treats – marginalia and such

Had to play hostess today during one of our library events and got to exercise some of my event planner type skills. The event centered on a visit from the Deputy Consul from Argentina, so I had to develop an Argentinean theme for the treats to be served. Some quick research and trips to various stores and Hispanic shops turned up the perfect mix of quick, affordable bites.

Went with a blue and white theme for the tableware to coordinate with Argentina’s flag.

Martin Fierros – Manchego cheese (I used sharp white cheddar to stay within our library event budget) and quince jelly. Similar to the Cuban timba (white cheese and guava paste). A tasty, sweet and savory mix.

Medialunas (croissants) and Dulce de Leche (similar to caramel but creamier)

Sausages! Argentina loves beef!

Overall, the treats were a huge success, as was the event 🙂

The b-chan’s mom is returning home from her stay in the motherland… no, not Mother England. Colombia. Anywho, he bought a box of cake mix to bake a “welcome back” cake, and I offered to help him bake it after I got home from work. After all, I might as well share the sugar.

He was very pleased with himself for having bought a box of organic cake mix: Dr. Oetker’s Organic Vanilla Cake Mix. And, as I had some apple sauce from my mom’s recent bundt cake experiment, I was able to awe him with my oil-substitution know-how.

I was actually pleasantly surprised by the cakes. The flavor is light and not over sweet, which is a nice change from the usual box mix. We used half the batter to make little heart-shaped cakes (courtesy of the handy heart-shaped cupcake pan that I bought for my Valentine’s Day gift baking) and poured the rest into a round pan for a medium-sized sheet cake. Then we covered them with vanilla frosting and used decorating gel and red sugar to tart them up (yes, another Valentine leftover, but red is such a seasonal color! It works for so many occasions).

Yes, that is a cat drawn on the heart to the left. It’s my b-chan’s attempt to sweeten up his mom; we don’t know how she’ll react to Lucky Cat’s bouncy presence in her home.