Happy New Year!

It is hard to believe that Christmas and New Year's have already come and gone. Mark and I had a very quiet Christmas, just the two of us, this has been our choice for the last four years and we really enjoy it this way. I made us a nice (yet understated dinner): Beef Wellington, mashed potatoes with chives and green beans and it was delicious!

But New Year's Eve was a completely different story, keeping up with our tradition (of also 4 years) we had friends over for a NYE Party. We enjoyed great food, games, a video about our 2010 and a fun at the Photobooth that we put up especially for 'Mug Shots'. I am glad everyone went along and the result was really funny. Amazing how creative people can get.

Our friend Sharon made a Red Velvet Cake especially for the ocasion and it was not only very pretty, it was amazingly delicious. I have been trying Red Velvet cakes for a while now, and hers is as good as it gets, PERFECTION! Color, texture, moisture, sweetness balance, just perfect!

Other credits for our party success:
- Photobooth props by Maro Designs: felt mustaches, sunglasses, glasses with nose. Their Etsy store has a great variety of options and the quality of them is superb, great customer service as well.
- New Year's Glam Printables by Anders Ruff Custom Designs. Great stuff!!! I used it for the cupcakes, food labels, cider, banner and other details. I received many compliments on the presentation! Yay!

Vanilla Cupcakes: I used the recipe from the Magnolia Bakery recipe book which never fails me. 

Wish I had pictures of the food buffet but I wanted to serve the food warm as it came out oven the oven so there was no time for photos!

In Brazil meringues cookies are called "suspiro" which means sigh.
 Funny, isn't it?

We served Martinellis, I would not have minded having a Mumm or a Moet & Chandon though.

I loved this cake! So perfect for our party. It is good to have talented friends!

Heavenly delight! Impossible to taste better.

We took 'mugshots' of all our guests and this is my 'goddaughter' (not really, but that's how I feel about her) Lauri. Pretty!!!