Birthday Party Recap

My childhood birthday party memories are filled with images of kids, cake, balloons, presents and pinatas (my Dad would make me pinata year after year for my parties). Simple pleasures. So I put aside the idea that Oscar's birthday had to be a production, and focused on making it purely fun. And to make it purely fun, I focused on making it easy. :)



My 5th birthday party with my friends from the street.


We hosted a birthday party on the Saturday for immediate family, which is why I was baking up a storm. A simply BBQ, and family brought salads and munchies. I ordered 24 helium balloons from my neighbourhood stationery store, and they delivered them the morning of the party and they were scattered throughout the house. I used my no-sew bunting flags for the event - they can be reused every year, something I intentionally wanted, to create some tradition to birthdays. Over the years the bunting flags will get worn, but I hope that little things like these will contribute to fond memories as he gets older.

Our Living Room was filled with helium balloons for Oscar

The next day, Sunday was Oscar's real birthday. Aubrey had to work, so Oscar and I spent the day taking a little walk to Starbucks to see his favourite barristas who all wished him a Happy Birthday, and playing with some of his new toys. At night we went to my Parents to celebrate his real birthday with a celebratory dinner, and this cake by my Mom....

My Mom made this cake for Oscar

Oscar's Birthday cake is a perfect example of how my Mom made birthdays so special for us growing up (and still does).  She found this recipe online at Betty Crocker and made it for Oscar. How cute is that!? When Oscar gets older, we're adding a pinata to the mix as it was one of my favourite traditions at my birthday. Not sure if others have traditions they have carried down for their children?

So there you have it. The birthday festivities weren't themed or overly planned. We just had family, sweets, balloons, presents, and a lot of hugs and snuggles. The perfect recipe for a perfect birthday weekend.

Nuevas Motos Tuning

Nuevas Motos Tuning

Midlife Motorcycle Madness $25.00 J&P Cycles Gift Card Contest

Midlife Motorcycle Madness has teamed up with J&P Cycles to bring it's readers a $25.00 Gift Card Contest.

Caption this photo and get a chance to win a $25.00 Gift Card from J&P Cycles:

Contest time frame: June 1-8, 2011

Prizes: J&P Cycles will provide a $25 gift card for the winner.

Contest Rules and Regulations:

Contestants enter to win by leaving a comment captioning the provided photo and then stating what they will buy to upgrade their bike with using the $25.00 gift card. You may make the comment as short or as long as needed. All entries will be judged by me on humor, wittiness and creativity. After the contest ends I will read and judge all entries and post the winner. The winner can email me their contact information to provide to J&P Cycles. J&P Cycles will issue the $25.00 Gift Card to the Winner.

Remember, it is a two part entry comment, the photo caption and what the $25.00 gift card will be used for.

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Ride on & Good Luck!
Torch

Shelby will release an anniversary limited edition Ford Mustang GT350

At the auction collector car Barrett-Jackson in the U.S. known American company Shelby presented the next version of the tuning coupe Ford Mustang GT - GT350. The car was built in honor of 45 anniversary of the appearance of the first classic "Mustang" Shelby GT350, which was released in the amount of 562 copies. The new model will be assembled in the number of 2,200 pieces.Specialists of the company with Shelby racing division of Ford made improvements to the standard five-liter eight-engine "Mustang" power of 412 horsepower, the addition of a firm mechanical supercharger. This has increased the impact of the engine to about 500 horsepower. The unit works in tandem with a six-speed manual gearbox. Dynamic characteristics of new items, which at Barrett-Jackson auction was presented in the form of ready for mass production concept car, not announced.





Also Tuning coupe was upgraded suspension (there were constructed new subdivision Ford Racing springs, stretching, racks and other stabilizer bars), via six Baer brakes on the front axle, exhaust system, Borla, Cragar rims with tires Goodyear, as well as the redesign of the front end and additional monitoring instruments at the front desk in the cabin, responsible for the fuel pressure, oil and boost.


According to the Shelby, production car will hit dealerships this spring. The cost of improvements without the basic machine will be 33 thousand 995 dollars. Note that the price of a regular Ford Mustang GT in the United States begin from 30 thousand dollars and the total price of the Shelby GT350 is greater than the 540-strong "Mustang" Shelby GT500.


Shelby will release an anniversary limited edition Ford Mustang.

Birthday Party, The Cake

Oscar's Birthday weekend was great fun. There are so many different elements to the weekend that I thought I'd break them into a few posts as each element is unique and special. This is my last "Baking" post for a long, long time. ;)

Some birthday cakes are fancy, and beautiful. Themed and stylized. But I think there is something perfect about a simple, classic birthday cake. My Mom makes the most delicious cakes from scratch, and one day, I will try to recreate her famous cakes, but for Oscar's birthday his cake was courtesy of a Duncan Hines box. :) I took a chocolate cake, and a vanilla cake and did layers. The icing, being SUPER easy is home made. Simply Icing sugar, Butter, Vanilla flavour and some water.

The icing isn't perfectly put on, but that's what happens when your baby gets scared of the KitchenAid Stand Mixer and wants the cling to you as you ice the cake. It was a bit of a struggle but we did it in the end, together. The cake is 3 layers and topped off with sprinkles. I was going to put some circus toppers on it, but I just fell in love with the simplicity and stopped after the sprinkles. This may be common knowledge but if you want to know the trick to doing layers,  there is one simple step.

You need to slice that "hump" off the top of the cake off all of the inside layers. You want to make it as flat as possible, because if you start layering with the humps, your cake is going to wobble and potentially slide off one another when you ice.

Just do that with all of the "inside" pieces but leave the hump on the top one. :)

And there you have it. Our sweet classic cake, for our sweet little boy.

Ford supercar - Ford Shelby GT500

Supercar Ford GT500 is mechanically an evolution of the previous model.Ford used the current-gen Bullitt model as the starting point for the 2010 Mustang GT, the lessons learned from developing the limited edition GT500 KR fed directly into the latest Shelby-badged variant. Output of the supercharged 5.4L V8 has now been cranked up to 540 hp and 510 lb-ft of torque, and the handling is claimed to be better than before.

Compare with the old GT500, this new supercar model gets more aggressive styling, particularly in the nose, and reprises many of the same detail elements. The horizontally mirrored trapezoidal shape of the grille in the upper and lower front fascia is meant to echo the oval shape of the Shelby Cobras of the '

60s. The upper grille is tilted forward at a steeper angle than the GT and the grille surround is separated entirely from the hood. The hood of the GT500 still has a functional air extractor allowing some of the massive heat generated by the blown V8 to escape.

The engine for this supercar is still a twin cam 5.4L V8 with a supercharger. The updates bump output from from 500 hp at 6,000 rpm to 540 hp at 6,200 rpm. Twisting fo

rce also goes from 480 lb-ft at 4,500 rpm to 510 lb-ft at the same peak speed. The iron block from the F-150 was used with the top end of the GT engine, which pushed the car's weight up over 3,900 lbs.

The top two ratios in the new GT500's gearbox have been made numerically lower. The clutch plates for supercar GT500 have been increased in diameter from 215 mm to 250 mm. All that torque flows from the Tremec 6-speed gearbox through a limited slip differential with a 3.55:1 final drive ratio. The 2010 GT500 gets 17% stiffer springs at the front axle and 7% stiffer at the rear axle.

2012 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster

Mercedes-AMG is presenting a new dream-car: the 2012 SLS AMG Roadster. This super sports car thrills with a perfect combination of open-top driving pleasure, outstanding driving dynamics and sophisticated lightweight construction. The 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster will make its U.S. debut in Fall 2011.

The technological highlights of the 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster include an aluminum spaceframe body, an AMG 6.3-liter V8 front-mid engine with dry sump lubrication developing a peak output of 563 hp and 479 pound-feet of torque, a seven-speed dual clutch transaxle transmission and a sports suspension with aluminum double wishbones - all of which will raise the pulse of sports car enthusiasts while providing outstanding driving dynamics and driving pleasure.

The compact fabric soft top of the 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster opens and closes in just eleven seconds, and can be operated on the move at speeds up to 31 mph. The new Adaptive AMG Sport Suspension with electronically controlled damping is available as an attractive optional extra. It enables the damping characteristics to be modified at the touch of a button. Using the AMG DRIVE UNIT, the driver of the SLS AMG Roadster is therefore able to choose his own suspension setup. Three modes are available: "Comfort", "Sport" and "Sport plus".

"AMG Performance Media" is a unique new feature: this innovative, motorsport-inspired multimedia system offers an unrivalled combination of numerous telemetric displays such as lateral and linear acceleration, various engine data and lap times on a racetrack.

Dr Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Cars: "The SLS Roadster is a super sports car, cruiser and highly desirable dream-car all in one. In its distinctive way, it continues the succession of iconic and exciting sports cars from Mercedes-Benz."

Autos Tuning + Chicas Tuning +

Autos Tuning + Chicas Tuning +

2012 Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe

2012 Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG first

2012 Mercedes-Benz C-Class first

motorcycles-cars Bugatti Sports Car Abstraction Type 57 Evoluzione

The Artist Edwin Conan brings us addition awakening aggressive supercar: the Bugatti Type 57 Evoluzione concept. The motorcycles-cars Bugatti Type 57 Evoluzione abstraction is a affluence of affected sports cars. This is alleged by the Type 57 Evolve Abstraction and afflicted by its design, which is based on actual models of the firm, as the Type 35 and acutely the Type 57 Atlantic.

Bugatti Sports Car Abstraction Type 57 Evoluzione

The Bugatti Type 57 Evoluzione abstraction is amazing supercar aggressive from the aboriginal Bugatti Type 57, dating aback from 1930s. The abstraction is that this allegorical artist improvement with a motor archetypal W16 acquired from Veyron , with the aberration that this run on hydrogen.

This abstraction car, like the aboriginal Type 57, has a continued bonnet, bland curves and a breach band which bisects the car bottomward the middle. This Bugatti supercar architecture is the awakening of the archetypal Type 57, with a blow of avant-garde technology.

On the ancillary we see an accomplished allegory with his predecessors, on the aforementioned curve we agenda Type 57 Atlantic with the abatement of the tail, the break band that divides the car altogether in the average and the aperture design. In the images we acknowledge a awful acknowledged awakening design. In the blow Edwin accompany the allegorical accomplishment of the fresh millennium model, accumulation a fresh advanced caster arches, added affiliates optical and fluid, and fresh dimensions.

It is far from actuality a sports car and actual abutting to actuality accepted as a comfortable and absolute agent that has a continued continued out beanie aloof like in the 1930’s. This architecture cue was one of the brand administration elements of the Type 57 Atlantic.

the motorcycles-cars 2010 Fiat Mio FCC III Abstraction Car

The Fiat Mio Federal Communications Commission III apperception auto will arise in Sao Paulo Motor Appearance in October 2010, Fiat Mio FCC III is ultra abject arising so it’s get eco

friendly.the motorcycles-cars 2010 Fiat Mio FCC III Abstracti

the motorcycles-cars 2010 Fiat Mio FCC III Abstracti 2010 Fiat Mio FCC III Abstraction Car

There are two abeyant designs for the final abstraction car, ‘Precision’ and ‘Sense’, both based on account and suggestions submitted to Fiat by customers/fans through the Mio FCC III microsite.

This abstraction car has immense abeyant to be developed into a baby car for the Brazilian bazaar and artlessly the whats acceptable for Brazil is acceptable for India too. Fiat Mio Designer appearance the Mio action aftermost year as a way of abutting with their Brazilian customer base.

the motorcycles-cars 2010 Fiat Mio FCC III Abstracti Fiat Mio FCC III acquire 2.5 beats clear-sighted and 1.5 meters aerial accomplish this car become burghal artery car. This car boasting different accession at rear and battlefront of this car with LED or bendable flourescent. Inside of this car , you will acquisition high-tech and affected berth architecture additionally a different touchscreen in the dash. FCC III can collective with added automobiles because this car acquire several connectivity alternatives.

By the time October rolls around, the absolute adaptation will acquire been called from the assorted account and possibilities that arise on the website. The Mio will best acceptable be an electric drive car and by the time the abstraction date is complete, abounding of the solutions will be adopted by the Fiat Topolino, accepted for 2013.the motorcycles-cars 2010 Fiat Mio FCC III Abstracti

Birthday Party, Sweets

Oscar's Birthday weekend was great fun. There are so many different elements to the weekend that I thought I'd break them into a few posts as each element is unique and special.

Leading up to the weekend, our house was filled with the sweet scent of lilacs from our garden, or maybe it was all of the icing sugar floating through the air as I made desserts. Although the birthday boy got little sugary treats himself, no birthday party is complete without cake. And although I made a cake (I'll do another post on that...) with the success in my kitchen of my 5 Minute Cake Pop, I decided to venture into new territory...

Honestly, I'm addicted now to these things. This time, instead of sticking lollipop sticks into the timbits, I dunked the donut holes into the icing and placed them on wax paper. Next, I put a smartie, and then sprinkled some sprinkles onto the top. Pop them into the fridge and maybe an hour later take them out. The wax paper makes them VERY easy to peel off. (See original recipe and post here)

You can see in the VERY bottom photo there was a lot of icing that had pooled around the bottom of the ball. But the pooled icing is missing from the top. To remove the pooled icing, I took scissors and gently cutting away the excess. (I worried that by using my hand, the pressure may rip the ball)

3 tiered Cake stand, William Sonoma , Photos by Lindsay Stephenson

Go green! 5 Most environmentally friendly Cars

Recent cars have a obvious shortage because it's wasteful of non-renewable fuel. Though the current world oil prices increasingly continue creeping up, which of course it can make your pockets of motorists empty.

However, now the more eco-friendly cars can save fuel, even to do efficiency of 80 miles per gallon (mpg).

In addition, green cars also exploit lower carbon dioxide emissions, which of course it is aimed of making green cars.

Here, a number of green cars is the most economical and low emissions in the UK, quoted from msn.com:

1. Smart ForTwo CDI - 86g/km

This is the most economical car sold in the United Kingdom. Indeed, this car can not be used speeding on the street. This car also can be sold more expensive when we want to sell anymore. However, this car is the most fuel-efficient cars and low emission (86g/km). Unfortunately, its contain or passenger is only two-passenger capacity.

2. T4 Hybrid Toyota Auris - 89g/km

This car is a hybrid car from Toyota's latest output released to market. These cars using a petrol-electric running gear is the same as the Prius. However, it's emissions of 74.3 mpg only. Aerodynamic model applied to the Auris is also worthy of being your city car.

3. Toyota Prius T3 - 89g/km

Toyota Prius is the output in addition to Auris. This car is able to exploit emissions by using fuel 89g/km and it is only 72.4 mpg. In terms of speed, amazing Prius is superior to the Auris.

4. Skoda Fabia Greenline II - 89g/km

This is included to a VW Group car output moved by 1.2 liter TDI diesel engine. it's Capacity of five passengers, this car has low emissions, namely 89g/km.

5. Volkswagen Polo Bluemotion

This car is the best-selling efficient cars sold in the United Kingdom. Latest output Bluemotion can save up to 80.7 mpg fuel and it will produce emissions 91g/km. (Umi)