(cake was vanilla buttermilk cake, lemon curd, fresh raspberries and black raspberry buttercream…that’s why it’s purple! lucky for me, that is her fave color)

friday was my dear friend katie’s 25th birthday. she has many a nickname, koot the shrimp being the latest (and possibly best…thanks to scott, katie’s brother-in-law) yet.

katie and i have a pretty special friendship. we met the summer i moved to eureka, nevada (or the middle of nowhere), we were both 14 and both very dorky. we trudged through high school together and college–which means we’ve shared two graduations (at the same schools even!) and a lot of other stuff in between…good, bad, ugly, but always friends. incidentally, i’ve forged a very close friendship with her sisters: brooke (my bestie…lame, but i said it) and bailey. if i had sisters, these girls would be it. i’m also pretty close to their amazing mom, who was our english/drama/yearbook/journalism teacher…and who was pretty much my mentor throughout high school and who continues to push me today. their dad is amazing too! and he was our PE/math(all math that i took in high school was with him)/health teacher/basketball coach. i couldn’t ask to be friends with a better family.

katie and her boyfriend casey and trick sparkler candles…bwah-hahahaha!
(sorry, the photos aren’t up to par…birthday drinks will do that to ya…or me :)

so, here’s to you kootie bootie and 11 years of well-earned friendship…happy 25 and i hope we’re still holdin’ sh*t down tight like a hairnet in 11 more years…and 11 more years after that…and so on.

the cake was originally supposed to be lots of pretty purple swirls of frosting…but i thought it looked like medusa, or a jelly fish. brooke called it the monster cake…and she’s right :)

hello from luxe and me. i took this photo of her this morning while we were having some rare morning cuddle time…which i never get since i leave for work before 6 am. i hope everyone is enjoying their friday. any fun plans for the weekend? i spent a bulk of the day making a purple-medusa-looking-25th-birthday cake for one of my dearest friends. in between cooling and frosting, i sandwiched some black raspberry frozen yogurt between some chocolate wafer cookies.

the yogurt is sooooo good and pretty too! it was super simple to make and since my ice cream maker has once again taken residence in my freezer, it came together in less than 20 minutes. and the wafers…mmm. perfection. i saw them on smittenkitchen not long ago and have had the recipe on my desk since. i was waiting for the right time to make them and well, raspberry and chocolate are one of my favortie combinations. tart raspberry and dark chocolate…mmm. plus, i was waiting for this little gem to come in the mail. the wafers are like the outside of an oreo, but better and without that nasty shortening and sugar center. yes, nasty. i know a lot of people like the white stuff masquarading as “cream” that is sandwiched between oreo’s, but i do not. i hate that greasy film it leaves on my tongue. blech.

anyway, if you make these…and you should. you could sandwich anything in between…ice cream, peanut butter, buttercream, whipped cream…the possibilities are really endless. i have plans to make some of them into a cookie crust for cheesecake. i want to clap and shout and dance because i love these wafers so much…so go on and make some!

the recipe for the chocolate wafers can be found here.

black raspberry frozen yogurt
i found frozen black raspberries at trader joe’s. i decided to mix things up and i am glad i did. the color of the yogurt is so pretty…like a jewel. they taste pretty much like raspberries, maybe with a hint of blackberry? i don’t know, but i know i like it. i am sure you could sub any berry for this however.

1 lb plain yogurt
12 oz. (frozen) black raspberries
juice of 1 lemon
1/3 cup sugar (that is to my taste, so if you like more sugar, add more!), plus 3 tablespoons

in a medium saucepan combine berries and 3 tablespoons of sugar and lemon juice. cook over medium until the berries break down and a light syrup forms. pass the whole mixture through a sieve into a large bowl and discard pulp (i did this because i didn’t want seeds stuck all up in my grill). mix yogurt and remaining sugar with raspberry sauce. freeze in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions. yummy!

it is now the 20th day of the month of april in the year 2009 and i have only posted 1 (1! one!) post this month…well until now.
sorry pals…i hope you are still out there. to make up for all the lost time, here are some flowers. the photo isn’t quite as fabulous as this, but aran is like magic i think.

i also made these fantastic pancakes on sunday for sean and geoff when they got home from their hike. they loved them. i put little banana treasures in the batter and it was declared that these were the “best pancakes ev-var!” i was inspired by joy the baker and it is quite possible (probable?) that we used the same recipe, though hers are oatmeal cookie style (jealous…) i liked these a lot, the whole wheat flour and oats were great , i like that sort of chewy-ness (i don’t know if chewy is what i am looking for, toothsome? resistance? i’m lost…) in my pancakes, since i fear over-soggy mush cakes. anyway, if your in the mood for pancakes, try these. make them in stacks and serve them up with lost of real-deal maple syrup. sunday morning perfection.

whole wheat and oatmeal pancakes with bananas
adapted from gourmet, via epicurious.com

3/4 cup quick cooking oats
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons well shaken buttermilk
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
2 banana, sliced into coins

soak oats in 3/4 cup buttermilk 10 minutes.

meanwhile, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.

stir egg, butter, brown sugar, remaining 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk, and oat mixture into dry ingredients until just combined.

heat a griddle over medium heat until hot and lightly brush with oil. working in batches, pour 1/4 cup batter per pancake onto griddle, top with a few slices of banana, poke them into the batter and cook until bubbles appear on surface and undersides are golden-brown, about 1 minute. flip with a spatula and cook other side, about 1 minute more. (lightly oil griddle between batches.)

our trusty mac tried to die on us, but sean revived it–did i mention that i love loving a nerd? unfortunately all of the programs i usually use are not up and running yet…but i didn’t lose any of my photos (sigh) or music (big huge sigh…) and hopefully i will be able to load the photos from the camera by the end of the weekend. hopefully, because i have some things i want to post! some delicious things at that. in lieu of deliciousness i was going to post a picture of luxe attacking her weep-weep! turtle…but i can’t do that either. l-a-m-e. so, you get nothing tasty or cute. sorry.

instead, make a pancake. sheer awesomeness…beginning 45seconds into the vid.