An anniversary, Halloween and more about cabinets.

Well, since my last post we have sanded more cabinets, picked out a wood stain, decided we didn't like that color (too orange) and picked out another stain. Then, Ryan stained and finished one cabinet, which is now installed! It was the smallest cabinet, which is why we did it first, and why it doesn't hold that much. It will be above our refrigerator  once that gets moved across the kitchen from it's temporary home.

Here is the finished product:

And here are some photos of Ryan staining with the first color we picked and then decided was too orange. (It's hard to tell from a small sample...)

This is the finished cabinet, compared to the original stain. I think our new color is much warmer and nicer. Hopefully it will look great once we repaint the walls and get a new counter top, as well.








Other goings on: We made two new flower beds out front. One has tulip bulbs planted in it, the other daffodils.

We also made a pumpkin leaf bag family on our porch.

October 22 was our first wedding anniversary! I made this cake, which was marble with vanilla buttercream frosting. Our wedding cake was alternating layers of marble and lemon poppy seed. We didn't save the top for a whole year (would not have survived the move...) so I just decided to make a little one of my own. I made the buttercream frosting from scratch and it was DELICIOUS and so simple. The purple flowers are actually some I saved from our wedding cake - they are made of fondant and so will never go bad. 

For Halloween, Ryan and I were Lois Lane and Clark Kent from Superman. I made myself a little press badge that said "PRESS - Lois Lane - Daily Planet" and Ryan just wore a Superman T-shirt under his "Clark Kent" clothes. 

                                     

And this weekend we celebrated my brother Paul's birthday. I made another cake, this time with made-from-scratch chocolate buttercream frosting. Really folks, it's so easy and tastes SO much better than store-bought frosting. 

In case you're interested, here's how I made the vanilla buttercream frosting:

Ingredients: 

- 1 stick unsalted butter 

- 1 pound powdered sugar 

- 1/4 cup milk

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- (1/4-1/2 teas. almond extract...optional...adds more of an interesting flavor)

Place softened butter, milk, vanilla and part of sugar and in electric mixer, beat on slow speed until combined. Gradually add the rest of the powdered sugar, bit by bit, watching texture of frosting. If it's too thick, add a bit more milk. (The key here is tasting frequently and determining what to add more of). Mix until the texture and taste are right, but don't over beat. To make chocolate buttercream, add 1/3 cup (roughly) cocoa powder to the same recipe. (I didn't use the almond extract that time - FYI). You will probably need to add more milk, though, as the cocoa will make it too thick. 

Next time: more cabinets! 

- The Servolds