Planning for Friendsgiving



I tend to get ahead of myself when it comes to planning parties. I create lists for all of the imaginary parties I plan to host. I tear out ideas from magazines about centerpieces and place cards that I think would work well for said imaginary parties. I make mailing lists for all of the people who I'd love to see sitting around a table together. I tell you, there is a lot of planning that goes into these imaginary parties that will most likely never happen.

Most of these dinner gatherings end up just morphing into a regular evening of hanging out. People are invited (but not by fun mailed-out invitations), drinks are made (but not in fancy wine glasses), and food is consumed (but not in a three course meal sort of way). Laughter is always involved, so it's never a bad deal.
But Friendsgiving? Friendsgiving has always been the most elusive dinner gathering for me.

I've tried to plan one the past couple of years, but due to all the normal life things that come up between November and December, it has never come to fruition. Has this happened to anyone else? Am I the only one who has failed multiple times to provide a Friendsgiving?

This year Friendsgiving is planned for this Saturday, and I am pretty much super duper excited about it. I feel like I'm jinxing it by talking about it. Food has been planned and discussed and the prepping has begun. My place is tiny, so it will be a cozy (read: packed) evening, but I'm thoroughly excited.

Yay for food! Yay for holidays! Yay for friends!

Wish List

Items that I wish I had right at this very moment:

Coffee. Always coffee.

 



 Pumpkins. Tis the season.

 

Red glasses. I'm craving them.



 

This blazer. Or any blazer. But mainly this one.



 

SOCKS. I love them ever so much.



Caramel Apple Cheesecake. Because, duh.

 

 Aaaand tickets to Europe. Also duh.

Baking Bad

Baking Bad

Episode One:

Caramel Apple Cake

 

9:25 PM, Saturday, August 24:

Me: This cake is turning out to be a disaster. What's my deal?
My mother: I don't know. I'm sorry.

 

Two hours after that fateful text, I emphatically proclaimed to the air in my kitchen that I would never bake again and that I've been living a lie - parading around as a wannabe baker when I couldn't even frost a simple cake.

Despicable.

If this were an episode of Breaking Bad, I am certain that Gus would have shot me for producing a bad batch. Or, even worse, the Mexican cartel cousins would have been sent to keep me from producing such an atrocity ever again.

I'm sure I would have tried to offer a peace offering, and my last words would have been along of the lines of "WAIT! Would you like a piece of mediocre ca..."

It would have been too late.

I had been given my chance.

I would have been found lying in my kitchen in a pool of blood and cake batter the next morning.



 

That's probably a tad overdramatic. But just a tad.
Lets's go back to the beginning, shall we?
First, the back story:
My parents and I always eat Sunday lunch together. Since Sundays are nutsballs for us, we take that opportunity to indulge our food desires.

My mother always wakes up at 4:00 AM, or some other ungodly hour of the morning, to prep the lunch and make sure everything is set for an easy post-church, oven-to-table set up.
This always includes dessert.
Not a Sunday goes by when that woman does not have a delicious dessert prepared for us.

So, when I began this lovely little blog challenge for myself, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to relieve my mother of one task on her Sunday morning schedule. I happily texted my mother to make sure she approved of this idea. She responded with "That would be great!" and I quickly began the planning.

I've been craving fall lately. My thoughts have been consumed with tights, sweaters, football, and party planning. Granted, party planning is always on my mind, but it definitely is hightened during the fall months.
Because of this, I thought it only fitting that I make the Caramel Apple Cake that is from the same Baked cookbook I used for the Cowboy Cookies.

Oh, goodness. Apples! Caramel! Cake! It's a trifecta of deliciousness.

I made the cake, and it was wonderful. Three 8 inch cake pans came out of the oven and patiently waited to be flipped over and frosted. One of the layers stuck ever so slightly to the bottom of the pan, but I wasn't deterred. This was going to be amazing.
I could feel it.
I had a wedding that night at work, so I packed the cakes away and returned home later to make the frosting and finish the process.

Somewhere between work and my house I lost my mind, because when I came back, everything I did was the worst.
I dropped 3 cups of flour all over the floor.
I almost added baking soda instead of baking powder.
I dropped the trashbag as I was pouring the failed batch of frosting into it, so as if to mock me, the failed frosting ended up on the floor, my legs, the bottom of the trash can.
Basically, the frosting was everywhere except in the trash bag, which was the one place I wanted it to be.

I apparently also became illiterate, because I couldn't follow the most basic of instructions.
Sugar? They must mean powdered sugar.
Cook? They must mean don't cook.
Like I said, I lost my mind.

The next morning, I tossed the pathetic attempt at a cake in a carrying device and headed out the door.
I warned my parents of the how awful it would be. Just imagine the scene from Anne of Green Gables where Anne shouts "Don't eat it, Miss Stacy!" Except I shouted "Drown it in ice cream and make sure a strong pot of coffee is on standby!"

All in all, the actual cake was delicious. It was just that stupid frosting. I'm sorry I did wrong by you, Apple Caramel Cake. It wasn't your fault.

I hope you all haven't lost faith in me. I promise to make it up to you somehow.





That Seems Fair (Word Play!)

For those of you who follow me on FaceTwitterGram, you may have noticed that I went to the Oklahoma State Fair last month with my dearest Sally friend.

Sally and I hadn't been to the fair in years, so we figured it was time to go back so we could partake in fried food/people watching goodness. And we lucked out that Oklahoma decided to turn to Fall and not be 100+ degrees. Thanks, State!

We created a game at the beginning of the night:
"Things That Could Kill You."
It's a really fun game, and I encourage all of you to try it out at least once. The rules are simple, but the rewards are long lasting.
Basically, you just locate any items that could kill you, then you avoid said items, and then you laugh about them. Easy.

So, without further ado, the finalists of TTCKY at the 2012 Oklahoma State Fair:
Grass hill at a 75 degree angle that was covered with cars (Trust me. It was terrifying)
Rusty barb wire separating the cars from the pedestrians
Random wooden spike in the middle of the grass parking section

Those are just the finalists. That list doesn't even include the obvious TTCKY contenders that appear at the fair each year. (For example, the carnival workers, the portable rides, the probable drug dealers, and for long term TTCKY - fried food. Heart disease is no joke)

Also, let's name all of the wonderful State Fair-ish things from this photo:

1) Beautiful, braided rat tail (11:00. Striped shirt)
2) Uber creepy stare from older man (2:00)
3) NASCAR advertisement (above creepy old man)
4) Tube top (behind/beside rat tail)

PS - Funnel cake. The end.

Wish List

I pretty much always have a wish list going on. The lists consist of all items, but I tend to add way too many books, clothes, and kitchen items.
During the fall and winter months, the clothing side of the lists grows quite heavy. I lovelovelove buying layer-able clothing. Who doesn't? (OK, probably many people)

Just give me all the tights and all the scarves. All of them.

I recently added these items to the list (and I'm trying to tell myself that I actually don't like them):
                  

Why do I like those boots so much? I've never purchased a pair of Anthropologie shoes. Have any of you had good luck with them?

Boots and Tights: Anthropologie. Scarf: J. Crew

To Whom It May Concern

Dear August,

As usual, you were one crazy month. However, you remain one of my favorite months. You bring the return of routine, the anticipation of fall things, and school.


Dear Breaking Bad,
You were interesting in the beginning, but then you weren't. But now you're kind of getting interesting again. I'm currently watching season 3, and here are some thoughts:
I love those Mexican cousins, I want to punch Skyler in the face, and I want to hang out with Pinkman. Yo.

Dear Football,
I love you. There's no other way to say it. I am glad you're back.

Dear Random Sorority Girl,
I can only assume that when you asked if I was the mother of another sorority girl that you are just horrible at judging people's ages. I'm going to guess that you think that 12 year olds look 32. And that 50 year olds look 103.
I just hope that you are never the witness to a crime.
"Yeah, officer. The guy was like 9 feet tall and probably around 97 years old."
They will be searching for a non-existent anciet giant for years.

Sincerely,
Emily

Dreaming of Fall-ish Things

It never fails. It’s always around this time of year that I start craving the beginning of school and all that comes with it.

Summer is grand, it’s true. But the beginning of the school year / entrance to autumn is just, in my opinion, the best time of year.

School supplies, schedules, books, football, tights (!), boots (!!), scarves (!!!), baking (the exclamation points are endless). The list goes on.

Granted, the weather won’t start cooling down until November, but I’ll take what I can get.

Let's all dream about keeping sipping coffee with the windows open.

Also, I'm a huge sucker for elbow pads.

If it was acceptable to have them on every sweater, I would.

And, this is totally on my fall "to-bake" list. Snickerdoodle cake.

What is your favorite part of fall? Or, what isn't your favorite part of fall?