Baby Bohl Party

Quick fix for a party I co-hosted in the beginning of March.

I had made chocolate covered cheesecake pops for a wedding shower recently and they were a hit. They were a nightmare, however, to transport. Top of my Food that does NOT travel well list. Well, the mama-to-be requested cheesecake so I got to brainstorming(I wasn't willing to travel with the pops again).

I had originally planned on making mini neopolitan cheesecakes. I mean what kid didn't love neapolitan ice cream? you didnt have to choose just one flavor, you could have strawberry, vanilla AND chocolate-heck yeah!!!! But then I couldn't find the mini springform pan I needed in time so I got a little creative and went to an old stand by. Mason jars. Little ones. For those of you who don't know.... Many stores sell Mason jars. I get mine from Kroger and they are usually around a buck each($12/dozen). I have them in all sizes and they make great decorations, gifts and in this case dessert vessels(that pack up and are easy to move!).

I wasn't about to attempt to bake 3 layers of cheesecake, I didn't have the time. But I didn't have much experience with Jello no-bake mix besides my friend N's rave reviews....No one knew the difference. 1 box of crust mix was enough for 24 jars, and I used 5 bags of cheesecake mix. For flavor and color(in the strawberry layer) I added vanilla extract and strawberry jello mix. And that's it. You make each layer, immediately pour it into a plastic bag, and 'pipe' it into each jar while its still liquid. Then gently tap each jar on a flat surface covered with a towel( so you don't break the jar) until the layer is level. Refrigerate each layer for at least an hour to set.
**Some of the jars had the crust come up while tapping the layers out, so be sure to pack down the crust well. If you 'pipe' the cheesecake in immediately it shouldn't require much tapping.

I also made salted dark chocolate caramel cookies. Recipe found on www.sallysbakingaddiction.com (March 1, 2013 post)

Pics below. For me, presentation is just as important as the food or gift. I had a massive pickle jar and some tongs for the cookies and we stacked the jars but opened the top layer.
I also included the chevron afghan I crocheted for baby Bohl. It coordinates with her nursery decor. Love that shade of purple. My inspiration was The basket liner on the registry.
- pattern used: Chevy baby blanket by Vickie Howell off ravelry.com (modified)
- Caron simply soft yarn in Orchid and White

Can't wait to meet the little princess!!!!

Rock Socks, there's an app for that!

Good gracious, blogger has an Iphin app. I've been looking for it, but stumbled across it today!
I'm hoping this means more consistent blogging. I have found that I rarely use my laptop for anything, and I have no idea how to use Mac's Mac:).

So to get back in the swing of things....Today's post is all about kitchen.

We decided that it was now or never on the kitchen renovation. I have always thought the kitchen needed a facelift. I didn't get to re-arrange things quite the way I wanted, but we were able to compromise and find a GREAT happy medium!

My vision was to completely gut the kitchen, get new appliances, floors, counters and cabinets. Then I landed back on planet earth. Since our tile floor goes throughout much of the downstairs, new floors wasn't an option at this time. Fortunately, it can be something to be considered in the future. The layout of the kitchen however, had to be meticulously thought out as this will be the way it will remain until/if we move.

We knew the wall between the living area and kitchen was coming down. We did have to say goodbye to the gorgeous craftsman built ins as they could not be salvaged, nor would they fit anywhere else in the house. We planned to take that wall all the way out but ran into some plumbing pipes(literally). With some creative plumbing, we were able to take out most of the wall as planned and only had to sacrifice about a foot to accommodate the new plumping routing.

We took all the doors off the top cabinets, sanded, and painted to blend in with the walls. Now we get to play around with displaying many of our beautiful wedding gifts in our open cabinets! And(much to Mac's delight), I am forced to keep the dishes organized.

Side note that the craftsmanship the workers did on our living room wall was awesome. They matched our 'molded' walls perfectly!

Mac was also pleased that I didn't choose the most expensive counters there were. I wanted a pop of color on the counters so instead of doing Venetian gold all throughout(I should mention the the island already had Venetian gold), we chose to do the main counters with black granite. Then we did the transaction counter in Venetian gold to complement the island. The finished look is a neat contrast.

We've staged a lot of the top cabinets with neat items. The pull down spice rack has to be my favorite. Decided to use a stainless, glass and white dish theme throughout. I realized that almost everything I already owned fit right in with the kitchen, creating a seamless look.

Some of the finishing touches are; the industrial pull down kitchen faucet and stainless undercount sink, the lazy susan bread plate, the stainless flip lid trashcan, the black iron doggie(maybe kids one day) gate.

We aren't done yet. We have finished one side of the base cabinets with new paint and hardware, but haven't gotten the energy to start the other side. A note about painting cabinets. DON'T DO IT if you can avoid it. Plans for painting the island black...thoughts on this? (We are conflicted) and a back splash are in the works.

The look we ended up with is industrial farmhouse and we love it! Hoping the whole project will be done by summer!

High: Yes, oil based paint gets you high...
Low: sanding is required if you want the paint to look right. However, you will be cleaning up after it for weeks.

Here are some progress pictures.....