by Marcela M. | Jul 4, 2013 | Blog
Summer is here, and we are already in July. Can you believe it? I have the feeling that, even though we still have two more months to go, time is running by and I am going to wake up one day and it will suddenly be time to take the children to school again.
Luka and Zoe are not going to Summer school this year, so we are spending tons of time playing together at home. We are reading new books, experimenting with new art projects and science experiments, taking daily trips to the park to run, and explore nature. I will tell you all about that from next Monday, and I will share with you all our tips, ideas and lists, in case you find yourself in need of some extra inspiration.
But today, I wanted to do something different. Today I wanted to suspend the children chat and talk, instead, about you and me, adults (parents or not) and the things we like to read.
I am and have always been a bookworm. My eyes sparkle whenever I think about libraries (or lately, my kindle). As a child, I used to disappear and go under my bed with a book, to read without being bothered. In my eyes, Books held all the magic of the world in their pages- and to a point, they still do.
I read pretty much everything and anything, depending on my mood. These days I am in a reflective mood, so these are the books you can find on my nightstand and that will be a part of my summer reading list.
SUMMER READING: 5 books to think, cultivate mindfulness and find inner peace
1) Zen under Fire: How I found peace in the midst of war, by Marianne Elliott: I actually finished this book already, but I’m planning to read it again. It was written by my yoga professor, Marianne Elliott (I talked to you about her in this post about self-care), and it talks about her life as a Human Rights Officer for the UNAMA (United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan), about what she learned in Afghanistan about the country and its people, about the stress and depression she suffered while living there, and about how she found her way back to herself, with the help of yoga and meditation. Marianne’s humanity and kindness transpires from every word of this book and, having lived through a similar experience, I found myself nodding in agreement many, many times.
2) Women who run with the wolves, by Clarissa Pinkola Estés: This is one of those books that kept “falling off the shelves” in front of my eyes for years, yet I had never read. Mentors had recommended it, friends had given it to me as a present, persons I admire kept quoting it, but I couldn’t bring myself to read it past page 15. It was not the right time, I suppose. But now, after the 5th try, it seems to be. I am finally connecting to the author and what she says and, to be honest, I have no idea why I didn’t like it before! This is a deeply feminist book and quite poetic. I have been told that the audiobook is particularly fascinating because Dr Estes’s enchanting voice, but I have yet to try that version.
3) Yoga: the science of the soul, by Osho: I first learned about Osho and his philosophy back in 2004. My former yoga professor used to organize reading sessions, where he would chose a passage of a book (normally by Krishnamurti or Osho), read it, and we would them discuss it. I fell in love with Osho and his way of explaining concepts that had seemed complicated to me before. In this book, Osho explains Patanjali’s yoga sutras, and goes deep into them. If you have been practicing yoga for a while and would like a deeper understanding of yoga, this book is for you.
4) The book of Ego, also by Osho: Another book that I hadn’t been able to read until now. It was given to me by a very dear friend, from her own collection, 6 years ago, but the time never felt right. I am loving it now, really loving it.
5) Buddhism for mothers of young children, by Sarah Napthali: I had been meaning to get this book since I read the reviews and discussions that happened at Modern Parents Messy Kids’ book club. This book is not only for Buddhists (I am not one myself), it’s a book for anyone who wants to cultivate mindfulness and be more present in their children’s lives. I have only finished chapter 1 so far, but that is because I stop every two sentences and ponder how what I read applies to my life. Each chapter starts with an important question ( where am I? where am I going? who am I? who are my children? is this all? what does this moment require? what can I do about all the housework? can I change my ways? how do I handle my negativity? how can I be my best?) and the book in general is a beautiful reminder of the importance of being here and now, for our children and for ourselves as well, of adopting a beginner’s mind, of choosing to focus on the good even when we notice the bad, and it gives plenty of resources and ideas to bring mindfulness to the every day. I highly recommend it.
How about you, dear friends? What’s on your reading list these days? Please, share with me in the comments below!
NOTE: The links above ARE NOT associate links. If you would like to purchase these books on amazon through my affiliate link and thus contribute to future blog giveaways, you can find them all in The Celebration Girl’s amazon store
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by Marcela M. | Jul 1, 2013 | Blog
Today’s post was going to be a gardening post: a post about growing and caring for balcony plants and adding some greenery to your living space, even if you only have a small outdoor place, like I do.
In today’s post I was going to tell you how, at the beginning of April, I decided that this year I was going to turn our small balcony into an oasis of peace where I could read, practice yoga in the mornings, and unwind sipping tea in the late Summer afternoons, or have a candlelight dinner with my husband after the kids fell asleep.
In today’s post I was going to tell you how I planned every aspect of the design and how determined I was to make that happen. I was planning to tell you the story of how we donated the old balcony furniture that was too big for our small space and purchased a set of pretty, wooden chairs and an extensible table from Ikea, that fit our space much better. I was going to write about how, pretty much as soon as we got off the plane from Belgrade, I bought herbs and flower seeds, planted them in small pots and nursed them in my office’s window.
Today’s post was going to be about my excitement at seeing the little seeds grow, slowly at first, decidedly and strongly after just a few weeks. I was going to tell you the story of the bag of soil that wasn’t enough, of the extra pots we had to get, of how the different herbs ended up being grouped and of how anxious eager I was to harvest my first tomatoes and the first basil leaves to have a fully home-made salad.
Today’s post was mostly going to be about the happiness I felt every afternoon, at dusk, when I sat down on a chair with a book, the kids playing quietly inside and June’s refreshing breeze blowing my hair, and watched my plants grow healthy and strong.
But this is not today’s post because, two days before the solstice, something happened that changed forever the landscape of our balcony.
Well, someone happened. A tiny little furry someone named Galadriel (but affectionately called “Kitty”).
On June 19th, my husband came back home from work and told me that a little kitten had been abandoned at the entrance of our building and that she was scared and hungry. He had seen her going around the car in the morning, and assumed she belonged to someone else, but now she was in a box, under the mail boxes, crying. “Do you want to bring her home?” I asked, unsure of where he was going. “Yes”, he replied. “But if we bring her home it’s forever, she becomes a part of the family and there’s no going back”, I said. “I know. It will be good for the kids”, he replied. “Bring her, bring her!” I asked, excitedly, and off he went down the stairs. Barely a couple of minutes later he came back with a tiny kitten with big eyes who was terrified of everything but very, very willing to be caressed and cared for. I held her in my arms, and fell in love with her!
And if I fell in love with her, you can imagine the children’s happiness with her arrival! They spent three hours glued to her, and even brought their blankets and teddies to the balcony, determined to sleep where Kitty was sleeping and nowhere else.
We had no food for her, so we gave her a little milk and softened rice crackers, because her teeth were barely starting to come out.
We had no bed, so we improvised one with a shoe box and some old towels.
We had no litter box, so she used a pot where I was planning to plant more rocket but obviously won’t.
We had no plans to have a cat, but she came into our lives and she is here to stay.
We thought we didn’t have a place in our lives for a pet, but we do. More importantly, we have place in our hearts.
The landscape of our balcony has changed and we are so happy. (The plants, not so much, but that’s another story ;))
Isn’t she cute? We are in love!
How about you: Do you have pets (or, ahem, “furry friends”)? If you have a cat, do you know of any way of disuading them from destroying plants and flowers? (help! cry mint, basil, parsley and oregano). Please let me know in the comments below!
by Marcela M. | Jun 18, 2013 | Blog, Children, Europe, homeschooling, Travel
In the almost nine years that my husband and I have been together, we have visited Belgrade together many times. But visiting Belgrade with kids is always a different experience, and one that keeps changing as our children grow.
We arrived to Belgrade on the 30th of April, from Athens, Greece, in a small Fokker plane from Olympus Airlines. Ahead of us was one week of extended holiday because, due to the proximity between the 1st of May and 2013’s Orthodox Easter, most shops and Government agencies were going to remain closed or with limited working hours on the days in between the two holidays. As a consequence, the city (which is normally bustling with excitement and noise) was quite quiet and leisure-like, like a holiday spot
I have mentioned before that, when we travel to Belgrade, we live like locals do, go to the places where locals go and pretty much avoid touristic spots. In this trip, this meant spending the 1st of May having lunch in one of the traditional restaurants that are located in the hills that surround the city.
Going to the hills on Labor Day is an old tradition that marks the beginning of the lovely Spring weather. The tradition, in fairness, is to go for a picnic, and people start arriving and setting up their picnic and camping spots as soon as they wake up, very early in the morning. Soon, the whole place is covered and there are families, and groups of friends chatting, drinking, eating and relaxing, children playing and running all over, musicians, and even salesmen walking around selling ice cream, drinks, and children toys and balloons.
Instead of a picnic, though, this time we opted for a restaurant in the middle of the woods, that had a lovely playground for the children and a piece of land where Luka and Zoe blew dandelions in search of fairies.
When we had finished lunch and were waiting for dessert, something funny happened. A band that was at the restaurant, serenading customers with traditional Serbian music, approached our table and, realizing that I was not speaking Serbian, asked me where I was from. When I mentioned that I was from Argentina, one of them started speaking Spanish to me and they promptly starting playing La muerte del Angel, a tango by Astor Piazzola!
The leisurely feeling of the city influenced the rest of our days in it, as well. We strolled around the streets of downtown, especially the always beautiful Knez Mihajlova, where Luka and Zoe ran, ate ice cream and marveled at the water fountains; and where we could visit the tourist office shop to buy presents to bring back home as well as visit the wonderful math fair that was taking place all month of May.
The maths fair, which was full of young volunteers willing to help, was ideal to get children excited about science. There was a bicycle with squared wheels, a floor mat for people to find their way out turning only left (we all tried it and it was hard!), several math games, pendulums, dice experiments, a 3D printer and a fantastic table with thousands of straws that children could put together to create objects, thus bringing awareness to shapes and dimensions.
The squared wheel bicycle, as you can imagine, was a real hit with Luka and Zoe 🙂
We also spent lots of time with family, which is something that, being expats, we don’t get to do often enough.
We took Luka and Zoe to amusement parks, the zoo, and open air playgrounds.
We had cake at my brother in law’s traditional sweet shop, which dates from 1936.
We strolled in the esplanade along the Savva River.
We enjoyed the slow days and the quiet nights.
We relaxed.
Then, 10 days after we arrived, it was time to say goodbye. We took a plane back to Athens, then a plane back to Cyprus and here we are now. At home.
And now, in case you are planning to visit Belgrade with kids (or with adults) I have put together a mini guide of things worth doing, worth seeing and worth eating!
Here it goes:
What to do in Belgrade with Kids
1) Visit Kalemegdan. The old city fortress is a real beauty, not only in itself but also because of the surrounding parks and the view of the Savva and Danube rivers. Lots of space for kids to run, and get excited about history. The fortress also hosts an army museum which kids love.
2) Go to the Zoo: It’s next to Kalemegdan and it’s very well kept. There are elephants, tigers, lions, penguins, seals, hippopotamus, giraffes, zebras, goats, tons of birds and much more.
3) Go to an amusement park: Also, in Kalemegdan. It’s not very big but it’s a nice stop before or after the zoo.
4) Walk around Knez Mihajlova. The most famous street in Belgrade, with its French inspired buildings, is a real beauty.
5) Have lemonade (or Boza) and cake at a traditional Poslaticarnica (or sweet shop). In Belgrade, sweet shops are where traditional cakes and pastries are sold. They are normally rather small and offer a mixture of Northern European cakes (due to the Austro-Hungarian influence) and Oriental delights, such as baklava (due to the times under Ottoman rule). Speaking about Baklava, you will find 3 different types: Greek, Turkish and Serbian (made with nuts mixed with Plazma cookies powder)
6) Try different types of bread at a Pekara (bakery). Cakes and sweets are sold in Poslasticarnicas, and Pekaras are were you can find exclusively bread. Delicious bread!
7) Rent bikes to ride around the Savva river
8) Take a boat ride on the Danube.
9) Have lunch on a “Float” (restaurants on the Savva and Danube)
10) Take a tram ride
11) Buy Plazma cookies at the supermarket. Seriously, you cannot leave without tasting the iconic Serbian cookie with the famous tagline “A house is not a home without Plazma”. And since you are at the supermarket, you may also try Domacica cookies, bananica and cedevita juice. You will look like a local 😉
12) Visit the beautiful Orthodox churches and marvel at their works of art.
13) Buy burek or cevapcice at a local fast food shop and have an improvised picnic in one of the many Belgrade parks.
14) If your kids are bigger than mine, you can go take a look at the buildings bombed by NATO during the war in Kosovo. They were not remodeled nor were they repaired, and it may be a good opportunity to discuss war and recent European history. As a former peacekeeper, I find it important to discuss war and its consequences in times of peace.
15) Taste traditional Serbian food in the beautiful restaurants or Kafana of Skadarlija street (my husband recommends Tri Sesira, Ima Dana or Dva Jelena) For ideas on what to eat, keep reading!
What to eat in a Belgrade Kafana
1) Proja, corn bread (most of the times, it contains a cheese similar to feta inside)
2) Burek: A puff pastry pie, filled with cheese (burek sa sirom) or with meat (burek sa meson). It is possible to find some varieties with Spinach and cheese as well.
3) Corba and other traditional soups. Strictly speaking, corba is soup that contains fish or beef and that is thickened with flour.
4) Sarma: Beef and rice wrapped in vine leaves and cooked for a very long time!
5) Punjene paprike: Red peppers stuffed with rice and beef.
6) Pasulji: Bean stew.
7) Cevapcice: long meat balls made with lamb, pig and beef meat.
8) Tarator: Salad very similar to Tzaziki, made with yogurt, cucumbers, garlic and parsley. Ideal for Summer and for using as a sauce over bread.
9) Ajvar: Red pepper puree.
What to eat in a Poslasticarnica
1) Northern European cakes, such as black forest, or struddel.
2) Triglav: a chocolate buttercream cone, covered in chocolate.
4) Krempita: A bomb. A very thick layer of pastry cream between two slices of puff pastry. Here is a recipe, if you want to try it at home.
5) Baklava: A classic with its own Serbian version,made with plazma cookies and nuts.
6) Kuglof: A wonderful tea cake made with dried fruits.
7) Ratluk: fruit candies,covered in sugar.
Did this post make you want to visit Belgrade? Or at least to eat some Serbian food? If so, mission accomplished 🙂
Have a lovely week, dear friends, and don’t forget to subscribe to get the mini Summer recipes ebook that I created with wonderful Claire Stone!
by Marcela M. | Jun 11, 2013 | Blog, Children, Europe, Travel
Good morning dear friends! I am beginning today the series of posts about our last family trip to Athens and Belgrade, and, since the Summer holidays are almost upon us, I will take this opportunity to share with you all my tips and tricks for travelling with children of different ages.
But first things first, so today I will tell ALL about our one day in Athens with kids!
We had always wanted to visit Athens but, for one reason or another, we had never been able to until last April. I must confess, though, that we had not originally planned to do so in this occasion and that the Universe lent us a hand for making this this micro visit finally happen. You see, whenever we travel to Belgrade, we normally use the Serbian Airline Jat, because they have a 2 1/2 hour direct flight from Larnaca and, up until this year, a schedule that suited us. But in 2013 they started flying in the middle of the night, leaving Cyprus at 2 am in the morning and, while I wouldn’t mind that too much as an adult, we believe that children are a different story. Leaving so late means disturbing our children’s sleep (they are bound to wake up during the several security check ups) and, as a consequence, having to deal with two cranky kids once in Belgrade, and risking a jet lagged sort of change in their normal waking hours, so we started looking for options. And we found them.
Two months before travelling, we booked our tickets to travel through Athens and, since we were already passing by, we decided to make a short stopover in Greece and try to see the Acropolis, at least!. We booked a family room at a nice hotel near Syntagma Square and waited happily for the date of the trip to arrive. We couldn’t wait!
Then, three days before travelling Luka and Zoe got ill with tonsillitis and a ear infection, respectively, and we knew our expectations for the trip had to change.
Travelling with small kids, in general, is very different than travelling alone, with friends, or as a couple. And the key to a happy trip is, in our modest opinion, equal doses of planning and flexibility (and a good deal of patience).
What I mean by equal doses of planning and flexibility is this: We plan the basics carefully: make sure that plane tickets, hotel reservations and documents are up to date and easy to access with one hand. We book hotels that are close to the main attractions of have easy access to them. For stays longer than two nights, we chose to stay in apartments where we can take care of the cooking, w pack with care, making sure that we put extra clothes in our luggage, tons of entertainment, snacks and water (to account for unexpected delays or cancellations), we prepare the children as much as possible by talking about what will happen, where we are going, what we will see.We pack extra money in case there are long delays, research airport websites to know what services are available in the waiting and boarding areas, learn where to get transportation out of the airport fast, how much it should cost to go to our hotel and we save spare cash for this purpose. We even ask our children’s pediatrician for advice on medicines we should bring with us “just in case” (we always carry paracetamol and ibuprofen with us, for example). We are thorough and meticulous in our planning before we leave.
But once we are at the airport/train station/bus station, we know that unexpected things happen all the time and we try to go with the flow.
So,when we found out that Luka and Zoe were ill, we knew that we would need to travel with antibiotics and that they were not going to be feeling at the top of their game. And we knew that this meant quickly lowering our expectations about what we could do in Athens with our kids.
We love travelling and we want our children to learn to love it too. We want them to become globe trotters like ourselves and we believe that the key for this to happen is for us to make sure that the travelling experience is one that is adapted to their developmental age, to what they can do and to what they like. We try to mix activities that we would love to do, with child oriented experiences. We walk a lot but have money ready for a quick taxi in case they are too tired. We know the times of the day when our children are in a better mood and plan more activities during those hours. We mix cultural activities with time in parks and playgrounds where they can relax and spend their abundant energy. And when they are ill, we prioritize making them feel at ease and comfortable and we don’t push for anything at all. During our trip to Athens, this meant not walking much, not climbing to the Acropolis, and seeing the main monuments from the deck of a tourist bus.
And it was the best decision we made.
We arrived in Athens on a Sunday, around noon, after a short but nice trip from Larnaca. We went through immigration control pretty fast and found a taxi to take us to our hotel, in a beautiful ride that took us through the hills that surround the ancient city. The streets were quiet, with just a few people strolling quietly, sitting in parks, and many of them meditating and practicing yoga. From the windows of the car, we could spot a few dogs and cats here and there, a few open shops and some groups of tourists like us. But the most surprising thing of all was how at home my husband and I felt there, as if we had lived there before even though it was our first time in the city.
We checked into our hotel, left our luggage in the room and promptly climbed to the restaurant situated on the last floor, from where we knew we would be able to see the Acropolis.
It was stunning.
We had a few drinks, our jaws dropped at its beauty, and then went down to the hotel’s reception to see how far it was and how easily accessible it was to evaluate the feasibility of going with our children.
It turned out that it was pretty close by, and that the path to get there was a beautiful one, full of little shops and cafés, so we decided to give it a try. It was almost lunch time already by the time we left the hotel, so we figured that, if Luka and Zoe got too tired on the way there, we could always stop at one of the cute little restaurants, grab a bite and then continue. Or, if they were not feeling well by the time we finished lunch, we could always go back to the hotel and let them rest watching cartoons, or take a nap. In the end, this is what we ended up doing.
After they had taken a nap, we started looking for things to do, for a way to take at least a brief look at the city, but that wouldn’t push Luka and Zoe beyond their point of comfort. We wanted them to enjoy the sightseeing, not to struggle!
We were brainstorming ideas in our room, when I remembered seeing the double-deck tourist buses around Syntagma square. I went down to the reception and found a brochure with all stops, packed snacks and water for the children, and we left.
The bus stop was barely 200 meters from our hotel and, by the time we arrived, there was a bus there already. Luka and Zoe were very excited about travelling on the upper side, getting their headphones in their ears and being able to touch the tallest branches of the trees and the streets from above.
A few minutes after the bus began moving, however, the fell soundly asleep again!
The afternoon was sunny, and there was a lovely breeze that prevented the weather from getting too hot. The city felt quiet and relaxed, and it was really nice to be able to, at least, get a glimpse of it.
During the 90 minutes that the itinerary lasted, we saw Melina Merkouri, Plaka, the New Acropolis Museum, the Acropolis and Parthenon, the Temple of Zeus, the National Gardens, the Benaki Museum, Panathenaic Stadium, the National Library), the National Archaeological Museum, Omonoia Square, Karaiskaki Square, Thession Station, and Kotzia Square. We took pictures trying to avoid the heads of other passengers (a difficult task!), we chatted and we planned future trips.
By the time the bus tour was finished, we had already fell in love with the city, and decided to go back one day, to walk and walk and walk.
We took off the bus, treated Luka, Zoe and ourselves to a few scoops of delicious ice cream and went back to the hotel, where we later had dinner, watching the sun set over the city.
Early the following morning, we took our flight to Belgrade…but I’ll tell you about it in my next post!
Have you ever been to Athens? Would you like to?
by Marcela M. | Jun 3, 2013 | Cakes, Recipe Box, Recipes, Sweets
Last Wednesday, May 29th, was my 37th birthday and the blog’s second and we celebrated both with nugaton.
Nugaton is, for those who know me from my days in Argentina, my most iconic dessert. This is the one dessert that was never missing in our birthdays and the only cake my brother still wants for his. Nugaton is the dessert I am always asked to prepare when I’m invited to a party back home, and the one that my friends most looked forward to eating whenever I entertained.
It is not, however, a family recipe. Truth be told, the original recipe appeared in a box of Quaker Oats in Argentina, in the ’70s. It quickly popularized because it was ideal for making in a whim, and kids loved it. The original recipe, however, has been modified countless times, as it normally happens in family kitchens, where ingredients and proportions are altered depending on what the person cooking has on hand, or to each family’s taste.
The beauty of Nugaton is not only that it is very simple to make, doesn’t require an oven and can be shaped in any way one wants, but also that the ingredients are few and, generally speaking, easy to find. Because of this, I have been able to make it pretty much everywhere I have lived. Those who know me from Córdoba, New York, Québec, Fuerteventura, Belgrade, Daoukro and Abidjan have all had a taste of this childhood classic and have all loved it.
Now it’s your turn to do it and to let me know how you like it!
The most important part of making nugaton is to get the chocolate oat paste right. For many years, I was unable to get consistent results because, ahem, I had never measured the ingredients (you can see the original page of my recipe notebook HERE and laugh at the lack of precision). I knew how nugaton was supposed to turn out and I just kept adding this and that, and maybe a little more of that other thing until I reached the desired result. This was fine for me, but it made it impossible to share the recipe with anyone else, as you can imagine!
This time, because I was going to share the recipe with you, I wanted it to be precised, so I measured everything and I am confident that you will be able to enjoy a delicious home made nugaton, that will look and taste the same as mine does- or even better!
Now, just one important recommendation before I leave you with the recipe: try to use ingredients that are the best quality possible. When a recipe uses very few ingredients, as in this case, each of them affects the final taste, so the better the quality, the better the results. And even though I don’t normally make specific brand recommendations, in this case I will because, in my experience, it makes a difference. So there it goes: use Quaker oats when making it. Trust me on this one!
You will notice that, in this recipe, I use 70% chocolate and may wonder if it can be made with cocoa, and the answer is yes, it can. In fact, my mum makes it cocoa most of the time, and I will give you the quantities for it too. You can also use half chocolate and half cocoa. And even though the original recipe uses butter, if you, like me, cannot eat dairy, it can be replaced by dairy-free margarine. The same goes for milk: the original recipe calls for cow’s milk, but I normally replace by oat, almond or hazelnut ones that go really great with this dessert.
Here is the recipe:
Nugaton
Ingredients: 300 grs butter or dairy-free margarine , 350 grs dark chocolate (70%) or 100 grs dark chocolate + 3/4 cup cocoa, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 350 grs sugar, 500 grs oats, 200 ml milk (I use oat, almond or hazelnut milk), two packs of cream crackers.
Preparation:
1) Melt butter/margarine and chocolate together in a saucepan
2) Put the oats and sugar in a big saucepan and mix well.
3) Pour the margarine/chocolate sauce over the oats and mix well. At this time, you will notice that it feels like the sauce is not enough to coat the oats. Don’t worry, keep mixing.
4) Bring the mixture to slow heat and continue stirring all the time. Add milk in small doses, mixing very well after each addition. After a few minutes, you will notice that the oats start to cook,and the paste becomes easier to work with. When this happens, mix one more time, remove from the heat and continue stirring for a couple of minutes.
5) Put a little bit of paste at the base of the plate where you will present your nugaton, so that the crackers stay in place. Add one layer of crackers and then put a couple of tablespoons of nugaton paste on top. Spread the paste well all over the top, using a spatula.
6) Continue layering crackers and paste until you have approximately 6 tablespoons of paste left. When this happens, put the last layer of crackers and then pour all the remaining paste on top. Working with a spatula, spread and smooth the paste all along the top and sides of the cake, as you would with any frosting. Decorate as desired and put it in the refrigerator until one hour before serving.
What is your most iconic dessert, the one that people always ask you to do over and over again?
Please, share with me in the comments below!
