TuTu & 'Stache Bash!

(Get ready for a picture bonanza...)

Last summer, when Jamie was born, she came in a trio of Hinckley cousins:

Jamie: June 24, 2011

Megan: July 9, 2011

Grant: September 24, 2011

So when Kendy and her kids came to visit right in the middle of all these first birthdays we decided to have a big joint birthday party for all three babies.

All the girls the night before making tutus for party favors, while all the boys went to a Ranger's game.

All our guests with their respective accessories:

Mustached boys

Tyler took his mustache-wearing very serious.

Tutu'd girls

Pretty Birthday Girl!

Each birthday baby had a cake: the girls got initial cakes with pink icing tutus, and Grant got his very own mustache cake :)

Some party decorations! (That didn't actually get printed out in time, but I thought they were so fun)

We played Pin The Mustache On The Grant and Pin The Tutu On The Jamie and Megan.

Birthday girls in their tutus watching the older kids playing party games

Tyler was SOO excited about playing the games

Oh well, Grant's armpit is just as good...

Birthday girls bored with the games and trying to break into the forbidden upstairs.

Water balloon toss outside!

Tyler was horrified that we were breaking the water balloons, and held onto this red one for twenty minutes, scowling at everyone who threw theirs.

Jamie did not join the water balloon toss, but she was so happy to be outside. She hadn't been feeling great that morning, and she was so happy to get to crawl around on the deck.

Cake time! The lineup...

And they're off!

I regret to report that Jamie is no stranger to cake. She knew just what to do with this slice. Megan watched her cousin in awe. Or disgust, I can't tell :)

The babies weren't shy about their cakes:

Grant developed an interesting technique. He dipped a pretzel stick into the icing over and over before diving in with his hands.

Jamie and Megan kept showing each other their fist fulls of cake and then looking under their plates for more.

The rest of the kids liked the cake too, although they were pretty adamant that the girls should only eat the girls' cakes, and the boys should only eat Grant's cake. Any deviation was quickly ridiculed.

A birthday-suit bath was mandatory after all that cake!

Thanks for coming everyone! We had a great time, and we are all are ready to sleep until their second birthdays next year.

Feasting With the Prophets VI

Week #6: Joseph F. Smith (remember the F!)
Favorite Dessert: Custard Pie

Unfortunately, me plus polygamists equals frowny face, so it's best to just leave the prophet life facts alone until we get past the Manifesto (which actually happened during Joseph F. Smith's presidency. Hurray for monogamy!)

So while his life will remain a blank for me until I can calmly deal with the idea of polygamy, we will enjoy this gem:

This is Joseph F. Smith and his freaking enormous family, with lots of grumpy faces and one ray of sunshine just to the prophet's right:

I love this kid. Makes me happy everytime these ol' polygamists get me riled up.

On to the dessert!

Custard Pie

Ingredients

1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust
3 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg white
2 1/2 cups scalded milk
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 drops yellow food coloring (optional)

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
2.Mix together eggs, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Stir well. Blend in the scalded milk. For more yellow color, add few drops yellow food coloring.
3.Line pie pan with pastry, and brush inside bottom and sides of shell with egg white to help prevent a soggy crust. Pour custard mixture into piecrust. Sprinkle with nutmeg.
4.Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on rack.

It actually tasted a lot like flan, only less delicious. We did top it with caramel sauce, so it was pretty delicious.

Feasting With The Prophets V

Week #5: Lorenzo Snow

Favorite Dessert: Yorkshire Pudding

Apparently, the writers of the news article didn't seem to think it was a problem to list Yorkshire Pudding as a dessert. Neither did I, until I realized:

Yep, that's roast beef and gravy. Not a dessert.

So I looked ahead at some of the other prophets, and things like oyster stew and boiled wheat (what the) are popping up everywhere. To keep the dessert train going, we'll be replacing those weeks with fun alternatives.

This week, we were watching Julia Child making a crazy chocolate cake and laughing at the weird things she used to say ("It's smells chocolate-y." "It's so shiny!"). Later, I was sitting at computer, stumped at what to do for dessert the next day, and I remembered Julia's cake, and thought it would be fun to try. And so, six hours later:

Raspberry Chocolate Genoise Cake!

This is a three layered unleavened cake, filled with chocolate creme fraiche and raspberries, topped with whipped cream, covered in a chocolate shell, topped with chocolate ruffles, and dusted with powdered sugar.

I am not going to post the recipe on here because it's just ridiculously complicated, but here's the link to it:

If nothing else, just go to it and listen to Julia talk as she bakes. Totally worth it.

Feasting With the Prophets!

A few months ago, I came across a website called "Feasting With the Prophets," a website with all the prophets' favorite desserts. I mentally shelved the idea until the holidays were over and life calmed down a little bit. Well, holidays were over three months ago (although our presents to the Eatough family are still sitting in our closet and patiently awaiting a trip to the post office. Seems to be a pattern here, doesn't it?) , and life is about as calm as it will ever be around here, so it's time to get our prophet feast on!

Week #1: Joseph Smith

Favorite Dessert: Johnny Cake w/ butter and syrup

Joseph Smith's family ate Johnny Cake so often that one of his children, when asked to bless the food, prayed "We thank Thee, Lord for this Johnny Cake, and ask Thee to send us something better. Amen."

We forgot to take pictures from that week, but it was yummy. A little plain, but Joseph wasn't exactly dining with kings during his turbulent life.

Week #2: Brigham Young

Favorite Dessert: Buttermilk Doughnuts

Brigham Young learned to make these doughnuts as a young man while caring for his sick mother. Later on, in Utah he ate two or three of these every morning during the "second course" of breakfast, which took place after the morning chores were done.

Tyler was itching to dive into this sugary goodness all afternoon while we baked them. He was soooo excited when it was finally time to eat.

Grandma and Grandpa enjoying their donuts (doughnuts?)

Tune in next week for John Taylor!

Thanksgiving!

Yes, we all actually sat down for Thanksgiving this year!

The Hinckley shrimp tradition was alive and well.
The fried turkey made an appearance.


As did a French Silk Pie,

And an Apple Pie.

Happy Thanksgiving!

(pre-dinner Grandpa wressle)

Texas State Fair

You can't live in Dallas and not go to the Texas State Fair! McKay and I took the babies a few weeks ago, and we had a fabulous time:

A nice lady by the entrance gave us coupons to get in for $1 each (instead of $15!), so we had lots of extra spending money to try fun fried foods, like Fried Frito Pie, Fried Lemonade, and Fried Smores.

We had a good time, even though a sheep ate Tyler's paper cup at the petting zoo.

More Cakes!

We have dinner every Sunday at McKay's parents house with the rest of the Texas Hinckleys. Every Saturday night, Marie and I plan out dinner over the phone, and I'm always assigned dessert. Not that I'm complaining. I definitely get the fun part of the family feasts. Sometimes I bring banana rolls, sometimes giant chocolate chip cookies, but most Sundays I bring a cake.

Here's a few from the last month or so:

Last night's Strawberry Cake:

Edison's Birthday Duck Cake, a BIG hit with Edison, Evelyn and Tyler, who had a very hard time not touching "Duckie":

Young Women's Mini-Wedding Cake:

This wasn't a Hinckley Sunday Dinner cake. Cindy asked me to make this last week for a YW activity about temple marriages, just to tie in the refreshments to the theme, and it was really a fun project. It was about 18 inches tall, and the layers were 8 inch, 6 inch and 4 inch. It was great practice for whenever I feel up to starting my cake business again (scary!)