Galactic Night

There are many parts to my job. One happens to be planning large events every month for the store for families and children. I was asked this week by a very good friend if I just sat around and these crazy ideas some how come to me or if they are already dreamed up by someone else. Typically, I come up with the events during a yearly Marketing Plan Session but this event was definitely not my idea. This month it was Galactic Night! Recently there have been some changes at work so I have acquired all the events left on the 2011 calendar. When I was given Galactic Night (Must say this in a TV booming voice!) I thought What The French! I know nothing about Star Wars, Star Trek or any of the above. And neither does my dad :) So I started to google everything and google I did for two days before I found lots of ideas!

One idea was from a blog I read about having a party at a local fencing club. So I googled Fencing Clubs in Cherokee County. I mean we are in the sticks! I was fairly certain that rednecks don't like to 'Fence'. Well I was WAY wrong! Cherokee Fencing Club popped up and we were in business! One phone call and a meeting later, I had convinced this really nice guy of my crazy plan. We would clear out part of the restaurant and they would come and setup and teach the kids (or kid like adults) how to fight with light sabers. So that was the big event settled, now was decorations and the FREE giveaway. We would have face painting and free ice dream sundaes for everyone.

My mom works with me as my right and left hand, So Friday night before the big event, it was time to do the major decorating. We hung black fabric from the ceiling and in between the fabric we hung star cutouts, planet cutouts and much more. All from the School Box! My favorite place ever and some of the nicest people. We were at work till 4am which was crazy  and back at work by 1pm the next day.

We also turned a normal Ice Dream Bar into the Spacetastic Sundae Bar! (Say this with a booming TV voice as well) We had Vanilla Ice Dream which was Vader Vanilla and multiple toppings with fun names. Asteroids = Our Granola Chocolate Chip Cookie pieces, Meteoroids = Mini M & M's, Astronauts = Sour Patch Kids, Alien Worms = Sour Gummy Worms, Moon dust = Silver Dust Sprinkles, Stars = Star Sprinkles, Clouds = Whipped Cream

Needless to say, I now know WAY more than I want to about Star Wars and Fencing!

Family brings out the best in....

Cooking! For the last few weeks we have had multiple family members visit us. The last guests were my Aunt, Uncle and their two daughters. Needless to say, instead of going out to eat every night, which is very costly and a hassle with 10 people, one who is an 82 year old Alzheimer's patient. So my mom and I started to cook/bake away. Then my sister came home and we baked some more! We made Chocolate Chip Pound Cake, Vanilla Pound Cake, Caramel Apple Cupcakes,Doubletree Chocolate Chip Cookies and Banana Bread and plenty more...

My sister loves to bake and one days wants to own her own bakery. Every time she comes home she makes sweet treats and lets us take them to work and give them to friends. So for her 22nd birthday, I made her a cookbook from taste book. It is the coolest site! Just get on, register and pick your book. You can enter your own recipes and once your done, you just publish! I picked a cupcake cookbook for her and added 50 of her own recipes to the 50 it provided. One of the recipes that came with the cook book was a Caramel Apple Cupcake Recipe and from the feed back it is definitely a fall hit for any party.

Caramel Apple Cupcake

Ingredients


1 (18 ounce) packages butter recipe cake mix (plus the ingredients to prepare the mix) or 1 (18 ounce) packages yellow cake mix ( plus the ingredients to prepare the mix)
1 cup dried apples, chopped Caramel Frosting

3 tablespoons butter
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 3/4 cups powdered sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
chopped nuts ( for garnishing)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, and line 24 (2 1/2 inch) muffin pan cups with paper liners. Prepare cake mix according to package directions. Stir in apples and spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until toothpicks inserted into centers come out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely on the racks. For Caramel Frosting:. Melt butter in a 2 quart saucepan. Stir in brown sugar, evaporated milk, and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly; remove from heat and cool to lukewarm. Beat in powdered sugar until frosting is of spreading consistency. Beat in vanilla until smooth, and then frost cupcakes. Sprinkle cupcakes with chopped nuts for garnish.

 

 
Doubletree Chocolate Chip Cookies
 
Ingredients


1 1/2 cups unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups white sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

4 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup rolled oats

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon lemon juice

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

Directions

1.Cream butter in large bowl. Add both sugars and beat on medium for 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add lemon juice and vanilla; mix well.

2.In a separate bowl, stir together dry ingredients. Add to creamed mixture and stir well to blend. Add chips and nuts; stir to combine.

3.Drop by 1/4 cup or 2 ounce scoop on parchment-lined baking pans, 2 to 3 inches apart. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 13 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Cool; remove from paper and cool completely on wire racks.
 

YUMMY!! They are so good. You must try some.

We also made a Chocolate Chip Pound Cake and a Vanilla Pound Cake, Same Cake just a few different ingredients.

Enjoy!