Baby, can we keep a chicken on the balcony? it'll only be for a week.

I’m starting to make my husband nervous. I guess I forgot to mention that he’s not a fan of drawing attention to himself on occasions like birthdays. Let’s just say he’s afraid because he knows what I’m capable of. That said, I would never ever dream of organizing a party for him, like one I would organize for myself. Because, I’m a ham (and also because I love pink and anything that glitters). Anyway, I’ve been trying my hardest to keep my masterplan as secret as possible when you’re sharing a one bedroom apartment with the person. So basically, this means me giving my husband the side-eye every time he approaches my computer and asks me what I’m doing. Today he states: for four days now you’ve been at your computer, all I hear is typing and you won’t tell me what’s going on – I’m nervous about what’s going to happen. (And I’m all like, you will NOT break me!)

A propos husband’s birthday: I feel like I’m embarking on an endeavor of a life time. I am very excited. A little insight into the mind at hand: Birthday = Celebrating my husband = PARTY = inviting people over = making food = FEEDING (obviously!). I having been perfecting the menu over the last few days (like I said already), and I rarely say this, or feel this, but I feel like I might be biting off more than I can chew. Noticing myself think like is highly disconcerting. I mean this is coming from the mind of someone who regularly decides to embark on large amounts untested recipes before a shindig. Actually, come to think of it, this person often has parties just so that she can test out large amounts of untested recipes that she has somehow thematically linked together. Call me crazy, but I’ve never made anything twice for party hosted at my place. If I do repeat a recipe for dinner hosted at my place, it’s never with guests who have already tasted it. I repeat by request only.

I may remind some of you (and inform others) that several years ago, before cupcakes we’re in, I hosted a cupcake tasting at my apartment where I made close to 10 varieties of cupcakes, equaling about 200 cupcakes never having used any of the recipes, let alone making a proper cupcake not from a box (for shame!). During the process there were only two disasters 1) I forgot to mix in two ingredients, because I was delirious at 11:00pm from baking for 15hours, and consequently had to scrap a batch of cupcakes; and 2) a whole tray of lemon meringue cupcakes fell to the ground half an hour before guest arrived – which was upsetting, but clearly not a baking related issue. I have some weird sort of blind faith when it comes to my cooking/baking ability.

Anyway… as far as I can tell my master plan requires me to make about 5 liters, yes, liters of one particular type of filling. My earliest calculations, estimate that I may need close to 50 eggs. Thank God produce is dirt cheap in this country. 10 eggs will cost you no more than 2.6zs, at the current exchange rate that’s like 1$. I can afford 5 bucks for eggs. If I we’re in Canada I think I’d want to cry right now, just looking at the budget. Thankfully, due to the over-abundance of time I have on my hands, I have decided to spread prep time over the span of a week. Every day, I will be making something that is related to this party. This is a luxury, as I’m used to doing the same amount of work in one evening and 1 working day (when I used to have a day job). This is why I always host my parties on Saturdays. It gives me the entire time from when I get home on Friday to when guest arrive. Evening and morning is baking, afternoon is assembly, cleaning and getting ready. I also do large amounts of decorating (if required) during the week before the party. This plan usually works out, but requires me having a tight schedule, where a shower, getting ready and a nap are included. It’s a well oiled machine, baby.

Anyway, stay tuned. I will be posting all the recipes once I’m done, as the menu itself is a secret, and on the off-chance my husband actually reads my blog, I can’t tell you what this extravaganza will be looking like in advance. All I can say is that I’m pushing myself to the limit. It will be amazezazing.

And as for the cupcake recipes, for those of you who have asked, I’ll be posting some of those too, once the rest of my stuff sails across the ocean. <3