Tag Archives: birthday

Around Accra: Coco Lounge

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My birthday was October 4 and David’s was November 4. Since we weren’t together for either one of them, we decided we’d celebrate both birthdays together on December 4. As I cruised around the internet and Trip Advisor, I decided that Coco Lounge looked like a good place to go.

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We arrived right on time even though I’m pretty sure the last kilometer of the drive took us 25 minutes. The traffic in Accra is unlike any I’ve ever seen before and 6:00 p.m. is a pretty busy time of day.

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We decided to order a cocktail and some chips while we decided on what to eat. David decided on a Heineken, the only beer they have on draft. I looked at the wine selection and was going to go with a glass of red wine until David discovered they have Beefeater Gin. Well! Since that’s my favorite, I ordered a dry Beefeater Martini up with olives.

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This part of our visit, the martini part, was the only part of our visit that was less than perfect. We saw they had drawn his beer but it appeared that they were stumped on how to make the martini. David said that I shouldn’t get my hopes up too high since they seemed to be having trouble. Our server finally delivered David’s beer and a perfect Beefeater martini for me. It was really good!

We ordered a second round of drinks while placing our dinner order. The second martini was not good. I’m not sure what was wrong with it but my guess is that they didn’t use the right gin. I took it back and she came back with a second martini. It wasn’t quite as good as the first but it was Beefeater and it was good. 

For dinner, David ordered spicy beef and rice stir fry which came in a bowl. It looked good and he confirmed that it was very good. I decided on the Coco Burger with additional cheese. If you know me, you’ll know that I’m on the endless search for the best burger in the world and a burger will be my first choice at any restaurant that serves one. This burger was delish! The cheese that was added was a nice thick chunk of cheddar. The fries were also good and I’m pretty picky about my fries. 

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We decided we’d split a piece of cake and the cake on the dessert menu was one of the big factors in my selection of this restaurant since we were celebrating birthdays. The three choices of cake (banana, sticky toffee, and raspberry vanilla) didn’t compare to the idea of a brownie with ice cream on top which is what we ended up with along with coffee. It was a very satisfying end to our meal!

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We got really good service and I love the decor and the vibe at Coco Lounge. I was also able to make my reservation via Facebook messenger before I ever even left Oklahoma! We will for sure return to try more of the menu items and help them to perfect their dry Beefeater martini. 😉

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It was a great place to celebrate our birthdays!

Rolled Fondant Cake

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Yesterday was the Glambaby’s birthday and today is Boo Boo the Wonderdog’s birthday. I decided I was going to try my hand at rolled fondant frosting. It’s #60 on my goals list and I’ve always wanted to try it.

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I’m left handed and it’s really hard for me to decorate with buttercream because all of the tools, tips, etc. are made for right handed people and it just doesn’t work. But fondant always seemed like roll and place and I figured it would be easier to do.

I used the Marshmallow Fondant recipe at All Recipes to make my own fondant. I don’t konw what your fondant eating experience has been but mine has been Blech! Nasty. The reviews for this recipe were good for taste and ease. They were also very enlightening. I read through them all so I would have the best chance of success. There’s also a video to watch to gain more courage.

I knew I could do it, I was ready!

I chose this cake for inspiration.

I made two layers of brownie in five inch pans so it’s a pretty tiny cake but it’s all we need. I put peanut butter cups into the brownie before I baked it. For filling, I melted chocolate chips.

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Then I rolled out the fondant. It was easy! I used cornstarch to keep it from sticking.

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I then place it over the cake.

I took a small amount of the fondant and worked some red food color paste into it. The palms of my hands are still red. 🙂

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I then cut out the little hearts, painted their backs with water and stuck them to the cake.

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I know there are fondant cake making secrets I must still learn. How to keep my hands from being dyed when coloring the fondant, how to make it smooth.

But for the most part, I’m pretty darned excited with my first effort at rolled fondant. Doing what I did seemed pretty easy and I would definitely try it again. 🙂

Born on date

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I feel like beer.

hee hee 😉

I woke up this a.m. to a tweet telling me it’s my third twitter birthday.

I clicked the link and it brought me to a page with a birthday certificate.

Cool. I don’t remember getting this last year so I’m guessing that by @starbucks being my Godfather, it’s probably the first person that I followed or who followed me back. For a coffee achiever like myself, that seems appropriate. But if I were choosing my Godfather, it would be my friend @ScottMTownsend.

@ScottMTownsend walking to work

I had heard of twitter before December 24, 2008 but I didn’t really get it. That day, I was here alone. I’m not sure which Muslim country David was in that year but I had time on my hands and Scott was nice enough to help me to figure out how twitter worked.

A couple of email exchanges and a monster was born. LOL!

To say I love twitter is probably an understatement. When I think of all of the amazing people I have met and all of the cool opportunities that have come to me in the past three years, it just blows my mind that twitter could be the cause of it all.

I love my twitter friends. I mean, I really love them. Many of the people I met via twitter are now my dearest friends IRL (in real life).

Two of my earliest twitter friends were @patrickallmond and @jonfisher. They remain my twitter friends but they are also amazing real life friends.

Through them I met their incredible wives @allographics

Angela and I riding the train at Cecil's first birthday party

and @a_fisher. And I am honorary grandma to the precious @cecilfisher who truly feels like family to me even though he doesn’t really know me. 🙂

Afton and Cecil

I have friends all over the world. I love that. And my goal is to meet all of them when I come to their state or country.

People come and go on twitter and I miss the ones that go. But there are always new friends to make and new relationships to form.

So, happy twitter birthday to me. Thank you to all of my friends (followers) for making my twitter experience so awesome!

Now, let’s eat cake. 🙂

The BIG “0”

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In two weeks it will be my birthday. This is a big birthday. A milestone birthday. An “0” birthday. Yep, it’s a big one and I need to make a big cake.

My problem is this: I am a Libra.

Right. That’s me. Born under the sign of the scales and I can’t make a decision.

Here’s where I need your help. I love to bake and I want to have a fantabulous birthday cake for my Big “0” birthday but I can’t decide.  I’ve narrowed it down to four choices. Please vote and which ever cake receives the most votes I will make myself for my birthday.

BONUS: If you live close to me, you might have to help me eat this cake as it’s possible that David will be out of the country for my birthday. (Yes, again. This will be the 5th year.)

Okay, here we go.

Cake #1 – Irish Cream Cake

This is a yellow cake with butterscotch frosting. The cake itself is flavored with Irish Cream. I adore pecans, which you can see adorn the outside of the finished cake.
Cake #2 – Turtle Cake

Om nom nom. This cake probably really needs no description. Look at the caramel dripping down the top.  I love Turtles – The Candy and a cakelike version of it has got to be good.
Cake #3 – Delta Mocha Chiffon Cake

Chocolate and coffee. Coffee and chocolate. Yum! What a terrific combination and I love them both with all of my heart.
Cake #4 – Nanny’s Famous Coconut Pineapple Cake

Pineapple and coconut tropical creamy goodness. On the upside for those who live close to me, David detests both coconut and pineapple so there would be more of this cake to share. I rarely get to eat coconut but it is MY birthday after all. 🙂

So there you have it. Please help me decide by voting below. I will so appreciate not having to eat four cakes for my birthday!

Happy birthday yaaaawwwwwnnnnnn

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The phone rang this morning and it was the car dealer where we bought Brandon’s car. Of course I was on the other line so I wasn’t able to get the call and it went to voice mail. When I retrieved the message it started by wishing Brandon a happy birthday blah blah blah.

Well, that’s a nice sentiment but my attention span is about 3 seconds long and the birthday wish wasn’t for me. Even if it was, I’m not sure I would have listened to the whole thing.

It’s a new day Mr. Car Dealer.

If I were the car dealer, I’d get myself a twitter account and a facebook fan page. I’d blow up my customer’s birthdays on those two social media outlets which would make them feel really special because I would have tons of followers/fans and they would feel like a celebrity being called out in such a public way on their special day.

Then I would invest in some way cool birthday postcards that are relatively inexpensive to produce, address and mail so that if they didn’t know I was making them a celebrity on the internet, my customers would have a birthday card in their hot little hand to know just how important they are to me.

But that’s me. And since I don’t own a car dealership, this is how I treat my contestants on their birthdays. Because I love them and they are important to me. And I want them to know it.