Congrats To The Grad - Part Two

The second graduate in the past week was my cousin Jimmy. As a part of a special program in his high school, each student graduates on their own when they are deemed ready for the workforce. So Jim got to graduate all by himself. As a sign of how beloved he is, there were over 40 people crammed into the library to see him graduate, including former classmates and parents, coworkers from his job placement, teachers and family.
Here's Jim giving a speech that he wrote himself on the progress he had made during school - he was cool as a cucumber during the whole thing!

Jim posing with his proud parents, Barry and Judy.

We headed down to his classroom afterwards to enjoy cake and snacks with Jim's teachers and classmates. I was touched to see that the food table featured a plate of sliced peppers - Jim's favorite snack. He is not known for his sweet tooth and often chomps on peppers instead. Surprisingly enough, these were also popular with the crowd.

I also LOVED the handmade decorations like this banner - they really added a festive air to the room:

Finally, a shot of me and the happy graduate, proudly flashing the button that Amy and I surprised him with:

Words can't express how incredibly proud I am of Jim - his graduation ceremony really emphasized the fact that he has grown so much over the years and I'm looking forward to seeing what he'll be doing next in his life.

Graduation Cupcakes

Yay! I have my laptop back. Hence, my ability to share pictures from the weekend. It's only fitting that I share pictures from my cousin Andrew's graduation party today, as I have the afternoon off to go attend another cousin's high school graduation ceremony. Graduation season is definitely in full swing!

First off, the food. I feel like I haven't done much creative baking in a while. Part of it's been the heat and part of it's just the lack of overall time and energy due to the million other things I'm trying to get done these days. However, when I saw a picture of graduation themed cupcakes, I felt inspired by their simplicty and overall cuteness to make them for the party.

I went with my go-to chocolate cake recipe for the cupcakes. I could gush about this recipe for days, not only does it exclude eggs as a leavener (making them easy to make even if you are out of eggs or worried about not having enough), but it results in the most perfect cupcakes. Nice, rounded domes + moist cake = perfection.

Perfect chocolate cupcake recipe (from Hershey's Kitchen):

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar
2/3 cup cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups water
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups water

Directions
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups.

2. Stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add water, oil, vinegar and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter.
3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until wooken pick inserted in cake portion comes out clean. Remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Makes two dozen cupcakes.

Now comes the fun part, the stages of frosting the cupcakes. I used another recipe from the Hershey's website since I love the consistency and the color contrast of the frosting against the cupcakes.

One-bowl Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
2-2/3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat butter in medium bowl. Add powdered sugar and cocoa alternately with milk, beating to spreading consistency (additional milk may be needed). Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

I frosted these using my cloth pastry bag and an icing tip, using a simple spiral design that allowed me to move quickly from cupcake to cupcake. I had to pause after frosting the first cupcake to admire how nice it looked!
 

As you can see, to make graduation caps, I end up decorating each one with a mini Reese's peanut butter cup (large end down), topped with a Ghiradelli chocolate square (I went with the caramel squares) and adhered using a small dot of frosting. Another dot of frosting on top was used to hold a M&M in place and tassels and Andrew's initials were drawn on with a Betty Crocker gel frosting tube.

I think these look a little messier than I was looking for and it would've been better to have created a red frosting to use, instead of using the store-bought gel frosting. However, I've learned that I can't do everything and sometimes, it's worth a shortcut to save some time and frustration! Plus, I like the contrast of the vivid red with the chocolate, although as my Andrew pointed out, tassels are supposed to hang off the sides rather than lay on top. I saw some creative decorating ideas that used thin strings of red licorice to achieve that effect, but I definitely didn't have the time or patience to add that effect this past weekend. :)

What warmed my heart at the end of the day? Seeing the graduate of honor chowing down on a cupcake. I knew the cupcakes were right for him simply because they were loaded with tons of candy. Ever since he was little, Andrew has had the habit (aggravating for me at times) of picking candy off the top of my baked goods without eating the rest of the item (such as Hershey's kisses off of peanut butter cookies). So this time around, I figured he could pick the candy graduation caps and eat them, and this one time, I wouldn't scold him for it!

Graduation Celebration Continues

The big graduation party doesn't happen until next weekend but we wanted to continue to make the rest of most of Amy's big day.

After stuffing ourselves at Apgujung, we headed back home so Andrew and I could give Amy our graduation gifts. Here's Amy carefully unwrapping my gift:

A Coach bag that can be used as briefcase - I like this design better than the more structured bags plus, I liked the fact that it was big enough to hold a laptop and files, and had a section with pockets for pens, her cellphone and all the other crap that women like to carry around:

Next was Andrew's gift:

A leather portfolio from Coach with a "legal" writing pad that Amy can use for job interviews and for meetings with clients:

Next, came one of my favorite parts - an ice cream cake from Coldstone Creamery!

The girl at the counter got confused by the word "Congrats" for some reason - she said "Congrads?" and I said, "No, congrats, like congratulations" which eventually lead to "Congratulations" being crammed on the top:

I know what you're thinking, why didn't I bake for today? I'm saving the baked goods for the actual graduation party next week. Plus, who can resist layers of Red Velvet cake, Cake Batter ice cream and whipped cream frosting (which Amy and I both love):

A yummy end to a big day for Amy!

My Sister, the Juris Doctor

Today was a big day for my family and the reason my parents are here in Boston visiting for two weeks - my sister Amy's graduation from Suffolk Law School!

I can't say that my parents, Andrew, Amy's boyfriend Joey and I really enjoyed waking up early to freeze our butts off in the open tent by the waterfront (aka the Bank of America pavilion). I don't know whose bright idea it was to have an outdoor event in May in Boston and expect the weather to be nice. The good thing is that we arrived early enough to score decent seats in the middle of the pavilion, which insulated us somewhat from the elements:

Martha Coakley, Attorney General for Massachusetts, was the commencement speaker and actually gave an interesting and relatively concise speech.

Finally, it was the moment we waited four hours for - the minute Amy's name was called (that tiny figurine in black next to the tiny figurine in red would be Amy accepting her diploma from the President of Suffolk University):

Here's the proud graduate afterwards - excited at the thought of shedding her gown and escaping from the madness of parents and students meeting up after the ceremony.

The picture of the four of us didn't come out perfectly, but here's a nice shot of Amy with my parents:

And me and Amy - I'm glad it stopped raining in time for us to take pictures with Amy outside:

As Boston was playing host to many other graduations today (we saw BU students in their red gowns crossing on the bridges over the Mass Pike), we decided to skip eating in the city and headed back to Newton. We chose one of our favorite places, Apgujung, to fete Amy as it also allowed one of her roommates, Phu, to join us.

Congratulations once again to my little sister on finishing up three tough years of law school and achieving her Juris Doctorate - next step, passing the bar and earning the "Esquire!"