don't stop till you get enough.... desserts!

Last night we held a Michael Jackson party. Katie organized the party as part of her Incredibly Strange Movie nights she's been feverishly holding.

I started out baking Black or White cookies from the Martha Stewart Cookies book. But we decided to also assemble a cake in honour of MJ modeled after his famous glove.

The fingers are twinkies and the palm is a store bought pound cake.

I iced.
Nuno dragee dropped.
It turned out great!

We watched Moonwalker and cut it short without watching Captain Eo (which we've all seen recently). But Moonwalker was just horrible - in a very good way. The production was completely over the top with claymation, elaborate sets, super-involved dance routines (to be expected) and a computer generated MJ transformer! But for all it’s pomp and showmanship I kept asking, “Who wrote this?” There wasn’t a story - at all. It was basically a MJ worship film with bad guys trying to kill MJ and kid’s following him through his perilous journey. The movie was inter cut with his music videos which further baffled the story. I guess the best reveal is when the credits roll and the entire movie was written by Michael himself. I love the idea that we are left to assume no one could collaborate on this or edit his vision - just dump tons of money into Micheal's self obsessed fan film.

ISMN: The Wizard

I wanted to quickly post about the third Incredibly Strange Movie Night held this past Saturday night. OK - this one was my favourite of all! Maybe because we actually got to go to somewhere else other than my own backyard for the screening of The Wizard. Katie went all out with a special 2 page quiz on Nintendo and the Wizard. I'm proud to share that I came in second place and won the Lucas Barton prize of Twizzlers and Twinkie lipgloss! Actually, all the prizes were pretty awesome.

I've seen this movie more than any other and I really didn't think there could possibly be any more jokes to be made...but I was wrong! There were a bunch of new things to laugh hysterically at. I remember at some point I was losing my breath and unable to stop laughing at every dumb joke, it was so much fun!

I can't possibly begin to cover everything Katie did to make this event so much fun, but she blogged a full account of the event here!

rankin run 2009

This past Friday night was Katie's first Incredibly Strange Movie Night which was held in our backyard. She showed Test Tube Babies along with other footage like an ABC promo reel.

I can't really talk too much about it because I spent the entire time the movie was showing in the kitchen baking desserts for the bbq after the Rankin Run. I made Brown Butter Toffee Blondies and Caramel Nut Bars. I baked these super sweets because people don't mind indulging after a long walk and the party was to have kids there, and we know kids love their sweets!

I'm so happy Nuno and I got to participate in the Rankin Run this year. It is a fundraiser where all donations are toward cancer research and treatment right here in Niagara. The company I work for had a team together for the run where we collected individual donations and corporate donations. The ironic thing about our company walking this walk is that two of the four participants from my office have recently started smoking since we decided to participate. ARG! I don't know, maybe they think there's already a cure for cancer?

It was the most beautiful day for the walk, the weather was perfect. Of course Tot came with us on the walk. We made her a special bandanna for the event. She didn't last very long though. Doesn't Nuno look impressed having to walk and carry a 22 pound pug? She seems to be enjoying the lift.

Since our home is close to the turn around point in the walk, we dropped her off at home for a rest while we finished the walk.

There was a wonderful refreshing breeze coming up the canal and the sun was bright. Maybe a little more bright than we realized since I'm now suffering from a burnt nose. Aaah! Skin cancer risk!!
Our after party was awesome because my boss lives super close to the start of the walk. His house is amazing and has the perfect backyard BBQ party set-up. It was a total blast and we think we'll probably do this walk with the company every year. But next year it will be Nuno, Tot & I along with our baby in a stroller. I can't wait!

happy birthday katie

Yesterday night we celebrated Katie's birthday by attending Trash Palace's first Niagara screening at the NAC. It was a great time, especially since so many of our friends came out. Katie got the chance to promote her Incredibly Strange Movie Night and her sign-up sheet was impressive. Looks like loads of people are interested in being a part of her idea. So to explain - Katie is organizing summer-long backyard screenings of underground/hard to find movies. I can't wait to help out and host one myself. It's probably one of the things I'm most looking forward to this summer and I'll be sure to blog about them as they happen.


I made these cupcakes for the birthday party we had before the Trash Palace screening. They remind me of soft serve from Dairy Queen, but I've heard these style cupcakes are called Hi Hat Cupcakes (which are typically finished by dipping in chocolate). They may look like a ton of work, but they are not. I decided to bake them because I had all the ingredients on hand and was limited to baking without butter. Both recipes are from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. The cupcakes were the One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcake and her Almond Swiss Meringue frosting. The frosting was different than any other I've made in the past. I actually prefer it to butter cream or whipped cream icing. Can you believe it only takes 6 ingredients? Egg whites, sugar, salt, vanilla & almond extract and cream of tartar. I think of it as a somewhat guilt-free icing. The finishing touch was a toasting from the handy kitchen blow torch. One day I think I might do the chocolate dipped version. They are so fun, I can't wait to one day bake these for my children's grade school bake sales.