Wednesday, June 18, 2008

LP's birthday, part 2

The perenially broke mother that I am, I had to figure out how to celebrate LP's birthday without taking out another salary loan. I had initially thought about getting three dozen doughnuts (again) from Krispy Kreme, which meant another Php 700 or so. Then I thought, why not just buy ready-made cupcakes and ice them a la Sonja's cupcakes? It shouldn't cost me more than 500 bucks! And since the nuns at LP's school seriously forbade birthday celebrations in the classroom, that meant I didn't have to feed the entire second grade and faculty.

So that's what I did, bought 6 packs of 10 cupcakes each (Regent, you know, the assorted pack that consists of pandan, ube, mocha, etc.), ingredients for icing, plus food coloring and candy sprinkles. Hehe, Sonja, eat your heart out!

Making the icing was easy, but icing 60 cupcakes proved to be impossible, as I was only able to squeeze enough of the stuff to barely top less than 40 cupcakes. Argh.

And it looked ugly. So bad, I didn't bother to take a picture. The icing wasn't stiff enough to form cute peaks, and even with the star-shaped tip of the piping bag, the icing fell flat. And the cupcakes were, er, rounder and flatter than I thought. They looked more like small mamon than cupcakes.

I started having second thoughts about bringing the cupcakes to LP's school, for fear of embarrassing her. I took out the candy sprinkles and very generously poured the entire can over the cakes. Whew, that improved the appearance somewhat.

I had Yaya smuggle the cupcakes to LP's teacher the following morning. The verdict? The kids loved it! LP recounted how her classmates raved over the cakes and how yummy they were, and that she should bring some more next time. It sure wasn't embarrassing for my LP.

And here I cropped some pics to show how my cupcakes turned out:


Check out the big smiles on their faces.


After school, we picked her up and proceeded to North Park for the much-appropriate noodles and LP's favorite food, siomai.


Happy 8th, Sweetie!

Monday, June 16, 2008

LP's sweet birthday, Part 1

Just because she's over and done with the grand celebration of turning 7, doesn't mean my LP won't have as much fun for her 8th.

I had the folks at Krispy Kreme Megamall ice two dozen doughnuts with "Happy B-day Justine." Yep, all 24 of 'em. They suggested that they ice jelly-filled doughnuts instead, one letter per. I insisted on the whole banana each. I'm such a hardball mom, I know.




And isn't Chardy the chef hot? Er...get a grip, Cat. He's too young for you.

I took LP with me to the company beach outing Saturday, which technically wasn't her birthday yet. (It's on the 17th, Tuesday.) So this is celebration no. 1. Yep, everyone loved the doughnuts.


And since I got my first watch at age 8, I figured it was high time she got hers, too. Frikkin' Swatch cost me extra because it came with a diary and pen. Sheesh.



But she's worth it.

Saturday, June 07, 2008

LP makes doughnuts

Krispy Kreme's Ayala branch has a promo of sorts for kids. (By kids, I mean people aged 35 and below.) They let kids with grimy fingers and runny noses make doughnuts.

Hehe, I'm kidding, of course. They had LP put on gloves and I made sure she took some antihistamine for her allergic rhinitis that day.

Anyways, so here she is, clad in an apron and a hairnet, with KK's fun crew...no cranky old geezers here!

Btw, KK-Ayala doesn't have an oven and glazing conveyor, so the donuts they serve aren't piping hot, which I guess isn't a problem for most people. (Long lines during lunchtime and after 5:30.) Neither do they give free donuts (boo-hoo!!!). Imagine the inventory loss from giving out free donuts to hungry yuppies all day.

Anyway, here's LP dipping the donut in chocolate before dipping it in sprinkles.


And here's the lovely chef and her finished product.

l
Featuring KK's really cute crew. They know me by name, and to think I've only been there twice. Must be the record I hold for consuming a donut completely before reaching the table. Aren't they really, really cute? They remind me of the bibo waiters at TGIFriday's.


And here's LP forcing herself to finish the doughnut she made. Not that she's a terrible cook, but she disclosed that she liked the original glazed variety better, two of which she wolfed down later on.


Oh, and because I like this particular branch so much, I'm shamelessly plugging for them. Krispy Kreme Ayala has free Wifi! Not only that, all tables have power outlets, which means you can everything there: your laptop, your phone charger, your camera, your all-in-one printer...name it. Bring a jacket, though, the A/C's up on high to keep the glaze from melting.

Oh yeah, and the coffee's perfect. Yummmmmmmmm.

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