Look, I know there are some people out there who subscribe to Martha Stewart's magazine and just LOVE to entertain and create beautiful, mouthwatering dishes...
But I am not one of those people. I'd just as soon toss everyone a bagel and an apple for dinner and call it good. But, one cannot live in civilized society, it seems, and escape the inescapable need to make REAL food on occasion.
For example, (sigh) Steve's birthday. It was yesterday. And I spent three stressful hours creating this:
A work of art, surely. (At least, by Jenn-standards, which is why I took a picture.)
But now it has been desecrated. Certainly not worth the three hours of labor it took.
And then there are the decorations for such a party. Once again, I'm not so gifted in this department. We decided to leave out balloons and streamers, and go for a sort of "Macaroni Grill" look (which, by the way, I dined there once in Vegas two tables away from Andre Agassi and Brooke Shields, back in the day when they were still married. And let me say, they look exactly the same in person. She is SO tall and he is SO bald.)
We covered the table with white paper and let the kids run-a-muck with the crayons while we ate, which was actually the highlight of the meal! (The crayon sketches, that is. Not the actual meal itself.) Seriously, my back is still hurting from trying to lay out the paper and arrange the dishes in a pleasing manner and all I was able to pull off was this:
Not very Martha Stewart-ish. (My arch-enemy, I decided!) But still, the paper was a good idea. The kids had fun, at least.Here are some not-very-good pics of Steve opening a few presents. Nothing exciting this year.
But he did get this AWESOME (to him, at least) surgical cap to wear while, you know, fixing jaws and such. It looks dorky here, but trust me, it looks HOT when he's wearing his scrubs. Rrraaarrrr, baby!
(PS...Thanks, Heidi, for rescuing my torte. I hope the kids returned the mixer in one piece. (?))
9 comments:
So your casual "I'm just making Steve's birthday cake" was quite the understatement. This spread is prof'. Really--the bucket, the dishes, the basket of bread, the glassware. Fancy stuff.
I guess I missed who did the birthday singing/clapping business...you know, like at Macaroni Grill.
Oh, you got a video of it? And that will be your next post? Perfect!
Jenn, I think that chocolate torte looks pretty darn fancy! I have very few domestic skills (luckily I married a man who knows how to cook), so I'm always impressed when I see a "creation" like that.
Well done! :-)
btw: your children are absolutely gorgeous!
Well done Jenn. I remember when you and Steve first got married and you decorated your house and you said something to the effect of "I don't want anything with straw or hay coming out of it!!" --I think you were referring to some wreaths that were common to decorate in the 90s.
I have gotten a lot simpler in my tastes with decorating. However, I am a big Martha Stewart fan. I do like to create beautiful quiches and small lemon tarts with strawberries cut and fanned out just so....but I haven't created a beautiful table in forever!!!
I invited my cousins over in two weeks for dinner, you've inspired me to really set the stage and pull out the nice dishes!
Finally someone else who doesn't enjoy fancy cooking and will admit it (I too would rather get out bagels and apples, or even bowls of cereals for dinner than actually take the time and effort to make "real" food!). But, it looks like you pulled it off well, even if you didn't enjoy it! The cake looks amazing and your table setting is great - what a fun wife and mom you are!
I think you secretly LIKE Martha Stewart and just won't admit it.
Seriously-- that cake is amazing. I would have never even thought to decorate the table. I love cooking, but presentation is NOT my forte. And I exploded a paint pen all over my hands at Super Saturday yesterday. That's why I'm the Enrichment counselor. Oh yeah.
No worries -- mixer returned in working order. Way to go upping the Denali Ct husbands' expectations for birthday dinners! =)
Don't be so hard on yourself-you did great!!!
For the record, Sheila...NO. I do not secretly like Martha Stewart. She puts way too much pressure on the rest of us.
And just to take the pressure off everyone else...the meal I made was not such a crowd pleaser.
So there you have it!
(But I was proud of my cake.)
Your dessert looks fancy and yummy too. Usually the fancy looking stuff doesn't taste very good to me.
Love the cap thingy! Having dental work done wouldn't be so bad if my dentist wore a BYU hat.
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