I have always enjoyed baking whenever I did it but I secretly wished I knew how to decorate my baking better. For the longest time I wanted to take cake decorating classes so that I could make pretty edible things versus just edible things. My first real effort at decorating a cake was for Maribel's birthday, only for hers I used fondant. It was fun, and I was overall pleased with the results but I still wanted to learn how to make roses and borders and all that fun stuff.
For my birthday I received Wilton cake decorating classes and I could not have been more excited!!!!!! <<< Hence all the exclimtion marks. There were 4 lessons (once a week) and in each lesson we got to learn a new technique, fun tips, and if you were at my table, a whole lotta laughs....
Lesson 1 was more or less an introductory lesson and we had a little hands on with some prepared icing. We practiced filling the cloth bags with icing and played with couplers and tips. We also practiced on cookies but I ran out of time so I only left with 4 semi decorated cookies. Not worth photographing, I thought. Only 2 made it home....
But I did practice with the star tip and filling a cake in between lessons on this Super Man cake for my SIL's BF. It was a learning process for sure, like make sure you outline the details of the cake after adding the dirty icing or else you won't know where the cape ends and his arm begins. Now he looks like he only works out one side of his body like, a science experiment.
Lesson 2 was to bring in a cake to ice and decorate. We learned how to ice the cake all pretty and smooth-ish and practiced with some round tips. I chose the cupcake pattern because in the book it looked super cute and fun...um yeh....not so much with my cake. After adding the carefully squeezed confection goodness it ended up looking like a pile of icing intestines or a nest of baby mice...you pick.
Sooooo I should have paid more attention when picking my colours for my icing..... It wasn't until it was too late that I realized what I had done. Of course Joe got excited when he noticed and asked, "Ooo you made me a cake?" I was starting to feel like my goal of making "pretty edible things" still needed some work.
Lesson 3 we got to decorate some cupcakes like flowers. Yay, right? I actually felt like I was making some progress. Definitely a step up since the boobie cake from the previous class.
Can you tell which one Maribel had her eye on? Yes, I totally let her have a cupcake before bed.
Lesson 4 was the final lesson where I learned how to make ribbon roses from icing. As a kid I always favoured the corner pieces of cakes because that was where the most icing was with some flowers. Since my final cake was round I made sure that my piece was from the left side of the cake...
So now that the classes are finished I received a lovely certificate showing that I now have some mad skills with an icing bag and I'm not afraid to use it! I loved this class and would recommend it to anyone who wants to take their cake decorating skills to the next level above just smearing canned icing with a butter knife, which was me last month.
Next up is the Gum Paste and Fondant class. Stay tuned as this should prove to be interesting....
Looking at this in the mornings feels so....right!
I was super duper lucky this passed week to have a close cousin come down for a visit which explains my absense here. We had so much fun playing tourist and revisiting all the fun-ness that Orlando has to offer. Sometimes I forget what's around until someone comes to visit then I have just as much fun as they do and forget that I live here but then I also get a little homesick when we start talking Canada talk.
She spoiled me rotten with some treats from "back home." When she pulled out these bad boys I squealed with joy!!! I may have done a happy dance or two...
I have always liked my Shreddies with fresh bananas and lots of sugar! See the sugar? *drool* As a kid I loved drinking the sweet milk the sugar would make after each tender morsel has been consumed. I think I need to invest in one of those bowls with the built in straw. *wink* *wink* Hey, someone has to teach Maribel how to eat Shreddies the proper way. Why shouldn't it be me?
Did I scare ya? Ah well, I tried. Since Halloween is right around the corner I thought I would make some fun and spooky treats for little M's lunch.
To start you'll need a fruit rollup, pretzel sticks and scissors. Carefully unwrap the fruit roll up and cut it into 3x2 inch squares. Then cut a few fringes and roll the pretzel and the fruit rollup together and you're done. If you want a few more bristles to the broom you can snip away. That's it. Easy peasy.
I gave one to Joe and his only comment was "Interesting combination." It's perfect for a kiddo's pallet.
Happy Monday!
I wanted to share my Coraline inspired layout for SkrapnChat's October LO Tag. I was so honored when they selected my "Too Too Tain" to kick off the tag. Being the first in line on my team I had to be creative as to not take away key elements but still keeping with the essence of the layout.
I was also looking for an excuse to pick up the Martha Stewart picket fence border punch that I had been eyeballing for quite some time. All I needed was the right layout and inspiration ;0)
And speaking of inspiration, not sure who our pumpkin is supposed to look like, but Maribel designed it all on her own =)
We had so much fun carving, cutting, scouping and making a wonderful mess. I even roasted the seeds and seasoned them with a savory seasoning mix. Mmm mmm! I forgot how much I loved pumpkin seeds!
To roast pumpkin seeds you preheat your oven to 325F and wash the seeds under cold water and separate them from the pulp. (I used a strainer to put the seeds into to give a final rinse) Spread them out onto a non stick cookie sheet in a thin layer and baste with the savory seasoning by mixing 4tbs butter, 1/2 tsp garlic salt and 2 tsp of worchestershire sauce. Bake for 25 min stirring them after 10 min. Remove from the oven a let cool.
I'm soooooo excited to try out her recipes, especially her 'Boeuf Bourguignon'. It looked so good in the movie ;0)
And since I got my gift to myself in the mail today, I think it's time to pay it forward and hold a little give away myself. Wouldn't it be nice to receive a little packet of goodies in your mailbox?
So tell me. What do you like to cook? Leave a comment and one random person will be getting this little prezzie from me :P
Happy cooking/baking/ordering!
j
Please note: if you're posting using the 'anonymous' please put your first name so I don't have to guess who you are, although guessing games can be fun ;-)
I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that Maribel could order her meals on her own when we stop at a certain undisclosed fast food chain. The hint is in the card I'm ashamed to say. I really want her to grow up with an appreciation of cooking and to feel the blessings of eating healthy and at a dinner table, not the car or couch.
But there is some good news, I finally found my passion for cooking after 2 1/2 years of detesting my kitchen. *insert happy dance here* I figured out why I hated my kitchen so much; it's because I had no counter space and the stuff I didn't use were all on the counters. Get rid of the clutter and the extra cookware and utensils and Voila! A passion for cooking is reborn and a delicious meal is the reward! Now Maribel helps me in the kitchen every chance possible. Needless to say Joe is super happy with that ;0)
Maribel loves helping in the kitchen too. She makes such a cute cook!
Oh, and I have another group of items gathered together to donate. I'm not sure I'm liking this "groups of like items count as 1" bit, but the book clearly states that like items are grouped as 1 item. Aye yayi.
my throw out score card: hamilton smoothie mixer, two serving platters with matching vase
Ever since our trip to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, and I hear Julia Child's name I think of my dear sister in-law Anna. We had the chance to see Julia's kitchen among other awesome things, but I was too pooped so Anna went to check out the kitchen with Jay while I stayed behind. Kicking myself now. But here is the photo that Anna took
This is where I must make a confession. I have never heard of Julia Child until that day let alone what she was famous for. Seriously.
Turns out that my SIL is a big fan (which I also didn't know until then either, sheesh I'm not going to win the "I know my SIL" award this year) and when she says "First you take the bird..." in her "Julia" voice, I can't help but chuckle. It sounds so funny to me.
So when I saw that there was a movie coming out about Julia Child, I immediately texted her with an, "Are you going?" She hadn't heard about it so I made up my mind that she's going because I am going to see to it that she does. That's what great sisters in-laws do ;0)
And that brings us to tonight. We (Anna, and my sweet mother in-law and I) went to check out a late night showing and I left the theatre with with a... (think of the right word and put it here...nope can't think of it so I'll use) strong desire to try out Julia's recipes for myself. The food in the movie looked so delish that I left there feeling hungry. I swear at times I thought I could smell those succulent dishes they were making.
I have wanted to start cooking again and frankly I really did enjoy it very much. I just hate my kitchen but I am working on that. So I now have a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking on order. Yup. As soon as I got home I went to my fave online bookstore and purchased myself a copy and a lil som som to get free shipping. I just hope I have the 'tools' needed to make these dishes that left my drooly glands salavitating* for 2 hrs and 3 mins!
Ooooh they looked so good! By the way, I give this movie 2 thums up! Don't forget to turn off the music on the side before playing.
*I know it's salivate but for the longest time I thought the other word was correct. But thanks to my living dictionary/thesaurus aka Victoria, I now know the correct word. It's not as fun to say if you ask me
