catering

As the declared Martha Stewart of my tightknit friend group from back home, I take it upon myself to do most of the extensive food preparation for our parties. From roly-poly Santa cookies to fruit pizza to grilled chicken rolls, I'm considerably decent at making (or getting my parents to make) food and presenting it prettily.

(upside-down sticky pecan cakes)

Parties (such as our annual Barn Party, coming up this Wed!) are the highlight of school breaks and occasional odd weekends. 

(spanakopita... not so much a success)

We've had quite the variety of themes too. From the Yacht Party we had at Julianna's grandfather's house to Christmas 2008's Communist Party (don't worry, all we did was wear red and go out to eat...), we've done it all. Or at least thought them up and saved them on file for the future.

("eat me" soft sugar cookies for my Alice in Wonderland party in 2007)

Laken, my best, is my wing-woman and creative assistant at large. She's the one who typically encloses magazine clippings in her letters from Tech and helps me suspend Christmas trees from the basement rafters.

(laken and me at last year's toga party)

Now that we're all getting older and the first of us got married last year, the pressure for bridal shower creativity is mounting. No worries, though. We had Eleni's in the bag.

(hors d'ouevres I prepared! cream cheese rounds, mango chicken lettuce wraps, ham & swiss in phyllo cups!)

(mini tiered wedding cakes + Martha's vanilla bean sugar cookies in bridal cutouts!)

So, all that is to say:  I'm compiling stuff for future showers. Most recent addition to my list?

Apple Salad. Mmmm.

(You should really go check out Sweet Paul magazine. It's online and so neat! Their debut!)

let them eat cake!

So, all this wedding business tends to put my sweet tooth on a specific track:  it wants wedding cake, and it wants it NOW.
What is more classic or perfect for wedding cake than a perfect, classic white cake? Nothing. So what did I do this evening in lieu of attending Greek Sing practice? Baked a white cake. :)

recipe courtesy of Magnolia Bakery in nyc

old-fashioned white cake

1 stick unsalted butter
1 1/2 c sugar
2 cups self-rising flour
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
4 large egg whites


grease and flour pans. cream butter. add sugar until fluffy. add flour in three parts, alternating with milk and vanilla. beat egg whites until soft peaks. fold into batter. do not overmix. pour batter into cake pan and bake at 350 for 22-25 mins.

frosting (also courtesy of the magnolias)
vanilla buttercream

1/2 cup (a stick) unsalted butter, very soft
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

mix and frost away, frost away!

And yes, I did try to get fancy, and no, it was no great beauty or masterpiece. But it tastes DIVINE. DIVINE.

Go taste some heaven.

(and thank you Dani for going to look up this recipe for me at home!)

(and thank you sweet parents for taking me to sweetwise to learn to frost cakes properly. i still haven't perfected them, but i'm working on it!)