A BFF's Birthday (Part 2)...

November brought C's birthday. C followed J into the world of 25dom, and as usual, we girls immediately got busy planning the party. This was a college tradition. Each birthday brought theme apartment decorations (my favorite being "Pin the Tail on the C"), new outfits for one and all, and shoe polishing of cars. We did birthdays up right in D-Town, and we carried these traditions over into our post-college years. A little scaled down, yes, but still just as festive. As we got down to planning, C decided to have a hometown, country celebration at her mom's house. We were going to have a bonfire, home-smoked barbeque and a field. To me, a big city girl, this concept was completely foreign. Bonfire? Barbeque from home? A FIELD? Ah, so little I knew about the country that my dear friends tried to educate me on. After getting over my initial shock (haha), I was excited for the celebration full of C's closest family and friends. C requested cupcakes, and I as always, was happy to oblige. I began throwing out ideas to C: pumpkin cupcakes (seriously, these things are addicting... a definite seasonal hit!), strawberry shortcake, chocolate hazelnut. We decided that those three options would be more than divine, and I got to work planning. C graciously let me slide on toppers, as there were to be many cupcakes to bake. The pumpkin cupcakes were a no brainer. The strawberry shortcake and chocolate hazelnut required a little more thought. Eventually I landed on a shortcake cupcake with mascarpone filling and strawberry icing and a hazelnut cupcake with chocolate filling and chocolate hazelnut icing. I quickly put together J's littlest bakeshop and enlisted the help of both C and J to help me bake away. After the cupcakes were crafted, they made the trip to the country where the littlest bakeshop was once again started and C and J helped me fill and ice dozens of cupcakes. The end results were quite yummy, and the party was a blast!

Yummy country cupcakes!

Until next time, sweet dreams!

-J