candy brilliance

This evening I had a (as Maddy would say) "brilliant beyond brilliant" idea.  Maddy and I were watching "Top Chef: Just Desserts" and they had a contest where they had to recreate Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

 I guess they didn't have to recreate it, but it was their inspiration.  First they watched the original movie (far, far superior to the pathetic Johnny Depp remake) right along side the people who played Charlie Bucket, Voilet Beauregard, Mike TeVee and Varuca Salt (spell check is not helping much right now....).  The best part is that they didn't know that these were the original cast members until after the movie was over.  Pretty cool.  The whole thing was in honor of the movie's 40th anniversary.  Can you believe it is that old?
The cast members said that the movie set was actually mostly made up of edible decorations, which is pretty cool, too.

 The contestants on the show did a pretty great job.

I particularly like Katzie's garden (sorry, no picture).  She made carrot cakes in the shape of carrots and then "planted" them in edible dirt.  You could then dig out your own cake to eat.  Very cute and creative.

After the show was over and Maddy and I were oooohing and aaaaaahing, I said that we should do something like that for Maddy's Quinceanera.  Maddy got pretty excited!

A Quinceanera, for those who have that look (huh?) on their faces, is kind of like a huge sweet 16 party, except it is for 15 year-old girls.  They are BIG deals in Latin America.  Like really, really big deals.  Ridiculously so.

While we have already let Maddy know that she will not be having the typical 5 different dresses to change into throughout the night, a band, a rented banquet hall, and all kinds of other things that would send us to the poor house, we do want to have a fun party.  This could be just the thing!
Yes, it is over a year away, but it never hurts to start thinking.....

What we really want to do is somehow convince our great friends Marlo and her daughter Mikala (whose birthday is one month later) that we should do it together.  Split the cost, the work and the FUN!  And since Marlo is a fabulous baker and quite creative, it would work out really well.

Of course, this is all a dream.  But you never know when a dream becomes reality!!