Cake and Cross stitch

I did a baby shower cake for a co worker's sister. Seeing as the new mommy-to-be likes rubber duckies, this was the idea we came up with.I decided to use a real rubber duckie on the cake so that she would have a souvenir. Funny thing is, when I went to the store I couldn't find the duckies in the toy isle where *I* thought they should be. So, I asked a delightful employee, "If I were a rubber duckie, where would I be?" He just stared at me for a moment before suggesting the baby department. Aha! I'm so glad I talked to him. The best part is, I heard him chuckling to himself as I walked away. Success!

Behold the cuteness that is the rubber duckie!!! The cake is 10" across and almost 8" tall. I carved the sides and covered them with slats of brown fondant with "wood grain" marked into them with a clay carving tool (love those tools).

For the bubbles, I rolled white fondant in random sizes and just stuck them on there in clumps like I imagined bubbles would gather. Oops, a little bit got out of the tub...

I had a failed attempt at making my own piping gel. After reading the ingredients on the pre-made stuff and deciding I didn't want to pay that much for something I might only use once, I used corn syrup, a drop of blue food coloring, a little hot water, and some gelatin to make my own. The gelatin didn't dissolve like I wanted it to (I was hoping it would thicken the corn syrup), but it did give it that uneven textured frothy-shiny look that bath water might have, so it wasn't a total loss. :)

OK, enough about "fun with fondant". Here is the weekly progress pic of the cross stitch I'm working on. It may not look like much was accomplished, but I assure you that the branches are now done, and I've started on the white of the moon (you can see a little bit at the bottom - it almost glows against the black fabric).

Auction of the year

We went to the auction last night that benefited the young women. Oh, what fun!!! My Triple-C cake was the first item up for live bidding. It was heated at first, but in the end it went to the Carpenter family. The White Chocolate Strawberry Cordial was in the last group of the silent auction. All I know is paddle #17 won the bid, but I don't know for how much. We were worried that the Eagle Scout Cake wouldn't sell, but it came down to two families battling it out. Once the winner was announced, I offered a second to the other bidder for the same amount. They accepted. Congratulations to all the winning bidders!

The only two things we seriously bid on were a scrap booking basket I won for $40 (and split with Cindy) and Sister Cas's carrot cake. I had to fight Joe Kemer for it, but at the end of the bid it was mine. Mmmm, tasty. I've been looking forward to that cake for months! I had a piece as soon as I got home, and I brought a slice with me this morning to work. Sweet victory!

Speaking of sweet, Tim going back to school reminded me that I still have GI Bill money to use for college. I tried to transfer my benefits to him under the 9/11 program, but you can only do that if you are active duty, and you have to sign up to serve another 1-3 years. Nixed on both accounts. So, I have until 2019 to use them up before I loose them. Yay. I did look into the degree programs at Blue Ridge and discovered they have 2 I am interested in. One is a 73 hour Associate of Applied Science in Food Service Retail Management that would give me the foundation I need to open my own bakery. The other is a 67 hour Associate of Applied Science in Baking and Pastry. If I complete the FSRM degree and take an additional 19 hours of B&P courses, I could have that one as well because most of the classes required are common between the two degrees. I'm hoping that some of the courses I took at HCC and ITT will fulfil some of the GENED requirements and that some of my work experience will allow me to test out of a couple more. It would save me time (about 1 semester's worth) and money making it possible to finish both degrees in 2 years. I suppose the first step would be to get my transcripts and talk to a counselor.

Tim is already getting his stuff together and filling out applications for school and financial aid. He's really excited to start. He told me yesterday that his goal is a 4.0 for the time he's working on his degree in criminal justice. I'm so proud of him!

The baking continues

Last night I started the cakes for the Blue and Gold Banquet on Wednesday. I've got 3 beautiful cakes sitting on the counter right now. Tonight I get my first official helper/student to help me decorate them with fondant and the badges for Wolf, Bear, and Weeblo scouts. It should be a lot of fun, and it'll be nice to have someone there to help me. I can't wait! I've also got a fridge FULL of hot dogs and other fixin's for this shindig. Sometime tonight, I'm doing the potatoes for the potato salad. It should be fun. :)

My poor bamboo plant + the weekend

My sister sent me a message over facebook this past week asking what "a Sister/Aunt had to do" to get recent pics of my kiddos. Apparently it's as simple as sending a message. We had a busy baptism weekend. I played piano for Dylan's baptism on Saturday. I had the kiddos with me, and we visited my parents afterwards. Then we went shopping for the food for the Blue and Gold banquet on Wednesday. I also had to get new jeans because I'd managed to split mine. It took me 45 minutes to find something that fit and I'm up a size or two. Grrr! Sunday evening we attended Dusty's baptism. This time I brought cake.

The birthday boy blowing out his candles...

So my poor bamboo plant. Yeah. My dad bought me this plant 3 or so years ago for my office. at the time the leaves on top were only 4 inches high. I've kept it watered and fertilized, but over the years the stalks have died out one by one. It's now twice the height it was when he gave it to me, but the poor little thing looks so pitiful.

I've been trying to find information on bamboo care. One site suggests removing the old stalks and replacing them with pruned ones from the top of the display.

I think I'm going to print out what I can find and take it home on a warm day to see if I can't help it out.

Ruh, Roh

Yesterday I spent some time updating the website for graduation cakes and plugging a little for the auction on April 6th. I was so proud of myself for getting all of this done and up on the website. I even updated both my personal facebook page and That Little Cake Place's page with links to the website about the auction.

Now, I think I might have gotten it wrong.

When they first approached me about donating cake to the auction again this year, they mentioned that they were teaming up with our Scout troop. So in addition to the two cakes I did last year, I volunteered The 'Biod' (Eagle Scout Cake) for anyone who wanted to bid on it for their scout's Eagle Court of Honor. I probably wouldn't have done it otherwise. They're even having the auction on a Wednesday... a scout night.

Now I'm finding out that they'd decided not to team up... OK... so what do I do now?

Settling down

Things are starting to even out... I think.

Having Cindy and the kiddos in the house certainly fills the open space and fills the rooms with sounds of being lived in. All 5 kiddos in the house now play nicely for the most part. Mine keep forgetting that there are rules they still have to follow, but other than that they do well. I don't think I'll ever get a turn on the Wii again!

The ward choir gave their first performance Sunday in sacrament. They did very well; I'm so proud of them. A little snag when I/we missed the count-in for verse 2, but it's OK. And the A Capella... Oh, MY! It was gorgeous! We started working on the song for April. So far it sounds really good, though we only managed to get through the first of five pages in practice.

And cake! I have 4 cakes within the next 10 days! Not to mention the one I delivered Saturday to the new Spanish Branch's Relief Society meeting. In case you're wondering, the "SS" where the "RS" usually is stands for Sociedad de Socorro.

As promised, pictures of the afghan I finished for my cousin's first baby.This was done in a hexagon pattern using Caron Simply Soft in Purple, Lavender, and White. It was really soft and only took me 3 weeks to do (working mostly at night for an hour or so). This is one of the chocolate butterflies on the cupcake roses I did for Elena's birthday last Sunday. I think my favorite here was the extra chocolate. :)
I drove to Baltimore yesterday to pick up my SIL from the airport along with her 2 kiddos. Traffic wasn't bad at all, but we got lost trying to get out of the airport and ended up driving towards DC for a 20 minute detour! No worries, because we made our way home with little trouble. We talked the whole way home while the kiddos passed out in the back seat. I've missed Cindy SO much! We're going to get every one settled in today and see what we need to get for her apartment downstairs for the time she's here.

Blue and Gold

Last night we had my MIL over for dinner. This was our only night to see her before she goes back to NY. We finally found the apple quilt she's been looking for... I didn't know it, but Tim had it hidden in our room and was hesitant to give it up.

I took Audie to Scouts after dinner and was "drafted" into sitting with one of the Young Women's groups for 30 minutes because their normal chaperon was at home sick. It wasn't too bad, and I got to do some knitting while I listened to their planning discussion.

I had a meeting after Scouts with the rest of the parents/leaders for the Blue and Gold Banquet on 3/30. I'm in charge of food. At the moment it's a toss between Hawaiian haystacks and sandwiches. I'm leaning towards the sandwiches simply because I know what goes into a sandwich. I also get to do a cake (or 3) for the occasion. I've decided to do 3 square cakes - one with the Wolf badge, one with the Bear badge, and one with the Webelo badge. What I hope to be my first future employee of That Little Cake Place (excluding my sous chefs) will be there to help me that evening. :)

And now for the main event!

This weekend we did the Pinewood Derby for Audie's Scout troop at church. Because there were only 10 boys, they competed against each other. They had some circular bracket system that provided each scout 2 races in each of the three lanes of the track. First place of each race was awarded 3 points, second received 2 points, and third received 1. At the end, scores were totaled and the top 3 raced against each other in 3 races to allow them a full rotation through the lanes.

Audie was a little disappointed that he didn't win, but he did receive a certificate naming his car the Car-ma Chameleon (after the song) and a participation medal. Ashton was our first place winner, and as a special treat, we raced his car against mine from the cake.

I started with a piece of green floral Styrofoam the same size as a pinewood derby blank and carved it into this shape. Then I covered it in fondant and had Dougie pick the colors and design the paint job. I used real pinewood derby wheels.The whole thing was 1.2 ounces under the max of 5 ounces, so Ashton's car already had a clear advantage. As his car was crossing the finish line and mine was 3 feet behind it, the front 2 wheels flew off and the car skidded to a halt. It wasn't meant to be a serious race, more for entertainment, and everyone loved it.
This last shot was on the table at the derby. I was also asked to coordinate food for the event, so in addition to cake we had chips and dip, a veggie tray with ranch dip (that I totally rocked, BTW), and taco bites.
After the race was over and clean-up complete, we headed down to Winchester to see my newest nephew, Matthew Vinh. I got to hold him, so tiny, and snuggle, look at him, look at Tim, look at him, look at Tim and smile, and hear, "No, we already have 3!"

Tim even held him... and I have PROOF!!!

All you see is a little fuzzy head and then Tim's ARM!
I want one! OK, reality check. I'm satisfied to snuggle and coo at this little guy. In the mean time, I was the first on the Whitcomb side that got to hold him... Nanny, Nanny, Boo, Boo!

So much for Groundhog Day

What's this? Ice on the front of my Trailblazer Monday night? An inch of ice and then 2 more of snow?

What happened to no shadow?

I thought that meant spring! And so it begins. Right after I took the unused snow boots back to wally-world, it gives us this. Fun. Tim worked overnight and said the roads were a mess, so I stayed home with the kiddos (with no school). We watched movies, cleaned the house, had sausage gravy and biscuits for dinner. (yum)

I did start working on the cake for the pinewood derby this Saturday. I'll give you a hint...

There is a car... that is all. :)

Conversation Hearts

The kiddos and I did these little cuties last night. I'd bought a box of the real thing and wrote down different phrases to use on my hearts. They helped me decide which phrases went on which colors.

They don't know it yet, but these are for dessert on Sunday at my parents' house.

Some of the more... interesting... ones I left out. Like "boogie" and such.

I think I might offer these next year for Valentines day. What do you think?

Bee There

We had our Visiting Teaching Conference yesterday. I was very glad to see the amount of sisters there that we had. I seem to remember last year's conference being a little more sparsely populated.

My RS President and I had this great there of asking the sisters to "Bee There" for the sisters they visit teach. These cutie little chocolate bees were made using a Wilton truffle mold with yellow melting chocolate painted in it for the stripes and a Popsicle stick inserted before they cooled. The head and wings were free hand on parchment paper and attached using melted chocolate.Once assembled, they were inserted into the cupcakes.I made 48 cupcakes (24 chocolate and 24 strawberry). There were 8 colors in all. Instead of cleaning out the icing bag between colors, I just kept filling it. It made some interesting variegated roses. These are some of the best roses I've ever done, and they're HUGE!

After last year (with so many left over) I was hesitant to make more than 4 dozen. As it turned out, there were some sisters that didn't get any (I'm SO sorry). Some day I'll get the ratio right. We handed out updated directories and new VT routes. I have a companion this year! :) I can't wait to start visiting!

Crunch!

So this is what the Trailblazer looked like when we dropped it off at the body shop for repairs on Saturday. My poor baby!

I know, it's just a vehicle, but I like my Trailblazer.

We dropped it off after I delivered a cake to my SIL in Winchester. I tried calling Tim to have him meet me at the shop, but I couldn't get through to his phone. We are SO getting him a new phone soon. His is one of the original iPhones (not the 3GS). We could be sitting side by side... I'll have 5 bars and no issues, he is "searching". Sure, try to call him. It'll ring and go to voicemail without even registering on his phone. And he'll be sitting right next to you.

Deep breath. Calm down, Erin.

Sorry, I get a little worked up about his phone. Anyway, we ate lunch at China City Buffet and went grocery shopping at Martin's. I spent the evening making cakes for our Stake Presidency for Ward Conference on Sunday. The, ahem, "cake fairy" left them each a Triple-C for them to take home, as is the tradition 3 years running now. I love the looks on their faces when they realize what is in the box. Even better, I got to hear the bishop and President Grow speak. I love listening to them.

In singing time, the junior primary kiddos got to divide into teams and compete to see which side sang better. The teachers sat in the middle and were our judges. At the end, they all did so well that it was a tie (the intent anyway!) so everyone got a mini cupcake. In senior primary, we worked on note names. I'm reminded of a poem that helped me learn them...

A, B, C, D, E, F, G
Music letters stop at G.
If you want to name a space,
just remember they spell "FACE"
If you want to name a line,
just remember, "Every Good Boy Does Fine"

And you thought you wouldn't learn anything new today! They had a lot of fun with it. We worked on the song for January and practiced our conducting. I'm worried about one of the boys in senior primary, however, because he helps his mother in nursery. I'm sure that he's serving valiantly, but he is missing out on the lessons in his classes, in sharing time, and singing time with me. I worry that he is missing out on a "spiritual recharge" that I've seen from experience attending class. I feel it, too, because I haven't been able to attend Relief Society because of my calling. I miss the contact with other sisters, hearing their experiences and testimonies, and understanding the Gospel through their involvement in the lessons. Maybe I'll get lucky. We're handing out new visiting teaching routes at the VT Conference this Sunday, and my new visiting teachers might come see me and fill that void.

Pictures, pictures, everywhere!!!

I've been obsessing recently about the website. It bugged me that I hadn't posted any pictures yet, that it seemed incomplete. I wanted pictures of my Sous Chefs where I introduced them on the site.

Yesterday I finished building the pages and started uploading the content to the website. By this afternoon, I should have the Gallery up and running! I was having a slight issue with the links that I found later to be a missing .htm at the end of them, but I was getting a 404 error. I just thought how cool it would be to get a 404 that said, "The cake is a lie!" It would be awesome!

Go check me out at www.thekookycakelady.com

I've got a craving for cheesecake

I'm going to do the "cake" for a wedding in April. They've asked for cheesecake. Mmmm, yummy! I feel inspired to try out my new recipe for White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake like the kind they have at Olive Garden. Tim said he'd never divorce me if I made it, so I think now is as good a time as any to make that happen. :)

I haven't made cheesecake in a while. Not that I haven't wanted to, but because I haven't had a reason to. That and it is very involved. You can't mix the cream cheese too much; you have to baby it while it is in the oven to make sure it is set, but not over-baked and dry. But it is tasty! I think I'll do it and hide it until dessert on Sunday and surprise everyone in the house! HEHEHE!!!

I'm not evil at all, am I?

That was sNOw coincidence.

I promised pictures of the snowman I made for the ward Christmas party on 12/11, so I finally sent myself the pictures from my hubby's phone. Here he is, Elder Snowman! We carried him in in pieces (one ball at a time) and assembled him on the table. He's even got a name tag and tie! :)

The best part was the name tag. I love details like that!
Nobody wanted to cut him. I had to do it before anyone would eat it. I did make Cody make the first cut because it was his "likeness". After that I continued the demolition. I will say this... putting fondant on a sphere-like cake is not fun. Just sayin'.

The kiddos and I spent the weekend baking and making the tasty goodies for our bonanza. I spent a couple hours dividing all of the treats among the boxes we're gifting out this year but realized too late that I'd forgotten the chocolate-covered pretzels. Go figure.

We got to hand a bunch of the goodie boxes out at church on Sunday morning. Even better, the Primary kiddos got to sing Have a Very Merry Christmas to the congregation. They did SO well, and I'm SO proud of them.

Sunday we had a fun activity in Primary singing time. My kiddos made some felt ornaments from Michaels as wee gifties on Sunday (we had penguins, Santas, reindeer, and gingerbread men). On Sunday, I selected a seeker to find some random adult in the hallway and bring them into the Primary room (we had a member of the presidency standing by for assistance). While they were seeking, I selected a wrapper to pick an ornament and decorate a gift bag with felt holiday stickers like trees, gifts, mittens, candy canes, and snowflakes while the rest of us practiced a Christmas song from the songbook. Then our guest was brought in (quite surprised, I might add), we gave them the gift, sang them our song, and wished them a Merry Christmas. We never knew who was coming, and they were always so suprised. It was a lot of fun, and both the junior and senior Primary kiddos enjoyed themselves. I'm definately doing this again next year. The joke was, however, that this was a new program to make sure the adults were in their meetings instead of in the hallways.

We had the Markland family over for dinner Sunday evening so that Nora and I could work on selecting music for the first quarter in January. We've decided to do an opening song that they either know or one that we can teach easily, spend 10 minutes learning our Program song for the month (or part of it), then sing a song we know and learn a new one from the songbook. This way they're being exposed to more of the songs and giving us more options to select from later. I'm also going to work with the senior Primary to teach them more about the music itself... reading and conducting, singing in parts, etc. Things that they don't normally learn. I figure this way it will prepare them for Young Men and Young Women where they aren't sung the song to learn it. It will also build their confidence as they learn to conduct and lead others. I'm excited about the new year! The last thing we've decided is that I'm going to build a huge set of scriptures for the Primary room (since this year's theme is the scriptures), and having a member of the ward dress as a character from the scriptures and visit us on the fourth Sunday of the month. So one day we'll get a visit from Adam and the next time maybe Joseph Smith.

Lego my cake

I made a cake for my BFF's hubby's birthday, and being a fan of Lego blocks, we thought he'd like a cake like this.

Imagine if you will...

A cake.

Made up of Lego's.

Made up of cake.

I love it. The best part is... it was solid carrot cake! Mmmm, tasty!

When "addiction" meets "OCD"

Sometimes I just can't help myself. Of the top 5 things I could consider addictions in my life, two are ribbon and yarn. When my "addictions" meet my anal-retentiveness, bad things can happen.

Take, for example, the white elephant gift exchange we did last night in the Relief Society meeting. I wrapped my gift in a shoe box... no big deal there... until I put packing tape on the lid to keep it closed. Red paper... check. Ribbon... oh, my! YES! The poor sister who got my package couldn't get the ribbon off, but it looked pretty... This is the final product of the Mystery Crochet-along I did. I still have to finish the other two, but I wanted to get one done. I spent a lot of time obsessing about getting the squares even, but I suppose in the end it all paid off. Oh, and it's warm.

I am now officially 1/2 done the baby blanket for S&H. I say officially because I ran out of yarn from the first skein and had to start the second. I had a wonderful evening talking about knitting with Sister B Carpenter; it was so much fun!

As for my third addiction, well, I'll be caking the night away for the fourth night in a row! I can't wait to finish the cake for tonight!!!

One Down

I've been caking the night away for the last 2 nights in preparation for this weekend, but while things have been baking, I've been trying to finish the afghans I started as part of the Bernat Mystery Crochet-along. I finished one of them last night. Now all I have to do is sew the last one together and put the edging on both of them.

I've also gotten to the half way point on the baby blanket I'm knitting for S&H (no, not shipping and handling). So far it measures 36 x 20 inches. It's funny how something like this will attract attention. I've been sitting in the foyer of the church building on Tuesday nights while Audie is at Scouts, knitting away, and people will stop and watch. Some just watch, others ask what I'm doing it for, what is that extra needle for, or how it is done. I knit in church, too, though not so much to pass the time but to focus on the talks. I know it sounds counter intuitive, but Mom and I are the same way. Repetitive work with our hands helps us listen. I don't know why. Just KOOKY, I guess.

'Tis the season

... to start baking!

That's right, it's time to start on my cookie-baking-bonanza! OK, well, I also had to add a few cakes and pies and truffles and fudge to the bonanza, but at least it'll all be in the kitchen. I can't seem to help myself... the flour is calling my name!

And it all started last night.

I have a relief society meeting this Thursday that involves a cookie exchange, so I made a batch of triple chip cookies. Tonight I'm baking cake for this weekend. I'll give you the riddle now so you can try to guess, and I'll give you the answer on Monday. :)

What's cold and white and gives away a Book of Mormon?