August Long Weekend - Parry Reunion '08

On the weekend we surprised my grandmother with a family reunion. Her plan was to spend the weekend at my aunt's cabin up at Crooked Lake but what she didn't know was that all of her grandkids and great grandkids were going to be there. The only person missing was my Uncle Garth who was unable to make it. The idea was hatched by my cousin, Ashley and my sister, Michelle a few months ago. It all came together pretty well. I was convinced that someone had spilled the beans and that Grandma knew what was going on but apparently she was caught completely off guard. It had been many years since the entire family was in the same place at the same time like this. It was such a wonderful weekend for everyone I think. It was really nice to catch up with everyone and meet some of the newer family members whom I hadn't yet met. It was also great meeting my cousin, Rebecca's fiancé, Geoff and my other cousin, Ashley's boyfriend, Carlos who happens to be from Guinea-Bissau and speaks Portuguese. Speaking with him in Portuguese made me very happy! I posted a ton of pictures on facebook so go check it out.

Group shot of the entire family taken on Saturday.

This is the cake that I made to celebrate the occasion. Any excuse to make a cake! This was my first attempt at a tiered cake, turned out pretty good I think.

Birthdays Birthdays Everywhere

Yesterday was a very special day. Most importantly it was my brother, Dirk's 30th birthday! Happy Birthday Dirk! He had a wiener roast party with some friends from work on Friday night and so I made him a cake. He is a little bit of (and by that I mean HUGE) Star Wars fan. So I decided I wanted to do something Star Wars related. Here is what I came up with.

R2D2

I got a little creative with this one. There are actually FIVE cakes that make up R2D2. The body is 3 8" round cakes stacked on top of each other. I baked a fourth cake in a pyrex bowl for the head and his legs were baked in a long loaf pan. I then cut and shaped the loaf into two legs. I inserted 4 plastic dowels into the 2 bottom round cakes and place a cardboard circle for support before adding the third round cake and the bowl cake on top. I then inserted a long plastic dowel through the middle of all four cakes to give it some stability. I also inserted plastic straws down the length of the legs to add support. I iced it with white and grey buttercream icing. The detailing is done in blue and grey fondant and then some grey buttercream piping. I was running out of time and icing near the end so the legs and some of the details are not as nice as I would have liked. It was my first time using fondant and making more than a two layer cake. Both worked out pretty well for me and I'm looking forward to playing around with the techniques on future cakes.

The other reason that yesterday was a special day was it was Canada's 141st birthday. I didn't make a cake, too much R2D2 left over! I did go watch the fireworks with Dirk and his friend Devon though. I like fireworks. Good times. Happy Birthday Canada.