Tag Archives: cake

A Welcome Cake

11 Jul 2011


(click to see larger)

I asked Sweet Kiera to bake a cake in honor of Kristi arriving in San Francisco. A ‘welcome cake’. Kristi is in town for a whole month! Yay!

Kiera did an AMAZING JOB – My favorite cake ever. The iconic style, the simplicity, the cute fondant clouds. SO YUMMY!! That may sound a little cliche, but I don’t think there is a better adjective than yummy. We’re all pretty spoiled around here – Kiera’s cakes always taste the best. And what’s a cake that doesn’t taste as good as it looks?

Kiera put a cute little sign on the cake – so charming! I didn’t think it needed anything, but she was right…

Can you believe how big the boys have gotten since Christmas? So tall and handsome!


The funniest moment was when we realized that Sam was wolfing the cake – he doesn’t really like cake.
He even asked Kiera for the recipe! Clearly, a game changer. “Let them eat cake!” – but only if it’s from Sweet Kiera! :)

Welcome Kristi, Cole, Sam and eventually Rob – Happy Summer in San Francisco!

(ps. it was a horrible foggy cold day today. Classic San Francisco summer bummer. Kristi was lovin’ it.)

June 2nd (HB2Me)

03 Jun 2011

I had a very happy birthday. (click any to enlarge)


Oscar woke me up to this card, which is specially designed for me – No Purple.


And,he wore my favorite t-shirt, even though he “doesn’t prefer it”. That’s a flower petal for me!


We sat in the backyard and enjoyed the sun. What could be better? Oscar took this shot.


Oh, hello neighbors! It’s Georgia’s birthday too – her first.
And did you know, asymmetrical shoulders are all the rage in onsies.
Lucy’s gift to me was a double long nap!


Happy Hour


Not pictured: Nana and Chief, Madie & Alex, Cole & Kiera, Mark & Vale. Thanks for spoiling me guys!


Kiera made these!


Oscar looked up and spotted me this beauty. Which was even more fitting because of something he said earlier in the day. We had been watering the flowers, and making rainbows in the spray. He said, “Mom, rainbows are especially good on your birthday”.


Family tradition: put your ring around a candle, and when the candles are blown out, you get a wish too.


The little ones were on ice cream cake alert. (‘fishfood’!)

Also, not pictured, All the birthday phone calls and cute facebook wishes. The spectacular gifts, which I adore (and Kristi – the surprise present?! OMG.) The flowers of Perfect color. Even the magazine subscription. Thanks everyone – I felt really loved! xoxo

Wine & Cheese, Birthday Edition

10 Apr 2011

We missed Maria and Patrick’s back-to-back birthdays while we were on our vacation.
Happily Maria was game for another Wine & Cheese Friday so we could catch up!

This time, Oscar got to announce a surprise cake!

Maria and I have become cake snobs. There, I said it. We’re not super proud of that, and it’s a bit inconvenient, but it’s true. That’s what addiction to Sweet Kiera will do to you. Wait. Yeah – that’s it – I’m a victim! It’s not my fault I have ‘The Next Big Thing’ living next door, and producing copious amounts of sweet perfection…

Look how nice Mikayla and Lucy play together!

And here’s a small portion of the goods Maria had for us!

AND, the cake. It’s chiffon with chocolate filling, whip cream, and beautiful soft fondant that Kiera dusted with pearlescent paintbrush strokes. The cherry blossoms were inspired by Patrick & Maria’s wedding.

The Schmidt family came over too – it was great to see them! I tend to have a glass in my hand, not the camera, so I only have these few photos. But we had a really fun time, and the kids are awesome together. Patrick made fantastic ribs (MMMMMMM!) and I don’t think I’ll be hungry again for a week.

Oh Man we had a good weekend!

20 Mar 2011

Mark and I got to drop off the kids at my parents house early Saturday!
I got to clean the living room (Ha ha, but its so nice to do it with out kids in the way!!!).
Then we had drinks.
I felt like this:

Then we took a cab down to Ft. Mason for an auction/fundraiser for our pre-school, Laurel Hill. The theme was “Streets of San Francisco”. The tables were topped with street signs almost exactly how we did it at our wedding. It was a flashback!
We were the lucky “winners” of a couple key prizes, but more importantly, we got to see all the parents and teachers that I hadn’t seen in a year. It was so fun! Everyone wanted to know how Oscar liked Clarendon, and when Lucy would be enrolling. I told them not soon enough! (fall 2012)
Here’s me with Maria, the director, and three beloved teachers, Liz, Sally and Kaile.

It was a dark stormy night, but Cole picked us up and brought us back (you know C&K live next door?), where we had a beautiful Cake from Sweet Kiera, and watched SNL.

We got to SLEEP IN until 10:30. I stretched it until eleven! We made a big breakfast and read the newspaper. I got to open the kitchen windows that I normally can’t because Lucy would crawl out and fall to to her doom.
Nanu and Chief delivered the kids. Mark took Oscar out to ride bikes in the park. Lucy, Madie and I chilled over at C&K’s – Kiera made us Corned Beef Rubens on Acme Rye with sauerkraut!

I need a caption for this photo:

Hope you had a good weekend too! xoxo

Oscar’s Cake For The Oscars

28 Feb 2011


(Our Homemade Invitation for our family Oscar Party (a.k.a. Academy Awards and dinner)

Mark got a screamin’ deal on the Honey Baked Ham, because he is very good at that kind of thing. Nanu brought homemade Mac-n-Cheese, and Madie and Alex brought “Bomb Salad”, as in, ‘it’s the bomb’ (it was).
We realized Kiera wasn’t going to be able to join us . She was busy in NY!

Oscar had a idea for a cake topper he wanted to do. Nanu was making tiramisu, which turned out boozey and delicious. However I still needed a cake that Oscar could “top”. Normally Kiera would be all over that bad boy, but instead, I would just try to make something serviceable. My shortcut: Yellow cake from a box.

All of which gave me a realization: I am officially a cake snob. So spoiled by SK these days, I was not hungry for this faux cake! It’s just not yummy enough {sniff!}. Good thing for Nanu and the tiramisu!

Our frosting was lemon butter cream (no I will not stoop to frosting from a can). This came out a little too strongly lemon because I cavalierly threw in a ton of lemon zest with no measurement whatsoever. But the cake toppers were fun! Before we cut the cake, Oscar ceremoniously bowed the swan’s head into the frosting, and the king reined supreme.

Everyone filled out their ballots before the show. Some tried hard, some, not so much. Some convinced others to vote one way, and then changed back without saying! We circled our correct guesses as the show went on. In the end it was a close race for victory, which Alex clinched by predicting Best Director: The King’s Speech (Tom Hooper). We had fun -I hope to always watch the awards this way! Congrats to The King’s Speech for Best Picture as well!

Photo by Cole, with the point’n’shoot.