Wedding Bells are Ringing! Monopoly Groom's Cake

My niece, Lyndie, married her best friend!

The ceremony was beautiful and the venue was spectacular.

 

John and Lyndie

As perfect as the details of the wedding were,

 they paled compared to how stunning Lyndie looked 

 alongside her handsome groom, John.

New beginnings...

The evening wedding showcased the beautiful Minneapolis skyline

from the Dome on top of the Millennium Hotel. 

As darkness fell, the view became even more breathtaking.

The night was lit up with the city lights of Minneapolis.

For this special occasion,

I baked and decorated a groom's cake for John.

I see him as a savvy business guy, so my first thought was a 

Monopoly Board Game Cake.

 I knew it would be the perfect theme when

my sister gave me the original Monopoly game that Lyndie spent

countless hours playing when she was growing up.

I used that as the base for the cake,

and then decorated it as I felt inspired.

Cake 

1 box Betty Crocker SuperMoist white cake mix 

1 1/4 cups champagne or sparkling grape juice, room temperature 

1/3 cup vegetable oil 

3 egg whites 

4 or 5 drops red food color 

Directions 

⦁ Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Spray bottoms and sides of a 13x9 in. cake pan.

⦁ In large bowl, stir together cake mix and 1 1/4 cups champagne or sparkling grape juice. Add oil, egg whites and food color; beat with electric mixer on medium speed 2 minutes. Pour into pan. 

⦁ Bake as directed on box. Cool 10 minutes. Remove cakes from pans to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

From Betty Crocker web sight.

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/pink-champagne-layer-cake/3a7dae01-8411-4482-8c58-141c55b3c506?p=1

Gather the ingredients.

I used Cold Duck Sparkling Grape Juice.
However, use champagne if you have it.

Add the sparkling juice to the dry cake mix.

Separate the whites from the egg yolks.

 Add the egg whites and oil and beat with an electric mixer.

 Add the desired amount of food coloring and beat on medium speed for
2 minutes.

  I sprayed the bottom of my 9x13 inch baking pan with no stick cooking spray.

 I placed a layer of waxed paper over the top of the cooking spray
so the cake could be removed easily from the pan once baked.

 Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Cool cake before removing from pan and placing on a cake board.

 Frost the top and sides of the cake.

 I made two game pieces, a bride and a groom.

 I purchased a Monopoly fondant cake transfer to place on the top of the cake.

 I placed the bride and the groom pieces on the cake.

Lyndie managed to end up in jail.
She just so happened to have a "get out of jail free" card,
possibly a wedding gift!

John was looking dapper
 as he just purchased two hotels on Park Place and Boardwalk.
A match made in heaven!


The finished Monopoly Groom's Cake.

Attention to detail was the theme of the reception.

John is sampling his groom's cake.

Doug and I wish John & Lyndie many blessings
and happiness as they begin this new chapter of their lives.
We love you!

Day 7- Around San Fran

Today was our last full day in San Francisco.

We wanted to make the most of it, so we explored several areas of the city.

We had a taste of China in the area of San Francisco called

China Town.

We took a walking tour of this part of the city.

We were a little disappointed because our tour guide walked us

through the side streets and back alleys so she could keep us together

so she could explain some of the traditions and culture here.

There was so much more to see than what we did on the tour.

Beautiful painted murals.

We stopped at the 

Fortune Cookie Factory.

It was small with just a couple of ladies folding the cookies

as they came down the conveyor belt as hot flat disks.

Then the paper fortune was placed on it,

and the cookie was folded.

 After it was cooled, they were packaged.

This was our purchase.
Chocolate and regular fortune cookies.

Samples.

City View Restaurant

We stopped here for a delicious lunch.

I loved getting pictures of the street cars.
If it runs on steel rails with a trolley pole connected to an overhead wire above, it’s a streetcar.

Streetcars (trolleys/trams)
Streetcars run on steel rails, but with no slot between the tracks, and no underground cable.
 Unlike the mechanical cable cars, streetcars are propelled by onboard electric motors and require a trolley pole to draw power from an overhead wire.
San Francisco has the world’s most diverse collection of streetcars in regular transit service, and many are quite unique and different looking.
http://www.streetcar.org/wheels-motion/difference/

Here is a link Streetcars of San Francisco

Check them out.

You can click on the particular streetcar and learn its history.

San Francisco has the iconic

 Cable Car.

Cable Cars

Cable cars run on steel rails with a slot between the tracks where an underground cable runs at a continuous nine miles per hour.

Cable cars were invented in 1873 by Andrew Hallidie to climb the hills of San Francisco. Many cities once had cable cars, but today, San Francisco’s Powell-Mason, Powell-Hyde, and California Street lines are the only ones left in the world. 

If it runs on steel rails with an open slot between them, and no overhead wires, it’s a cable car.

On to
Fisherman's Wharf
for some final sightseeing.

Fisherman's Wharf is a neighborhood and popular tourist attraction in San Francisco, California. It roughly encompasses the northern waterfront area of San Francisco from Ghirardelli Square or Van Ness Avenue east to Pier 35 or Kearny Street. The F Market streetcar runs through the area, the Powell-Hyde cable car lines runs to Aquatic Park, at the edge of Fisherman's Wharf, and the Powell-Mason cable car line runs a few blocks away.

(Wikipedia)

Streetcars along Fisherman's Wharf.

Famous burger joint in San Francisco.
In 1948 the first store opened in Los Angeles.
(http://www.in-n-out.com/history.aspx)
 More history at: In-N-Out Burger

We decided to have dinner tonight along the wharf.
We had heard Scoma's was good, so we made our way along the pier
to the restaurant.

Scoma’s
is a classic San Francisco seafood restaurant.
They served Pacific seafood, caught on small boats,
 and brought to the pier by local fishermen.

We could see Ghirardelli from our tableside.
We made that our dessert spot.

My meal was fresh and delicious.

Pacific Black Cod
Smashed Potatoes, Spring Onion Puree, Rainbow Chard, Meyer Lemon Aioli

Doug concluded his evening with a classic dessert from
Ghirardelli's.

The famous Hot Fudge Sundae.

Yes!

This is City Hall located right across the street from our hotel,
Inn at the Opera.
It is beautiful at night.

Here are images of the Inn at the Opera,
beautiful accommodations.

Leaving the city, but taking the memories with us.
We loved experiencing this beautiful city.