Hyperbole... and stuff: Food-tography Friday

I don't often get food-bloggy here. I'm not sure why that is. I love getting in the kitchen and cooking and baking. I really should do food-related posts more often! I keep trying to remind myself to take the camera into the kitchen with me and get some step-by-step photos to make a food post, and I always forget. But today is going to be "Food-tography Friday" where I combine my Photography Friday post with food! Excited?! Silly question, right? Why wouldn't you be?!

Remember yesterday, when I said I'd share more about Olette's birthday party at a later date? Well, that date is today! Can you believe it? I said I would blog about something later, and here I am, actually doing it!

Once Olette decided on the theme for her birthday party this year (no kidding, all the way back in June, after her cousin had a 1st birthday tea party), we scoured cookbooks, magazines, and the internet for cute ideas to combine a tea party with a Minnie Mouse party.

I think we did a pretty good job...

Some of the recipes we found, we followed exactly, but most of them were more of an inspiration and set of "guidelines" for us to go by. We served a birthday cake of petit fors, Minnie Mouse cookies, strawberry and Nutella tea sandwiches, white chocolate candy, sparkling pink lemonade, hot cocoa, and, of course, tea.

For the record, I am fairly certain that petit fors will never be made in my kitchen again. Ever. I'm one of those people who, in the kitchen at least, doesn't stop to think about whether what I'm about to do exceeds my actual abilities to do it. Turns out, petit fors fall into that category. Even after dumbing down the process for myself as much as possible, my little plate of cakes looked nothing like any picture of petit fors I have ever seen*.

Note the lack of uniformity in size... And how they're more orange than pink.

The Minnie Mouse cookies were a much easier task. In the cookbook where we found the idea, they were ladybug cookies. It's ridiculous how easy they were to make.

Seriously. A blindfolded monkey could have done it.

All you need is a box of vanilla wafers, a tub of frosting, a couple drops of red or pink food color, Jr. Mints, white chocolate chips, and a sense of resignation to the fact that you're about to embark on a kind of tedious task. (A friend in the kitchen to keep you company helps, too!)

The strawberry and Nutella tea sandwiches were my absolute favorite part! I am kind of a Nutella addict-- I even have a whole pin board on Pinterest devoted to Nutella recipes!

I made them open-face sandwiches-- I thought it was more visually appealing.

All you need to make your own is thin-sliced bread, Nutella, and some fresh strawberries. (Yes, for the second year in a row, I found myself paying $5 for a quart of strawberries in November. But my baby girl is worth it!) You can also see the white chocolate candy-- just white chocolate bark, a couple handfuls of dried fruit (I used a blend of cranberries and apples), and pink sprinkles.

And then there was the sparkling pink lemonade. Which required a simple syrup. Which, in theory, should have been, well, simple: Put equal parts sugar and water in a pan and cook until the sugar is dissolved, then cool. Add to lemonade. Instead, it went like this:

1. Put equal parts sugar and water in a pan and turn on the stove.

2. Step out of kitchen just for a second to check on something.

3. Ten minutes later, remember that you put a pan of water and sugar on the stove.

4. Admire the beautiful amber color of the caramel you just made.

5. Heave a sigh, curse yourself for being so scatterbrained, and empty pan into the sink.

6. Think that, since the sugar is so hot, you should maybe run some cold water with it into the sink so it doesn't mess up the pipes.

7. Marvel at the pretty amber rock candy that is now clogging your sink.

8. Try to un-clog your sink and discover the hard way that sugar crystals are sharp. Painfully sharp.

And that, my friends, is how I managed to slice open my finger while making a simple syrup. Please note that absolutely no one in my family was surprised to learn this. My second attempt at simple syrup? You better believe I watched it like a hawk! And the resulting lemonade was awesome!

Sparkling Pink Lemonade:

2 2ltr bottles lemon flavored sparkling water

1 bottle Smuckers raspberry syrup

1 cup simple syrup, cooled (made from 1 c water and 1 c sugar)

1 lemon, sliced (for garnish)

Combine all ingredients in a punch bowl. (I used a whisk to mix in the raspberry syrup, it's pretty thick.) You can add more simple syrup if it's not sweet enough.

All the effort was totally worth it, in the end-- Olette absolutely loved her Minnie Mouse Tea Party!