As you know, yesterday I spent the 4th of July by myself. I didn’t deal with it very well. I mean, it’s not the same as being by yourself on Christmas, but it is a holiday that’s meant to be shared with people. Laughing, bbqing, drinking, and celebrating our nation’s independence. Instead, I was reminded of my own independence and got a bit depressed and down about it all.
After I took a 30 minute walk, I felt much better about my singledom and decided to spend time reading and watching the last few episodes of The Wire, which I had gotten from Netlix. (How AMAZING was that show?! I’ve now finished the series, and wow, I loved it. Yes, it was hardcore, but it said so much about city politics, policing, and how easily people can fall between the cracks. If you haven’t seen it, I’d highly recommend it).
Anyway, back to the real reason for this post.
My parents, my uncle, and I are getting together today to have our 4th of July BBQ, a day late. I’m going to wear the shirt I found on Cafepress.com. The one that I thought I would wear on the actual 4th of July (until the plans changed). I figure that I might as well wear it today, since I spent the money on it and I don’t want to wait a whole year to wear it:
I just love this shirt, and I think it captures the true spirit of this holiday.
As far as the food for the BBQ, we’re going all out – guacamole and chips (appetizers), turkey burger sliders, deviled eggs, pasta salad, and a green salad. And for dessert? Well, my mom found “the cutest recipe” in one of her online recipe websites (something along the lines of Family Circle, I’m sure). It’s Rice Krispy Treats made to look like the American Flag. Easy and adorable, right? I said I’d make it, because it seemed easy, and I’m usually bringing some sort of appetizer to these events, so I wanted to change things up by bringing something for dessert.
I went grocery shopping on Friday and got the marshmallows and Rice Krispy cereal. Then I went along the baking aisle to find some sort of icing that could be used for easy decorations. I found “easy squeeze” frosting in red and blue ($4.85 each) and then I found an aerosol can of white frosting ($5.50). This was going to be one expensive dessert. But, convenience is something I don’t mind paying for.
I thought the easy squeeze packages had some sort of decorating tip on them. They didn’t. That was sold separately. I should’ve gotten the aerosol can in all three colors (the aerosol can came with 4 different tips included. I guess you do get what you pay for). I imagined making the blue square in the upper left hand corner, then putting little white stars on it. Then, I thought I’d make waves of red and white frosting for the rest of the flag. Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans…
The blue frosting wouldn’t come out of the package! Easy squeeze my ass! I was using all of my muscle in both of my hands just to get the stuff out. At one point I thought I was going to have to go to the store and buy the aerosol can of frosting, but then I told myself that I’d already spent way too much on this dumb dessert and tried to make it work. I finally got the blue out. Then I started on the red, giving as much force as I could – well, wouldn’t you know that the red came flying out? In big red globs. You would’ve thought someone was bleeding to death, from the looks of things around my kitchen. Sigh. Luckily, the aerosol can worked beautifully, and I used two different tips to decorate the stars and then the stripes.
With the creative use of a butter knife, I was able to salvage the look of the flag, but man, I am NEVER making this damn thing again in life. There is a reason that I stick to savory cooking – I’m good at it. Baking isn’t really my thing, and while I do make good cupcakes for my classes from time to time, anything that requires any level of real cake decorating skills just isn’t my thing. Plus, I should’ve stayed away from any sort of recipe that would be featured in a middle America bake sale – Suzy Homemaker I’m not.
Anyway, here’s the finished product. The camera wasn’t able to capture all of the mistakes. Let’s just say that I hope it tastes better than it looks:
Bella's Bold, Brilliant Blog 