Watermelon Baby Carriage!!

Wow! I am like a month behind on my blog! So many topics to cover – better get crackin’ basically.

This blog will teach you how to create this delicious display!

Toward the end of February, my sister friends Abby and Lindsey, and I organized a baby shower for friend and college roomie Stacey. This is the first baby for Stacey and Brad, and the first baby shower thrown by the girls and I, so we wanted to make sure it was extra special. Among the 75 or so cupcakes iced by Abby and I, something needed to stand out big time.

Now to get this blog post started, I think of my friend Rita who often likes to say “I carried the watermelon” whenever possible. Although this pop culture (of sorts) reference doesn’t really make sense to me, for this blog, I did actually carry the watermelon. The watermelon with a destiny.

The centerpiece, as we had determined, for Stacey’s shower would be a watermelon baby carriage. Novel idea, you say? Yes! It is. For this piece I will let the photos speak for themselves and how we accomplished such a feat.

Step 1 – Before taking on the task of finding a watermelon in Central Ohio in the winter time, stop at Johnny Rockets for a tasty pop because this could be a rocky ride.

Abby's poison of choice - diet cherry coke.

Step 2 – Just as you’re about to give up hope, check Whole Foods near the pineapples to find a watermelon perched just upon the shelves!

"Abby! Look! Near the pineapple!!"

Step 3 – Since watermelons are hard to come by this time of year, create a little nest in your car to make sure it doesn’t roll out onto the pavement or such as.

Extra blankets and reusable grocery bags seem to do the trick.

Step 4 – Make some angular incisions. Give yourself plenty of room for extra hacking and chopping.

Watch your fingers while chopping away!

Step 5 – After scraping the inside of the melon out into a bowl or other suitable container, make sure to have a turkey basting thing on hand for sucking excess drainage (aka, melon water I guess).

This takes constant attention. Then, use the juice for margaritas!

Step 6 – When the melon is not oozing as much juice, turn it around so you can scallop its edges to create a pretty little effect.

Abby Pound is an expert scalloper!

Step 7 – Fashion some wheels from a couple of oranges and a handle from leftover melon rind. PS – we forgot to save extra, but luckily it worked out OK.

Ready to roll!

Step 8 - Transport carefully to the site and fill with fruit upon arrival. Stand back with polite “thank you kindly” regards ready to slip off the tongue as the praise rolls in!

I have to say, this is one of the greatest creations to date.

PS - If you go to make one of these, be sure to cut a flat side into the bottom of the watermelon so it doesn't go rolling away!

In students I trust.

I wrote this last week -- it's taken me a while to post it.

Last we had a great conference at Ohio State. This multi-faceted event had many details to take care of and lots of moving pieces. One important piece for the day was AV needs. Since our program was fast paced and very diverse, AV was an essential part in making sure the day ran smoothly.

I am not an AV expert. Neither is anyone on staff with me – especially when it comes to working with AV equipment specific to one of the buildings at Ohio State. We were so fortunate to have two great students there the whole time yesterday who could play with the soundboard, cue the lights, projectors, fix the mics and everything else that I would have no clue how to do.

Now – the point of my story. Early in the day, way before the conference started, we noticed the podium was missing a mic. No big deal. So I went to ask the student if he could set one up. Of course he jumped right to it and quick to apologize. I told him no need to apologize and thanked him for his help. It was no biggie, after all.

The next thing the student said surprised and upset me. He seemed baffled by my chill demeanor and said, “most clients aren’t so nice about this kind of thing.” I was like, “a missing mic?” to which he said “yeah, thing like that.” He didn’t elaborate, but I could tell this smart student had been treated not so well in the past and seemed almost shocked I wasn’t freaking out.

I was thinking about this all day yesterday and it’s still on my mind today for the following reasons:

1 – First and foremost, who knows more about AV than the AV person? Why would you be mean to someone who is there to help you with something that there is no way you could do yourself? It’s only going to upset them, you and your guests.

2 – This kid was student. A student who was probably being paid between $0 and $10 an hour to be on site to make sure our event is successful. A small price to pay for peace of mind and lack of fail.

3 – Why, when students are given the chance to interact with “business people or clients from the real world,” would anyone want to give them a negative view of what it must be like outside of college?

4 – Lastly, and most importantly, kindness, patience and respect should not be a rare practice.

Let them eat (Ohio blueberry) cake!

There’s something about the winter in Ohio that gives me one heck of a sweet tooth – and when the sweet tooth strikes, it’s something I have to take care of as soon as possible.  A week or so ago, I was feeling extra motivated and decided to make a cake. From scratch.

Last summer I checked out Southern Cakes from the Columbus Metropolitan Library.  This book was full of delightful recipes rooted in southern tradition.  It also featured several cakes with seasonal fruits and flavors – win, win!  I selected a few favorites from this book and one such favorite I had been wanting to try was Shenandoah Valley Blueberry Cake.  This cake sounded amazing and since I had a few extra bags of blueberries leftover from the summer safely frozen and preserved in my freezer, I knew this was the perfect cake to make for the day.

The recipe was very simple – just a few basic ingredients (it didn't even call for vanilla!).  The cake was a pleasure from start to finish.  The dough was so white and when speckled with the Ohio blueberries, it was really a very pretty thing to admire.

This was a very delicate dough so not a ton of mixing was required.

Just look at those gorgeous Ohio blueberries!  So thankful to have them from last season.  Their flavor is top notch!

Ready to go in the oven!  One thing I also noticed is that local berries really held their juice and didn't turn the batter blue  -- which was awesome!

Coming out of the oven, I was overjoyed to have the pop right out of the pan after cooling on a rack (in the past, my cakes have become stuck in the pan and made a huge fail).  Slicing into the cake and tasting a bite was pure heaven.  This is definitely a cake I’ll make again.  The plump, colorful and incredibly tasty blueberries were so perfect in this cake. 

If this came out of your oven, wouldn't you be happy, too?

And even though the recipe called for Virginia blueberries, I have to say, the Ohio blueberries I used can probably give any Virginia berry a run for its money.