February 24, 2013

Collier's Golden Birthday

I heard someone comment that if your birth day happens to be the same as your age numerically, this particular year is dubbed the "golden" birthday.  We just so happened to have the very last one of those in our little family.  Collier turned 22 years old on the 22nd of February!

I don't know why we tend to make a big deal out of birthdays because none of us enjoy the extra attention.  It is far more enjoyable for the rest of the family to celebrate a birthday rather than enjoy the occasion ourselves.

This year Collier's request included a great deal of food.  On his menu we included:

Zuppa Tuscana soup (not the Olive Garden recipe, but rather our fabulous homemade version that has been carefully tweaked over the years).

Steak Gorgonzola (we have an Italian theme going here, which I don't think he intended.  This was a reclaimation meal of sorts as Collier remembers eating a "nasty" steak gorgonzola at Olive Garden and has wanted to rectify his perception of the dish ever since).

Ice cream cake.

 Now, this ice cream cake was a bit involved, but I took the idea and ran with it.  Reminiscing about my days as an employee of the food industry (Cold Stone Creamery), I pulled out all of my round pans and recalled past Pinterest searches.  The creating of the cake only took 2 days, mostly during which the ice cream and chocolate cake rounds sat in the freezer.  Collier wanted our delicious homemade whipped cream for the frosting.  But I wanted to do an experiment.  You see, the very first pin that I "pinned" on Pinterest was this one:

Neat decorating idea, right?  This is what I wanted to do with Collier's ice cream cake.  And this is how it turned out:







It's not exactly the same, but I am certainly not a pro.  I also added a couple of things to the top of the cake that probably could have been left off for aesthetic purposes.  Added to the personality though.




All in all, my first attempt at making an ice cream cake at home was successful and I couldn't have been more excited to create my own pin!