Arabian nights and a whole lotta cake

Last week was time to party at the office, we had a surprise retirement party for our co-worker, Elena, who was retiring after 14 years with the company.

Once the girls in the department and I found out about the retirement, we knew we had to send off Elena in style (and make it a surprise, of course). We all got down to business to plan an Arabian nights themed party, since it's one Elena's favorites.

We reserved a conference room and transformed it into our own Arabian nights-style "tent". We draped chiffon ribbons from the lights to give the illusion of a tent over the table.

Luckily, the room is already brightly colored, but we helped that with brightly colored tablecloths and plates and napkins. We added little lanterns with electronic candles (since real candles aren't allowed). We also added to the ambiance by dressing up, the guys wore turbans and the girls wore belly dancing belts.

I, of course, made the cake for the party. But I had to make a slightly bigger cake than normal. I made a round cake and a 1/4 sheet cake too. I was baking for days. Mom helped me with the cake decoration, and we added a few gems to the cake to make them go with the Arabian nights theme.

The cake itself wasn't really an "Arabian nights"-type flavor though. I asked around, and Elena really liked guayaba, so I had to make a guayaba filled cake with cream cheese frosting. I got rave reviews on the cake, even from my taste tester, Abuela, who's not really big into sweets.

It was a great fun send off for Elena. It was bittersweet to see Elena leaving us, but we know that now she'll be living the good life of the retiree, while we're all still stuck at the office.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ On this day of remembrance, I just wanted to say that we will never forget those lost and we wil always remember 9/11/01.