Center Plate

Go Cardinals!

You bet we're a Arizona Cardinal fan. And as a long-time season ticket holder, I am excited to be spending tonight in front of the tube as they go against the Carolina Panthers. It's nice to see our hometown team get national exposure and air time. Last week, our catering crew held it's last post-game tailgate party for the Cardinals. The win over the Atlanta Falcons made for a great ending as it was our last home game for the season.

         

A weekend in photos

We've had a full weekend of fun and crazy catering. Ed and Rod were at the Phoenix International Raceway Thursday thru Sunday grilling breakfast and lunch for our friends at 98Kupd and Budweiser. The big man, Roger, was also around for the event. He is a big NASCAR fan. Here are a few pictures of the event.

 

Brady (red apron) of "Holmberg's Morning Sickness" on 98 KUPD serves up burgers and steaks along with his special BBQ Sweet and Spicy Sauce where you'll be able to buy online here. Ed follows his lead with seasoning.

Nothing better than fresh sweet corn grilled. It was simply amazing, and a welcome surprise to the party goers.

A few pictures of the race. This is how close we were to the tracks. It took 3 washings to get the dirt and dust out of my hair. It was unusually overcast, windy, and cold for Phoenix.

 

 

   

I caught a ride with friends to the track. But, Rod and Ed camped out at Roger's RV which was parked in the area at the center of the track. Needless to say, as the cars raced around us and more than 100,000 fans cheering on the stands, it was a deafening experience.

A picture of the victory lane. I thought it would be bigger.

 

My final picture. This of our family dog Mike. No reason. He's so adorable resting on this plush dog the kids never really played with. Makes me smile.

Birthdays and Cakes

For the past week my mind has been consumed with planning my children's birthday parties. The date is fast approaching and we finally nailed down a theme. The meatboy decided on the Incredible Hulk, and the princess chose a Rock Star party. The invitations for the Hulk went out today, while the Rock Star invites are still in the designing stage. Last year both kids spent their birthday holed up in the house with chicken pox so this year we are going all out. It'll be interesting how I manage two separate parties in one day. It's tough when you have your only children's birthdays in one month and within 5 days of each other. Here's a picture of them this time last year right before they were struck with chicken pox.

Nonetheless I found myself reminiscing of birthdays past--how much they've grown. Which made me think of our Bakery and how it has evolved too. When we first opened the Bakery our selections were limited to breads, donuts, and fruit pies. We didn't have a cake decorator who did anything more than the basic icing and rosebuds. At one point we were one of those bakery that ordered edible wallpaper of licensed products like the Disney princess. It was an improvement but certainly not by a mile. Today, we have Marcee and Angel--bona fide cake decorators and for the past year have done everything from bachelorette to retirement to wedding cakes. We have tons of pictures at the store or real like examples.  I will post a few of our best ones later, but for now, here's a sampling of some of our earlier works.

Now back to more birthday planning. If you're wondering what this year's birthday cakes will be  . . . Angel and I decided for the Hulk, the sheet cake will replicate blocks of stones with a toy Hulk looking as if it broke thru. The Rock Star cake is either a guitar-shaped cake or black and purple with glittered stars all over with a toy microphone. These designs have not been done in our Bakery before, but I'm confident Angel can design it. Stop by the Bakery and see what they can do for your next party. I'll post more cakes and bakery goods later.

Lin