70 years

70 years of marriage!

A huge accomplishment in today's world.

But we are meant to grow old together,

to fall in love all over again,

day after day,

through tears and pain,

laughter and joy.

Yes, till death do us part.

It takes commitment and is not for the

weak at heart.  Its hard work, but worth it.

And so,

I had the privilege of

celebrating with my

grandparents, 70 years.

And of course,

making a cake!

My grandpa has had a favorite

kind of cake for as long as

I can remember.

Chocolate cake with chocolate icing!

And my grandma's favorite flower is

carnations

and so this cake was

made just for them.

Happy 70th Anniversary,

Grandma and Grandpa!!

I wonder...

I wonder...

 

...does she know how much she is loved?

...does she see how proud her mommy is?

...if her cake made her smile?

...if she knows she is a princess?

 

 

 

I don't know the answers to my own questions

but I do know that making her

a cake, made me smile.

 

 

 

So for a beautiful princess...

...a cake, made with love,

from me to you!

 

HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY

Princess Ava!

 

 

The twins are ONE

I was honored to be able to make this cake for

two adorable little boys.

 

And a few cupcakes too...

 

What made it more fun was that

we were also invited to the party.

 

 

A fun farm themed party with pony rides and

wagon rides,

and yummy food!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,

SWEET BOYS!!!

 

 

Blessed...

...in so many ways!

But the blessing I write about today is one
that brings emotion to my eyes and
a smile to my heart.

A friendship that has stood the test of time. 
Actually, the TESTS of time.

She has been a HUGE blessing in my life.
There were times when I thought
I couldn't go on, she sat beside me and listened,
handed me another tissue,
encouraged me with cards and verses from the Bible,
didn't pretend to know the answer to my "WHY?"
prayed for me because I couldn't pray,
she loved me, she gave so much.

She also shares my love for Mexican food
and Julia Roberts movies.  And shopping,
well not really, we shop sometimes but usually we end up
talking in aisles and catching up on each others lives.

Over two decades have passed,
and still she remains my best friend.

This year we celebrate our 40th birthdays,
something we have talked about.
How are we going to celebrate?

We will decide but there is no hurry
because we can enjoy going for dinner and
dreaming until we have another plan.

I say another
because we had a plan...
her dear husband had
bought her a ticket to come visit me
in Costa Rica...
...but
then everything changed.
Her dear husband of 17 years
died suddenly and unexpectedly
and every day became a
painful reminder that he was gone.

So celebrating birthdays,
even 40th birthdays,
have been a little hard
and a little emotional.

but we did celebrate and I was
honored to make her not 1 but 2 cakes.

This was the "decoy" cake.
 Just so maybe we could surprise her with a party.

And so a week later we celebrated again.
And surprised her a little, but she was
putting the pieces together all along.
Her kids did an amazing job of
making sure the details were taken
care of.

And so another cake was on order.

I love you , my dear friend!
You are a picture of beauty
from the inside out.
I am extremely proud of you
and blessed beyond words
to call you friend!

A beautiful rainy day!

I don't know if I have ever said that before and certianly not when I was living in Costa Rica without a car.  But today it is beautiful because today is a day where I can stay home where it is warm and dry and don't have to go anywhere...yup, beautiful and rainy can be used to desribe today.

So I mixed up some cookies and I'm thinking a batch of brownies would be an inviting smell for my kids as they jump across the puddle as they get off the bus. 

On the other hand if you stopped by and begged for coffee and a brownie, warm out of the oven,  I would certianly give you one, but you would then also notice that my house is not as beautiful as the rain.  A thick layer of dust has settled as the carpenters work on making my windows air tight and rain proof.  So cleaning right now is like shoveling snow while it is stilling snowing.

But I'm happy, happy to be loved and apprieciated by my family and happy that I have a kitchen aid mixer and happy that I am blessed with so much. 

Enjoy your day, I'm off to find a good brownie recipe. 

Sweet Meet

Over the last school year we have had a Sweet Meet each tri for the students and teachers to get to know each other better.

Chatting over coffee and sweets...its a good thing!

For me it was just an excuse to bake something,

 and apparently we Northerners are known to make good pastries.

So last Friday we had our final Sweet Meet and the theme was brownies.

I made 6 different kinds of brownies with the help of my daughter.

5 of which were new recipes for me.

Other students help bake some yummy bars.

When you have a day that you are going to

make lots of brownies

this is you friend...

Foil on one side and parchment paper on the other.

It made cutting the brownies a snap

and clean up so easy.

These snickers brownies were a huge hit,

you can find the recipe on Unique Sweets FB page.

We also made some

Snickerdoodle bars

Mango Bars

Pretzel Crusted Peanut Butter Bownies

and Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Brownies. 

The countdown is on for our return to the States

after spending a year in Costa Rica

in Language school.

We are so excited and for so many different reasons,

but one thing I am looking forward to is

baking with "normal" ingredients and using my

shiny, red, Kitchen Aid mixer again!

Head on over to my UNIQUE SWEETS

facebook page

and hit the LIKE button in the top

right hand corner

below the picture.

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The challenges of FONDANT

Costa Rica is a beautiful country

with many flowers...

...but fondant flowers like this will

have to wait till we

return home.

You can fine the tutorial on these flowers

 HERE and HERE

High - heeled shoes are

also so very much a

part of Costa Rica...

...but ones made out of sugar,

non-exsistent.

See the original post of these shoes HERE.

Have a blessed day!

Another Birthday...

It was three years ago when I started

 the cake decorating adventure.

My first attempt at fondant

 was for my daughters 8th birthday,

and since than I have made

 alot of cakes and I

am still learning as I go.

It is still fun and a way that I

use my God-given creativity.

Just to show you a little of the progress

 here is my first cake...

And for her 11th birthday

a giant Popsicle!

She is a beautiful, sweet girl and I

can hardly believe how fast she is becoming

a young lady. 

We love you,  and are so thrilled that you 

are part of our family.

FELIZ CUMPLEANOS! 

You can find her 10th  birthday cake HERE.

Find Unique sweets on Facebook by clicking here.  If you like UniqueSweets on FB you will know each time I update my blog.

Coffee time...and cake!

So as a family living in Costa Rica we have found many places we love to visit.

And since Mr. Sweet and I

enjoy drinking coffee each day,

We needed to find our favorite coffee shop

with fresh roasted coffee.

Coffee beans are dried in the sun and turned every 15 min.

The first week after living here we found it...

our favorite coffee comes from a little shop

in Central Market,

that roasts their own coffee.

While drinking a fresh cup of coffee one day

sitting at Cafe Central

my husband mentioned that I make cakes.

So for more than 8 months everytime we go for

coffee

they ask,

"Where is our cake?"

Yesterday, Mr. Sweet delivered

their CAKE.

They were super excited and were showing

all the other venders

around them.

And in return they gave me a large

burlap coffee sack.

Yes, that made me happy!

Graduation at ILE

Since Mr. Sweet was in charge of the graduation reception for this trimester,  he ask if I could make the cake.

Top layer- chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting.
bottom layer - yellow cake with dulce de leche
filling and toffee nut buttercream.

I was excited to have the chance to make a cake for many of our friends that were graduating from The Spanish Language Institute here in Costa Rica. 

With the help of other students we had plenty of sweets to satisfy all, and a beautiful graduation.

Congratulations to all the graduates!!

A teenager is in the HoUSe

While spending a year in Costa Rica at language school,

we became the parents of a teenager.

WOW!

REALLY??

Yes, our dear daughter turned 13 in Costa Rica!

We celebrated with roller skating party and of course, CAKE!

Time for a coffee break...

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Life is Costa Rica is...

...well

SWEET!

At least today it is,

I made three different kinds

of muffins,

chocolate chip cookies

and of course a pot of yummy Costa Rican coffee.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins

There is one small big problem

with making 3 different kinds of muffins...

...yes, I had to taste all 3.

Delish, really delish and

a perfect compliment to my coffee.

Orange Cranberry Muffins

And my new coffee mug is my favorite color red
and it has my Mr. Sweet's number
on it.
(Hockey number that is.)

Our family is continuing to learn so

much about Costa Rica and

the spanish culture.

And YES there are days we are so

homesick but thankfully they are usually

on different days so we can

encourage each other when we are doing OK and

 they are feeling

lonely.

God is faithful in meeting

all our needs and so many of

our wants.

Although we miss the familar things of

home, we also know that the

KING of KINGS

meets us right where we are.

Costa Rica or USA.

Linking up here

at Virtual Coffee.