{Doctor Who Party}

So, the Bean and I like Doctor Who.

We are late to this game though. You know, like 50 years late.

Ok, so neither of us are 50, but, still, you know what I mean.

The Bean, as I mentioned here, has claimed it as favorite show now.

I have little parties several times a year. Usually they are a themed game night, but sometimes we do something different. For the first one of 2013, we decided to have a Doctor Who party.

We didn't do a whole lot 'gamey' since half of our party goers had never seen a single episode of Doctor Who. We fixed that though. The Bean and I planned out our favorite episodes to watch. Well, our favorite one shot episodes. We didn't do any 2 parters.

So, here is what we did:

WHO are you?

 I just labeled photos of each of the Doctors, put them into a hat, and WHO-ever you drew out, you were.

I was TEN, yes. Yes, I was. 

They cried that I cheated, but I so DID NOT.

WHERE & WHEN are you?

  I printed out places & times from Who. Drew 'em out, and that's where you visited.

WHAT are you up against?

  Then everyone drew out the baddies to see who they were battling!

Weeping Angels? Yeah, no one wanted those.

Granted a lot of this made little sense to several of our guests, but by the end of the evening, they knew most.

The Watching:

These are the shows we decided to watch
 
(links contain, in my best River Song voice, spoilahs, so, if you don't wanna know, don't click!)

The Girl in the Fireplace

Blink
 The Eleventh Hour

 

The Food:

Here's the whole spread. Less the "Planetary Pizza" & Crisps.

Fish Fingers & Custard

Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey Jello

and TARDIS Blue Velvet Cupcakes

  TARDIS Blue Velvet Cupcakes

Seriously, how perfect were these wrappers? They were cheap ones too! Sorry, I don't remember the brand, but they were right there in the baking aisle at the grocery. I did double up the wrappers, 2 per cupcake, so they wouldn't lose the design.

Take the TARDIS to my visit my friend Heather at Sprinkle Bakes for the recipe.

Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey Jello

Take the TARDIS to visit my friend Darla at Bakingdom for this recipe.

Note, I used grapes in mine for the 'planets' instead of candy.

 Fish Fingers

Well, "Fish Fingers".

When the Doctor regenerates he can't figure out what he likes to eat. "New mouth, new rules". He has young Amelia Pond make him a gamut of foods, before he decides he'd love some Fish Fingers dipped in custard. Um. Ew. That Doctor, he's unique if nothing else.

No fear though, these are actually cookies, NOT fish in custard, cause gross.

Fish Fingers in Custard

While the TARDIS is already at Bakingdom, just zoom over and click the Fish Custard recipe, it's here!

I didn't make my own custard however, this is just vanilla pudding from a box.

These were the definite hit of the night, and YES, they were confused at first as to why we would dip fish in pudding.

Then, they were confused as to what that had to do with Doctor Who... until we made them watch The Eleventh Hour.

*

So, that was it. A quick, easy, but fun party!

We had a little fun drawing characters, times, places, and baddies, ate some Who food, watched some shows, and made some new Whovians.

All in a night's work!

This quick, easy party would be great for the Who Premiere coming up March 30!

Any Whovians out there?

Sound off below!

Oh yeah, this guy was here.

The Bean dressed up as Eleven. Yes, his Fez is a mini and his Sonic Screwdriver is Ten's.

That didn't bother anyone.

Well, besides him.

Happy Who to you!

Tina

Check out my other party ideas:

Disney Party

Zombie Party

Harry Potter Party

Halloween Party

Star Wars Party

{Candy Man Cookies}

Tomorrow is the premiere of my favorite TV show.

Note, I said MY favorite TV show. This time last year, when I made these Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes,  you'll note I said OUR favorite show.

The other day, I said to the Bean, "omigosh, our favorite show is coming on in a few days!!!".

To which he relied, "You mean YOUR favorite show".

A little piece of me wilted right then. A little piece of me that will never been green and happy again.

Kids are mean.

Now, granted, his favorite show is pretty dang cool. I mean, it's Doctor Who. However, he went on to tell me that Sherlock was number 2. Ok, gosh dern it, I LOVE Sherlock too, but when did this happen? When did we grow soooo far apart? I mean, my favorite show is now his third favorite? People, are you picking up what I'm putting down?

Or, it's possible I'm being overly dramatic. 

Scratch that. That cannot be true. 

Anyway, MY favorite show comes back on tomorrow. The problem with watching these cable shows is the fact that they are a literal YEAR from one season to the next. Network shows have a 3-4 month hiatus in the summer, but cable? A full year. That's just meanness.

However, in a little over 24 hours, I will be sitting down to watch the adventures of Shawn, Gus, and the Blueberry.

Psych is coming back!

photo property of USA Network

Now, if you don't know what Psych is, refer to my above link about the cupcakes. I tell a little about it there. It's a witty show, full of mystery, a fake psychic, real crimes, and oodles of 80s references.

What's not to love.

In the Season finale (in APRIL OF LAST YEAR, FOLKS), Gus had gone candy crazy. He was shoving it in every chance he got. So much so that this exchange took place:

Shawn: "You have a problem, Candy Man."

Gus: "I make the world taste good."

which is funny, cause of this song.

Get it. hahahahaaha.

 

So, I made some cookies for Gus.

I think he will appreciate them, they are chock FULL of candy.

I started with a basic, buttery cookie, to which I added over 2 cups of candy.

Cause. Candy.

I love this recipe. I have used it for years. I use to to make chocolate chip cookies, of course. I sub in some oatmeal to make an oatmeal chocolate chip, I use it to make M&M cookies, Butterscotch cookies, some cocoa powder to make double chocolate chip cookies, it's a great blank slate of a chewy, buttery cookie.

For these cookies, I added a ton of candies. As I mentioned, over 2 cups.

I used M&Ms, Reese's Pieces, Nestle Crunch, Butterfinger, Heath Bar, and a Hershey Bar.

I also used Milk Duds, but there is a trick to them. Cut them in 1/2 and place them in the center of your ball of dough. If they get to close to the edge of the cookie, they will goo out and make a bit of a mess.

Any Psych fans out there?

Do you think Gus would approve?

Cause my guys sure did.

I had to eat one (or 11) to deal with the emotional trauma inflicted on me by the Bean's declaration that we no longer share the same favorite show.

Growing up is hard.

I hear it is for the teenagers too.

Tina

*

Candy Man Cookies

Adapted from this recipe at AllRecipes

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

 2 cups all-purpose flour

 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

 1 egg

 1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract
 2 cups candy of your choice, chopped, if bars

Preheat oven to 325. 

Line sheet with parchment or a silpat mat or grease the sheet.

Add your melted butter in a mixing bowl along with the sugars, until well combined. Beat in the egg and egg yolk. Add the vanilla. Mix in the soda and salt. Add the flour about a 1/2 cup at a time.

Mix in the candies.

Bake for 13-16 minutes

Allow to sit on sheet for a few minutes before moving to cooling racks.

{ Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes }

Our favorite show premieres tonight. We are so excited. 

We just love Psych!

Gus: You named your fake detective agency "Psych"? As in "gotcha"? Why didn't you just call it "Hey, we're fooling you and the police department; hope we don't make a mistake and somebody dies because of it."

Shawn: First of all, Gus, that name is entirely too long; it would never fit on the window. And secondly, the best way you convince people you're not lying to them is to tell them you are!

Wacky, witty, fun mystery solving always await us. With lots of fun 80’s references too! What’s not to love?

We’ve been awaiting the new adventures of Shawn and Gus for far too long now!

Normally a summer show, this year they pushed it back, not only to a fall premiere, but to a late fall premiere.

The nerve.

There is a pineapple game involved in each episode. The trick is to spot the pineapple. Just silly fun, but the pineapple is now an Psych icon.

Liz and I have known each other for nearly 8 years now. We often love the same shows. Psych is no exception.

She, jokingly, said that I should make Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes for the occasion.

Hmmm…

Sounds like a great idea to me!

Here’s what you need:

Yellow Cake Mix

eggs and oil called for on back of box

Can of pineapple tidbits (save juice)

Maraschino Cherries

1 to 1 1/2 Cups of light brown sugar

1 Stick of melted butter

Mix cake according to recipe, substituting the pineapple juice for the water in the recipe.

Grease the muffin pans well (you will NOT use cupcake liners* for this recipe)

*I do have a cupcake in a liner in the above photo- it was placed there after baking

Melt the butter

Spoon in a teaspoon or so of butter, then about a tablespoon of brown sugar.

Add cherry in the middle, and about 4 pineapple tidbits around it.

Add cake batter.

Bake for 18-21 minutes until cake is done.

Allow to cool in pans for about 5 minutes, then invert onto cooling rack.

All the joys of pineapple upside down cake (my 91 year old grandmother’s favorite cake!), in treat sized form.

Isss gooood.

Enjoy it while you are watching Psych. That is.. if you watch Psych.

And if you don’t…

you totally should.

Read up on it here, if you wish.

Oh, and check out my friend Liz’s blog too! Couponing, crafts, tips, mommying, and general life, Liz 2.0.

Tell her I sent ya!

Tina

shared on Hugs & Cookies XOXO 10/12/11