Check out my hooters

As promised, I made some cupcakes from my new book 'Hello Cupcake'. It's very rare that I get a day off where I don't have lots of errands to do AND I have an event to attend. Last night was Debbie and Kevin's new years eve party and I did all my errands on Monday, so let the baking begin!

I made the cupcakes with a mix, which felt like a failure, but once I was 3 hours into the decorating I was happy not to have stressed about the cake recipe. While they cooled, I carefully microwaved the Oreos so that I could separate the cookies from the cream. I had to do this for 24 regular sized Oreos and for 48 minis.

Next, I had to cut the plain cookie side in half for the minis and into thirds for the regular size. These I attached to the cooled, frosted, cupcakes as the owl ears. The cream sides of the cookies were added as eyes on both the regular size and mini cupcakes.

I then did the feather frosting on the ears and around the eyes on both sizes.

Here's some of the flock. The mommy owls have Junior Mint pupils while the minis have Reese's Pieces. They all have Runt's bananas for their beaks.

Check out all the mommies and babies! All those eye were a bit freaky!

A slightly blurry close up.

Okay Vanessa, bring on your cupcakes!

Eben's Applique

Eben came to Maine on the 27th to visit and got to try his hand at the applique craze. He opted to make a 24 month t-shirt for the Figlet (with their last names combined, Fernandez Iglesias Greene, you get the FIGs, and appropriately the baby is the Figlet).

Some Mississippi River action in a red canoe!

Here's a closer look at the details. Despite his frustration with my sewing machine, the shirt turned out great!

Welcome Simone!

This is Simone Le Creuset, my redheaded, French kitchen friend:

She gets along very well with the rest of the Le Creuset family! They always bring a bit of sunshine to the kitchen.

Simone is a very hard worker! Here she's cooking up some maple glazed carrots inspired by the ones Vanessa and I ordered at Four Street on Sunday for her birthday.

She did a great job, the carrots were delicious!

News!

For those of you following both my blog and Vanessa's blog you already know she's pregnant. For those who don't, I'm going to be an aunt!!! We are all very excited! Since she hasn't shared any tummy shots of herself, I am going to do it.

Baby baby baby!!!

Since Vanessa won't have lots of time to be crafty once the baby comes, she's started making baby clothes now. As a Christmas vacation project, Vanessa bought a bunch of onesies for us to applique for the baby. They don't know the gender yet, but will find out in a couple of weeks when they return to Minnesota. So far I've made two:

my quintessential 'Meridith whale'

some brightly colored gender neutral mushrooms

Vanessa and I had lots of fun and it was a great way to use up leftover fabric scraps!

My parents got Eben and me a great four-man tent and portable gas grill for Christmas this year, which I'm sure I'll be sharing photos of come summer. Candy and Peter got me a gorgeous red Le Creuset pot that I am very eager to cook something delicious in, so I will be sharing that with you later as well. Vanessa knit me some fun mittens which will felt on the inside for added warmth as I wear them. Juan gave me the book 'Hello Cupcake', which I actually gave to both Genevieve and Vanessa, so there will be lots of cupcakes to go around. There's even talk of a cupcake-bake-off between Vanessa and me through our blogs where our readers can vote for their favorites (there's nothing like good ol' sibling rivalry!). I also got a pair of snowshoes from my parents just as the temperature rose and the snow melted. Eben received a pair from them as well as a congratulations for finishing (and passing) his thesis defense. So, again, I'm sure there will be some later posts about our snowshoeing adventures. Eben got me a really pretty stone necklace and a stone bowl to hold my jewelry in the bathroom when I'm showering. I have one, but it's much too small and tends to be overflowing, so the new one is perfect!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

It's Doctor Time!

I've been called out. I am a slacker. Uncle Russ is right, I've been a delinquent blogger.

But all of that aside.

Eben is defending his thesis tomorrow! It is very exciting and has been a long time coming, so if you have a moment tomorrow please think of him and pass along some happy thoughts, positive energy, and prayers. I know he will do amazingly! He's not quite as convinced, but this time tomorrow he'll be a doctor and his doubt will be history.

Happy Doctoring Eben!

Cairngorams National Park

Our next stop was Nethybridge. Eben's friend Ian connected us with his friends Eric and Carole. We were slightly nervous upon arrival since when Eben had communicated with them, he never mentioned that Mica would be with us. Then when we saw Ian on Monday, Eben asked if Eric and Carole had any pets. Ian said no and that they didn't like pets at all. That same day, Micah had told us that we were going to have his dog Moss with us on our trip. Needless to say, Eben and I got very nervous! We promptly emailed Eric and Carole to let them know that we would be traveling with another person and a dog and that we would happily camp outside, or elsewhere if they were uncomfortable with us having the dog. They replied and told us not to worry, that there was plenty of room for all of us. So off to the Cairngorms we went!

Our first day in the highlands we began with a hike in the Cairngorams National Park.

The rock face in the distance was our first destination.

Midway to the first peak.

Mica and me before the assent.

We reached the top of the first peak just as the clouds started to roll in.

It was extremely windy and cold once we reached the cliff face. Have a listen.


We crossed the sheer rock face on our way to the next peak.

We had two more peaks to climb. The last is the farthest with the little bumps on it (cairns).

My new FABULOUS Gregory backpack in action! (Eben got me my pack for my birthday.)

The third peak Cairn Gorm, after which the national park is named, is topped with one large and several small cairns so that in the event of a storm or heavy cloud cover people on the peak can find their way down.

I took this photo literally 3 minutes after the previous one and it became very clear why they would need the cairns! Clouds come in very quickly.

The four of us in the clouds after our long hike next to the largest cairn.

On our decent we had a view of some of the peaks we climbed. Going down the mountain was MUCH harder than going up. It may not look it, but it was very steep, and our legs were basically on fire.

To follow a 9 mile hike with a proper fish and chip dinner next to the loch was a great treat!

As we gobbled the delicious greasy goodness we were able look at the path we had taken over the course of the day.

This was my favorite road sign in Scotland! I picture trees lifting their skirts and tip-toeing across the street. (In actuality it refers to large equipment crossing and entering!??)

Our second day in the highlands Eben and I walked the Speyside Way a wooded, flat (my hamstrings thanked me) hiking trail from Boat of Garten to Nethybridge. That's where we saw lots of the creatures I previously blogged about. I wanted to share some more of the mushrooms we saw along the way.

These ones were hiding in the heather.

one more.

When we got back into Nethy we decided to walk along the river that passes through town.

This is a nettle. Nettles are horrible. The tiny little white flecks on the leaves are stingers that detach from the plant and get stuck in your skin, and in my case, break out in hives. In case you hadn't guessed, it isn't fun!

This is Castle Roy a fortress/castle built in the 1200s. You can't get closer than this though because it's not structurally sound. The wall at the doorway in the center is over a meter thick!

Eben and I had planned to take the bus and/or train to get to our next destination, which would have taken us pretty much the entire day due to the route we would have to take, but our good fortune came through again! Carole and Eric offered to drive us to the coastal town of Banff where we had our reservations at a small B&B.

They were such wonderful hosts! They were both welcoming and laid back, and they didn't have any issues with Moss. They gave us great breakfasts every morning with lots of yummy toasts, muesli, and yogurts (boysenberry, elderberry and rhubarb!). Carole made us two amazing three course dinners while we stayed with them, and we had the entire second floor of the house to ourselves. Our last night we taught them how to play spades. I think I had my best game ever! There wasn't a hand where I didn't get at least 5 tricks! Eric and I were the victors, but we all had a fun time.

We originally told them we'd be leaving on Monday, but made the reservations at the B&B for Tuesday (oops), so we stayed the extra day. I was worried that we were imposing, but in the end, Carole was really sad to see us to go. I think she really enjoyed being the hostess and she was a great one! We were so lucky!!!!

Highland Games and Castles

Eben and I had given Micah a list of things we'd like to do while in Scotland. On that list was to see a true highland games and more specifically, the caber toss. Most of the highland games take place in August, so like seeing the puffins, I didn't think this would happen. As luck would have it though, when we were driving from Aberfeldy to Nethybridge we noticed a sign for the Pitlochry highland games happening that day. We hopped off the A9 and parked just outside of town. Now you must know that Eben and I have been pretty much the luckiest tourist to ever hit Scotland.

We walked into town and litterally the moment we reached the sidewalk of the main street a parade of 20 pipe bands began their march into the games.

Some bands were a bit more serious in their costumes than others.

These sporans belonged to the pipe band from St. Andrews, and they were my favorite with the thissle on them.

We followed the bands through town to the games where I got to see the caber toss. I always thought that the toss was for distance like the other heavy events, but in actuality it is for accuracy. What he must do is toss the huge log such that it goes end over end and lands with the end which he was holding pointing directly away from him ideally in the twelve o'clock position. The angle at which the caber points determines how successful the toss was.

After seeing several heavy events, some dancing, foot races (which the public is welcome to join in), and some piping competitions, we were on our way to Blair Castle in Blair Atholl. Also on the to do list was to see the inside of a castle. This one is home to the Dukes and Earls of Atholl. We toured 30 rooms with lots of antique furiture, dishes, weapons, and dead animal heads most of which were older than our country.

The gounds were quite impressive as well with woodland paths and gardens.

I've already shared the hairy cows and the stag but here he is again with his ladies.

Scottish Critters

I haven't talked about many of these locations yet, but I want to share some animals for a nice change of pace!

Crannog spider in Kenmore.

Moss swimming in Loch Tay

Red deer stag in Blair Atholl outside Blair Castle

Two nuzzling 'heeland coos' also outside Blair Castle. One cow was actually licking the other's head. The highland cattle spotting has unfortunately been at a minimum, but there's hope today of visiting some.....

GIANT pig in Boat of Garten. There were also ponies in the next paddock and the pig was larger!

I know this isn't really a critter, but the mushrooms were so spectacular in Nethy. This one was on the Speyside Way trail.

Little toad on the Speyside Way.

A pretty blue beetle crossing the Speyside.

We saw lots of big black slugs in Scotland. This one was on Speyside.

A chatty horse in Nethybridge.

A sheep munching in Nethybridge.

More sheep.

Curious young cows.

Banff snail, which we spotted just as Eben almost bit it down a wet hillside slope.

We saw lots of birds in Banff, but they were too far off and blended with the rocks too well to take any photos, so this is me looking at shags, curlews, redshanks (which I called orange legs), cormorants, little terns, arctic terns, common terns, oystercatchers (my favorite!!!), turnstones, and lots of different gulls. We also spotted some ducks, but I have yet to sort out what type they were.

Butterfly in Whitehills.

Another Whitehills butterfly.

This little guy visited Eben's knee during our snack break on a hill in MacDuff.

There were thousands (if not more) of these spiders with webs built in the bushes of gorse all over the hill in MacDuff. The bridge in the background is associated with the Duff house the seat of the Earls of Fife in Banff built in the 1700s.