Happy Engagement

Last week, Buffy and Todd left for a cruise to the Bahamas. The night before they boarded the ship, Todd popped the question, and Buffy said, "Yes!" Needless to say, she is thrilled. So, after stopping here on their way back home, we had a small celebratory dinner for them last night.

Our family and the Burtnetts feasted on grilled chicken tenderloins, milk potatoes, fresh corn, grilled asparagus, and grilled jalapeno poppers. The poppers are already in our family cookbook and the recipe was contributed by my nephew-in-law (is that even a real word?) Chris Strong. This was the first time I made them. They are sooooo good! I'm already planning on them being my go-to appetizer for football season, made with orange peppers of course.

For dessert, I made "engagement cupcakes." This was another opportunity for me to try something I found on Pinterest:  heart-shaped cupcakes. I thought it was such a clever idea to place a marble in each muffin tin before baking:

 

So far, so good. But, when I took them out of the oven . . .

. . . I thought this is a joke! These look nothing like hearts! For once, Pinterest let me down! Disappointment quickly turned into giggles. Laughing is about all I could do at this point, especially when I saw this on half of them:

I'm sure that wasn't supposed to happen! I kept telling myself, "It's the thought that counts." So, I proceeded. I'm still not sure how this happened, but in the end, they really did look like heart-shaped cupcakes.

After swearing I will never try this again, I now know that I will. I'll just make certain next time that I don't fill the muffin cups too full.

More importantly, the happy couple seemed to enjoy their special dinner and cupcakes.

It looks like the wedding will likely be May, 2013. So for the next year, let the wedding plans begin!