Lady In Red

UPDATE: Here they are! The hat desserts for the Red Hat Society are finally done. The luncheon will be this Saturday but we finished the desserts today. The dome is filled with white chocolate mousse and cherries with a slice of cake and all of that is sitting on a large shortbread cookie. The entire thing was then sprayed with red-colored white chocolate and piped with purple buttercream frosting for the ribbon and bow (I was the one responsible for the piping and other classmates did everything else.) We were there until almost 4 this afternoon finishing them and I think they turned out great. I am so excited for the Red Hat Ladies to see them.

“Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold — but so does a hard-boiled egg.”

-Unknown

Order Up!

Last night was our last week of finals in my cooking class and my team was responsible for salad and soups. We did really good and worked so well together. Our chef had nothing but great things to say about my team and he absolutely loved our soup.

This is a California Strawberry & Feta Cheese Salad. We fried the wontons on top and made a lemon vinaigrette dressing.

Up next was soup, and we made an asparagus soup and served it with three slices of crostinis covered in a cream cheese and herb spread. I was the one who drew the "A" for asparagus. We knocked it out of the park. Woohoo!

“A good marriage is like a casserole, only those responsible for it really know what goes in it.”

-Unknown

Daring Baker's Challenge: April

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

Here are the cheesecake bites I made, original and chocolate. I am not a fan of baking cheesecake, in fact I hate it. But I made it through.

I had a hard time getting good pictures because my trusty digital camera is starting to lose it's mind. 

“Beware of the half truth. You may have gotten hold of the wrong half.”

-Unknown

Sugar Sculpture Number Three

Here is the newest sugar sculpture from sugar class. I am not as happy with the way this one turned out but here it is anyway.

“Whenever I get the energy to exercise, I sit down until it passes.”

-Unknown

POP! Goes the Cymbidium! Orchid, that is..

I had another gumpaste class this morning with Tami Utley at Do It With Icing and we created a Cymbidium Orchid flower. Here is a picture of what the real flower looks like and then two pics of mine. It didn't turn out perfect and I could have put more color on it but since no two flowers are exactly the same, I will live with it. Haha.

“Plan ahead — it wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.”

-Unknown

2nd Sculpture Success

I finished my second sugar sculpture today and I think it turned out pretty good. We added a rose, ribbons and bubble sugar to the base that we made last week. The rose took more time to make than the previous hedge roses and turned out better. I was not thrilled with the rose at first because I am used to making gumpaste roses but this one started to grow on me after a while. Each one of us had different color schemes but I tried to keep mine more natural.

“The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.”

-Unknown

Calling All Callalilies!

I finally got around to finishing those callalilies I have been promising. I didn't do much to them since I didn't have any petal dusts, only luster dusts which create shine but not too much color. After looking at some pictures of real callalilies, I think I can improve on them next time.

“This is an age-old truth: People seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy.”

-Unknown

All Hail The Princess Cake!

We made a princess cake in my cake class last night and here it is. The layers (from bottom to top) were: cake (with rum soak), raspberry jam, cream, cake, pastry cream, cake and more cream. The cake was then covered in green marzipan and garnished with fondant ribbon roses and leaves.

“When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on, and swing!”

-Unknown

Channel 8 News

Here is the link to the video because I can't figure out a way to get the video onto my page.

Channel 8 News Segment - Grossmont College Culinary Program

Enjoy!

“Education should include knowledge of what to do with it.”

-Unknown

Beginning of 2nd Sugar Sculpture

We have started working on our second sugar sculpture in my sugar class today. We made the base this week and will make the rose to sit on it in class next week. Keep in mind that this is a "work in progress" and I will post new pictures once we add something else to it. I decided to do a copper/brown color scheme and I think it turned out pretty good. The colors contrast well. This entire piece is made of sugar - the whole thing. The base was cast and even the feet on the bottom of the base are made of sugar. The branch-like piece is straw sugar (a different technique that included pulling hot sugar until it incorporated air and created a nice sheen and lighter color. I simply attached the pieces with melted sugar. It was not as difficult as I figured it would be, but I seem to have a knack for this stuff.

UPDATE: Our news segment did not air yesterday because of the Presidential speech so it will air today at 5pm instead. I will, of course, be in class but I am recording it. I will try to find a way to post it on here.

“The control center of your life is your attitude.”

-Unknown