Birthday, new job and a cupcake recipe

Since my last post I have been to Turkey and back. Not to mention the craziness of training for my new position and celebrating my birthday along with the biggest Holiday in the country, Nauryz! I have lots to catch up, but I will not do it all in one post. Istanbul deserves a post void of distractions such as talk of birthdays and so on.

I got back the 15^th and my birthday is the 16^th. I was just so excited to see Curtis again after seven days apart. That day marked 8 years since our first date! Sometimes I can’t believe it’s been that long, other times I can’t remember life before us. My life has changed so much in these years and I am blessed to have such a man, one who is passionate for his Sav!or and who loves me more than I ever imagined, it seems that he gets better at loving me as time goes on.

I came back to a whirlwind of events, including my first leadership meeting and several birthday greetings from students and friends. As usual, I was reminded of how much love surrounds me on this special day. Dad has really provided many people around me whom I love and who return that love. I am so thankful for the friendships that I have here. He has truly provided me with a second family. Not to undermine how much I miss and love my real family. I am just very blessed by my creator as the road he has put me on can be difficult, he knows what I need and has blessed me with people that I love very much here as well in America 

On my actual birthday we had a really special event at the Cafe! We stayed open a little late in order to do a Music Preview. One of our volunteers is very talented with the gift of song. It seemed like basically everyone who has ever set foot in the cafe showed up! There were about 130 people in the cafe, it was packed and it just seemed so right. People filling the chairs, faces with smiles and joy lighting up the room. 

I celebrated my birthday over the weekend with Curtis on Saturday and with some friends on Sunday. I decided to have friends over because it was snowing like crazy and I really wanted to try a new cupcake recipe. I fell in love with this recipe for Funfetti Cupcakes :) from Eat, Live, Run which really shouldn’t be a surprise since that was always the kind of cake I would request for my birthday. It felt like old times but better and less artificial than the kind you get in a box 

I didn’t have vanilla bean, so I just used more vanilla!

Funfetti Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

Recipe adapted from Eat, Live, Run 

makes about 12 cupcakes

1 stick butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

3 tsp pure vanilla

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup rainbow sprinkles

buttercream:

1 stick butter, softened

2 cups confectioner’s sugar

1 tablespoon milk

2 tsp pure vanilla

For the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350. Cream together the butter and sugar and add the eggs one by one, beating after each addition. Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl and in another bowl, mix together the milk and vanilla. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the milk/vanilla to the batter. Be careful not to overmix. Fold in rainbow sprinkles.

Pour batter into greased (or lined) cupcake tins. Bake for twenty five minutes. Let cool thoroughly before frosting.

For the buttercream, beat the butter and vanilla on high until soft. Add the confectioner’s sugar and beat well. Add milk and beat on high for about six minutes, until very light and fluffy. Pipe buttercream on cupcakes and top with more sprinkles.

We had a great time on Sunday laughing, talking and eating good food 

Monday was my first day as Cafe Manager.

It was a slow day, we were only open two days this week because of the holiday. But it was a great way for me to ease into the job. Because it was so slow I was able to get my office organized.

On Tuesday we celebrated Nauryz, the Persian New Year, with our Annual Nauryz Party at work. We work in a poor area and we invite all of our neighbors to come and enjoy a big party complete with dancing, singing and of course plov! Curtis even gave a last minute speech in Kazakh, you can see it here on facebook. Also spring finally came in our city and I think it’s here to stay this time 

On thursday we celebrated Nauryz by going to a big stadium and watching the National game Kokpar, aka “Goat Polo.” They basically play polo with a goat carcass. It’s pretty gruesome, but interesting. We also got invited to a small party (toy) and were given a small feast (dastarhan) for free.

It has been a blessed week jumping back into work and life here and then quickly jumping into vacation for the holiday. We were blessed with three days off, plus the weekend, so that gives us five days total to recover from the festivities and from my trip to Turkey. Can’t wait to tell you about Istanbul, but for now, I gotta get some sleep!