Cake Class 4: The Monkey Cake

Isn't he cute? I'm mostly happy with it as a first try. My cake didn't come out of the pan nicely so it was hard to see the definition of the hands and feet. In contrast, one of my classmates also did the monkey and she could tell exactly where each finger and toe was. So I need to work on making sure my pan works for me. I have enough icing left over to have another go at it this weekend. I'm going to use a smaller tip for the outline and tweak the color and consistency. I'm sure Dan won't mind me making another cake :)

It has been another long week, and I'm so happy to see Friday. It's an exciting day - I have a haircut appointment, my parents' party invites are here, and I should be getting the shirt Dan ordered me as a gift. I love the Johnny Cupcakes shop and the story behind the business. Basically, the designer started making and wearing shirts with cupcakes as kind of a joke and they caught on. 9 years later, he's developed somewhat of a cult following and has spoofed various logos and designs by adding or substituting a cupcake. There are a ton of designs, all of them exclusive to the website and Johnny Cupcakes stores, and there also limited edition, hand numbered designs. Dan got me the classic Johnny Cupcakes insignia tee:

We've also got a fun weekend ahead. Tomorrow is the Walk for Wishes 5K, I still need to check and see what time we have to be there. I also have my coworker's family baby shower in the afternoon, and then we're meeting up with Scott & Melissa and their kids to play putt-putt golf and get sushi. On Sunday, I hope to get some St. Patrick's Day cookies done and give the monkey another try. If I have time (it doesn't seem like it though), I also want to work on my daisy painting. There will be no lack of activity in our home this weekend, that's for sure.

Do you have fun weekend plans?

Clover's Day Out

It's been a very long Wednesday. Clover was awake at 2:30 this morning, and was restless until 4:40, barely allowing me to doze off every now and then. When she chose 4:45 to jump down onto the floor and I burst into tears, my sweet husband got up, took The Girls, and went to the living room so I could get an hour of rest. When I got up, he told me he was going to Starbucks and had me write down my favorite drink. I felt like a zombie and it was a much needed pick-me-up. Salt mentioned on her blog that married life for her and her new husband isn't much different than engaged-cohabitating life except that they're ultra-nice to each other. I have to agree. Getting up early and getting me an iced venti Chai Tea latte at 6:15am was very ultra-nice of my husband. Though I must brag, I think he'd have done that anyway :)

Anyway, it was a long day. I was tired, despite my latte and 2 Coke Zeros. I had a LOT to do at work, a huge deadline worth about $1.5M. I seriously owe cupcakes to about 5 people who really went out of their way to help me on very short notice. I also forgot my phone and felt bare all day, though luckily Dan has a Blackberry, so I was able to to check in with him now and then via email. I left at almost 5:30, after nearly 10 hours in the office and too late to stop at the grocery store on my way home without knowing if Dan was home to let the dogs out. As it turns out, Dan was home.

And what did he find? Scratching on the bedroom door. From Paisley on the outside, and Clover on the inside. But wait... isn't Clover supposed to be in a crate during the day? Why yes, she is! Turns out, Tired Me forgot to check to make sure both crate doors were closed. We have no idea how long she was free in the bedroom, but were relieved to find that there wasn't much damage. She'd gotten a shoe and ripped up a paper bag. And that was it. Dan met me downstairs to warn me, but there was no reason to.

And here's where it gets gross, so stop reading if you want. We realized that she should have gone #2 by that time of day. She's crate trained, so she doesn't go in her crate, but the rest of the apartment is her personal toilety free-for-all since she refuses with the passionate fire of 1,000 suns to not be house-broken. Andplusalso, she's a poo eater. We thought maybe we'd gotten lucky, and she hadn't gone, that she hadn't discovered the open crate door and been out long enough. Then again, maybe she'd gotten out and recycled her breakfast as a snack. Dan told me to smell her breath, and I did, mostly as a joke.

And then... she shitburped in my face. I told you to stop reading.

Our Gross Little Thing is currently sleeping happily on the couch, snuggled up with Paisley and completely unaware that she's spending tonight in her crate. I have to get sleep, or I'll go nuts.

In other news, my apron came today! I got the black and white damask, and I love it. I wore it to mix my cake batter for my final cake class tomorrow.

And in other exciting news, my sister and I are planning and throwing our parents a 30th anniversary party. We've spent the last couple evenings planning and conspiring and I'm so excited. 30 years is quite the accomplishment, and I truly admire my parents' relationship. I think we're planning a fun party - with a surprise theme until the invites arrive - that they'll really love.

I'm also contemplating a vacation or a staycation. We're not doing a big honeymoon trip and I need to burn a week so I'm contemplating ideas. I might take a week to be at home and just unwind and then Dan and I might both fly to Seattle at the end to visit my sister. I also considered visiting family in New York and ending my visit with a trip to the Post Secret event taking place at a college nearby. We shall see. If anyone has ideas, I'm open to something economical.

Cake Class 3: Feliz Cumpleanos, Abuelita!

Last night we had to make a birthday cake with our new found talent for Wilton roses. Ha, talent! My poor roses. Actually, my poor cake. It was slowly falling apart, making cracks along the top and making the sides look saggy. It's actually kinda wonky and reminds me of the Mad Hatter's hat from Alice in Wonderland. Pretty entertaining. After struggling with roses for a while, I finally got 6 that were fit for the top of a cake. Then came the shells... again. And more garlands on the sides, like on the Happy Friday cake. I'm not sure what Gloria's obsession with these garlands is all about, but I'm not liking them. They make my cake look like it came from Safeway.

After the shells and garlands came the mini rose buds and sweet peas. I could have done without these too. Less is more, sometimes, Gloria. She did actually have an interesting technique for the rose buds. We cut Jelly Bellys (gluten free!) in half and stuck a toothpick in the cut end. Then we made a tiny rose using the jelly belly as the base. Then we stuck the toothpick into the cake at the intersection of each garland. Sweet peas and swirl flowers went on top of the shells at the base of the cake, alternating at the center under each garland.

If this all sounds like a lot for one cake, that's because it is. The thing is a monstrosity, er a piece of art I like to call "Feliz Cumpleanos, Abuelita" because it looks like a grandma's birthday cake and we were all speaking our compliments in Spanish last night: "oooh, que bonita!!"

Without further ado, I give you... the cake:

I'll replace these pics with better ones at home, but I couldn't post without pics and you get the idea. Poor cake.

Baby-sitting, sushi and painting

We had a very nice weekend. On Friday night, we laid low and hung out together after a long week. On Saturday, I met a friend for lunch and then took her baby for a few hours so she could get a break. She and her husband have no family here, so she's only had about 2 days in the 6 months of Connor's life to re-energize. So I took Connor and ran some errands, including shopping for a gift for my coworker's baby shower next weekend.

The thing that surprised me about watching Connor was the sheer logistics. Everywhere we went, I had to think about how we were going to get around the store. He's able to sit up, so Kristi gave me a grocery cart cover/seat for him, along with a super light-weight Combi stroller (when I'm a mom, I have to have one of these things!). At some stores, a stroller made more sense, but Target required a grocery cart. I began to realize how simply attempting to get things done with a little one adds time and effort.

After running errands, I took Connor back to the apartment for a bottle. Holy crap, a 19 pound baby and a 2nd floor apartment don't mix. On days when I want a baby so badly my uterus aches and I think "a baby in an apartment wouldn't be so bad," I will now think back to Saturday and what a nightmare it would really be. Taking him for a walk along with Clover was interesting. I carried him downstairs, took Clover on a leash and went to the car. Then I realized I couldn't put either of them down since I'd left the car seat upstairs (and he can roll, so putting him on the seat wouldn't work). So I put Clover in the back seat and managed to open the super light Combi one-handed and get Connor in before Clover figured out how to climb over the back seat and get into the cargo space. We had a nice long walk with Connor singing and babbling most of the way, but putting the stroller back in the car was worse, since it required two hands. By the time I got us all back upstairs, I was exhausted. It was time to get Connor home for his dinner/bath/bed routine, so I loaded him all up and drove him home.

When I got home, Dan and I freshened up and headed out to look at paint samples. We originally planned to only be in our apartment for a few months, but when we realized how much we'd save over renting a house, we decided to stay another year. Since it's stark white and blah here, we agreed to paint some accent walls. After checking out color options, we went for dinner at RA Sushi. Delicious food, but that night we had awful service. I won't even get into it all, but it was very disappointing. I never ever complain, as I worked in restaurants in college and realize that things just happen, but I actually called the manager after we left. The manager apologized profusely and offered up complimentary appetizers and sushi rolls.

Today, we slept in - all four of us - and it was glorious. We went to Scott and Melissa's for Family Art Funday. I'd sketched out a gerber daisy on a canvas and got to start it. It was so great to have Melissa's help. Part of me was scared to paint something that looks like something in front of people - I prefer abstract painting and just playing with my hobby - but she was really awesome and gave me pointers and even showed me techniques so I could try them myself. Dan finished his cherry blossom branch and it looks awesome. He's got a little touching up to do and then I'll post a picture of it. It's truly an amazing work of art.

This evening I had to stack my cakes for class tomorrow - it may or may not have gone so well. One of my cakes started to break on me, and I'm crossing my fingers it will hold up. It's very frustrating to try to get the icing perfectly smooth with no crumbs. I know practice will make me better, but I want to be good at it now!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!!

Cake Class 2: Clowning Around

Did you know Jelly Bellys are gluten free? Now you do.

Cake decorating class today was fun, as expected. I baked and stacked my cakes last night, and got the frosting pretty smooth for my first shot. We started by painting three different colored stripes in a pastry bag. Once it was filled with icing and squeezed, the frosting came out with ribbons of color. Pretty cool. So what do we do with ribbony icing? Make creepy clowns of course. We were supposed to put them on our cakes and make a birthday cake, but I opted not to. I used my ribbony icing to work on my shells and write "Happy Friday" on my cake (you're welcome coworkers).


Gluten Free is socially oblivious, I've decided. She kept interrupting when people were talking and piping in (ha, puns are fun!) with various foods that are gluten free. Like gluten-free boxed cakes and Jelly Bellys. And that's... that's about it. She's like the Bubba of gluten-free foods. Sprinkles, on the contrary, have gluten, FYI.

I came home to Stuffed Peppers a la Dan, a bottle of pinot noir, and The Office. Oh em gee, it's the baby episode!! What more can a girl ask for?

Rainbows

Today is my friend’s birthday. Was. It was his birthday. Or is it “is”? I just don’t know.

When I was a sophomore in high school, I befriended a freshman named John. He was on the swim team with me and we clicked instantly. We had little crushes, but after 4 days of the innocent hand-holding thing, we decided we were better as friends. We spent hours together. We’d share a lane at swim practice and walk for a bite to eat after school. When I started dating a football player my junior year, I’d go to every game and sit right next to the band so I could hang out with John while he played clarinet. He’d make me laugh with his Elmo voice and hear me out on my issues with other girls. He was my best friend. At the end of my junior year, John tried out for and won the drum major role for the next year. He was so ecstatic. He had such a love for music and had so many ideas for field formations and songs the band could learn.

On Labor Day my senior year, I was at home. We had friends over to swim. The phone rang, my friend Jamie told me to sit down. She told me John was gone. My heart broke then and there. He’d taken his own life, his mom had found him. The next days were a blur – the candlelight vigil, the wake, the funeral. On Thursday that week, our flex schedule should have crossed our paths between 2nd and 4th period on my way to pre-calculus. He didn’t greet me at the stairs. I burst into tears, and my friend Lisa led me to the grief counselor that had been brought in just for us.

To this day, I don’t know why he’s gone, but I still miss him when I think of him. I think his passing has impacted me so deeply because he was so young. We were so young. We were supposed to be happy and carefree. On the surface, he was. But deep down, there was a sadness I can’t begin to comprehend. I suspect what contributed to it. At his funeral, John’s mom said he’d made a mistake. I believe that – that he’d gotten caught up in some dark place and didn’t see another way out. I don’t think he truly wanted to leave.

His birthdays always touch my heart. He loved to celebrate birthdays, just as I do. He’d bring his friends balloon bouquets at school. As I’ve grown up, I’m often reminded of the things that John won't experience. He never got to drive the VW Bug he saved for for three years. He didn’t walk across the stage on our high school football field and graduate. He never had a college roommate or had to endure finals. He never fell in love. But with all he’ll miss, there is one thing he did do that brings a smile to my face. I’m thankful that he got to lead his beloved band as drum major for the first game of the season, 2 days before he left us.

I don’t like to think about his death, though that date is forever etched in my mind. I prefer to think of him on his birthday, and remember him as he was when he was happiest: blonde hair, blue eyes, a mouth full of braces, proudly wearing his fire red and white band uniform. It’s what he wore when he gave me the last hug, the last time I saw him. When he was laid to rest, his mom told us that when we saw a rainbow, it was a smile from above, a gift from John. I don’t believe it myself, but every year on March 4th, I’ve seen a rainbow. He’s the one giving gifts on his birthday. He was always so sweet like that.

So, my dear friend, Happy Birthday. You’ll always be in my heart and memories. And thank you for the rainbows.

Please help me decide!

I'm really doing it this time - I'm ordering that apron I've been wanting from Etsy seller Boojiboo. The only problem is that I can't decide which of their cute options I like best. So I'm hoping you can help. I've got 4 favorites.

Number 1:

The cute cupcake design comes in pale pink, yellow, or blue. I like the yellow and pink best.

Number 2:

The damask comes with black, pink, or red trim

Number 3:

It's not something I'd normally pick, but there's something attractive and appealing about this pattern I can't put my finger on.

Number 4:

Skulls - because I'm hard like that.

So, which one should I get? You can also check out Boojiboo's shop here

Belated Meal Plan Monday

I'll forgive my cake class for making me a day late on this one. Honestly, yesterday at work was also so busy, I couldn't even begin to think about dinner. Here's what we're having this week:

Monday: Dan made whole wheat pasta with veggies - this is seriously one of his favorites

Tuesday: Meat loaf. Yummmmm!

Wednesday: Lemon pepper chicken with green beans and red potatoes

Thursday: Stuffed Peppers - I'm planning one of Dan's specialties for a night he'll be cooking

Friday: Homemade pizza


In other news, our futon came in. Dan's putting it together as we speak, freeing me up to watch LOST. I have a group of coworkers at my old job who are also big fans and we're finally having lunch tomorrow and discussing it.

2 days down, 3 to go...

Cake Class 1: Gluten Free

I showed that cake who's boss in my first class today! It was an interesting experience. There are 5 other ladies in the class - one my age, and the rest are probably between 40 and 50. Some do other creative hobbies, a couple others don't even bake... yet.

Our instructor, Gloria, is from Guadalajara, Mexico and the first thing she did was kick the buttercream icing recipe in the book to the curb. She explained also that she teaches the Wilton concepts, but isn't paid on sales of product and has found some better ways to do things and she'll show us her own helpful tips along the way. She noted that we're adults and this is an open class and we're welcome to experiment and share, as well.

Gloria gave us her recipe, which she's perfected over the years. As she was reading off the ingredients and showing containers, we noticed that the shortening the recipe called for wasn't an easily estimated portion of a container. The woman next to me started getting uneasy. She wanted to know exactly how to measure everything perfectly. Gloria said, "I'm Latina, we don't do exact," but showed us how to eyeball it. She explained that her recipe is more robust than the book recipe, which apparently has to be spot-on to achieve perfect consistency. After we made her recipe in groups, she demonstrated how foolproof her recipe is and dumped in an extra 4 tablespoons of butter and 4 oz of cream cheese. The result: same consistency, same taste. Pretty amazing considering she about doubled those two ingredients.

So then the woman next to me wanted to know how we can make the recipe with no sugar or fat, because she cooks gluten free and organic and is allergic to things. She must have told us 800 times how she makes gluten free cakes that everyone loves. She wasn't even actually decorating because apparently she can't touch wheat. Uh... hmmm. This is a cake class, cakes are generally full of sugar and fat. The instructor is there to teach decorating, not to know how to sub recipes for dietary restrictions. I get that food allergies require people to figure out alternatives and get creative, but this didn't seem to the place.

So we made our frosting (minus Gluten Free) and learned to level our itty bitty 6" round cakes. Then we had to stack them and ice the outside. We learned techniques for how to get our buttercream perfectly smooth. I thought mine came out really well. Next we had to make "shells" to hide flaws where the sides of the cake meets the top and at the bottom where the cake sits on the plate. Yeah, I'm not so hot at shells. It doesn't help that I don't like the way they look - they're the same finishing touch that most grocery store cakes have and I'm just not a fan. Gluten Free wanted to take pictures as we were working because she blogs. Otherwise, she just sat there and stared me and my wee cake down.

After finishing our cakes and cleaning up, it was time to go over homework. Gluten Free noticed that Gloria was giving us materials and instructions for the lesson 2 cake, not lesson 3, and brought it up. Gloria explained that the she was changing the order because lesson 3 requires a round cake like we'd just made, whereas lesson 2 allows the choice between round and a shaped character pan, and that switching the next two lessons helps us build skills for the final lesson. No biggie, right? Makes sense? Sure. Not so much for Gluten Free. She is a rules follower, the kind of stickler that makes me look tame on my freakiest day.

So I packed up my sugary, fatty, non-organic, glutenful cake and came home. Dan thought it was pretty awesome. We shared it, but I wasn't a fan of the 8.5 pounds of buttercream I'd put on it, so he got quite a bit of my half, too.

I'm really excited for my class on Thursday. I have to recreate a much bigger version of what we did today on my own and I'll end up with something I can take to work to share. I'm so glad that Gloria is willing to give us freedom to experiment while learning techniques - I'm hoping to let out my creative side and decorate a pretty fantastic cake.

It's cake class day!!

I am uber-excited for my first Wilton cake class this evening! I'm also excited to get to do something just for me. Mrs. ESPN got me the class and the class kit as a bridal shower gift back in August and I finally have time to take it. I went to the store with Dan yesterday to pick up the rest of the supplies (like creepy clown heads) and treated myself to a pastry tip caddy for my (literally) 20 or so decorating tips. Right now all my cookie and cake decorating stuff lives in a plastic three-drawer rolling dresser thing that resides in what was the wedding closet. I'm debating a portable caddy for my stuff, but haven't decided yet what exactly I want. I decided, though, that my pastry tips definitely need a better home than a ziplock baggy. I think of them as an investment, since they're one of the only things that don't get used up in making cookies, so I need to take good care of them.

Our weekend was great - I got in a lot of naps. Dan had to work a job pretty much all day Saturday, so I got up with The Girls and then went back to sleep until noon. We spent our evening eating delicious leftovers and watching the Food Network. Yesterday, we took a family nap in the morning and then went to get cake supplies and had a late lunch at our favorite Mexican place. I took another nap with Paisley in the evening while Dan painted.

I also got my first graduation communication from my grad school. I'm getting very excited. Even though I won't walk the stage and graduate, the end is very near. Graduation at the school is May 8th and my last assignment is due May 3rd - that's a mere 9 weeks away!

Today is the beginning of close at work, and I'm just hoping it goes more smoothly than last month. There were some changes to our process in January that made me a little angsty come Friday, so cross your fingers this week is better. I have cake class tonight and Thursday, so I need to get runs in on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Have a great week!