Oh Baby!

We are officially ready to welcome baby Mia into the world. Of course, the only way that was ever going to be possible was with a successful baby shower and successful it was! All the little things I dreamed up in my head were executed perfectly with the help of some handy family members. Let me walk you through it...


Polina, the future mom, has her heart set on a butterfly theme for the baby room. Therefore, I knew that somewhere I was bound to have some butterflies flying around (not real ones). In all honesty, aside from that little detail, I put very little emphasis on developing a theme in the first stages of planning (although I was taught otherwise). The theme kind of came to be on its own and from that point on it was a lot easier to continue because I had something to tie everything together. A theme gives you a strong sense of direction which is always helpful. Anyways, the theme turned out to be very green. By that I mean there were butterflies and flowers and a homemade tree! (I'll get to that). 


My job consisted of constructing all of the decorations as well as the sweets table and given my recent baking streak, that was a piece of cake (no pun intended). The real food table came together with the help of my awesome family and it was amazing! I always have this overwhelming fear of not serving enough food, but at the end of every party I think to myself...what the heck did everyone eat if so much of it is still here!? Then again, since we are Russian and we never come at a specific time or leave when the party is over ...most people end up staying very late to just chat. And what do people do when they sit around and chat? They eat! They may not be hungry. In fact, they may be on the verge of popping, but they still eat. So in our case, extra food will never pose as a problem (thankfully). Now, let me just take second and fill you in on the outrageously delicious food that we all devoured...

• A delicious summer salad with spinach, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, berries, tossed in a combination of balsamic vinegar and olive oil
• A very light and fresh Quinoa salad with red and yellow peppers, parsley and orange zest
• A pasta salad with tangy feta cheese and veggies
• An assortment of homemade party sandwiches (tune salad, egg salad, and cream cheese)
• BBQ chicken kebob skewers with zucchini, peppers and onions accompanied by a chilli dipping sauce as well as a plum dipping sauce
• Amazingly crispy oven-baked spinach, ricotta and cheese pockets (Mom's famous spinach pie in a bite-size little creation)
• Over baked sweet potato 
• An assortment of sushi
• Veggie tray and dip
• Tostitos and salsa
• And god forbid people were still hungry, we served thin crust pizza with various toppings

Moving on...the dessert table came to look just as I had hoped. I made cake pops for the first time in my life. Not that making something you have never attempted for the first time for someone's baby shower is a good idea, but whatever! I took my chances. I am glad that I did because they were a hit. Absolutely everyone loved them for their moist cake interior and the fun serving size they came in. Polina's absolute favourite dessert I make are the oreo cheesecake cupcakes. So I thought I would substitue the usual graham cracker cheesecake crust with an oreo crust and turn the recipe into a full blown cheesecake. This way everyone was able to cut off as much as they pleased and it gave me the chance to decorate it with a little message. In addition, my sister ordered delicious gourmet cupcakes with dolce icing on top. Of course, I also made sure to have an assortment of gummy candies and little pacifier hard candies (this is probably the only event where those candies make any sense). Anyways, it's safe to say that there was enough sugar on that table to make you sick...in a good way of course.

Now, onto the decorations! Let me tell you something... there was quite a bit of research that went into this partay. As some of you know, I sit on Pinterest religiously so I am always coming across amazing party creations. One of the things I knew I absolutely HAD to have were tissue paper pom poms. For those who are unfamiliar with this term, they are literally pom poms made from various colours of tissue paper that you can hang from the ceiling in bunches. They look insanely cute, like massive flowers (refer to photos). I watched a few youtube tutorial videos and with a little bit of practice there they were, hanging about from the ceiling. Every single person who pointed them out was shocked that they were handmade. The cool thing about them is that they are like a little mystery. Not a single human being can look at those things and say OH! pff, I can totally tell how she made those!

One of the coolest things I made for this Baby Shower is the Wisdom and Wishes Tree! I bought a metal bucket, fake grass, collected my neighbours branches, clothes pins and designed very adorable baby Wisdom and Wishes Cards. This awesome creation was placed on top of the gift table along side a keepsake box. Guests were asked to pick a card off the tree and either give the future mom advice or send her their best wishes and place the card in the box. Now, years down the road she can always reach for that box and be reminded of all the people who were present at her first Baby Shower. I also bought a wooden butterfly, spray painted it pink (of course) and wrote Mama's Little Present on it with cute bubble letters. The butterfly was there to mark the gift table but it also doubles as decoration for the baby's room.

Last but not least, I had Polina open up her presents. All of the gifts were so adorable. I know that a new born baby is ridiculously small, but when you see the baby clothes you can't help but be shocked that a human being can actually fit into those tiny little pants! It's bizarre. At the beginning of the party, I tied a ribbon around Polina's belly with a big bow and a tag that read "Do not open til June 14, 2012" (which is her due date). The idea behind it was that the best present in the whole room was what is inside her belly. However, I will admit that although everyone found it cute and funny, some initial reactions sounded a little like this "Oh my god! That's kind of gross!" Regardless, it always sparked laughter so I am still calling it a successful idea!

Well that's that! I'm really happy I took on this project, I learned quite a bit from it. It kind of justified all the time I spend on social media sites (maybe not in the eyes of my mother, but it works for me). Now, I get to just sit back and await the arrival of my little niece! 

Thanks for dropping by and sorry for the insanely long post this time! 

Bye for now.

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/raisanakhimova/

Sweet Freedom

No pun intended.

Exams are officially over!

You know what's funny? When I need to be busy studying I always find other things I want to be doing. No. NEED to be doing. God forbid I don't do these things, I will literally not survive. For example, becoming little Ms.Baker, reading up on all of the world events (like really, how am I supposed to sleep not knowing what Africa is up to?), watching an entire season of a new show in one night... 

Anyways, the point is now that I am finito, all I want to do is NADA :) 

Earlier this week, we had a delicious BBQ. Don't be fooled, it wasn't nearly as nice outside as it looks in these photos. It was literally no more than 10 degrees celsius but that doesn't stop anyone in my family from devouring incredibly juicy lamb chops. I took my camera out to snap some photos in the backyard and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised at how pretty all of the fruit trees were. The fruit trees are probably one of the best aspects of summer at home. Lying down out on the patio couch swing with a book, snacking on fresh sour cherries. 

A couple of days ago, I woke up wanting to bake. Four hours later I wanted someone to point a gun to my head. I'll explain. I somehow managed to pick a recipe that consisted of 3 different parts and I was not expecting it what.so.ever. For some reason, I saw the recipe for Black Forest Cupcakes and thought Hey! That sounds like a piece of cake! Let me quickly throw those babies together. NO. There was no "throwing together" and you definitely cannot describe anything I did that day as "quickly". They literally took me 4 hours. I mean they were delicious, no doubt. For variety, I also made a batch with Nutella and strawberries (The original have cognac, sour cherries, and pastry cream). Will these be making an another appearance in the near future, absolllutttleeeyyy not.

Here's a little story to prove how yummy they were. As they were cooling outside on the deck, I caught a squirrel trying to snatch one! Of course my initial reaction was to scream like a maniac causing the squirrel to drop the top half and take a dash for its' life. I quickly brought in the entire untouched batch and left that one little cupcake for the little thief. Within a few seconds, the bugger was back! It was actually pretty cute. I mean, the squirrel ate the whole thing so I think it's safe to say it's probably dead right about now. But at least it died happy. Right? That's what I tell myself.

Anyways, I'm off to my little elf room to work out the logistics for the baby shower.

Chat soon!