Happy Birthday Phu!

I know I've been stuck in a rut of trifles, but people keep requesting them!



This is for Phu, who mercilessly made fun of me for being old. Which is funny, considering he is turning the same age just over a month after. Happy Birthday old man. I hope it's another "full moon" night for you!

Happy Birthday Andrew!

Feeling like a mom sending her child off to school with birthday cupcakes, I asked Andrew what he wanted as his birthday treat for the office (not to be confused with his birthday treat for home - pumpkin bread). I did offer cupcakes but he opted for a birthday trifle and selected everything that went into it. This actually ended up being the second trifle I made this week, I had made one on Monday for a coworker, which might have put the idea in his head.

In the middle of layering the trifle, I paused to take a picture because the strawberries looked so pretty:


More strawberries were placed down on the layer of chocolate pudding, and where eventually covered by Cool Whip:


The final product had layers of chocolate cake, white chocolate pudding, chocolate pudding, chocolate syrup, heath bar bits, Cool Whip and strawberries, each layered twice:

The trifle ended up slightly overflowing the top, crammed with all the pudding goodness:

Considering that only four people are working today in Andrew's office, I think it's safe to say that there will be plenty of trifle left over!

More to come on Andrew's birthday festivities.

Trifle Tuesday

I know you're thinking, "it's not Tuesday, it's Monday."

But the trifle I made is for a birthday celebration at work tomorrow.

I was feeling lazy and immediately thought of making a trifle. It's just too hot and muggy to muster up any enthusiasm to bake.

Then I felt guilty. I thought to myself, "No, I really like coworker X, I'm going to push myself to make something fabulous."

At the end of the day, two other coworkers and I were discussing the birthday festivities for tomorrow. One asked me what I was going to make, and immediately suggested that I make something cool (temperature-wise). The other chimed in immediately with "like a trifle!" having experienced one that I had made earlier in the year.

So what could I do? The masses had spoken.

This took me less than an hour to make, and that includes baking time. It's all in layering easy ingredients and cheating with a cake mix:



This particular coworker loves chocolate, so chocolate cake mix was a must. I went with a slightly summer theme, and used layers of cake, berry sauce (made by Smuckers for sundaes), cheesecake pudding, cool whip, and chocolate chips:



I'll call it the Chocolate Berry Cheescake Trifle. Sounds impressive, huh?

As you might be able to guess, I'm in love with my new zester. All those shavings came from half a Hershey's kiss - amazing!

Did Someone Say Trifle?

From reading my blog, you'll find out that I'm a big fan of making trifles. They're relatively easy to assemble and are a crowd pleaser, especially if you invest in a nice trifle glass. I've found them as cheap as $5 at the Christmas Tree Shop, but I happen to own a really nice trifle glass that I received as a birthday gift from Phu and Pete.

Andrew and I were invited over to his former coworker's place last night for a potluck dinner. Knowing me well already, Julian told Andrew that we were in charge of dessert. I made a batch of oatmeal cranberry cookies, knowing that they are well liked by the other dinner attendees, Jeanne and Mike. I also went with a trifle, figuring that it's the type of dessert that most people like.

This one featured strawberries (as you can see in the picture, gold cake, cool whip, chocolate pudding, vanilla pudding with chocolate chips, bananas and toffee bits:


The final product, shown off to perfection by my new apron (also a gift from Phu):


More details and photos on the potluck dinner to come.

Lobster Dinner

Andrew and I stuffed ourselves silly and had a great night, courtesy of Jen and Rob. We started the night with appetizers, mini ham and cheese/spinach and cheese quiches wrapped in phyllo dough - very yummy. Then we had Legal Seafoods clam chowder and Ceasar salad as a starter.
Then came the main course:

Rob surprised us with a Monster crab as well - weighing three pounds!

Rob shows us what the inside of a crab looks like - all yucky and green.

Those lobsters didn't see us coming - this is what was left at the end of dinner:

Dessert was some of the pumpkin spice "bars" I made yesterday and a trifle consisting of layers of vanilla ice cream, yellow cake, banana pudding, cherry pie filling, cool whip and toffee bits. A bit eclectic but still yummy.