You don’t have to know me for very long before learning that while I am passionate about many activities, I am truly obsessed with two in particular. Baking, and trips to DISNEYLAND. Disneyland, Anaheim, Ca. is my home away from home. Now, please don’t misunderstand me here, I am not naive, or have an exceedingly jovial personality that completely ignores the real downsides of my happiest place on earth. Yes, there are long lines, yes it is expensive, yes, tempers can run high, yes, even I slightly cringe a bit when meeting some of the classic Disney princesses due to their bland personalities and stereotypically perfect outward appearance, yes, I am completely aware of the fact that Disney is a corporation hell bent on turning a profit, and no, I personally do not agree with every little thing they do. Ok… now that I have got that dark cloud out of the way I will now plunge in to the heart of why I LOVE this place so much. This will be a 2 part blog post, my hope is that it will provide some thoughtful insight for those who are heading to the house of mouse some time soon and a different perspective to those who are skeptical of said mouse house.
Growing up in the Palm Springs, California area I was the daughter of a pastor. My family was not middle class, if anything we were scraping the bottom of lower middle class and edged in to being a low-income family once my dad became a missionary and we moved to Mexico. We never had the trendiest clothing, we ate cheap imitation brand foods, and anything new or fancy was usually given to us by friends or family. Despite our lack of funds, my parents made an effort to use what little extra we had to create family memories through short trips to locations close by. We went to naturally beautiful destinations such as Oceanside, Idyllwild, and Big Bear Lake, but none were as memorable to me as those handful of 2 hour road trips we took to Disneyland. A trip to Disneyland was synonymous with a celebration, and Disneyland's seemingly sole purpose in living was to celebrate with me and for me. They would wholeheartedly celebrate imagination, celebrate joy, celebrate love, celebrate memories, celebrate family, celebrate milestones, celebrate creativity, I could keep going but I think you get the giddy school girl picture. For the be-speckled, imaginative, and vivacious little girl that I was (and still am, really) it was a symbol of blissful harmony, outrageous possibilities, creative beauty, and joy at its purest. Fast forward to today and after countless trips back that lovely picture still remains resolutely intact.
To capture this blissful essence of celebration I need not go any further than gifting you with the little treasure of a story that is my latest trip to Disneyland. In June my sister, Amie, who lives in Quito, Ecuador, was able to finally make legal what had been official In her heart for years. She legally became the mother to her foster daughters, Carin and Yvette. This process had taken three and a half long years due to several unconventional factors surrounding their particular adoption situation. I knew that when this momentous event was finally finalized we simply had to go to the one place where this new little family would be loudly celebrated with sheer delight. Once the adoption was final, my nieces' visas were in place, and their stateside trip to visit friends and family in order, we planned the dates for our long-awaited celebratory visit to Disneyland. Initially just my mom, me, my sister, and her two girls were going to go on this trip but I wanted to add some youthful joy and cousin bonding time for my new nieces while they were here in the States. So three weeks before our trip, at Carin's small family birthday party, I surprised her as well as her sister and their cousins by letting them all know that they would be celebrating the adoption all together. It was a truly magical moment as the cousins (my daughter and brother's 3 children) were not only thrilled to go to Disneyland, they were also honored to be included in this amazingly festive celebration of their newly adopted cousins.
Three weeks flew by, and my plans were all in place for our 4 day trip and 2 marathon Park day adventure. My 5 year old daughter, 12 and 11 yo nieces, and 8 yo nephew (my brother's children) all flew out with me early in the morning. I had decided to get settled at our hotel and then sprint to the hallowed Disney Park property right away. We were all itching to hear that mystically endearing park theme music, discover secret hidden Mickeys on random pavement tiles, and skip happily along the esplanade. In true Charin fashion my eyes became sappily misty the second we crossed the border in to Disneyland property. I can quite literally sense that child-like fun and adventure await me every time I cross that unseen border in to wonder... er I mean Disneyland. As we went through the security checks, the cast members/security guards greeted us with a happy grin, bid us a magical day, cracked innocent jokes here and there and made me realize that not every security guard in the world is like every one I've met at O'Hare airport- Grumpy. Off we galavanted to Downtown Disney for our only adventure for that day- shopping!
First stop was the colossal Lego Store in which my nephew, Ezra's dream came true. Unlike that of (most) grown adults, Ezra's dream is quite simple- be surrounded by legos, play with legos, and maybe... Just maybe... Add a Lego set to his prized collection, and that is what we did. And Ezra rejoiced. Thoroughly. I will also add that that kid sure deserved his dream coming true right at the outset of our trip as he was the only boy in our party of 9, and he was an absolute peach of a prince to us ladies throughout our wild adventure.
We strolled through a few stands here and there, buying a dainty tiara for Maddy (my 12 year old niece) and I to share, as well as a "gypsy Minnie" pin for nana (my mom). The golden moment of that whole day, though, happened at my favorite shop of any theme park I have ever been to, WonderGround Gallery. This small shop features Disney inspired art by professional artists, many of whom are local to California. If you did not know, many Californians are like me in that, Disneyland holds a sacred gleeful childhood piece to their heart. So you can imagine if renowned local artists are creating pieces for somewhere that holds such a precious emotional place, the artwork will inevitably be truly and beautifully inspired. That's what it is. Every time I walk in to this shop I am in awe at the new takes and interesting perspectives these artists have come up with for classic, and new Disney/Pixar stories and characters. Truth be told, while I like classic Disney movies, it is Pixar films that hold my heart and inspire me. The artistic and thoughtful approach I see reflected in the artwork in WonderGround Gallery always makes me think twice about the depth a classic Disney character may have though.
My 11 year old niece wants to work for Disney some day, and in particular wants to be a story board artist for Disney. She is truly in love with all things Disney, and she truly is a talented young artist. When she walked in to this store her whole being lit up to see every array of artistic possibility you could take to the characters and stories she knew so well. She bounced cheerily from one artist showcase to the next, awe inspired at each, but when she reached the center of the room she stopped, mesmerized at what she saw. An actual real, live Disney sketch artist sketching a scene from one of her favorite movies, Up. For this inquisitive and ingenious youthful artist it was enough just to watch and be inspired by the talent that lay before her. She drew closer with longing admiration and exclaimed sweetly, "That is SO AWESOME!" The artist looked up from her work, smiled, thanked her, and asked her name. "Alaska!" She happily replied, still fully mesmerized by her handiwork. The artist finished up her sketch, and at the top she wrote "Alaska". She turned to the stunned little lady and handed her the piece of art she had just finished. To put it plainly, Alaska was beside herself with sheer joy. She could not believe she got to keep a professional piece of artwork from someone who had her dream job. She also could not believe that this piece, professionally framed and worth about $40 (which would have taken her months of scrimping and saving to collect by herself), was purely a gift, no strings attached, but it most certainly was. No ulterior motive, no gimmick, no hoop we would have to jump through, it was just a lovely gift from one artist to another. This, my friends, in the Disney parks fan world is called "Disney Magic" and it's a cheesy way of saying "random act of amazing kindness", and it is really beautiful to be a part of, not only on the receiving end, but also on the end that gives the Magic too. Alaska eyes watered up with joy, as did mine, and as did her older sister Maddy's, as we all knew this was a completely beautiful and inspiring moment for Alaska, our beloved niece and sister, the gifted, talented, and dream-filled artist whose hope was to one day accomplish the art that she now possessed at no cost to her.
Unbelievably, that Magic did not cease here. That night my 2 newly adopted nieces, sister, and mom arrived. The next morning all 9 of us awoke bright and early and made our way to Disneyland as the sun was rising in front of us, and soon after we arrived at the gate one of my Disneyland visit dreams came true. Whilst not-so-quietly holding in our thorough anticipation for the park to open, a cast member came up to us and asked what was written on our t-shirts. Someone replied, "It says, 'We're celebrating the adoption of Carin and Yvette Youngren!'" "Well how wonderful is that, congratulations!" The cast member said in return, "How would you all like to help me open the park today? When I give the go ahead you will all come through the gates and be the first to enter Disneyland today, then you will stand in the middle of the entrance and eagerly lead a countdown to when we officially open the park, once the countdown is done you will holler, 'Let the Magic begin!!!' Does that sound like something you would like to do?" "Uh... This has been something I would like to do since I was 7 years old, sir, that's 24 years of waiting for this precise moment, so... YES FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS MICKEY, YES!", is what I said in my head but outwardly I replied, "Yes, yes we would LOVE to do that." and then frantically tried to save my giddy 7 year old childlike jump for when he walked away back to his very important magical work. In case you are new to this whole theme park world, this task is given to one lucky family every morning. Everyone that goes to the park at opening time must line up and stand behind gates, once it gets to park opening time these lines usually form a sea of people anxiously gazing past the gates in to the lush greenery of Disneyland, eagerly waiting to be let in. One family is chosen by cast members before the park opens to be the family that does exactly what was spelled out to us. I know it sounds weird to be excited over opening a park that is open 365 days of the year... Eh, who am I kidding, it is weird, but it's a good weird, it's a me weird, and it's the weird that I love about myself. I have wanted to be a part of the family that opens the park for so long simply because it is a moment when you, a park-goer, get to share Disney Magic with your fellow park goers that day. We waved, smiled, and clapped at complete strangers, we yelled that countdown like it was up to us to shatter the windows of Main Street, and we did our absolute best to rile everyone up and give them some joy for their day at Disneyland. I had seen other families do this and felt oddly connected to them as we were both so thoroughly excited to experience moments of basking in being a carefree kid for that one day. It was our duty to spread that sunshine and sincere love in that very first moment of the day and boy did we ever take on the task with heartfelt revelry.
This story will continue next week with even more celebratory episodes of our adventure (one in which my nieces got to lead an impromptu procession around ToonTown hand in hand with Donald and Daisy to celebrate their adoption), believe me you won't want to miss out on the rest of the story. For now, I will leave you with a celebratory and fun cake recipe, the cake that I made for my niece, Carin, on her birthday. It is a sweetly fun and childlike cake, much like the story I am telling you, I hope you enjoy and see you next week for part two!
Sprinkle Me Pink Celebrate Cake (aka funfetti cake)
Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pans
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/2 cup Rainbow "Jimmie" Sprinkles
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 8" round cake pans, tapping out the excess flour.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt.
Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. With mixer on low, beat in eggs and yolks, one at a time, fully incorporating with each addition. Alternately beat in flour mixture and buttermilk mixture beginning and ending with the flour mixture; mix just until combined. Very VERY carefully fold in the sprinkles. This should be done in no more than 4 folds as the colors do run very VERY quickly.
Divide batter between pans; smooth tops. Bake until cakes pull away from sides of pans, 32 to 35 minutes. Let cool in pans 10 minutes. Run a knife around edges of pans and invert cakes onto a wire rack.
Vanilla Buttercream
Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups sugar
5 large egg whites
2 cups (4 sticks or 1 pound) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (I recommend using a higher quality extract for this, like Nielsen Massey or make your own!)
Directions:
Place egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Whisk until sugar has dissolved and egg whites are hot to the touch. Test by rubbing the mixture between your fingers; it should feel completely smooth.
Remove from heat, and pour mixture in to a stand mixer bowl. Using the whisk attachment, beat on high speed until mixture has cooled completely and formed stiff and glossy peaks, about 10 minutes.
On medium-slow speed whisk in the vanilla until completely incorporated.
Add the butter, one piece at a time, and beat until incorporated after each addition. Whisk until smooth.
*Disclaimer- I do not own these recipes. They are recipes that I adapted from Martha Stewart recipes for vanilla cake and vanilla buttercream.
Assembly
Note: If you are unfamiliar with leveling, cutting, or frosting cakes I would suggest checking out this tutorial before this next step.
Level each cake layer. Place about 1 1/2 cups of buttercream in to a bowl and tint it with your choice of food coloring (I prefer Americolor gel food coloring). Repeat this process with another color of your choice. Fill 2 piping bags, one fitted with a 12mm french piping tip, the other fitted with an 11mm french piping tip, about 1/2 full of the colored buttercream. Place the first layer of cake on a disposable cake round or cake plate. Fill the first layer with enough white buttercream to form a 1/2" layer, making sure a small amount spills over the sides evenly. Place a layer of cake over the filling. Frost the cake with remaining white buttercream. Pipe rosettes (Same basic method as this tutorial that shows you how to cover an entire cake with rosettes, but I used different piping tips, feel free to use the same 1mm star tips from the video if you want that specific look) along the bottom border and top edge of the cake. Lightly sprinkle the top with your choice of sprinkles/edible tiny decorations/fairy dust. That's it, munch away on this fun little beauty, it tastes delicious and is great for both kids and kids at heart.