Sweet Nothings

What does this mean exactly? Well, sit down with a cup of coffee and a cookie and I'll tell you all about it. For me, an almost 31-year young wife and mom of a two-year old boy, who lives in a tiny city called Fairview, OR, just outside of Portland, a Sweet Nothing can be anything from Hot Chocolate to an hour in Borders, the first snow, to my kid's blue eyes. Basically, anything and everything that brings me joy, makes me smile, giggle, be in awe, or completely appreciative of the life God has given to me. Right now, its Cupcakes...and politics!

I used to make cakes out of my home a few years ago to bring in some extra $ and have a creative outlet. I really did enjoy it. I still do actually. I think once you become passionate about something, you don't just drop it one day all together. Like a moth to a flame, I find myself drawn to the baking section at a bookstore or the library, thumbing through all of the tantalizing pictures of cakes that some genius has made. Cake truly is a work of art in my mind...fondant covered or not! If I can round up some pictures of my cakes, I'll post them. I'm not making any promises though. I'm into cupcakes right now because they are tiny. Anything in its miniature form is sweet. Chubby baby thighs, cute. My chubby thighs, best left unseen. The thought of making fun, artistic cupcakes, is much less daunting in my mind than creating a sugar masterpiece to feed 300+. That is the very reason why I am making cupcakes for my son's 2nd birthday party, rather than a traditional party cake. Last year I made a Blue's Clues cake and it was, I will admit, just darling. This year, however, I'll be making ice cream cone cupcakes, and I'll let the kids choose their own toppings at the "ice cream bar!" Sound like fun? I thought so. I think being a parent was God's idea of letting us extend our childhood for as long as possible. Its working wonderfully in my case.

My most favorite memories from being a kid are baking or watching someone else bake (and perhaps playing a game of Spades with the adults and the glow of the Christmas Tree). There really isn't anything quite like the hum of the Kitchen Aid hard at work. To me, that will always be the sound of "home." I'm not sure if I have a relative on my mom's side of the family that doesn't own one of these perfect machines, except for my sister, who I'm sure is working to remedy this problem). Whether it was with my mom, sister, my Aunt Linda, my older cousins, or simply with my Easy Bake Oven, baking meant being creative, getting a little sticky, occasionally burning and best of all, eating your creation!! That's the best part, right? I mean its the very reason we do what we do; to enjoy the finished product with your loved ones, or by yourself in a moment of peace!

I never understood why a Gingerbread House, for instance, should be off limits. This, to me, is one of the most ridiculous things to impose on a child (or child at heart) during the Christmas Season (yes, I said Christmas). Its a giant COOKIE!!! I've made several over the years, my first house of any difficulty that I made on my own wasn't until I was in high school. It was a blue Victorian house and I held it on my lap for the two hour drive from Santa Rosa, CA to Tracy, CA to share with the whole fam! A proud moment in my life and a springboard to my love affair with working with sugar. A couple of years ago I made a giant Gingerbread Train that was put out Christmas morning for all the kids. They may have been more interested in the toys under the tree, but this Aunt loves making the sugary scenes, and I will continue to do so until sugar is banned from the Government. Which may not be very far from now! ;0) Well, this was fun and if you have any favorite baking memories, please share them with me, I'd love to hear about them. I'll let you know how those cupcakes turn out!Hope you enjoyed your coffee, I know I did mine! Thank you for reading my very first post to I Love Sweet Nothings, and I hope you check back in from time to time! Don't forget to scroll down to see the "Cake of the Day!" Blessings, Rici