In college our birthdays fell near the end of spring break and for four years we held joint celebrations at home withour families and back at school in the first week of Spring Quarter. For the few years I was away for our birthdays, thru grad school and for work we always managed to have a shared birthday celebration. One year we had 'March in May' and went out to celebrate two months later. Together we have shared many messy sundaes, pizzookies and sparkles.
This year was a special year for Janae, her Golden Birthday! (Golden Birthday: When the year and the birthday day match.) We again decided to combine celebrations and I adopted her Golden Birthday as my own. My Golden Birthday was spent huddled over a studio desk int he last few weeks of grad scool preparing for my final review. This celebration was bound to be much more fun, gold & glitter filled than my actual Golden Birthday.
Naturally, we started planning months in advance with a shared Pinterst Board:
Our men were even kind enough to humor us by wearing sparkly gold suspenders!
Here's some of what we created to shamelessly celebrate ourselves, glitter & all things golden.
(glitter dots added later)
Even the homemade marshmallows were glittering!
(Edible glitter can be found at most cake decorating stores and comes in many colors, I found mine at Do It With Icing, in San Diego.)
The S'mores Bar was the biggest sucess of the evening. We had an assortment of chocolates and dipped graham crackers to glam up the typical S'more. We also came up with a golden themed S'more Menu to get people started.
Homemade S'mores from Smitten Kitchen.
About 1 Cup Powdered Sugar
3 1/2 Envelopes Unflavored Gelatin (2 tablespoons plus 2 1/2 teaspoons)
1 Cup Cold Water, Divided
2 Cups Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup Light Corn Syrup
1/4 tsp Salt
2 Egg Whites
1 Tbsp Vanilla
Oil bottom and sides of a 13- by 9- by 2-inch baking pan and dust bottom and sides with some confectioners’ sugar. In bowl of a standing electric mixer sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold cold water, and let stand to soften.
In a 3-quart heavy saucepan cook granulated sugar, corn syrup, second 1/2 cup of cold water, and salt over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to medium and boil mixture, without stirring, until a candy or digital thermometer registers 240°F, about 12 minutes.
In separate medium bowl or in the standing mixer, with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites until they just hold stiff peaks. Beat whites and vanilla (or your choice of flavoring) into sugar mixture until just combined. Pour mixture into baking pan. Don't worry about getting it all out of the bowl, it will get stickier and messier, (as difficult as it may be) leave some in the bowl. Sift confectioners sugar evenly over top, sprinkle with edible glitter. Chill marshmallow, uncovered, until firm, at least three hours, and up to one day.
Run a thin knife around edges of pan and invert pan onto a large cutting board coated with a layer of powdered sugar. With fingers loosen marshmallow and ease onto cutting board. Dust lightly with powdered sugar. Cut marshmallow into roughly one-inch cubes. (A vegetable oiled pizza cutter makes easy work of this process!) Roll the marshmallows through powdered sugar and edible glitter mixture, on all six sides, before shaking off the excess and packing them away.
Happy Golden Birthday!
If you have any questions about any of the items above or are interested in some graphic design assistance please let me know! You can contact me thru comments or any of the social media buttons on the right.
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