King Bob's Birthday 2013

I was so happy to be invited to the 2nd Annual King Bob's Birthday party on the beach!  Bob's wife, Sally, puts on a great party...which included beach-front umbrellas and lounge chairs in front of Wanna-Wanna, ice chests filled with icy libations, yummy snack trays. Sand Castle Queen of the Island, Sandy Feet, her very entertaining "sand slaves", and a bunch of interesting people to talk to!  I really enjoy meeting new friends.  I also love talking to people who have moved to the area and find out where they come from.  There's always a story...I just love hearing the tales!

I enjoyed using some of my stencils on the minis!  These
came from Designer Stencils

My offering was a set of cookies made for King Bob (Bob's 71st birthday and his 1st anniversary of retirement makes him King of the Day!).  The cookie set included a large layered cake-shaped cookie, some crowns for the king, and a few minis to fill in the set.  He was kind enough to share the cookies and it seems the Acorn Squash Sugar Cookies were a success.  Even my trial with a new royal icing recipe seemed to work out okay (I didn't have time to taste a dry cookie before leaving for the beach so I wasn't sure how taste and texture would be after drying...risky on my part but...whew...it apparently worked).  Nothing makes me more happy than people enjoying my treats!

These were drying to the very last minute!

Photo by Sally Scaman
I was having a big hair humidity day...the
curls were blowing wildly as Sally snapped
a photo of me and Bob and the box of cookies

While a lot of the United States is enjoying Fall weather, folks on South Padre Island are enjoying one of our favorite times of year.  The beautiful days of September and October are PERFECT beach weather.  So, it being a perfect day on the beach, I'll just end the post with a slew of photos featuring Sandy Feet, Dennis,and Ken working hard (did you know, it's important to place your beer higher than the sandcastle...else you fill your can with sand???) Enjoy!

This stuff is hard work!

Things are shaping up as the creative genius kicks in!

Hot work when you are working on the side where there is no wind!

Sandy Feet carving the King's Sculpture

Dennis (L) and Ken (R) carving supporting castles on each side
of the King Bob sculpture 
(yep, they are a lot more than just sand slaves - 
they are talented sculptors themselves).  
This is the status when I had to leave.


Following Photos from Sally Scaman

The King and his Pampered Princess
The Sand Sculptors (behind)

Bob and Sally...beach royalty.  Great party and Fabulous Sand Sculpture!

Bon Appetit, Y'all...and May Your Day be Filled with Sunshine!!!

Lighthouse and Starfish Cookies

I only decorated three lighthouses ...so I don't have a lot to show.  It was hard to get them cut out and transferred...anything with a small tip tends to be a challenge, especially in a warm kitchen.  Mostly, I was focused on patriotic cookies, however, I managed to get 4 lighthouses cut out successfully, unfortunately breaking one after it was baked.

The starfish tale has already been told.  It's pretty straight forward. 

Pipe the outline, flood, dry for a couple of hours, pipe large dot in the middle, then progressively smaller dots down the legs, add sugar pearls to the center and immediate surrounding slightly larger dots, dry overnight before stacking.  Ta da! 

Simple and I really love them.  This time I did use a different color - I mixed peach and yellow to get a color that could be used for the light in the lighthouse as well as the starfish.  Worked great!

My instructions for decorating this basic lighthouse are below each photo.  The Port Isabel lighthouse is a simple white lighthouse...and it sits on a grassy knoll. That's where the similarity between reality and cookie ends.  I should have checked a photo for details if I wanted it to be accurate, but I didn't...left off little windows, the top should have been black...and there's a staircase by the door I could have added.  Oh well... next time!

I piped and filled the crown, outlined the circles at
top and bottom, and filled the middle .
Left to dry overnight

The intent of the line piped across the top "circle"
was to make it look like the walk-around section
at the top of the lighthouse.
The under color of the dark cookie was to
represent the railing (in my mind).
I filled the base "circle" to give it some
dimension and then I filled in the
area representing the light shining in
the lantern room with the
blend of icing I made for the starfish.

After everything was thoroughly dry I piped some dark gray
vertical lines to create windows in the lantern room area. 
Outlined below the cap, above and below the top railing,
and along the top and bottom of the base. 
I piped a door above the base.
The grass was supposed to look more like grass.  I used a Wilton tip #233
that supposedly was for making grass.
I guess my icing wasn't thick enough because it
ended up looking like fancy stars.  Oh well. 
From a distance it looks like grass.
Sort of.

That's it for phase two of the tropical cookies on chocolate sugar cookie bases.  Remember to check out LilaLoa's blog for that yummy recipe.  I have more dough to bake - both chocolate (just a bit left) and vanilla (an entire recipe).  It may need to be sent to the freezer.  I have more coastal cookie cutters sitting out waiting for my attention as well....  Unfortunately, I have a lot going on for the next 10 days...so I might be disappearing again!  You may be assured, however, I always show up again!

The jellyfish post can be found via this link

Bon Appetit, Y'all!!!

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Making Jellyfish Cookies

I've had, for a while, this jellyfish cookie cutter that I won (along with several other cutters!) on a Facebook Giveaway from Sweet Art Factory a few months ago.  I haven't really baked and decorated cookies for fun since Easter.  I did make some baby shower cookies, but that was for an event...not just the pure pleasure of it all.  Sooooo, my goal this past week was to make some patriotic cookies to celebrate the July 4th holiday, and, use one or more of my new cookie cutters!  I started with jellyfish, star fish, and a few light houses (since I live near a town with a light house, it seemed the right thing to do)!  The jellyfish cookie cutter was from the Sweet Art Factory Beach and Nautical collection.

Since it was part of my winning bundle, let's start with the jellyfish.  I wanted it to be "sort of" real looking... but not necessarily anatomically correct.  I saw lots of examples of happy jellyfish, plain jellyfish, and fancy jellyfish as I trolled the internet...but, not what I was looking for.

I found a photo that looked pretty - I was looking for the blues that appear almost iridescent.  I don't want to steal any one's work, so I'll link you to the photo I tried to imitate (well, I guess I should say it was the inspiration - because it doesn't really look anything like my cookies look).

I started with a chocolate sugar cookie from fellow-blogger, LilaLoa.  I liked the flavor and the dark color as a background.  I am not posting her recipe because I didn't alter it at all, so please stop by her blog and check it out.  She is a great cookie decorator and her writing style is very entertaining.  You won't be sorry.

Back to the jellyfish.  So, I baked off just 7 of that shape.  Like the patriotic cookies, I had to wait a couple of days to get the right "atmospheric conditions" for using royal icing.  I knew this cookie would require a couple of days of "patience".  I sketched a pencil mock-up of the cookie components and how I would layer it up - laid out a time frame to ensure adequate drying time.  Since I started with these cookies, I was actually able to do the base coats over the course of one day...starting early and finishing late. 

I used a sky blue from Americolor, then a darker mixture of sky blue, royal blue and one drop of black (all Americolor)...and then I took some white and added it to the sky blue - just squeezed it straight into the piping bag and squished it around (kind of wanting it lighter and marbled looking), and then last, white for tentacles.  Sound confusing?  Yep, me too, that's why I wrote it all out in advance.

First, and foremost, I will again state...not anatomically correct - simply wanting to make it look "real" vs "cartoonish" and impeded in that quest by the limitations of this basic cookie cutter shape and my eye's inability to see dimension (or how to create dimension).  I am simply NOT an artist.   I view the cookie decorating more as crafting.  My high school art teacher tried to help me be a better artist...but I think I was pretty much one of those students she just helped get through the class!  So, with those points straightened out.  I began.

I outlined and filled the top of the bell cap (uh, the aboral surface?) and the poor attempt at making it 3-d with icing (really hard) by piping the bottom part of the cap with the same color.  Used the sky blue for that. 

I allowed it to dry several hours then filled in the darker shade of blue to represent the lower under inside of the bell cap.  That's not how it ended up looking...but that was the intention.  Allowed to dry a few hours also. 

Then, I did the marblized blue and white section where the tentacles would go.  It didn't look as marbled as I had expected. 

If you looked at the photograph, you saw there were some big thick things hanging down from the center of the underside of the bell cap ...the manubrium?  Then, white hangy down things...which I call tentacles...but I am not sure what they are called exactly.  I had to fit all that into the little cookie section obviously meant for "tentacles".

The next morning I piped white tentacles on the designated tentacle area.  Several hours later, I mixed up some dark gray icing. 

I piped small dots all over the "top" of the bell cap and drew a line across the bottom of the upper blue section. Then I used a damp paint brush to "shade" down towards the center of the darker blue middle part.  Confused much?  I was.  I found I didn't like the look of the manubrium...and left it off half the cookies.  It just looked sort of ugly to me.  (shrug)

Last, but not least, I very lightly sprinkled some disco dust over the cap to give it the iridescent look I was going for.  Unfortunately, it doesn't show as well in the photos...but "in person" it looks just the right kind of sparkly.

It was a satisfying project...wouldn't want to do a boat load of these cookies, but they did what I wanted them to do.  They looked pretty on the cookie tray I think.  Well, hmmm...now that I look at them, they might be mistaken as aliens.  I'm going to have to make more of these because I already see changes I would make. 

So, next will come the lighthouses...when I get around to writing it up :-)

Bon Appetit, Y'all!!!

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PadreRitaGrill - Revisited!

My friend and I were in dire need of adult conversation and some time out of the house... so, we decided to hit PadreRitaVille for lunch Tuesday.  I suggested it in an email last week, and I baited my hook with a link to the Island Breeze article last week that had me salivating for most of the menu items mentioned.  She, being weak, like me, succumbed rapidly.  Yay! 

Today finally arrived and we hopped in the car and headed out to lunch.  I was nearly giddy with happiness!  I didn't even need to think about looking at the menu... but I did.... in great detail.  I knew, going in, that having to decide between a volcano of nachos and the Tuesday lunch special, Shrimp Scampi, was nigh impossible...but I managed.  Up until the last minute it was going to be the special and then I had a quick step switch to the Nachos.  My friend got the special so I can speak to both.

My 1/2 order of supreme nachos were delicious - I had beef this time since I had chicken before.  The chips were delicious, generous dollop of guacamole (freshly made) on top and fresh salsa, jalapenos, and sour cream on the side.  Piled high with beans, cheese, onion, (skipped the tomatoes), and a LOT of nicely-seasoned ground beef....overall, excellent.  I couldn't eat more than half of the half order.  It was an extremely generous serving.  The $6 lunch special my friend got was deemed very good (and I challenge you to find a lunch like that for the price anywhere else on the island).  It started with a mixed lettuce with tomato and red onion side salad.  The entree was served on a large, very attractive, pewter fish-shaped platter filled with pasta topped with shrimp and a tasty garlicky butter sauce; broccoli on the side, and garlic toast.  (there were other side choices, she chose broccoli)   My meal, with iced tea was in the $15 range and my friend's was $8 before tip.  She had a generous mug of freshly made French Roast coffee and said it was delicious.  I opted for iced tea and it was as good as I remember (despite the waitress topping it off with raspberry tea instead of regular tea - I'm not a raspberry tea fan - I didn't have the heart to tell her at that point).

I'm sure restaurant owners wish people would stop taking pictures of their food with their cell phones - I read an article in Bon Appetit magazine that said so - but I feel irresistibly compelled when something is so exciting to me that I think the whole world needs to see it!  I held off because I kept imagining my mother giving me the stern "big eyes" if she saw me.  I had my camera in my purse, but by the time the food was in front of me, I was starved and just dug in.  It was delicious.  Unfortunately, that leaves me - again - with no pictures from PadreRitaVille!

The follow-up visit was as good as the previous visit.  There was a slight mis-step in both of our orders arriving "not as ordered", but it was taken care of pretty darn quickly.  We weren't overly concerned because we were gabbing.  The shift manager checked in a couple of times and apologized for the beginning mis-step.  No problemo.  Regardless of the few service bleeps, I continue to totally enjoy the food here.  Really nice.

I want to come back for dinner - the "steak night" special has been luring me for a couple of weeks now.  However, I'm finding now that school is back in session, homework is abundant, and eating out on a week-night is just not feasible unless there is a special occasion (like no homework for the teen or a parade).  I also know I need to keep trying new places...but, by golly, I just want to go back to PadreRitaVille so I can try some more of their menu.  It all looks soooo good!

If you haven't made it by - you MUST go...  'nuf said!

UPDATE 1/3/2014
My son and I had a delicious lunch here on a gorgeous January day on the island.  Excellent prices for delicious food.  I continue to love PadreRittaGrill! (note name change)

Here's the slightly edited update from my Facebook page:

"Yummy lunch at PadreritaGrill Spi with Ian Hook. Outstandingly creamy and delicious Tomato Basil Soup with a plentiful and diverse Salad Bar for me. Generous Shrimp Po'Boy with fries for him. Mine was great and he said his was really good. (high praise from the usual shoulder shrug)  All for a reasonable price. "

SPI FLIP FLOP FOODIE RATING:

4 – Lip smackin’ - good quality – flip flops will definitely be parked under their table again!

PadreRitaVille

I had the opportunity to try out South Padre Island's newest dining establishment this week, on their first day of business!  J. Micheal and Cathy Laferty have just opened the delightful PadreRitaVille at 4001 Padre Blvd.  I'll visit again after they are fully "in swing" but I wanted to put the word out about this new place to grab a bite on the island.  You can follow them on Facebook too!

The ambiance is Texas tropical (of course) with a parrot-head nod... nice variety of lighting ranging from colored drop lights to multi-colored string lights and an eclectic mix of candles and table-top tiki lights.  It is a cool and restful retreat from the glaring sun in the middle of a hot day.  Palapa umbrellas top the roomy tables and it just has a good vibe.  Cathy is highly visible as she checks to make sure everyone is enjoying their visit and that the food is good; the wait staff is extremely attentive as well.

Our table tried out appetizers primarily.  Starting with an order of the bottomless mild fresh salsa and freshly made tortilla chips we had a hard time deciding what we wanted (and so, of course, we ordered more than we could eat). We sampled good, crispy fried calamari, a Mexican Shrimp Cocktail with generous amounts of shrimp and fresh avocado (thank you - finally fresh avocado), and a GINORMOUS and delicious pile of supreme chicken nachos.  We all commented that the refried beans on the nachos were unusually enticing (I mean, who notices the beans usually?).  Four people munching steadily could not make a dent in the nachos!  The margaritas were deemed "two thumbs up" by my son and his friends, and I enjoyed a good glass of iced tea in a beautiful Mexican-style heavy glass with blue rim...and a curvy straw for comfortable sipping.  The dishes and glassware were of the quality I would use in my home...another plus!  I sampled a nibble of another person's all-you-can-eat fried fish and shrimp.  It was good and crisp and the tartar sauce was just right as well.  Word of mouth is that they will try to do everything "fresh" - avoidance of frozen products and Sysco main dishes; not the usual restaurant fare to be found on the island.  Hooray!

The prices were very reasonable and the atmosphere friendly and coastal...I'll definitely be back to sample the dinner menu as well.  I didn't get a chance to see their patio nor snap a photo of their sign...because I was in such a food and bonhomie-induced soporific haze...all I could think was "nap"...so I just forgot!  I'll be back, though, you can count on that!
(photo source sandyfeet's photos)

SPI FLIP FLOP FOODIE RATING:
4 – Lip smackin’ - good quality – flip flops will definitely be parked under their table again!