2.28.2012

Never a Dull Moment

My husband was hospitalized for an emergency appendectomy on Sunday night, and on the back of this experience, I would like to provide a couple of bits of constructive criticism for anyone involved with the medical profession:
  1. When asking if the patient is experiencing any pain (prior to surgery) do not respond to the reply as, "Oh that's nothing compared to the amount of pain you WILL be in."
  2. After being told by two nurses to proceed into the room, being rudely "shooed" back out (gesture included) by another does not make for a happy spouse...
  3. ...Asking if aforementioned unhappy, begrudging spouse who has not eaten in 12 hours would like a drink and snack does earn back brownie points.
  4. Maps are helpful.
  5. Hospital time can be likened to football time.  1 minute during a football game = ten minutes of real time.  Similarly, "you should have the results in 30-35 minutes" actually means 90-95 minutes.
  6. Room TVs are wonderful-- thank you for providing them.  Perhaps news reports about how your hospital is up for sale after a surgical error should be blocked from patients' rooms.
Most importantly, we are grateful to the staff who were very kind, helpful, and compassionate, as well as everyone who was praying during the ordeal and is still praying for a quick recovery.

2.24.2012

The Lazy Blogger is Back

Okay, maybe not lazy, but neglectful.


So this month's cake decorating class encompassed the wonderful world of fondant!  (And indeed, it has been wonderful).  Using the techniques I have learned over the past two months, I made five cakes on Wednesday evening (not stopping until I finished.... at 3:00AM)-- four mini cakes for my husband's curling league and one for the final project for class. 

This class covered making flowers (specifically, daisies, mums, roses, calla lilies, and carnations) out of fondant, covering boards and cakes with the stuff, and just how to work with it in general.  As someone who has a mild obsession with playdough, this was the *PERFECT* outlet. 


For my final project, I decided on a monochromatic theme for my White Chocolate Raspberry-Filled cake:

 

2.08.2012

Pluggety Plug Plug Plug

Check out today's post at SoliDeoGloriaMusic.blogspot.com (link is at the top)!

2.07.2012

Baking Bonanza

I have mentioned the cake decorating classes I've been taking, so I thought I'd show a smattering of some of the things I have done thus far.  Some of them were actually for class and some were for other occasions, but at any rate, here you go:

The first two pictures were Filled Margarita Cupcakes... complete with tequila in the batter, brushed on top after baking, and in the filling that I made.  They were definitely different, but I think I'm a fan of the (as they became referred to in our house) "boosy cupcakes."


Also in the cupcake category were my first Red Velvet attempts.  After realizing that most recipes call for two bottles of red food coloring, I opted instead to make Reddish-Brown Velvet Cupcakes (yeah yeah, I didn't want to use all of that dye that's not good for you, although it has more to do with the fact that I am cheap and didn't want to use up two bottles of the stuff).  Because I wanted to practice using the Wilton cupcake filling tip, I decided to fill them too and made a chocolate ganache-esque filling.  I think it was too thin though, because although it was tasty, it mostly saturated itself into the center of the cake.  Still good though. 



It's totally not baked, but here are my first roses.  Totally fun to make.  The one on the left is the old-school one that they used to teach in the first course, but apparently, they officially teach the second one now instead.  Our teacher was nice enough to show us both though (I definitely favor the first).



Next, I bring you my final class project for the Decorating Basics class.  I started with a generic Pumpkin Cake recipe, substituted out 2/3 C of the sugar and added a tablespoon of maple syrup and a chopped dark chocolate bar instead, filled the layers with a cream cheese icing (plus pumpkin pie spice), and decorated it in honor of the book series that my husband and I are reading through (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy).  Totally geeky.  Yeah, I know.  But at any rate, it was phenomenal.



 And last but certainly not least, I bring you my S'mores Cupcake invention (also hereby known as "the-best-thing-I-have-seriously-ever-tasted").  I had some icing left over from the class, so I agreed to bring something sweet to the Superbowl Party we attended (again with the cheapness).  I spent a couple of hours trying to find a recipe to try online, but in the end, found nothing that really piqued my interest-- seriously, "Mango Coriander with Mango Chutney," "Crystallized Ginger Olive Oil Cupcakes with Lime Buttercream, Opal Basil, and Lime Zest, "and "Wheat Germ and Ginger, Wasabi Cream, and Tuna Creme Fraiche Cupcakes" just don't cut it as football food. 

In a nutshell: Graham cracker crust + super moist chocolate cake filling + melted chocolate marshmallow for filling + chocolate ganache filling + buttercream icing in football shapes = Oh my word. 


2.06.2012

Case of the Mondays: Hockey Edition

In honor of this weekend's trip to cheer on a team in a sport where concussions are passed around like candy...

2.03.2012

A Failed Institution?

During the past several days, I heard the anti-marriage voice louder than ever before. This voice screams that institution of marriage is not only antiquated, but failed. I have seen more out-of-context scripture propped up as "evidence" that the true Biblical idea of marriage included women voicelessly enslaved to their husbands, concubine-infested harems (essentially), and loveless, duty-filled relationships.

The louder this voice becomes the more my heart breaks for the precious gift that God has given us, and for the countless men and women who will never experience this wonderful gift because they misunderstand the gift's Giver. The heart of God is so clearly depicted when you look at how He really intends marriage to look:


  • God said, "It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him..." Then God made woman... and brought her to the man.  For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife.  (Genesis 2) Let's break this down.  God saw that man living in solitude was not a good thing, and so He created and brought a partner for man.  Notice that God did not bring him another mother to look after the man.  In fact, the very next thing is calling that man to leave those who shepherded him to create a new life with this partner.  Today's typical in-law scenario could learn a thing or two from this verse.
  • If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married. (Deuteronomy 24) The more I see Old Testament laws thrown about willy-nilly as representative of the Biblical idea of marriage, the more evident it is that those who do the throwing clearly aren't reading very closely.  While I would not be all-for reinstating Ancient Mosaic law, I certainly wouldn't have minded this one!  What does this verse say of the one who wrote it?  Do any words jump out at you? "HAPPINESS" is the one that flies out at me!  Forget work or the cares of the world for a while-- newlyweds were instructed to take a year-long honeymoon!  This doesn't read "stay at home and set up the house" or "stay at home and figure out finances" or even "stay at home to pray over the marriage" (though those aren't bad things).  It called the man to be free of worldly pressures and make his wife happy.  That doesn't much resemble the "wife suppression" that seems to be the understood marital dynamic, now does it?
  •  Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; for your love is better than wine... Behold you are beautiful, my love! Behold, you are beautiful... I am sick with love. His left hand is under my head; his right hand embraces me... My beloved speaks and says to me "Arise my love, my beautiful one, and come away... let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet... You are altogether beautiful- there is no flaw in you... You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes..." Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love.  (Song of Solomon) In this short book is a graphic picture of God's idea of married love looks like, and is certainly more appealing than the prevalent understanding of romance is today.  God created men and women, in marriage, to longingly desire each other- to praise each other- to be captivated by each other.  Doesn't this speak volumes about the passionate character of God-- that He thought this up?
The women in a class I am taking were talking about their marriages this week, and one of them (married forty years) was asked by another (married twelve years), "So what's your secret?" How sad it is that a successfully long marriage is viewed as a mysterious thing.  Although no one can claim that being united and committed to one person is an easy thing, I think it would be so much more sweet if we truly understood what God's idea of marriage really is and were reminded of it, often.

Marriage is not a failed institution. No, rather, I believe it has so much more to do with our watered down version- beginning with infatuation, settling into comfortable love, and at some point down the road, trying to peacefully coexist until one of you kicks the can.  Ugh.  Today's concept of marriage IS a failed institution.  What happened to "You have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes?"  We started ignoring the original idea of marriage.  That's what. 

    2.01.2012

    More From the Experimental Kitchen

    Greetings!  In the past week or so, here are a few of the happy experiments to come out of the kitchen:

    Problem: Drop bag of apples and already made applesauce for week. Solution: Chop 'em (avoiding bruises), add some flour, egg, and spices, and bake.  If I did it over, I would have opted for only one egg instead of two.
     
    Behold- I bring you Pigs in a Blanket on Steroids!  I made a slightly spicy sauce from some canned tomatoes, wrapped some Mild Italian sausage in a batch of dough from the bread maker, top with some cheese (of course), and baked for about 20 minutes.  The only alteration I would make if I had to do it over again would be to use a spicy variety of sausage instead of mild.
    Creamy Tomato Basil Bliss with homemade croutons.  Need I say more?

    I froze the remainder of the dough from the P.I.A.B.O.S. (second picture), and after thawing had plans for some sort of pizza.  Unfortunately, I let it sit in the warm oven for too long and it was too stiff to roll out.  So I smooshed it into a few custard cups and topped it with leftover chicken reheated in a white wine Alfredo sauce with crumbled turkey bacon and a drizzle of hot sauce.  Wouldn't change a thing.  This has been hereby dubbed as the Stromboli Souffle.  Let it be so/

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