Just to make the mouths of those of you far away water, it was a french vanilla cake with orange creamsicle icing. Marcus wanted nothing to do with it, but I assure you my co-workers devoured it!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
My Final Cake
Last week I finished my cake decorating class, at least the Wilton Level 1 class. I got a certificate and everything to prove I've mastered beginner's cake decorating. Anyway, I never did get a truly impressive rose; I'll have to keep trying. I thought the last class was going to be my day, but I was sick and just did not have the arm strength. Even without a rose, I think I finished the class with a bang with a pretty impressive cake. It was a good thing I stuck it out until the last class so I could learn sweet peas and leaves! I even did some Level 2 work and experimented with royal icing, making my star flowers ahead of time. So, I present to you my final project so to speak:
Just to make the mouths of those of you far away water, it was a french vanilla cake with orange creamsicle icing. Marcus wanted nothing to do with it, but I assure you my co-workers devoured it!
Just to make the mouths of those of you far away water, it was a french vanilla cake with orange creamsicle icing. Marcus wanted nothing to do with it, but I assure you my co-workers devoured it!
Friday, August 14, 2009
Cakes!!
Yeah yeah yeah, it's been months since I've posted anything; I know, I know; so sue me!
Anyway, a few weeks ago one of my girlfriends mentioned that she wanted to take a cake decorating class to learn how to do fondant. It turns out you can take classes on such things at JoAnns, but we had to start with the intro class. Before you get to the good stuff I would like to explain that I spend several hours mixing buttercream icing so sweet it will rot your teeth on contact. It apparently take practice to make edible buttercream icing in the proper consistencies for cake decorating. There was some good that came out of all the experimenting though, I developed a scrumptious chocolate buttercream icing. I will admit up front that I used a boxed cake mix for my first cake (it was more about the decorating than the cake itself). However, I'm pleased to say that after being tasted by Marcus and several co-workers I've been assured that my cake is not pretty but also tasty! The end result was a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream filling and vanilla and peppermint buttercream icing. One final note before ending the suspense and showing you the final product: I did not come up with the design, it was what the whole class did from the book. Now feast your eyes on this:
I will also say that I know it looks green in the photo, but it's actually a more seafoam/teal green/blue color. Plus, the picture came from my phone so it isn't the greatest. I may replace with a real picture later. It was supposed to be sky blue but the icing I wanted to frost with wasn't pure white so when I added blue food coloring to yellow-tinted icing I got a little, but very pretty, surprise!
Anyway, a few weeks ago one of my girlfriends mentioned that she wanted to take a cake decorating class to learn how to do fondant. It turns out you can take classes on such things at JoAnns, but we had to start with the intro class. Before you get to the good stuff I would like to explain that I spend several hours mixing buttercream icing so sweet it will rot your teeth on contact. It apparently take practice to make edible buttercream icing in the proper consistencies for cake decorating. There was some good that came out of all the experimenting though, I developed a scrumptious chocolate buttercream icing. I will admit up front that I used a boxed cake mix for my first cake (it was more about the decorating than the cake itself). However, I'm pleased to say that after being tasted by Marcus and several co-workers I've been assured that my cake is not pretty but also tasty! The end result was a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream filling and vanilla and peppermint buttercream icing. One final note before ending the suspense and showing you the final product: I did not come up with the design, it was what the whole class did from the book. Now feast your eyes on this:
I will also say that I know it looks green in the photo, but it's actually a more seafoam/teal green/blue color. Plus, the picture came from my phone so it isn't the greatest. I may replace with a real picture later. It was supposed to be sky blue but the icing I wanted to frost with wasn't pure white so when I added blue food coloring to yellow-tinted icing I got a little, but very pretty, surprise!
Friday, May 1, 2009
The Beach. . . in April!?!?!?!
So last weekend was a particularly warm weekend on most of the East Coast, and here in Delaware was no exception. Marcus and I made plans to spend Saturday at the beach with some friends. While it was a little too warm up in Wilmington, down at the beach it was perfect: clear blue skies, low 80s, nice breeze, you get the picture:
Now, don't some of you folks up North wanna come visit? I'll promise a trip to the beach!!!
Oh, and as we were leaving the beach there was this awesome dragonfly hanging out so, of course, I just had to take a pic to share:
Happy Almost Summer!
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| From Blog Pics |
Oh, and as we were leaving the beach there was this awesome dragonfly hanging out so, of course, I just had to take a pic to share:
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| From Blog Pics |
Card Machine
As I've mentioned in past posts, I've recently gotten into paper crafts, specifically stamping. Well, I'm happy to announce that I've graduated from simply following instructions during workshops to crafting my own stamped items. I give a collection of cards and tags I made during a recent stamping girls day:
Some of these have already been sent to lucky recipients, but for the rest of you, don't be surprised if one of these graces you mailbox over the next year. I'll also be adding to this collection this weekend since I need to make some mother's day cards and add to my random card collection. Just remember to check the back to see if any future cards were handcrafted by your truly!
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| From Blog Pics |
Flexing My Jew Muscle
So a few months ago, I decided to try to institute a real Shabbat dinner by making my own challah from scratch. I followed a recipe from my mom. It tasted great, but somehow I ended up with two GIANT challahs. I had to cut each in half to freeze since there are only 2 of us. They looked pretty great though, if I may say so myself:
Even more impressive, since I was missing out on my family Passover this year, I decided to make my own chicken soup from scratch. I was assured by relatives that of course I'd be able to do it, after all it's in my genes:
I know it doesn't look like much here, but believe it was perfect and delicious.
I feel I have now solidified my status as a Jewish woman!
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| From Blog Pics |
Even more impressive, since I was missing out on my family Passover this year, I decided to make my own chicken soup from scratch. I was assured by relatives that of course I'd be able to do it, after all it's in my genes:
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| From Blog Pics |
I know it doesn't look like much here, but believe it was perfect and delicious.
I feel I have now solidified my status as a Jewish woman!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
New Jersey
So, Jersey and I are not on the best of terms lately. You see, I've been travelling to the Atlantic City area a lot over the past few months (for work, not fun). When I go, I am always with at least my boss and one or two other people from the VA travelling in a government car. On a recent trip there a little over two weeks ago, this is what happened:
The first picture is the car that rear ended us while we were stopped at a red light. The other picture shows the $1900 worth of damage done to our government car. I know it doesn't look all that bad, but trust me it was more than a fender bender. The whole thing just sucked. We had left the hospital at 7am for a rainy day full of meetings in NJ. We were about 20 miles from home at around 4pm when bam! Some girl not paying attention runs into the back of us. Of course, I was sitting in the back on the side she hit which resulted in a very stiff/sore neck and shoulders for a few days. I also had the lovely experience of having to fill out workers comp forms in case my pain worsened.
Oh, and in case you're wondering, I was at work the next day!
The first picture is the car that rear ended us while we were stopped at a red light. The other picture shows the $1900 worth of damage done to our government car. I know it doesn't look all that bad, but trust me it was more than a fender bender. The whole thing just sucked. We had left the hospital at 7am for a rainy day full of meetings in NJ. We were about 20 miles from home at around 4pm when bam! Some girl not paying attention runs into the back of us. Of course, I was sitting in the back on the side she hit which resulted in a very stiff/sore neck and shoulders for a few days. I also had the lovely experience of having to fill out workers comp forms in case my pain worsened. Oh, and in case you're wondering, I was at work the next day!
Oopsy
So wow, I can't believe it's been so long since my last post. Too often I sit home thinking "oh yeah, I should blog that" but then it just never happens. It's been especially crazy these past two or three weeks, so that helps explain my blog silence.
I have since enabled blogging from both my phone and email so look for a several posts today and/or tomorrow to bring you all up to speed.
Happy Blogging!
I have since enabled blogging from both my phone and email so look for a several posts today and/or tomorrow to bring you all up to speed.
Happy Blogging!
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