marshall’s monster birthday post!

hey guys! well, as expected, the past 36 hours have been go, go, GO!  i am exhausted but i know marshall had a great birthday, so it was all worth it!

grab a snack. this post is going to be long.

friday after work i was planning to hit the gym for a run, but i got out of work later than i anticipated. what else is new? instead of the gym, marshall and i rushed to costco and the regular grocery store. we stocked up on TONS of food.  sometimes when i have a party i tend to go overboard with menu planning.. my motto is “better too much than not enough!” pretty sure i adopted that motto from momma b.

we were grocery shopping for about two hours. yikes. we got home around seven, threw all the refrigerated items in the fridge and quickly changed our clothes.  my boss’ daughter got married friday and we went to the reception to congratulate the happy couple.   the reception was fabulous! there was a dessert crepe bar.  i had a cheesecake filled crepe topped with peaches, strawberries and raspberries. delicious. i didn’t take my camera because sometimes i just don’t feel like it. one of the perks when blogging is just a hobby and not your job, i suppose

we got home around 9 o’clock and i started my baking extravaganza at 9:12 exactly. i had a long night ahead of me. for marshall’s birthday, i baked four different kinds of cupcakes:

• ellie krieger’s carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting
• mama pea’s chocolate marble cupcakes with dark chocolate frosting (vegan)
• mama pea’s mango cupcakes with coconut cream frosting (vegan)
• my very own peanut butter filled vanilla bean cupcakes with dark chocolate frosting (recipe to come)

since i was frantically baking my life away, i really didn’t bother snapping any photos. but marshall did snag a few of me grating baby carrots lovingly by hand.

what can i say, i love the man.

i got a photo of the birthday boy “sampling” the baked goods.

and i also happened to get a photo of the aftermath.

do you spy my new favorite kitchen friend?

love it.

here is why you should probably not use your laptop to read recipes..

that can’t be good.

four different batches and 48 cupcakes later, i was spent. i hit the sack around 1 AM.

saturday AKA marshall’s birthday!

we woke up bright and early. i am a little slow and had to run to the store to snag marshall a card, some wrapping paper and a few other odds and ends for the party (paper plates, utensils, cups, vegan burgers, dark chocolate frosting and strawberry yogurt.. if you must know.)

i got home and frantically wrapped marshall’s gifts because he was so anxious to open them. as i clumsily wrapped the packages, i thought “why the bleep am i wrapping these, only so he can tear the paper off  precisely 3 minutes after i get done wrapping them?” and then, even more importantly, i thought “furthermore, why in the bleepity bleep did i buy TWO different designs of wrapping paper? who the bleep even cares?! what a waste of eight dollars.”

i finished wrapping the gifts (and thinking phrases filled with profanity) and marshall eagerly opened his long awaited birthday parcels.

the boy is easy to shop for. anything that says puma or green bay packers and it’s a guaranteed win. pretty sure penny and randy wished it was their birthday.

i have been telling marshall that he would be picking out his “big gift” this year because i wasn’t sure which one to buy. i told him i would write down what the gift was on his card and that would have to be a good enough surprise.

after months of eluding to the “big gift”, i wrote “the big gift is birthday jeans!” in the card.

i ‘m tricky  

he didn’t fall for it. not even for a second. but at least it made him smile! the real big gift is an iPad, which he has wanted for awhile now. i don’t know which one he wants, so i just told him that he could pick one out. how boring am i?! oh well, this way he will be sure to get the one he wants!

we cleaned up (and i ate some chobani+kashi go lean with a mug of coffee) and then headed out to the farmers market. the LAST ONE. yeah, salt lake city fails when it comes to farmers markets. they were just getting good! ugh.

we really soaked up the last trip to the market. i am going to miss this weekly tradition.

marshall got another$2 cookie.. this time it was “zoey” AKA blueberry lemon poppyseed. WELL WORTH IT.

after the market, we met marshall’s dad, step mom, step bro & niece for brunch. we went to our favorite: millcreek café & eggworks.

i went with the veggie wrap on a sun dried tomato tortilla. it was filled with eggs, cheddar jack cheese, spinach and mushrooms. i had a side of fruit and coffee.

it was nice to catch up with marshall’s folks.. can you believe we hadn’t seen them since the wedding?! furthermore, can you believe i still haven’t picked up my wedding photos?! it was THREE months ago to the day! ugh. i am a bad person.

after brunch, we headed to the gateway mall (it is an outdoor mall in salt lake city) for some birthday shopping.

marshall got his birthday jeans and i decided to get myself some wedges in honor of marshall’s birthday.

actually, i got them because penny ate my favorite black wedges. that lil’ rascal!

we got back to our house around 3 o’clock and the party was starting at 7:30. so, basically, for the next 4.5 hours i was in the kitchen!

i made:

• BBQ pulled chicken (for sandwiches)
• sun dried tomato hummus (served w/ pita chips)
• chopped vegetable tray  (served w/ sour cream ranch dip)
• diced fruit bowl (served w/ erica’s fruit dip)
• oven baked russet & sweet potatoes with cheese (and a pan without for the vegans)
• spinach, romaine & pear salad with creamy balsamic vinaigrette
• frosted 45 cupcakes (3 were consumed the night before.. marshall had to “test” them )

to make things easy, we bought pre-made hamburger patties. marshall made guacamole and once kristen got to my house, i threw together some queso (she brought the ingredients).

i was a bad blogger and took no photos of the whole process. i was in a really big hurry to get the food made, clean the house and get myself ready. it was a lot of work but i honestly enjoyed every minute. i LOVE cooking lots of different dishes at once and i really love preparing food for other people. that’s probably why i want to own a restaurant so bad!

i was just icing the final cupcakes as guests started arriving. perfect timing i was busy having fun and being a hostess so i really didn’t get photos of all the food.. but i did the best i could! here ya go:

my plate:

surprisingly, the thing that everyone liked most was the simplest dish: the potatoes. for these, i simply diced russet & sweet potatoes, tossed them in olive oil, salt, pepper and trader joe’s 21 seasoning salute, then baked them at 350 degrees for an hour and a half (slow and steady wins the race!).. at the end, i added cheese to the top and broiled it for a bit. they were REAL good.

time for fun photos

once we were all full from dinner, it was time to bust out the cupcakes. don’t you all know that our stomachs have a specially reserved empty spot built specifically for cupcakes?

peanut butter filled vanilla bean with dark chocolate frosting

(vegan) chocolate marble with dark chocolate frosting

carrot cake with cream cheese icing

(vegan) mango with coconut cream icing

we sang to the birthday boy.

he made his wish.

he blew all 27 out in one big huff and puff.

and we ate cupcakes!

i think it is safe to say the cupcakes were a crowd pleaser.

the rest of the night was spent with good friends, great conversation and.. of course.. more cupcakes.

now marshall is snoring on the couch with penny and randy cuddled up to him. i think it is safe to say he had a great birthday, i am lucky that i got to be a part of it

we will be going to my parents for a big birthday dinner tonight (it is now 4:05 AM so i can technically say tonight.. it IS sunday). marshall will be glued to the packers game most of the afternoon, so i am going to try to get a workout in.

on that note, i better call it a night. this post took a good 2 hours to type and now it’s past 4 in the morning and i am talking about working out. i need to catch some ZZZs!

if you made it this far, i am impressed! thanks for reading!

Qs~

1. favorite kind of cupcake? carrot cake is my current favorite. that could change tomorrow though surprisingly, the peanut butter filled vanilla bean cupcakes were the biggest hit at the party!

2. would you rather cook for other people or have someone cook for you? i love, love, LOVE cooking for others!!! i wish i could do it every day. well, i do cook for marshall every day, but i am talking bigger groups of people. it’s so fun.

xo. janetha g.