tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26707546028425432972024-02-07T17:04:35.337-05:00A Slice of Concentrated LoveA Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670754602842543297.post-30702749784328953082011-09-18T21:04:00.000-04:002011-09-18T21:04:13.835-04:00Cakes I've Decorated Lately<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">A couple of cake that I've done lately. Just thought I'd group them all together.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-VVqX4y_ExQGgXCahSr3zpKu-YG_PHRODrq8mfE59jaeL4ntkDMKIKAMPg9ZNSAG1MBt-upyvFywrqT-kllsZ6fEcvMBzXzTo7bggAG-PNmtBz1NwzAv9HKegPDIA43BaKPojI555aW0/s1600/IMG_4714.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456px" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-VVqX4y_ExQGgXCahSr3zpKu-YG_PHRODrq8mfE59jaeL4ntkDMKIKAMPg9ZNSAG1MBt-upyvFywrqT-kllsZ6fEcvMBzXzTo7bggAG-PNmtBz1NwzAv9HKegPDIA43BaKPojI555aW0/s640/IMG_4714.JPG" width="640px" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDg6CyFekBw6Wlc1EEhIWZdCQcC4EWRD4ELGbSVkghkUjhoqJs5QA-E9K27It4XA1ef1Kq__kmZe94tu1vzWJ67YmwZw1-GGnGCkLCkb_4F-XB96xTprCnsQHErcRI6ZuA5Ysis5-tHMI/s1600/IMG_4716.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456px" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDg6CyFekBw6Wlc1EEhIWZdCQcC4EWRD4ELGbSVkghkUjhoqJs5QA-E9K27It4XA1ef1Kq__kmZe94tu1vzWJ67YmwZw1-GGnGCkLCkb_4F-XB96xTprCnsQHErcRI6ZuA5Ysis5-tHMI/s640/IMG_4716.JPG" width="640px" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg18aeFAANUQLkEJso84HDWYShP20NqNEX_8hUd6dPlhlOyUJ2mVHb7tr2ftCqsWln8dUf9Ybuc5SUN1cI9wA6yzH7ATufh9n0vmtlMfRR8vMdwPlVpyFppVs-3ZIChIqcIsCMx8mVS9w/s1600/IMG_4725.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640px" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg18aeFAANUQLkEJso84HDWYShP20NqNEX_8hUd6dPlhlOyUJ2mVHb7tr2ftCqsWln8dUf9Ybuc5SUN1cI9wA6yzH7ATufh9n0vmtlMfRR8vMdwPlVpyFppVs-3ZIChIqcIsCMx8mVS9w/s640/IMG_4725.JPG" width="456px" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBcYw7-9cw0ddmPZ91XASGUSdT88zbo0u6knVOmzCbGR2N70P2QQ0LGMEo22GcBrPUobRMz57CXm3rSpGATMI4dkRNAEpBCPHNnGqbSUqhgtlkHwj7hfEGZrtTyjR20dKnkCtMBSiZNnw/s1600/IMG_4738.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456px" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBcYw7-9cw0ddmPZ91XASGUSdT88zbo0u6knVOmzCbGR2N70P2QQ0LGMEo22GcBrPUobRMz57CXm3rSpGATMI4dkRNAEpBCPHNnGqbSUqhgtlkHwj7hfEGZrtTyjR20dKnkCtMBSiZNnw/s640/IMG_4738.jpg" width="640px" /></a></div>A Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670754602842543297.post-4798396771019511912011-09-11T16:37:00.001-04:002011-09-11T16:45:15.645-04:00Peach SorbetI've already gotten quite a bit of feedback about this on my facebook profile. And, I must say, this <a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/cda/recipe_print/0,1946,FOOD_9936_477_RECIPE-PRINT-FULL-PAGE-FORMATTER,00.html">peach sorbet</a> was quite good and very easy to make. So break out your ice cream makers and get cracking. Click on the link or scroll down a little. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXgSnvkdCtcwbr5FFQemI4DgB6iLN7G1Wgo8KeGFiSua5oBXxeIrrnTIdrn_xentCXhRcMmBDLu6S0cRSlCoPUy_2MnFuZ35EjQt4gggxuXpVlRkuzSSCGs7t2KReAK4xVljgJ6wylPrs/s1600/IMG_4722.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285px" nba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXgSnvkdCtcwbr5FFQemI4DgB6iLN7G1Wgo8KeGFiSua5oBXxeIrrnTIdrn_xentCXhRcMmBDLu6S0cRSlCoPUy_2MnFuZ35EjQt4gggxuXpVlRkuzSSCGs7t2KReAK4xVljgJ6wylPrs/s400/IMG_4722.jpg" width="400px" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">2 pounds fresh peaches</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1 1/2 cups simple syrup (recipe follows)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Juice of 1 lemon</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">- cut, pit and peel peaches</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">- blend peaches, simple syrup and lemon juice in blender or food processor until smooth, do in batches if necessary</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">- at this point follow the instructions on your ice cream maker and process until thickened (it will not be super thick like sorbet, of course, until it is frozen)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">- scoop out into a plastic container that can go into the freezer</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">- enjoy with some whipped cream, a sweetened biscuit (a la cobbler), or a fruit syrup</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><u>Simple Syrup</u></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">2 cups water</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">2 cups sugar</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">- heat in a saucepan until sugar is dissolved, bring to a quick boil, then cool before using </div>- store leftover syrup in fridge, can be used in sweet tea, coffee, etc.A Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670754602842543297.post-19256922549988958202011-08-08T18:26:00.019-04:002011-08-12T17:55:30.591-04:00Brown Sugar Peach Scones<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I’ll be keeping posts short and to the point for the next couple posts. I have quite a few things lined up so I’ll just be posting pics and recipes. Today it is the peach scones I made this weekend. We went to a local community event last week and saw these beautiful peaches that a local farmer was selling. He unfortunately only took cash or check and we only had a card on us. He was so sweet and bagged three peaches and just gave them to us. So, if you are in Virginia Beach and are looking for local produce, please go check out the <a href="http://www.theflipflopfarmer.com/index.html">Flip Flop Farmer</a>. Right now he’s set up every Wednesday at our <a href="http://www.sandlercenter.org/index/ynotwednesdays">Y-not Wednesday Free Concert Series & Farmer’s Market</a>. But that doesn’t last much longer, so they do have a stand on their farm, just so you know. Just follow the link to find out more.</div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQQnxA0tdObY5XAVAFFG2xTNXPA5P_rD1nyPL1DX5NaDjvPbJ48_wxeYCDvOTYS-fHzLf3mc0kxsC-ppcm4TXDKEdBbhVa7nI5puoWP2-vZKxWWyYB1X9ajPhOYwb7fRIjhvkcHobFHmg/s1600/IMG_4612.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQQnxA0tdObY5XAVAFFG2xTNXPA5P_rD1nyPL1DX5NaDjvPbJ48_wxeYCDvOTYS-fHzLf3mc0kxsC-ppcm4TXDKEdBbhVa7nI5puoWP2-vZKxWWyYB1X9ajPhOYwb7fRIjhvkcHobFHmg/s320/IMG_4612.jpg" width="227px" /></a> </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
OK, I know I wasn’t going to talk much but that’s the back story and now here are the pics and recipe. </div></div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Brown Sugar Peach Scones**</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Adapted from Cream Scones in Art & Soul of Baking</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">10 ounces AP flour</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>2 ounces brown sugar<br />
<br />
2 ½ tsp baking powder<br />
<br />
¼ tsp salt<br />
<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">2 peaches cut in small dice</div><br />
4 ounces unsalted butter cut in small cubes<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidI9BhuotTT4CIkK45OIraJvWshwYmQBV_7FiW8EsavP_-VCTYvwe7nk3jDZPsAUspb1Km3t_F1o_QAONfSzduRj5Nmf-fc3POuSINbuUiSVhA8VR1oCkP2pndSJqaHfFPm83sgN9EOLI/s1600/IMG_4614.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidI9BhuotTT4CIkK45OIraJvWshwYmQBV_7FiW8EsavP_-VCTYvwe7nk3jDZPsAUspb1Km3t_F1o_QAONfSzduRj5Nmf-fc3POuSINbuUiSVhA8VR1oCkP2pndSJqaHfFPm83sgN9EOLI/s320/IMG_4614.JPG" width="227px" /></a>1 cup cold heavy whipping cream</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1 egg lightly beaten</div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div><br />
2 T turbinado or raw sugar (I used straight brown sugar, but only because that’s what I had)<br />
<br />
- preheat oven to 425*<br />
- Mix flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.<br />
- Cut in cold butter with a pastry cutter or fork. I work the butter in with my hands at first then use a fork. Cut in until butter is cut to medium or pea sized.<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">- Mix in cold heavy whipping cream and peaches. Mix until just incorporated, DO NOT OVER MIX. </div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">- Grease an 8” round cake pan and pat scone mixture in then let freeze for about 30 minutes or over night. (Side note: perfect recipe to make up to this point then bake off first thing in the morning for breakfast)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">- Pull out of freezer and tap out onto cutting board. (You may need to run a knife around the edges to ease it out) Cut round into 8 equal wedges and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">- Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown around edges. (It took me about 30 minutes to bake but I have an ooooooold oven)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicsLwNxmhWO9xqkEiL5SqSUkRM8e4tpxJgEUntb_IfyWQdUBYpsavTY19apxs0VqXTEMJTfmyvFvjU9ZfQJyGm6BSSAja3eyQXlUitBYmL2hGdn-wAQlMlIFgtLG9m7J3gAKapylttFfA/s1600/IMG_4692.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicsLwNxmhWO9xqkEiL5SqSUkRM8e4tpxJgEUntb_IfyWQdUBYpsavTY19apxs0VqXTEMJTfmyvFvjU9ZfQJyGm6BSSAja3eyQXlUitBYmL2hGdn-wAQlMlIFgtLG9m7J3gAKapylttFfA/s400/IMG_4692.jpg" width="400px" /></a></div>**Just to let you know these aren’t typical scones. They aren’t, as my mom put it, dry. I know scones aren’t dry, they are flakey, but you get the point. These are very nice and moist and tasty. A Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670754602842543297.post-36909571513282276392011-07-18T19:45:00.000-04:002011-07-18T19:45:56.427-04:00Vanilla Ice Cream & Loaded Banana BreadI haven’t been up to much in the kitchen lately. And I guess it took so long getting back to my blog this time because I was hoping to have more to say. But not really. <br />
<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">What I have done is a very yummy vanilla ice cream with strawberries and a banana pecan chocolate chip bread. Both are quite good if-I-do-say-so-myself.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">So the first one, the ice cream, is a recipe that I borrowed from a friend and tweaked soooooo, I guess it’s kinda my recipe. But I like it so much I’ll share it with you. Now it’s not strawberry ice cream it’s vanilla with strawberries in it. And very good. I was going for strawberry ice cream but I didn’t get to macerate the strawberries long enough. I didn’t really have a time limit I just really wanted ice cream really bad so I guess I should say I didn’t <em>let</em> them macerate long enough :) Now if you do what I did here and just fold the strawberries into the ice cream at least cut the strawberries smaller then I did. I don’t know what I was thinking but smaller next time, Stacey, smaller. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7ND2IvGCtFCe2eLTnY54Gj8RfR3pXl3iX5oAs7St5mkV3gcLZeZ712siWoSofeTiruXf_4iiGj_hTpgzXZetDM5_sioiD9TRG6Zo_kaTgTI7KSH4UAwkPlSanC9CR5bANotQmZXD8Jts/s1600/IMG_4574.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227px" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7ND2IvGCtFCe2eLTnY54Gj8RfR3pXl3iX5oAs7St5mkV3gcLZeZ712siWoSofeTiruXf_4iiGj_hTpgzXZetDM5_sioiD9TRG6Zo_kaTgTI7KSH4UAwkPlSanC9CR5bANotQmZXD8Jts/s320/IMG_4574.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>The banana pecan chocolate chip bread is a hit so far. This I made just because I needed a stress outlet at the time and I had all the ingredients. I followed the <a href="http://www.joyofbaking.com/breakfast/BananaBread.html">Joy of Baking</a> recipe and added 1 cup of chocolate chips, which maybe next time I would do a half cup. And I also added one extra banana but just sliced up, not mashed. And, oh yeah, I added some freshly grated nutmeg too. Maybe a pinch. So it is a loaded loaf of banana bread. And I think that is what I shall name it: Loaded Banana Bread. Sounds like it needs to be soaked in some kinda liquor though. Another lightbulb! I might have to work on that….. <br />
<br />
<u>Vanilla Ice Cream</u><br />
<br />
1 cup heavy cream<br />
1 cup whole milk<br />
¾ c egg yolks ( I ended up using 6 but I had extra large eggs on hand)<br />
½ sugar<br />
1 T vanilla paste<br />
<br />
- Mix together egg yolks and sugar in a metal bowl and set aside.<br />
<br />
- Mix together heavy cream and milk in a pot and put on stove to scald. Don’t bring to a boil, once you see bubbles around the edge you are good to go.<br />
<br />
- Temper the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture by slow adding the hot milk as you are whisking the egg yolks.<br />
<br />
- (This is my extra little step) Put the metal bowl filled with the ice cream base and set over a pot of boiling water. Constantly stir with spatula, scraping sides of bowl to ensure eggs won’t scramble. Do this just until you notice it to thicken. This is just like making an anglais but I’m not looking for that kind of thickness. Remove from heat and add vanilla paste.<br />
<br />
- Allow to cool completely. Pour mixture into another metal bowl that is in an ice water bath. Don’t stick the metal bowl that you just used on the double boiler. It will just melt all the ice immediately.<br />
<br />
- At this point follow the instructions for your ice cream machine. Once the ice cream comes together and looks like ice cream scrape the ice cream into a freezer container and now is the time to fold in the strawberries if you so want to. But this ice cream is very good just as vanilla ice cream. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4UYZBkQuY3p2CkoWgNZDyFFu2YEgrPHMhjeOJeBtjKLYHdYxjtaIuPdtx5T9n0FPoBXh28YQLZ3Un1YIbyZrpwZlPHND9JW6EGzKys5fAZm8_OlNEuAqiYXRq2JkMWoI_LmnOikVJK4k/s1600/IMG_4572.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228px" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4UYZBkQuY3p2CkoWgNZDyFFu2YEgrPHMhjeOJeBtjKLYHdYxjtaIuPdtx5T9n0FPoBXh28YQLZ3Un1YIbyZrpwZlPHND9JW6EGzKys5fAZm8_OlNEuAqiYXRq2JkMWoI_LmnOikVJK4k/s320/IMG_4572.JPG" width="320px" /></a></div><br />
- If you want to enjoy it now as soft ice cream I wouldn’t blame you. At least help yourself to some now then freeze the rest for dinner later. Then a mid morning snack then a pre dinner snack… You get the idea :)A Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670754602842543297.post-43326355999058747572011-06-29T16:27:00.001-04:002011-06-29T16:29:14.965-04:00Cruel Summer<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Hey there. You thought I disappeared again didn’t you? Not quite. I haven’t been super busy but I’ve been keeping busy with a couple projects: both kitchen and non-kitchen related. My main project right now is painting my room. It used to be this yucky brown and hopefully, soon, it will be a nice bright green. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. My other project is keeping my daughter and I entertained while we’re on summer break. That’s probably the most daunting task.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Kitchen related! I made a cute Elmo cake for another of my mom’s co-workers. It came out so cute. I love doing those cakes. The lady I did loved the cake design but not so much the cake. She said it tasted “wheaty”. I am always willing to take criticism and I usually know what’s wrong before I get any criticism. I am my own worst critic after all. But I know you can’t please all the people all the time and I guess that’s what happened this time. If anyone has any ideas of why it would taste “wheaty” I would love to know. I tasted it myself and it tasted like cake, I didn’t think it tasted off in any way. But I will post a picture of it soon.</div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">My daughter had an end of school pool party over at a friend’s house and I supplied the cupcakes. I made a banana cupcake with chocolate swiss meringue butter cream, a chocolate cupcake with a vanilla swiss meringue butter cream and a white cupcake with a cotton candy flavored swiss meringue butter cream. That cotton candy butter cream is my new all time favorite and I ended up eating the rest of it like it was ice cream. I want to make some right now just because! Anyways, all the cupcakes were a hit but they’re cupcakes and my audience was kids. So, I would have had to make really nasty cupcakes for them to not be a hit.</div></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGcJHvMhiScW5VC6IllPedpr0LLf0kcBXeKmTieVlvb40T1cY3d8dTIY5P2Hz5rL6-1CJJFin3XO8e78Occ6Ok4ekaH56Soe_9tGHiRuOHiN72JfGk5HWAfPWOgkSfSG6vZPn5Oz-88Fc/s1600/IMG_4512.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212px" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGcJHvMhiScW5VC6IllPedpr0LLf0kcBXeKmTieVlvb40T1cY3d8dTIY5P2Hz5rL6-1CJJFin3XO8e78Occ6Ok4ekaH56Soe_9tGHiRuOHiN72JfGk5HWAfPWOgkSfSG6vZPn5Oz-88Fc/s320/IMG_4512.JPG" width="320px" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>Also kitchen related and keeping-my-daughter-entertained related: we made a couple things out of some of her cookbooks. She has these three cookbooks all from the same publishing company: <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pink-princess-cookbook-barbara-beery/1100322848?ean=9781423601739&itm=1&usri=pink%2bprincess%2bcookbook">Pink Princess Cookbook</a>, <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fairies-cookbook-barbara-beery/1100322844?ean=9781423602903&itm=1&usri=fairies%2bcookbook">Fairies Cookbook</a> and <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mermaid-cookbook-barbara-beery/1100322821?ean=9781423604174&itm=1&usri=mermaid%2bcookbook">Mermaid Cookbook</a>. They are all super cute and for the most part they have recipes that any little girl would love to dig into. But there are some recipes that I’m not sure what kid would like it. But most of them are little girl friendly and little girl approved. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/25120000/25124783.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200px" i$="true" src="http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/25120000/25124783.jpg" width="153px" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/13990000/13998412.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200px" i$="true" src="http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/13990000/13998412.JPG" width="158px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/11220000/11228599.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200px" i$="true" src="http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/11220000/11228599.jpg" width="154px" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The first one we tried was Rainbow Milks out of the Pink Princess Cookbook. This one didn’t turn out so great but it my fault. The recipe gives you the choice to use pretty much any fresh or frozen fruit. We chose blueberry. That wasn’t the mistake though. I made the big mistake of pouring the vanilla into the measuring spoon while it was over the bowl. And, well…… I ended up pouring too much in… Oops! It ended up tasting, well, yucky. My bad!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Another one we tried was the Bitsy Banana Bread Bites also out of the Pink Princess Cookbook. I love! love! love! banana bread. This one is very kid friendly. I basically just measured everything out for my daughter and she threw it all in the bowl and mixed it herself. We only changed one thing. I had some old bananas in the freezer and when they defrosted they produced that yummy liqueur and instead of using vanilla we used that. Let’s just say that I ate about half of the banana bread. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The last one we tried was the Fruit Salsa out of the Mermaid Cookbook. This was kinda kid friendly. While I was cutting up kiwis, apples and strawberries I had her measuring and dumping blueberries and raspberries. But her job didn’t take very long and she ended up standing there waiting on me to finish. The only thing I have to say about this is that the end product doesn’t quite look like the picture in the cookbook but I thought it was very good. My little girl only eats the strawberries and kiwis and I eat the rest so it’s a group effort but it gets high marks from us.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple;">Bitsy Banana Bread Bites (makes 24 mini muffins)</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple; font-size: x-small;"><em>word for word from the Pink Princess Cookbook (except for my changes, of course)</em></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple;">3 bananas </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple;">1 egg</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple;">1 1/2 cups all purpose flour</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple;">1 teaspoon baking powder</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple;">1/2 cup sugar</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple;">1/2 cup brown sugar</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple;">1/4 teaspoon salt</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple;">1/3 cup oil</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple;">1 teaspoon vanilla (we used the liqueur from the frozen bananas)</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple;">1/2 cup pecans, mini chocolate chips, or dried cranberries (optional) (we used pecans)</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple;">powdered sugar for dustng (we didn't even bother with this)</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple;">small, fresh, edible flowers (optional) (again, we didn't bother with this)</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple;">Preheat oven to 325 degrees (I think we upped it to 350).</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple;">Mash bananas in a mixing bowl.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple;">Add remaining ingredients (except optional ingredients), stirring until just blended. Fold in pecans, mini chocolate chips, or dried cranberries if using.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple;">Line a mini muffin tin with 24 paper liners or spray with nonstick cooking spray. Divide batter evenly between mini muffin cups.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple;">Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. Dust with powdered sugar and garnish with a small, edible flower if desired.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: orange; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong><em>It's a sure sign of summer if the chair gets up when you do. </em></strong></span></div><span style="color: orange; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong><em></em></strong></span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em></em></span></strong></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong><em>Walter Winchell (1897 - 1972) </em></strong></span>A Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670754602842543297.post-37185784068429647742011-06-06T23:48:00.002-04:002011-06-06T23:49:18.488-04:00An Orange Dreamsicle and an Irish Car BombI’M BACK! AND IT DIDN’T TAKE MONTHS! WOOHOO! <br />
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OK Enough all caps. First of all, thanks for the well wishes. It’s much appreciated. I started my first infusion of Remicade and so far so good. I have to go again in two weeks for another one and after that it should be all clear from there and only go every eight weeks.<br />
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On the culinary front I’ve kept a little busy. I made two cakes for a small banquet at my mom’s work. They were celebrating a few birthdays and one guy really liked the Irish Car Bomb cupcakes I made once before so I made it a cake this time. And my mom wanted something kind of on the lighter side for the other cake. It being summer and one of my favorite ways to keep cool is with an Orange Dreamsicle I decided to do an Orange Dreamsicle Cake. <br />
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Before I go any further, I apologize now. I don’t have many pictures. I did these cakes really late at night and that was really the last thing on my mind. <br />
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Back to the cakes. The Irish Car Bomb Cake is a Guinness Stout Chocolate cake that I grabbed off of <a href="http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chocolate-Stout-Cake-107105">epicurious.com</a>. The only thing I changed was whole milk for sour cream. Probably made it a slacker batter than they intended but the end result was amazing. I picked it because it was very easily cut in half and I didn’t need much. And even cut in half it still made THREE POUNDS of batter. THREE POUNDS!!! Sorry about the caps again. On to the Guinness Stout Chocolate Cake I put a Jameson’s sugar wash: one cup water, one cup sugar and one sampler bottle of Jameson's. Then, I ice it with Bailey’s Irish Cream Butter Cream. As a finishing touch, a sprinkle of cocoa powder on top. <br />
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For the Orange Dreamsicle Cake I took a basic yellow cake recipe that I found on <a href="http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/07/best-birthday-cake/">Smitten Kitchen</a> and replaced the buttermilk with orange juice. I also took the zest of one orange and added that in as I was creaming the butter and sugar. It came out moist and flavorful and perfect. I halved that recipe too but came out with two pounds which was just perfect. Just a heads up if you try this recipe, when you add the orange juice the mixture separates. I just used the whip attachment and let ‘er go. But once the flour is added it is just as smooth as any other recipe. And like I said, it came out wonderfully. On top of that cake I did an orange juice sugar wash, just equal parts sugar and orange juice. I filled it with vanilla butter cream and iced it with orange butter cream. I got a chance to try this one and it was so good. <br />
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Again, sorry for the lack of pictures. I’ll work on that next time. Next thing I’m making are some muffins for my daughter’s Daisy Scout Troop. They sold enough cookies that they earned a trip to a local water park and we get to stay overnight so I offered to help with breakfast. Then, I get to make an Elmo cake for one of my mom’s co-workers. Those are so fun to do and I will definitely take pictures of that. <br />
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So, until next time, love ya!<br />
<br />
Butter Cream Base<br />
from the Art & Soul of Baking<br />
4 egg whites<br />
1 1/2 cups sugar<br />
1 pound butter<br />
2 teaspoons vanilla extract<br />
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Mix the egg whites and sugar in a bowl of a double boiler. Place bowl over pot of boiling water and constantly stir, scraping sides constantly. Heat until sugar is dissolved. To test, occasionally take off heat and swipe finger over spatula (warning: it will be hot) and if you still feel sugar put back on heat and keep stirring and scraping. When ready, whip in a stand mixer until doubled in volume and light and fluffy looking. Kind of marhmallowy. At this point I take butter that isn't room temp but isn't straight out of the fridge either. Depending on the time of year and how hot or cold it is in the house, I take the butter out as I'm starting this whole process. Making sure that the egg whites are cool enough (if you can touch the mixing bowl that you are whipping the egg whites in without burning your hand off then it's cooled enough) I cut the butter thinly as I drop it into the egg whites as it is still whipping. Sometimes the butter cream will not come together until the very last bit of butter goes in. Give it a chance make sure you scrape the bowl so all the butter gets whipped in. Then add the vanilla extract. <br />
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Variations:<br />
- add Bailey's starting with 4 teaspoons and then adding 2 teaspoons at a time to taste.<br />
- add zest of one orangeA Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670754602842543297.post-66224272780153509712011-05-31T16:08:00.000-04:002011-05-31T16:08:30.441-04:00Starting OverI’m going to try to start this all over again. I haven’t been very good at keeping up with this blog and I haven’t even tried to keep up with it at all. But I’ve had quite a lot going on personally. So this blog post is to reintroduce myself to blogging and to tell you what’s been going on. This is by no means a short explanation and I think I am posting this more for me than anyone else’s use. If it somehow helps someone or lets someone know that there’s someone else out there with these problems then that’s just an added bonus. <br />
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When I was 15 I was diagnosed with chronic ulcerative colitis. Basically, if you don’t know about it, during a flare I have ulcers all over my large intestine and almost all foods are off limits. And the majority of my life is spent in the bathroom. It sucks majorly. <br />
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I had my initial flare when I was diagnosed at 15 and that was somewhat easily and quickly controlled. I stayed in remission for a good long time. It was almost like I never had a problem. My second flare was a couple months after I had my daughter. That was also quickly controlled. Not as quickly but knowing what I could have gone through, it was swift. But that flare was a lot more severe and wreaked havoc on my body. It was to the point that they were thinking of throwing me in the hospital. But having a four month old baby dependant on me made them hesitate. There was also talk of surgery but they put it off with a lot of medications, some that didn’t agree with me. But it somehow all worked out.<br />
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Then came this last flare. Last summer I was having a lot of swelling and pain in my feet. At first there was swelling in my arches. So, doctors thought that I was suffering from fallen arches so they told me to stay off my feet for a couple days. Kinda hard when you work on your feet for a living! But I did it and that swelling went down but the swelling migrated to the rest of my feet. It was excruciating to be on my feet at this point and ended up having to take more time off of work and seeing more doctors. I went through a bazillion tests and x-rays. I was put on steroids to get the swelling down but it took a couple rounds of that to finally get it under control and for somebody to realize that I have arthritis brought on by my colitis.<br />
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This whole time my colitis wasn’t cooperating. It wasn’t a problem at first but one of the first meds they gave me was Ibuprofen even though I made it clear that I had colitis and Ibuprofen is a big no-no. I don’t know if I was going to get sick anyways or if the Ibuprofen set it off but I was definitely getting sick again. <br />
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Fast forward to the start of this spring. I started getting these red bumps on my left leg that, at first, looked like they were pimples or ingrown hairs. Gross, I know, but that’s what it looked like. They got bigger and more popped up. It once again began to be very painful to walk. It hurt to even get out of bed. It hurt to walk up and down stairs. It hurt to just stand. My doctor gave me yet another round of steroids to calm the inflammation down. They almost went away then popped up worse than ever after I was done with that round of steroids. I returned to the doctor and he put me on antibiotics not sure of what the problem was and when that didn’t do anything he sent me to a dermatologist that knew exactly what it was the second she looked at my legs: erythema nodosum. Another condition due to my colitis.<br />
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I seem to have it under control right now but only cause I am now on my seventh round of steroids in less than a year. Long term use of steroids does not agree with the body and apparently my colitis has gotten too out of control for the meds that I’ve been on. My doctor now has me starting Remicade soon. I haven’t taken it lightly since Remicade is really expensive and one of those medications that you hear has side effects that include cancer and death. I’m hoping that this works because this is really my last option. <br />
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Assuming that the Remicade will work and make me all better I am going to take this summer and work on some things that I’ve been meaning to experiment with or perfect or just play with. And if I’m a good little girl I will post my results, good or bad, here.A Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670754602842543297.post-15960818563535807242010-09-04T17:54:00.000-04:002010-09-04T17:54:57.920-04:00Cupcakes and Cookies and Gettin' My Groove Back<div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Man! I hit a slump there for awhile. We all hit them but man, did-i-hit-this-one-hard. I told you about the wedding cake that melted on me. Then I had this birthday cake to do for a customer's birthday. It was so beautiful in my head. It was to be peacock colors and stacked and just great. But when it got down to it and I was putting it together it just wasn't cooperating. The fondant wasn't cooperating. The cake wasn't cooperating. The cake topper I made for it wasn't cooperating. It was making me question myself in a big way. Not to make excuses for myself, but one problem is how hot and humid it's been here and it can throw everything off. PLUS (and I mean a BIG PLUS) my newly diagnosed arthritis has screwed with me a lot too. </div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;">But I think I got my groove back. I had a recipe that I wanted to play with and my mom just so happened to need something to take into work with her. A coworker of hers was celebrating five years of remission from breast cancer. YOU GO GIRL! And all the ladies in the office threw her a party and it was requested to make something with chocolate. So I tried these chocolate merlot cupcakes. I noticed that the batter was really slack and I worried about that a little bit. I continued with the cupcake plan though. I didn't have time to bake a cake, wait for it to cool and then frost it. While they were baking I made some Merlot Swiss Butercream. It took quite a bit of merlot to taste the merlot. I actually lost count of how much I put in :) oops. But once you could taste it, it was quite good. It would have been better with chocolate buttercream, but I was low on any kind of chocolate. So, anyways, back to what I was talking about. So after frosting all the cupcakes I tried one. I took the wrapper off and the cupcake fell apart. Just what I was afraid of. It would have been good as a cake, still crumbly, but better than for a cupcake (in my opinion). But it was tasty none the less. But needs work.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjynyUuKvx26I0HtbNnDxVaKoQ3qqu0dytrmqr3JFgoHFEWDwPw2WKzYehyphenhyphenJMh9gZABuYtqUCSG3UhBViqCEzZ8kxPeStyDVdPUhYJWu_cP8o_liQrdWu00IU0iKWWU1Bu9kXfgs4xJYC0/s1600/IMG_4114.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjynyUuKvx26I0HtbNnDxVaKoQ3qqu0dytrmqr3JFgoHFEWDwPw2WKzYehyphenhyphenJMh9gZABuYtqUCSG3UhBViqCEzZ8kxPeStyDVdPUhYJWu_cP8o_liQrdWu00IU0iKWWU1Bu9kXfgs4xJYC0/s320/IMG_4114.JPG" /></a></div><div align="center" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;">TA-DA!!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Then this past week I did cookies for another customer. She just needed some tropical fish and surfboards but I did a couple extra to play with. They were so cute. And I glittered them all up. Whatcha think?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXPnrD2PKTATKQ-wupyYLsxOsOm4jGK0dsl9tNREfZG7jhVjrXohWaVSBIRmNt1-c1YiO_HACArbtp5TQA1qWRrK3aOP06BAgdF57_i2N1_IKvj124jKVtRZ7QsoUxirIoXLzurfZsqxU/s1600/IMG_4134.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXPnrD2PKTATKQ-wupyYLsxOsOm4jGK0dsl9tNREfZG7jhVjrXohWaVSBIRmNt1-c1YiO_HACArbtp5TQA1qWRrK3aOP06BAgdF57_i2N1_IKvj124jKVtRZ7QsoUxirIoXLzurfZsqxU/s320/IMG_4134.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhojCGnnyFRLKMO9nRetfc163jfpAixZyRhYZvgyZ73FVFlt1LbNm2uTfE2ZfEc4XcneI_23bsrPyq2wmcnDcRG7u609AsJzPyCzDSCE3NisJ7FBWWUkKoWwY1fI9aYK4l8CrElB1yorwE/s1600/IMG_4129.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; 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cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_PsIfYMKUHAPQbwBWi_XMLKTCt1hnVtskz7TwFoCs6DH5ZaEW78oiFFZ17TsnXpD3n6W7mfPUbkxgeNdgb6Wv0WGfjE4f-ZI3MKLbVQpuAieBC4-V2Hg-N9jGAcOXnwRYR_Zx-E0fjZ4/s320/IMG_4131.JPG" width="229" /></a></div>A Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670754602842543297.post-24435212933943523562010-06-27T17:52:00.000-04:002010-06-27T17:52:10.664-04:00Six Impossible Things (if you don't get it now, you'll get it later)<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I hardly ever get to sit down and add to my blog posts. I've been keeping busy and doing things to tell you about. But other things seem to always pop up. I am a living poster child for "Life is what happens when you're making other plans." The main thing that's making life a tad "impossible" (see posting title) is that I apparently have some issues with tendons in both feet. Yes. Both feet. Kinda makes my baking job "impossible" and makes life in general a little more difficult. I don't know exactly what's going on with these tendons but I find out July 6. Or at least the doctor will let me know by then if he's figured out my MRI.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">So, ANYWAYS, impossible things 1 & 2. I did a very cute little cake for a little girl's second birthday. And another cake for an office birthday party. It was my take on Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes. I've been hearing a lot about them here and there but really got inspired by <a href="http://cupcakerehab.com/2010/05/jays-birthday-car-bombs/">Cupcake Rehab's post</a>. I didn't do her exact recipe and method. Especially since I did it in cake form. But I saw her cupcakes and just had to do it. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKRiK-a6a2Ui5bR7f26S9oO-1ek9rHoIf0YHrRnK4Gkq383wXXrT-eWGbMGH1Laze_MbAL5BfuyejPbewAt91Wr9dplq0henuOi6z9tfQqWD7zpQKNZI5OdG0jknAFhakxifU20de3XAw/s1600/IMG_4070.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" ru="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKRiK-a6a2Ui5bR7f26S9oO-1ek9rHoIf0YHrRnK4Gkq383wXXrT-eWGbMGH1Laze_MbAL5BfuyejPbewAt91Wr9dplq0henuOi6z9tfQqWD7zpQKNZI5OdG0jknAFhakxifU20de3XAw/s200/IMG_4070.JPG" width="143" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">#3 I tried to do some sugar cookies for my daughter's dance class. They're dancing to "Red Red Robin" and they all look like cute little flapper girls. IT'S SO DANG CUTE!!!!!! So I made sugar cookies that look like their costume and some that are ballerina cut outs.Only problem is is that I ran out of time before the recital, but I did do some anyways. I was determined to at least get my idea out of my head and onto the cookie!!! When it comes to doing things for myself I always come last. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikSS9JmadgIxsetv4VrlsqjXzcXVjWMLYe71fBT2UeN3MSHUMnC5iKw-zmAH582vn1grPH2oYmU49ogR6rNjdTRnMfj6tXuRaEL8A9dHoC69rnFzakDhCjsYXonT0nF1d8sQXGAlL32qM/s1600/IMG_4085.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" ru="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikSS9JmadgIxsetv4VrlsqjXzcXVjWMLYe71fBT2UeN3MSHUMnC5iKw-zmAH582vn1grPH2oYmU49ogR6rNjdTRnMfj6tXuRaEL8A9dHoC69rnFzakDhCjsYXonT0nF1d8sQXGAlL32qM/s320/IMG_4085.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">#4 This Sunday I did a wedding cake that I thought would be stunning. Not tooting my own horn here but the colors are amazing and the mock-up I did lookied very promising. There was a little bit of back and forth about the original design but in the end he trusts me and my taste. It was a very beautiful cae but because of the heat the top stack started drooping!!! As you can probably see in the pic. I was not a happy camper. There was a huge blob on one side that all I could do was turn it away from the front and cover any other "melt-downs" with roses. </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKJyIkxvWOfBuYfjERHNgj8EgQRZg6oFsz2T5LvvbPIp8EwuV4QNdGg73MYQg2KiAhjPdm0nq8AVwwb81cMsh5DsU8ES64_2yHxDWdlMmkkmLeZ7PbuYJlUh4rm7WjyDYSl2Qwnui3HE0/s1600/IMG_4094.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" ru="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKJyIkxvWOfBuYfjERHNgj8EgQRZg6oFsz2T5LvvbPIp8EwuV4QNdGg73MYQg2KiAhjPdm0nq8AVwwb81cMsh5DsU8ES64_2yHxDWdlMmkkmLeZ7PbuYJlUh4rm7WjyDYSl2Qwnui3HE0/s320/IMG_4094.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">#5 I also did a birthday cake for a very good customer. She requested stargazer lilies on top and she got them, I just wish I had had time to practice them so I could've make them myself. She gave me more than enough notice for the cake but I don't think I could have mastered stargazer lilies for this cake. And I won't give someone something I did in practice or training. Personal memo: start working on sugar flowers!!!! On top of that she asked for a strawberry cake which I still haven't mastered. It tastes great but not very strawberry-ish. So I just tried to bring the flavors out as much as I could with a strawberry liqueur sugar wash and strawberry buttercream filling. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg02ze9FDdx9unT1lAdff7oJIPwF9HzQogcI_TCKLzSF3jGgvWj65No5rEhHOr7qB3-bx_OP7iD1PnrhX2Ejj8XzwxFU1CN75h3kddisvYy5QWIjlEfRHjWX-C_T7DoJCUEKloza5A3uFs/s1600/IMG_4093.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" ru="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg02ze9FDdx9unT1lAdff7oJIPwF9HzQogcI_TCKLzSF3jGgvWj65No5rEhHOr7qB3-bx_OP7iD1PnrhX2Ejj8XzwxFU1CN75h3kddisvYy5QWIjlEfRHjWX-C_T7DoJCUEKloza5A3uFs/s200/IMG_4093.jpg" width="143" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">#6 I've also been working on sketches of potential sugar cookies inspired by Alice in Wonderland. Don't think I'm going the easy route here. I'm not just doing little cookies that say eat me, although they will be included, I'm actually planning on some pretty artsy stuff here. And they will definitely be posted here when I make them.</div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">If you are wondering: why Alice in Wonderland cookies??? I will tell you. I'm a tad bit into Alice stuff. My mom married into a Cheshire family and therefore we have Cheshire cats here there and everywhere. And I kind of got attached to the story and characters because of it. I was super excited when the recent movie was released and owned a copy the day it was released on DVD. And this also explains my "six impossible things", if you've read the book or seen the recent movie you already knew.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">movie quote: <b style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">I try to believe in as many as six impossible things before breakfast. Count them, Alice. One, there are drinks that make you shrink. Two, there are foods that make you grow. Three, animals can talk. Four, cats can disappear. Five, there is a place called Underland. Six, I can slay the Jabberwocky.--Alice</span></b></div><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="color: black;">novel quote:<b style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </b></span></span><b style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"Alice laughed: "There's no use trying," she said; "one can't believe impossible things."<br />
"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."</b><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> </span>A Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670754602842543297.post-40421472846229958892010-05-08T18:13:00.000-04:002010-05-08T18:13:14.305-04:00<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYtR3WSDBs7SnUSkjPpMeBXbegs5ZhxCFiBN4Wg8Du5Fp3Aq3fT-7IlAzDteUJNYLX3B-fDD4XFFzCatrkPfAJFooNMeHx2TkJgZtHqHtCjWVYYROKpSrNUJiLoaVGrLwVXc0x_vzdblQ/s1600/IMG_4051.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYtR3WSDBs7SnUSkjPpMeBXbegs5ZhxCFiBN4Wg8Du5Fp3Aq3fT-7IlAzDteUJNYLX3B-fDD4XFFzCatrkPfAJFooNMeHx2TkJgZtHqHtCjWVYYROKpSrNUJiLoaVGrLwVXc0x_vzdblQ/s200/IMG_4051.JPG" tt="true" width="200" /></a>I've done quite a bit again since last I blogged. Still some baby shower things but I did some cookies for a little girl's first birthday and I'm working on a fifth birthday cake today (pictures will come ASAP I promise). </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgXRXlQJm60N8GT4Gs1nseQocrdpNkQcawA6ngkUfeY1fcv6OE64-qkFMRzuT3zIjMl4lstV2qdWM-mVMFtmivW_enk7c79TcnrnavlODOEogFfLHzIinmcZwrwFmYZ0caQabCRjVXHro/s1600/IMG_4046.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgXRXlQJm60N8GT4Gs1nseQocrdpNkQcawA6ngkUfeY1fcv6OE64-qkFMRzuT3zIjMl4lstV2qdWM-mVMFtmivW_enk7c79TcnrnavlODOEogFfLHzIinmcZwrwFmYZ0caQabCRjVXHro/s320/IMG_4046.jpg" tt="true" width="228" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgkMZLIATwah5sVFGsof3MqJRmpPRdRajD9v2binXNL6xCM4GZj-BEJoqm9TwZjTqUVa7zzKAs_wVjxIhhOxfdmRITqx4l-Mvw0bMdHZGBDhWdZlb0SXinN7acil5GkRoDxp5ROqlSX2s/s1600/IMG_4042.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgkMZLIATwah5sVFGsof3MqJRmpPRdRajD9v2binXNL6xCM4GZj-BEJoqm9TwZjTqUVa7zzKAs_wVjxIhhOxfdmRITqx4l-Mvw0bMdHZGBDhWdZlb0SXinN7acil5GkRoDxp5ROqlSX2s/s200/IMG_4042.jpg" tt="true" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpbZRmLGlq7JFLiHce6XqDBAlrgCl4SahsBWAFBYTTqWaN2dqpObJFVxUh9UDqFGhhA1-Wm04k06b1fKQN57cZ9866jtPqVsNPN6QuYE4gKNl16KK5flLA-aQPusASHimRZzt293OHVD0/s1600/IMG_4043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpbZRmLGlq7JFLiHce6XqDBAlrgCl4SahsBWAFBYTTqWaN2dqpObJFVxUh9UDqFGhhA1-Wm04k06b1fKQN57cZ9866jtPqVsNPN6QuYE4gKNl16KK5flLA-aQPusASHimRZzt293OHVD0/s200/IMG_4043.JPG" tt="true" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD9V4NFmuCq5rlzXqZqQEf4DUkDsjkAojBENBBQuZ_-Cx4rg4CcdbW2bGLML-1ZsrUOln6QuxGN87EXuRoh-tMKj5xYabZFCOOMRdY1FOTVLA-XbIK9Pi50eWStuXTohb7J_75FbXGpw8/s1600/IMG_4045.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD9V4NFmuCq5rlzXqZqQEf4DUkDsjkAojBENBBQuZ_-Cx4rg4CcdbW2bGLML-1ZsrUOln6QuxGN87EXuRoh-tMKj5xYabZFCOOMRdY1FOTVLA-XbIK9Pi50eWStuXTohb7J_75FbXGpw8/s200/IMG_4045.JPG" tt="true" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3lFteA30nOvkd2WJcbRIUKYiNN7m6aIf_hjY_Mi0AamzhepA_4xBiQ8zHrDRVQCC0BAF_NvcCypHNzAbnbwzfqiIHRtUxO8dT_5QQxK1IlWfM_8Xcdy7xMAC_sF7wNTv-w2CRTM5D2ko/s1600/IMG_4053.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3lFteA30nOvkd2WJcbRIUKYiNN7m6aIf_hjY_Mi0AamzhepA_4xBiQ8zHrDRVQCC0BAF_NvcCypHNzAbnbwzfqiIHRtUxO8dT_5QQxK1IlWfM_8Xcdy7xMAC_sF7wNTv-w2CRTM5D2ko/s200/IMG_4053.JPG" tt="true" width="200" /></a></div>A Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670754602842543297.post-33507725216232196852010-04-05T08:11:00.000-04:002010-04-05T08:11:23.902-04:00Everybody's Having Babies<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">These are the second set of baby cookies I've done recently and I have at least one more set to do in the near future. This week in fact. These are for my boss. My gift to him and his wife They had a baby boy March 27.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTm3vKPZ2LKVr3l-TXbW_YEMgzXT9ybsjgvGOoR3ameQu_PRg135yIejhdV_qHeX3jWwSlLBhemqjRP6h6SFhhZAWQgCSDcSPqyV-mXyinaUl8CB1GXytO_8Xs5Kcx0RoWL2-XUBkX5Mc/s1600/IMG_4003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="143" nt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTm3vKPZ2LKVr3l-TXbW_YEMgzXT9ybsjgvGOoR3ameQu_PRg135yIejhdV_qHeX3jWwSlLBhemqjRP6h6SFhhZAWQgCSDcSPqyV-mXyinaUl8CB1GXytO_8Xs5Kcx0RoWL2-XUBkX5Mc/s200/IMG_4003.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiucRr9CWtPkwP8MS6aKyslnUVmq-ZGx0iF0HcLpBn_J0NfhKTyJUbpi6jkhnxxvlllxOichwFIiJ3VqOyAYnwbjBcvyCTrEvxsnkPMzpTmz5Mj_ItUIP83irR2rW8AeK6q8KWOmWRk02s/s1600/IMG_3994.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="143" nt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiucRr9CWtPkwP8MS6aKyslnUVmq-ZGx0iF0HcLpBn_J0NfhKTyJUbpi6jkhnxxvlllxOichwFIiJ3VqOyAYnwbjBcvyCTrEvxsnkPMzpTmz5Mj_ItUIP83irR2rW8AeK6q8KWOmWRk02s/s200/IMG_3994.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicF3bnxxffuO0KWsEv_aSnYgUKHNPTgxJG3aoNKs0TS8mLfLFkBtWaOziWwPF7oUUXRUM1SkPaNYcDPhKTmQgtZqX69tMXINcfv3NV_0LW23zisjVSWSjSIeC5fUR40ShafLkZUYW7bRE/s1600/IMG_3995.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" nt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicF3bnxxffuO0KWsEv_aSnYgUKHNPTgxJG3aoNKs0TS8mLfLFkBtWaOziWwPF7oUUXRUM1SkPaNYcDPhKTmQgtZqX69tMXINcfv3NV_0LW23zisjVSWSjSIeC5fUR40ShafLkZUYW7bRE/s200/IMG_3995.JPG" width="143" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih6nxkyXNbjXfWEKhXuIeCXHwq2uuM077Qkt3jAVoL9YQ-VTmimPX0TswHgpFYWkWMcXNiPmVVfai5huujbFI1Vh691shtycirLqbm70u4qYcWBrirv3rcSzID4b6hpXbeAkjlIdtN2UY/s1600/IMG_4000.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" nt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih6nxkyXNbjXfWEKhXuIeCXHwq2uuM077Qkt3jAVoL9YQ-VTmimPX0TswHgpFYWkWMcXNiPmVVfai5huujbFI1Vh691shtycirLqbm70u4qYcWBrirv3rcSzID4b6hpXbeAkjlIdtN2UY/s200/IMG_4000.JPG" width="143" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh06zaahemd5jCQmj90KvRsQUY_5P8PbAFCCxR_UyDXIpoMYpQtoNnhHm4SSJUAeEsZhj1tX0Mjs8beQauAP_RxhRQUhHEl-ekDUaGfVpU3Mkb0x6nCVfl-HtxDjh6lby7TkGyP1lVoeqE/s1600/IMG_3993.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" nt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh06zaahemd5jCQmj90KvRsQUY_5P8PbAFCCxR_UyDXIpoMYpQtoNnhHm4SSJUAeEsZhj1tX0Mjs8beQauAP_RxhRQUhHEl-ekDUaGfVpU3Mkb0x6nCVfl-HtxDjh6lby7TkGyP1lVoeqE/s200/IMG_3993.jpg" width="143" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN6MY3L6FKYLqwfbW4ePRjXPj5Cz82ZwJDfNl_BJIPdmjlQsNIGA7P8d9kPvp2nKlX0dpTZaJ0YPO2Vp6NqKzKSIw8-cuGSltULgSmg1DR-yz6xod4JzJ8rAUnXoLFYmPGPXYmgOh-J7U/s1600/IMG_3996.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" nt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN6MY3L6FKYLqwfbW4ePRjXPj5Cz82ZwJDfNl_BJIPdmjlQsNIGA7P8d9kPvp2nKlX0dpTZaJ0YPO2Vp6NqKzKSIw8-cuGSltULgSmg1DR-yz6xod4JzJ8rAUnXoLFYmPGPXYmgOh-J7U/s200/IMG_3996.JPG" width="143" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtI0VUhMJYbqEZVsqDgBbyKBAouHS4hSZZX7w06JlGRrvJj8NUMaMeSGF60ql2tA9pl_ubs6YK2JOb6pB_2YUDRtbiSmK_HtJjcDg8idMJcCFnvDoNNDCoT73j4-CEF0MBVRwh2P2BeiY/s1600/IMG_3998.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="143" nt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtI0VUhMJYbqEZVsqDgBbyKBAouHS4hSZZX7w06JlGRrvJj8NUMaMeSGF60ql2tA9pl_ubs6YK2JOb6pB_2YUDRtbiSmK_HtJjcDg8idMJcCFnvDoNNDCoT73j4-CEF0MBVRwh2P2BeiY/s200/IMG_3998.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9tmsw_BVVgFeD8m4xC_W5KxfkTjgVQa0-A7q33CgAfBP3dX2HjDpS4jbTgD4wGZPnXIRhapezY5yN49ALYR-tRlg8uvYHd9kQFzrWfXfoij3Mvsln_3gaj1KfQ1KpqWsEDM51KxhuDyo/s1600/IMG_3999.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="143" nt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9tmsw_BVVgFeD8m4xC_W5KxfkTjgVQa0-A7q33CgAfBP3dX2HjDpS4jbTgD4wGZPnXIRhapezY5yN49ALYR-tRlg8uvYHd9kQFzrWfXfoij3Mvsln_3gaj1KfQ1KpqWsEDM51KxhuDyo/s200/IMG_3999.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKfJcNVYxWBe8dn0AGT9XFd6Y4bIYgwfSyWjpD3NJ3r8ZGo7o6Mbcxe8hXRNQC9EzIShXqzP20k9mRKtuy3iCdN3G33C442CN-fPKMhbKRIb-8P3vD1p2cc5EL37OT4q2swyTYpn_dgWI/s1600/IMG_4001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="143" nt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKfJcNVYxWBe8dn0AGT9XFd6Y4bIYgwfSyWjpD3NJ3r8ZGo7o6Mbcxe8hXRNQC9EzIShXqzP20k9mRKtuy3iCdN3G33C442CN-fPKMhbKRIb-8P3vD1p2cc5EL37OT4q2swyTYpn_dgWI/s200/IMG_4001.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1O7rwCMXryVlEauRXhBqniYmkCCmThTjaFTcd8bDeB3G5JcFcEHv1Suec0auLGmi4qnTe7hD39kJk6Tm78Q7Ol8WFJubrDBYEqcDXgaNrXytAPmieRjQQY1nsmdKHsAKl1o4fuUgiPaI/s1600/IMG_4002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" nt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1O7rwCMXryVlEauRXhBqniYmkCCmThTjaFTcd8bDeB3G5JcFcEHv1Suec0auLGmi4qnTe7hD39kJk6Tm78Q7Ol8WFJubrDBYEqcDXgaNrXytAPmieRjQQY1nsmdKHsAKl1o4fuUgiPaI/s200/IMG_4002.JPG" width="143" /></a></div>A Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670754602842543297.post-36775148358883758182010-04-05T00:53:00.003-04:002010-04-05T01:07:57.693-04:00The Real Deal Baby!I had every intention of putting my little girl to bed Saturday night then getting up to start my hot cross buns so that we could have them for Easter brunch. No such luck. I passed out and didn't get up until 7 am just to say to myself "oh well" and roll back over. At least my mom's coworkers will get to enjoy them for breakfast. <br />
<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWcxosNcITltoQykrKtEaNgkyle4zAWNm4whqgV2qYOJK6yLVz-In94F3BiTk1_PhbKq-5Xq_LjRvJBje4CirP2qVkVIqesvtaz85CWHMDfnBf3vbGO_Zom65TknC3eorpIRgkBGnjFzA/s1600/IMG_3992.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="142" nt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWcxosNcITltoQykrKtEaNgkyle4zAWNm4whqgV2qYOJK6yLVz-In94F3BiTk1_PhbKq-5Xq_LjRvJBje4CirP2qVkVIqesvtaz85CWHMDfnBf3vbGO_Zom65TknC3eorpIRgkBGnjFzA/s200/IMG_3992.JPG" width="200" /></a>They were easy enough to bake. Easier if my five year old didn't have to fight for my attention while I was making them. And then I ended up proofing them around the same time the ham went in the oven so I had to put them in the fridge to slow the proofing down until the oven was ready for me. But most of them came out beautifully and they are as delicious as they look. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_QcZkZW0iC2zrJ6qZKX9yd3dbaE6C_zeK7tw8oH1dafXjDVjeHlCS-sYuXvALWZFZ-tK-_D1elgLCvNYml7Xyv7vO9QNPRKabAOymrCSpeGHCREkAai2bx7Qd36bYETj1nAiHq7QtfQA/s1600/IMG_3986.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="143" nt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_QcZkZW0iC2zrJ6qZKX9yd3dbaE6C_zeK7tw8oH1dafXjDVjeHlCS-sYuXvALWZFZ-tK-_D1elgLCvNYml7Xyv7vO9QNPRKabAOymrCSpeGHCREkAai2bx7Qd36bYETj1nAiHq7QtfQA/s200/IMG_3986.JPG" width="200" /></a>Now I say these are the real deal because my mom doesn't remember hot cross buns coming with all this frosting that grocery stores put on theirs. And she remembers different fruit being in it. And a lot of times I hear people say that there shouldn't be any frosting on them at all. All the sweetness should come from the bun. AND. I got this recipe from one of the new books I purchased recently: Irish Traditional Cooking by Darina Allen. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong>Hot Cross Buns</strong></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">from the book <strong>Irish Traditional Cooking</strong> by <strong>Darina Allen</strong></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1 oz fresh yeast</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1/2 cup superfine sugar (I used regular sugar only because that's what I had on hand, it's not too hard to find though)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1 to 1 1/4 cup tepid milk (I ended up only using one cup)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">3 1/4 cups bread flour</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">6 T butter</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1/4 t cinnamon</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1/4 t nutmeg</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1 to 2 t mixed spice (I had to look this up and the mix varies but I used a mix of 6t corriander, 5t cinnamon, 3t nutmeg, 2t ginger, 1t cloves and I only ended up using 1 teaspoon in this recipe)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">pinch of salt</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">2 eggs</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1/2 cup currants</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1/2 cup golden raisins</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1/4 cup chopped peel (double checked with my mom, orange peel)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">2oz shortcrust pastry (recipe to follow)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">egg wash (milk, sugar and egg yolk according to recipe, I just used one egg beaten smoothe)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong>shortcrust pastry</strong></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">8T butter</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">2 T superfine granulated sugar (again, I just used what I had)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1 egg</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1 1/3 cups flour</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg and beat for several minutes. Reduce speed and mix in flour. Chill for at least an hour before use.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Dissolve the yeast with 1 T of the sugar in a little tepid milk. (I used 1 cup of milk here)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Put the flour into a bowl. Rub in the butter; add the cinnamon, nutmeg, mixed spice, a pinch of salt and the remainder of the sugar. Mix well.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Beat the eggs and add to the milk. Make a well in the center of the flour. Add the yeast and most of the liquid and mix to a soft dough, (add more milk of necessary). (Here, since I added the yeast to 1 cup of milk I added the beaten egg to the yeast/milk mixture and that's all I needed for the recipe, I didn't need anymore milk)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Leave for 2 to 3 minutes, then knead until smooth. Add the currants, sultanas and chopped peel and continue to knead until the dough is shiny. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise in a warm place until it doubles in size. Punch down the dough, by kneading it for 3 to 4 minutes. (I just punched it down) Rest it for a few minutes, then shape it into 1 1/2 inch balls. ( I got 16 out of this) Put them onto a baking sheet and brush the tops with egg wash. Mark the top of each bun with a cross. Carefully put a cross made of thin strips of shortcrust pastry onto each bun. Leave the buns to rise again to double their size, and brush again carefully with egg wash.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Bake in a preheated oven at 425* for 5 minutes, then reduce the heat to 400* for a further 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. (The commercial baker in me that's used to not having the luxury of changing oven temps for everything I put in the oven just stuck with 425* for 15 minutes and they came out fine.)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">**Side note: This is my first time working with fresh yeast. Boy was I surprised by the smell.<br />
<br />
P.S. Check out my Easter Egg pics <a href="http://andsugar.blogspot.com/">here</a>. They were so pretty.</div>A Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670754602842543297.post-63563395729062327412010-03-29T23:27:00.000-04:002010-03-29T23:27:12.553-04:00New Stuff!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD6Uvz836YRmQNHf44XIBbO_KoPKlfoeNMz_mV-G_Sb1VUrR9szyOyMYFZBkO0lVVBuZdNa0UClor-BhSRQF6teGjm9PPdKTxeIixA5kUZA2xVaA10FsALD19RDLeKgC0C5M9_lcwtA2E/s1600/IMG_3971.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" nt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD6Uvz836YRmQNHf44XIBbO_KoPKlfoeNMz_mV-G_Sb1VUrR9szyOyMYFZBkO0lVVBuZdNa0UClor-BhSRQF6teGjm9PPdKTxeIixA5kUZA2xVaA10FsALD19RDLeKgC0C5M9_lcwtA2E/s400/IMG_3971.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Today I got some extra money for the extra jobs I've been doing and I quickly went to invest my money properly. I went cookbook shopping. I went a wee bit overboard. But, like I said, it's an investment. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Silver-Spoon-Phaidon-Press/dp/0714845310">The Silver Spoon</a> is somethng I've wanted for awhile. It's the Italian's cookbook bible. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Art-French-Cooking-1/dp/0394721780/ref=tmm_pap_title_popover_0">Mastering the Art of French Cooking</a> is something my mom wanted me to have after watching Julie & Julia. And <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Irish-Traditional-Cooking-Irelands-Paperback/dp/B002Z342BI/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269919407&sr=1-8">Irish Traditional Cooking</a> is something I picked up because: 1. I needed a good soda bread recipe, 2. I needed a good hot cross buns recipe and 3. my mom and I are curious about our Irish heritage. She grew up a little closer to our heritage than I got a chance to but she says her memory is foggy. So, I picked that up too.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Yeah a little overboard but I can't wait to attack them!</div>A Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670754602842543297.post-59671638593560747562010-03-29T15:39:00.002-04:002010-03-29T15:43:48.179-04:0090th Birthday Cake<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWfqBtCDfQjqDZHyDezDxm97k7PScJdeMa10StSdbqtMYz65T3KV6dOqUuJSmUxwgaZ3BDRpAPOuYsy4g8fUev90xH95me0dhPqssegdq_Q5lAARlMMttgewiQkvWVjO5L2k85CUptjT8/s1600/Kerah+124.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" nt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWfqBtCDfQjqDZHyDezDxm97k7PScJdeMa10StSdbqtMYz65T3KV6dOqUuJSmUxwgaZ3BDRpAPOuYsy4g8fUev90xH95me0dhPqssegdq_Q5lAARlMMttgewiQkvWVjO5L2k85CUptjT8/s400/Kerah+124.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><br />
This is the 90th birthday cake I referred to in my last post. I was told it was a big hit and people were asking for my number. I love doing cakes but they take up so much time and energy. But they also get the biggest reactions. So, basically, you get back exactly what you put into it. I never went to bed the night before I delivered it so I crashed HARD Saturday night. Crashed so hard that my daughter got up in the middle of the night and I didn't even know it.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5yMS1CVqoN6UI7x9EeftKmYuxU-vVX0J4utvMYxkdtJck85yJMC2XgWl0O6zas2U4YwT7ILMN_RxqGV5w3LwDTnNQXG8kEb5quBx7iRy_MDWbjaUtBD4qxKCCHBPQOtlNRgH5N15AyvE/s1600/Kerah+125.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="cssfloat: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" nt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5yMS1CVqoN6UI7x9EeftKmYuxU-vVX0J4utvMYxkdtJck85yJMC2XgWl0O6zas2U4YwT7ILMN_RxqGV5w3LwDTnNQXG8kEb5quBx7iRy_MDWbjaUtBD4qxKCCHBPQOtlNRgH5N15AyvE/s400/Kerah+125.jpg" width="371" /></a></div>A Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670754602842543297.post-89990095376989696152010-03-26T22:56:00.005-04:002010-03-26T23:12:55.124-04:00Baby Shower CookiesI've been lucky enough lately that my "side business" (it's not totally official yet) is picking up. My latest project was for a friend that found my on facebook through another friend that I did those purse cookies for. I love these cookies so much. They were so much fun to do and I was given some creative license with them.<br /><br />Next project that I'm working on now is a birthday cake for a 90th birthday party. Can't wait because the party is also a close friend's first big catering gig. I know she's gonna rock it. Actually it's three people I went to school with that are starting this new catering company. I'll let you guys know more when I know more. I don't want to give you guys the wrong info.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4TuGKOkn4YLlU29i5wd8dq9JWDdzPIH_E_P2XJfVnULY9Fjuql-Mz_X44ZZ0dBAPrnChZlQPvxFXhmM6cHgpKruNPeomaqvDKuzIhi_mx-2YQdLrjBmaHDc_vqPdvxK3H2pXmC0FVTyI/s1600/IMG_3966.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 143px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453145687458308898" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4TuGKOkn4YLlU29i5wd8dq9JWDdzPIH_E_P2XJfVnULY9Fjuql-Mz_X44ZZ0dBAPrnChZlQPvxFXhmM6cHgpKruNPeomaqvDKuzIhi_mx-2YQdLrjBmaHDc_vqPdvxK3H2pXmC0FVTyI/s200/IMG_3966.JPG" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1W93K-Ss3JWM_jmqrivEnZPiqIgO8okbKKls_vUfUFnXJQRn5RQikJQrD9F73eYeHE2pmDaz7mswZPO2vy2_oOZLY3ElINtO50Rm-M2eKKSu8rjMjKimn3QN7b6bvncTRNOPQ2J0tceA/s1600/IMG_3965.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 143px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453145369987952050" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1W93K-Ss3JWM_jmqrivEnZPiqIgO8okbKKls_vUfUFnXJQRn5RQikJQrD9F73eYeHE2pmDaz7mswZPO2vy2_oOZLY3ElINtO50Rm-M2eKKSu8rjMjKimn3QN7b6bvncTRNOPQ2J0tceA/s200/IMG_3965.JPG" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFA6XNmA8u3Mrvhmt3Moap5YDoya0WEKE5ggTUNe74leE9-NsZQRP3IC6q4gbD90HaKe4FzGGL2igktUYNXbhyJbQbSwIEpaVHXyiAKKXA_841LGzi-MXZACJuP-6p88ALCR-142D7bNo/s1600/IMG_3964.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 143px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453145367141460674" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFA6XNmA8u3Mrvhmt3Moap5YDoya0WEKE5ggTUNe74leE9-NsZQRP3IC6q4gbD90HaKe4FzGGL2igktUYNXbhyJbQbSwIEpaVHXyiAKKXA_841LGzi-MXZACJuP-6p88ALCR-142D7bNo/s200/IMG_3964.JPG" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoGVQ6FywEIf5gpM_TcgR6k2slkTaEy_e8jDUVXMH-IPyDynPoYb2myYnAmsxhRVLFGz04arsZFMxqp_jDx9yJ4OJ3syDzWGXUoD-0YPkwV0YaZZvz2CaR-1pVQbl-XSdN4sePQEj1TJc/s1600/IMG_3963.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 143px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453145357797920978" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoGVQ6FywEIf5gpM_TcgR6k2slkTaEy_e8jDUVXMH-IPyDynPoYb2myYnAmsxhRVLFGz04arsZFMxqp_jDx9yJ4OJ3syDzWGXUoD-0YPkwV0YaZZvz2CaR-1pVQbl-XSdN4sePQEj1TJc/s200/IMG_3963.JPG" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBzom9cUwyPkOaTn7819BcIDUg9VQ6jsA2-gtVAuiegeUrIuc-b9wWMEIj54cL8n2eTLwiGuacvDX5oQLih0xqXFwNA3sX9SjjYJn33LtARU37PHK_K9mQp8PetIqFkW6HIH1dLMENcPc/s1600/IMG_3962.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 143px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453145349047611890" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBzom9cUwyPkOaTn7819BcIDUg9VQ6jsA2-gtVAuiegeUrIuc-b9wWMEIj54cL8n2eTLwiGuacvDX5oQLih0xqXFwNA3sX9SjjYJn33LtARU37PHK_K9mQp8PetIqFkW6HIH1dLMENcPc/s200/IMG_3962.JPG" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSSlcDarJ0BNJwB39o8hlQGbS0F2_IUht3tWPlPdgzgyM3bWHQS9f9V0B_wSgyNzKJbBX0bgHyO7NKUxRypmGmVgtUSpKFNO1lkoLwd1iuqWWE64knDM2u9MpKh4o-Vv8cnUZr-pp0Hy8/s1600/IMG_3961.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 143px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453145334521738466" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSSlcDarJ0BNJwB39o8hlQGbS0F2_IUht3tWPlPdgzgyM3bWHQS9f9V0B_wSgyNzKJbBX0bgHyO7NKUxRypmGmVgtUSpKFNO1lkoLwd1iuqWWE64knDM2u9MpKh4o-Vv8cnUZr-pp0Hy8/s200/IMG_3961.JPG" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_-mQ-MOCcuCEJRPqj1GuEfe1i8cxaqjeErtftaaVERl7EIpHZsTKZMsGOV9o8jhJuF58pzuHQpJGjvXEtalN8MVyxaQmXmX4u45c_YUVm_3fv0D7T31v7ZEY6_EGlK_MJCwkHw5X0L5M/s1600/IMG_3960.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 143px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453144818629527234" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_-mQ-MOCcuCEJRPqj1GuEfe1i8cxaqjeErtftaaVERl7EIpHZsTKZMsGOV9o8jhJuF58pzuHQpJGjvXEtalN8MVyxaQmXmX4u45c_YUVm_3fv0D7T31v7ZEY6_EGlK_MJCwkHw5X0L5M/s200/IMG_3960.JPG" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBiqWj2syU7315qMugjdKBZ6CmRgwnAXBJxP6hCpi0hdTyZGwqN2MdVJIteAYwPCc6n2HQmCBtPJJwjxSACEH3WUl9V-XxO15NtcKGBMrPE5yu37FyyigHhv2cIecXHfyqMXcEC2lJqR0/s1600/IMG_3959.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 143px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453144806221093186" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBiqWj2syU7315qMugjdKBZ6CmRgwnAXBJxP6hCpi0hdTyZGwqN2MdVJIteAYwPCc6n2HQmCBtPJJwjxSACEH3WUl9V-XxO15NtcKGBMrPE5yu37FyyigHhv2cIecXHfyqMXcEC2lJqR0/s200/IMG_3959.JPG" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0yqoho2ZgUx2lEwYau_n36x6an0pTYLhsUsrURFNKIiMrak1eCagen3kWOpWYhmsgtqM_wcdTlf8_1fjoUffWAut74IT9JXaZV2vK9tYnepPuVEg3y_DHxlkbBo17PJ13YiI8Yl_X_1c/s1600/IMG_3958.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 143px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453144801761896882" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0yqoho2ZgUx2lEwYau_n36x6an0pTYLhsUsrURFNKIiMrak1eCagen3kWOpWYhmsgtqM_wcdTlf8_1fjoUffWAut74IT9JXaZV2vK9tYnepPuVEg3y_DHxlkbBo17PJ13YiI8Yl_X_1c/s200/IMG_3958.JPG" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqC56hkIgFZR7JolKqwqg8x6Bgt39qG72AILXefosNZ-QFGmKxTjIMh12U4Es5rfiBSxF8E-0B4m146y203xtMupzhn3kPxfpPkGhUFzErjRMPRPX0CUa_72gDp2vOU00uyOoSjxARp24/s1600/IMG_3957.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 143px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453144721342954626" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqC56hkIgFZR7JolKqwqg8x6Bgt39qG72AILXefosNZ-QFGmKxTjIMh12U4Es5rfiBSxF8E-0B4m146y203xtMupzhn3kPxfpPkGhUFzErjRMPRPX0CUa_72gDp2vOU00uyOoSjxARp24/s200/IMG_3957.JPG" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBoiJulh5snnlzXuR_6J3qCdM6zVXvypYH6licV4wL08mnNfURDmH0lIOZ-b0LRMzFEBrY3E-gtftu1W5dFZvGuHh9qPCQBmFPOV0YvIER1AFRU5FMb1MAAk8NbvldTKFBD03RrGju-yE/s1600/IMG_3953.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 143px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453144691445596082" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBoiJulh5snnlzXuR_6J3qCdM6zVXvypYH6licV4wL08mnNfURDmH0lIOZ-b0LRMzFEBrY3E-gtftu1W5dFZvGuHh9qPCQBmFPOV0YvIER1AFRU5FMb1MAAk8NbvldTKFBD03RrGju-yE/s200/IMG_3953.jpg" /></a></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>A Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670754602842543297.post-83206622727306885952010-02-16T17:45:00.003-05:002010-02-17T14:53:18.753-05:00Pancake DayWell, apperently it's Pancake Day. Guess what that means! Breakfast for dinner and I'm makin' pancakes. My basic go to pancake recipe from The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cook Book:<br /><br />1 1/4 c AP flour<br />2 T sugar<br />2 t baking powder<br />3/4 t salt<br />1 egg<br />1 1/3 c milk<br />3 T oil<br /><br /><ul><li>mix dry ingredients in one bowl</li><li>mix wet ingredients in another bowl</li><li>add wet ingredients to dry ingredients</li><li>spoon desired amount of batter onto hot buttered griddle</li><li>when batter bubbles and edges look dry flip and cook until golden (2 minutes max)</li><li>remove from griddle and serve immediately</li></ul><p>Add whatever fillings you wish right after you pour onto griddle and before you flip. Blueberries, chocolate chips, bananas.... </p><p></p><p>HAPPY PANCAKE DAY!!!!</p><p> </p><p>P.S. I had some yummy banana pancakes while my daughter had a chocolate chip pancake. Yummmmmmm........</p>A Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670754602842543297.post-73635548300216664632010-02-08T16:13:00.006-05:002010-02-08T16:32:00.279-05:00<div><div>I was pretty busy this week. At work, my work load has practically doubled and I only get about 2 more hours a day to get it all done. I like the pace, keeping busy and all, but a little help on the little jobs would help out a lot. But that's for me to tell my boss, not you. Then, I had two cakes to do. One was originally scheduled for last Saturday but we got snowed in. We never get snowed in. Normally, flurries and a dusting shuts everything down. But this was at least 6 inches and that's unheard of here. So that cake was rescheduled for Thursday. Then the other cake was for this past Saturday. But I also had 40 purse cookies to decorate.<br /><br /><div><div><div><div><div>I didn't sleep much last week. </div><br /><div>So here are the labors of my love:<img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435987506633136178" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCsRgloDGdXF6bJUyMn3fuSvIx_1KBk6t966CtetVQDErDXDliZtrsD4CG8eYkt9iZn4qFnAqmrZiHGKbMe4yFyGVFl-o5cPC_1Fyw8aGnZ3nCZ1U2IVdi0x1S3r7RxPHSMoCTzEXtf4w/s320/IMG_3904.JPG" /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 134px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435986280358532882" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZxL85dLUWh24KjUUnJPdnVn_s_7aOCqrEDzbiDSF7F3HDrzEIEDlBJETLTpJem-xHuzW9CkkUM14e22epSmrZ7-BYBaE-7y4zNaw7km2ONqXxotSfRPeMb8lQIxcsDquIrhgNoFJEKAo/s200/IMG_3911.JPG" /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 133px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435986265258626706" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOr-61kB7W-2708Qxw2AUFwFzwWXx5GSnwhKvzEgVzo554v-bOFscROicYppfcTpNOT6SLiKczct8sKypgcqbpB143REi9_6NYd69rabchnIPUHKnVSpOm5wDcDII3Olxi4j_mAAxQEe8/s200/IMG_3901.JPG" /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 133px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435986310656149122" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuzfusI77TeTxIMhrLgkzkvyRQlOm-O9QGdvOmeDNNYz0H5YyVHtz-JJwjdUcASVNlDB1c8BwSZXSfYmRa5rtzvD73DWGge2HC3ypFZ-cSmofsdzcXIgIbhnehZl1g_RfXobgy9GWzFB4/s200/IMG_3909.JPG" /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 134px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435987853947145842" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-FOLgambqisNWVJ4ZbKNilwKYU7hhkCgatXpeoR4B5D3lnm1XHyTDEStFN5jikUk1eKN9ZoZWsj-HoE2GbV85UuNBj0z-k84zL7B1NNRrcjNhj-lcp7LhXmQY6nvhcsMechR9Pe3m414/s200/IMG_3912.JPG" /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 134px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435986297815405090" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX6YBRyKRHpS3cwEkPeVT6wwaE-gVgU9LC1MM-paP4oRVttu1-_C4TZX1KcdPmAVkfq3pUewWuFzcXxrvlG0EieKzihnEvSpO9vi1cFPQo4sdxC4iTfgLAUKkVvN-0-HYHZBBzeo9iqYQ/s200/IMG_3907.JPG" /></div>I still need to get a picture of the snow day cake from my mom. If I don't post it here it will definitely be on flickr. </div></div></div></div></div></div>A Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670754602842543297.post-54035000657319025312010-01-04T13:29:00.005-05:002010-01-27T17:20:34.785-05:00Coffee Profiteroles<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie5PHjdvfNOebKv-uZ_mb7iLpurGmBgBL_Uv4GFQh0FRnwnrMfrTJl9U4hxiXbLRH4rZLyolYVbd3z_PqtWJRSGAi00qbnNQAJHKhqx-Y3zWCNwo2LvQDvf3J5NfE2ftn9U_Ud1FId8Ik/s1600-h/IMG_3850.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 134px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422953719816049218" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie5PHjdvfNOebKv-uZ_mb7iLpurGmBgBL_Uv4GFQh0FRnwnrMfrTJl9U4hxiXbLRH4rZLyolYVbd3z_PqtWJRSGAi00qbnNQAJHKhqx-Y3zWCNwo2LvQDvf3J5NfE2ftn9U_Ud1FId8Ik/s200/IMG_3850.JPG" /></a>So, I was being mopey yesterday. A don't get outta my pjs all day and I don't wanna do anything kinda day. But to try to get out of my blah blues I wanted to do something and that something is almost always baking related. So I pulled out my old friend, The Art and Soul of Baking. For some reason I've been wanting to play around with pate a choux so that right there narrowed it down. And it had to be sweet. But profiteroles or eclairs. Hmmmm. I decided profiteroles. (And you would know this if you read the previous post). <div><br /></div><div>I didn't want to make just plain old profiteroles though. Not a big fan. Well, I have a lot of coffee and coffee related products lying around so POOF! coffee profiteroles. I made a basic pastry cream and instead of vanilla I added 3 T kahlua. It tasted like heaven! If you like coffee. </div><div><br /></div><div>Then for the ganache topping I added 1 t kahlua to the milk right after it came to a boil. But it threw off the ratio of milk to chocolate so I ended up adding a lot more chocolate than I thought I needed. Thank goodness I had that lying around too. Unfortunately I didn't keep track of how much I threw in because I just started adding whatever I had. Let's just say I did a lot of finger crossing and praying for it to turn out.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then for the last touch I sprinkled it with gold sanding sugar. Again, cause it was lying around. I was gonna sprinkle it with cocoa powder but I was trying to get rid of the sugar. Anyways, it all makes for one very good profiterole. </div><div><br /></div><div>Sometimes the blahs are good :)</div><div><br /></div><div>Pate a Choux (this recipe is Art & Soul's but the method of prep is in my words)</div><div>1 cup water</div><div>1 stick butter or 1/4 cup butter</div><div>1 cup flour</div><div>4 eggs</div><div><br /></div><div>Preheat oven to 400*. Cube the butter and put in saucepan. Add water and bring to a boil. As soon as it starts to boil add flour all at once and beat the flour until it is well incorporated. Put into bowl of stand mixer and beat with paddle attachment till bowl is warm to touch. Add eggs one at a time until it reaches the right consistency (this part is about the hardest part since it's hard to describe, but the batter shouldn't be really thick but it shouldn't be slack at all either). You may not need all the eggs called for in the recipe. Use your best judgement. Continue beating until the gluten is developed. To check for this pinch some batter off with your forefinger and thumb and try to stretch the dough. If it breaks it isn't ready. If it stretches without breaking as you pull your fingers apart, it's ready. Another thing to look for is the "wagon wheel", a chef instructor told me that as the paddle is going around it will leave a wagon wheel pattern in the dough. You may say "Huh?" now but if you try this and look for it then you'll say "OH! Wagon wheel! I get it!". On cookie sheets lined with parchment, pipe desired shapes out: rectangle for eclairs and rosette for profiteroles. I might actually try to demonstrate this one day but until then, I apologize. Bake for 20 minutes at 400*, drop temp down to 350* and bake for 20 minutes, drop temp again to 300* and bake for 20 minutes. Let cool before filling. Can be frozen and stored for later use. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'm doing these again soon since apparently they were rather popular. And the guy that fixed my computer is taking payment in eclairs. So I will fill you in with the recipe for the pastry cream when I make then again. I'm playing with flavors so tune in!</div>A Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670754602842543297.post-59983592714670936362010-01-03T16:29:00.002-05:002010-01-03T16:35:37.259-05:00Fun With Pate a ChouxRight now I'm working on profiteroles. In fact they are in the oven as I type. I'll post again when they are all done but I thought I would share a funny story about these first. I once had a boss that thought these were soooo difficult to make. In fact she kinda made it a test to see how good you were. I never got to try them out with her because I was just a cake decorator there. But, and this is the funny part, these are soooo easy to make. She was just one of those people that thought too highly of herself and made it seem like anything she did was to much for anyone else to do. And something else that was funny about her: she called her profiteroles eclairs. Eclairs and profiteroles are basically the same. But if they are long they are eclairs. If they are a ball they are profiteroles. <div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Anyways, didn't say this was going to be an enlightening post. Just wanted to share something amusing before I shared my work.</div>A Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670754602842543297.post-64208147896322982022009-12-15T14:10:00.009-05:002009-12-15T14:26:27.726-05:00Do You Remember Me?<div>Yeah. So ummm. It's been awhile. How've you been? Whatcha been up to? Oh really? Wow. Very interesting. Oh. Me? Well, not much. Just school, work, kid. Same ole same ole.<div><br /></div><div>I've been keeping busy in the dessert and pastry world. Not so much in bread. Which is a shame. I meant to make challah for Thanksgiving but I ended up pretty much doing everything for that dinner that there was no time for that. Instead of going through a whole essay of work I've done I'll just share the pics:</div></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiACB_yEeCO3jXcSqqDHqT6M4RLuZm3EBtl7XZmnSAeLYjg1Itskw8IS_I_5wqwAncxFuj81c2hDC_Yukn0JAyzaxVCuClZNMAliv6OIe4uvlxTHGIyPR_Z_k8PwA2T1ofg65eLpw4p2w0/s1600-h/IMG_3817.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiACB_yEeCO3jXcSqqDHqT6M4RLuZm3EBtl7XZmnSAeLYjg1Itskw8IS_I_5wqwAncxFuj81c2hDC_Yukn0JAyzaxVCuClZNMAliv6OIe4uvlxTHGIyPR_Z_k8PwA2T1ofg65eLpw4p2w0/s200/IMG_3817.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415545141123729154" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">My turkey. Isn't he pretty?</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaKcI4utPc0b0CKkoY4YQxQ-QbuetVRTxkt3ibQY81YhDzy9MN2OjcauR1pLG-xeSUlTlLaEZfQ7_fhtRXk1DE13kgS9H_B4jgoTrcMCI_Fev5jzSuss0BWqQZxSyyziTViQ5NzHwgqH8/s1600-h/IMG_3785.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaKcI4utPc0b0CKkoY4YQxQ-QbuetVRTxkt3ibQY81YhDzy9MN2OjcauR1pLG-xeSUlTlLaEZfQ7_fhtRXk1DE13kgS9H_B4jgoTrcMCI_Fev5jzSuss0BWqQZxSyyziTViQ5NzHwgqH8/s200/IMG_3785.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415543815914405362" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Orange tartlets. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpahu31lMP8Ab7Lg-dBQEvbMg5cLUROI-9Gl9YtG-4U4cBeS-T5wX7k63DuyNy2sEGlhywyGEF5GawtJsj6j7KO7GUgHK9v-zpa1r-VBOXYPNb_pyWIKpMQ9GF8ALgQDPAoIqQxvsngBk/s1600-h/IMG_3794.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpahu31lMP8Ab7Lg-dBQEvbMg5cLUROI-9Gl9YtG-4U4cBeS-T5wX7k63DuyNy2sEGlhywyGEF5GawtJsj6j7KO7GUgHK9v-zpa1r-VBOXYPNb_pyWIKpMQ9GF8ALgQDPAoIqQxvsngBk/s200/IMG_3794.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415543808149513874" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Bunny groom's cake. Not my work but my friend helped out for this wedding.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw4yk06e3gclxkfA-DcZgaikpiN5bEK1Ac9Dl8F555RI7zAIDQx4IDduQ8Vzvb7y05r3LFQJRPlhjaywpdD0k-4IJouC7drF19JXMywPU6MJ1FeBhQp3y3O6RX3zRqjhUeotoqd1V8WBk/s1600-h/IMG_3795.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw4yk06e3gclxkfA-DcZgaikpiN5bEK1Ac9Dl8F555RI7zAIDQx4IDduQ8Vzvb7y05r3LFQJRPlhjaywpdD0k-4IJouC7drF19JXMywPU6MJ1FeBhQp3y3O6RX3zRqjhUeotoqd1V8WBk/s200/IMG_3795.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415543797539088066" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Wedding Cake. This ended up being pretty tall. Or taller than I'm used to dealing with. It was a nightmare getting it set up.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">P.S. Cassie, you happy now? :)</div><div><br /></div>A Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670754602842543297.post-68771076719089893142009-10-20T18:06:00.003-04:002009-10-20T18:10:22.129-04:00WOW!Just realized I haven't been here since August. But in my defense my computer's been sick and I haven't been able to upload pics. I could use my mom's mac but we don't like each other (the computer and me that is). I have been busy. I've finished almost all my culinary classes, I'm finishing up my gen ed right now, and I have a wedding cake this weekend and another possible job later. I've been taking pictures, so when I finally get around to uploading them somewhere I'll post all of them.A Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670754602842543297.post-22126413552572852992009-08-26T17:47:00.004-04:002009-08-26T17:54:19.897-04:00Hello... AgainTo my few followers, I've missed you. I've been busy busy busy. I started one job and then ended up taking another job somewhere else. A steadier job with a possible future. Say it ain't so! It can't be true.<br /><br />So anyways, I haven't had much time for anything. In my free time I sleep. I'm one of those now lol. But I just started my pastry class (and my last lab class for school, YIPPEE!) so whatever cute things I make there I'll try to take pictures and show it off. I am also entering a cake competition so there will be pictures from that. And I've been comissioned to do a couple cakes coming up so there will be pictures from that too.<br /><br />And lastly, very certainly not least, my last chef instructor suggested I try getting into this pastry school down in Orlando. He says with a letter from him I'm as good as in so I just need to find the money to do it. Anyone willing to make a contribution? :) But that probably won't happen til next summer at the earliest.<br /><br />I hope to get back on here again real soon with something worth talking about and showing off. Later.A Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670754602842543297.post-36253916442249250282009-08-06T11:49:00.003-04:002009-08-06T11:57:27.614-04:00Blueberry Buckle From Cook's Illustrated<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi013Ttfy7YYd8T7riFh1_uCDpo_Wy09YP9Zjs_D8mN6AAVhPOxDTm7lF0mX3VNTfWF0ka1OAO51KHy-kkzscJSHTqc_BQBlw9yS5kQeSyK7tFtyuGNdKvYkVNHEzGHp9tiYrf6d5iYSpo/s1600-h/IMG_3767.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 143px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366878506709441490" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi013Ttfy7YYd8T7riFh1_uCDpo_Wy09YP9Zjs_D8mN6AAVhPOxDTm7lF0mX3VNTfWF0ka1OAO51KHy-kkzscJSHTqc_BQBlw9yS5kQeSyK7tFtyuGNdKvYkVNHEzGHp9tiYrf6d5iYSpo/s200/IMG_3767.JPG" /></a> Wow! Long time no see. This will be super short because I'm coming from one appointment and getting ready to go to my job and really I should be spending this time with my little girl. But I made blueberry buckle the other day and I just had to share this pretty picture of it.<br /><br />Buckle is a kind of coffee cake, so Cook's says, and it is, but as they also say it is mostly fruit. Like 2 parts fruit to 1 part batter. Hopefully tonight I'll sit down and add the recipe to this post. Be patient to the few of you that actually read this and haven't given up on me. :-PA Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670754602842543297.post-92149931418075936172009-07-08T16:21:00.006-04:002009-07-09T23:46:54.482-04:00Blueberry Muffins<div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeORVVsaf212lT8BJ8eLkHK5LVA3iWgP7HCIiuRGDPQB2yYwoyDNOu-8tZexeWzQUq9Nqg23G3VgO1q9JNCHm31lDNxbDcU0Dwor2AI0MKpDumJ5-vLtjry-Fb9JNaFwvK82pkBUs-J1I/s1600-h/IMG_3698.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 143px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356671510816503986" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeORVVsaf212lT8BJ8eLkHK5LVA3iWgP7HCIiuRGDPQB2yYwoyDNOu-8tZexeWzQUq9Nqg23G3VgO1q9JNCHm31lDNxbDcU0Dwor2AI0MKpDumJ5-vLtjry-Fb9JNaFwvK82pkBUs-J1I/s200/IMG_3698.jpg" /></a>I have about five different blogs I follow that have done blueberry muffins or cupcakes and I've been craving them since the first blueberry post I saw. We had breakfast last night for dinner (my fave!) and I had my mom pick up some blueberries for my pancakes. Well, pancakes don't really need that many blueberries (especially since I'm really the only one that eats them that way) so I made Banana Blueberry Muffins. I found a recipe on epicurious.com, my go-to site for recipes, and found a <a href="http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/printerfriendly/Banana-Chocolate-Chip-Muffins-101020">banana chocolate chip muffin</a> (check the recipe out) and switched out the chocolate for blueberries. The only thing I did really was increase the amount of blueberries. I think I put in a cup but I say add as many as you like. These are very very yummy and moist. I should have put crumble on top but I wasn't thinking. It was late and I was tired.<img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 143px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356671849710944274" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdru73U0vSZHvRljgvVK96SYv3XM-9TQqWA0wDTnLuJ-jXWo_oP4Rac0lnM1Dkb0uBS3emMvSfVc5IzTw3E8Z5B_v24wSoB6W-HfVCh_wISvDAM6zS5Z6cYIH61oIPDgCyqhJWZ53rMTo/s200/IMG_3701.JPG" /> <img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 143px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356671845569494994" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD9evAflfgnrIxkMukNaCe-iXQ2q8G78EtrLbF-wEQ4NF9b-l3FRqyKq-SMYJxzUP1ifh4ga443bTGXXa4SU9wiNgKEx5UY5LD0MvM_BFFvFYcLC7fd0HqDmFViwH2oO4sd3Rm9SRf_wQ/s200/IMG_3699.JPG" /></div></div>A Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670754602842543297.post-50628482704087846002009-07-05T18:58:00.003-04:002009-07-05T19:15:21.579-04:00Fourth of July<div><div>Happy Fourth everyone! I know I'm late but I was a little busy. This is going to be very short today. This is another decorated cookie entry. So recipes are still the same. Same sugar cookies. Same royal icing. But anyways, I made these cookies with my little girl. I'm hoping to make this something we do every holiday: I make the fancy cookies while she paints them. Eventually she'll get into decorating them too and we'll be a pair of decorating cookie fools! So here she is showing off her cookies and may I just say, she did a spectacular job, just look at the pride in her eyes.<img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 143px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355115394352551010" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzAK7xBw4-VbYjj6sSMcZbk1iXtD3Lg4EomrRDPDVeStxL4Mwrpne07akUC8XcjD-RiZLqtvs-M81iQDjujZ8-cbk-DS3-Hp5iDcDe4YBKPS4qD-5-0culTbvRcIUUZgMAnNzw_L2mdcU/s200/IMG_3689.JPG" /></div></div><br /><p>And here's my take on the Fourth of July cookies. </p><p><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 160px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355115404049223618" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF-g4viOVHBJ3n0EPUZtT2Z2ZUmmVUrDlY6l_6IUJVO65SoGYzXiPaVfbetxQE4L3FTHIH8AnqO8BbT3P_TijwsTjATnLTQNzGt344y-5xPzTUGl7Q3fSMupNe3QWpU6VcbwhmSLEyy7U/s200/IMG_3692.JPG" /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 160px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355115400618769186" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikMuoxw0XdYfumgdZ7FdWLJg_Jn1ey6Jo4tVZDHRNXrZidpDC0BVaksl22IhZX6BfB4Sav0yEspDZFudkkce-9sVPTSZaOGM3C6aelPYcyugGEUMYu7wvWpHURCXGziTguKmLlAVm1VYE/s200/IMG_3691.JPG" />Hope you had fun and enjoyed fireworks somewhere, if not here's a pic of what I saw.</p><p><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 143px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355115413017628098" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHNcsowI-G_PFobt2P2RTOXkKF34uxIW59TQGIHOKQGv0567E1WwCvBvqjKdRGiHDil11KY9OOzuG2jgpao1UcGjBm4W0a4r6BbNVqSpVHE5_v4_alqriK7NhPqt5C-eLEYrZcwxsCmdY/s200/IMG_1441.JPG" /></p>A Slice of Concentrated Lovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07849409386728198477noreply@blogger.com1