D2's Birthday

The kit kat M&M cake that the second eldest wants.
KitKat M&M Cake by Charlotte


I've seen lots of lovely versions. She wants hers to look like a bucket of M&M's. So I have everything I need, except the wide ribbon. I'll have to pick out a nice color, probably a lavender to match the shirt that she will be decorating. Last year, my parents got the girls plain colored t-shirts with pastel fabric paints to decorate them with. So they finally decided they want to do that and I have a couple extra shirts for the kid's guests to work on and take home. School will be done, so it'll be a nice little bookend party to have. Now, just have to plan the menu.

On his birthday, my youngest two wanted to make Daddy a special treat. I guess cooking and baking is a family tradition for these sorts of things. So, the little ones put their ingenious minds together and this is what they came up with.

He absolutely loved the treat, which he kindly shared with them. They have also promised me that they are going to do the same for my birthday. I don't know though. Kind of hard to surprise me when I'm the one they keep running to, asking how to do certain things, like, oh... work the microwave and line pans with waxed paper and so on and so forth.

16th Birthday Bash Smorgasbord

This was our version of a dip an old friend used to make. We substituted cheese tortilla chips for the plain. We all agreed it looked like a sunrise dip.

The aftermaths of several teenagers eating. There were dips, chips, crackers, snack mixes, pinwheels, fruit slices, egg rolls, pizza rolls and of course, the all important cheesecake bar with sixteen different toppings!

The egg and pizza roll platter that was pretty much inhaled by the teenagers. Over all, the entire day was a hit. The sweet sixteen party girl said it was her best birthday ever. Probably because the celebration lasted all day, she had good friends come to see her and she got a sewing machine, which she had been wanting for a while. It made me happy all day just to see the smile on her face. 

Smoked Salmon

I am just so in love with hubby's smoker. We bought some salmon the other day from the grocery store. We'd had it before and were impressed with price and flavor. So after we got the smoker, we decided on getting some more and of course, smoking it. Because the flavor in the fish was so prevalent, we decided not to put any additions to it the first time. It turned out marvelously.

I swear, he broke a piece off and brought it to me and I could taste it, hovering over my tongue before the fish was even in my mouth! Absolutely lovely. It was even better when we paired it with some sauerkraut rye bread that hubby had picked up from the local bakery. I've never been a particular fan of rye bread, but the addition of the sauerkraut gave it such a delicious tang. And even my kids, who absolutely hate sauerkraut, enjoyed it. So I'll be looking up some recipes for that to try on my own. Can't wait to get the bread machine humming again!