DIY Sea Glass Candy + Beachy Birthday Cake

I like to think of myself as crafty; an aspiring, much younger version of Martha Stewart if you will! I blame endless years of watching Sandra Lee on the Food Network and the beauty that is Pinterest. That being said, I'd love to start sharing more of my DIY projects, recipes, and potential Pinterest fails on this blog! 

First up is this past weekend's creation: DIY sea glass hard candy used to decorate my parent's birthday cake. My whole family loves the beach, my mother especially, and one of her favorite things is walking on the beach to find sea glass. When I saw this tutorial on Pinterest, I immediately thought I could use them as decoration for cupcakes (my favorite thing to bake) for mother's day or my mom's birthday! Well, when I decided to throw them a big birthday party, I threw out the cupcake idea and ordered a super simple cake from Publix I could decorate myself because 1) total time-saver, and 2) Publix cake is delicious. 

Now, I had never made candy before so I really did not know what to expect. Overall, I didn't find it to be that hard but the cleanup was kind of a bear so leave yourself enough time for that! I purchased a candy thermometer from Hobby Lobby and followed the instructions on the tutorial pretty exactly. I didn't have non-stick baking mats but I lined cookie sheets with aluminum foil and had no sticking problems. I was surprised at how long it took the syrup to heat up to 300 degrees but stay patient! If you don't get the sugar to heat all the way to 300, it won't dry hard. My only two regrets were not having any plain blue food coloring on hand to make cobalt blue sea glass and not adding flavoring oils to the syrup, but nonetheless I think the candy turned out adorable and it tasted sugary and delicious! 

To finish off my cake, I crumbled up graham crackers to make "sand" and spread that out around the corners of the cake. Then, I arranged some of my candy sea glass around the cake and voila, done! My mom and dad both loved it and I have TONS of candy left which I'll save to use on that cupcake idea I proposed earlier lol!

What you'll need

For the candy:

medium saucepan 

candy thermometer

3 cookie sheets

aluminum foil

Pyrex measuring cup

metal spoons

2 cups of sugar 

2/3 cup light corn syrup

3/4 cup water

food coloring (green and blue)

candy flavoring oils (optional)

powdered sugar

ziplock bag

For the cake:

iced sheet cake

1 sleeve of graham crackers crumbled in a ziplock bag

sea glass candy

Directions

1. Prepare cookie sheets with aluminum foil and set up pyrex measuring cups and food coloring so when the syrup is heated, you can work quickly. It will harden fast so you want everything ready for that moment. 

2. Stir together the sugar, corn syrup, and water in the saucepan. 

3. Attach the candy thermometer to the pan (about 2 inches deep but not toughing the bottom) and boil the syrup mixture over medium heat until it reaches 300 degrees, stirring very frequently. 

4. Once the mixture reaches 300 degrees, you can pour one third out onto one of the cookie sheets (this will harden clear and be your "white sea glass").

5. Pour half of the leftover mixture into a pyrex measuring glass and mix in a few drops of food coloring with a metal spoon. Pour onto another cookie sheet.

6. Mix in a few drops of your second color of food coloring to the last part of the mixture left in the pan. Pour the rest of the mixture onto a cookie sheet.

7. Let the candy cool for about 20-30 min.

8. To break the candy into smaller pieces, pick it up and hit the cookie sheet with it (not to hard), or use a food safe hammer. 

9. Place your candy pieces in the ziplock with a tablespoon or so of powedered sugar. Shake the bag up to coat the candy pieces. This will give the candy the "frosted" sea glass look.

10. Brush off the excess powdered sugar with your finger and you're done!

11. Arrange crumbled graham cracker "sand" and candy sea glass on your cake to decorate.

As far as cleanup goes, simmer the pan you used with water and it will dissolve the hardened candy along the sides. You can place the spoons you used in the pot of water as well and the candy should dissolve off them too. I was scared to try and simmer water in the pyrex, so I soaked it in hot water for a while and scrubbed it with a sponge. It takes some time, but everything will eventually be clean once the sugar dissolves.

Happy baking everyone!

April in DC: Day 2 and 3

Day two began bright and early for the March for Science! We took the metro (Navy Yard to Smithsonian) and walked to the Washington Monument where they had set up a stage for speakers, etc. The day before, we saw the stage being set up and certain lawns around the monument had been blocked off as well which made us really excited! We waited in a LONG line to get into the stage area for around 2 hours (in the rain) but it was son fun to see so many people with creative signs and costumes. We met people from all over the country and everyone was SO NICE. I guess that's the biggest perk of going to a march made up "science nerds" lol!

By the time we got into the event, there were only a few speakers left but we did get to hear Bill Nye which was fun! By then, the event was packed and we were wet and freezing from the rain so we took a few photos and headed somewhere dry for lunch.

    

We ended up at Chop't Salads in the Navy Memorial Square across from the National Archives. We all had different salads which were delicious and I had the vegetarian chili which warmed me right up and had great spicy flavor. Side note, the flowers all over DC at that time of year were so vibrant and beautiful! I wish I had taken better pictures, but these colorful pansies were my favorite.

One of my roommates from college, Claire, lives in Maryland and I was so happy she was able to meet us after lunch to explore the National Archives and the more of the Smithsonian museums. The Archives were so cool and I had chills in the rotunda where they keep the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. After the Archives, we headed to the National Gallery of Art. Claire was an Art History Major at Miami and worked at the National Gallery in High School and College so we were so thankful to have her as our tour guide! I really never thought I would enjoy the National Gallery as much as I did, but we all agreed it was our favorite part of the trip second to the segways. I mean how many times in your life do you see paintings in real life that you've seen a million times in history books? Here's a few of my favorite pieces: 

After we finished up at the National Gallery, Claire caught a train back to Maryland and we headed back to our hotel via metro. We relaxed for a bit and had dinner at Gordon Biersch because we just wanted something casual and close to the hotel. After dinner, we decided to go on a little adventure and got back on the metro walk around some of the monuments at night. It was so weird seeing no one with selfie sticks crowded around and I loved it! The capitol building was beautiful despite how terrible this photo is haha.

Sunday morning, we took the metro to Metro Center to walk around the White House for a bit. We came at quite an exciting time because while were there, secret service actually started moving everyone away from the gate in front of the house and back into the park across the street. We had to catch our brunch reservation, so we couldn't stay to see everything but during brunch we saw the motorcade go by so pretty sure it was the President or some member of his family leaving the White House! We had brunch at Old Ebbitt Grill which we had been recommended to us by multiple people. The Old Ebbitt Grill is right across from the White House so it has some interesting history and the food was delicious so I would definitely recommend this place as well! I had the crab cakes benedict and my sister had the bacon wrapped french toast.

While planning our trip, the Renwick Gallery was at the top of my list of things to see. We headed there after brunch since it's close to the White House too. We really enjoyed it and it's such a small museum, it was so easy to make it a quick stop on our short trip. 

And our last stop before flying back home was the Smithsonian Museum of American History. My favorite exhibits were the First Lady dresses and the lunch counter from the Greensboro sit-ins during the civil rights movement. This museum has a lot of new exhibits that are under construction, so it felt a little small but we enjoyed it.

     

And that's all from our short little weekend in DC! We had so much fun and I know I'll be back to see more. Hope you enjoyed my little recap and the photo overload! I'd love to know if any of you have been to DC and if so, what was your favorite part?

April in DC: Day 1

Happy June friends! I'm finally getting around to blogging my weekend trip to DC in April! Around February, I saw news going around facebook that a March for Science was being planned in DC for Earth Day and I mentioned my interest to my mom. Well, I have the best mom ever who loves DC and has wanted to take my sister and I for years soooooo with the help of her Southwest miles and Marriott points we booked our trip for almost nothing! Before our trip, I did a lot of research on pinterest and blogs so we would get the most of our three days and I'm so glad I did! 

The march was Saturday, April 22nd so we flew into BWI Friday morning. Flights were much cheaper into Baltimore and it only took us about 45 minutes to get into DC. If flights into Ronald Reagan are looking expensive from your city, check out the rates for flying into Baltimore instead to save some moolah! We drove into DC and dropped our bags at our hotel in Navy Yard and headed to the National Mall for our first day!

Reef display made of ocean plastics at the Museum of Natural History

     

First stop: Smithsonian Museum of Natural History! I was so so excited for this, but I'd be lying if I didn't say it was a bit of a let down. Surprisingly, my favorite exhibits were the origins of man (all the evolving skeletons were so cool) and of course the ocean exhibit ;) ...I even found a display on oysters so I was a very happy oyster lovin' gal! 

After our walk through the Museum of Natural History and a quick lunch from one of the food trucks along the mall, we made our way to City Segway Tours near George Washington University. A few days before our trip, I was at Starbucks with a friend talking about DC and a random stranger actually recommended booking a segway tour of the monuments. He was so sweet and had so many great things to say about them, we booked a tour right away! Our guide was a Junior at GWU and she made the tour so fun. I was a little nervous because it was supposed to pour that afternoon, but we actually ended up having the best weather of the trip that day and I think the threat of rain scared tourists away because our segway tour was just us and one other person. Our tour lasted about 3 hours and took us to ALL the major monuments, with stops at certain ones for photo ops. It was truly the best way to see the city in a short time, well worth the price! 

One of my favorite things about DC was learning all sorts of funny historical facts about our nations capitol. Our awesome tour guide told us the Eisenhower Executive building across from the White House was designed by a French architect and it's french style was hated by so many government officials (President Truman called it "the greatest monstrosity in America") that the building was never actually payed for! The funny thing is, this was my favorite building in all of DC haha!

     

This photo was taken at the exact spot Martin Luther King Jr. stood at during his "I Have a Dream" speech. I had chills standing there and inside the Lincoln Memorial. My favorite monument in all of DC, so beautiful. 

After our amazing tour, we made our way back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. I did a lot (not kidding, hours because I'm a crazy foodie) of yelp research to find some great places to eat on our trip. After my search, I settled on a few places including an Italian restaurant named Lavagna in Capitol Hill (close to the Navy Yard) and made us dinner reservations. 

Another travel tip: do your research and make dinner/brunch reservations at least a week or two in advance. I waited until only a few days before the trip and wasn't able to get reservations at two of the restaurants I would have loved to check out.  Side note, I only made two reservations for the weekend and it gave us a lot of flexibility: dinner Friday and brunch Sunday :)

{off-the-shoulder gingham top, jeans, booties (old)}

     

Our food at Lavagna was so yummy and the service was wonderful as well! My mother and I split the lobster risotto and basil pesto pasta with sausage. Their fresh pasta was delish and we also died for the lemon raspberry cheesecake with oreo crust! After dinner, we walked back in the direction of our hotel and stopped at the Brig Beergarden in Navy Yard along the way. Since it was a friday night, it was pretty busy with a young crowd, you could tell it was a locals spot (puppy friendly!). It was a lovely way to end our first day in DC and we loved their beer selection! 

Stay tuned for recaps of our second and third day in DC coming soon :)! 

P.S. for those traveling to DC, I just realized I didn't really mention how we got around in the city. Since it was our first day, we mostly used uber. We weren't feeling comfortable enough with the metro yet and all of our plans seemed to take place far from metro stops. Looking back now and knowing how easily we navigated the metro on the rest of our trip, I regret not using the metro and walking more on that first day. Moral of the story, DC is 100% do-able without uber and the metro is very easy and safe. Hope this transportation rant is somewhat helpful, haha!