That's way beyond my scope. I suggested an alternative: Let's cut out pictures of all the girls' faces and mount each one on a skewer, then we'll stick the skewers all over the cake.
As you can see in the picture, it was adorable -- and I'm happy to report it was the hit of the party.
Best of all, for me: No futzing with pastry bags and decorating tips, no huge mess to clean up. We just baked our favorite chocolate cake, frosted it and embellished it.
Sometimes mother is the necessity of invention.
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So, the other day, Sam said, "Mom, would you rather be trapped in a cage with a lion for three days, or lick peanut butter off a hobo's foot?"
"Hmmmm," I said. "Neither sounds very attractive, so that's a tough choice. I guess I'd rather lick the peanut butter off a hobo's foot. That wouldn't necessarily kill me. What would you rather do?"
"I'd rather spend three days in a lion's cage," he said. "With the lion, I wouldn't have to eat peanut butter."
Sam hates peanut butter. For a parent, that's a bummer. PB&J has always been a parent's fall-back, when there's no lunch meat or you need something to eat portable to eat.
Peanut butter has more grown-up uses, too. When a friend told me she wanted a good peanut sauce recipe, I referred her to Laraine Perri's excellent Thai recipe published in the December 2008 issue. You'll find it here: http://www.relishmag.com/recipes/view/37028/thai-peanut-sauce.html. It's simple, fast and keeps a long time in the refrigerator. I like it with grilled chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, or tossed with noodles. And it's terrific with spring rolls!
Poor Sam. He may never know what he's missing
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My Very First Book of Numbers by Eric Carle (Philomel Books, 1974) could just as easily be called “An Introduction to Fruit” and is a great book for children.
The sturdy, coated pages are cut horizontally in half. The upper pages have anywhere from 1 to 10 black squares and the lower pages are illustrated with Carle’s playful drawings of fruit — 1 pineapple, 2 bananas, 7 strawberries, 10 grapes, etc. For older children, the idea is to match the number of squares with the same number of fruits. Younger children, not old enough to get the hang of it, will be captivated by the colorful pictures, which could be the reason you bought the book in the first place. My children licked the pages before we moved on to counting. The book is a fun way to introduce children to counting and eating fruit, two of life’s important skills.
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