The Real King of the Grill

Did you catch that line in my last post about my cousin Justin having a metric ass-ton of talents and hobbies? I really wasn't kidding. From beekeeping to airboating, he tries it, masters it and adds it to his list. So it made total sense that he entered the King of the Grill contest in Ormond with only one goal, to give out samples of beer he and Cliff will be serving at the Ormond Brewing Company, yet somehow still managed to win first place for his "BBQ Balls".

Justin, his wife and the trophy that is too big to fit on any shelf or window sill in the brewery..

The winning team, Ormond Brewing Company

Three generations of BBQ lovers

 ♥A

Cousins Who Kick Ass Together...

Today my phone is blowing up. My family--forgetting that Facebook is a thing--has been trying to get a hold of me to tell me about this article that ran in the Daytona Beach News Journal. What is so special about this article? It's about my cousin Justin, his partner Cliff, and their plans to open a nanobrewery in my hometown. The Ormond Brewing Company will begin brewing in a few weeks and will open after, when they get their license to brew.

Justin is the oldest in our family and has a laundry list of talents and hobbies, but he isn't the only one of the cousins kicking ass. My other cousin, Graham, has been passionate about music his whole life and is actively pursuing a music career in New Orleans. In fact, he and his girlfriend's band, Daria & The Hip Drops, plays all over the southeast--Ryan and I were even able to catch them at the Tropical Heatwave Music Festival here in Tampa! And, as you know, with the help of my friend Evan, this cousin has launched her own cottage food business. Although Max and Jonah's is a part-time hobby more than anything, I'm proud to be doing something I love and I'm glad that my cousins are doing the same.

 

If you want to try some of Justin's beer before the grand opening, you can taste it this Saturday, September 28th, at the King of the Grill Contest in Ormond Beach. Like them on Facebook here.

If you want to check out Daria & The Hip Drops live in concert or listen to their music, go to their website for tour dates and to download their songs. Like them on Facebook here.

As for Max and Jonah's, if you're interested in ordering some of our desserts for your next event, email us at MaxandJonahs@gmail.com. Like us on Facebook here.

Make sure you stay tuned, this won't be the last you here from these ass-kicking cousins!

♥A

Aa & V's Wedding

There is nothing quite like a great wedding. All the dancing, kisses, charming stories, personal touches, beautiful people and romance is enough to even make the Grinch gush (insert heart-eyed emoticon). But weddings seem to be especially great when they are celebrating the love of two truly special people--and while I hate to get completely sappy with you, that was the case this weekend.

Ryan and I met Vanessa and Aaron after moving to St. Pete. They are such selfless, good-hearted people. Vanessa is one of the most caring, positive, genuinely good women people I've ever met. Aaron is smart, generous and amazingly resourceful, as his grandfather pointed out during a speech. In fact, Aaron is so clever and handy, Ryan and I have fully revised our Doomsday Plan, which is now "make it to Aa and V's house alive."

As you can imagine, we could not have been more thrilled to help celebrate the marriage of Aaron and Vanessa and we were especially excited that they asked Miss Mila Joan to be the flower girl.

This sweet little baby, adorned with her white dress, was almost the perfect flower girl. Mila decided while getting dressed that she wanted nothing to do with the headband OR the "last resort" clip. After we came to terms with that, Ryan and I took Mila to practice walking down the isle. Practice round one and two were flawless and adorable. However, during round three, Mila stopped at every one of the vases lining the isle and proceeded to empty the vases of their flowers then splash in the remaining water. 

Ryan and I quickly rearranged the flowers and dried Mila off. Shortly after it was time for the show to begin. With Auntie Evan strategically placed at an end seat in the middle of the crowd, Ryan at the end of the isle to send Mila off and me at the front to catch, the wedding began. 

Ryan released Mila with two handfuls of flower petals, which she threw up in the air on her first step. Slowly, she started down the isle but quickly veered to the left and reached her hand towards the vase closest to Auntie Evan. Just in time, Evan caught the interception and redirected Mila. Mila looked up, saw me waiting for her at the top of the isle and took off running to me, to which the crowd responded to with an "aww!" I snatched Mila and ran back to my seat just in time for Vanessa to make her big entrance. 

Mila started off strong during the wedding ceremony but began crying during the vows so I took her on a walk around the venue. During our walk, a fountain caught Mila's eye and she decided that she wouldn't be happy again unless she got to play in it. Against my better judgement, I let this happen and although she ended up pretty wet, it cheered her up and distracted her until she was allowed to recapture the attention of the wedding guests.

(I finally got to wear the dress I bought for M's birthday party.)

Cutting the cake made by Max and Jonah's

A better look at the wedding cake and cupcakes by Max and Jonah's

I mentioned in my last post that I wasn't nervous about making the wedding cake or the cupcakes for Vanessa's wedding. Surprisingly, this remained true until I arrived at the venue. Once we got there and started putting things together I started to panic a bit. Fortunately, I brought my mom and Evan who were both pretty successful at talking me off the cliff. Once we were finished and got to show the end product to Vanessa, it was all worth it. Evan and I were honored that Vanessa and Aaron wanted Max and Jonah's to be a part of their big day! And now that I know we can do it, I'm looking forward to the next wedding Max and Jonah's gets to cater. Will it be yours?

♥A

P.S. To contact Max and Jonah's about catering your next event, email Evan and I at MaxandJonahs@gmail.com

Wedding Week

In four days, my friend Vanessa will be marrying the love of her life. Vanessa has made the very bold choice to be one of two ladies wearing white that day. I tried to warn her that maybe she would get showed up, that maybe she should reconsider, but she wouldn't hear it. So, against my good advice, Mila will also be wearing white in her role as the flower girl (dress pictured below).

Ivory Flower Girl Dress

I wonder how my sweet bride is going to feel when my 14.5 month old steals the show. Oh well, can't say I didn't warn her ;)

Tonight Evan and I will go grocery shopping for all the ingredients to make Vanessa and Aaron's rehearsal dinner cake, wedding cake and cupcakes. I thought I would be stressed about the idea of making two cakes and a hundred cupcakes, but I'm really not--not yet anyway--I'm excited. I'm honored that Vanessa and Aaron would include us as such an important part of their special day. I can't wait to see them feed each other the cake that Evan and I will work so hard to make--besides seeing Mila walk down the isle in that adorable dress, it's the sight I'm most looking forward to.

Did I mention that the night of the wedding will be Ryan and my first night away from Mila alone, since she was born? It will actually be our second night away but the other night we shared a hotel suite with another couple, so we weren't really "alone". I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to spend some QT with my cutie--yea, I just said that. #lamemomjokes

I promise to post lots of pictures!

♥A

Life Lately

I've been on hiatus since the cupcake contest. Max and Jonah's has had some great events that have cut into my blogging time. This entry is a little mash-up of all the awesomeness that has been happening lately!

Tampa Bay Seminoles Football Kickoff & Pub Crawl - It's that time of year, football season! Here in Tampa Bay, FSU alumni really know how to "ring in the new year," so to speak. This annual pub crawl has been on our radar for years but we've never been able to go for various reasons. This year though, we went, we drank and we were Unconquered! If you don't get the "Unconquered" reference, you're clearly not a Seminole fan.

Max and Jonah's First Cake Tasting - Our first wedding is just over two weeks away, so naturally we had to meet with our bride and groom to figure out what exactly they want for their special day. Neither Evan or I are married and we've never been to a cake tasting so we weren't exactly sure how to do it so we came up with our own format. It turned out amazingly, even the groom keep raving about how great it was--although, he may have just been excited that we provided champagne!

Baby Kisses - So many lately, I'm in love.

Vanessa's Bachelorette Party - It just so happens that the bride who's wedding we will be making cupcakes for in two weeks, is our good friend. We took her over to Daytona Beach (my home town) for a weekend of babes, bikinis, beaches, cocktails and...

A New Tattoo - Just in time for football season! If you haven't figured out that Ryan and I are massive FSU fans by now, you should go get your short term memory checked by a physician.Yes, this was result of Vanessa's Bachelorette Party. No, I did not go to some hole-in-the-wall place by all the bars with some seedy guy named "Hank" tattooing while spitting dip into a cup at 3AM. I went to the same place I have gone for almost all of my tattoos, a place that I know is safe and a place that just won 2013 Readers' Choice Best Tattoo Shop by the News Journal, Shamrock Tattoo. In my opinion, it's the only place to go, ever.

Labor Day, Boat Day - Best part of the afternoon: Mila got to go for her first jet ski ride. Worst part: we were so concerned about slathering Mila with sunscreen every 20 minutes that we forgot about ourselves OUCH!

Florida State's First Game of the Season (Labor Day, Game Day) - Not only did FSU play their first game of the season, they DOMINATED their first game of the season. Seriously, if you missed this or if you missed the highlights or if you missed all the hype surround starting freshman quarterback Jameis Winston, you must be living under a rock, in the solitude of Hawaii, on top of an active volcano. That would be the only logical explanation. So for you, Volcano Dwellers, here is an article that will explain it all.

♥A

3rd Annual Great St. Pete Cupcake Contest

Yesterday Max and Jonah's competed in the 3rd Annual Great St. Pete Cupcake Contest! We decided to submit our biggest "fan favorites"--which we determined by making a bunch of mini cupcakes in different flavors, bringing them to our office, allowing our coworkers to try them all and vote for their two favorites.

 Chocolate Obsession (top left) - rich chocolate cake with chocolate mousse frosting, dipped in a chocolate shell and topped with silver sprinkles

Little Lemon Lover (top right) - fluffy white cake with vanilla bean buttercream and a homemade lemon curd piped heart

Irish Coffee (bottom center) - coffee infused cake with Bailey's Irish Cream cream cheese frosting, drizzled with Jameson Whiskey chocolate ganache and topped with a splash of Crème de menthe

 
We ended up submitting the Little Lemon Lovers and the Irish Coffee, as those were our outstanding victors. In total, we made about 400 cupcakes for the contest, between mini and regular sizes. We competed against other professional bakers and had the pleasure of serving our cupcakes to some of the biggest names in the local cupcake and pastry business. In fact, one of the resident pastry chefs at the Don Cesar (who was judging the contest) came back to our booth after the contest was over to tell us how great our cakes were. Actually, all the judges seemed to really enjoy our cakes, only one jerk didn't--that's fine, I don't like his cupcakes either (that's why I never go to his shop..on 4th Street..across from the surf shop..rhymes with Tweet..don't go there)!

There were over 60 competitors and even more cupcakes. Every competitor brought at least one cupcake, but many, like us, entered more. Out of all the fabulous cakes, we did not place. However, we met some great people, learned some new things, made some new fans and kept our old fans happy!

Terrible, blurry iPhone pics (it might be time to invest in a real camera)

Max and Jonah's fully intends on entering the 4th Annual Great St. Pete Cupcake Contest--the only difference is next year, we'll know what to expect and next year, we'll win!

♥A

Introducing Max and Jonah's

Even if you're just a casual reader of Great Domestication, you've probably become familiar with my friend Evan and our love for baking. Well lately something crazy has been happening, people want our cupcakes! It just hit us that with two weddings, two birthday parties and a professional cupcake baking contest on our schedules, this is becoming more than just a hobby.

There is genuine demand for our baked goods. Mind blown.

The contest is just over a week away, meaning Evan and I are scrambling to get things together. We need business cards, table cloths, more cupcake carriers and baking tins.. Oh and a name. A name? Yes, we had to name this, "glorified hobby"of ours. So we looked at our lives and at the things we love. One of the many things we have in common is the love for our dogs, Max and Jonah.

It was easy as that, Max and Jonah's!

Please "Like" us on Facebook

Also, if you're in the Tampa Bay Area next Saturday, please stop by the 3rd Annual Great St. Pete Cupcake Contest at the Morean Arts Center in Downtown St. Pete from 12-3 to show your support for Max and Jonah's and to enjoy our cupcakes! It is FREE to enter and taste the cupcakes but it costs $1 to vote for the People's Choice Award (so bring a few dollar bills to cast a vote for your favorite cupcakes). You can find all the information for this event HERE. We hope to see you next weekend!

♥A