might just steal this idea for Kalli's next birthday party. Too fun!

The Sweet Shoppe

Welcome to The Sweet Shoppe. The kids and I spent the day baking and they set up "shoppe" outside the house last evening. Many of our friends and neighbors and even some passerbys stopped by for some dessert. What a project it was (for all of us:) but they had so much fun and even made some money for their piggy banks. We had such a good time, I think we'll do it again in the fall. Pumpkin cookies, spice cupcakes, apple cider bars...the menu is already coming together. Hope you can make it!

-amr

FLASHBACK: Tis the season for pool parties and I thought about some great pictures I hadn't posted from Max's 4th birthday clear back in March. Although it was cool in UT, it was HOT in Palm Springs and fortunately for Max his birthday happen to fall during Spring Break so we were able to have a pool party. We had a lot of fun creating a tropical theme for his birthday and the menu fell right in place. Chicken teriyaki sandwiches, fresh fruit and veggies, and sand cake. I wish I had more summer birthdays in my family because of the simple ease and summer fun of having an outdoor party.

The recipes are simple and are as follows:

Chicken Teriyaki Sandwich:
One Grilled and Marinated chicken breast (your choice of teriyaki sauce)
One slice of swiss cheese (place this on chicken breast and grill for the last minute or so to let it get melty)
One grilled pineapple slice
BBQ Sauce
Perfect artisan bun

Real Simple Sand Cake: (in my humble opinion, best sand cake recipe ever)

1 12-ounce box Nilla Wafers 1 8-ounce container Cool Whip
2 3-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1 4-ounce package vanilla or chocolate instant pudding mix
1 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Make the "sand" by crushing the Nilla Wafers with a potato masher or in a food processor. With a mixer, combine the Cool Whip, cream cheese, pudding mix, milk, and vanilla. Layer a fifth of the crumbs in the bottom of a large, clean sand pail. Top with a third of the pudding mixture, then a layer of crumbs. Continue layering, ending with crumbs. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

Yield: Serves 6 to 8

-amr

Sandwich Showdown

I've been brewing up an idea for a little friendly competition dinner party for sometime now...so during our travels we had to stop in 'wichcraft to do some research development. 'wichcraft is a gourmet sandwich shop by none other than our favorite Top Chef, Tom Collichio. Grilled cheddar smoked ham, pear and mustard on cranberry-pecan bread was a favorite. So now onto the party: A Sandwich Showdown. If I could gather together a few panini presses, some electric skillets, and of course full use of all burners, I would have all the guests bring their own ingredients they think would make the the most delicious and most memorable sandwich. We would cook them up (or a cold sandwich would be good too) and then judge them and come up with a winner. The perfect prize would be a gift certificate to Great Harvest or a panini press. Doesn't that sound fun?

-amr

Well done

I experienced my first ever oyster in the half shell today at the OATV portfolio party. WOW! It was so surprisingly good. The catering was done by this local company and everything was so amazing. Another favorite: grilled nectarines wrapped in prosciutto with a thin shave of fresh parmesean on top. I love enjoying something so fresh and totally do-able at one of my own dinner parties. Much of the produce and ingredients were local which made everything that much more flavorful. Good food + beautiful location + interesting people = Great party

-amr