Another Star Among Us.

It's that time again! Time to recognize our Tiny Seed Star of the Week.



Here she is.

Tomorrow, we visit her class and help her celebrate. We'll bring in a favorite story, talk about her pictures that are pasted on the classroom star board, and share a special treat.

Jordan had his star week in December, and I was hoping to do a repeat performance of the strawberry mice and cheese. Especially since strawberries are everywhere these days... nice and healthy, quick to put together.

"No." She said.

"Mommy, I want pink. Pink cake. No really - pink."



Pink cake. Like pepto-bismol pink? Like boxed mix called "strawberry?" with pink frosting kinda cake? Like Barbie pink? I mentally shuddered.

And then I thought to myself - there's only so many years where I'll have a chance to make her so happy, with something so simple.

Pink it is.

After consulting various sources, I finally decided to settle on this recipe. I could use that for the cake. Or in our case, cupcakes. I played around with frosting ideas, and decided to settle on a modified glaze, with a sprinkle star and a rasberry. There - now it's healthy. Ha ha.



Behold! Let there be pink!



With stars!

I realize the frosting isn't the same on each cake. There's some variations in shades of pink depending on the batch of frosting I used. It's ok. In the immortal words of John Bender:

Screws fall out all the time, Sir. The world is an imperfect place.

Or something like that.

Lessons learned:

1. I can't believe I've lived my whole life until today without an offset spatula.

2. I'm too old for certain desserts. Pink strawberry cupcakes with pink frosting, rainbow sprinkles and a rasberry is something I've outgrown. I took two bites and had to put it down. The sugar made me swoon. Just send the cheese plate over my way, and I'll be perfectly content. I was sort of pleased with myself that I didn't devour the cupcake just because it was there. Of course that's sad and pathetic too, but let me enjoy my minor victories.

3. Less is more. I need to remember that. Why can't I learn that? I always feel like there has to be just one more thing I could add to something to make it better.

Finally - in response to last night's challenge.



Can you guess what happened next?

Of the responses, most of you thought Jordan spit at me. It's heartening to know we all share the same opinion of him, but actually, what happened goes something like this.

Take a close look at the man squatting down next to him, signing the photograph frame.

Notice anything?

Yeah.

Jordan wanted to make sure too. He casually reached over, rubbed the man's head, and said,

"You have no hair!"

One of the nice things about being brown like me - no one notices when your face turns bright pink from shame.