Cupcakes with Italian Meringue Buttercream Frosting

It's funny how things happen sometimes.

Someone is flipping through the TV channels. They linger on Food Network on which a show is airing that has cupcakes.

I remember that we wanted to do something special for the woman who is the girls' liaison at the charter school. Cupcakes would be nice.

Surf the web looking for photos of cupcakes to get inspired. Find some cool daisy themed ones like here and here and here. Look for a tutorial to figure out how to make those cool daisy decorations and found a good one here.

Head to the pantry for a cake mix. Whip up some lemon cupcakes. Decide they deserve a fantastic frosting. Then back to surfing the web and locate this great article, "How To Make Buttercream Icing; Two Delicious Buttercream Frosting Recipes" here. Wonder if we could perhaps pull off the Italian Meringue Buttercream version as somewhere rattling around in the back of my head it seemed to be synonymous with "incredible". All this just because of a little inspiration from a glimpse of a cooking show.

But by this time, people wandering through the kitchen had eaten nearly half of the first batch of cupcakes, so we frosted the remaining, and then of course had to sample the almost finished product. So, so good. Not grainy like regular buttecream, just smooth and silky. As you can guess, now there were only a few cupcakes left, and we still hadn't even embellished them of all things.

That would mean tomorrow's agenda will include baking another batch of cupcakes, getting them frosted with the remaining buttercream...which I'm sure glad there is still plenty left...a pound of butter for one batch? Wow. Then it will be off to Michael's Crafts is search of fondant and then back home to attempt the daisies.

But it's all good. A little snack for us. Something special for April, the girls' ES. A little girl time in the kitchen.  And a fantastic new frosting recipe for when you need something a little spectacular.

Big Island of Hawaii Vacation - Day Three

The thought of more snorkeling roused Bill right out of bed in the morning. When we all awoke hours later, sure enough we found him zooming around the lagoon chasing sea turtles. He admitted he could spend the entire vacation doing nothing more than snorkeling. But more exploring awaited us. After making a giant fruit salad of local pineapple, papaya (which no one was too fond of), mango, and big island bananas alongside some bakery bagels, we packed up and headed to chase waterfalls and coastal sights.



Our first stop however had to be to the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Visitor Center. We expected the wonderfully educational experience you get when you visit Oregon's Tillamook Cheese Factory, but it didn't quite match up. The factory store offered decent prices on their nuts, so we bought up a stash for ourselves and friends back home. Hailey began her spending spree with her saved birthday morning on several sea turtle items and was as happy as could be.



Next stop was the county zoo which was filled with birds, a 'rare' Nigerian dwarf goat which made us laugh heartily, quite a few tropical animals, and a white Bengal tiger. We had to laugh because we had started to notice there were wild chickens everywhere, inside the zoo and around town. Perhaps Hawaii doesn't have a natural predator. They looked like some variety of game cock.The day had started out cloudy and ended up raining on us while we were there. Even though it was warm, we weren't quite prepared, and it prompted us to end our visit. But not without Hailey stopping at the gift shop to purchase a rather large stuffed anteater. Prime example of birthday money burning a hole in her pocket.











Just a note on this lizard photo. There were lizards roaming the rental house. You just had to get used to them I guess. But if I had found this guy roaming the bathroom, my oh my. That would have been hard to deal with.



Off we headed up the eastern coastline in a northerly direction to stop at quite a few waterfalls. Most were just a little walk to view and the trails were cut through amazing jungle foliage. It seems that everywhere you look there are banana trees with their most unique blossoms, banyan trees with their fascinating root structure, vines hanging from everything, and flowering trees galore. It sometimes would be hard to get down the trail without feeling the need to stop and photograph everything. At one particular waterfall, the older kids took off on a side jaunt to climb the volcanic outcroppings for a view right over the top of the falls...not too appealing to me I'd have to say. It sure made for some great photos though. That new camera of ours sure got a workout on this trip.









We had lunch and smoothies at a little pit stop recommended by our Hawaii, the Big Island Revealed tour book and had a great time noticing the papaya trees, limes, pineapples and bananas as well as what we thought were lychees. All the plants were totally foreign to me. Bill would stop and ask what so-and-so was, and I hadn't the least clue. They were all just gorgeous.

The coastline was very rugged along this side of the island and didn't offer much in the way of sand beaches. We had hoped to find at least one black sand beach to explore, but apparently heavy surf will wash away the sand and then...no more sand beach. At one point we stopped where a tsunami had devastated the area during the 1960s Alaskan earthquake. The surf there alone that day was incredibly powerful. Hard to imagine it compounded by a tsunami as well.



The end of our drive for the day stopped at the Waipo'o Valley where had it been early enough and not so expensive, we would have taken the 4WD tour into the valley down the 25% grade road where black sand beaches, taro farming, and two 1200 plus foot drop waterfalls resided at the back of the valley. From the little bit of a view we had topside, it looked incredible. The farmers that live there today do so without any utilities. Pretty amazing. The entire day had been warm, near 80, but cloud covered until we had made it to the northern end. Sure enough heading south, the clouds were there again.



We made a stop at Safeway in Hilo where all three teens promptly parked in the Starbucks lobby to nab the wi-fi there to check in on Facebook and their email. At the Vacationland house there is not only no computer service but no cell phone service as well. They're having withdrawals I believe. We made it back to the house just in time to snorkel in Champagne Pond near our rental in the 90 degree water where the kids spent their time until it was nearly pitch black floating over the sea turtles and then hanging on for a ride.

Dinner of chicken and rice was fairly late because of that that night excursion. But how cool. We were so amazed that you can stand outside at night with a breeze and not even feel a hint of being the least bit chilly no matter how hard you tried to imagine. I guess that's what the tropics are like. Far cry from the Northwest for sure. There were loads of laundry and the beginnings of packing up. Tomorrow we were planning on crossing the island and heading for the Kona side.



There were regrets for leaving the area, but regrets for the rental house? Nope. Definitely were looking forward to being spoiled at the resort villas.


Links to other posts in this series:
Intro
Day One
Day Two
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight

Big Island of Hawaii Vacation - Day Two

After expecting to sleep in for hours, we found ourselves awakened to a monsoon-like rain storm. And what time was it? 6:30 a.m. Hawaiian time. Yikes. The rain dumped by the bucketful. I was almost tempted to go outside and see if it was warm, but decided why bother. Rain is rain, right? And rain in Hawaii is supposed to stop and let the sun through as opposed to Oregon, so why worry.

Regardless, we got up and had a rousing breakfast of cold cereal and leftover local pineapple. Our morning lattes were jerry-rigged from Starbucks Via packets, some sugar found in the refrigerator, and steamed milk from the stove-top. Not bad. I told you were on a serious food budget.

Before heading out for the day, we walked down our steps into our private access to the volcanically heated lagoon for a little snorkeling with fish and the three resident sea turtles. Pretty fascinating. It didn't take too much time in the water for Bill to get a rousing sunburn even wearing sunscreen. Not sure what happened there since he's pretty good about slathering it on.



We loaded up with more sunscreen and cameras and headed south to inspect lava flows. There were signs aplenty along the road..Turn Back...Road Closed Ahead...No Trespassing Between 10 p.m. and 2 p.m...but our tour book, Hawaii, The Big Island Revealed, assured us we could keep driving down the county road. They said Hawaii is funny about their signage, so we took them literally. When we finally did get to the end of the road, we met another group of visitors who assured us that the road really was open to the public. They explained that the lava flow that had abruptly ended the road and where we were standing on had just occurred this past Thanksgiving. Somehow they were in the know. It definitely looked new. We walked a ways on it and were able to feel heat coming from cracks in the contorted flow. Hmmm. We sure hoped the road was really open to the public. Truly fascinating.




We drove further and took a look at the Lava Tree State Park (which we found out wasn't officially open. Another oops), made many more stops at lava cliff beaches, and finally made our way to a naturally heated lava pool.




This dictated returning to the rental house for swim suits and snorkel gear and bite to eat for lunch. We made an impromptu stop at a local fruit stand where fruit prices did seem less than at the grocery store. We stocked up on everything local...bananas, pineapple, lychee fruit, avocados, papaya and mango. No going hungry now. But instead of heading out to continue to explore, everyone was back in the lagoon for some more snorkeling right out the back door. By this time, the clouds had parted for the most part and the sun was out big time.





Not long afterwards though we took off for the volcanic area of the island. It was a bit disappointing that we could not drive the complete route around the crater, but we did get some fantastic views into the crater, the steam vents, a hike through a lava tube, and the drive down to the coast where we had hoped to be able to see the current lava flow into the ocean. Luck would have it there were no eruptions into the sea that day.



So back home to our “cottage” and a spaghetti dinner out in the tropical air. Being so close to the equator, Hawaii doesn't experience the long daylight hours that we were beginning to have up north. We were having daylight there until 8 p.m. or so. Not so here. But it is hilarious that we were ready for bed before 9 p.m. Hawaii time. Definitely a drop-dead tired night, jet lag and all.


Links to other posts in this series:
Intro
Day One
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight

Big Island of Hawaii Vacation - Day One

Two hours sleep, two sets of departures and arrivals, two trips to Starbucks, two airport terminals to navigate, two hour plus layover, and two cat naps. All to arrive at our destination...the big island of Hawaii to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary with our immediate family. No doubt about it that traveling all day takes a toll on everyone, but we're a family of troopers. We tend to be creative out of necessity at times which included Nicole finishing a college assignment with the netbook online while we were all sprawled out against a wall in the Honolulu airport...for everyone to gawk at...but our first taste of such warm weather made us want to be outside. Besides it was fun seeing how close we could toll in the doves that seemed to be everywhere.

Yep, we just made ourselves at home.

The cutest little doves which we saw everywhere.

At least the flight to Hawaii was only an hour long, but still it had another set of take-off and landings. Two sets in one day were plenty for me.

Do have to admit the aerial view was fabulous.

We picked up our rental vehicle and decided on the Suburban even though the older kids wanted a Jeep. Not going to work for a family of six and their luggage though.

From the airport we made a quick trip to Safeway and Walmart for groceries, because although we were vacationing in paradise, we had decided to eat in as many of our dinners as possible. You just need to do that sometimes.

On our way to the rental house we drove through scenery that reminded us first of Southeast Asia, then South America, and then Africa...not that we'd know personally of course.

But we did know upfront that the rental house was not 'resort' material but the location was right on a series of thermally heated tide pools.

Back view of house. Too afraid to show the front :)

That was the draw factor...knowing that we could walk down a flight of steps from the backyard of the house and begin snorkeling. The fact there was no cell phone service or internet was a bit of surprise. Not as much to us as the teens. Just a bit of angst there. We promised there would be no regrets at the next place. And then had to promise again and again.

Who couldn't resist this view...

or snorkel right in the bay?

So after an extremely late dinner of bagged salad, French bread, and chicken alfredo we hit the sack, listening to an enormous chorus of frogs and night insects and feeling the island breezes drift through the entire house.

Stay tuned...day two will be on its way shortly. Will we survive the rental house?


Links to other posts in this series:
Intro
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight

Our Big Island of Hawaii Vacation Adventure

I'll admit that two occupations I would never choose would include being a pilot or a scuba diver. That said, our family embarked on a five hour plus flight to vacation on the big island of Hawaii where plenty of snorkeling awaited us. The occasion? Celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary and a well deserved and long awaited family vacation. No, I don't like flying and should have probably suggested straight through flights but double take-offs and landings were just the ticket to rely a little more heavily on the Lord. Why Hawaii? Well everyone else in the family is a waterdog extraordinaire. Me? I was just anxious for a chance to relax in the warm temps and a pick up a good dose of vitamin D with no hectic schedule to follow. As hoped, we had a fabulous time with no one experiencing the sunburn of a lifetime as could be expected with the majority of the family being pretty fair skinned. We kept busy seeing the sights but still had time to just hang out...for the most part...for six solid days. Stay tuned as we experience our eight days of adventure.

Links to subsequent posts in this series:
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight