The Golden Party (And my baking fail) in Thoughts.

So yesterday was my friend’s birthday and she hosted her own “Golden” birthday party. (Meaning, in case you dont know, that she turned 29 on the 29th!)

Oh muh goodness. It was such a crazy day, but a shit ton of fun.
So I woke up early on my day off to start making macarons for her party. I was going to make chocolate shells with an oreo buttercream filling and sprinkle them with a gold shimmer dust. And then make classic golden yellow shells, with my green apple/white chocolate filling. (I had extras of the fillings from the order I did last week So I shoved them in the freezer haha)

SO I think I started baking around about 8am, and I worked in the kitchen for like 4 hours. The shells take quite a bit of work. I have to get the ingredients all measure out perfectly, send them through the processor, divide them equally (to make the two flavors) and THEN I have to make the meringue, split that evenly, fold it into the dry ingredients, color them if necessary, and mix to the right consistency. Before piping them out into rounds, letting them sit for 45 minutes to an hour, and then baking them for 15 min, one sheet at a time.

I obviously had my struggle pants on yesterday morning, because pretty much everything I could do wrong? I did.

I managed to cook the first two trays okay. I forgot to set the timer for the third tray, so it over cooked. -.-
The first flavor I mixed up didn’t come out quite right, so while they were cooked fine (the first two trays) they weren’t pretty.

THEN things got interesting.

I have only three silicone mats, so I usually cook in cycles of 3 at a time. So I’ll pipe out the first three trays, cook them, and then I have to rinse and repeat… which means I have to wait 45 minutes to an hour before starting the next cycle. -.- SO I turned off the oven, piped out my trays, and at the end of about 45 min, I turned on the oven again to preheat............ but it wouldn’t.

SO sometime while I was baking, I killed the oven. (It’s really not my fault. I promise lol)
Oh, and on top of that, when the third tray was cooking, I realized that I may have forgotten to set a timer. I went to check by seeing if it was possible for the timer to continue to work while the microwave runs. Unfortunately, I forgot my macaron fillings were sitting IN the microwave.......... and I microwaved them. For 30 seconds.... in ziplock bags. .......... and did I mention they’re basically half butter?
Yeah.. So that happened.

By the end of my complete baking fiasco, I was just beat. I basically wasted 4 hours!!!!! Ugh. It was just a really off day for me.

But anywho. After that I got ready for the party. Which, I actually did my make up for a change. I don’t usually wear any, and I wore a little. (Eyeshadow AND blush even! So more than I’ve worn in ages hahaha) and I wore my mint green dress with a light sage cardigan. I ran to the store to look for some gold to wear with it and settled on a headband.

I got to A’s house about an hour before the party started, so I helped with some set up till people started arriving.

So it was really fun. I knew some of the ladies from her dinner club, since I went with her last week to a moroccan resturant and this delish ice cream joint. So that made it less awkward (since all of the other ladies were all teachers I think. They all worked together at some point.)

But it was cool.. A is such an overachiever. Since the theme was “golden” she went all out. She made a black and gold back drop with gold balloons, and gold/yellow things to put on for photos (giant glasses, silly hats, beaded necklaces, etc) She also set up a wine glass decorating craft! I totally took her up on that, so mine is decorated with stars and a moon (well, it kinda looks like a moon haha) and then dots. It was fun! Plus she cooked a lot of food.......... all themed golden.

There was rice and curry with chicken, mac n cheese, pulled pork with the mustardy BBQ sauce, a green bean and YELLOW beat salad, and a squash dish as well as fruit that was all in the yellow, orange, green family. Pineapple, golden delicious apples, pears, peaches, green grapes, etc.

Plus she made a dump cake, and a cheesecake that was spray painted with edible gold paint. AND there was also the golden champagne punch. ;) (which I had to stab over and over with a knife to break up because it was still frozen solid with people arrived hahaha)

SO she totally overachieved and we had such a blast.

We played a charades game, that my team either tied or lost by like 1 point lol. And then, when all the more conservative people left?

Cards Against Humanity.

I’d never played it before. It was so fun. We were laughing so hard. There were tears. I could not breathe. It was SOOOO funny. I haven’t laughed that hard in SO long.

Oh man, it was just such a fun night. And much needed. That laughter from last night has carried me through today, and I’m trying to stay on the positive track. :)

I hope you all are well!

becca

Last updated July 30, 2015