today

It's hard to believe, but today is the one-year anniversary of my very first post here at the Sparrow.  Sometimes it feels like it was ages ago, but other times, it seems like just yesterday.

Lots has happened in the past year, on this blog and in our lives.  I can't begin to guess what the next year will bring, but experience has taught me that some of it will be good, some bad, and most of it will remain unimaginable until it actually happens.

I want to thank you all for visiting this space.  I love being able to share projects and ideas with you.  Please don't think I'm being melodramatic if I say that occasionally, you're the reason I get up in the morning.

There will be a few changes coming to the Sparrow, soon.  Nothing scary, I promise.  I've got another plan up my sleeve, too, but I'll keep that a secret, for now.  In the meantime, I pledge to return to a regular posting schedule and a few little tweaks, here and there.

I hope you'll help celebrate this blog birthday with me by sharing in the comments below.  If you're a lurker--and you know who you are--consider being a follower.  If you're a follower, I hope you'll think about sharing the Stubborn Sparrow with your friends.

I wish I could share cupcakes with you all, but if you feel like hosting a little party of your own, here's a doozy of a recipe for you.

A hearty thanks to all of you!  Happy Monday!

after

So we had a party last weekend and it was pretty great.  A little tame, really, but that's what you get with a house full of family.  And sometimes tame is good.  There were streamers and music.  We ate "tacos." which is what my man's family calls something that I would be more inclined to term "make your own burritos."

And we ate cake.  Specifically, Sour Cream-Chocolate Cake With Peanut Butter-Cream Cheese Frosting and Chocolate-Peanut Butter Ganache.  So, a really healthy cake.  It was my man's birthday party, though, and he should have nice things--at least once a year.

The recipe took awhile but was pretty dang easy.

All the pieces fit together nicely, and the end result was killer.  Even if you're a layer cake novice, like me, you can bake this cake.  Just don't come crying to me when you then proceed to eat the entire thing in one sitting.  On Smitten Kitchen, Deb cautions that this super-rich cake should be served in extra-thin slices.  For whatever it's worth, the "normal" size pieces I served seemed to go over just fine.

Of course, I don't have a gorgeous "after" picture to share.  We went from candles to cutting pretty quickly.  After a few minutes, things looked a bit like this.

You get the idea, though, right?

I made a few paper things for the party, too.  If you squint at the corner of the cake picture above, you can see one of them, a badge I made for the birthday boy.  I started out with some directions from Jessica at How About Orange but ended up making something significantly bigger than the "mini medallion" she gives the dimensions for.

I did struggle a little bit getting the whole thing glued together.  I ended up using a combination of rubber cement, tacky glue, and packing tape.  If I had it to over again, though, I'd probably just use some good double-sided tape.  Although, I don't think even that would overcome what I found to be the only real design flaw of the thing, a funny little seam in the paper.

And, no, that's not such a big deal.  I just don't like it when seams show.  I thought the thing turned out well enough in the end.  Our six-year-old nephew agreed.  "Hey," he said to his uncle, "nice badge."

And my partner-in-crime rocked it all night, which is way longer than he would've worn the tin foil crown I really wanted to make for him...

anticipation

I've been busy these past few days.  Although my man's official birthday was a few days ago--an event that we commemorated with a dinner out and some present-opening--we're celebrating in a bigger way tomorrow, when his family will be coming to the big city for as much of a party as we can cram into our little apartment.

So I've been cleaning a bit.  And decorating.  And grocery shopping.  There's a cake in the oven right now--or rather, two-thirds of a cake, because I'm baking something so ambitious that it won't all fit in the oven at the same time.  I really want to tell you about the cake, but since I'm still trying to keep a few secrets from the birthday boy, I'll have to save the details for next week.

Hopefully, it turns out.  I'm still a bit of a layer-cake novice.  Happily, though, this will be the first of my layer cakes that I won't have to transport any farther than the ten feet from the kitchen to the dining table.  That's in my favor, I think.  I'll let you know how it goes...

If you can't tell from this post, I've got my hands kind of full this weekend.  If you aren't planning a birthday bonanza tomorrow and are looking for some fun, here's a to-do list for you:

Make something sweet.

Print a party on your paper.

Eat more smores.

Put your kids in danger.

Plan for the future.

Look into the past.

Enjoy your weekend!

checklist

Nothing glamourous to share today, but I do feel the need to gloat about a fairly productive afternoon.  In the course of just a few hours, we managed to:

-finalize our shopping list for Saturday's big party
-arrange for the use of a vehicle (other than a Metro bus) to lug things around that day
-borrow coolers from our fantastic neighbors
-locate and purchase compostable cups and plates
-acquire sixty-some thrift store forks
-accomplish various other small things

The event is going to be a potluck.  While that might sound kind of--um--cheap, I really like potlucks because they're always such a great combination of community and food.  I love seeing everyone show up with potato salads and cake carriers.  It reminds me of the church suppers and family holidays of my childhood.

And besides, we've already done our share of cooking for dozens and dozens of people this summer.  It went well in June, but I'm not really inclined to tempt fate by trying it a second time.  We are providing sandwiches for everyone, along with drinks and at least one dessert.  (I absolutely have to bake a cake so I can share our little cake toppers with our Washington crowd...)

I'm trying to dress the sandwiches up a little bit.  We'll have Mama Lil's, of course.  And maybe some roasted veggies, if I can get my act together.

I'm also thinking of mixing up some fancy condiments, like this Mojito Mayonnaise, from Jean Kelley's cookbook, Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes.

Mojito Mayo

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup finely chopped fresh mint

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons minced shallot

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon ground cumin

Mix everything together and put it on a sandwich.  Preferably one with pig on it.  Preferably at a festive, sunshiny potluck at a beautiful waterfront park on a fine August day in the Pacific Northwest.*

I've managed to make myself incredibly hungry just now, thinking about fictional pork sandwiches.  It might be time for me to take a dinner break...

I'll be back on Wednesday, though, to celebrate the--gasp!--100th post on The Stubborn Sparrow.  See you then!

*The ingredients are Kelley's, but I did adapt the recipe, just a bit...

redux

So, down to party planning.  My approach to Wedding Reception II has two overarching themes.  

The first: Do all those things we wanted to do at the wedding but couldn't pull together at the last minute.  For instance, we will be having balloons at WR II.  Red balloons.  Round, not normal-balloon-shaped.

The second theme: Reuse the best of what we had at the wedding.  My man's pennants, for instance.  And all those lovely family photos.  And the beautiful, hand-cut paper banners that my man's parents made for our sweet rehearsal dinner.  I love birds and I love cut paper.  Before these get tucked away forever in a scrapbook or a cedar chest, I want the world to have one last chance to enjoy them.

Granted, there are still quite a few big things that we need to figure out, like--say--the food.  But I feel much better knowing that we have things nailed down in the decoration department.

With all this planning and plotting to do, we're in for a big weekend.  I'll be back on Monday to bring you all up to date...

more slacking

No real post today, friends.  I'm headed out for dinner and fun with a friend.  I'm hoping there will be alcohol.  And maybe some giggling.  Mostly, I just want to hang out.

Things around here are about to getting pretty interesting, though.  Remember that circus of a wedding we had a month or so ago?  We'd also planned to have a Washington state reception, too, for the friends and family that didn't feel like traveling two thousand miles to party with us.  Thing is, we've been a little distracted by the fun and fireworks of married life, and we haven't done much planning for the follow-up event, which is less than two weeks away now.

We have some work to do and I have all intentions of dragging the rest of you along with me.  Here's some  festivity and celebration, just to get you in the mood...

See you on Friday!

party

After a long, crazy week, we have a long, crazy weekend coming up.  A little travel, lots of family and friends, and to top it all off, our annual block party.  There's a potluck, a kiddie "parade" up and down the street, and after dark, we sit in someone's driveway and watch a movie.  If it sounds like I'm excited, it's because I am.

I really want to bring a dessert to the potluck.  People will always eat a dessert.  If all goes well, I'll be baking a plum cake in our cast-iron skillet tomorrow morning.  I've got a recipe already, but I'm starting to lean towards something a little more like this.

I'm definitely in a party mood right now.  If you are, too, you might enjoy this.  Or that.  Or maybe this is more your speed.  In any case, I hope your weekend brings you whatever you're hoping for.  See you next week!