Drinks With Dad - The Pagoda

This month's drink is our take on my dad's favorite drink from a local restaurant called Klinger's on Carsonia.  It's festive and cinnamon-y and perfect for cold winter (or autumn) nights.  It is named after The Pagoda - a somewhat bizarre but super awesome local landmark.

This one is a lot less involved than our last drink recipes.  You can watch us make it here or keep reading for further instructions.

To make this drink you'll need:

• 1/4 tsp lime juice
• 1 tsp grenadine
• 1 tbsp Fireball whiskey
• ginger ale

Simply fill a lowball glass with ice and add the first three ingredients.  Then fill the rest of the glass with ginger ale, stir with a straw, and enjoy!

Sycamore Springs Holiday Open House 2014

This year's open house at Sycamore Springs was just as amazing as ever!  There were tons of beautifully decorated Christmas trees.

And what would Christmas be without glittery ornaments?

We especially loved these glass ornaments displayed in an old apothecary cabinet / library card catalog.

There were also several tablescapes from which to draw inspiration.

Kylie loved the woodland animals.

Kera preferred the elegant Christmas wreaths.

All in all, it was a lovely afternoon spent at one of our favorite local shops.

Meals With Mom - Graveyard Cake

Welcome to the first installment of Meals With Mom - another new monthly feature here on Proper Wolf.  This month we are making a spooky graveyard cake for Halloween!

First things first, you'll need to make a cake.  We made a black midnight cake (which is an old Pennsylvania Dutch recipe), but you can pretty much use whatever kind of cake you like best. 

If you do decide to use this recipe for black midnight cake, keep in mind that your cake batter will be very watery.  That's okay, it's supposed to look like that.  Don't worry - you didn't screw anything up!

Don't our parents have the most beautifully rustic kitchen supplies?  I mean seriously - they've got homemade vanilla extract!
 

Okay, so now you've got a nice cake, fresh from the oven.

Go gather some cake decorating supplies.  You'll need, at the very least, some Vienna Fingers, whipped topping, and a base coat of icing.  We also got some tubes of colored icing and some decorative bones/eye ball candies at our local Aldi.

Now give that cake a nice thick coating of icing.  We used black, but you could use brown or green as well.  This is going to be the dirt for your graveyard.

Next, add some grass.  We used green sprinkles/jimmies.

If you want to write on your "tombstones", that should be your next step.  We put them in the fridge so they'd harden up and not drip when we stuck them in the cake.

Decorate your graveyard however you like.  We made a pumpkin, some leaves, some vines, and some worms.  We also added some of the bone and eye ball candies.

Now add your cookie tombstones and a few dollops of whipped topping ghosts.  We painted faces on our ghosts with the tube of black frosting, and added creepy green and purple ooze to the tombstones.

Ta-da!  You're finished!  Enjoy your creepy Graveyard Cake!

Drinks With Dad - Candy Bar Martini

Today (Kylie's birthday!) we're introducing a new feature that we're hoping to do every month, and it is called Drinks With Dad.  The concept is pretty simple - each month we'll make a new mixed drink with our dad, Kevin.

This month's drink is based on his favorite candy bar, the Snickers.  If you'd like to watch us make this drink with our dad, simply watch this video.  Otherwise, continue reading for step by step instructions.

 To make this drink you'll need:

• chocolate milk
• caramel vodka
• butterscotch schnapps
• caramel sauce
• crushed peanuts

You could probably make this in a glass and stir it up, but we used a shaker and it worked out great.  The instructions are pretty easy: simply pour 1/2 part butterscotch schnapps,  1 part vodka, and 2 1/2 parts chocolate milk into your shaker and shake vigorously.

To replicate our snazzy presentation, drizzle some caramel sauce into the bottom and sides of your glass.  Use more caramel to lightly coat the rim of your glass, and then dip the coated edge into the crushed peanuts.  The sweetness of the caramel and the saltiness of the nuts really adds to the flavor of the drink.

Enjoy!