The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men...

(... often go astray.)

This turned out to be not bad, despite my frustration levels and snappishness.  And Eric was great about it.

See, we again held our annual Mardi Gras in June party, which I posted about last year.  It's always a big hit, and the guest list keeps getting bigger and better.  This year, in addition to my traditional southern pecan pies, I decided to try my first ever topsy turvy cake, since I'd taken that class.

I knew I'd need practice.  Thing is, covering a styrofoam practice round with fondant is a lot easier than actual cake.  And with a topsy turvy cake, the tiers are cut with the sides angled inward.  Not easy.  But I want to be able to do cool cakes for my nephew's birthday and other events.  So this was my first, and we'll sort of consider it practice.

It started off well.  I chose red velvet, since it's Eric's favorite.

I piled up the layers into the two tiers, and cut 'em to shape.

So far so good.  Then I filled and crumbcoated them with a cream cheese frosting recipe I got from this blog.

And therein lies the problem.  Not the frosting or the recipe, because holy crow was it good!  The problem is that it's a very wet type of frosting.  And fondant just loves to absorb moisture.  So... yeah.  There I am trying to cover the cake with fondant I colored and rolled out nice and thin, and it's getting all wet and sticky while I'm trying to get it to lie smooth and flat.

Frustration makes me snippy.

And Eric was really so awesome.  He kept getting things for me, and taking trash away, and asking what he could do to help.  And I was kinda snarly.

See, this was my plan.

Nice sharp edges, which if you look at the cut, shaped, but uncovered cake, were successful at the time.  Feathers, beads, a mask.  And those squiggles were to be fleur de lis.

Yeah.

In the end, I fought through, and came up with this...

Not as smooth as I wanted, obviously, and I got too tired to do beads for the top tier too.  The fleur de lis were a little misjudged.  And it got kind of ... bulbous rather than sharp.  Well, I tried.  And it's not bad, I suppose, for a first attempt.  I am, I have to say, really happy with my gum paste mask and feathers.  This was the first time I ever made or used gum paste.  And I'm happy with the Mardi Gras beads around the bottom.

Just... I need practice.  I know that.  And never again will I do cream cheese frosting with fondant.

It was a hit anyway, friends wouldn't let me cut it until they took a sufficient number of photos.  And of course they devoured it.  We were left with this.

Don't worry, we ate it.  But what of the leftover cake, the parts I had to cut off to shape it?  No worries, those became red velvet cake pops!

Yum!

Leave it to me to start with dessert first.  We did have crawfish too, I promise.  What's Mardi Gras without crawfish?

And etouffee, still my favorite food in the world.  It was such a hit last year that we ordered five pounds of tail meat this year instead of one.

Also devoured.

And drinks and platters, corn and potatoes.

In addition to the bubbles, balls, and sidewalk chalk we had for the kiddos...

... my friend Emilie pulled out her face painting kit.  There was one request for a tiger, though, so Emilie suggested I take that one.

He is my friend's son, and was hysterical.  He proceeded to run around the party roaring at everyone!

And to finish up, the photo I call "Aftermath of a Party."

Another success, in the end!

I Created a Monster. Perhaps Two.

So... remember the beer garden?  The cute Valentine's Day idea I had for Eric, since he loves beer so much, and I thought it'd be fun for him to have a wheat/barley/hops garden, even though he'd never really have enough from it to use in beer?  This one.

Well, it turns out Eric loves growing things.  In fact, (and this I knew before) he went to one of those specialized NYC high schools and this one had an agricultural program, so he'd been pretty good at growing things.  A good foil for my brown, thumb, really.

(And I do mean brown thumb.  I can kill cacti.  I have killed 'em... as well as orchids, Bonsai trees, California jades, and an aloe plant.)

Anyway, Eric also had a veggie garden in his yard as a kid, and he loved taking care of it.  I had no idea how much.

So... this little bitty beer garden, a fun gifty item I got him, led to this:

Yup, veggies in a seed starter.  Now, I'm not going to lie and say I don't like fresh veggies.  I love 'em.  And I'm kind of excited at the prospect.  But the seed starter led to bigger containers, of course.

And bigger.

So now, we've got this happening...

(Yes, that's still the beer garden you see in these photos.  The wheat and barley are still going strong, after a short haircut from the cats before it was moved outside.  Still no hops, but hops are tough, so we're not worrying about them.)

We've got veggies and herbs out there all over our big deck which suddenly doesn't seem so big anymore.  We've got another seed starter with herbs in it, and chamomile, which I'm really exited about because you might notice I really like tea.

And then I got in on the act too.  Flowers!  I wanted flowers.  So we got another seed starter, and I planted flower seeds yesterday.  No little compartments for me, just a sea of soil.  I want a wildflower kind of look happening; I much prefer that to the manicured, orderly gardens that make sense when it comes to veggies.  I did basically plant taller stuff to the "back" of the plot and shorter stuff to the front for better visibility.  I didn't bother with photos, since right now it's just a bunch of dirt and you can't see anything interesting, but I've got sunflowers, lobelia, Johnny jump ups, morning glories, alyssums in white and purple, a maravilla tea time mix, snapdragons, primroses, Canterbury bells, hollyhocks, scabiosa, sweet peas, and lavender.

We didn't buy the lavender; I had the seeds already.  See, two years ago, the wedding shower my sister and bridesmaids threw me was a garden party theme.

See those centerpieces?  That green watering can in the foreground is the watering can we're now using for our plants.  And those little boxes at each place setting?  Those favors were lavender startup kits.  Each one has a tiny terra cotta pot, a soil disk, and lavender seeds.  So it was one of those lavender packets, from leftover favors, that I used in my garden mix.

Once this one is ready to plant outside, I'll do it again, and plant some more!

So... yeah... I created a monster (Eric).  But I think I might become one too!  And hopefully Eric can help counter that brown thumb of mine.

Beer Garden

For Valentine's Day, I got Eric a beer-themed gift.  In addition to this shirt and this beer yeast stuffed animal,

I got him this beer garden to grow.  I really do love ThinkGeek.  And he loved his gift.  Well, on Tuesday, he finally pulled it out and planted the hops.  After soaking the barley and wheat per the instructions, he planted those Wednesday.  The hops, which were planted first?

Nothing yet.

But you see those shoots in the backrgound?  Barley & wheat!  Already!  Look.

Barley.

Wheat.

At the rate those two are going, it's likely that while I've typed this post, they've doubled in size.

So why am I telling you about this?  Because you get to hold Eric accountable to taking care of this garden.  Now it can't be neglected, or we'll have to tell you all.

(He says this makes me accountable too, but nuh-uh!  I've got a brown thumb!)

Update:  I think these things might take over our bodies in the middle of the night.  They have to be alien plants.  They're getting so huge so fast we can practically watch them grow.  Look!

I mean, look at this guy!

He's already sprouting!

What have we been up to?

Well, for starters, we brought our first batch of the new Mashed In over to the NJ Beer Co. to be sold in their tasting room.

Matt decided to give the soap counter space instead of putting it across the way on the shelves with the shirts & hats.  This way, it doesn't get lost in the shuffle and people notice it while sitting at the bar.

Soap is little, after all.

So we got to hang out with Matt, and I know at least one or two bars were purchased the first weekend, which is pretty nifty.

And then this past Sunday, we did another craft fair at the Minerals Resort & Spa in Vernon.  This time, we worked on featuring our NJ Beer Co. Mashed In beer soap.  Eric was funny, calling it our "Superbowl beer soap."  It was Superbowl Sunday, after all.

It's hard to see in the photos, but we had the Mashed In up on a higher tier back there.  Behind the soap are three Chocolate Decadence pillar candles too.

And Matt even gave us one of his posters to display!

We thought it was funny, because we were, in fact, "serving" NJ Beer Co. beer.  Just... y'know... in soap!

Exclusive New Label

The new version of Mashed In beer soap is all done and has been wrapped.  It's ready for purchase at Reef Botanicals and at the NJ Beer Co. brewery at 4201 Tonnelle Avenue, North Bergen, NJ.

How awesome does that look with the new label merging the NJ Beer Company logo and our own style... just like the soap itself!

Collaboration

Remember this?  When I told you we were beer snobs?

That, as you may know, is our Mashed In beer soap.  Awesome stuff.  My absolute favorite of our soaps, in fact.

Well, the original batch, the batch in that photo, was made with Sam Adams Noble Pils.  Beer is great for the skin, and that's an admittedly darned good beer.

Wait.  Beer is good for the skin?

Yup.  Good for the skin.  I've read that in ancient Egypt, long considered the birthplace of beer, women of the upper classes used beer for all sorts of cosmetic and therapeutic purposes, such as to freshen the skin and reduce the risk of skin conditions.  And more recent scientific studies have shown that brewer's yeast can help improve the symptoms of acne and maintain a balanced pH in the skin.  As a result, cosmetic companies are starting to incorporate brewer's yeast as an active ingredient in their formulas.

So... beer soap.

But we found better beer.  Local beer.  New Jersey Beer.

The NJ Beer Co. is local to Reef Botanicals, just a few minutes away at 4201 Tonnelle Avenue, North Bergen, NJ.  It was founded by president Matt Steinberg.

Photo:  Peter Kennedy

A very nice guy, and exceedingly talented at what he does, his take on it all is that the "New Jersey Beer Co. is dedicated to crafting quality beer for all; from the occasional beer drinker to the beer aficionado.  We believe that good products come from good people, and strive to do our very best for our community and our customers.  We believe we can provide happiness through doing what we love, and that a good beer can make the good times great."

It's that sense of community and quest for good times that led the NJ Beer Co. to open up a tasting room, which offers free samples of NJ Beer and a tour of the brewery from 6-8 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays, and 2-6 p.m. on Saturdays.

To keep up with their events, be sure to become a fan of their Facebook page.

But that sense of community is going even farther now.  We're teaming up with them to produce our new version of Mashed In, a collaboration between Reef Botanicals and the NJ Beer Co.  For our first batch, we've used my favorite of their beers, the Garden State Stout.

Because we're using a stout and the same chocolate malted barley used to make the beer, as well as hops, this batch of soap will necessarily be darker.

And because it's a stout, in addition to the cedarwood essential oil we used in the original Mashed In, we've added a touch of coffee essential oil too.

It's in the molds and ready to go!

The best part?  Not only will our NJ Beer Co. Mashed In beer soap be available at the Reef Botanicals website, we'll also have it this Sunday, February 6, at the Minerals Resort Winter Wonderland craft fair!

Know what's even better than that?  You'll be able to buy our new Mashed In at the NJ Beer Co. brewery!  Go for a tasting, try some of the amazing beers, and buy Reef Botanicals Mashed In... all in the same trip!