support local music & my bro: NW Ohio

Check out my brother on vocals & lead guitar! Click the link below & hear he & his band Endless Road covering Tony Rio's Freewheelin' on NYE 2010!!!

~Freewheelin by Endless Road~


Photo by Nichole Bohner Photography

For the Ohioans: Catch Endless Road live at Stella Blue in Archbold, OH on Sat. April 23rd at 9pm!

support local music NYE style: NW Ohio

flyer by Nichole Bohner Design

more info at endlessroadROCK.com

Support Local Music: Northwest Ohio

Don't miss my brother's band, Endless Road, live on Sat. Oct. 16th at the Hidden Valley Campground in Archbold, Ohio

cupcake wars

I absolutely love to bake & have often thought about party planning & coordinating events. (yeah, I'm adding it to the list of my many aspirations, which as of late seems to change daily.) Following is a great post by Amy Atlas Events w/ info & tips in regards to frosting desserts w/ fondant vs. buttercream. Some good food for thought in planning any event!





{All cupcakes above are from Amy Atlas's dessert bars.}

"Everytime I meet with a client, I hold my breath because I know the discussion is coming. Usually it's a battle rather than a discussion. The debate of buttercream vs. fondant. Every client wants buttercream because they have all had a bad experience with the tasteless and often rubbery texture of fondant. We've all had that experience, right? Having styled both buttercream and fondant cakes and cupcakes more times than I can count, I always breathe a sigh of relief when my client picks fondant. I know I'll gain some criticism for this, but I'm sticking to it. Many don't realize it, but good bakers will use better tasting fondant like Fondarific, a company that makes vanilla, chocolate, and fruit flavored fondant. Now don't misunderstand me...I adore buttercream. I make buttercream cupcakes all the time with my family. I'll serve buttercream cakes when I'm entertaining in my home. I'm also not saying that fondant tastes better than buttercream. But if the cakes are being transported in any way, you can bet I'm going to lobby for fondant.

Here's a few reasons why...
(1) Buttercream in the summer is a nightmare. I mean a real nightmare. No matter how much the buttercream is set, it instantly loses it's shape when exposed to heat. If you are transporting anything with buttercream, it makes it that much worse.
(2) Everything sticks to buttercream. Once, we were serving buttercream cupcakes and somehow black sweater hair made its way onto the precious vanilla buttercream cupcakes we were serving. That was an interesting lesson in troubleshooting. Thankfully, we had lots of other treats to serve.
(3) As I discussed here, all of the adorable cupcake wrappers that are on the market now are better suited for fondant cupcakes. Often buttercream will leave cupcake wrappers looking greasy and messy.
(4) We have more flexibility in incorporating our design onto fondant. Take a look above at a few examples of designed fondant cupcakes we've used on our dessert bars {I limited it to cupcakes for this post, I'll save the pictures of fondant cakes for another post}.

If you're a huge buttercream lover and can't be convinced to go with fondant, then try these tips...
(1) Refrigerate your cake/cupcakes so the buttercream is very cold.
(2) Limit the amount of time your buttercream is exposed to heat. Time it very carefully.
(3) Stay away from the dressing up buttercream with cupcake wrappers until lined wrappers hit the market (hint, hint to my cupcake wrapper manufacturer friends).
(4) Use fondant sparingly and incorporate buttercream in places where it won't get messy or melt. For example, place a fondant chip over a small dollop of buttercream on your cupcakes. Alternatively, infuse buttercream into the center of your cake/cupcakes with a bismarck tip.
(5) Ice the cake or cupcakes on site, if possible."

For the Reno Peeps

This post is pretty exclusive to the Reno area, but is big news! Check out new NBA Development league team playing at the Reno Events Center & print out the coupon below for a deal on the tix!

learn more about the Reno Bighorns here
•RENO BIGHORNS HOME SCHEDULE 2008-2009
Nov 21 (Fri) Albuquerque 2:00pm (Preseason)
Sat 29 Bakersfield 7:00pm
Dec 12 (Fri) Anaheim 7:00pm
Jan 2 (Fri) Anaheim 7:00pm
Sun 4 Tulsa 3:00pm
Wed 7 Dakota 6:15pm
Sat 10 Bakersfield 7:00pm
Sun 11 Los Angeles 3:00pm
Tue 13 Los Angeles 11:00am
Sat 17 Utah 3:00pm
Fri 30 Utah 8:30pm
Sat 31 Utah 7:00pm
Feb 21 (Sat)Idaho 3:00pm
Sun 22 Idaho 3:00pm
Fri 27 Anaheim 7:00pm
Mar 1 (Sun) Los Angeles 3:00pm
Fri 6 Fort Wayne 7:00pm
Sat 7 Austin 7:00pm
Wed 11 Bakersfield 7:00pm
Fri 13 Sioux Falls 7:00pm
Thu 26 Iowa 7:00pm
Sat 28 Idaho 7:00pm
Apr 2 (Th)Rio Grande Valley 7:00pm
Sat 4 Erie 7:00pm
Sun 5 Albuquerque 3:00pm
Sat 11 Colorado 7:00pm


Also, (what I'm even more excited about!) be on the lookout for Reno's new triple A baseball team, The Reno Aces whose season opener is slated for April 17, 2009.

read about the stadium here
•RENO ACES HOME SCHEDULE 2009
April 17 Salt Lake City Bees 6:05 p.m.
April 18 Salt Lake City Bees 6:05 p.m.
April 19 Salt Lake City Bees 1:05 p.m.
April 20 Salt Lake City Bees 6:05 p.m.
April 21 Colorado Springs Sky Sox 6:05 p.m.
April 22 Colorado Springs Sky Sox 1:05 p.m.
April 23 Colorado Springs Sky Sox 6:05 p.m.
April 24 Colorado Springs Sky Sox 6:05 p.m.
April 30 Portland Beavers 6:05 p.m.
May 1 Portland Beavers 1:05 p.m.
May 2 Portland Beavers 1:05 p.m.
May 3 Portland Beavers 1:05 p.m.
May 8 Fresno Grizzlies 6:05 p.m.
May 9 Fresno Grizzlies 1:05 p.m.
May 10 Fresno Grizzlies 1:05 p.m.
May 11 Fresno Grizzlies 6:05 p.m.
May 21 New Orleans Zephyrs 6:05 p.m.
May 22 New Orleans Zephyrs 6:05 p.m.
May 23 New Orleans Zephyrs 6:05 p.m.
May 24 New Orleans Zephyrs 1:05 p.m.
May 25 Oklahoma City RedHawks 6:05 p.m.
May 26 Oklahoma City RedHawks 6:05 p.m.
May 27 Oklahoma City RedHawks 11:05 a.m.
May 28 Oklahoma City RedHawks 11:05 a.m.
June 11 Salt Lake City Bees 7:05 p.m.
June 12 Salt Lake City Bees 7:05 p.m.
June 13 Salt Lake City Bees 7:05 p.m.
June 14 Salt Lake City Bees 1:05 p.m.
June 15 Las Vegas 51s 7:05 p.m.
June 16 Las Vegas 51s 7:05 p.m.
June 17 Las Vegas 51s 1:05 p.m.
June 27 Tacoma Rainiers 7:05 p.m.
June 28 Tacoma Rainiers 5:05 p.m.
June 29 Tacoma Rainiers 7:05 p.m.
June 30 Tacoma Rainiers 1:05 p.m.
July 4 Sacramento River Cats 7:05 p.m.
July 5 Sacramento River Cats 5:05 p.m.
July 6 Sacramento River Cats 7:05 p.m.
July 7 Sacramento River Cats 1:05 p.m.
July 8 Las Vegas 51s 7:05 p.m.
July 9 Las Vegas 51s 7:05 p.m.
July 10 Las Vegas 51s 7:05 p.m.
July 11 Las Vegas 51s 7:05 p.m.
July 12 Las Vegas 51s 5:05 p.m.
July 20 Portland Beavers 7:05 p.m.
July 21 Portland Beavers 7:05 p.m.
July 22 Portland Beavers 7:05 p.m.
July 23 Portland Beavers 7:05 p.m.
July 28 Tacoma Rainiers 7:05 p.m.
July 29 Tacoma Rainiers 7:05 p.m.
July 30 Tacoma Rainiers 7:05 p.m.
July 31 Tacoma Rainiers 7:05 p.m.
August 1 Colorado Springs Sky Sox 7:05 p.m.
August 2 Colorado Springs Sky Sox 5:05 p.m.
August 3 Colorado Springs Sky Sox 7:05 p.m.
August 4 Colorado Springs Sky Sox 7:05 p.m.
August 14 Round Rock Express 7:05 p.m.
August 15 Round Rock Express 7:05 p.m.
August 16 Round Rock Express 5:05 p.m.
August 17 Round Rock Express 7:05 p.m.
August 18 Albuquerque Isotopes 7:05 p.m.
August 19 Albuquerque Isotopes 7:05 p.m.
August 20 Albuquerque Isotopes 7:05 p.m.
August 21 Albuquerque Isotopes 7:05 p.m.
August 31 Sacramento River Cats 7:05 p.m.
September 1 Sacramento River Cats 7:05 p.m.
September 2 Sacramento River Cats 7:05 p.m.
September 3 Sacramento River Cats 7:05 p.m.
September 4 Fresno Grizzlies 7:05 p.m.
September 5 Fresno Grizzlies 7:05 p.m.
September 6 Fresno Grizzlies 5:05 p.m.
September 7 Fresno Grizzlies 1:05 p.m.