I am so happy with my final cake for the completion of Course 1 of The Wilton Method of Cake Decorating.

I challenged myself to new levels for this one. I didn’t use the Crisco icing for any of the icing this week. All of the icing is by Cherrybrook Kitchen. It was the chocolate icing for the roses and the vanilla icing for the rest - again I substituted organic butter for the recommended margarine. When using butter instead of Crisco, the icing needs to be refridgerated to be stiff and then it warms up as you use it. So, whenever it gets to soft, back into the fridge it goes. Unless you are icing the cake however, then you do not want it refridgerated. For the cake this week, I chose the Namaste Foods Spice Cake and did the Carrot Cake Variation. For the directions, I followed their directions with one deviation - I replaced the 2/3 cup oil with 1/3 cup applesauce and 1 Tbsp +1 tsp of oil to reduce the fat and it came out beautifully. For the carrot cake variation, I added their recommended 1 cup of shredded carrot and for the nuts and fruit, I added 1/2 cup (56g) of chopped walnuts and 1/4 cup (40g) of organic raisins. I meant to add 1/2 cup of raisins, so I will see how this tastes and see if it needs more raisins or if it was a good omission.

I did the roses before class this week since I thought it would be a lot of pressure to do six roses in the time given and have them not melt (due to the butter in the icing) without having a fridge nearby.

I did take a cooler with me to class to keep the roses and icing cooled. It worked out great. Also, when I was working with the icing in class and it became too soft, I placed it in the cooler for a couple minutes and then I was great to work with again. I know it sounds like a lot of trouble to go through, but I would prefer to make something I like and will probably eat than to make something I won’t like.  We received a Certificate of Merit at the end of the class and a $5 off coupon to encourage us to take the next class.

The next class, The Wilton Method of Cake Decorating Course 2: Flowers and Borders, is slated to start the beginning of November 2008. I think we are going to hold off on taking that class until late winter or spring since I just don’t know how much more cake we can eat - and November is just so busy getting ready for Christmas toward the end of the month. Wow! To think, Christmas is less than 3 months away.

The Dinner Company pictured below is where we prepare our dinner meals each month. I was supposed to join my friend in a scrapbooking challenge where we had to chose something we do routinely or do often and then do a scrapbook page about it. Immediately, I chose our monthly Dinner Company visit. I planned to take some pictures the next time we went and forgot, so the following month, I remembered to take the pictures. Then, these past 2 months I have been trying to sit down and do a page or two, but it just keeps dropping off my priority list. I started to feel bad a couple weeks ago since I think this all started in May, so I decided to post the pictures here and in the next month or two, I will do the pages and then post them here too.

The two females, Jayme and Pam, that own and run The Dinner Company are awesome. They work so hard to get customers, keep the food containers filled when customers are preparing food, and keep everything organized. This summer was a struggle for them to stay open with the slowing of the economy. This fall they are hoping things will pick up speed and more customers will come. They really have a great business going. They have facilities in Salisbury, MD, Ocean City, MD and Westminster, MD which allows them to become a franchise.

They have a great facility too with a nice reception area for arrivals and a waiting area that generally doesn’t have to be used since you don’t really have to ever have to wait. They have a bistro table and chairs, couch and they did have chairs that are now mine.  They were looking to sell a few items this summer to make a little extra money, so I was fortunate to buy two purple chairs that I have adored for probably 3 years. I looked everywhere for chairs like them but never found anything - but now they are mine!

As you enter, you can grab an apron on the left and then enter the work area that has stations for food preparation and tables to each side for the storage containers and labels to help prepare the food to take home. The area flows quite well and is always well organized and tidy. And, when the customer is finished with preparation, the meals can be taken home in a laundry basket. I hope they keep up the good work!

I finally got motivated while we had nice weather the beginning of September and was able to finish our side tables. In a previous post, I showed them in their unfinished state and promised that I would put new pictures up once they were done. The rest of what needed to be done was staining and putting the polyacrylic on them.

I stained them with a medium brown first and then did a second coat of stain in black. The result is a very dark brown that has hints of the black and medium brown. I tried out a new staining process too. I usually stain with a brush (bristle or foam), but this time, I tried out a sponge and used gloves. The stain goes on much more even and so much faster. I was able to stain both side tables and their respective shelves along with the water-based acrylic top coat in one day - I started about 9am and finished about 6pm with bunches of breaks in between.

We now have completed side tables. It is on to finishing the desks now with their polyacrylic before it gets too cold outside.

We love to be able to take food on our travels and recently, we wanted to add a trail mix but not just out of a box, so I did some research. I found out what goes into a good trail mix, I modified it like I always do, and then put one together. We love it so much that we take it everywhere now.

In a large bowl mix the following ingredients:

• Dates (20 grams/0.7 oz/2 Tbsp)
• Raisins (20 grams/0.7 oz/2 Tbsp)
• Dried Cranberries (15 grams/0.5 oz/2 Tbsp)
• Almonds (14 grams/0.5 oz/2 Tbsp)
• Peanuts (14 grams/0.5 oz/2 Tbsp)
• Cashews (11 grams/0.4 oz/2 Tbsp)
• Walnuts (14 grams/0.5 oz/2 Tbsp)
• Pepitas (aka. Pumpkins seeds without shells) (15 grams/0.5 oz/2 Tbsp)
• Chocolate Chips (30 grams/1.1 oz/2 Tbsp)
• Granola (110 grams/3.9 oz/1-1/3 cups)

Note: All ingredients are listed in grams, ounces, and measuring device depending on how specific you want to be and what your scale reads. If you want something more exact with a closer repeatability, use the grams/oz measurements. If you want something a little bit more random or want to put it together really fast, use the Tbsp/cup measurements.

Store in an air tight container and enjoy. We store the bulk of it in a large air tight container and then put small 30 g servings in small air tight containers that we can take to work or throw in our bags when we have to run out the door quickly. It gives a whole new meaning to fast food.

For the recipe above, a 30 gram/1.1 oz serving has nutritional values of about:

• 135 calories
• 5.3 g of fat
• 19.5 g of carbohydrates
• 1.5 g of protein

There are lots of substitutions that can be made. Some substitutions are:

• use one type or other types of nuts
• use one type or other types of fruit
• use sunflower seeds or pretzels in place of pepitas
• use M&M’s or peanut butter chips in place of chocolate chips

If there are any allergies, remove those foods and either add more of something already in the recipe or something else. The trick is to keep a preferred ratio of granola to the additional ingredients. If you like it more on the granola side, then add more of it and if you don’t, then add less. Trail mix is so easy to make and it relatively good for you in small quantities when not exercising; and, it is a great energy food when hiking or such. Just remember to write down what you do end up making so you can make it the same way or know what to increase or decrease next time. Just remember, trail mix is supposed to be an energy food not junk food.

We caught up with one of my closest friends from college for the first time in two years. Last time we saw him, his wife was pregnant but they weren’t telling anyone yet and we hadn’t seen them since - talked on the phone here and there trying to keep in touch and getting picture updates which I love - but no quality time spent together. For the last couple of years around the same time of year, they have visited Bethany Beach which gets them closer to us for a short time and we get to see them. This time we were able to see them - twice! - which I hope makes up for not seeing them last year. We went to dinner one evening and then walked the Ocean City boardwalk and saw a monument that I hadn’t seen before. It is a dedication to Firefighters of the World. My friend has a brick with his name on it - he is an EMT!

Then later in the week, we were able to see where they stayed this year. Now, I hadn’t seen Bethany Beach in a long time, but when we got there, I was surprised to see that it hadn’t changed much at all - a few things here and there - but nothing like the development of Ocean City. I hope Bethany Beach stays the way it is now - it is just quaint and beautiful. I wish I would have taken some pictures of the town, but I didn’t remember my camera when we went out walking. I did get some beach pictures though. The rip current was really strong - there was a low near a high off the coast of the New England area which was causing major rip currents more than half way down the east coast.

For this years trip to PA, we enjoyed visiting with lots of family and new people in celebration of the coming of my cousin’s baby. I always look forward to visiting the family. The drive is beautiful but long and once we are there, I don’t want to leave. I took lots of pictures of family, but those are reserved for my new site that is coming soon - a more personal site that only friends and family can access. I did get some really nice pictures of the decorating for the shower. My aunt hung little dresses all over the house - my cousin is supposed to have a girl - let’s hope she does! - and decorated in lavender and sage (the baby colors) along with lots of other colors from the sunflowers that decorated all of the tables that we all sat at for the shower. It was wonderful to see my cousin and her husband get lots of nice gifts to help them prepare for the baby who will be here shortly.

Along with the shower, we did some quality time visiting with my family in PA. We also spent time with the chickens that they raise for eggs (I even got to feed them which was so cool), look at all of the beautiful gardens, and appreciate nature in general. The wooden fence pictured below was handmade by my cousin and aunt with branches woven together.

We also spent some fun time with the family dogs. Gus is the black lab and he is my aunt and uncle’s dog. Maddy is the Collie mix and she is my cousin and husband’s dog.

At nighttime, we sat around a fire on top of the high point of their property. We talked, watched the full moon rise through the trees, and took some cool night pictures of the really tall sunflowers.

Every couple weeks I get a good picture of Alex and/or Veda. I haven’t posted any for so long, so here are some over the last couple months… all you cat lovers out there and those who like a laugh - enjoy!

Veda… as you can see, she can sleep just about anywhere…

Alex… he isn’t crazy about that rubber rat, but he still eats…

I tried something new this week for the cake class. The cake consists of the same type of cake as last week, however, I made a chocolate icing rather than the white icing like last week. I wanted to decorate it more, but we ran out of time in class. At first I was thinking Zen clowns but Carla suggested that they looked like they were around a campfire - I can definitely see both!

We did what I expected with the cake last week, we scraped the icing off the cake and then ate the cake - the icing was made with vegetable shortening (Crisco) that Matt nor I really wanted to eat. So, I thought that I would make something I knew we would eat.  I looked at the canned icing and it too is made with vegetable shortening and has transfats in it - that wasn’t an option. So, I turned to the organic/natural aisle at Giant for a solution. I found an icing mix made by the same company as the cake was made by - Cherrybrook Kitchen - and they had chocolate and vanilla.  I bought the all natural Chocolate Frosting Mix that is gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, and nut-free. Instead of using the 2 1/2 sticks of margarine they suggested, I used 2 1/2 sticks of organic butter which no longer made it dairy-free, but made it taste awesome and I didn’t have to use anything artificial. With the icing made of butter it has to stay in the fridge otherwise, well, the icing gets soft and will go bad. And this week, we are actually eating the cake with the icing since it is chocolate and really good.

I still had to make the Crisco icing for the decorating portion of the cake and I chose purple and green for my colors this week. I think I might try the butter icing next week for the decorating portion - maybe I will make both and try them each out - just in case.

For decorating, we had to use clown heads and learned to build their bodies with icing. I am not that crazy about clowns, but everyone’s clowns did turn out pretty cute and not scary. We also learned how to do roses, various flowers, and a trim style that looks like shells.

Next week will be our last week. It has been fun so far.

So, here it is… the cake that I thought was going to be a disaster that actually worked out quite well…

Our objectives were: (1) to make any type of cake we wanted, then (2) make a batch of cake icing and ice the cake, then (3) make a batch of stiff icing that 1/3 would be used to practice techniques with and the other 2/3 would become medium icing and be decoration for the cake, and then (4) bring it all into class where we would work on the sunflower pattern along with other techniques.

I figured if I was going to learn all I could, I might as well do some experimenting with the cake too.  You can’t see it with it decorated, but in the pictures below it is visible that the cake is chocolate. I knew if I was going to make a cake and if there was any chance of it being eaten, it would have to be chocolate. The cake is an all natural, dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, chocolate cake by Cherrybrook Kitchen. Instead of the 1/2 cup of vegetable oil they said to use in the baking of the cake, I did a little research and substituted 1/4 cup applesauce and 1 Tbsp of Canola oil in place of it. I also separated the batter into two 9″ round pans to make the cake last for 2 classes and when I did that, I reduced the time in the oven from 25 minutes to 15 minutes (the lowest recommended baking time for cupcakes) and it all worked out absolutely beautifully. It baked up nicely and tastes wonderful.

Below are some pictures I want to share some of the process of the making the icing to icing of the cake.

And finally, it was put into its carrier for safe transport - the cake made it to and from class with no harm.

Below is just a little something extra from the class. One of our exercises was to learn to write with icing with various tips. Even though it was tracing, it was still really difficult, but once I got the hang of it, it wasn’t too bad.

Can’t wait until this tuesday, next is flowers. Not so sure about this part, but it will be fun to see everyone’s creations.

Last week Carla, Meghan, and I went to our first class of The Wilton Method of Cake Decorating: Course 1 at Michael’s Craft Store. I was hesitant at first, not knowing how much I would have to spend and how much I would get out of the class. I thought that I should check it out thought since I would get to spend some quality time with friends and get to learn something new. After a few questions were asked of the helpful Michael’s employees, I decided to join the class. Luckily, the cost of the class was 50% off for the month of September, so the class was only $17.50 and that is for all 4 lessons (1 class per week for 4 weeks) and that included the workbook for Course 1.

The way our class worked was we didn’t need any tools for the first class, we just watched the teacher, asked questions, and took notes for this class and what we needed for the next class. The last part of the class the first night involved the teacher taking us to the section of Michael’s where the cake decorating items are located. She showed us various tools needed and what was optional and then let us paruse at our leisure. There was no obligation to buy at Michael’s, however, after some consideration, I chose to buy my items there and save some time knowing that I would be buying nice items that would last me a while.

If you don’t have any cake decorating tools to begin with, like I did, there is a bit of a start-up cost along with the cost of the class. As for the necessary tools, they have a Course 1 Student Kit that includes the “essential tools” for this class like decorator bags and tips, couplers, a spatula, a practice board, and a few other items for about $25. In addition, I chose to buy a cake carrier (since we would have to bring a cake to class each night and I didn’t have any safe way of getting a cake to class) for $15 and a cake turntable (to help with not having to turn the cake constantly and allowing for more even icing) for $10.

There are other essentials needed for the class like what you will need to bake a cake and ice it each week along with the practice icing that needs to be made which is different for each class session. Some the items for this include: meringue powder, shortening, confectioners’ sugar, flavor, icing color, and cake ingredients that you prefer. Also, there are other things for the class you will need which are small derby clown heads, waxed paper, and piping gel (but we didn’t need piping gel in our class, yet). A few of the non-essential items that could be helpful depending on what you want to accomplish are a cake leveler, extra couplers, extra decorator bags and other tips for creativity along with so many more things. The cost can really add up quick but to get the necessary extras, it can be between $20-40 depending on what you buy and where you buy it.

So far, I have attended 2 classes and have really enjoyed them. It is still a little girlee for me at times, but it really is a lot of fun and I have learned to really appreciate the art of cake decorating and why professionally decorated cakes cost so much - it really takes skill and patience to get it just right. The class is perfect for anyone wanting to learn about decorating cakes - to be a professional or for fun. I think this class is perfect for those who want to have fun and be able to make and decorate cakes for family and friends’ birthdays and the like.

I have been stock piling ideas and have bits and pieces of articles on note paper, One Note, and post drafts over the last month in hopes of getting it all into my blog one day soon. A few hours ago, I finally published a post for the first time in a month. Where has the time gone?  Well, a lot has happened in a month and the posts to follow (hopefully many this weekend) will cover various things including: baby research, rooms decorated, opinions, hobbies, and environmental articles along with probably more topics that I just can’t think of at the moment. Please check back often since it may be a couple articles published per day if all goes according to plan.

So, after waiting and waiting for the new update of Davis (Bikes) for Burnout Paradise, it was released today. We tried and tried to download it, restarting the Xbox360 I don’t know how many times.. and nothing! We figured the download just wasn’t working for some reason, so we went to the Xbox360 Marketplace and found where to download the new update. When we clicked on it, it told us that since we only have a Silver Membership that we have to wait to download it. What is that crap about?! We paid for the Xbox360, we paid for the Burnout Paradise game, and Criterion (the maker of Burnout Paradise, just in case you didn’t know) released this very cool new update for FREE. So, Microsoft has to be the jerk in all of this and force people to pay for a Gold Membership. I, for one, will not help Microsoft rake in the cash with this sad attempt to cause Silver Membership people grief. I can either wait indefinitely while Microsoft decides they have make enough extra money or we could finally set up my husband’s dad with an Xbox Live membership which comes with a Gold Membership for free for a month. We will just see if the Davis (Bikes) update is available tomorrow… Microsoft shame on you! Criterion keep up the good work!

All the link, category and archive problems are now solved. Just a little fixing to the recent update.

Please use my Tags if you are looking for specific articles. Something happened when we updated to the new Wordpress release. The categories don’t work and a few other things too but the Tags definitely work.  Hang in there, it will be fixed shortly.

This week was busy again getting ready for this weekend, so my blog post that I have been working on will probably not be posted until mid-next week. It will be a longer one, so it will make up for the time lost. All of the other ideas want to come out, so I am looking forward to writing more soon.

It has been almost a month since I wrote my last blog post. I knew I was busy this past month or two but I didn’t realize I was that busy - too busy to blog, that is just unthinkable.  Well, I hope that I am back now to posting every couple days like I did in June. I know there are a few more things going on this month, but I am really hoping that I can make up for it before and after the busy times. I have really enjoyed starting this blog and I want to make sure I stay dedicated and keep going.  I even have lots to talk about and pictures to show - I have been making notes on things I didn’t want to forget but just didn’t have time to type. Enough of the gabbing and on with the show.

In high school, I focused on science and art and was heavily involved in a group called Students Against Violating the Environment (SAVE). We collected cardboard boxes, painted them to stand out, and put one in every room for students to recycle their paper. We worked to get large blue tubs in the cafeteria for bottle and can recycling. We took field trips where we planted trees and enjoyed nature without destroying it. We attended meetings to prevent wetlands and parks from being converted into amusement parks and concrete lots. We did many, many things to conserve and help the environment.

Read the rest of this entry »

We are finally moving forward again in our P90X adventure. We didn’t take our stats like I thought we would at the end of our undecided Week 2 or 3. It was decided though that we just wanted to move along in the program, so this past week was Week 4 and on Monday we will be starting Week 5 and Phase 2.  We will get to eat a little more carbohydrates and a little less protein which will be nice.

Week 4 was interesting. It consisted of total body workouts and after the 3rd day, we were sore. There is definitely muscle confusion which is part of the design of the P90X program. Week 5 will be new muscle workouts with different muscle groups worked out on different days than Weeks 1-3.  P90X always keeps it interesting and challenging.

I finally got around to fixing all of my pictures. They all go to their corresponding pictures now. I can get back to uploading all of my before and after pictures of all of the rooms in our house that I have painted and fixed up. Yea!

Please visit my new Items for Sale page. I have a few things listed there now and hope to have more there soon along with links to items that are listed by me on Amazon and eBay. Please leave a comment on this post if you are interested in any of the items and I will respond to you. If you know me directly, give me a call or send me an email.

We have figured out a fix for getting my pictures to work when they are on the same line. The problem is not with Flicker but with Wordpress’ text editor. Why this didn’t show up when I was using Wordpress’ “Add an Image” feature is beyond me. My only thought is that Wordpress probably built in a fix for it. So, the problem was that the all the links to the pictures on a line would go to the link of the last picture on the line - the last picture would overwrite all the links of pictures to its left. Luckily, Matt has taught me a few things about the HTML page of the text editor and he showed me how to fix this too. I upload the pictures from Flickr (with each of them on a separate line) and then go into the HTML page of the text editor and remove the spaces between the images.  This way all of the picture links stay intact and are on the same line (to conserve vertical space).  I have modified some of the pictures in this fashion, but I have not converted them all - hopefully by the end of today or tomorrow they will all be fixed.  Flickr is really cool, so I am happy it wasn’t a problem with Flickr.