Drive-by Birthday

This past weekend we celebrated my husband's birthday.  The weekend started off wonderfully.  K got home early on Friday which meant that he was able to take Prima to catch the bus for her orienteering competition.  It's so nice when I don't need to get all the kids in the van just to take one where they need to go.

So, on Saturday Prima was away for the whole day at an orienteering competition.  We figured that this was the perfect time for K to take Secundus to the city to see a movie.  Secundus had indicated earlier that he would really like to see Frankenweenie.  As it turned out though, he decided to see Hotel Transylvania instead.  It ended up being a great birthday treat for K because Secundus took his own money and treated them both to popcorn and candy.




On Sunday the girls and I made a truck birthday cake.  I had to be a little creative with how to make it into a decent truck but I think it turned out alright, especially for a somewhat last-minute design idea.  














The cake itself was butter pecan with brown sugar frosting, a family favourite.  I just make the cake from a mix but the icing is from scratch.  Someday I'll just put the icing in a pan and make it into fudge, it tastes so good.








Speaking of fudge, the absolute best place to buy fudge is The Market Cafe and Fudge Factory in Bancroft, Ontario.  It's made on-site and it's absolutely amazing - creamy, rich and sweet.  They have lots of flavours also.  My personal favourite is penuche - a fudge made with brown sugar.  They don't always have penuche made up since it's not one of their big sellers.  They usually have it in the summer though.  My other favourite is chewy praline.  One of my sisters loves it so much that when she buys a box (which will normally hold four flavours) she just gets all chewy praline.  They also often have seasonal flavours - pumpkin in autumn, candy cane at Christmas.  

If you can't stop by the Market Cafe in Bancroft another option is The Madawaska Art Shop in Maynooth (which is part of Hastings Highlands municipality).  They are owned by the same people so the fudge is the same.  There's not as big of a selection but the store and gallery itself is really cool to explore.  Plus, there are a lot of other neat shops in Maynooth.  If you're there on Saturdays in the summer, you can even stop by the farmer's market held at the old community centre from 8am - 1pm.  Last year they also started having an indoor market one Saturday per month in the winter.  I'm not sure what the plan is for this year though.