After a long summer struggling to keep their facility open, The Dinner Company in Salisbury, MD is closing its doors. I received an email earlier this week letting me know and I was saddened to hear but understood - people are cutting back everywhere they can save a few dollars. They are staying in business though just modifying their business strategy in these trying economic times. They have reinvented themselves to exclusively a dinner delivery system. I considered the meal delivery option, however, I like preparing our meals and making adjustments when needed (that was one of my two favorite things about The Dinner Company - the other getting to socialize with the owners), so unless we are super busy, I feel as if we will be preparing our meals again. I have learned so much though that I have so many new tools at my disposal for preparing meals ahead of time now.

Over the last couple months as I was hearing that they were having troubles but hanging in there, my husband and I started planning a back-up strategy (always have a back-up plan with as many things as you can). We wanted a way we could still have our prepared meals that we put in the freezer and then into the oven, but where we could modify things, should the opportunity arise. During out recent visits to The Dinner Company, we started to change over to glass dishes to store our dinners in the freezer to reduce waste and tried to put as many things into zipper plastic bags to reduce the space needed in the freezer. We also wanted to go more organic and natural with our food choices which The Dinner Company was moving to with using natural chicken, but they started thinking about moving to organic right before the economy started to suffer, so some of that got put on hold - understandable. We now have the opportunity to eat more natural and organic foods, decrease our packaging waste, and use the glass bakeware that we bought by preparing our own meals at home.

For tools to get us started, don’t have to go out and buy much to prepare. We already have the bakeware and lots of kitchen tools that we have collected over the years from places like Pampered Chef. The largest learning curve will be the oven temperature and length of time to cook the meals along with figuring out nutritional information and thinking of what to prepare for the next week or two.  At the start, I believe we will prepare a week of meals ahead of time, however, I would like to move to preparing meals 2 weeks ahead of time to give more variety to choose from and less preparation time over all.

Planning and preparing meals for a time will be more complicated, but we adjust well. Once we get into our new routine, all will be fine. At least I have a whole month to plan for the change since next week I get to pick up the meals for next month that we ordered and paid for at the beginning of this month. When I heard they were closing their doors, I was afraid that we would loose the money that we paid for these upcoming meals, but they are two wonderful people that are treating their customers well even when they are struggling. I am so proud of them and hope they succeed in their next venture.

As a result of this new food cooking adventure of ours, I will now be posting meal creations with pictures, ingredients, and notes. How exciting!

A couple weeks ago I heard about a local flea market called Park and Flea in downtown Salisbury, MD where all kinds of vendors and yard-salers alike can sell their items in a group setting. There are large and small spots to set up. We aren’t exactly sure on the details of the large spots other then they are $10 on Saturday and $5 on Sunday. We, however, used one of the small spots they had available. For $5 on Saturday or Sunday, a 3 car width space is available to pull up your vehicle and unload the items you want to sell in any matter you wish - blanket, tables, off a trailer, or right out of the back of your vehicle. It starts at 7am on Saturday and 9am on Sunday and goes until whenever you wish - you can stay a couple of hours or stay until everyone is gone.

For the last couple weekends, it has rained, so I was happy that we finally got a chance to check it out this weekend. We ventured out and were really excited to see so many people selling items. For the first hour, we sold some small items and worked on assembling the futon couch we wanted to sell. Along with some video games that brought in some money, we had the delight of finally selling our futon couch. It was sold for a little less than we would have liked but a man with money and a big truck showed up before we had to take it home, so it was a deal we couldn’t pass up since we REALLY didn’t want to take it back apart, load it up, and take it home.

Since we did well, I know we are going back again to sell the other futon, some bookcases, and more small items. With the space we get to sell at the Park and Flea, we are thinking of loading both vehicles with stuff and trying to sell as much as possible in one trip.

In preparation for the Flea Market, we bought a wonderful folding table by Lifetime from Sam’s Club that is 4′ long and the height varies for lots of uses. It even folds up so that it is 2′ x 2′ and only a couple inches high which is great for storage.

The table worked out great in conjunction with some crates we carried the items in to the flea market. If we do well, maybe we will get another table for more space to sell things or for events later. I am really looking forward to selling more items so that the kitchen can finally be freed up of all of the items we have wanted to sell for the last year. Yea! The stuff is finally moving!

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.

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!

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.

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 the 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.

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.

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Today we prepared our meals for a month at The Dinner Company. We were the only ones there other than one of the owners. It really is nice when there are not a lot of people to compete with for food stations, however, it would be really good for them if they had more business. The two girls that own the place are great - friendly, nice, and smart. I just love talking with the owners when we are there preparing our meals.

I was excited not only to go prepare our meals but to take pictures while we were there for the scrap challenge that I am participating in with Carla and Christie. This is my first time to join in on their scrap challenge. This month’s challenge, created by Christie, is to do a layout about a ritual that you do often. I unfortunately forgot my camera though and now I have to come up with a new idea. I even thought to use my camera phone, but then I got back into preparing meals and forgot all about it. Back to the think tank.

With some antibiotics, SudafedPE, and MucinexD, my husband is getting better and almost feeling normal again. A little coughing and sniffling, but other than that he is doing quite well. He even went to work on Friday after being off work sick for 4 days. I am recovered now too with just a little coughing and a sneeze here or there, but that is just back to the allergies that are a part of this time of year. Yea for feeling better!

There are winter colds and there are summer colds. The winter colds don’t seem as bad (other than usually being around Christmas) since I want to stay inside under a blanket and sleep when it is cold out anyway. However, in the summer, there are so many things to do that being sick takes away time from all these things. Luckily, with as hot as it has been the last couple of days, I have not missed much being sick.

As I have seen in the past, I don’t have very good luck when it comes to not picking up colds from my friends’ children. I guess it really is one of most common ways to get a cold since many kids go to daycare and if they don’t, they have at least one friend that does.

At least while I was sick this time, I was able to watch some of the design shows on my DVR and get some of the weekly chores done around the house. I figured out that if I got up, ate, and then did a some light activity like cleaning for no more than 2 hours, I could then take a nap and not wear myself out and still be able to heal and get better. My cold lasted about a week and I didn’t loose my smell and taste completely like I did last time I had a cold.

Now, my husband is not starting to feel well and I am just starting to feel pretty good even though I am not fully recovered. Hopefully, his cold will not be as long as mine.

What has happened to TV? Creative sitcom programming beats reality shows any day.

How “reality” are some of the reality shows anyway? I don’t know anyone who got “stranded” on an island. Or anyone who is given lots of money for answering some questions correctly. Reality is what goes on around us everyday - not that. To me, reality shows are overwhelming the TV “guide” and are only minimally entertaining when there is something to learn. For example, the first season of The Apprentice. There were lots of business ideas and inspirations. The second season was a little bit of a rerun of the first season with a few new things, but as the series went on it degraded to an unappealing reality TV show with lots of drama.

I want to see more creative programming. The creativity of Friends has never resurfaced. The lives of Scrubs’ characters set in the medical world is so artfully designed. The dynamics between characters and the embedded morals are what make me like sitcoms so much more.

I am so happy that the strike is over and we can start seeing our sitcoms back on the air. If at some point in the future, most TV converts to reality shows, I will no longer subscribe to cable/satellite and just buy DVDs since I would rather spend my money on something I enjoy rather than what other people want to watch.

We live reality everyday. Why do we want to watch it when we get home?