July flew by… it already feels like a dream.
The end of June and beginning of July is always a whirlwind birthday time for our family; my brother’s birthday is on the 18th of June, Dad on the 30th, my husband Dave is on June 27th and I’m on July 3rd.
This year we decided to lump all the birthday celebrations together into one bash at the cottage; and a special one at that, as my father was hitting the big 60. As school had just ended (another busy time), and I was soon to be leaving for a month of school in Kingston, Ontario, there wasn’t much room for cupcake creativity for our b-days, if you know what I mean.
So I made these simple cupcakes for the birthday boys. Carrot cupcakes with cream cheese icing made from Ina Garten’s book, Barefoot Contessa Parties!
(I love her recipes; they always turn out!) How to decorate these easy birthday cupakes? I used a large star tip
and these colorful cupcake liners
. (Here’s a video on making the icing swirl if you like). Easy peasy and fun!
I made color co-ordinating simple, by matching the cupcake liner
to the candle
.
It’s kind of hard to tell in this pic that the words say “Happy Birthday Theo”; it was easier to read in person. (or so I’d like to think!)
I then moved to Kingston for the month of July, and spent much of my time with these people in a culinary course:
I can’t remember the last time I laughed so much. 
This is Liz and Delia. 
Again. 
And again.
=D 
And here’s Liz’s talented twin Maria:
Sweet Lori, architect turned chef, holding her edible flower:
For one assignment, we had to teach our peers something. I chose something I know a little about; cookie decorating. =) 
Hi Susa!
We made sushi on our field trip to the Donald Gordon Conference Centre. I loved Chef Alan Boden’s idea of rolling the sushi in edible gold flakes
. Sushi bling!
Anne introduced me to the yummiest store in Kingston. (In my chocolatey opinion, that is). Cooke’s Old World Shop Ltd. She didn’t want to be in any pics, but I had to get some of the store.
Goodies from all over the world. I didn’t know what to pick!! I think I’d be in serious danger of gaining rapid chocolate weight if I lived in Kingston permanently.
What got me most excited were these:
Ragusa. Mmmmm. Transport me to another world Ragusa. My favorite chocolate from Europe. I’ve never seen them anywhere else in Canada before. If you have, please let me know where.
I have seen these, um, witty chocolates in Canada. I am curious, but haven’t tried them yet. There were too many other delicious imported things to buy this time.
One other fun thing I did in Kingston was take pics of some of the beautiful, old, charismatic houses. (Okay fun for me – that’s saying a lot isn’t it!). This one isn’t necessarily my favorite, (although it is pretty!), but I liked it because I was looking for gingerbread house inspiration… It may turn into a future project.
Speaking of future projects… more of this is what I’ll be trying to work on for August. =) Time at the cottage! Some cookie and cupcake decorating are coming up too. In the meantime, have fun creating!
xo,
Marian
your entire post looks like sooooo much fun!
OKAY..that shop in Kingston looks like THE best candy shop ever!!! Unbelievable.*chocolate overload* (and happy belated birthday! 🙂 )
Oh my, I would have been in heaven on that trip. So glad you had fun! My bday is on July 9th, so it’s kind of close to yours. Glad is was a happy one!
Looks like you had a great time – the pictures of the girls laughing made me laugh too!
I know Melanie – chocolate heaven! Kingston isn’t that far from you, y’know. 😉
Happy Belated fellow July Birthday Christy!
Me too Helena… I laugh every time I see them!
Hey Lady! Looks like you had a fantastic time being the student for a change. Looking forward to seeing you again – I miss our chats in the kitchen over decorating adventures 🙂
PS the wedding is tomorrow, the cake is made and the fondant is on (yahoo). 100 cupcakes starting….. now!
Hugs!
great cupcakes and pictures, yes it looks like you had lots of fun in Kingston.
enjoy the rest of your time off.
ML
hi Marian,
great cupcakes and pictures. Yes, it lookes like you had a fun time in Kingston. Hope to visit that candie store too…..
enjoy the rest of your time off!
ML
Ahhhhhhhhh I am so very sad that you do not have any pics of me when I visited Kingston ….oooops time was cut short, hahahahahahah. Still have your birthday present and “thank you” gift. See you soon.
Wow, Marian! Looks great! Ever since I read “Anne of Green Gables” I’ve been wanting to travel to Canada to get to know those wonderful places. You’re so lucky!! 🙂
I want wish you a happy belated birthday (even though it was like a month ago)! love the cute cuppies you made!! And, wow so many wonderful pictures from Kingston, looks like you’ve had a wonderful time and that candy store certainly looks like the chocolate lovers dream paradise! 🙂 yuuum!
The cupcakes look great and your class looked like fun, but I have an unrelated comment.
First, my “winter” assistant has just become the caregiver to 4 tiny squirrels that her son found on the ground while stacking wood. Their eyes just opened on Friday. She’s feeding them with a syringe every two hours. (thought you’d find that amusing). They are too cute, she brought them over for us to see.
Second, you can buy or make cupcake wrappers from my friend and fellow blogger Abigail, at Paper and Cake. You download the pattern and make them yourself. Their super cute. (no shipping!!)
Here’s the link:
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6559066
Kerri, I can’t wait to see pics of the wedding cupcakes! I’m looking forward to catching up! – You too Kim – I really hope you’re feeling 100% again!
Thanks for dropping by Maria, Isadora and Asa!
Laura, funny you should mention that about your friend’s squirrels! My MIL had to feed them with a syringe too! We only took them when they were old enough to have the syringe twice per day because we both work full time and weren’t around to feed them so much. They’re still so cute; I actually missed them when I saw other squirrels in Kingston. (I KNOW… how silly is that!) Anyways, thanks for your friend’s info. =)
Since I love to eat alot of sweets,I love this website:).
🙂 Thanks!