Step 5: Admit to Sir Gumpaste, another human being, and myself the exact nature of my wrongs

The exact nature of my wrongs... in no particular order:

swearing uncontrollably when I bake, sometimes the air is a lovely shade of 'forget me not'

pitching my brush at the wall when I get the shakes and manage to paint a figures eye in the shape of a kumquat

pushing too hard on my fondant and having it buckle or tear

expecting my work to be perfect

Ahhhh... I feel better :)  I'm sure there are more wrongs, but these are the big ones that make me feel funny afterward.  and now you know, Sir Gumpaste and I had a little chat on the weekend, I am going to have to give him some time to recover.  It was quite a mouthful.

So last night was burger night, I molded the meat into triangular patties to match the shape of the triangle Costco buns we had - and made some really yummy mushrooms for it as well.  Deeply satisfying, although some miserable little mosquito bit my finger when I was cooking out there... bugger.

Inside the kitchen was also fun, lemon cupcakes with lemon filling, vanilla buttercream and my first batch of candied lemon peel.  There were also white cupcakes with hazelnut filling, chocolate frosting, and butterflies for decoration.  Pictures will be posted slightly later today.  I need another project other than the super secret one, any suggestions??  More for you than for me, I have lots to do, but telling you about it and not posting pictures is just rude... wait... I already did that.  woops

Here's a picture of something completely unrelated, because I can. 

Step 4: Make sure you know what is wrong, and try to change it

Well I know what's wrong, my fondant is never smooth enough, or a corner cracks and I have to cover it up with a flower (yeah, that's  inconspicuous)....  Is it that the work isn't good enough, or again I'm being particular?  Let's go with improving the work for now.

I suppose I could try to go to school for this, I mean I am flying by the seat of my pants.  Mind you they are well worn, worldly traveled type pants, so I've got that going for me.  My education was in my mother's kitchen.  We'd work on making fresh bread and buns, brownies, cakes, cookies, and my mom's awesome Nanaimo Bars. 

My not having gone to school probably has me at a bit of a disadvantage, but I'm a clever tool-using monkey, so I keep thinking I should be able to figure this all out.  I'm not sure if that's arrogance, or just misguided faith. 

It's very rainy today, one of those days a person should be at home in front of a fire, curled up on the couch eating soup or snoozing with a cat.  I could use a hug.  This guy looks like he could help...

I made this for my friend Katie, it was her little guy Liam's first birthday.  I liked him a lot - probably the big eyes and plushie-ness of him, that's not a word.. but you get my point.  He's so squashy!  *think "Despicable Me*

Alright, so back to step 4.  I have identified the problem.  My fondant work makes me crazy.  I will look at the possibility of a class, or some sort of schooling; however, in the meantime I will continue to search the web for ideas and tricks.  Oh and by the way - if anyone knows how to actually work the 'paper towel trick' on buttercream, I'd be very interested to learn about it.  I have tried it several times, with several different recipes, but to no avail.

There, you see?  I'm trying to change :) *grin*

I fear change, especially loonies.

Step 3: Find faith in order to help with the situation

I could go all "I'm gonna pray to St. Honore!  Patron Saint of Bakers!".. but then I remember that I'm not religious.  So confusing sometimes, life that is.

Who will I find faith in?  Probably something made up, that sounds cool, like St. Fondant, or Sir Gumpaste, patron saint of the insane...

So the other night we had nachos, and here they are.  I think I'm realizing that the nachos are simply a delivery system for the salsa.  God I love salsa... is there a patron saint of salsa? 

Yummy hey?  They were indeed.  We have nachos for dinner quite often, they are very filling and not too bad on the glycemic when I use the correct chips.  Now looking at this picture I'm thinking the chips are doing double duty as a delivery system for the sour cream.

"Why can't I lose weight?"... really??  stop whining, enjoy your nachos.

:)


I did a whole batch of cupcakes last weekend, and they were a whole week early.  Awesome.  God my memory sucks.  Oh well, the house smells good.  In any case, roommate and I got to take cuppy cakes to work and the co-workers were suitably pleased and sugared for the remainder of the day. 

I think my sister would be proud of me, it's a good cake to buttercream ratio, plus they each have a yummy filling inside.  I have a super secret project that I'm working on, so tonight I will be busy with that, and in a few weeks I can post pictures of said super secret project.  It's going to be awesome.

Step 2 is admitting that baking has taken over your life...

Okee dokee, so I need to admit that baking has taken over.  hmmm..


Well, my kitchen table is still covered in royal icing butterflies, the counter between the fridge and the stove has cake on it (not just willy nilly mind you... it's wrapped up and waiting until I get home so that I can lovingly turn it into something wonderful).

I'm considering adding a second craft caddy in the kitchen to house the fondant tools and supplies that don't really fit into the first caddy....


interesting... perhaps I do have a problem?


Alright... it's taken over.  Is that really so bad?  I think not.  For starters the cake is a birthday gift.  Who doesn't like gifts?  Or cake?  I'm going to try the ruffled look, wish me luck.

Last night I snapped a bunch of photos, baked cake, and then got sidetracked by life.   I tried adding the photos this morning at work, but apparently there's some socializing aspect of the site so I can't do it during my lunch at work... I guess that will have to wait until later tonight. 


In the meantime, here's something to think about:  if you smack someone with a bottle of Johnson's "no more tears" baby shampoo in the head, and they cry... does that create a beautiful irony?  Not my original thought, but it bears repeating and consideration.


Here's another cake while you mull that little gem over:

HA !  Jem :)  I crack myself up.

The first step is admitting you have a problem...

Okay, my first hurdle was deciding if this was going to be funny, or serious.  Will I try to amuse you, or just inspire?  What if I'm not funny or inspiring?  I suppose that's an easy answer, you'll just stop reading right around here.....


Still with me?  Good, because I think this will be fun for all of us.  We're going to run the first few weeks like a 12 step program for Bakers - tell your friends, because like the lunchlady from my grade school cafeteria, we can all use some support.  Please lunchlady Barb, for the love of mystery meat, find some support.


To make this easier, I'll start things off.  "Hello, my name is Amy, and I'm a baker".  This is step one, admitting you have a problem.  Now it's your turn, first names only - and then admit you have a problem.  I'll wait here.


......


Everyone had a turn?  Excellent... I would like to point out that I don't necessarily feel being a Baker is a problem, but rather that I'd like to be a better Baker. 


Stop it.  I know what you're thinking.  I am not.


I believe the word you're fumbling around for is 'particular'.  I am particular.  There.. I've admitted my problem.  Happy now ???  oh wait, this was my idea...


Anyway...so tonight is nachos night (YUM), followed by more butterfly wing creating.  I'm experimenting with some leftover icing, trying to see if it will work well with melted chocolate.  I'll post some pictures later tonight and let you know how it turns out.  In the meantime, here's a picture of a cake I made for a friends' birthday. 

Happy Baking!