Experimenting with Life

Finally getting to the cakes

2010-03-06T18:29:00.000-08:00

I've got quite a few hobbies... too many, in fact, when I try to do them all at once! Aside from the photography projects, I've also been spending a lot of time lately expanding my cake decorating skills. I've always loved to bake, but the icing decoration is a newer challenge.

It all first started when I took my first cake decorating class back in October. I had been wanting to try this out for a while and had been recommended to take my first class at a local bakery located down the street from me. Every time I asked when their beginners class would be, they either didn't have one schedule yet or it was completely booked up. So out of impatience, I went ahead and signed up for a Wilton method beginners cake decorating course at a local craft store. What fun!! I loved learning how to make things with icing, and by the end of the class, I felt like I had learned enough techniques to be able to accomplish lots of different cakes in the future. Our final cake in the course was a rose cake, and of course the goal was to make lots of buttercream roses to use with other techniques we learned during the course.

My final class cake from the Wilton Beginners course

A few months later, I tried my first "major" cake decorating project. My husband was going to be turning 30, and since I wanted his birthday party to be really fun and special, I made the bold decision to make him a guitar cake. While I was planning out what I was going to do for the cake, I made an even bolder decision and decided to decorate the cake like the Van Halen guitar. At this point, I knew I could pull off the cake if everything went smoothly, but I had also given myself quite the challenge. Red and black are the most difficult icing colors to achieve, and my cake had both of them. And I was making something large and in an unusual shape. Probably not the best cake to try right after learning the techniques.

Print out picture of real Van Halen guitar... pretty complicated!

But luck was on my side, and the cake came together perfectly! Sure, there were a few problems along the way, but it turned out great. FYI, the cake was made with 2 boxes of cake mix, divided between a 13x9 pan and 2x bread loaf pans. After the cakes were baked and cooled, I leveled the cakes to make sure they were all the same height and flat,torted them [cut them in half horizontally], and filled them with a white chocolate cream cheese mousse filling. After the cakes were all but iced, I used a template from a print out of the guitar body to cut the shape of the guitar from the 13x9 pan, and trimmed the 2 bread loaf cakes to match the neck on the body part. Then they were covered with icing. The day of the party, I added all the detail decorations using the print out image of the guitar as a rough guideline. Isn't that a fun cake?! And needless to say, it tasted awesome!

The finished cake!

Right around the time I was planning and making the guitar cake, I also had someone contact me about co-hosting a baby shower for one of my best friends. Naturally, I chose to take care of the cake. After looking through some baby shower cake design ideas on the internet, I decided on a "baby block" theme. Since I had planned on making the cake with 4 baby "blocks", that way I could spell B A B Y on the blocks, it worked out nicely that the name picked out for the baby was Kyle - 4 letters! The next trick was figuring out how to use the cake batter to make the blocks. I wanted them to be as close to "square" as possible, and was estimating for the number of people that 4x4ish blocks would work well. Luckily, that meant my 9x9 baking pans would work perfectly. I again made 2 boxes of cake mix and split them between 2 9x9 cake pans. Each cake was leveled, torted, and filled to a final height of 4 cake layers. The 4-layer 9x9 cake was then cut into 4 even squares and each was individually iced and decorated.

The final cake was decorated to read "BABY" on the front, "2010" on the top, and "KYLE" on the back. This cake was definitely easier than the guitar because there were no wierd shapes or anything, but it still took longer than I had expected. In fact, I think it took almost the same amount of time as the guitar cake! All those letters and perfectly icing each block took quite a bit of work, but I was thrilled with how it turned out and so was the Mom-to-be!

Front and top of cake

Back of cake

Now, as insane as this sounds, I have signed up to take another decorating course. I wouldn't have signed up for this so soon after doing these big projects in the past month, but it was the only chance I had to take this intermediate course at the local bakery. We are learning how to make more detailed flowers out of icing, and I will be sure to post a picture of the final cake when I finish it on Sunday at the second and final class!

Banana Nut Muffins

2010-02-11T18:31:00.000-08:00

When I have "free time" on my hands, I usually get the itch to bake. Since I was snowed in this week after two back-to-back snowstorms, I had plenty of free time on my hands to crank out some goodies. I ended up only making banana nut muffins and brownies, although I would have made some cookies had I not run out of butter.

These banana nut muffins are a great easy way to use up old bananas. Since we have those around the house on a regular basis, it is not uncommon that sometimes they don't all get eaten. Instead of throwing them away, I make muffins. My husband prefers the muffins over banana bread because it is so much easier to grab these on the go, and they are quite close to bite size! The real recipe calls for macademia nuts, which I imagine would be amazing, but since I usually don't have those stocked in my pantry, I usually substitute walnuts which works great. Give them a try sometime!

Banana Nut Muffins

adapted from Bon Appetit

1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/4 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 large)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup milk
1 large egg
1 cup unsalted macadamia nuts, toasted, chopped [or walnuts]

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease twelve muffin cups or line with muffin papers. Sift first 4 ingredients into large bowl. Combine bananas, both sugars, butter, milk and egg in medium bowl. Mix into dry ingredients. Fold in half of nuts. Divide batter among prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle tops of muffins with remaining macadamia nuts. Bake until muffins are golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Transfer muffins to rack and cool.

Treading water

2010-01-28T06:50:00.000-08:00

I've got a LOT going on. Maybe a little too much. So far I feel like I have all the projects I'm carefully juggling still up in the air... but I'm afraid I might drop one.

Project 1: photography... or should I say "Project 365". This is going pretty well so far and I feel like I learn something new about myself and my photography every day. Last night was also my first time attending a meeting of the Central Maryland Photographers Guild where I met a bunch of other photo enthusiasts like me. While I didn't necessarily feel like I took home a wealth of information from the topics specifically presented at the meeting, I did have some great conversations with some other experienced members about some photo editing software that I have had my eye on, and ended up leaving the meeting with a fresh outlook on my options in that area. I'm really hoping to get some more out of this club in the future; I'm especially hoping for some more constructive criticism of my work and some group field trips to work on my technique.

Project 2: cake decorating. So I've started on another of my "101 in 1001" tasks by signing up for the second Wilton method cake decorating course. I really enjoyed the skills I learned in the first course, but was a little frustrated with the "informal" feel to the class, which I took at Michael's craft store.

My final cake project from Course 1

This time around, I've signed up to take the class at a local bakery, Cake's Plus. I've heard that their classes are faster paced and a little more "serious" which will hopefully suit me a bit better. In the mean time, I'm also working on a cake masterpiece for my husband's 30th birthday party this coming Saturday. Right now I am up to my eyeballs in batches of colored icing, cake mixes, and other decorating tools. It's by far the biggest cake project I've ever taken on, and I REALLY don't want to screw it up.... especially since it's for an important birthday. :-) I'm keeping the theme a secret for now, but will be sure to blog about the process after the fact, so stay tuned!

And of course, there are lots of social obligations, a trip to Germany/Austria in May to plan, a baby shower to help host (and make another cake for!), and a full time job unrelated to all these projects to stay on top of. Just trying to stay afloat for now....

Recipe: Beef stir-fry with Orange and Ginger

2010-01-19T17:15:00.000-08:00

Here is another new recipe I tried today. I am definitely WAY over my goal of trying 2 new recipes per month! I really enjoyed this dish, and the best part is that it is fast and easy and requires minimal ingredients. I got a new cookbook last fall that is full of great meals for quick, weeknight dinners, aptly titled "Best Ever 30-Minute Dinners". I will definitely be trying more meals from this book in the future!

Beef Strips with Orange and Ginger

1lb lean beef rump, steak, fillet steak, or sirloin, cut into thin strips
grated rind and juice of 1 orange
1 Tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp. cornflour
1in piece of fresh ginger root, finely chopped
1 Tbsp sunflower oil
1 large carrot, cut into thin strips
2 scallions (green onions), thinly sliced

Place the beef strips in a bowl and sprinkle over the orange rind and juice. Marinate for 10 minutes or up to 30 minutes if possible.

Drain the liquid from the meat and set aside. Mix the meat with the soy sauce, cornflour and ginger, making sure the meat is evenly covered.

Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan and add the beef. Stir-fry for 1 minute until lightly colored. Add the carrot strips and stir-fry for another 2-3 minutes. Stir in the scallions and reserved liquid. Cook until sauce thickens, stirring. Serve hot with noodles or rice.

Pasta from scratch

2010-01-19T10:12:00.000-08:00

One of the many fun new things I received for Christmas was a Kitchen Aid pasta roller set. I've been coveting this kit for quite a while, but had been putting the purchase on hold due to its relatively hefty price tag... there always seemed to be something else more important to purchase. But here it is... finally... and I couldn't wait to dive in and try my first batch of homemade pasta!

Kitchen Aid pasta roller set with flat roller,
and fettucini & spaghetti cutters

The kit comes with a few various recipes for making the pasta dough. As much as I wanted to try making spinach or whole wheat pasta, I figured I would start with the most basic recipe just to get the hang of the whole process before adding more complicated steps/ingredients. Turns out the process is quite easy and before I knew it, I had a nice little ball of pasta dough ready to feed into the first roller.

Ball of basic pasta dough

The dough gets divided up into 4 pieces, flattened slightly by hand, and then slowly fed through the flat roller on the lowest number setting which provides the widest roller. After kneading the dough through a few times, the roller width gets slowly decreased to make the pasta thinner and thinner until the desired thickness is reached, at which point it gets fed through the cutter of choice. Or if you are making lasagne noodles or ravioli (which I am really anxious to try!) then no cutting is required.

Cutting my pasta sheet into fettucini

And here they are... the final pasta "nests"! The pasta was dried before forming into nests. It can either be cooked immediately, refrigerated, or placed in plastic bags and frozen for up to 4 months. I froze most of what I made but save some for fresh pasta with homemade sausage sauce for dinner that night. It was delicious... less chewy than the store bought stuff, and much lighter in texture. Can't wait to try making more again soon!

Finished "nests" of fettucini

Photo-walk: 1/18/10

2010-01-18T13:32:00.000-08:00

What better way to spend a day off of work than heading out for my first photo-walk! I realized when I headed out with my camera this morning that I have taken my camera out with me before with the sole intention of taking photos.... but that was usually when I was on vacation. This time, I was out on a mission to capture images of everyday life rather than monuments I want to remember visiting. I am pretty happy with how most of the photos turned out. Of course not every photo was a "winner", but here are some of my favorites.

Recipe: Pork Chops with Shallot-Apple Cider Pan Sauce

2010-01-15T14:22:00.000-08:00

My first recipe post! Before I talk about this wonderful recipe, I'll take a quick minute to tell you a little bit about the food side of my personality.

I. LOVE. FOOD. Even more than food, I LOVE sweets, especially chocolate. I can not stress that enough. I have a sweet tooth to rival most, and so I love baking. Baking not only allows me to creat decadent desserts that will hopefully satisfy my insane sweet tooth (at least for a little while), but it also allows me to express more creativity by trying out new recipes. Most of the time, cooking and baking are fun for me, and I love to entertain.

Regarding skill level, I would say that I'm somewhere in the middle. Rarely do my recipes turn out complete disasters, and I can occasionally throw together something for dinner from scratch without a recipe, but more often than not, I prefer to use a recipe at least as a starting point. Thus, I love cookbooks and food magazines, and lately I've been following a number of cooking and baking blogs, which is how I found this recipe.

This recipe popped up in my Google Reader with perfect timing. I knew I was going to make pork chops for dinner that night, but was wishing I had a new recipe to try out instead of using my typical stand-bys. Up pops this awesome sounding recipe from elly says opa : Pork Chops with Shallt-Apple Cider Pan Sauce. YUM! And they were every bit as tasty as they sounded. Be sure to try it out, and enjoy!

[I am sorry to say that I somehow lost the photos I took of my recipe, probably while going through the 365 images... elly has a picture on her page if you are still curious]

Pork Chops with Apple Cider Pan Sauce

2 lean pork chops
thyme
sage
salt & pepper
2 tsp. olive oil
2 tsp. butter
1 large shallot, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/3 cup apple cider
1/3 cup chicken broth

Sprinkle the pork chops with salt, pepper, thyme, and sage. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium head and add pork chops. Cook until done, about 4mins per side. Remove from skillet to plate and cover to keep warm.

Add the butter to the pan, and then add the shallot. Cook until the shallot is tender and then stir in the garlic. Once the garlic is fragrant, increase the heat slightly and add the apple cider to de-glaze the pan, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Allow the cider to bubble away and reduce by about half.

Add the chicken broth and salt and pepper to taste, and let that reduce until the amount of sauce you have left in the pan is about 1/3 cup total. Spoon the sauce over the pork chops and serve.

Wish List

2010-01-15T06:36:00.000-08:00

As I continually look over my "101 in 1001" list of things to accomplish, I keep finding myself adding things to my Amazon wish list. I love this feature on Amazon. It helps me keep a running tally of all the things I'd like to own, and when people ask for Christmas lists and such, I have something ready to give them!

Of course I am currently trying to pace myself... don't want to buy everything off the list at once. My most recent purchase was some travel guide books for our upcoming vacation in (hopefully) May. We are planning on trying to make it back over to Europe to tour Germany and Austria. The past couple trips we've taken to Europe have taken a lot of time to plan, so I went ahead and ordered books to start the planning process.

My recent delve into the Project 365 world has immediately added a number of photography items to my wish list. I'm setting these items up as "rewards" for myself along the journey. I'll probably treat myself to one item after I complete my first month of the project. Right now, I'm longing for:

1) Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 lens for my dSLR
2) Opteka Wireless Remote Release for Canon cameras

3) Adobe Photoshop Elements 8

On the non-photography side, I am drooling over a few new gadgets for my kitchen, including:

4) Wood Pastry Board, for bread making, pasta making, and other dough-related tasks
5) Silpat non-stick baking tray liners
6) Mini-muffin pan, to make pecan tassies (yummm...)

7) Round cookie cutter set, for biscuits, cookies, and many other baking items

I am also yearning for a set of packing cubes, as I am determined to only bring a small suitcase on our trip to Germany in May, and I'm hoping these will help me pack more efficiently

8) Packing cubes

So much to say....

2010-01-12T07:22:00.000-08:00

There are just not enough hours in the day right now. This is not a new feeling for me or for most people I imagine, but ever since I took on my 365 photo project, I feel like I have even less time than before. Why? Because I am spending almost all my free time taking and editing photos!

Now don't get me wrong... I am loving every minute of this 365 project. I love trying to find new sources of inspiration. I love trying out new things with my camera that I've always wanted to try. I absolutely love the freedom to express so much creativity. What I don't love so much is the lack of time to pursue all the other things I have going on in my life, including this poor blog. For example, I spent HOURS last night redesigning my 365 blog, including the creation of a new header. I am thrilled with how it all turned out, but of course the result was an entire evening devoted to photography and a bit of sleep deprivation. But it was worth it.

Right now, I have 4 posts that I can think of that need to be put up on this site. I guess that isn't that much, but I can see how I will continue to get backlogged as the days go on. Hopefully I can utilize my time better this weekend to catch up on this end, but in the meantime, keep following along with my "Project 365"!

Snow!

2010-01-09T07:13:00.000-08:00

We received our second snowfall this winter... the first of 2010, and while the snowfall totals were only 2-3 inches, it was just enough to make all that blah winter scenery look beautiful. I headed out to my back yard early in the morning before heading to work on Friday to get a few photos for my 365 project, but I liked more than one that I took, so I'm posting them here. Would love any feedback you might have, otherwise... enjoy, and stay warm this weekend! :-)

Black and white version of the last image... and my 365 image for the day

Time suck... and some new photo editing skills

2010-01-07T12:09:00.001-08:00

So today marks the end of my first week of "Project 365." What a major time investment! Sure, it's only "1" photo-a-day... but do you know how many photos it takes for me to be satisfied with that day's photo? Definitely more than one! And then there is the editing - very few photos are perfect before editing. More time invested... but I must say that so far the time invested is totally worth it. I love the photos I've taken so far and can't wait to look back on all 365 at the end of the year. But I guess that is getting a bit ahead of myself....

In the mean time, I have learned some new features of my photo editing software while working with the photos that I have been taking. One new effect I have finally learned how to do is a soft black border. Looks simple.. it is simple... but took forever for me to figure out. I currently use Paint Shop Pro 8 as my editing software which has more than met my needs to date (and is WAY cheaper than Adobe Photoshop), but the only frustrating thing about using this software is that everyone else on the planet seems to use Photoshop! So learning how to do new techniques is a bit challenging... not many resources on the web. But check out the borders I've started adding to my photos. Here is my 365 photo for today. I also hope to create a better watermark when I figure out how to do that... another day. :-)

Project 365

2010-01-02T12:50:00.000-08:00

First off, Happy New Year! 2010 is here and so is the start of my 101 in 1001 project. So far I am off to a good start with some of the items on my list. I already have a few to check off, including "Start a new blog" and "Make pasta from scratch" (will do a separate post about that another day).

But one of the big tasks on my list is to start and complete a Project 365. One of my many interests is photography. I love taking photos and experimenting with image composition and lighting and would love to be able to take my hobby to the next level. I thought one way to help encourage myself to experiment with my photo skills on a regular basis would be to do a "365" project in which you require yourself to take one photo every day for a whole year. In principle it's not a difficult thing to do, but from many blogs I have read about this topic, it can sometimes be challenging to figure out what to take a picture of every day, especially if you haven't had a chance to go anywhere other than work or home. Obviously, I am doing alright so far since it has only been 2 days. But I imagine I will hit some mental walls somewhere along the way.

So I wanted to start by posting the two images I have taken to begin this project. During the course of this project, most photos will probably only be pasted on the Project 365 page which you will alway find the link to at the top of my blog. But if an especially interesting or intriguing image happens to be captured, it might be featured on the main blog, so keep a look out for my daily progress!

1/1/10 : "Festive Flowers"

1/2/10 : "Jam Session"

101 in 1001

2009-12-28T08:29:00.000-08:00

This year I turned 30. The big 3-0. Yeah, that's not really THAT big of a deal. But I think it's the first birthday in my lifetime that I have wished would NOT come sooner. It was also a big reason that I started thinking about what I've done with my life for the past 30 years (more like the last 10... I don't think anyone really thinks that hard about what they did the first 20-ish years of their life... you're still figuring out who you are) and where I would like to take my life in the future. I was happy with most of the choices I've made, and I also found a number of areas in my life where I would like to make some improvements. But there are a lot of things I want to do next, and it would be hard to start a new blog about the variety of hobbies and interests that I have in my life.

Thus.... the reason for starting this blog and for the first post, titled "101 in 1001." If you read lots of blogs frequently, you very likely may have come across this idea before - lots of people are jumping on this bandwagon. But if this is the first time you have heard of "101 in 1001," then here's the scoop. You pick 101 things that you want to do with/for yourself in the next 1001 days. These items are supposed to be measurable and should hopefully challenge yourself to a degree. So for example "Compete in a 10 mile bike race" is a good goal = measurable and hopefully challenging you in some ways. "Watch fun TV" is not so good. How do you really define fun? And for most people, is watching TV really that much of a stretch? I think not....

So, after much thought and a little difficulty, here is my list of 101 in 1001. There is only one item on the list that has been changed for personal reasons. If the goal is met, I might reveal it, but we'll see. But anyways, here are my goals for the next 2.75 years, and as I cross things off the list, I will post about all the things I've accomplished!

Start date: January 1, 2010
End date: September 27, 2010

Marriage & Family
1 Visit my grandparents in Iowa
2 "Date night" with Mark once a month (3/33)
3 Take dance lessons with Mark
4 Visit my parents once a month (3/33)
5 Take a trip to Maine with my parents
6 Have my extended family over to our house
7 Send birthday cards to all friends/family for a year
8 Take my parents to the Magic Bar in Baltimore
9 Get a dog

Home Matters
10 Buy furniture for the formal living room in our house
11 Make curtains for the formal living room
12 Clean out and organize the garage
13 ~~Organize the office closet~~ COMPLETED Jan 2010
14 Successfully grow an herb garden
15 Clean out my closet 2 times a year and give unwanted clothes to charity (1/5)
16 Complete photo collages and hang them upstairs
17 Buy a headboard for our bed
18 Make curtains for the office
19 Re-do the lighting in our kitchen
20 Organize and consolidate all office files IN PROGRESS
21 Plant new flowers behind our back fence
22 Reupholster the cedar guest chest
23 Install hardwood flooring in living/dining room
24 Upholster/cover kitchen stools
25 Organize the attic
26 Switch all our lightbulbs over to "green" ones

Mind, Body & Soul
27 Get some form of exercise 3 days a week (1/143)
28 Volunteer for a charity organization once a year (0/3)
29 Participate in my first 5K run
30 Hike or bike part of the Appalachian Trail
31 ~~Complete a crossword puzzle without any help/cheating~~ COMPLETED Feb 2010
32 Drink at least 32oz water every day
33 Pray every day
34 Go an entire week without watching TV
35 Get a massage once a year (0/3)
36 Learn 5 new hairstyles and use them

Hobbies
37 ~~Join a camera/photography club~~ COMPLETED Jan 2010
38 Sew a skirt for myself
39 Sew a dress for myself
40 Wear at least one item I sewed for myself in public
41 Learn how to alter pants to fit me
42 Take an intermediate sewing class
43 ~~Take an intermediate cake decorating class~~ COMPLETED Feb 2010
44 Finish my Italy/Greece scrapbook
45 ~~Join a book club~~ COMPLETED Jan 2010
46 Participate in project 365 IN PROGRESS
47 Organize all my print photos into albums
48 Backup all my digital photos onto DVDs
49 Send a DVD of Hawaii photos to Fritzs
50 Create a hobby workspace for myself IN PROGRESS
51 ~~Fix my kitchen shelves~~ COMPLETED Jan 2010
52 Finish and frame my cross stitch project

Food & Entertaining
53 Try 2 new recipes every month (3/33)
54 Host a cookie decorating party
55 ~~Make homemade pasta~~ COMPLETED Jan 2010
56 Host a formal dinner party
57 Try 5 new restaurants in our neighborhood (1/5)
58 Roast a chicken
59 Host a holiday party every Christmas (0/2)
60 Make a loaf of bread.... by hand
61 Learn (and perfect) how to make pizza dough... from scratch
62 Cook my entire way through a magazine or cookbook
63 Make a personalized cookbook/tastebook
64 Organize my recipes

Out & About
65 Got to an opera performance
66 Organize an afternoon tea outing with friends
67 Visit a new city in the US
68 Visit Germany Planning phase
69 Visit Austria Planning phase
70 Bring only a small suitcase to Europe
71 Visit Sabrina in CA
72 Visit New York City at Christmas time
73 Go camping at a new site/location each year (0/3)
74 Do a Viginia wine tour
75 Visit a museum once a season (0/11)
76 Visit a planetarium
77 Visit a new town in my home state each year (0/3)
78 Get together with one of my girl friends once a month (2/33)
79 Go tubing at Harpers Ferry
80 Visit Falling Waters (Frank Lloyd Wright's home in PA)
81 See a professional soccer game
82 See a performance at Ford's Theater
83 See a orchestra performance
84 Go to a Penn State football game
85 Go ice skating outdoors at National Gallery of Art

Fresh Starts
86 ~~Start a new blog~~ COMPLETED Jan 2010
87 Sell my first photograph
88 Make my own "coffee table" book of my photos
89 Start a side business in photography
90 ~~Get a new job~~ COMPLETED Feb 2010

Other
91 Watch 10 new "classic" movies (0/10)
92 See an outdoor movie
93 Watch the sunrise
94 Re-read 5 books I own
95 Learn 2 new card games
96 Learn to play a song on the guitar
97 Read 5 non-fiction books (0/5)
98 ~~Go one month without buying clothes/accessories for myself~~ COMPLETED Jan 2010
99 Buy myself one nice piece of jewelry
100 Donate $5 to charity for every item not completed
101 Start a new 101 in 1001 list