Saturday, December 5, 2009

1 Day: 2 Birthdays

Todd and Dylan share a birthday, and that birthday was today. Dylan really outgrew his bike this summer; by August he basically looked like one of those clowns who ride teeny-tiny bikes for comic effect. He hated it. So we got him a new bike, cherry red, for the big 1-0, and he seemed very pleased.

The kids and I gave Todd a new pair of shoes that he picked out himself a few weeks ago, so no big surprise there. But we did catch him off guard with the new pasta machine we gave him, too. We had such fun making pasta at Rena's a few months ago that I decided to really take advantage of his innate Italian talents and see what we could make here at home. He was both surprised and very excited. And I'm excited for all the good eats.

I also baked a couple of cakes. Todd's of course, was chocolate: a devil's food cake with chocolate pudding mix, chocolate chips, and chocolate frosting. It was too much chocolate for me, but he loved it. I'll confess (and I feel somewhat ashamed, given our Have The Cake-ness), the cake was one of those boxed cake adaptations. This is the second time I've made it, and both times it's been delicious. It's so moist and fluffy and good. I know I should be doing it all from scratch, but this was better than my coconut cake! I also made a cake for Dylan's party tomorrow (no girls allowed!). I went for the straight out of the box version for that, and didn't even bother adapting it to make it better. I just couldn't pull off two amazing cakes along with everything else that's going on right now. I'm sure he and his friends will like the cake regardless of its Betty Crocker origins.

Here's Todd's cake all frosted and ready to go. Sofia has become my baking apprentice, eager to help with every project. As I was frosting this, she started narrating everything I was doing as though we were on a cooking show. It was hilarious, and I have no idea where it came from. And what she's doing in this photo is anyone's guess. She had a lot of various poses going on as I was photographing the cake — there's also a zombie picture and a pretend sleeping picture.

2 comments:

Tina said...

HAPPY (late) BIRTHDAY TODD AND DYLAN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry I missed them both on the day, but it sounds like you took very good care of them. :)

And Betty Crocker spells love in anyone's book, honey. :) I absolutely LOVE that Sofia narrated the process. I see a future Sofia Coppella in your midst.

Rena said...

Happy Birthday to Todd & Dylan! Sounds like a wonderful birthday!

Remember, you can make the pasta dough in the food processor. Poor Todd. I'm sure his hands still hurt!

I made a cake from a $0.79 jiffy yellow cake box last week. There is nothing wrong with box cake :) Plus it has pudding mix?! um...yum.