I’ve been terrible lately. It always happens when I say I’ll be back soon. I really should learn my lesson: quit making promises altogether. I missed the June Daring Cooks’ Challenge; however, I did actually do it: meatballs around the world. I made meatballs with orzo, cucumber, tzatziki, and feta. Not the greatest pictures ever: super harsh outdoor light– most likely why I haven’t made myself sit down to write it all up.
And today is the reveal date for the Daring Bakers’ Challenge: All About Pie, which I didn’t do– even though I have everything ready to make a Strawberry Pie. Is it done, though? No, much to everyone’s chagrin, it isn’t.
Summertime isn’t slow-time around here. Today is the first day in weeks that we’ve barely gotten dressed. It’s the first day I’ve had to sit in one place long enough to snap a few photos and write more than a few words, and that isn’t to say I’ve done nothing today or have nothing to do. Sadly, the grass does not cut itself and the laundry doesn’t magically appear folded in our dresser drawers.
This is not to say the summer hasn’t been fun-filled so far. Soccer for boy, pool and park for all, and bike riding cycling for me and boy have filled family moments. And I’ve made sure to make some time for myself as well, learning how to make the desserts I create not only taste good, but look pretty as well. And that takes practice. Lots and lots of practice.
In my last post I mentioned my first decorating class, where we learned some basic techniques.
My second class, I decorated this cute little fish.
It was fun to do, but I also practiced a lot before doing the final cake. I really liked piping the dots for the border– one large, three little, one large, three little.
You’d think it’d be easy to just jump right in, but I never just jump into anything. Boy told me the soccer coach at the university he went camp at this summer said “Practice makes permanent.” Love that statement so very much. So what have I been doing? Practicing. Practicing. Practicing.
Drop flowers- star and swirl:
The swirl flowers look easy, but no…not at first they aren’t. The more I did, the worse they got.
Rosettes were my favorite, but they took the most getting used to. I noticed in my class that others had the exact same problems I did as well.
I did do better with these after practicing a lot.
I love the shell border.
It was also difficult to get started, but once I did, I fell in love with it.
The hardest part is keeping them the same size.
My very favorite of all, though? The leaves. They look odd in yellow, but I love, love, love making leaves.
All that practice paid off, though. I’m really happy with how my cupcakes from class turned out.
We learned how to use the flower nail and cupcake nail. We made Pom-Pom flowers,
and Mums (Viv stuck her finger in it right before I took the pictures),
and I used the rest of my cupcakes to practice the other things we worked on, like stars,
and drop swirl flowers,
and rosettes and leaves.
My favorite! Can’t you imagine a tower of these cuties?
We’re designing and decorating our own cakes for our last class. I’m looking forward to sharing when it’s done– but I won’t promise when that will be! I’ll try to remember to bring my camera to take some pictures of my classmates’ cakes, too. I keep forgetting to bring it with me.
Okay. That’s enough for today. I have some pie to bake, some laundry to fold, and some grass to cut. Oh, and a bike to ride cycle.
Dry Spell 