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Thursday, February 25, 2010

Florida!

Hey there! Break just flew by, totes unlike the first week back at school :( But here's a recap of my trip to Florida and what I have been up to this past week.
My dad just kept raving about how good this pizza was! He's a pizza nut, no joke, he is obsessed!  Anytime he is in Florida either for business of visiting his 'rents he goes to Anthony's so I was super excited to try it!

I started with the Anthony's salad...it says "serves 2" so I shared it with my mom.  By sharing, she had about a bite while I ate the rest and my dad ordered the lunch version for himself.

We got a large meatball pizza, half with mushrooms.

It was very crispy -- "Pizza Well Done" hahah sorry it took me a while to understand the double pun!
But unfortunately the pizza was a bit Parmesan-y for my liking, I am not a cheese person


The reason we went to Florida was because my grandpa was being honored at his temple.  It was such a nice evening of dinner and dancing.
 
Thats my cousin Jeremy, my grandpa and me

 
me and my daddy dancing 

 
and my mommy and I before the partayyy!
I'm really glad we were able to go down for it, it was so cute and fun!

It was my Uncles birthday while we were there so I decided to bake him his favorite dessert ever...Strawberry Shortcake!!
For the cake part I used the dense and delicious cake Pioneer Woman used in her Strawberry Shortcake (click for step by step pictures and recipe!)  Directions for rest of recipe below! But now just look at these scrumptious pictures:
 
 
Good news! My uncle said it was the best strawberry shortcake EVER! YAY! He even had a slice for breakfast the next morning!

While in Florida I also did A LOT of shopping for prom dresses! I mean store and store and dress and dress.  I couldn't find one that I LOOOVED (that was my size and not like $2,000 --Herve Ledger cough cough)  No fret anyone (because I knew you were all so worried but I did eventually find a dress back in the city!  This was the second of lots that I tried on and loved but maybe a little smalls:
I'll save the pic of me in the dress I ended up getting for prom! :) 

When I got home my mom and I had an order to make cupcake pops with funfetti cake inside and funfetti cupcakes with Tye-Dye frosting! Oyy, we were puzzled --how does one make tye-dye frosting on a cuppycake?  Well we did it! We filled 3 piping bags with 3 different colors and then piped a line of each color into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip.  How cute?! I thought they were a good tye-dye (especially for our first time!)
 
 

Oh yeah...and the camera broke over break! My mom took the memory card out to put it into this cool tv thingy my uncle has to view the pics from my grandpa's dinner but when we went to go take pics the next time it didn't work! Off to the camera fixing dude sometime soon!

But now I am back in new jersey in the snow...Seriously it just does not let up!! We ended school at 12 because it was getting so bad!  But anyways, I hope the camera is fixed soon so I can start photographing more treat for you!
 
Not the most aesthetically pleasing shot but that's what you get for taking it on your mommy's Iphone ;)

With love and cupcakes,
Cookteen

Recipe-ish:
Take 2 pounds of strawberries (minus 6-7 for garnish) and cut into slices.  I like to cut them into round circles simply because they taste better that way.  Pour 1/2 cup of regular sugar and 1/2 cup of Splenda (I'm cutting back...I gotta fit into my prom dress! But more on that after the cake...) Let the strawberries and sugar sit for a couple hours (hint hint: you may want to do this BEFORE you start to bake the cake)  Strain the berries and save the juice.  Oh goodness was that delicious strawberry juice...  It makes a great sauce to pour over the cake for extra moisture and flavor.

For the whipped cream whip a pint of heavy cream with about 2 teaspoons of vanilla and 1 (to 2?) cups of powdered sugar.  In all honesty, just go by taste for the sugar, add about 1/2 cup - 1 cup at first and add until its the sweetness you desire.

Now time to assembly!
Once the cake is cooled, cut in half and spread strawberry preserves on one side (but it could have used it on both) Place a little more then half of the strawberries on top of the jam to cover the bottom layer of cake.  Frost/fill with some of the whipped cream (I pipped it on in) Place the second circle on top (strawberry jam side down) and then top that with the remaining strawberries and about a tablespoon of the sauce.  I did not add too much juice because I wanted it to last in the fridge for a few days, I knew it would not all go in one sitting but if you plan on eating it right then and there go ahead and pour LOTS of sauce on...it makes it oh so yummy!
Then cover the top with the whipped cream and begin to work down the sides to coat the cake in that delicious-ness.  Garnish with the remaining berries.  Cut yourself a large slice and go sit and devour it.  You know you want too..

1 comment:

  1. Glad you had a fun time. Thanks for sharing the photos...and the cupcakes look tasty too:)

    ReplyDelete

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